A) BERBERIS BERRIES. HIGH IN NUTRIENTS Barberries are highly nutritious. They are rich in carbs, fiber, and several vitamins and minerals.

In particular, the berries are an excellent source of vitamin C, an antioxidant that may help protect against cellular damage, which can lead to heart disease and cancer (2Trusted Source).

A 1/4-cup (28-gram) serving of dried barberries contains (3):

Calories: 89

Protein: 1 gram

Fat: 1 gram

Carbs: 18 grams

Fiber: 3 grams

Vitamin C: 213% of the Daily Value (DV)

Iron: 15% of the DV

In addition, barberries contain zinc, manganese, and copper, all of which are trace minerals that play significant roles in immunity and disease prevention.( 7Trusted Source).

1) The bright red color of the berries comes from anthocyanins, which are plant pigments that may boost your brain and heart health, among other benefits (8Trusted Source).

2) Contain beneficial plant compounds

Barberries are rich in berberine, a unique plant compound that may be associated with several health benefits.

Berberine is a member of the alkaloid family, a group of compounds known for their therapeutic effects (9Trusted Source, 10Trusted Source).

3) Studies have shown that it acts as a powerful antioxidant, combating cell damage caused by reactive molecules called free radicals (11Trusted Source).

Also, berberine may help reduce blood sugar and cholesterol levels, slow the progression of certain cancer cells, fight infections, and have anti-inflammatory effects (12Trusted Source, 13Trusted Source).

What’s more, barberries contain other compounds that may have health benefits, such as other alkaloids and organic acids. Yet, most research has focused on berberine (12Trusted Source).

SUMMARY

Barberries contain a high concentration of berberine, a therapeutic compound with antioxidant activity that may provide several health benefits.

Contain beneficial plant compounds

Barberries are rich in berberine, a unique plant compound that may be associated with several health benefits.

Studies have shown that it acts as a powerful antioxidant, combating cell damage caused by reactive molecules called free radicals (11Trusted Source).

3) Barberries — and in particular their berberine content — may play a role in managing diabetes, a chronic disease marked by high blood sugar levels.

Specifically, berberine has been shown to improve how your cells respond to the hormone insulin, which regulates the amount of sugar in your blood. In turn, this may help lower your blood sugar levels (14Trusted Source, 15Trusted Source).

One 3-month study in 36 adults with type 2 diabetes found that taking 1.5 grams of berberine per day led to a significant 2% reduction in hemoglobin A1c — a measure of your average blood sugar control over the past 3 months — compared with baseline values (16Trusted Source).

In fact, researchers found that the beneficial effects of berberine on blood sugar and hemoglobin-A1c were comparable to those of the traditional diabetes drug METFORMIN (16Trusted Source).

Another 8-week study in 30 people with type 2 diabetes found that those who took 2 mg of dried barberry fruit extract daily had reduced hemoglobin A1c levels and significantly lower blood sugar levels, compared with a placebo group (17Trusted Source).

4) Can help treat diarrhea

Barberries have been used to treat diarrhea for centuries.

This is likely due to their high concentration of berberine, which helps slow the transit of feces through your gut by inhibiting certain receptors, thus PREVENTING, (20Trusted Source).

In fact, one of the oldest human studies on berberine found that it treated diarrhea caused by infections from certain bacteria, including E. coli (21Trusted Source).

Furthermore, one study in 196 adults with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D) found taking 800 mg of berberine hydrochloride per day significantly decreased the frequency of diarrhea and the urgent need to defecate, compared with a placebo (22Trusted Source).

While these results are interesting, more human research is needed to better understand how berberine and barberries may help treat diarrhea.

5)5. May protect against metabolic syndrome

Eating barberries may help prevent metabolic syndrome, which is a cluster of risk factors that increase your risk of heart disease and diabetes.

In particular, barberries may protect against obesity and high blood sugar, cholesterol, triglyceride, and blood pressure levels — all of which are risk factors for this syndrome (23Trusted Source).

One 8-week study in 46 patients with type 2 diabetes found that drinking around 7 ounces (200 mL) of barberry juice per day significantly reduced blood pressure, triglyceride, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels, compared with a placebo (24Trusted Source).

In addition to improving the risk factors for metabolic syndrome, barberries may help decrease oxidative stress in those who already have the condition.

Oxidative stress results from underlying cell damage caused by reactive molecules called free radicals. Having too much oxidative stress — and not enough antioxidants to fight it — can lead to heart disease and other health issues (25Trusted Source).

A 6-week study in 106 people with metabolic syndrome showed taking 600 mg of dried barberry per day significantly decreased oxidative stress compared with a placebo (25Trusted Source).

Based on these results, eating the berries may help decrease your chances of developing risk factors for metabolic syndrome, as well as reduce oxidative stress associated with it. Nevertheless, more research is needed.

6)Test-tube studies have shown that barberry extract can fight inflammation.

This is likely because berberine acts as a powerful .

It helps treat inflammatory dental diseases like gingivitis, which is marked by plaque buildup, swelling, and irritation of the gums.

One study in 45 boys between the ages of 11 and 12 found that applying barberry dental gel for 21 days reduced plaque and gingivitis significantly more than a placebo

The study also indicated that barberry gel was more effective than traditional anti-plaque toothpaste, but the results were not significant .

These results suggest that barberry treatments may promote good dental health, but more research is needed.

7)There are several different ways in which barberries may exert anticancer effects, all of which are related to berberine.

Since berberine acts as an antioxidant, it may help fight underlying oxidative damage associated with cancer development (28Trusted Source).

Additionally, berberine may prevent cancer cell replication, and inhibit enzymes involved in the life cycle of cancer cells (28Trusted Source).

Several test-tube studies have shown that berberine prevents tumor growth and initiates cell death in human prostate, liver, bone, and breast (32Trusted Source).

However, research is limited to test-tube studies, and more research is needed to better understand the potential role of barberries in cancer treatment and prevention)

8)Barberries may play a role in treating acne, a skin condition characterized by inflamed bumps and pimples.

Specifically, berberine and other compounds in barberries may help fight inflammation and infections associated with acne (33Trusted Source).

One study in adolescents with moderate to severe acne found that taking 600 mg of dried barberry extract per day for 4 weeks significantly reduced the average number of lesions, compared with a placebo (33Trusted Source).

The study concluded that extract from this berry may be a safe and effective treatment option for teenagers with acne, but more extensive research is needed.

9)Easy to add to your diet

Barberries are known to have a tart, slightly sweet flavor and can be eaten raw, in jam, or as a component of rice dishes and salads. They can also be juiced or used to make tea.

Supplemental forms of barberry include dried capsules, liquid extracts, and ointments or gels made from whole berries or berberine extract. However, due to the limited research in humans, there is no recommended dosage for barberry or berberine supplements.

While barberries are generally recognized as safe for most people, there are some reports that large amounts or high supplemental doses can cause stomach upset and diarrhea (15Trusted Source, 16Trusted Source, 34Trusted Source).

What’s more, there is no research on the effects of barberries in children or pregnant or lactating women. Therefore, barberry or berberine supplements should be avoided in these populations (34Trusted Source).

To reap the possible health benefits of barberries, try using whole, fresh berries in your cooking.

If you are interested in taking a barberry or berberine supplement, consult your healthcare provider first and look for a supplement that has been tested for quality by a third party.

10) Berberin reduces cortisol

B) RAW BROCCOLI AND ITS BENEFITS

By Signe Dean

Scientists found a healthier way

Broccoli has gained a reputation as an excellent vegetable due to its high levels of a particularly beneficial compound called SULFORAPHANE.

With some studies showing how this compound plays a role in blood sugar control and potentially even has anti-cancer benefits, it’s no wonder that broccoli pills are on the rise.

HOW EVER, A PREVIOUS STUDY SHOWED THAT EATING THE WHOLE BROCCOLI RAW, GETS YOU MORE SULFORAPHANEMUCH MORE, THAN TAKING A SUPPLEMENT

They arrived at a clear winner, publishing their results in 2018 in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry – but it’s a tough sell if you have better things to do with your time.

There’s a method behind the madness, though. SULFORAPHANE DOESN’T just sit there in the BROCCOLI FLORETS, ready to be consumed. Instead, the vegetable contains SEVERAL compounds called GLUCOSINOLATES.

It ALSO contains the enzyme MYROSINASE, which plants have evolved for defending themselves against HERBIVORES. Through what’s known as ‘MYROSINASE ACTIVITY’, THE GLUCOSINOLATES GET transformed into SULFORAPHANE, WHICH IS WHAT WE WANT.

To kick MYROSINASE activity into gear, you need to do damage to the broccoli, so you’d think cooking would do the TRICK.

Studies have shown that COMMON broccoli COOKING methods, like boiling and microwaving, SERIOUSLY REDUCE the amount of glucosinolates in the vegetable – even if you just zap it for a couple minutes. And myrosinase is SUPER SENSITIVE to heat, too.

Hence, by far the largest amount of SULFORAPHANE, you can get from broccoli is by MUNCHING ON RAW FLORETS. .

BABY RAW BROCCOL The team bought a bunch of broccoli from the local market and set to work, measuring the levels of compounds in the vegetables as they went.

First, they basically pulverized the broccoli, chopping it into 2-millimeter pieces to get as much MYROSINASE activity going as possible (REMEMBER, the ACTIVITY HAPPENS when BROCCOLI IS DAMAGED.

And that’s exactly what the team found – the broccoli that was stir-fried right away had 2.8 times less sulforaphane than the one left to ‘develop’ for longer.

The study was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

H Y P A T I A

The unique personality of Hypatia and her tragic end.
Hypatia was born, taught and died in Alexandria, Egypt in 415 AD.
She was a Greek Neoplatonic philosopher, mathematician and astronomer, who is considered one of the most important, if not the most important, philosophers of her time.
Most likely, she was born in 355 AD, and she met a martyr’s death at the age of 60 by a mob of fanatical Christians, who hacked her to pieces with broken vases or sharp shells and then burned her scattered and bloodied limbs.
Hypatia came from a prominent family, as she was the daughter of the famous mathematician, astronomer and philosopher Theon, the last director of the Library of Alexandria and the “Museum” (corresponding University), until their closure in 391 AD.
Theon, among other things, maintained his own philosophical school in Alexandria, which in the future became the place of Hypatia’s activity.
Initiated and trained by her father in mathematics, astronomy and philosophy, from a very early age she acquired knowledge disproportionately greater than that of women of her social class.
Her zeal for learning was so great that her interests developed immediately and to such an extent that she very quickly surpassed her father, at all levels. Soon, Hypatia, from a student, became her father’s scientific collaborator, while it is a fact that Theon very early on (almost 55 years old) handed over the keys to his school to her, maintaining the position of emeritus teacher.
Thus, Hypatia, already at the age of thirty, had managed to establish herself as a powerful force in the intellectual sphere in Alexandria.
All sources agree that Hypatia possessed great intellectual virtues, was a model of moral courage, justice, honesty, devotion to the state and spiritual boldness.
The virtue for which she was particularly appreciated was her sobriety, which was manifested both through her behavior and through sexual abstinence,
modest clothing, restraint and a dignified attitude towards students and the powerful of her time.
As Nikephoros Gregoras, a 14th-century Byzantine historian, reports, her name eventually became synonymous with a wise and prudent woman.
Alexandria, where Hypatia grew up, was perhaps the most important intellectual center of Greek civilization. It was a true multicultural metropolis, a religious center of Christians, pagans, and Jews, and a magnet for the most advanced philosophical and “scientific” views of that period.
The Museum, the Library, the temples of the Greek Gods, the churches, the circles of theologians, philosophers, and rhetoricians, the schools of mathematics, astronomy, and medicine, a catechism school, and a rabbinical synagogue composed the intellectual framework within which Hypatia developed her activity.
In this city, Hypatia had freedom of movement, she moved around wearing the characteristic philosophical cloak, the tribune, she met powerful officials, visited public and scientific institutions.
An important personality as a teacher, a beautiful woman, she inspired respect, although in certain circles she caused contradictions that reached the point of becoming the object of anger, attacks and insults.
During the mature period of her life, her teaching and philosophical activities in Alexandria had attracted a significant number of young people, who, impressed by her spiritual and intellectual gifts, had accepted her as their teacher.
Thus, she created a spiritual circle of students, who went to study with her, some for many years.
Her students came from Alexandria as well as from other parts of Egypt, from Syria, Cyrene and Constantinople, and belonged mainly to wealthy and powerful families.
Among her students were Synesius of Cyrene, later Metropolitan of Pentapolis, his brothers Eutropius and Alexander, the Alexandrian sophist Athanasius, Herculianus, a close friend of Synesius, Olympius, a wealthy landowner from Seleucia, Hesychius, governor of Upper Libya, and Theodosius, a grammarian who wrote rules for verbs and nouns.
Among Hypatia’s students, both Christians and Gentiles coexisted and conversed.
The school’s curriculum was broad and included a combination of mathematics and higher philosophy.
Hypatia was able to guide both students who desired a basic education in mathematics and those who sought a deeper, more comprehensive mathematical and philosophical education.
Unlike students at other schools, such as Proclus, who had to be taught mathematics by Heron but Aristotelian philosophy by Olympiodorus, a student at Hypatia’s school could be taught mathematics, astronomy, Aristotelian logic, and Platonic theology.

This enabled him to appreciate to a greater extent the deeper connection between mathematics and philosophy.
In her school, in addition to classical texts, all the new philosophical trends and their interpretations were taught.
Among other things, her students were familiar with Pythagorean philosophy and its concepts, a fact not so surprising, if one considers that Hypatia’s interests involved mathematics with philosophy.
The philosophical framework of Hypatia’s teaching was based on the work of the Neoplatonic philosophers Porphyry and Plotinus, but not on the Platonism of Iamblichus, which turned towards mystical practices, was pagan and tried to confront Christianity.
Thus, Hypatia’s philosophical approach suited the needs of her Alexandrian students very well, since Alexandria was a predominantly Christian city at that time.
At this point, the real power of Hypatia’s teaching becomes clear.
Christians continued to be keenly interested in philosophy, while at the same time they did not need to seek higher education from teachers influenced by Iamblichus, as there was a better alternative.
Thus, the tradition of Plotinus and Porphyry dominated Hypatia’s school, as opposed to the ritualistic elements of Iamblichus’ philosophy.
In this way, Hypatia managed to become the leading thinker of Alexandria for about 35 years.
Hypatia exerted enormous influence on the most important rulers of Alexandria and the Mediterranean.
Among them was the prefect Orestes, who maintained a very close relationship with her and consulted her on political matters.

