Zakynthos Island finds are not ancient, researchers determine

Today, a lesson in caution. According to a team of scientists from the United Kingdom and Greece, the underwater ‘archaeological remains’ of a long-lost Hellenic city in the waters surrounding Zakynthos Island were in fact created by a naturally occurring phenomenon, this reports Sci news.


When divers discovered what looked like paved floors, courtyards and colonnades, they thought they had found the ruins of an ancient Hellenic city that perished when tidal waves hit the shores of the island of Zakynthos. But new research, published in the journal Marine and Petroleum Geology, reveals that the site was created by a natural geological phenomenon that took place in the Pliocene era – up to 5 million years ago. Lead author of the piece, Professor Julian Andrews, from the University of East Anglia stated:

"The site was discovered by snorkelers and first thought to be an ancient city port, lost to the sea. There were what superficially looked like circular column bases, and paved floors. But mysteriously no other signs of life – such as pottery."

The discovery was carefully examined in situ by the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities of Greece.
Archaeologist Magda Athanasoula and diver Petros Tsampourakis studied the site, together with Prof. Michael Stamatakis from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. After the preliminary analyses, a research team was formed. The scientists went on to investigate in detail the mineral content and texture of the underwater formation in minute detail, using microscopy, X-ray and stable isotope techniques. According to Andrews:

"We investigated the site, which is 6.5 – 16.4 feet (2 – 5 m) under water, and found that it is actually a natural geologically occurring phenomenon. The disk and doughnut morphology, which looked a bit like circular column bases, is typical of mineralization at hydrocarbon seeps – seen both in modern seafloor and paleo settings."

The research team found that the linear distribution of these doughnut shaped concretions is likely the result of a sub-surface fault which has not fully ruptured the surface of the sea bed. The fault allowed gases, particularly methane, to escape from depth. Prof. Andrews explained:

"Microbes in the sediment use the carbon in methane as fuel. Microbe-driven oxidation of the methane then changes the chemistry of the sediment forming a kind of natural cement, known to geologists as concretion. In this case the cement was an unusual mineral called dolomite which rarely forms in seawater, but can be quite common in microbe-rich sediments. These concretions were then exhumed by erosion to be exposed on the seabed today."

According to the team, this kind of phenomenon is quite rare in shallow waters.

"Most similar discoveries tend to be many hundreds and often thousands of meters deep underwater. These features are proof of natural methane seeping out of rock from hydrocarbon reservoirs. The same thing happens in the North Sea, and it is also similar to the effects of fracking, when humans essentially speed up or enhance the phenomena."
 
Zakynthos (Ζάκυνθος) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands. The name, like all similar names ending in -nthos, is pre-Mycenaean or Pelasgian in origin. Homeros mentions the island in the Iliad and the Odyssey, stating that the first inhabitants of it were the son of King Dardanos of Troy called Zakynthos and his men. In mythology the island was then conquered by King Arkesios of Kefalonia, and then by Odysseus from Ithaca.
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Google calendar updated for the next six months

The ancient Hellenic calendar is a complicated affair. To make it easier to keep up with your home worship, I keep a Google calendar with the 'kata theion', the 'sacred month', and the festival days. It can be found here. Yesterday, I updated it for another half year. Since that took forever, this announcement is all the post you are going to get for today ;-)



Oh, don't forget I also have another calendar for you to follow on your phone or browser. This one is the Elaion event calendar, which will inform you of upcoming PAT rituals, as well as important dates for Pandora's Kharis. You can find it here. This one is updated as events come up.


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Thargelion updates

On the day of the Hene kai Nea, I post a monthly update about things that happened on the blog and in projects and organizations related to it. I will also announce Elaion's coming PAT rituals.

