PAT ritual announcement: Sacrifice to Zeus Epakrios at Erkhia

On the 23th of May, which coincides with 16 Thargelion in 2016, Elaion will hold a PAT ritual to Zeus Epakrios as was done on this day in ancient Erkhia. Will you be joining us at the usual 10 AM EDT?

Zeus Epakrios (Ἐπάκριος) is an epithet of Zeus derived from 'epi akrios', literally 'on the height' or 'upon the high place'. Zeus Epakrios had an altar on Mount Hymettos (Υμηττός), along with an altar to Zeus Hymettios (overseer) and Zeus Ombrios (of the rain). The cult to Zeus Epakrios seems to have been separate from the cults of Zeus Hymettios and Zeus Ombrios, with the altars of Zeus Epakrios and Ombrios located on the very summit of the mountain and the altar to Zeus Hyettios further down the slope. The altar of Zeus Epakrios lay unused for a while, even though the altar of Zeus Hymettios remained in use. The altar to Zeus Ombrios remained in use well into the 8th-7th centuries BC. All ancient remains of the altar to Zeus Epakrios have been obliterated by recent military building operations.

The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites tells us about Mt. Hymettos:

"Separating the southern end of the plain of Athens from that of the Mesogaia to the east is the mountain range of Hymettos. In antiquity Hymettos was famous for honey and marble, and the scars of the worked-out quarries can be seen concentrated for the most part on the western slopes for a distance of 3 km south from Kaisariani. The bare summit performed a different function: even as today, it gave the Athenians a reliable indication of weather by the presence, or absence, of threatening clouds."

We are not entirely certain of the funtion of the sacrifice or the epithet. 'On the height' speaks for itself when taken together with the location of the altar, but it says nothing of its function. We do know that the altar was only visited once a year, for this sacrifice. It stands to reason that Zeus Epakrios oversaw the weather, as did Zeus Ombrios and Zeus Hymettios. In this time of year, sacrifices would have called for good weather for the continuation of the agricultural cycle and perhaps the herding of sheep and other grazers on the mountain who were presumably used to keep the area open for herbs and flowers for the honey creating bees to feast on.

The sacrifice was nephalios (wineless) and au phora (not carried – totally consumed (on site)).

The ritual for the event can be found here and you can join the community page on Facebook here.

• Saturday, May 21, 2016
  current affairs Elaion Erkhia festivals PAT Zeus Zeus Epakrios Zeus Hymêttios Zeus Ombrios

The pro's and con's of further exploring the Herculaneum

A group of British, American and French scholars is calling for the immediate resumption of excavations at the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum, reports The Art Newspaper. The Herculaneum was buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. The villa, which is near Pompeii, was first explored in the 1750's when archaeologists discovered the only intact library of texts from the Classical era. The papyri found so far are Greek works of philosophy; the hope is that other Greek texts as well as Latin ones by some of the greatest writers of Antiquity may still be underground. The Art Newspaper invited the lead signatory to the Times letter, Robert Fowler, to make the case for excavation while Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, the scientific director of the Herculaneum Conservation Project, sounds a note of caution.

Some background first: in a letter to the Times newspaper in late March, academics lamented the fact that 'there has been no new [excavation] work since 2009'. 'The excavation must be finished', they wrote.  In their letter to the Times in London calling for further excavation of the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum, the academics warned that 'another eruption of Vesuvius may put the villa beyond reach forever'. Vesuvius is closely monitored and an updated plan for the evacuation of the population in the 'red zone' (increased from 18 communities to the 25 in the red ring above) was issued in 2014 and has been revised again this year.

Scientists expect that there will be a period of increased seismic activity before any major eruption, giving enough warning to evacuate the population of more than 600,000. However, there is a 95% certainty that, in the event of a major eruption, the red zone would have a radius of 10 km to 12 km around the central crater, encompassing Herculaneum and Pompeii. This whole area would be covered in deadly pyroclastic flows of molten rock and gas, which can reach temperatures of 1,000°C and advance at speeds of up to 450 miles per hour.