Hypatia did not simply participate in the political events of Alexandria, but in fact she was the one who greatly influenced the political developments in the Hellenized city.
Hypatia’s involvement in politics greatly disturbed politicians of all nationalities, such as Christians and Jews.
Political-religious factors, such as Patriarch Cyril and the rabbis, did not accept being overshadowed by the Greek philosopher.
Despite protests and many recommendations, Hypatia continued to participate in the councils and never accepted to withdraw from active politics.
Around 414-415, the political-religious conflicts between different groups in Alexandria reached alarming proportions.
In this particularly turbulent period, the great rivalry between the patriarch Cyril and the prefect Orestes was exacerbated to a maximum extent.
Orestes stubbornly reacted to the attempts of Patriarch Cyril to usurp powers of public administration and remained faithful to his positions even when the Patriarch tried to reconcile with him.
Thus, suspicions arose among the followers of Cyril that Hypatia was the one who incited and supported his reaction.
At a gathering against Orestes, a group of fanatical monks attacked Orestes, with one of them hitting him on the head with a stone.
Orestes reacted harshly and ordered the monk’s arrest, torture, and execution.
Cyril’s supporters, unable to attack Hypatia on the pretext that she was a pagan, invented and spread rumors that she had used witchcraft and satanic invocations against the prefect, “the people of God,” and the entire city.
The dispute between the Patriarch and the prefect over the claim to political power and the influence of the church in secular matters ended with the brutal murder of Hypatia.
Hypatia’s tragic demise was a political murder caused by the long-standing disputes over the distribution of power in Alexandria.
Hypatia stands at the threshold of the philosophical-religious developments of the 5th century.
The intellectual circle he created guided the philosophers of Alexandrian Neoplatonism for the next century.

The influential Alexandrian Platonic philosophers of the 5th and 6th centuries, such as Hierocles, Ammonius, John Philoponus and Olympiodorus, who followed in Hypatia’s footsteps, combined astronomical observations, the teaching of mathematics and the study and commentary of Platonic and Aristotelian texts.
In conclusion, we should appreciate Hypatia not only for the high level of intellect she achieved, but mainly for her intense personality, strong character and ethos.
She was a brilliant and determined woman, who did not hesitate to make hard sacrifices and clash with the establishment of her time in order to follow the path she had set out.
Hypatia’s achievements were real and significant.
Although her end was tragic, it would be unfair to allow it to overshadow her life.
We can only be faithful to her memory if we recognize the life she lived and the martyrdom she suffered. She was martyred at the age of 60 by a mob of fanatical Christians, who hacked her to pieces with broken potsherds or sharp shells and then burned her scattered and bloodied limbs.

Even today, historians do not agree on whether the reasons for her murder were religious or political, with the latter tending to be the most prevalent, while according to another, more recent view, the religious motive for the murder actually concealed the reaction of the Egyptians against the Greek domination, economic, political and cultural, which prevailed in Egypt after the Ptolemies.

Ancient Library of Alexandria One of Greatest Treasures of Mankind

By Patricia Claus

July 14, 2024

The ancient Library of Alexandria, built in the city that was the brainchild of Alexander the Great, was one of the greatest wonders of the world, hosting scholars who explored science, history and all other areas of knowledge before its tragic destruction.

The Great Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the entire ancient world. It was part of a larger research institution called the Mouseion, which was dedicated to the Muses, who were the nine goddesses of the arts in Greek mythology.

In Greece, the Athenian ruler Peisistratos was said to have founded the first major public library in the sixth century BC. It was out of this mixed heritage of both Greek and Near Eastern book collections that the idea for the Library of Alexandria was born.

The idea of founding a library in Alexandria may have been proposed by Demetrius of Phalerum, an exiled Athenian statesman living in Alexandria, to the Pharaoh Ptolemy I Soter, but the Library itself was most likely not built until the reign of his son, Ptolemy II Philadelphus.

The Alexandrian Library, however, was unprecedented due to the scope and scale of the Ptolemies’ ambitions; their mission was to produce a repository of all knowledge known to mankind at the time.

The Library quickly acquired many papyrus scrolls, due largely to the Ptolemaic kings’ aggressive and well-funded policies for procuring texts. They dispatched royal agents with large amounts of money, ordering them to purchase and collect as many texts as they possibly could, about any subject and by any author.

In a famous story which has come down through the ages, it was decreed by Ptolemy II that any books found on ships that came into port were taken to the library, where they were copied by official scribes. It is unknown precisely how many such precious scrolls were housed at the Library at any given time, but estimates range from 40,000 to 400,000 at its height.

“The place for the cure of the soul”

In time, a medical school also was founded at the Library, in which scientific human dissections were first undertaken; this practice alone provided invaluable knowledge to the world of medicine.

Alexandria quickly came to be regarded as the capital of knowledge and learning, in great part because of its astonishing Library. Many important and influential scholars worked there during the third and second centuries BC.

However, the Library poses one of the greatest mysteries in the world, as Dr. Bob Brier, the chairman of the philosophy department at the University of Long Island, explains. “The amazing thing about the library in Alexandria is that it was the most important place of learning in the ancient world and we don’t know where it was or where it is now.

“We don’t know what it looked like. We don’t know the details of what books it had; we don’t know everybody who (worked) there. There’s more that we don’t know than what we do know. But it was the most important intellectual event perhaps in the history of mankind,” he stated in an interview with NBC News’ Roger Mudd.

During the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes, the original library’s collections had grown so large that a daughter library was established in the nearby Serapeum, a temple to the Greco-Egyptian god Serapis. The remains of that structure — the only concrete link we have to the Great Library — are still there in the city today.The Library was built in the Brucheion, or Royal Quarter, of Alexandria. Its exact layout is not known, but ancient sources describe it as comprising a collection of scrolls known as bibliothekai (βιβλιοθῆκαι), with the building featuring Greek columns, a peripatos walk, a room for shared dining, a reading room, meeting rooms, gardens, and lecture halls.

In short, it created a model for the concept of a university campus.

According to popular description, an inscription above the Library’s papyrus scroll shelves read: “The place of the cure of the soul.”

International scholars mingled freely, exchanging ideas

In addition to collecting works from the distant past, the Mouseion which housed the Library also served as home to a host of international scholars, poets, philosophers, and researchers, who, according to the first-century BC Greek geographer Strabo, were provided with a large salary, free food and lodging, and exemption from taxes.

The Library itself was directed by a scholar who served as head librarian, as well as tutor to the king’s son.The first recorded head librarian was Zenodotus of Ephesus, who lived from c. 325 to c. 270 BC. He is known to have written a glossary of rare and unusual words, which was organized in alphabetical order, making him the first person in the world known to have employed alphabetical order as a method of organization.

Meanwhile, the scholar and poet Callimachus compiled the Pinakes, a 120-book catalogue of various authors and all their known works. This library catalogue has not survived, but enough references to it and fragments of it have survived to allow scholars to reconstruct its basic structure.

According to legend, the Syracusan inventor Archimedes invented “Archimedes’ screw,” a pump for transporting water, while studying at the Library.

Jason and the Argonauts saga contains geographical knowledge derived from Library’s works

Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus then appointed Apollonius of Rhodes, who lived from c. 295 to c. 215 BC, a native of Alexandria and a student of Callimachus, as the second head librarian of the Library of Alexandria. He is best known as the author of the “Argonautica,” the epic poem about the voyages of Jason and the Argonauts, which has incredibly survived to the present in its complete form.The Argonautica displays Apollonius’ deep knowledge of history and literature and makes allusions to a vast array of events and texts, thanks to the riches available to him at the Library.

The third head librarian, Eratosthenes of Cyrene, who was born c. 280 and lived to c. 194 BC, is best known today for his scientific works, including his seminal discovery of the circumference of the earth. However, the polymath was also a literary scholar. Eratosthenes also produced a map of the entire known world, which incorporated information taken from sources held in the Library, including accounts of Alexander the Great’s campaigns in India.

Ptolemy III had expensive copies of the plays written by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides made on the highest quality papyrus and sent back the copies to the Athenians — keeping the original manuscripts for the library.

As the Library expanded, it ran out of space, so it opened a satellite collection in the Serapeum, which was a temple dedicated to the Greco-Egyptian god Serapis, located near the royal palace.

The librarianship of Aristophanes of Byzantium saw the invention of the system of Greek diacritics, who also wrote important works on lexicography, and introduced a series of signs for textual criticism. He himself wrote introductions to many plays, some of which have survived in partially rewritten forms.

However, it was also during the early second century BC that the political power of Ptolemaic Egypt began to decline. Consequently, many Greek scholars began to leave Alexandria for safer countries with more generous patronages. The Library of Alexandria was never to recover from this decline, although it had some noted successes thereafter in the brilliant contributions of its librarians.

Aristarchus of Samothrace, who lived from c. 216 to c. 145 BC, was the sixth head librarian. Earning a reputation as the greatest of all ancient scholars, he produced not only texts of classic poems and works of prose, but full hypomnemata, or long, free-standing commentaries, on them.

In 145 BC, however, Aristarchus became caught up in a dynastic struggle, resulting in Ptolemy VIII expelling all foreign scholars from Alexandria, forcing them to disperse across the Eastern Mediterranean world — enriching those areas and allowing scholarship to flourish there.

Aristarchus’ student Dionysius Thrax, who lived from c. 170 to c. 90 BC, even established a school on the Greek island of Rhodes. Thrax wrote the first book on Greek grammar, a work which remained the primary grammar textbook for Greek schoolboys until as late as the twelfth century AD.

Political struggles, the rise of a new empire contributed to the decline of Alexandria

The Romans based their own grammatical writings on it, and its basic format incredibly remains the basis for grammar guides in many languages even today.

Confronted with growing social unrest and other major political and economic problems, the later Ptolemies did not devote as much attention towards the Library and the Mouseion as their predecessors had, leading to its further decline

A shift in Greek scholarship as a whole took place around the beginning of the first century BC because by this time, all the major classical poetic texts had finally been standardized and extensive commentaries had already been produced on the writings of all the major literary authors of the Greek Classical Era.

Meanwhile, Alexandrian scholarship was probably introduced to Rome in the first century BC by Tyrannion of Amisus, a student of Dionysius Thrax, who lived from c. 100 to c. 25 BC, again — as so often seen throughout Greek history — enriching the cultural life of the rest of the world with its export.

Was the Library really burned?

The Roman general Julius Caesar was forced to set fire to his own ships during the Siege of Alexandria in 48 BC; many ancient writers report that the fire spread and destroyed at least part of the Library of Alexandria’s collections; however, it may well have either at least partially survived or been quickly rebuilt at that time.

The first-century AD Roman playwright and Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger quotes Livy’s “Ab Urbe Condita Libri,” which was written between 63 and 14 BC, as saying that the fire started by Caesar destroyed 40,000 scrolls from the Library of Alexandria.

However, the Roman historian Cassius Dio, who lived from c. 155 to c. 235 AD, recorded that “Many places were set on fire, with the result that, along with other buildings, the dockyards and storehouses of grain and books, said to be great in number and of the finest, were burned.”Scholars have interpreted Dio’s wording to mean that the fire did not actually destroy the entire Library itself, but rather only a warehouse located near the docks being used by the Library to house scrolls. Whatever devastation Caesar’s fire must have caused in the city, the Library was evidently not completely destroyed at that time.

The geographer Strabo,who lived from c. 63 BC to c. 24 AD, mentions visiting the Mouseion, the larger research institution to which the Library was attached, in around the year 20 BC, indicating that it either survived the fire or was rebuilt soon afterward.

Still, the manner in which he speaks about the Mouseion shows that it was nowhere near as prestigious as it had been a few centuries prior.

A Latin inscription, seen above, regarding Tiberius Claudius Balbilus of Rome, who died around AD 79, mentions the “ALEXANDRINA BYBLIOTHECE” on line eight.

Library’s status diminished

The emperor Claudius, who ruled from 41–54 AD, is recorded to have built an addition onto the Library, but after Alexandria came under Roman rule, the city’s status gradually diminished.

The Library likewise tragically dwindled in importance during the Roman period, due to a lack of funding and support. Its membership appears to have ceased by the 260s AD. Between 270 and 275 AD, the city of Alexandria saw a Palmyrene invasion and an imperial counterattack that most likely destroyed whatever remained of the Library, if it still existed at that time.

Meanwhile, as the reputation of Alexandrian scholarship declined, the reputations of other libraries across the Mediterranean world improved, and other libraries also sprang up within the city of Alexandria itself; some — or even all — of the scrolls from the Great Library may have been used to stock some of these smaller libraries.

The Caesareum and the Claudianum in Alexandria are both known to have had major libraries by the end of the first century AD.

Mention of both the Great Library of Alexandria and the Mouseion that housed it disappear after the middle of the third century AD, however. The last known references to scholars being members of the Mouseion date to the 260s.

In 272 AD, the emperor Aurelian’s forces destroyed the Broucheion quarter of the city in which the main library was located. If the Mouseion and Library still existed at this time, they were almost certainly destroyed during the attack as well. If they had somehow survived that attack, then whatever was left of them would have been destroyed during the emperor Diocletian’s siege of Alexandria in 297.

Serapeum served as a daughter library to the Great Library

The Serapeum is often called the “daughter library” of Alexandria. As late as the beginning of the fourth century AD historians believe it held the largest collection of books in the city of Alexandria.

In the 370s and 380s, the Serapeum was still a major pilgrimage site for pagans, however. It remained a fully functioning temple, and had classrooms for philosophers interested in theurgy, the study of cultic rituals and esoteric religious practices.

Under the Christian rule of Roman emperor Theodosius I pagan rituals were outlawed, and pagan temples were destroyed. In 391 AD, Theophilus, the bishop of Alexandria ordered the destruction of the Serapeum and its conversion into a church. The pagans of Alexandria were incensed by this act of desecration, especially the teachers of Neoplatonic philosophy and theurgy at the Serapeum.