Changes to the blog:
  • The page of the Hellenic Festival Year has been updated; more festivals are now linked to posts on the blog so you can easily gather information. I have also added a link to Elaion's PAT ritual page and I have added *'s when the listed festival has a PAT ritual uploaded for it. I haven't linked to it directly as we update the rituals every year and I'm sure I'll end up with a ton of broken links if I do.
  • I am still spending every free minute on the house, so other projects are coming along slowly on the blog. I'll post up the new Google calendar soon, for at least the next six months (to December or so)
Statistics:
PAT rituals for Skirophorion:
  • 08/06 - Skirophorion 3 – Sacrifice to Kourotrophos, Athena Polias, Aglaurus, Zeus Polieus, Poseidon & possibly Pandrosos at Erkhia
  • 17/06 - Skirophorion 12 – Skirophoria – festival in honor of Athena, Poseidon, Apollon & Demeter; the Tritopatores were worshipped at Marathon on the eve of this festival
  • 19/06 - Skirophorion 14 – Dipolieia – festival in honor of Zeus Poleius
  • 05/07 - Skirophorion 30 – Sacrifice to Zeus the Savior and Athena the Savior
Anything else?
Are you looking for an online shop to buy incenses and other Hellenistic basics from? Try The Hellenic Handmaid on Etsy.
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PAT ritual announcement: The sacrifice to the Kourotrophos, Athena Polias, Aglauros, Pandrosos, Zeus Polieus, and Poseidon

On the 8th of June, which converts to the third of the month of Skiraphorion, two festivals were held, one in Athens and one in Erkhia. The first was the Arrephoria and, as I will explain later, was not a public festival. As such, we will not celebrate it as such. It is, however, a festival of Athena Polias who was also honoured at Erkhia on this day, along with the Kourotrophos, Aglaurus, Pandrosos, Zeus Polieus, and Poseidon. Will you join us at 10 am EDT?

 
Let's start with some background on the Arrephoria festival, as it seems to have influenced the sacrifice at Erkhia. The Arrephoria festival wasn't a state festival; young girls in the service performed a ritual for Athena Polias as a public service, but beyond those girls, their mentors, and perhaps their parents, no one was very concerned with it. As with most secret rites, I'm sure people knew a rite was being held, but knew it was not their business to interfere. As long as the rite was performed, all would be well for them. The girls who were selected for the honour of tending for Athena were in service of Athena Polias for an entire year and were called 'Arrephoros' (Ἀρρήφορος), Arrephoroi as a group, consisting of four members.

The Arrephoroi were always girls between the age of seven and eleven, although seven and ten seem to be the ages that are mentioned most often. They were selected from the wealthy and powerful families of Athens, as those families were considered to be especially blessed. Excavations on the Acropolis have led to the discovery of their quarters, and even their playground. It seems even mini-priestesses can't be priestesses all the time. The young girls seem to have favored ball games and were lodged near the Erechtheion in an area which was the main inhabited area on the Acropolis in Mycenaean times.

The Arrephoroi had three important tasks to perform in their term. One of the tasks the young girls assisted in was the creation of the peplos for Athena Polias, which was presented to Her during the Panathenaia. Secondly, they were almost solely in charge of grounding the meal for the honey cakes which were placed upon the altar of Athena during religious ceremonies. As a special part of their service, they performed the Arrephoria. During the Arrephoria, the priestess of Athena Polias gave the young arrephoroi sealed baskets to carry to a nearby cave. Here, the girls were supposed to enter, walk the corridor, set down their baskets at the end and pick up ones which have stood there for a year. When they returned with the baskets, it signaled the end of their year of service and they were dismissed. They were replaced with new girls who would serve the Theia.

It seems the Arrephoria ritual has ties to the ancient Athenian myth of Erichthonios (Ἐριχθόνιος), child of Hēphaistos and Athena, through Gaea, who was half man, half snake, and left in a basket by Athena, to be cared for by three of Her young attendants at the Acropolis, with clear instructions not to open the basket. They did, of course, and were scared so by the sight of either a snake in the basket, or Erichthonios' deformities, they cast themselves off of the Acropolis in terror. Yet, despite his deformities, Erichthonios became king of Athens and ruled it long and well. Myth tells us it was Erichthonios who founded the Panathenaiac Festival in the honour of Athena.