 Robert Fowler, professor of Greek at the University of Bristol is in favour of further excavations. He explains his standpoint as follows:

"The Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum contains the only library to have survived intact from the ancient Greco-Roman world. In the eruption of Vesuvius in AD79, the scrolls were first carbonised, then miraculously preserved in a flood of airless volcanic mud. Some 1,800 fragments representing perhaps 800 original books were recovered in the 18th century. The hundreds so far identified present a lopsided profile: overwhelmingly, they are books of Epicurean Greek philosophy.

 

This appears to be the personal library of Philodemus, the leading Epicurean of the first century BC, whose patron was Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, the father-in-law of Julius Caesar and owner, in all probability, of this villa. Cultivated Romans kept sumptuous libraries in their country homes, where philosophers and artists gathered to discuss literature and ideas. Virgil and Horace were members of Piso’s circle. Philodemus too was a poet. The library would have contained many other books both Greek and Latin. The rest of it is most probably in the southeast corner of the villa, which the early tunnelers failed to reach. The lost works waiting to be found there stagger the imagination.

 

The villa was rediscovered and partially excavated in the 1990s. The excavation must be finished. Counter-arguments are familiar. Resources are desperately scarce, people say, and should be used for pressing emergencies (Pompeii is falling down), not for digging up new things that only add to the burden of conservation. The trouble is, this argument will always be advanced. It amounts to an argument for never excavating.

 

Meanwhile, the volcano may erupt again and put the villa effectively beyond reach. It has erupted on average every 20 years since 1631. The last eruption was in 1944.

 

People say archaeology is not about treasure hunting (highly disputable: define “treasure”). Of course it must be a responsible excavation, not a grab and run. One need not exhume the whole building. The long peristyle can be left to sleep, minimising the disruption to the town above.

 

The 1990s revealed previously unknown lower levels, offering good reason in themselves for further exploration. But the library makes this building unique. We shall soon have the technology to scan and read the rolls without even touching them. They will not lie around neglected and deteriorating, as has sometimes been charged.

 

 Posterity will not forgive us if we squander this chance. The excavation must proceed."

Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, director of research, faculty of Classics, Cambridge University; scientific director of the Herculaneum Conservation Project, is against further excavation and explains his standpoints as follows:

"It is hard not to share the enthusiasm of the group of specialists who have renewed their pleas to resume excavation of the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum. An initial attempt at full excavation was made in the 1990s, though this only reached one corner of the building and demonstrated not only how fraught with difficulties such an excavation is, but how easy it is to cause damage in the process, and how difficult to conserve what is exposed.

Fourteen years ago, I argued in this newspaper that continued excavation was not a priority compared with conservation. Is the time right now? A decade’s heroic work by the Packard Humanities Institute has addressed many of the existing problems of conservation on the main site at Herculaneum, but the villa may be regarded as a case apart.

Is there an imminent threat to the site of the villa? Volcanic eruption can scarcely do more damage to what lies buried: it is the parts exposed that are most at risk. And the problem is precisely that by exposing them in part, the risks have been greatly increased. The steep embankment around the trench is not stable: the edges constantly crumble and do damage to the protective shelter. This can be addressed by stepping the embankment back, but simply increasing the size of the excavation only moves the problem on.

The gravest risk is from water. The consequence of creating a trench 30m below the ground level of the present city is to release a flow of water. This cascades out of the edge of the excavated area, passing through the lower floors of the villa, precisely those which were not explored by Karl Weber [in the 1750s] and have the most potential interest. One room of this lower floor has been partially excavated, and its rich decoration only underlines the potential interest of this area.

There is a strong case for urgent work to stop the embankment crumbling and the flow of water further damaging the lower floors. This might reveal further papyri. It would certainly reveal finds of great interest. But the logic that drives any modern excavation must be preservation, not the pursuit of a dream."

Personally, I think we have time to work up to a new excavation and do it right, but I do wish for another dig. Herculaneum has yeilded some of the greatest Hellenic finds there are and simply the thought of there being more in the ground is tantalising.

The Herculaneum papyri are a treasure. The official list amounts to 1,814 rolls and fragments, of which 1,756 had been discovered by 1855. The inventory now comprises 1826 papyri. More than 340 are almost complete, about 970 are partly decayed and partly decipherable, and more than 500 are merely charred fragments.