Its teachers took up arms and led their students and other followers in a guerrilla attack on the Christian population of Alexandria, killing many of them before being forced to retreat. In retaliation, the Christians of the city vandalized and demolished the Serapeum — although amazingly some parts of the colonnade were still standing as late as the twelfth century.

However, none of the accounts of the Serapeum’s destruction mention anything about it still having a library, and sources indicate that even that structure — the one surviving link to the library today — most likely did not have a significant collection of scrolls in it at the time of its destruction.

Not all knowledge was lost

As the course of history shows, power and knowledge ebb and flow from East to West, North to South, and libraries — perhaps even housing some of the precious scrolls that had been copied and housed at Alexandria — were popping up all over the Roman Empire.

By the fourth century AD, there were at least two dozen public libraries in the city of Rome alone.

In late antiquity, as the Roman Empire became Christianized, Christian libraries modeled directly on the Library of Alexandria and other great libraries of earlier pagan times began to be founded all across the Greek-speaking eastern part of the empire.

Among the largest and most prominent of these libraries were the Theological Library of Caesarea Maritima, the Library of Jerusalem, and a Christian library in Alexandria.

Incredibly, these libraries held both pagan and Christian writings side-by-side and Christian scholars applied to the Christian scriptures the same philological techniques that the scholars of the Library of Alexandria had used for analyzing the Greek classics, proving that the wisdom of the ancients survived alongside the new Christian worldview.

Nonetheless, the study of pagan authors remained secondary to the study of the Christian scriptures until the Renaissance, when writers and philosophers would rediscover them, in effect bringing these ancient Greek thinkers back to life again in modern times.

Ironically, the survival of ancient texts — surely including many of the precious scrolls housed at the Great Library of Alexandria —  owes everything to the fact that they were exhaustingly copied and recopied, at first by professional scribes during the Roman period onto papyrus, and later by monks during the Middle Ages, onto parchment.

So in effect, the Library still lives on today, in the scholarship of researchers in every discipline, and in each and every library all around the world.

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We are ancient Pelasgians! It is a great honor for us because our forefathers were the most dynamic generation in history. Although we bear various names according to gender (Achaeans, Ionians, Aeolians, Arcadians, Minoans, Mycenaeans, Macedonians, etc.) there were three main general names of the Greeks:

Pelasgians (from Pelasgos), Greeks (from Greek) and Greeks (from Greek) = Πελασγοί ( εκ του Πελασγού), Γραικοί ( εκ του Γραικού ) και Έλληνες ( εκ του Έλληνος ) And it would be unnecessary to emphasize our origin if the “well-wishers” did not proceed to the savage dismemberment and mutilation of our glorious Race, with the aim of annihilate numerically and make it a toddler in age….

******************************PELASGUS*********************

He was the son of ZEUS and NIOBE, native grandfather of THESSALY And NOT an “Indo-European” from nowhere, or from Asia and Africa as some ignorant or malicious BARBARIANS claim]

The etymology of Pelasgos comes a/ from palai +gegaa = /α/ εκ του πάλαι +γέγαα =γίνομαι παλιόςto become old b/ from “Pelion Argos”= /α/ εκ του πάλαι +γέγαα =γίνομαι παλιόςold of old men (hence Argos Pelasgikon) c/ from stork=traveler d/ from perao= γ/ εκ του πελαργός=ταξιδευτής δ/ εκ του περάω= δ/ εκ του περάω=περνώ θάλασσαν (μετανάστης, θαλασσοπόρος )περνώ θάλασσαν (μετανάστης, θαλασσοπόρος )to cross the sea (immigrant) , seafarer ) e/ from plazo= ε/ εκ του πλάζω=περιπλανώμαι δια θαλάσσης( λαός της θάλασσαςwander through the sea (people of the sea) f/ from pelas= στ/ εκ του πέλας=πλησίον+άγω(οδηγώ, ηγούμαι μεταφέρω στους γειτονικούς λαούς)near+ago(lead, lead carry to the neighboring peoples) All the etymological elements of the name Pelasgos lead to the ancient, restless and daring people of the sea that migrates and travels (like Odysseus the polyglot)/

The first Pelasgians were Arcadians who survived the Deluge and rushed from there to the neighboring coasts (Italy, Asia Minor, Mediterranean etc.)

GRAEKOS

He was a pre-cataclysmic hero, son of Thessalus and great-grandson of Pelasgus who flourished before the Cataclysm of Deucalion. It is derived from “graios = old man or old man from the earth + flow or earth + era”[ The Const. Oikonomou from Oikonomon in “On the Authenticity of Pronunciation” p. 335 writes:

“A Greek is a man whose body is solid, strong, and whose genus is old, that is, old, ancient, ambassadorial and old” For the Greek he writes that he is from ela, eli, sun, saddle always mean the fast-moving and versatile light, However, our cradle is Thessaly with Mount Olympus as its focus.

***E L L E N

He was the son of Deucalion and is an evolution from the generation of the Pelasgians and Greeks “Greek, I was born of Zeus, because of Deucalion” And the country inhabited by the Greeks was named Hellas, “formerly called Pelasgia” [Herod. B! 56] Etymological versions a/ Hellas = the luminous chair, (sel+hellas) b/ Hellas= the luminous stone (sel+las)

According to Aristotle, it got its name from Dodoni in Epirus, where the Selloi lived and what were then called Greeks and now Greeks. The Parion Marmaron writes: “Greeks were called, before Greeks were called”

The name Pelasgians is general and includes a wider group that started from the same area centered on the Aegean Sea (the Greek Peninsula and the surrounding Aegean coasts) but spread throughout the Mediterranean basin, in Europe and in the whole world and over time it took on different names. And it is no exaggeration to say that the Pelasgians under various names are scattered in every corner of the planet.

Herodotus writes (Clio 58) the following: “I believe that the Greek peoples spoke the same language, but weakened after their separation from the Pelasgians, and starting at first from a small nucleus, they reached the enormous numbers they now represent by incorporation of various foreign nations, among whom were the Pelasgians. I do not believe that the Pelasgians, a barbarous people, ever became numerous or powerful.’ However, the difference of nation according to Herodotus means a difference of race rather than nation as we consider it today.

And I copy another passage from him (Clio 56) which confirms the truth of the statement: “Investigations showed that the Lacedaemonians were stronger than the Dorians and the Athenians than the Ionians. These two, of whom the first came from the Pelasgians, while the others from the Greeks”. But who believes that the Lacedaemonians did not belong to the Greek nation? According to Herodotus, the Athenian nation was Pelasgian, and the first Arcadians and the inhabitants of Croton and Troy and other cities were Pelasgians.

The division of the Greeks into several races (Dryopes, Leleges, Pelasgians, Kaucones, Thracians, Televoes, etc.) is due to their deep geographical separation, which even today creates communication problems at certain times of the year. Therefore, neither did they come to Greece from the north, nor are the Greeks Slavs who were Hellenized – as Falmereyer previously claimed – nor did they come from England, nonsense that Lord Bulwer Lytton expressed in his “novel” in 1842, and argued with them German scientist Muller. Exactly the opposite happens.

Europeans are descended from the Aegean Pelasgian Proto-Greeks, but this is not tolerated by the egoism of those who want at any cost to participate in the most brilliant civilization that man has made so far. It is unlikely that the Greeks had a foreign origin because before the glacial periods, as mentioned above, the whole of Northern Europe, beyond the Danube and beyond the lower Rhine and the Alps, but also the East – not even northern Persia and the Indies excepted – covered by glaciers.

But even after the melting of the glaciers, the lowlands were covered by water and mud. Therefore, it was impossible for the supposed IEs or Arians to live, and even more so to create civilization in the regions of Central Europe and later to transplant it to the Aegean Pelasgians. Because the latter had the privilege of living in the most temperate region of the world, “swimming” in the Mediterranean Sea and communicating with all the peoples of the then known world. And then, of course, today’s energy sources did not exist to support the northern civilization, as is the case today with the establishment of technological civilization.

The well-travelled Pelasgians

Pelasgus is so old that he is treated, according to mythology, as the son of Poseidon. This symbolism is consistent with the maritime origin of the Greek nation and the seamanship of the Greeks. But also Inachos, the “first man of the Peloponnese”, was the son of Oceanus and the sea goddess Tethys. There were no other advanced people at that time, who traveled not only by sea but by land north or east of the Danube. But how did the Ancient Greek Aegean Pelasgians learn to travel?

After the sinking of Aegis they found themselves cut off from their tribe and relatives on the islands and they desperately wanted to escape this isolation. This is how they learned to sail, first on tree trunks and then on ships. The Greeks have been closely associated with the sea since ancient times and literally thresh the Aegean and the Mediterranean sea.

From the Aegean and Asia Minor coasts, they progressively and radially penetrated – in a kind of fan – to the north, east, south and west and depopulated the underdeveloped tribes, when the climatic conditions allowed it. Back then sea travel was relatively easier and safer compared to land travel. After the sinking of Aegis, it is natural that the nomads around the Aegean moved north and east to find pastures for their flocks. They entered the drained plains after the waters receded.

Such reciprocating movements – unknown how many – certainly occurred during the millennia under the pressure of the needs of the populations of the time. But the main stream of migration was consistently oriented from the region of the Aegean and the Aemos Peninsula to the north, south, east and west, because the settlers were looking for new empty and virgin lands, initially for livestock and later for their agricultural exploitation. On the other hand, this trend towards immigration continues to our time (immigration waves to America, Australia, etc.) However, at the beginning they lived a nomadic lifestyle, just like the Sarakatsanaeans of Pindos, who we can say are the most authentic and ancient Proto-Greeks. Europeans”, descendants of the Pelasgians.

From Aegis the Culture

From Aegis all those peoples started, who appeared later in the surrounding areas of Asia Minor, the Caucasus and the Mediterranean as far as the Danube under various names, carrying their culture with them. It is, of course, impossible to determine how many years passed after the sinking of the Aegis, until these various groups which were saved on the shores or moved inland were formed into tribes. According to the testimonies of the Egyptian priests of Sain to Solon, as mentioned by Plato in “Timaeus”, they took their culture from the Ancient Greeks of the Aegean. This is evident from their performance in navigation, but also in the arts (advanced Cycladic statuary art). The propaganda fictions about the arrival of Phoenicians and others (“Black Athena”, Bernal), apart from lacking logic and sufficient documentation, have been scientifically debunked, since he himself admitted that his motive was profit and attracting attention.

The much-advertised story of the Mesopotamian Gilgamesh, which they wanted to present as proof of the ancient spiritual development of the various peoples of Mesopotamia, is a much more recent and shoddy construction, based on Greek traditions and myths. It is indeed a bad copying of what is mentioned about the flood of Deucalion, which, let it be noted, is older than the flood of Noah, if it also happened of course. Because everything written about Noah’s flood is monstrous, unscientific and suitable only for people who had no idea about the sea and navigation.

Contrary to the Orphic texts about the Ogygus flood, it is certified that no other ancient people has earlier memories and scientific evidence and has not recorded spiritual manifestations and other interesting findings (e.g. astronomical observations 11,000 years BC) like these contained in ancient Greek texts. As Erman Dils informs us [“Prosokratiki”, Ch. Orpheus, p. 3] the Aegean Ancient Greeks wrote down their observations several thousand years ago on thin boards, stones or shells (writing of Dispilios, Iuros, Alonissos, etc.), a fact that testifies that they were heiferous people (Homo Sapiens). The question that arises is why the younger supposedly “wise” researchers of the West had ignored or set aside such serious evidence?

It is certainly not a coincidence, because Greek Prehistory is on fire and they prefer to ignore it, put it aside and when it accidentally comes to the surface to silence it or even fake it. Because this area was inhabited not by 10, 20 thousand years ago – as the well-known Phoenicists claim for Mesopotamia or 35-40,000 years ago by the Afrocentrists – but 100, 800,000 years ago, but also millions of years ago, as proven by the investigations of Petraloni, of Triglia and Ptolemais, under the anthropologist-archaeologist Mr. Aris Poulianos. Therefore, the American research in the Frachthy cave of Ermioni, which brought to light elements of the civilization 25 thousand years ago, came to prove the existence and continuity of human development in the Greek area. The gaps that exist today in long periods of history do not mean a negative existence of life, but rather a lack of systematic research in this area.

The Culture of the Romans

The civilization is ancient and goes back to the time of the Etruscans and Tyrsines. But the main civilization of the Romans before they began their imperial course began mainly after the conquest of Greece (180-120 BC), i.e. from the time of Caesar. Previously the tribes of Central and Northern Italy were relatively primitive and uncultivated, did not know writing and even practiced cannibalism and human sacrifice in earlier times. Therefore, all Europeans owe culture and writing to the Pelasgians and Cretans. The Latin script is also Greek (Chalkidic alphabet) and the Roman Civilization is a copy – often a misprint – of the Greek Civilization. This proves the ancient common origin of the inhabitants of Northern and Western Europe (Teutons, Gauls, Swabians, Saxons, Iberians, etc.) from the Aegean Proto-Greeks.

These peoples still retain names of certain gods of Ancient Greece, words or word roots of their original mother tongue, or rather of their linguistic idiom which belongs to the Greek (Indo-European) homolingualism. Because over time they mixed with other peoples, but also due to different climatic and cultural conditions, it was necessary for them to diversify and move away from their original cultural cradle, the Aegean. Others of them in their new homelands were barbarized or assimilated in order to survive and remained undeveloped, as we find them later in the historical period, scattered in various countries of the north in tribes (Cimmerians, Scythians, Getae, Arimaspi, Gelones, Massagetae , Boudinii, Agrippai , Isidones, Sarmatians, Dacians, etc.). They later evolved under the influence of the Byzantine Empire and created the well-known nations of the north and east. Those who entered further east and beyond Lake Baikal, we later find them as Hyperboreans (or Gilaks).

A white race arrived in Japan time immemorial, the Ainu (=Ionians), while we meet scattered white races in Asia and the Far East. [See Vol. “PEOPLE OF THE EAST” “General Introduction” as well as “General Introduction” to the Second Book of John. Passa “THE ORPHICS” and the comments on the “Hymns of Orpheus”]. The Turks are a mosaic of peoples in the majority of indigenous peoples who have lived in the area since ancient times. The Turks are a small minority who came as nomads from the highlands of Central Asia, from the Altai region, to the Mediterranean. The latter are of Tatar-Mongolian origin and have remained untouched and uncivilized since their settlement in Asia Minor until today. This tribe was the ruling class of Ottoman Turkey, but also of today’s Kemal Turkey.