It seems that there was a certain fertility aspect to the rite, not for humans, but for the olive tree. The rite was most likely performed when the first dew settled on the sacred olive tree on top of the Acropolis--very near where the girls were housed--or when dew was about to settle onto it. In climates as dry as Hellas, dew was needed to produce rich fruit. The months following Skiraphorion are crucial to the olive crop and in ancient times, olive trees--and Athena's sacred olive tree--were vital to the survival of Athens. Olive oil was a main export product, it was used in nearly everything, from cooking to sacred rites, and Athena's olive tree atop the Acropolis had been her gift to the city, which led to her patronage over the city, instead of that of Poseidon. It is said that the sacred olive oil gifted as a reward for winning the Panathenaia te megala was harvested from that very tree. Its survival, and the bearing of good fruit, were therefor essential.

The Arrephoria was performed to appease Athena and to assure the best possible (divine) conditions for the sacred olive tree of Athena on the Acropolis--and, by proxy, all olive trees--to grow and bear fruit. These young girls performed a vital part of this rite to make up for the failings of Herse and Aglauros. For much more information about the Arrephoria, please see here.

So why did the ancient Erkhians sacrifice to this marry band of Theoi on this day? They are all linked to the city's well-being and the circumstances that led to the creation of the Arrephoria festival. Athena Polias is regarded as Protector of the City (of Athens). She had a sactuary on the north side of the Acropolis, the Erechtheion. Built between 421 and 406, the Erechtheion was associated with some of the most ancient and holy relics of the Athenians: the Palladion, which was a xoanon--an aniconic cult-statue--of Athena Polias, the marks of Poseidon's trident and the salt water well that resulted from Poseidon's strike, the sacred olive tree that sprouted when Athena struck the rock with her spear in her successful rivalry with Poseidon for the city, the supposed burial places of the mythical kings Cecrops and Erechtheus, the sacred precincts of Cecrops' three daughters and those of the tribal heroes Pandion and Boutes.

The sisters entrusted with the care for Erichthonios, hidden away in a basket, were Aglauros and her sister Pandrosos. For their roles in the Arrephoria rites, they seem to have been regarded as fertility deities in Athens. Aglauros had a sanctuary on the Acropolis in which young men of military age swore an oath to her as well as to Zeus and to other deities. Herse, sometimes regarded as a third sister, has no mention in the accounts of the Arrephoria and was not honoured at Erkhia.

Athena Polias and Poseidon were included because of the founding mythology surrounding Athens and Zeus Polieus was another powerful protector of the city. His inclusion might not be intirely linked to myths and practices surrounding Erichthonios, but His inclusion makes sense.

The Kourotrophos (κουροτρόφος, child nurturer) are (mostly) female deities who watched over growing children--and especially boys. Gaea, Artemis, and Hekate come to mind but Aglauros and Pandrossos were also considered Kouroptrophoi. Specific offerings to Them are known from the demos Erkhia but duplicate similar offerings on the Acropolis of Athens. Especially at Erkhia, it varied per sacrifice which Kourotrophos was/were sacrificed to. In this sacrifice They were honoured for the fertility aspect of Erichthonios being born from Athena as well as Gaea and the desired fertility of olive trees so we know at least Gaea, Aglauros and Pandrosos were honoured.

The Kourotrophos received a pig, Athena Polias a sheep, Aglouros received a sheep as well, but the remains of which were not to be removed from the bomos, which was equally true for the sheep Zeus Polieus received. Poseidon and Pandrosos also received sheep. All animals were the gender of the deity in question.

We hope you will join us for this sacrifice on June 8 at 10 am EDT. You can find the ritual here and join the community page here.
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Newly funded virtual reality project to focus on the underwater history of the Mediterranean

The Archaeological News Network reports that an underwater virtual reality project, iMareCulture, which is being launched by the Cyprus University of Technology (TEPAK) in Limassol has secured total EU funding of € 2.7 million over the next three years after scoring 14 out of 15 in open competition.