Among the recovered scrolls are large parts of Books XIV, XV, XXV, and XXVIII of the magnum opus of Epicurus, 'On Nature'. Works by early followers of Epicurus are also represented among the papyri. 44 of the rolls have been identified as the work of Philodemus of Gadara, an Epicurean philosopher and poet. The manuscript 'PHerc.Paris.2' contains part of Philodemus' On Vices and Virtues. The Stoic philosopher Chrysippus is attested to have written over 700 works, all of them lost, with the exception of a few fragments quoted by other authors. Segments of his works 'On Providence' and 'Logical Questions' were found among the papyri; a third work of his may have been recovered from the charred rolls.

Who knows what more is to be found? I am in favour of at least trying--or at the bare minimum preserving the site as best we can until funds can be found for another dig. Prosterity should have the option and possibility to dig, I feel.

• Friday, May 20, 2016
  ancient Hellenic culture archeology Epicurus personal Roman

On Hestia's dripping locks

I was recently asked an interesting question that I pondered on for a while:

"In Homeric Hymn 24 to Hestia is the following line: 'with soft oil dripping ever from your locks'. What does this mean?"

I can think of two reasons for the inclusion of this sentence: personal hygiene and Hestia's eternal flame.

To us the ancient world would most likely have been overpowering in terms of smell. Sweating men and animals and their waste filled a city’s streets, making it vital to set off sacred spaces as well as those of luxury by making them smell sweet. Fragrance was everywhere in the ancient world, from scented oils used to adorn the body to incense burnt in homes and temples. For personal use, perfumes were the way to go to ward off the stink.

In the ancient world oils were used as the carrier medium for perfumes, where the medium today is alcohol. This must have meant that ancient perfumes were far less noticeable than modern ones, and would have lain more thickly on the skin. The Gods, obviously, must smell very, very sweet and thus Hestia would have pleasant smelling oil literally 'dripping from Her locks'.

The second reason I can think of is Hestia's sacred flame. Back in ancient Hellas, most religious activities surrounding the household revolved around the central hearth, which was seen as the physical manifestation of Hestia. All the household fires were lit with a flame from the prytaneion (Πρυτανεῖον), the structure where state officials met and where the city kept a fire for Hestia burning day and night. Every single heart fire in the city or town was linked to that central one. This network of fires, which were never allowed to go out, brought all Hellenes together.

This fire, at least in many recorded instances concerning temples, was lit not as a traditional hearth fire but in a lamp--an oil lamp. As such, the dripping oil from Hestia's locks could be a metaphor for the leaping flames from the fire of an oil lamp.

• Thursday, May 19, 2016
  ancient Hellenic culture Hestia Mythology 101 requested post

Scientists scientifically date Sappho's 'midnight poem'

Yesterday I posted a poem by Sappho and today I am, indirectly, doing so again because news broke that scientists have used advanced astronomical software to date Sappho's 'Midnight Poem' (number 49). This reports the Archaeological News Network. The poem reads as follows:

"The moon has set,

and the Pleiades;

it is midnight, the time is going by

and I recline alone.

 

The sinking moon has left the sky,
The Pleiades have also gone.
Midnight comes--and goes, the hours fly
And solitary still, I lie.

 

The Moon has left the sky,
Lost is the Pleiads' light;
It is midnight,
And time slips by,
But on my couch alone I lie."

Physicists and astronomers from the University of Texas at Arlington have now used advanced astronomical software to accurately date the poem, which describes the night sky over Hellas more than 2,500 years ago. The scientists described their research in the article "Seasonal dating of Sappho's 'Midnight Poem' revisited," published in the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage. Martin George, former president of the International Planetarium Society, now at the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand, also participated in the work. Manfred Cuntz, physics professor and lead author of the study stated:

"Sappho should be considered an informal contributor to early Greek astronomy as well as to Greek society at large. Not many ancient poets comment on astronomical observations as clearly as she does. This [research] is an example of where the scientific community can make a contribution to knowledge described in important ancient texts. Estimations had been made for the timing of this poem in the past, but we were able to scientifically confirm the season that corresponds to her specific descriptions of the night sky in the year 570 BC."