The Origin of the European Peoples

According to Athan. Stageritis [“OGYGIA”, Vol. B of Athan. Stageritis, Ed. Vienna 1808] the origin of all races – and of course the newer Nations of Northern, Western and Eastern Europe, as well as the whites of Russia and Central Asia – come from the Aegean, and specifically from the Greek cultural space, and not from the non-existent Indo-Europeans [See Diod. Sikeliotis, Bibl. A, Strabo, “Introduction” and Syre “The Great Mysteries”, Carlyle “The Heroes” (Odin) and Charles Berlitz “Mysteries from Forgotten Worlds”]. Examining the so-called Arian languages, as they are actually spoken today, they possess numerous Pelasgian elements, which undoubtedly come from their Pelasgian cradle, the Balkans, Lower Italy and Asia Minor.

When the same root is found in all languages, or in most of them, we must conclude that the object signified by that root was common to their ancestors, who once had the same culture. [For example, the word “Axon” exists corrupted in all the so-called Aryan languages, because these peoples all knew the wheeled carriage. Some improved it and put spokes on it over time, while others kept the traditional tree trunk wheel. So they diverged. Thus, with the addition of new words, the differentiation of the language and the identity of the peoples begins]. This is how the tribes gradually became differentiated from their original origin. In the end, common descent remains a myth. The myth of Atlantis, which is related to the ancient activity of the Greek race, as the various findings show, was once a reality. But not the artificial “myth” about the Indo-Europeans either.

The Myth of the Indo-Europeans

The descent of tribes from the North and East to the Greek Peninsula, in order to civilize the supposedly untouched Aegeans, is not justified either scientifically, or from a logical point of view, because the Aegeans were demonstrably a seafaring and highly civilized people who traveled, from the dawn of Prehistory , not only in the Mediterranean, but also in the Oceans. If we accept the beliefs about “Indo-Europeanists”, then their traces, their superior culture, their language and finally the historical spiritual monuments that they would leave behind in their original cradle should normally have been found somewhere. But such a thing has not been found. Nothing at all confirms their existence.

On the contrary, new overwhelming proofs and evidences from the Greek area and outside it – in the countries he traveled – are constantly coming to light, which confirm that the Aegean Proto-Greeks were the first to transmit their culture to all the peoples of the then known world. Of course, all these anti-scientific and dogmatic theories of the past have long since fallen, but they come back each time with a new wrapper in the news from the “scientific” establishment of international power. Because this myth is convenient for the perpetuation of their power.

Today we are in an upsurge of this phenomenon. Everywhere they seek to reduce the value and contribution of the insurmountable Greek factor in the creation of world Culture [See “PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY”, Vol. “GREECE” of Encyclop. “SUN”, by Ioannis Koumaris]. It is enough to repeat that “when the ancient Greeks were building the Parthenon, the ancestors of today’s English lived in caves or in virgin forests, while most of them and other northern peoples were still cannibals or made human sacrifices” [Stravo, book VI , pp. 226, 21] [Always the courageous and restless British nation behaved arrogantly and like a conqueror in Greece, imitating the supposedly blond Indo-European colonialists and civilizers]. Even in our neighboring Italy, even during the classical era, children were sacrificed on the feast of the Compitalia and Laralia, and it was not until the reign of Brutus that this custom was abolished. Stageiritis, B. Vol. p.480].

Therefore, such blatant falsification and perversion of the History and Prehistory of the Greeks is unacceptable and infuriating. Dodonaia the Cult of the Druids. According to earlier archaeological discoveries, it was discovered that during the Minoan period Cretan seafarers brought “Tin” to the Mediterranean from England. But they did not go there empty-handed. They transmitted to them their superior Cretan Minoan culture.

Recently, prehistoric Greek installations have been discovered in England, which show that the primitive and backward peoples of England accepted the influence of the Greeks and over time became civilized. Thus it is proved that the ancient worship of the Druids in Britain is of Greek origin, from the Oracle of Dodoni, and was brought there time immemorial. Greek Prehistory indeed presents an amazing mystery and a fascinating challenge to the one who will try to decipher it and delve into it.

The autochthony of the Greeks has been proven with eighty proofs by eminent anthropologists, such as John. Koumaris [See article “Physical Anthropology” Ioan. Koumari, A. Meros, Volume “GREECE”, Encyclop. “SUN” and Alexis Sinou “The Geographical Unity of the Greek Mediterranean Region” Part A. Pg. 94-95, Part B. P. 179-182 etc].

The European “Archman” of Petraloni

Unshakable evidence of the native origin of the Greek was recently brought to light by the internationally renowned anthropologist Aris Poulianos with the discovery of the “European Archman of Petralona of Chalkidiki” and the “Elephant Hunter of Ptolemais”, which we will talk about in another chapter. Orpheus says: “as far as Egypt, I expounded the sacred word”, that is, in Egypt and Libya, I taught, (expelled=expelled) the sacred word [“Argonautica” of the “Orphic” verses. 42-44 and 102 Ed. Leipzig TAUCHNIZIT 1829]. [It may be understood that “indoctrinated” does not mean “taught”, as undisciplined and ill-disposed writers have claimed].

Therefore, this proof blows to dust every other old and new dogmatic theory, the originators of which do not even bother to substantiate them with evidence. It is known that during the 8th millennium BC. there was a transport of Obsidian Stone by ships from the island of Milos in the Aegean Sea to Argolis, as evidenced by the finds of obsidian stone in the cave of Fraghtis of Argolis. So the Aegean people have been sailing since then. But also in the area of ​​Anat. The Proto-Hellenic Minoans and Mycenaeans have dominated the Mediterranean since time immemorial. [Ancient Achaean Cretans and Cypriots, the ancient Phoenicians and the Philistines and “Palaisati”, crossed the Mediterranean to settle in Palestine].

Isocrates proclaims that: “We are indigenous. We did not drive out others who were here, nor did we come from elsewhere to occupy it desolate of people, nor are we mixed and mingled with other nations, but we come from a good and genuine nation, so that we were born in this land, possess it and live all the time Cairo. Irrespective of whether throughout the 20th century the international power intrigues against Hellenism and by using Turkey as a “sieging battering ram” seeks the eviction of the Greek Nation from its ancient ancestral homes (Asia Minor, Cyprus, Aegean, Macedonia, Epirus). [The international power and its servants and handlers here want to mix us up and turn us into a wretched mess so that we lose our national identity. Some “Greeks” also allegedly contribute to this.

Source: diogeneis, conspiracyfeeds and diadrastika

https://arxaia-ellinika.blogspot.com/2021/12/pelasgoi-dynamikotero-genos-istorias.html?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0_b9pBg8y3t2Ii0QweABYgQIN_HLcRHtsx8c1i9zuMTMT82z4zTWEeINs_aem_xu5IJrEIKaPqhOZJdz3MvQ&m =1

THE OPPOSITE OF THE HELLENIC PHILOSOPHIC & CREATIVE RELIGION, SINCE MAN VIOLATES THE UNIVERSAL SPIRITUAL LAWS BY TAKING LIVES OF LIVING BEINGS

Pythagoras’ love for animals was great and multi-layered, it was expressed in a symbolic, but also particularly pedagogical way, he taught that: all living creatures (beings) are subject to kinship, because there is a spirit that runs through the entire world as a soul and this unites everything into a Unity.

He taught that there is a kinship not only between men, but also between men and God there is some kinship, as also with living creatures without reason.
So if we kill them and feed on their flesh, we commit injustice and disrespect as if we were killing relatives.

The moral issue raised by the Pythagoreans is not about our biological need for meat, but about morality. The moral issue is murder.

He believed that plant food in its natural state is the best choice for humans. He recommended eating raw vegetables, nuts and honey. He taught that we should abstain from the food of living beings (“abstaining from living things”).

“As long as man continues to be the merciless destroyer of other beings, he will never know health or peace. Because as long as people slaughter animals, they will kill each other.”

He advised us to stay away from living things and said that people who redden the altar of the blessed gods with warm blood are disrespectful. And the philosopher Empedocles agreed with this, saying, will you not stop the evil-sounding killing? do you not see that out of foolishness you are devouring one another?

Opposite to morality, because animals that belong to a large family disappear, that is why he considered the slaughter of animals disrespectful.

Opposite of health and longevity.

Contrary to the balance of nature.

Opposite of peace and quiet, as it is disturbed by the hunting and slaughter of animals.

Opposite to the political virtues, because the excessive use of meat and blood excites man’s animal passions and warlike instincts.Opposite to spiritual virtue, because meat-eating is foreign to purity of soul and spirit and to the elevation of the ego to a divine ego.

The text is based on passages from: Porphyry (Life of Pythagoras, op. 19), Iamblichus, PYTHAGORIAN LIFE, op, 107,108 and Sextus Empiricus, op. 127-129

source: Pythagorean Philosophy & Modern Science

YGEIA was used as a greeting among the Pythagoreans.

*******H Y G E I A = Υ Γ Ε Ι Α = H E A L T H*****************’

PENTELIAN MARBLE/ CAPITOLIUM

Croton, one of the ancient Greek colonies-cities in southern Italy. Historians agree, that he combined radiant charisma. Pythagoras was a teacher of many things, an uptown mystic in a backwater town. Crotonians flocked to bask in his glamour and soak up his wisdom. Pythagoras also had a “golden thigh,” according to many ancient writers, who soberly reported this curious characteristic as if the man’s leg literally were made of the metal. There was no one the great man wouldn’t teach — children, the poor, city elders. To all, he disseminated his beliefs on faith, diet and morality. He admired women , whom he treated as equals, a typical behavior for a man in those days that led some historians a few centuries later to discuss  about Pythagoras 

– A small portion of the mythagogy, surrounding the Greek mathematician is the cult of personality and the mystical power of numbers.

“Bowl of Hygeia“

The snake in the Bowl of Hygeia is symbolic of Aesculapius (see the Rod of Asclepius) while the bowl itself represents Hygeia. Snakes were used in representations related to healing and medicine because ancient Greeks associated this animal’s ability to shed its old skin and grow a new one with wisdom, healing, and resurrection. The bowl represents the venom from the snake, which either kills or heals. 

Hygeia is the Greek goddess of health, cleanliness, and sanitation. Together with the asklepian (Rod of Asclepius), Hygeia’s symbol—the Bowl of Hygeia—is one of the oldest and most important symbols associated with medicine.”

– Both quote and symbol (inset right) found at the Symbols Archive. Interestingly, while Hygeia is often interpreted as feeding a snake from a bowl, this description seems to inform us that Hygeia was milking the venom from her snakes jaws…a venom which either “kills or heals.”

Cults dedicated to the god Dionysius preferred frenzied channeling rituals. Pythagoras’s angle was numbers. He was, after all, a mathematician — some consider him the world’s first — To him, numbers were divine, the primary elements of all existence. Individual numbers had divine powers. Numbers, he said, are “the cause of gods”  The number  One and 2 he considered building blocks for all other numbers, not numbers themselves. Numbers were the building blocks of everything else, as well. 

Museum Collection	British Museum, London
Catalogue No.	London 1772,0320.30.+
Beazley Archive No.	220497
Ware	Attic Red Figure
Shape	Hydria
Painter	Attributed to the Meidias Painter
Date	ca. 420 – 400 B.C.
Period	Classical

Hygieia is a goddess from Greek mythology (also referred to as: Hygiea or Hygeia; /haɪˈdʒiːə/;Ancient Greek: Ὑγιεία or Ὑγεία, Latin: Hygēa or Hygīa). Hygieia is a goddess of health (Greek: ὑγίεια – hugieia/, cleanliness and hygiene. Her name is the source for the word “hygiene”.

 Hygieia was one of the dauthers of Asclepius  and his wife Epione. Hygieia and her four sisters each performed a facet of Apollo’s art: Hygieia (health, cleanliness, and sanitation); Panacea (universal remedy); Iaso (recuperation from illness); Aceso (the healing process); and Aegle (radiant good health).

The role of Hygieia in antiquity

One notable reference regarding Hygieia’s role as a goddess of health can be found within the Hippocratic oath. This oath is used by physicians in order to swear before various healing gods, one of which being Hygieia, that they would follow a code of established ethical standards of practice.

Section of the translated oath from Greek to English:

I swear by Apollo Healer, by Asclepius, by Hygieia, by Panacea, and by all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will carry out, according to my ability and judgment, this oath and this indenture.

HYGIEIA and ASCLEPIUS

The worship of Hygieia was closely associated with the cult of Asclepius. While Asclepius was more directly associated with healing, Hygieia was associated with the prevention of sickness and the continuation of good health. In the second century CE, the famous traveler Pausanias provided an account based on what he witnessed within the state of Greece. 

In his encyclopedic text Description of Greece, written circa 160 CE to 174 CE, Pausanias described encountering statues of Asclepius and Hygieia, located at Tegea.

In addition to statues which represent the two figures, the incorporation of Hygieia within the cult of Asclepius can also be seen in medical iconography on numerous ancient Graeco-Roman coins. The close association between Hygieia and Asclepius indicates the important place she held in the cult of Asclepius.

Hygieia’s primary temples were in Epidaurus, Corinth, Cos and Pergamon. At the Asclepeion of Titane in Sicyon (founded by Alexanor, Asclepius’ grandson), the Greek historian Pausanias remarked that a statue of Hygieia was covered by women’s hair and pieces of Corinthisnclothes. According to inscriptions, similar sacrifices such as this were offered at Paros.

Hygieia was also associated with the Greek goddess Athena. In the 2nd century AD, Pausanias noted statues both of Hygieia and of Athena Hygieia near the entrance to the Acropolis of Athens.

Hygieia is related to the Greek god of medicine, Asclepius, who is the son of the Olympian god Apollo. Hygieia was one of the dauthers of Asclepius and his wife Epione. 

Hygieia and her four sisters each performed a facet of Apollo’s art:

AECLE/ΑΙΓΛΗ (radiant good health);

PANACEA/ΠΑΝΑΚΕΙΑ (universal remedy);  

IASO/ΙΑΣΩ (recuperation from illness);

ACESO/ΑΚΕΣΩ (the healing process); and Aegle (radiant good health).