The EU competition called for projects that involve the creation of virtual museums and social platforms on European digital heritage, memory, identity and cultural interaction. TEPAK’s programme iMareCulture focuses on underwater cultural heritage. The university said their proposal was one of only four out of 96 proposals submitted that won funding in the competition.

Although the commercial sea routes of antiquity, and ancient shipwrecks, constituted irrefutable proof of cultural interaction in the Mediterranean, the university stated that:

"...unfortunately, because of their nature, ancient shipwrecks and submerged archaeological sites are inaccessible to the public."

iMareCulture will explore ways to bring this inherently inaccessible sunken cultural heritage to the general public through the use of virtual reality, which will involve collecting, processing and creating three-dimensional versions of existing underwater shipwrecks. On completion of the programme, remote visitors will be able to have a personalised visit to the underwater environment through a virtual reality museum using interactive holograms. The plan also includes real-time images through tablets placed at the underwater sites that will transmit data as to the exact locations of the shipwrecks and information about their history.

Other than TEPAK, around ten universities will take part in the project including the University of Cyprus’ MARELAB department, the Concordia University of Canada, France’s Aix Marseille University and University of Lisbon in Portugal.
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Question Collections post 49

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 love the outlines you posted on your morning and evening prayer, but you say that at the end of your evening prayer you drink the rest of your libation. Aren't the Gods and Goddesses your honoring (Nyx, Hypnos, Hekate, etc) Cthonic and receive all of the wine libation? Sorry, just trying to sort out my own practice."

That would be this outline. I get where the confusion comes from. As a short recap, my evening rituals include sacrifices to Nyx, Selene, Hypnos, Morpheus and Hekate. None of these are actually Kthonic, at least not in the epithets I sacrifice to Them in.

'Khthonic' literally means 'subterranean' and usually refers to deities of the earth or underworld. It is a very narrow subset of Gods that this refers to and most have Ouranic epithets as well. Khthonic deities recieve holocaustal sacrifice, yes--sacrifice given whole--but these rites are purely ouranic and such the libation can be shared.

Most of the Theoi honoured in my evening rites are pre-Olympians. Contrary to the Olympians, the pre-Olympians are actually of the world; They, together, form the tapistry of earth and life. They literally make up our universe. The Protogenoi (Πρωτογενοι) are the First Born Deities of the Hellenic Kosmos. They are the building blocks of the universe, primordial Deities. Nyx and Hypnos are included in this list. Then came the Titanes Gods which includes Morpheus and another generation down are other Titanes like Hekatê and Selênê.

All of the Theoi I worship are ouranic in nature--nighttime Gods, yes, but presiding over domains related to mortal life, not the dead and not the fertile earth. Nyx and Selene personify the night sky, Hypnos and Morpheus preside over sleep and (pleasant, I hope) dreams, and Hekate--while a liminal Goddess and one often assumed to be Khthonic--was most often worshipped as an ouranic household Goddess who presided over the bourders of the property on which the house stood. Basically, she keeps bad things out and during the night while I am asleep, that is exactly when I want Her blessing most.

So no, They should not recieve a holocaustal libation during my evening sacrifices, but because of the nighttime element, I get where you are coming from. It's important to note that 'nighttime' does not automatically mean 'khthonic', just like daytime does not automatically means 'ouranic'. Varios Theoi and events call for specific rites, times and practices and the process is involved. the distinction between ouranic and khthonic can shift with almost all Theoi and so does Their cult worship in these cases. If you are just starting out, this may seem confusing but I promise you it will start making sense. you will start to feel it when something slips away from being ouranic. Until then, keep asking questions!

~~~

"It is correct that for the men's version of the doric chiton, it only comes to the knees?"

I have talked before about ancient Hellenic clothing before, including a video of how to put it on. The chiton (khitōn, χιτών) came in two forms: the Doric chiton and the later Ionic chiton. The Doric style was open on one side, sleeveless and didn't have the apoptygma the peplos had, while the Ionic chiton was pinned or sewn from top to bottom, was made with a much wider piece of fabric, and had sleeves. A woman's chiton would always be worn at ankle length. Men wore the long chiton during the Archaic period, but later wore it at knee length, except for certain occupations such as priests and charioteers, and also the elderly. They wore it long even later on.