Sappho's 'Midnight Poem' describes a star cluster known as the Pleiades having set at around midnight, when supposedly observed by her from the Greek island of Lesbos. Cuntz and co-author and astronomer Levent Gurdemir, director of the Planetarium at UTA, used software called Starry Night version 7.3, to identify the earliest date that the Pleiades would have set at midnight or earlier in local time in 570 B.C. The Planetarium system Digistar 5 also allows creating the night sky of ancient Greece for Sappho's place and time. Gurdemir stated:

"Use of Planetarium software permits us to simulate the night sky more accurately on any date, past or future, at any location. This is an example of how we are opening up the Planetarium to research into disciplines beyond astronomy, including geosciences, biology, chemistry, art, literature, architecture, history and even medicine."

The Starry Night software demonstrated that in 570 BC., the Pleiades set at midnight on Jan. 25, which would be the earliest date that the poem could relate to. As the year progressed, the Pleiades set progressively earlier. Cuntz explains:

"The timing question is complex as at that time they did not have accurate mechanical clocks as we do, only perhaps water clocks. For that reason, we also identified the latest date on which the Pleiades would have been visible to Sappho from that location on different dates some time during the evening."

This date would have been at the end of astronomical twilight--the moment when the Sun's altitude is -18 degrees and the sky is regarded as perfectly dark. In this year, that date was March 31. This allowed Cuntz to draw his conclusions.

"From there, we were able to accurately seasonally date this poem to mid-winter and early spring, scientifically confirming earlier estimations by other scholars."

Those interested can read the full report here.

• Wednesday, May 18, 2016
  ancient Hellenic culture archeology current affairs Sappho

The sensation of love, according to Sappho

I am on vacation with my girlfriend and her family and that's always a time for me to go very mushy and loving. We're both busy people and don't get to spend as much time together as we would like, but now we do and it's wonderful! So, today you are getting Sappho's thoughts on how love feels and you can see if you relate as much as I do. Have a lovely day, people. While you are reading this, chances are that I am packing up to go home or on a boat or in a car to do so. Thank you, Wiki people, for the help today. I have to pack.

Sappho 31 is an archaic Hellenic lyric poem written by Ancient Hellenic female poet Sappho of the island of Lesbos. This poem was in antiquity known as 'phainetai moi' (φαίνεταί μοι) after the opening words of its first line. The poem is a good representation of archaic lyric poetry, in that the persona and personal emotions of the poet are central to the poemʻs form; it is written in the first person singular, and the speaker is a woman in love with another woman, as in so many of Sapphoʻs poems. Some have seen it as a fragment from an epithalamion - a wedding poem, intended to be sung to the bride at the entrance to her nuptial chamber; it does not share any of the attributes of the classic form called enkomion--a poem of praise. It is perhaps Sappho's most famous poem.

Sappho 31 was one of the two substantially complete poems by Sappho to survive from ancient times, written in Sappho's vernacular form of Greek, the Lesbian-Aeolic dialect. Sappho's poems were designed to be sung, and use direct and emotional language, in this case about the longing of love. Sappho starts by praising the beauty of the bridegroom, likening him to a god, but then describes her jealousy and the physical manifestations of her distress upon seeing a young woman whom she loves with her new husband, the epiphany bringing her to a symbolic death.

Longinus's treatise 'On the Sublime' (Περὶ ὕψους, Perì hýpsous) selects the poem as an example of the sublime for the intensity of its passionate emotions. It was quoted in Plutarch's 'Dialogue on Love' (Έρωτικός, Erotikos) in his Moralia (a Latin translation of the original Greek title, Ἠθικά, Ethika, Ethics).

Sappho - Fragment 31

 

He appears to me, that one, equal to the gods,
the man who, facing you,
is seated and, up close, that sweet voice of yours
he listens to

 

And how you laugh your charming laugh. Why it
makes my heart flutter within my breast,
because the moment I look at you, right then, for me,
to make any sound at all won’t work any more.