HYGIEIA was usually worshipped in the same temples with her father, as at Argos, where the two divinities had a celebrated sanctuary..

The role of Hygieia in antiquity

One notable reference regarding Hygieia’s role as a goddess of health can be found within the Hippocratic oath. This oath is used by physicians in order to swear before various healing gods, one of which being Hygieia, that they would follow a code of established ethical standards of practice.

I swear by Apollo Healer, by Asclepius, by Hygieia, by Panacea, and by all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will carry out, according to my ability and judgment, this oath and this indenture.

Hygieia and Asclepius

The worship of Hygieia was closely associated with the cult of Asclepius. While Asclepius was more directly associated with healing, Hygieia was associated with the prevention of sickness and the continuation of good health. In the second century CE, the famous traveler Pausanias provided an account based on what he witnessed within the state of Greece. 

In his encyclopedic text Description of Greece, written circa 160 CE to 174 CE, Pausanias described encountering statues of Asclepius and Hygieia, located at Tegea.

Asklepios and Hygeia, 5th century BC Archaeological Museum of Constantinople

In addition to statues which represent the two figures, the incorporation of Hygieia within the cult of Asclepius can also be seen in medical iconography on numerous ancient Graeco-Roman coins. The close association between Hygieia and Asclepius indicates the important place she held in the cult of Asclepius.

Hygieia’s primary temples were in Epidaurus, Corinth, Cos and Pergamon. At the Asclepeion of Titane in Sicyon (founded by Alexanor, Asclepius’ grandson), the Greek historian Pausanias remarked that a statue of Hygieia was covered by women’s hair and pieces of Corinthisnclothes. According to inscriptions, similar sacrifices such as this were offered at Paros.

Hygieia was also associated with the Greek goddess Athena. In the 2nd century AD, Pausanias noted statues both of Hygieia and of Athena Hygieia near the entrance to the Acropolis of Athens.

 “Athena Hygieia” was one of the cult titles given to Athena, as Plutarch recounts of the building of the Parthenon (447–432 BC):

Hygieia by Alexander Handyside Ritchie, College of Physicians, Queen Street, Edinburgh

A strange accident happened in the course of building, which showed that the goddess was not averse to the work, but was aiding and co-operating to bring it to perfection. One of the artificers, the quickest and the handiest workman among them all, with a slip of his foot fell down from a great height, and lay in a miserable condition, the physicians having no hope of his recovery. When Pericles was in distress about this, the goddess [Athena] appeared to him at night in a dream, and ordered a course of treatment, which he applied, and in a short time and with great ease cured the man. And upon this occasion it was that he set up a brass statue of Athena Hygieia, in the citadel near the altar, which they say was there before. But it was Phidias who wrought the goddess’s image in gold, and he has his name inscribed on the pedestal as the workman of it.

“Hugieia” (ύγιεία: health) was used as a greeting among the Pythagoreans.

However, the cult of Hygieia as an independent goddess did not begin to spread until the Delphic oracle recognized her, after the devastating Plague of Athens (430–427 BC), and in Rome after the 293 BC plague there.

The poet Ariphron, from the Greek city-state Sicyon, wrote a well-known hymn during the 4th century BC which celebrated Hygieia. 

Statues of Hygieia were created by Scopas, Bryaxis and Timotheos, among others, but there is no clear description of what they looked like. In the surviving depictions, she is often shown as a young woman feeding a large snake that was wrapped around her body or drinking from a jar that she carried. 

Recent discoveries

In August 2021, archaeologists from Dumlupınar University announced the discovery of statue of Hygieia in the Ancient Greek city Aizanoi. The human sized statue was portrayed with a snake in its arms. The statue was revealed inside the columned gallery throughout the south wing of the agora.

 “Athena Hygieia” was one of the cult titles given to Athena, as Plutarch recounts of the building of the Parthenon (447–432 BC):

Detail of Hygeia from a painting depicting the arrival of the Argonauts in the garden of the Hesperides during their return from Colchis.

Hygeia, the goddess of good health, holds a sceptre in one hand and lifts her veil with the other.

Museum Collection	British Museum, London
Catalogue No.	London 1772,0320.30.+
Beazley Archive No.	220497
Ware	Attic Red Figure
Shape	Hydria
Painter	Attributed to the Meidias Painter
Date	ca. 420 – 400 B.C.
Period	Classical

The HELLENIC and PYTHAGORIAN SACRED SYMBOL-The FIVE ALPHA:
1) ATHENA: “AHP”= AIR
2) APOLLO: “ΑΙΘΗΡ”= ETHER
3) APHRODITE: “ΥΔΩΡ”= WATER
4) ARES: “ΠΥΡ”= FIRE
5) ARTEMIS: “4”/ΤΕΣΣΕΡΑ Ρ/= the 4 R

Trojan (alias Ilion) Historical facts vs. “Acces”, Pseudohistorians-“Scholars” etc..

H E R E: 

**** THIS CIVIlL WAR BETWEEN THE GREEKS IS ROMANTICIZED DUE TO THE ABDUCTION OF HELENA OF SPARTA

THIS CIVIlL WAR BETWEEN THE GREEKS IS ROMANTICIZED DUE TO THE ABDUCTION OF HELENA OF SPARTA

The ACHAEANS and DANAEANS, who lived, in WEST GREECE at that time, united and with their ships and army went to CONQUER TROY.
Thus began the Trojan War which lasted ten years. It was the greatest war of antiquity and led to the death of countless TROJANS and ACHAEANS(OR DANAEANS).
The occasion was a woman, the beautiful HELEN, the queen of SPARTA.
Many great LADS FOUGHT in this war. ACHILLES, the son of THETIS, HECTOR the leader of the TROJANS, the FEARLESS DIOMEDES,
the strong AEDAS, MENELAUS, the husband of HELEN, his brother AGAMEMNON, who was the LEADER of the ACHAEANS, the versatile Odysseus and many others. . We will meet
all of them in the following lessons. ALSO, we will meet ANDROMACHE, HEKTOR’S BEAUTIFUL WIFE, HIS RESPECTED PARENTS, HECABE and PRIAMOS, and MANY others!
What should ONE remember FIRST of all that happened. The myths that mention them are so charming, that it is worth reading them and remembering them forever.

. Paris prepared a fast boat and left for Sparta. He arrived at Menelaus’ palace bearing rich gifts. There everyone welcomed him and hosted him, as befits the king of Troy. However, Paris, with the help of Aphrodite, outwitted Helen and convinced her to follow him. And one day when Menelaus was away, they left for Troy.The abduction of Helen by Paris. Among them is the winged god Eros.
From an ancient Greek vas

1. The apple of ERIS
Many years ago , in ancient times, when the twelve gods lived in Olympus, Zeus decided to marry the king of Phthia, Peleus, to a sea fairy, Thetis, the daughter of Nereus. The wedding took place in Pelion and all the gods and goddesses were invited. Only Eris , the goddess of strife, was not invited, because wherever she went she sowed hatred and quarrels. She got very angry and went to the wedding unseen and left an all-gold apple on the table, on which she had written: “to the most beautiful”. Immediately Hera, Athena and Aphrodite began to argue about who was the most beautiful who would get the apple. They also asked Zeus, but he did not want to upset any of the three goddesses. That is why he told them to go to the mountain Ida, next to Troy, where Paris, the son of King Priam, was grazing his flock on a slope, so that he could choose the most beautiful goddess. So the three goddesses, together with Hermes, flew to Ida and stood in front of the startled king. Hermes told him the will of Zeus and gave him the golden apple of Eris. Then Hera ordered him to make him the greatest king, Athena the bravest and wisest warrior and Aphrodite to find him the most beautiful woman to marry. Paris, after thinking about it, gave the golden apple to Aphrodite. Hera and Athena left angry, while Aphrodite revealed to Paris that the beautiful Helen, the wife of Menelaus, the king of Sparta, was the most beautiful in the world and advised him to go and get her.

The Paris crisis. On the right is Paris, in the center the god Hermes, followed by the three goddesses:
Aphrodite, Athena, Hera. From an ancient Greek vase

A compass on a white background, c. 465–460 BC. with a height including the cover of 17.2 cm. Compasses were a kind of “toilet” and “jewellery box, clay and later ivory or metal vessels, usually round with a separate lid. They were used more by women to store cosmetics or jewelry. They got their name from the wooden Corinthian boxes that were made from the hard and durable wood of the boxwood, a durable evergreen shrub (box), which can reach up to 6 m. From this Greek word came the Latin buxus: box-box and the English box.

This compass is said to have been excavated circa 1906 at Kymi (Cumae, the first ancient Greek colony of Magna Graecia on mainland Italy founded by settlers from the Euboean city of the same name in the 8th century BC). It passed through several buyers until it was acquired by the MET, The Metropolitan Museum of Art NY, 07.286.36a .

In her performances, she has scenes from the crisis of Paris, on a white background.

By the middle of the 5th century BC, the white ground technique was commonly used for the beautiful white lekyths, (bottles for scented oil, perfumes, wine for funerary rites and then placed as offerings in tombs) and for fine vessels of other shapes . As classical painters sought to achieve increasingly complex dramatic depictions with the limited capabilities of the red-figure technique, the white background gave new emphasis to glaze lines and polychrome, making the representations resemble frescoes. Their white color is due to a thin layer of white clay (kaolin) which after firing gave this effect and on top of which they were decorated with additional colors.

The decoration of this compass, which has three elegant short legs as a base, reflects the ease with which an accomplished artist like the “Painter of Penthesilea” to whom it is attributed, depicted a traditional subject: the judgment of Paris. I know you all know the legend, but if you want to “refresh” it, it’s in the 1st comment.

The moment of crisis is represented in successive scenes: One scene shows Pari, a young virgin, sitting on a rock wearing a petasos, a hiker’s and shepherd’s hat. He converses with Hermes, easily recognizable by his caduceus and winged sandals. Behind him a grown man is perhaps Zeus or Priam. Turning the compass clockwise, Athena is depicted, holding a spear in one hand and her helmet in the other, talking to Hera. The latter holds a royal scepter, as the mother and breath of the gods. Then Aphrodite converses with her son, the winged love with the beautiful ethereal rendering of wings. Below EROS the inscription: “O PAIS KALOS” (The young man is handsome).

[The well-known charming myth of the crisis of Paris, which gave rise to your famous Trojan War, is well known. But you can “refresh” its occasions, as well as the faces that appear on the compass]: Zeus, the king of the gods, gave a banquet for the marriage of the sea nymph Thetis with the mortal Peleus (by whom she gave birth to Achilles). Eris, goddess of discord, was uninvited. Angered by this “blockage”, she caused trouble at the feast when she threw a golden apple (the Apple of Strife), on which was the inscription “the beauty” (for the most beautiful). Three goddesses claimed the apple: Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. They asked Zeus to judge which of them was more beautiful. Zeus, unwilling to favor any claim himself, decided that the mortal Paris, son of Priam, king of Troy, would judge. Led by Hermes, the three candidate goddesses appeared before Paris (by teleportation) on Mount Ida of the Troas. Each of them tried with their powers to bribe the handsome but carefree king, who had been removed from the city to graze flocks, because they had bad omens. Hera proposed to him to make him king of Europe and Asia, Athena would offer him wisdom and skill in war and Aphrodite offered the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen of Sparta, wife of the Greek king Menelaus. Paris accepted Aphrodite’s gift and awarded her the apple, taking with Helen the enmity of the Achaeans. The mission of the Achaeans to Troy, to recapture Helen from Paris, is the mythological basis of the Trojan War. Later in the war, Paris will fatally wound Achilles in the heel with an arrow, as Achilles’ mother Thetis, who tried unsuccessfully to prevent him from going to war, had fearfully predicted…

The beautiful helen

. Paris prepared a fast boat and left for Sparta. He arrived at Menelaus’ palace bearing rich gifts. There everyone welcomed him and hosted him, as befits the king of Troy. However, Paris, with the help of Aphrodite, outwitted Helen and convinced her to follow him. And one day when Menelaus was away, they left for Troy.The abduction of Helen by Paris. Among them is the winged god Eros.
From an ancient Greek vase.

When Menelaus heard the news, that Paris took Helen from him, and he wanted to take revenge on him and bring her back, he left Crete and went straight to Mycenae to his brother Agamemnon. Then, together with the wise Nestor the king of Pylos, they decided to send an invitation to all the kings and heroes in every part of Greece, to take part in this campaign which was a matter of honor. The rapist had to be punished, or no one could henceforth be sure of his wife, when the sacred institutions of hospitality were thus violated. It was therefore necessary for everyone to consider the insult that Paris did to Menelaus as personal. However, the fates and the oracles of the oracles played their role here as well: those who knew their destiny, hardly decided to follow the campaign. Odysseus, the resourceful and brave son of Laertes and king of Ithaca, knew from then on that it would be twenty years before he would see his people again, so he pretended to be mad when Agamemnon and Palamedes went to call him. He was newly married and had just had a son, Telemachus. So, dressed funny and acting crazy they found him plowing his field. The cunning Palamedes revealed his pretense by placing the young Telemachus before the plough, Naturally, Odysseus did not step over the child’s body, but stopped ploughing. There went the old Nestor, the king of Pylos, Idomeneus from Crete, Aeandas from Salamis, the other Aeandas from Locris, Diomedes from Argos, Philoctetes, the friend of Herakles, from Magnesia, the Odysseus from Ithaca and Achilles, the son of Peleus and Thetis from Phthia with his friend Patroclus and the brave Myrmidons. They chose Agamemnon as their leader.

*******’*************T H E T R O J A N S = OI Τ Ρ Ω Ε Σ

The fortress of Troy was located on the Ida mountain, beyond the Hellespont.

IT WAS BUILT BY THE COURITES, FROM CREATAE 5000BC..
BUT THE LEGACY IS SAYING, THAT Poseidon and Apollo had built it for Laomedon. At the time when the events that will be mentioned next took place, Laomedon’s son Priam, who had Hekabe as his wife, reigned in Troy. Priam was originally called Podarkis (good-footed) and was the brother of Isione who had followed Telamon to Salamis, married him and gave birth to Teucros and Aedes who both took part in the Trojan War. Achaeans and Trojans seem to have been members NOT only of the SAME branch of Greeks race (same language, religion and customs) BUT ALSO THE SAME FAMILY In the fortress of Troy Priam raised a royal family with so many children that no other like it is mentioned. He gave birth to fifty sons, besides daughters. The first-born was Hector, followed by Paris, Diiphobus, Helen, Polydoros, Troilus, etc. Of the daughters, the most famous are Kreusa, Laodiki, Polyxeni and Cassandra who had fortune-telling abilities.