~~~

"I'm kind of trying to reconstruct the culture of Hellas as well as the religion - would it be imperative that I read ancient Hellenic books? P.S. do we Hellenics have an anthem? I've tried writing one and drawing a flag, but they probably won't work..."

As you probably know, I feel that reconstructionist faiths work on a basic premise: those who practiced it first, practiced it best. If we want to worship these Gods, we should do it in a way which the Gods are used to and expect of us. Yet, society has changed. Other religions have come and gone. People have changed. Some practices have no place in current society but... how do we decide which practices should or should not be revived? And is it really up to us to decide this?

When you say 'reconstruct the culture of Hellas', are you referring to the ancient culture of it or are you describing nationalist thought about the current state of Greece? I'm not in favour of either, to be honest. I have written about that in length here but it boils down to the following: we live in the now and culture, while influenced by the Gods, does not dictate religion. My preference is to bring as much of the ancient religion into modern culture as we can while being respectful to both.

As for reading ancient Hellenic books, I am always going to advice you do that. Read modern academic texts, read various translations of the classics, read the classics in ancient Greek if you can. It's absolutely imperative to me, yes.

Do we have an anthem? No, I suppose not, nor a flag. Why? And more accurately: why do I feel we don't need one? National anthems rose to prominence in Europe during the 19th century AD. The tradition of having national flags started in Denmark in the early 1200's. Back in ancient Hellas flags were everywhere and every city-state had at least one to carry into battle. Again, I believe we are reconstructing a religion, not a country. Carry your own national flag (and/or the glag of Greece if you feel so inclined, but remember that ancient Hellas stretched far beyond the bourders of modern Greece) into ceremony. That's pretty much what the ancient Hellenes did.

~~~

"Do you know anything about doing divination by looking at a fire or at a laurel leef burning up?"

Let's see... divinition by looking into a fire is called causimancy or pyromancy and it's been used since, well, pretty much since we figured out how to control fire. We've read the flames (lampadomancy), read the smoke (capnomancy), read the burning coals (anthracomancy), read the ashes (spodomancy), and yes, by tossing plant material into it and seeing how it burns. That last one is called 'botanomancy'.

Divination came in two forms in ancient Hellas--or more accurately, through two channels. Oracles given directly, like at Delphi, were rare and called chesmomancy. All other forms of divination practiced in ancient Hellas were performed by seers, not oracles. The biggest difference between oracles and seers was that oracles gave long answers which usually needed some for of interpretation while seers usually answered yes-or-no questions.

Divination of any kind was rarely turned to, to predict the future. To desire knowledge of the future was considered hubris. Instead, oracles and seers were petitioned to help answer questions about the present or to advice on a decision which had to be made in the very near future. Divination played a fairly large role in Hellenic every day life and any and all means of divination were used by seers to 'help' the common folk. I am certain pyromancy and botanomancy were used as well.
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On Solon, modern politics and hate

Strictly speaking, I don't follow one of the ancient hellenic phylosophical and ethical paths. I'm a bit of a stoic when it comes to my ethical framework but most of it is a conglomoration of life's lessons, and ancient and modern words. I do have people whose words of ethical thought always--always--ring true to me. Well, I have one: Solon of Athens. For those of you not in the mood for a political rant, come back tomorrow. I don't ususally do this on my blog but I sometimes one needs an outlet for frustration.

Everyone who has been following this blog for a while knows how much I respect his work, his wisdom and his actions in life. Solon (Σόλων) was an Athenian statesman, lawmaker, and poet, who lived from 638 BC to 558 BC. He spent most of his adult life trying to legislate against political, economic, and moral decline in archaic Athens. His ideologies are often credited with having laid the foundations for Athenian democracy. As a statesman, Solon put principles before expediency. In a time when Athens was struggling under the burden of civil war, his reforms strove to bridge the gap between the rich an the poor. Solon's reforms created a system where the power was in the hands of the people, if they were willing to work hard for it.  For those without political aspirations, Solon's reforms provided judicial safety and a sense of power.