 

My tongue has a breakdown and a delicate
— all of a sudden — fire rushes under my skin.
With my eyes I see not a thing, and there is a roar
that my ears make.

 

Sweat pours down me and a trembling
seizes all of me; paler than grass
am I, and a little short of death
do I appear to me.

• Tuesday, May 17, 2016
  ancient Hellenic culture personal poetry blogging Sappho

Khernips masterpost

I was requested to write a sort of 'khernips masterpost', so here we are. Because the concept of khernips is so linked to ritual purification--because khernips is the method through which we become ritually clean--we will also discuss the practice of katharmos and the notion of ritual pollution: miasma.

Within Hellenic practice, miasma describes the lingering aura of uncleanliness in regards to a person or space through which contact is made with the Gods. Miasma occurs whenever the space or person comes into contact with death, sickness, birth, sex, excessive negative emotions and bodily fluids. It also comes from a lack of contact with the Hellenic Gods. Not the actual acts of dying, sex and birth cause miasma but the opening up of the way to the Underworld (with births and deaths) as well as contact with sweat, blood, semen, menstrual blood and urine pollutes us. Miasma is an incredibly complicated and involved practice and it's often misunderstood. The most important things to remember about miasma is that it holds no judgment from the Gods, and that everyone attracts miasma. It's a mortal, human, thing.

The practice of purification is called katharmos (Καθαρμός). The process of katharmos is elaborate because the process not only involves the physical but also the emotional, mental and spiritual. In modern practice, it usually starts with a shower, but this is not a historic necessity. Step two is the preparation and use of khernips. Beyond the practical, there is a large mental component to katharmos. It means leaving behind negativity, worry, pain and trouble before getting in contact with the Gods.

The greatest barrier in understanding miasma and katharmos, to me, is our modern frame of mind. On the one hand, we know too much about personal hygiene, about the human body and about science as a whole, on the other hand religion has become something separate from life in general. As a result, we colour ancient Hellas with our 'hygiene brush'. Secondly, not everyone has faith, our society does no longer revolve around it, and as a result, we--as modern religious people--struggle for a mindset of simple, all-encompassing, unquestionable worship. There might be a few remnants of 'Original Sin Thinking' lodged in there as well.

After a lot of research into the workings of miasma, I have come to the conclusion that miasma is linked to distraction. Anything that takes your mind off of the Gods during ritual can be considered miasmic. For example, the ancient Hellenes agreed that murder causes miasma (when not committed as part of a war, soldiers were not tainted with miasma for killing their enemies), but only once other people became aware of the fact that you had committed an act of murder. As such, if you were exiled and you travelled to another town where no one knew what you had done, in essence, you were not miamic to the rites and people around you.

We all incur miasma, every single day of our lives. It has nothing to do with sin, shame or guilt. Miasma is a consequence of living. We breath, make decisions, come in contact with others, and along the way, we become too human--for lack of a better term--to petition the Gods. The divide between the purity and cleanliness of the Theoi and our human mortality and imperfection keeps us away from Them. Miasma is not about being physically dirty, although that is a part of it, and katharmos is not about becoming physically clean, although that is a part of it as well. Katharmos is devotional. It not only helps you get in a ritualistic mood, it prepares the room and your body for it. Even if you do not understand the use, it's a vital part of Hellenistic worship.

Khernips are the traditional way to cleanse yourself from miasma. As far as basic information goes,
khernips is created by dropping smoldering incense or herb leaves into water. When throwing in the lit item, one can utter ‘xerniptosai’ (pronounced 'zer-nip-TOS-aye-ee') which translates as ‘be purified’. Both hands are washed with khernips and you can wash the face as well. The vessel holding the khernips is called a khernibeionas (Χερνῐβεῖον).

Artwork has taught us that khernips was often applied just outside the temenos, with hands being washed in a bowl or water poured out of a jug while the supplicant washed their hands. The water was collected from a moving source of water, which could be a natural spring, a river, or even the sea. Moving water was considered sacred, and often viewed as an extension of the body of a stream/river/sea God(dess). For my video tutorial on how to prepare and apply khernips, go here.