Troy, the hero who gave his name to the Trojan people, is the son of Erichthonius, the grandson of Dardanus, and his mother was Astyochus. He married Callirroi, daughter of Scamandros and had a daughter Cleopatra (the name Cleopatra is Greek) and three sons: Ilos who founded the citadel of Ilium, Assarakos and Ganymede whom Zeus loved.

.Priam had originally married Arisbe from whom he had fathered Aesacus. He then abandoned her and proceeded to marry Hekavi. Hekabi was extremely fertile. Although ancient writers do not agree on the number of children she bore, the family she raised with Priam was very large.Hector, King Priam and Queen Hecuba – Trojan War – Red Figure AmphoraPriam had originally married Arisbe from whom he had fathered Aesacus. He then abandoned her and proceeded to marry Hekavi. Hekabi was extremely fertile. Although ancient writers do not agree on the number of children she bore, the family she raised with Priam was very large.

Opposite page: Peleus assigns the Centaur Chiron to educate the young Achilles. (Black-figure lekythos around 500 BC, Athens, Archaeological Museum).

.

Sitting on their throne, Priam and Hecabe accept with lively gestures the sad news of the murder of their son Troilus. (Clazomenian hydria shell, around 540 BC, Athens, Archaeological Museum)
Paris and Helen of Menelaus

Agamemnon, The king of Mycenae, had married Clytemnestra and Menelaus had married Helen. Menelaus reigned in Sparta and there he received Paris and his entourage when he visited, bringing with him rich gifts. When Paris saw Helen, he was dazzled by her beauty. Menelaus honored the foreign king according to the customs of hospitality, but on the tenth day he was forced to leave for Crete. Then Paris found the opportunity and approached Helen who could not resist the power of Aphrodite. So she accepted the treasures that Paris gave her and followed him at night. The couple left secretly and arrived in Troy where their wedding was celebrated. Then Iris, the messenger of the gods, brought the news to Menelaus who was in Crete.

Helen and Paris in a design by the French Nadar.

The Achaean campaign in Troy Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world at that time was desired by all the princes of Greece. Tyndareus, her father, had a hard time deciding. Then, according to Odysseus’ idea, Tyndareus decided to bind all prospective grooms with an oath, that they would accept the election of Helen herself and that they would rush to help if the honor of the husband happened to be threatened. This oath was invoked by the Atreides in requesting the participation of so many heroes in the campaign. On the subject of Helen the Fair, Euripides wrote in 412 BC. the tragedy “Helen”. The Italian neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova created the “Helen of Troy” statue.

But also the brave Achilles, the greatest figure of this war, was sent by his mother to hide in the palace of the king of Skyros, Lycomedes, dressed as a woman, among his cousins. This was revealed by the trick of Odysseus, who went with women’s dresses and ornaments to the palace, gifts for the king’s daughters among whom were hidden a spear and a shield. As Odysseus showed the lyuses to the maidens, he caused the war trumpet to sound the sound of battle. Then Achilles, unrestrained, grabbed the weapons he had been wandering around before and prepared for an attack. This is how the expeditionary force was revealed and followed to Avlida. It took ten years for the flower of valor and martial art to be concentrated in the port of Avlida at that time. Among the heroes were the king of Pylos the wise Nestor, Diomedes the hero of Aetolia, Aedas the son of Telamon, Aedas the Locros, Idas, the king of Crete Idomeneas and others.

Achilles prepares for the great Trojan campaign: he wears his shins and Thetis holds his spear and shield. (Black-figure plaque, 560 BC, Athens, Archaeological Museum).

Hephaestus, who made Achilles’ weapons, gives them to Thetis.

A sign of the goddess’s favor, was sacrificed amid the cheers of the troops. Immediately the winds blew the sails of the ships and the Greek fleet set sail from Avlida bound for Troy to wash away Helen’s shame.

Menelaus against Paris. Paris, Louvre

Trojan War – Iliad

The Achaeans, faithful to their religion and traditions, made a sacrifice before the start of the Trojan war so that the gods would reveal signs about the future and its outcome. During the sacrifice, a snake was presented whose spine was red as blood. This snake came out of the altar and climbed the plane tree that was nearby. On the highest branch was a sparrow with her young. The snake swallowed the eight sparrows in turn and then their mother. Once he had swallowed all nine birds, he was turned into stone, by Zeus. The seer Calchus interpreted this unnatural event as follows: the siege of Troy would last nine years and in the tenth it would fall.

Troy or Ilion was the site of these deadly battles, protected by Apollo with the silver bow. The first dead of the war was Protesilaus, on the side of the Achaeans, to whom they erected a monument and honored him. The goddesses Athena and Hera helped the Achaean troops. In Homer’s epic, the Iliad, many of the events that took place in the Trojan War are mentioned. The most important of these have as their protagonist the brave Achilles whose fame of exploits has spread far and wide.

Protesilaos, the first casualty of the Trojan War, was a Thessalian and indeed one of Helen’s potential suitors. He took part in the war with a fleet of forty ships. While jumping off the ship, he was struck by Hector.

ACHILEUS and AJAX.-NEPHEW OF PRIAM) Two heroes with a lot in common, in morals, bravery and mental cultivation. The great Heracles once passed through the kingdom of Telamon and begged Zeus to make invulnerable the new-born AJAX he had wrapped with his lioness. AJAX indeed became invulnerable except for the shoulder, the ribs and the armpit, that is, the points corresponding to those covered by the quiver on the body of Hercules.

Zeus was warned of a prophecy that Thetis would have a son who would grow up to be greater than his father. Worried by this, Zeus arranged for Thetis to marry a mortal man so that her child couldn’t challenge his power. In another version of the story, Thetis rejects Zeus’s advances and a furious Zeus decrees that she will never marry a god. Either way, Thetis ends up married to the mortal Peleus and Achilles is born.
Standing figure of woman with man and lion either side pressing against her
Terracotta relief showing Peleus and Thetis, c. 490–470 BC. Thetis tries to resist marriage to Peleus by transforming her body into powerful elements such as fire and wild beasts, here a lion

Thetis attempts to make the baby Achilles immortal, by dipping him in the River Styx (the river that runs through the underworld), while holding him by his heel. The one part of his body left untouched by the waters becomes his only point of weakness, hence the phrase ‘Achilles heel.

The learned centaur Chiron instructs the boy Achilles in the playing of the lyre. He rests upon his equine haunch and wears an animal-skin cloak and wreath of laurel.

Achilles and Ajax Playing a Board Game
540-530 BCE.
Terracotta amphora. Height 2 feet
(Musei Vaticani, Rome). ARCHAIC BLACK-FIGURE POTTERY
Exekias
Achilles and Ajax Playing a Board Game
540-530 BCE.
Terracotta amphora. Height 2 feet
(Musei Vaticani, Rome)
An example of black-figure painting is Achilles and Ajax Playing a Board Game on an amphora signed by Exekias as both potter and painter (at left is written: Exekias epoiesen = ΕΞΕΚΊΑΣ ΕΠΟΊΗΣΕΝ =
“Exekias made [me or it].” At right is also written, less relevantly, O Netorides kalos = Ο ΝΕΤΟΡIΔHΣ ΚΑΛΟΣ =
“Onetorides is beautiful”).
The central image is a narrative scene, with geometric patterns subsumed into border devices. In the panel framed by a lustrous black “glaze,” Ajax (Aiantos = “of Ajax [Aias]”) and Achilles (Akhileos = “of Akhilleus”) are depicted playing a board game during a lull in the Trojan War. In a symmetrical and deceptively tranquil scene, the Homeric heroes bend over a table and call out the scores of the game (which are written before their lips – tesara = 4, for Achilles, tria = 3, for Ajax) 

Achilles prepares for the great Trojan campaign: he wears his shins and Thetis holds his spear and shield. (Black-figure plaque, 560 BC, Athens, Archaeological Museum).

Hephaestus, who made Achilles’ weapons, gives them to Thetis. a doe, a sign of the goddess’s favor, was sacrificed amid the cheers of the troops. Immediately the winds blew the sails of the ships and the Greek fleet set sail from Avlida bound for Troy to wash away Helen’s shame.

The father Peleus advises his son, Achilles,
as he leaves for war.

“Aien exceletuein…”, that is,
“always be first and surpass all in battle”.

Peleus, because Achilles was still very young, sent with him and his teacher, the Phoenix, to advise him:

“Be able in words and worthy in deeds” /Homer, Iliad

Achilles.From an ancient Greekvase.

And the gods looked on from Olympus. Poseidon, Hera, Athena were with the Achaeans. Ares,

Aphrodite, Apollo with the Trojans. And Zeus sometimes with the Achaeans and sometimes with the Trojans.
In the last year of the war, when food was scarce and the army was starving, Agamemnon sent a ship to bring the Oenotropics to Troy. They, however, leaving Delos, begged the god Dionysus to help them. And Dionysus turned them into doves and they flew away and returned to DELOS

 The father of the Oinotropes, Anios.
From an ancient Greek vase.

 The Achaeans reach Troy
Traveling to Troy, the Achaeans passed through Delos. There, in the temple of Apollo, Anios was a priest who had three daughters, the Oinotropes. The soil that Spermo touched became wheat. The soil touched by Oino became wine and the soil touched by Elaida became oil. Anius, who was also a soothsayer, told the Achaeans that in ten years they would take Troy and invited them to stay nine years in Delos and in the tenth year to go to Troy. However, they did not accept.
So the Achaeans left Delos and in a few days they reached Troy. There reigned Priam and Hecabe who had fifty sons and many daughters. One of their daughters was Cassandra who was a fortune teller. However, Apollo had punished her and no one believed her words.
The Trojans, seeing the countless ships of the Achaeans, took their weapons and ran to the shore to fight them. Their leader was Priam’s eldest son, Hector, the brother of Paris. None of the Achaeans dared to set foot on land. Thetis had told them that the first one to set foot on Troy’s soil would fall dead. Then Odysseus threw his shield on the land and with one leap stood on it. Fooled by his trick, Protesilaos jumped second and stepped on the ground. And immediately he fell dead from Hector’s pole. Then began a terrible battle. The Trojans were defeated and shut up in the city walls. The Achaeans pulled their ships ashore and made a camp which they closed with a wooden wall, because they understood that it would take a long time before they could conquer Troy. The anger of Achilles
For nine years the Achaeans fought in Troy, but Priam’s castle was unoccupied and the Trojans, led by Hector, defended it bravely. In the tenth year , however, Achilles and Agamemnon quarreled over two beautiful slaves, Chrysis and Briseis. This brought many calamities to the Achaeans. Chrysis was Agamemnon’s slave . Chrysis`s father, who was a priest of Apollo, came supplicating to the Achaean camp, bearing rich gifts, the golden rod and the god’s sacred wreaths. He fell at Agamemnon’s feet and begged him to give Chrysis back to him. Agamemnon did not respect the old man and angrily kicked him out. Chrysis then begged Apollo to punish the Achaeans severely. Apollo heard him from Olympus and immediately took his bow and went to the camp of the Achaeans . He sat aside and, unseen, he shot animals and people with his arrows. Then a terrible disease fell among them and the Achaeans died, one after the other.

. Apollo shoots his arrows. From an ancient Greek vase.

The evil lasted nine days . On the tenth day the kings asked the soothsayer Calchas to tell them why such calamity befell them. He said that Apollo was angry because Agamemnon did not respect Chrysis. To stop the evil, Agamemnon sent Chryseis back to her father. However,Chrysis, her father, who was a priest of Apollo, came supplicating to the Achaean camp, bearing rich gifts, the golden rod and the god’s sacred wreaths. He fell at Agamemnon’s feet and begged him to give Chryseis back to him. Agamemnon did not respect the old man and angrily kicked him out. Chrysis then begged Apollo to punish the Achaeans severely. Apollo heard him from Olympus and immediately took his bow and went to the camp of the Achaeans . He sat aside and, unseen, he shot animals and people with his arrows. Then a terrible disease fell among them and the Achaeans died, one after the other he ordered Achilles’ slave, Briseis, to be brought to his tent. Achilles became very angry, hatred and rage filled his soul. He wanted to kill Agamemnon for insulting him, but the goddess Athena ran and restrained him. However, embittered, he closed himself in his tent and swore never to fight again.

Chrysis leaves Achilles’ tent to surrender to Agamemnon.
The seated figure on the right is Achilles. From an ancient Greek vase.

The death of Patroclus Achilles was no longer fighting and the Trojans took courage. Fierce battles took place outside Troy’s walls and countless Achaeans fell dead. Desperate then, Agamemnon sent to Achilles the old Phoenicus, Achilles’ teacher, Aiades, the strongest warrior of the Achaeans, and the versatile Odysseus, to beg him to return to the battle and would give him back Brisida and countless gifts. But Achilles did not accept and said that he would fight only if the Trojans reached his ships. The fighting continued more fiercely. The Trojans chased the Achaeans to their camp. Hector smashed the wooden gate of the camp with a huge stone and the Trojans rushed in and set fire to a ship. The Achaeans were saved by Aedas, who wounded Hector and the battle stopped for a while. Seeing the suffering of the Achaeans, Patroclus went to his friend Achilles. “Achilles,” he said to him, “the Trojans are burning our ships. Since you do not fight, they fear no one. Give me your armour, your chariot with your immortal horses and your brave Myrmidons, that I may fight in your place.’ Achilles agreed and advised him to drive the Trojans out of the camp and turn back.

Patroclus rushed with the brave Myrmidons into battle. The Trojans, whethey saw him, thought it was Achilles and ran away towards Troy.  Achilles tends tthe wounded Patroclus.
From an ancient Greek vase.