Solon's words of wisdom, of which quite a bit was preserved in fragments in the works of others, are sound. They speak of a way of life where hard work gets results and where complaining while sitting on your ass makes you a fool. That is the moral I live by every single day. It's a moral I honestly think everyone should live by every day. It would make the world a hell of a lot better.

I can't have escaped your notice that the world is in turmoil. I don't think there is a single country right now that is not feeling the effects of poor governemetn and/or the voices of hate. Hate against people coming for asylum from war, hate against the government for the loss of a job or funds, hate because they cannot see the many and great blessings of their life--like a roof over their head, food in their bellies every day, a big screen TV and Starbucks coffee. As a friendly reminder: people all across the world are dying in wars, from poverty, in droughts that have killed the crops, in floods, in forest fires, in little rubber boats in the middle of the sea. these people do not have homes, these people do not have food, these people do not have heathcare (no matter how expensive) and these people can only imagine the luxury of bug screen TV's and Starbucks.

Solon made an amazing statement once that I think holds true to this day:

"If you have suffered grief through your own wickedness, don’t blame the gods for this fate." [CURFRAG.tlg-0263.10]

This does not mean that you committed a crime and lost everything because you were sent to jail. To me, this means that you make your own damn happiness and if you spent 99% of your time complaining and bemoaning a higher power (be it religious or political) while losing sight of how damn good you actually have it then it's your own fault you feel miserable. I am running out of patience with you, extreme right voting, 'our people first', discriminating and often agressive inhabitants of my country and all other countries around the world. You know, Solon also said another thing:

"Good government makes everything well ordered and fit,
 And at the same time it throws shackles on the unjust.
 It levels out the rough, stops insolence, and weakens arrogance.
 It causes the growing blossoms of blindness to wither.
 It straightens crooked judgments and it levels out over-reaching deeds.
 It stops the acts of civil conflict and
 It stops the anger of grievous strife and because of it
 Everything among men is wisely and appropriately done." [Solon, fr. 4.32-39]

At this point in time, I think the world needs a Solon-inspired overhaul. Politicians, put on your ancient Athenian inspired big boy sandals and criminalize this hate. It may be born out of fear but it's still a hate that is consuming our countries and lives. Hunt down those who discriminate, ban it from your political landscape, make hate as punishable as acts of terror--because all actions of hate are acts of terror. Yes, it will cause riots, yes it will cause turmoil but we are in need of good, strong government. We are in need of elections where we don't have to hold our breaths in fear of the right wing extremists winning. We are in need of streets where muslim people can walk on without being terrorized. We are in need of soccer matches without banana's tossed onto the field. We are in need of open borders and a welcoming environment for refugees who truly need refuge. We are in need of strong government that speaks with one voice and a clear purpose.

As much as I love Solon, I think Socrates was right about one thing (paraphrased): people need governing. Solon had the right idea: idealy, people would govern themselves, but as Socrates put forth, an individual will put his or her percieved happiness before that of others every day. So I want a political overhaul that unifies the political landscape, an iron fist to smooth out the turmoil in the minds of people and reassure them that they can let go of their fear, and then put power back in their hands again. A massive overhaul to get back to true democracy with informed opinion. Because I am sick and tired of living in a country run by fear. It gives too much power to rogue extremists and it taints absolutely everything. We are better than this--we have been better than this for over 1600 years! No, ancient Hellas was not perfect and please let's not romanticise it, but at least they had the right idea every once in a while, which is more I can say for the current state of affairs.

This rant was brought to you because of fear mongers and hate enthousiasts who judge people by appearance, make hateful claims, speak and act out in violence and who are only able to feel accomplished when others have less than them. In the words of Solon: make reason your guide. Finally.
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