As with anything concerning miasma, most books on ancient Hellas and/or Hellenic religion don't mention khernips at all, or under a synonym. As with miasma, I am going to assume this is because the evidence of its existance is so flimsy besides a resounding 'it was used and important'. My rather vast collection of scholarly material is silent on any details beyond the basic information already provided. As such, I am forced to speculate based upon what I know.

Personally, I tend to mix tap water with sea water into a large vessel from which I take a measure every evening to use throughout the day. I drop the smoldering firebrand (a match when traveling, a bit of burning wood or herbs when home) into the measure poured our, not the vessel itself. So, in short, I prepare the base in advance but the actual mixture on the spot. I only use one measure one day, after that, I dip it out onto the earth and replace it with a fresh batch before my evening rituals.

Khernips is important, and it's important they are properly prepared, but in the large scheme of things, I feel it's more important you actually perform the ritualistic motions without a specific part of it than skipping it altogether. So, no, you can't make khernips without dropping something smouldering in, but that doesn't mean you can't wash before ritual and improvise a little. Drop herbs into the water and wash with that, drop essential oils in it, if you don't have herbs. Find something to make the water special, and then use it to cleanse yourself. Just go through the motions and focus on the rites ahead. That is its function and it should be used as such.

• Monday, May 16, 2016
  ancient Hellenic culture Hellenic Reconstruction Hellenismos 101 katharmos khernibeionas khernips requested post

Question Collections post 47

I get a lot of questions from readers, and most of the time, the answers are fairly short. When I feel the question or the reply would be valuable to others as well, I make a post with a collection of them and post them in one go. Today is one of those posts.

"I'm looking into getting a bowl for burning my sacrifices. However, I'm terrified of getting a bowl that will crack (or...explode?) under the heat of the flame. How did you know your bowl could withstand the fire and how can I know if any bowl I'm looking at can do the same?"

When it comes to sacrificial bowls, my number one tip is this: if it can withstand the heat of the oven, it can withstand the heat of a sacrifice. This means two things: if you buy it anywhere (cooking store, departement store) and it says 'oven proof', you are usually good. Fire it up in the oven at the hottest setting for 20 minutes, let it cool down, then take it outside, start a fire and see what it does. Let it cool down and start another fire. Let it cool down and start another fire. Check it for any cracks, bubbles, weak spots and if it looks secure, you are probably safe to use it. Do a stress test like this every few months and always clean the bowl after your sacrifices so you can inspect it properly. If it starts showing imperfections, switch it out. Don't take chances with fire indoors.

~~~

"I wanted to ask if it was possible to be a Hellenic recon and still pray to other Gods on occasion (Odin and Thor for example) Did the ancient Greeks sometimes pray to non Olympian Gods? I know for instance that the Romans did. Thank you in advance."

The ancient Hellenes rather liked their Gods and not so much the Gods of others. In Athens, for example, the Decree of Diopeithes made the introduction of and belief in foreign Gods a criminal offence. They allowed outsiders to pray to their own Gods in separate temples, but in general, the ancient Hellenes prayed to their own and considered integrating other Gods into (temple) worship miasmic. If the ancient Hellenes really, really, really wanted to pray to another God, They were integrated into the pantheon through syncretism. This happened mostly with local Gods or foreign cults, including those of Cybele and the Thracian Goddess Bendis.
 

Syncretism functioned as a feature of Hellenistic ancient Hellenic religion, although only outside of the Hellenic empire until the time of Alexander the Great. As the empire expanded, it begun to show more syncretist features, blending Mesopotamian, Persian, Anatolian, and Egyptian elements within an Hellenic formula. The Egyptian God Amun is a good example as the ancient Hellenes developed Him as the Hellenized 'Zeus Ammon' and His worship was brought back mostly to Sparta where He even had a temple and oracle. Alexander the Great, by the way, was considered to be a son of Zeus Ammon and thus considered himself divine.
 

If you can and want to pray to non-Hellenic Gods is a personal choice. We don't live in ancient Hellas anymore. I don't do it because I don't want to taint my bomos and Elaion as an organisation discourages it, but if it works for you, it works for you. I'm not one to dictate what you can and cannot do. But this is the history behind why I don't.

 