Patroclus forgot Achilles’ advice and chased the Trojans to the walls of Troy. But Hector met him there, he went close and they started to fight.
Then Apollo struck Patroclus on the back. He fell down and Hector killed him and took Achilles’ divine weapons from him.
There was a fight around the dead body. The immortal horses of Achilles, Xanthus and Valios, which Poseidon had given him, as if they saw Patroklos dead, bowed their heads and wet the earth with their tears. The Achaeans took the dead Patroclus and brought him to the ships. Achilles, seeing his friend dead, burst into lamentation. His mother Thetis heard him and came out of the sea to comfort him. And she herself went to Olympus and brought him new armor, which Hephaestus had made for him.

The Lament of Achilles
The news of Patroclus’ death was brought to Achilles by Nestor’s son, Antilochus.”Patroklos has fallen, and his turn for the dead is beaten,naked, because Hector has taken his chariots!”.
On hearing this, Achilles’ pain bursts forth wildly: without hesitation the hero pours black ash on his head with both hands, and then, with his beautiful face strained, his divine robe soiled, he falls and lies on the ground, pulling and tearing out his hair. For fear, lest in his despair he draw his sword and be killed, Antilochus is forced to hold his hands. Achilles does not speak, only moans loudly. Homer, Iliad S 20-35

The shield of Achilles
Hephaestus puts all his art into making Achilles’ new armor. But mostly he worked on the round shield. In the picture we see him handing it over to Thetis. He puts first the earth, the sea and the sky with the sun, the moon and all the stars. And then he starts drawing two states side by side. In the first, people have peace. They marry their children with songs and joys and settle their differences with judges. In the other state they have a war. Inside the city the women, children and old men have stayed, while outside the walls two armies have fallen into battle. The wounded and the dead lie all around. So Hephaestus tells the story of the joys of peace and the miseries of war. Then he puts the farmers plowing their fields, the laborers harvesting with sickles, he puts vines laden with grapes and people who harvested them while singing, he puts shepherds tending their flocks , features dancing boys and girls with flowers in their hair. And all around he makes the vast Ocean sparkle. And when he is done, he stands to look at her. He knows that if people notice the beauty of the shield, they will no longer want to fight. They will want to dance and sing, plow their fields, harvest their vines and tend their flocks. They will want to live in peace. And this shield of Achilles is the first, the only weapon ever made that invites not war but peace.

Rage and despair together filled the heart of Achilles after the death of Patroclus and he wanted to take revenge on Hector, who killed his fraternal friend. The next day he put on his new armor, harnessed his immortal horses to his chariot, and with his Myrmidons went to war.
I

 Hector bids farewell to Andromache and Astyanaktas.
From an ancient Greek vase.

Inside the castle of Troy, Hector said goodbye to Andromache, his wife, took in his arms for the last time his little son, Astyanactus, and he too went out to fight. The Trojans were outside their walls ready for battle. However, seeing Achilles arriving, they were frightened. Half ran inside the walls to save themselves and the other half ran to the plain. Achilles chased them and a fierce battle ensued. The Trojans fell dead one after the other. Priam, who was watching the battle from the walls, ordered and the gates were opened for the army to enter to save itself. Only the brave Hector did not shut himself up in the walls, but remained to face the enemy. Priam and Hecabe, his mother, and the beautiful Andromachi high above the walls. At some point Achilles saw him and rushed at him like a beast. Hector lost it and started running. Three times he ran around the city and Achilles chased him. At last Hector stopped running and stood to face him. Achilles rushed at him and the fight began.
They fought hard, for both were brave lads. Finally, Achilles struck Hector in the neck with his pole and threw him to the ground. Troy’s bravest warrior was now dead. High from the walls the Trojans looked and mourned. But Priam and Hecabe, his mother, and the beautiful Andromache mourned more.

Achilles-Hector duel. From an ancient Greek vase

Immediately Achilles took the dead man’s weapons, tied his legs with leather straps from the chariot and let his head drag on the ground. Then he struck his horses and they galloped towards the ships, dragging the dead Hector with them.
The next day the Achaeans burned the dead Patroclus. Achilles cut his long hair and put it in Patroclus’ hands, to be burned with him. He washed his bones with wine and placed them in a golden vessel, which his mother Thetis had given him.
The dead Hector remained unburied for eleven days, until Priam went to Achilles, fell at his feet and begged him to give him the body of his child to bury. Achilles was moved. He ordered the dead body to be washed and adorned, and gave it to the old king, to be taken to Troy. And he ordered the war to cease for eleven days, so that the Trojans could mourn and burn the dead, as was their custom.

Priam comes bearing gifts to Achilles’ tent and begs him. From an ancient Achaean vase.

Parents’ dreams for their children
Hector, before clashing with Achilles, enters the castle of Troy and bids farewell to his family. There he meets his wife Andromache and his young son Astyanaktas.As soon as he opened his arms to his son, the little one was frightened by the weapons and helmet and pulled away. Then Hector and Andromache laughed. He took off the brilliant helmet and laid it on the ground.
He then took the son, kissed him, danced with him in his arms,
and so he prayed to Zeus and to the other gods:
“Father Zeus and you other gods, give this one,
my son, as I shine among the Trojans to become
a strong man, and to rule Troy with great power.
and one should say: “much better than this one’s parent,”
as if he were returning from the war with bloody spoils of
an enemy he had killed, and his mother would be deeply rejoicing.”/ Homer, Iliad G 474-481,

Games to honor Patroklos
Achilles, after the burial of Patroklos, organizes games to honor his dead friend. The competitions are many: chariot racing, boxing, wrestling, road, armed combat, discus, archery, javelin. All the Achaean lads took part in the games and won great prizes from the hands of Achilles. Spectators participate by shouting and placing bets. In the last race, Achilles gives Agamemnon the first prize without letting him compete, since everyone knew that he was the first among the Greeks both in strength and in chariots. Thus the two rivals reconcile, after the destruction caused by their conflict. Patroclus was honored like no other hero. Everyone will remember his power and want to be like him. This was also the purpose of the epitaph matches.// Homer, Iliad Ps 258-897 (adaptation).

Winners and losers cry together
And as both of them remembered their pain, Priam wept the manly Hector, huddled before Achilles’ feet, and Achilles wept with his father and Patroclus, and the lamentations echoed all around.

Homer, Iliad Ω 509-512 (free translation by G. Economides).

The end of Achilles
After Hector’s burial , the war outside Troy’s walls resumed. Achilles killed the Trojan warriors one after another. One day, however, when he was outside the Shadow Gates, the largest gate of the castle of Troy, Apollo saw him and advised Paris to shoot him with his arrows in his right heel. His
mother , Thetis, when he was young, had made him immortal by immersing him in the enchanted waters of Lake Styx. However, his right heel was not wet, because it was holding him back from there. So Paris marked Achilles and stuck a medicated arrow in his right heel. Groaning, the hero knelt on the ground. With pained cries he tried to pull the arrow from his heel. After a while he collapsed dead. A fierce battle took place around his dead body . The Trojans were fighting to take him. However, Odysseus and Aedas grabbed him and brought him to the ships. All the Achaeans mourned the loss of the hero. Suddenly there was a terrible roar from the sea and out of the waves came Thetis and the Nereids, her sisters. They all stood around the dead body. For seventeen days they cried and cursed him. Then they burned his body, put his bones in the same pot as those of Patroclus, and, to honor him, held games. After a few days Paris was also killed. He was killed by Philoctetes with one of the poisoned arrows that Herakles had given him.

 The death of Achilles.
Modern sculpture.

The Divine Armor of Achilles: A Legacy of Glory and Tragedy.

HERE:

Neoptolemos/Pyrrhos holding the helmet of Achilles as he receives the armor of Achilles from Odysseus. 490-480 BCE, by the Athenian painter Douris.

Forged by the master craftsman Hephaestus at the request of Thetis, the armor of Achilles was a masterpiece of divine artistry and near-indestructible protection. After the Trojan hero Hector slew Patroclus and claimed Achilles’ original armor, the grieving warrior returned to battle in a new set of god-crafted armor, most notably featuring an intricately designed shield depicting the vastness of human life—cities in celebration, farmers at work, and the turning of the cosmos itself. With this armor, Achilles became an unstoppable force, slaying Hector and sealing his place as the greatest warrior of the Civil War vs Troy.

Yet even divine craftsmanship could not defy fate, and Achilles ultimately fell to an arrow guided by Apollo, striking the only vulnerable part of his body—his infamous heel.

Following Achilles’ death, his armor became a prize coveted by the Danaeans(=west Greeks) warriors. A contest was held to determine its rightful heir, with Odysseus and Ajax as the primary contenders. While Ajax was the physically strongest of the Acheans(or Danaens, =west Greeks) west the armor was awarded to Odysseus, whose intellect and strategic prowess were deemed more fitting of Achilles’ legacy. Consumed by humiliation and rage, Ajax fell into madness, slaughtering livestock in a delusional fury before taking his own life in despair. The armor, now a symbol of both glory and tragedy, was said to have been dedicated to a temple, though later legends suggest that even Alexander the Great may have worn it, further linking it to the idea of unmatched heroism and destiny.

Achilles’ armor serves as a profound reflection on the limits of power and the inescapability of fate. It highlights not only the might of Achilles but also the destruction wrought by pride and rivalry, as seen in the downfall of Ajax. More than just a piece of battle equipment, the armor embodies the themes of honor, mortality, and the relentless pursuit of greatness that define the heroes of Greek mythology based on historivsl facts..Jere daboit the civil war between Acheans vs Troads(=Trojans)

in 1994, an extraordinary tomb from 2500 BC in todays Turkey`, offers a vivid glimpse into ancient history-mythagogy of the civil war between Achaeans and Danaeans of West Greece vs Trojans. The tomb depicts a gripping scene from Greek legend: the sacrifice of Princess Polyxena to the ghost of Achilles following the Trojan War. This dramatic artwork captures the intensity of the moment, preserving a powerful story from antiquity. Today, visitors can marvel at this stunning relic at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum, where it stands as a testament to the enduring legacy of Greek myths and the artistry of the past. A must-see for history and mythology enthusiasts alike!Discovered

ACHILLES AT THE COURT OF KING LYCOMEDES (rear end panel of sarcophagus).
MARBLE. Ca 240 CE.
Inv. No. Ma 2120.
PARIS, LOUVRE MUSEUM .
PRIVATE COLLECTION, BORGHESE.
ORIGIN: BY ATHENIAN ATHENODOROS.
*** ROME./ FROM ATHENS WORKSHOP.
THE SARCOPHAGI HAD BEEN SAW ED UP TO FOUR PLATS WHICH WERE INSTALLED INTO THE FACADE OF VILLA BORGHESE. THE PLATES HAD BEEN MOVED TO THE LOUVRE, WHERE THE SARCOPHAGOS WAS RECONSTITUTED IN INTEGRITY .

Burial customs
They wash the dead body, anoint it with oil, wrap it in a white sheet and decorate it. He is laid on the funeral bed and mourned by relatives and friends. Close friends and relatives cut their hair to show their mourning. They raise a wooden structure from logs and dry branches. They place the deceased on top with many of his personal items (kterismas). After the fire is lit and burns people, slaughtered animals and objects, they put it out and carefully collect the bones of the deceased. They wash them, place them in a vase and finally raise a mound of earth and stones covering all the remains. In the end they all eat together. Homer, Iliad (adaptation

Achaeans despaired. They did not believe that they would succeed in conquering Troy. Then Odysseus, the resourceful, thought that Troy would not fall by arms but by cunning. So he advised the Achaeans to make a large wooden horse, hollow inside, the Trojan horse. So the Achaeans
made it and wrote on it: “Gift of the Achaeans to Athena”. And one dark night Odysseus, Menelaus, Diomedes, Neoptolemus, who was the son of Achilles, and some other brave Achaeans got into the horse. Agamemnon with the rest of the army, after burning the camp, got into the ships and went and hid behind Tenedos.
In the morning the Trojans, looking from the walls, could not believe their eyes. The Achaeans had left and left behind only a large wooden horse by the shore! So they came out of the walls, approached it and saw that it was a dedication to Athena. Many said that they had to raise it on the citadel of Troy, so that the goddess would protect them. Cassandra was unfair , shouting that Achaeans were hidden inside his belly. No one believed her. And a Trojan, Laocoondas, who was a priest of Apollo, said: ” “Fear the Achaeans even if they bring you gifts.“

THE FIRST & ORIGINAL STATUE WAS MADE IN BRONZE

200BC IN PERGAMOS>>>>>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>>>^^^^^^^^^

VERY IMPORTANT,!!

PAY ATTENTION TO THE FACTS HERE!:

IT WAS A CIVIL WAR BETWEEN WESTERN GREEKS, CALLED DANAEANS/ΔΑΝΑΟΙ

(HOMER) OR AHAIOI/AXAIOI

vs TROADES/ΤΡΩΆΔΕΣ (=TROYANS)…PRIAMUS WAS UNCLE OF AJAX.

PRIAMUS SISTER ISIONE MARRIED TELAMONIOS OF SALAMIS (the FAMOUS ISLAND FROM THEIR BATTLE AGAINST PERSIANS), OPPOSITE THE

PREFECTURE OF ATTICA..

THEY GOT TWO SONS : AJAX & TEUCROS and both went against their uncle PRIAMUS, under the leading of ACHILEUS (THE TEMPLATE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT LATER) .

BOTH TROJANS & jAhaians OR DANAI (HOMER) WERE HELLENES(=GREEKS) FROM THE SAME ETHNICITY, WITH THE SAME LANGUAGE, RELIGION, CUSTOMS & EVEN THE SAME FAMILIES!!, AS

PRIAMOS, WHO HAD A LOT OF CHILDREN..

THE FIRST BORN WAS HECTOR THEN PARIS, DIOPHOBOS(=the one, who fears DIOS- genetivus of ZEUS), POLYDOROS(=Gifted with many a abilities)

HIS DAUGHTERS: CREOUSA, LAODIKE, POLYXENA AND CASSANDRA, WHO HAD MAGICAL ABILITIES. .

ANDROMACHE(=MAN’S BATTLE), WAS THE WIFE OF HECTOR.

.

GODDESS ATHENA, was the protector of the western Greeks, while APOLLO of TROY..