~~~

"I want to make khernips, but I have no incense or leaves, but I do have lots of tea on hand. Could I burn those as a substitute? And if so, how do you suggest going about burning loose leaf or bagged tea safely?"

Hum... yes, you could use tea. It's not exactly traditional but it could work. I have a few issues with the concept though: a teabag will catch flame like 'omgfirehelpputitoutnowwhereismybowlomfg' and burning loose tea (from a teabag, anyway) is... I won't say impossible but setting fire to it in, for example, a spoon and dumping it in the water before it burns out would take some magnificent feats of athleticism. And you'll end up with water full of junk in it that you'll get in your hair and on your clothes and just... no. Besides, the loose tea will burn up--literally--and be a fire hazard. Truly, you are better off going to your grocery store, buying a big pot of bay leaves for a dollar and burning one of those. Cheaper, easier, and much less of a fire hazard.

 

 ~~~

 

"Do you know any myth about wisteria? I'd like to offer wisteria to the Gods..."

I don't, because I am fairly certain (but I am not a botanist so someone correct me if I am wrong) is a fairly modernly sprouted (sub)species of the tree. I know it developed in China first and came to Japan and the US somewhere in 1800+. I also know the ancient Hellenes reached China at some point and named 'China' 'Sinae'.

Drawing on ancient Hellenic maps and what we know if the time of Alexander the Great and his campaign, I think it's fair to say that Alexander the Great got past the Indus River, but his conquests stalled in India. So, he never fought the Chinese, and it is unlikely that he encountered them. Alexander the Great founded the city of Alexandria Eschate ("Alexandria the Farthest") in 329 BC, in the Furghana Valley of what is now Tajikistan. The Hellenistic descendants of these settlers probably were the first people of European descent to encounter the Chinese around 220 BC. This contact, with the efforts of the Chinese Han dynasty, led to the development of the Silk Road in the next century.

So this is the first point in time by which wisteria could have been brought to ancient Hellas--and I am not sure if the genus existed alread by then. So there are certainly no myths and I am also not sure the ancient Hellenes (or even the Romans) offered it to the Gods. But if you would like to, you can, of course!

~~~

"Is Euterpe or Apollon the theos connected to music? My theory is that when you are moved by music, beautiful lyric or sound that gives you chills and brings tears to your eyes, that it is the theoi. That they come to where the energy and passion calls them."

The short answer is 'both', and I agree that when you feel that shiver run down your spine, there is a touch of the divine in the tunes you hear.

The Muses (Μοῦσαι) are either three or nine in number, depending on the source. Plutarch, in his Quaestiones Conviviviales, named three Muses; Melete (Practice), Mneme (Memory), and Aoede (Song), but Hesiod described nine of them in his Theogony; Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Euterpe (flutes and lyric poetry), Thaleia/Thalia (comedy and pastoral poetry), Melpomene (tragedy), Terpsikhore (dance), Erato (love poetry), Polyhymnia/Polymnia (sacred poetry) and Urania (astronomy). Due to the influence of Hesiod, Hómēros and others of their time, it's the nine Muses we now go with.

These nine muses were born from Zeus and his aunt and fifth wife, Mnemosyne, who was the personification of memory. The Muses, back then, were simply Deities, in charge of Their own aspects of mortal life. Euterpe was the 'Giver of light', for example. Their function and status as Muses was a later, Roman, addition.

The muses are well represented in both mythology as Hellenic art. Not only does nearly every hero, poet and even some of the Theoi call out for Them when They're in a bind, but there is even a tragic story in which nine young women get turned into birds for their hubris. In this myth, King Pierus, king of Macedon named his nine beautiful and talented daughters after the muses and went on to boast that the Pierides--his daughters--were equal or even better in their arts than the Muses ever were. Needless to say, neither the Muses, nor the Gods took to this kindly. As punishment for his hubris, Pierus had to watch as his beautiful daughters were transformed into Magpies.

Apollon Mousagetēs, an epithet of Apollon, is said to lead the Muses. His name means 'Apollon Muse-leader'. As such, he can be seen depicted on vases and murals with the Muses.

• Sunday, May 15, 2016
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