Immediately two huge snakes sent by Poseidon came out of the sea and drowned Laocoon with his children.
Seeing this miracle, the Trojans were frightened and dragged the horse into the city. In order to enter, they also demolished a part of its walls. Then they ate, drank and feasted happily all day. At night they fell asleep tired from dancing and drinking.
At midnight the Achaeans emerged from the horse’s belly. They ran and lit fires high on the walls and opened the gates. Soon the army returned from Tenedo. All the Achaeans entered Troy, killed the warriors and took the children and women as slaves. Menelaus ran to Priam’s palace and took Helen back. Then they set fire and burned the city, not even respecting the temples of the gods.
In the morning they loaded their ships with booty and set off to return home.

 

Laocoon and his two sons.
Ancient Greek sculpture. Statue

showing the Strangulation of the complex

OF LAOCOON & HIS SON’S ANTIPHANES THYMVEOS, BY SNAKES

LAOCOON WAS PRIEST AT APOLLO TEMPLE IN TROY DURING THE CIVIL WAR AGAINST AHAENS-AEOLIANS- OF WEST GREECE.

THIS FAMOUS AND PERFECT MASTER PIECE WAS MADE IN WONDERFUL MARBLE BY THE SCULPTORS:

1) ATHENODOROS (=ΑΘΗΝΌΔΩΡΟΣ= GIFTED FROM GODDESS ATHENA(= ΑΘΉΝΑ+ΔΩΡΟ),

2) POLYDOROS(=GIFTED WITH MANY ABILITIES)

AND

3) AGISANDROS (AGESANDER LATER in LATIN ) FROM RHODOS IN 20BC Agesander (flourished 1st century bce, Rhodes) was a Greek sculptor who later is credited by the 1st-century-ce Roman writer Pliny as the creator, with Polydorus and Athenodorus, of the group Laocoon and His Sons. Nothing further is known of him except that inscriptions found at Lindus in Rhodes indicate that he was alive between 42 and 21 bce.

The statue was found by a farmer outside Rome, belonging to TITUS, who took it over to his Palace, in the ancient times.

At 15th centuryAD, the pope LEO the 10th, who was admirer of ancient Greek civilization & arts took it to Vatican & MICHALANGELO tried to repaire the arms, as much, as possible.

Plinius describes, as the most beautiful masterpiece.

Now is in VATICAN Museum

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

JUST UTOPIA to REACH, or UNDERSTAND THE HIGH LEVEL OF THE ANCIENT HELLENIC SPIRIT of CREATIONS & SUN LIGHT BEAMS OF THIS UNIQUE CIVILIZATION

NEOPTOLEMOS IS KILLING PRIAMOS

Neoptolemus was the son of the hero Achilles and the princess Deidamia .Achilles’ mother, the goddess Thetis, had foreseen that her son would die in a great war; afraid for him, she took him to the court of King Lycomedes at the island of Scyros, and disguised him as a woman. While there, Achilles had an affair with the princess Deidamia; from this union, Neoptolemus was born.

Helenus, a Trojan seer, was captured by the Achaeans and was forced to tell them that Troy would fall if the Achaeans acquired the arrows of Heracles and the Palladium, and if they also convinced Neoptolemus to join the war. After acquiring the two artifacts, the Achaeans sent Odysseus to get the young Neoptolemus, who eventually joined the war. During the Trojan War, Neoptolemus turned out to be a brutal person, who killed Priam, Eurypylus, Polites and Astyanax, among others; he also made Andromache his concubine. After the end of the war, Neoptolemus took Andromache and Helenus and went to Epirus, where he became the king. With Andromache, Neoptolemus had a son, Molossus.

When he attempted to take Hermione from Orestes; the latter killed him.

Scene from the tragedy Andromache by Euripides: Orestes kills Neoptolemus at the altar of Apollo in Delphi. Despairing Hermione, wife of Neoptolemus but previously promised to Orestes, kneels at the foot of the altar.Greek fresco in Pompeii

Upon returning to main land of West Greece, Orestes reclaimed the throne of his father, becoming the ruler of Mycenae. He died after being bitten by a snake in Arcadia.

AJAX(=ΑΙΑΣ) CARRYING THE BODY OF ACHILLES. Amphora Vase Ancient Greek Pottery by EXEKIAS

From an ancient Greek vase.

How did the news of the destruction of Troy reach MycenaeWhen Troy fell to the Achaeans, Agamemnon notified Clytemnestra overnight. His men lit a great fire on the top of Ida, in Troy, and many fires, one after the other, carried the message from mountain to mountain to Mycenae:Ida -> Lemnos -> Athos -> Evia -> Kithairon -> Mycenae.

Aeschylus, Agamemnon, verses 280 – 316 (arrangement)So we see that the people of that time had discovered a very fast means of communication, sending their messages with fire. In the hills and mountains near the cities, there were specific people who were responsible for lighting the fires, in order to communicate.

5. The sufferings of warThe Trojan War, which had lasted ten whole years, was over. However, he left behind dead people, destroyed houses, widows and orphans. Like any war. The ancient poet Euripides in his work “Troades” talks about the suffering and pain that war brings to people:Queen Hekave and the captive Trojan women mourn what they have lost and worry about the suffering they have to endure hereafter. Cassandra becomes Agamemnon’s slave. Andromache falls into the hands of Neoptolemus, son of Achilles. Her son, Astyanaktas, was thrown from the walls of Troy, so that he would not seek revenge later.The poet does not miss the opportunity to emphasize the miseries that await the victors on the return journey. Because whoever destroys states and does not respect the temples of the gods, it will not be long before disaster strikes.

Euripides, Troas (arrangement)

THE GOLDEN MASK OF AGAMEMNON, THE KING OF MYCENAE: THE MASK OF AGAMEMNON IS AN ARTIFACT DISCOVERED IN MYCENAE IN 1876 BY THE GERMAN ARCHAEOLOGISTS HEINRICH SCHLIEMANN.
THIS MASK IS MADE OF GOLD AND IS A FUNERAL MASK FOUND OVER THE FACE OF A DEAD BODY IN A BURIAL PLACE AT MYCENAE. SCHLIEMANN THOUGHT, THAT THE BODY AND THE MASK ARE OF THE LEGENDARY KING AGAMEMNON.
THIS MASK IS CRAFTED OUT OF PURE GOLD AND SUCH MASKS WERE PUT ON THE FACE OF DECEASED KINGS AND ROYAL PEOPLE. AGAMEMNON WAS THE SON OF KING ATREUS OF MYCENAE AND QUEEN AEROPE. HE WAS THE LEADER OF THE ACHAEANS-DANAOI OF WEST GREEKS DURING THE CIVIL WAR WITH TROES (TROJANS), AS MYCENAE WAS THE MOST POWERFUL WEST GREEK TOWN AT THAT TIME. HE WAS ALSO THE BROTHER OF MEN ELAUS AND THE HUSBAND OF CLYTEMNESTRA. AGAMEMNON HAD THREE DAUGHTERS AND ONE SON . – (ONE OF HIS DAUGHTERS, IPHIGENIA, WAS THE PROTAGONIST IN EURIPIDES PLAY-DRAMA). WHEN AGAMEMNON RETURNED TO HIS KINGDOM, AFTER THE END OF THE TROJAN WAR, HE WAS MURDERED BY HIS WIFE CLYTEMNESTRA AND HER LOVER AEGISTHUS.

THE AUTHENTICITY OVER THIS MASK REMAIN TILL TODAY. THIS GOLDEN EXHIBIT IS CURRENTLY ON DISPLAY AT THE NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM IN ATHENS. IN SPITE OF ALL THE DOUBTS, THIS DISTINGUISHED MASK OF GOLD, WHICH IS ABOUT 12 INCHES IN HEIGHT IS STILL KNOWN, AS THE MASK OF AGAMEMNON AND IS ONE OF THE MOST PRIZED DISCOVERIES FROM THE ANCIENT MYCENAEAN AGES

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Electra, daughter of King Agamemnon, wants to avenge her father’s death. After his return from the Trojan War, he was murdered by his wife Klytaimnestra and her lover Aigisthos. Elektra is waiting for one day to get her revenge and for her brother Orestes, sent away to be raised elsewhere, to come home and help her.

IN THE ROYAL PALACE IN MYCENE
Clytaimnestra’s handmaidens talk about Elektra. They think she behaves frighteningly and dangerously. The youngest of them defends Elektra and the others beat her. Elektra becomes lonely. She remembers her father, relives the murder and imagines the rites of dance and blood sacrifice when the father is once avenged.

Her younger sister Chrysothemis warns her about the mother who wants to have Elektra thrown in prison. Chrysothemis can’t stand the confined life in the palace anymore. She wants to be human and woman. Alarms from inside the house announce the arrival of Klytaimnestra. Elektra wants to talk to her.

Clytaimnestra is tormented by dreams. She asks Elektra for advice. Klytaimnestra’s confidants warn her about her daughter. Elektra, first introduces herself and speaks kindly to the mother. Finally, she loses control and declares that the only cure for the anxiety dreams is the death of Klytaimnestra. Then someone whispers a message to Klytaimnestra. Her death throes turn into triumph.

Chrysothemis returns and tells her that two strangers have come with the message that Orestes is dead. Elektra can’t believe it at first. A servant sets off to break the news to Aigisthos. Elektra realizes that she must complete the revenge herself and tries to convince her sister to kill Klytaimnestra and Aigisthos with her that same night. But she fails to break Chrysothemi’s resistance. Elektra has hidden away the ax with which her father was murdered. Now she picks it up.

Shortly thereafter, a stranger arrives. He tells of the death of Orestes – but it is Orestes himself. The siblings recognize each other; he has come to Mycenae to avenge his father’s death. Orestes’ companions remind that Klytaimnestra is waiting for them in the palace. Orestes enters. Elektra breathlessly follows the events from outside. Klytaimnestra’s death scream is heard.

Orestes was the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra , who was hunted by the Erinyes after he killed his mother.

The story of Orestes is the main topic of various ancient Greek plays. After the Trojan War, Orestes’ father, Agamemnon, returned to Mycenae (or Argos), along with his prize, the Trojan princess Cassandra. Cassandra had the gift of foretelling the future, but was also cursed not to be believed by anyone. Despite Cassandra’s warnings about what was about to happen, Agamemnon entered his palace, only to be murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus, who was Agamemnon’s cousin. Orestes, a young boy at the time, was not present at the palace, but had run away with his sister Electra and found refuge at the court of Athens.

When Orestes became an adult, he was urged by his sister and the god Apollo to avenge their father’s death; Orestes, assisted by his friend Pylades, returned to the city, and murdered his mother and her lover. However, committing matricide was a horrible act that brought the fury of the Erinyes upon him. He was driven mad and was pursued by them.

Orestes sought refuge at the temple of Apollo, but even the god was powerless to stop the Erinyes. In the end, Athena accepted his pleas and organised a formal trial to be held before twelve judges. The Erinyes asked that the perpetrator be punished, while Orestes said that he followed Apollo’s orders. When the judges voted, the result was a tie; however, Athena’s vote, who was the chief justice, broke ties, leading to Orestes’ acquittal. Grateful, Orestes dedicated an altar to Athena, while the Erinyes were appeased by getting a new ritual, during which they were worshipped as the Venerable Ones.

According to a different source, while Orestes was still pursued by the Erinyes, Apollo told him to go to the land of Tauris and bring back a statue of Artemis, which had fallen from the sky. Orestes agreed and went to Tauris, accompanied by his friend Pylades. There, they were captured by the cult of Artemis, who was told to sacrifice all Greeks to the goddess. When the priestess of Artemis heard that two Greeks had been captured, she offered to help one of them escape if they would agree to carry a letter to her brother; Orestes demanded that Pylades should go, while Orestes would stay behind to be slain. Pylades reluctantly agreed, but when he received the letter, he realised who the priestess really was. All three of them eventually escaped, carrying with them the statue of Artemis. Aegisthus being murdered by Orestes and Pylades – The Louvre

Aigisthos arrives and meets Elektra outside the palace gate. Elektra’s terrifying supervision and unexpected kindness scares him. On his way in, he is murdered by Orestes.

Chrysothemis joyfully recounts the battle between Aigisthos’s friends and those who sided with Orestes. The brother has won. Elektra has achieved her goal in life. Vengeance has been exacted. She begins her ritual dance and sinks dead to the ground.

Alexander the Great laid the foundations for scientific mapping. A pioneer explorer, who laid the foundations of scientific mapping, was Alexander the Great. With his campaign in the East, he inspired his contemporaries and later cartographers to record in detail the areas through which he passed. The cartographic and exploratory work of the army of Alexander the Great and his descendants was studied by 15th century explorers, who sought to discover new worlds. Savvas Demertzis, a map collector and historian, spoke about its importance at an event at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. “Alexander the Great’s campaign not only had a military dimension, but also included an important task of searching for and recording new information. “The Macedonian king arrived in unknown countries at that time and played a very decisive role in their mapping,” Savvas Demertzis told “Demokratia” during the event. Teachings The contribution of Alexander the Great to cartography comes from Aristotle, who taught him to love knowledge. In his campaign he was accompanied by Eumenes, also a student of Aristotle, who was the first person to make real geographical measurements with the help of the body of “walkers”, which he recommended. “These were educated young people, who with a special technical regulation of breathing walked a lot of kilometers and so Eumenes calculated the distances” explains Mr. Demertzis. Eumenes mapped the areas where Alexander the Great arrived, while his work was continued by descendants of the Macedonian mercenary. The Seleucid and Egyptian contributions were important in the mapping, as they bordered areas that were unexplored. An additional important role in the development of cartography was played by the creation of large libraries in Alexandria, Antioch, Pergamon and Pella. “15th century explorers studied maps of the descendants of Alexander the Great, who had mapped areas beyond India and Africa. They helped them in their exploratory work and so they reached America “, adds Mr. Demertzis. No maps have survived from the time of Alexander the Great. They were destroyed when the library of Alexandria burned down. However, there are copies that give important information about the exploratory work of the great recruiter.

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The François Tomb of Vulci: from the graphic documentation of the Fondo des Vergers at the Gambalunga Library to the pictorial decorations at the library of the Villa des Vergers. The des Vergers Collection is rich in drawings, tracings, engravings of wall paintings, as well as vases, bronzes and jewellery, brought to light by the excavations carried out by the company founded by Adolphe Noël des Vergers and Alessandro François in 1850. In 1852 they were joined by des Vergers’ father-in-law, the editor Ambroise Firmin Didot. In April 1857, François discovered a tomb in Vulci, later named after him, the walls of which were decorated with an outstanding pictorial cycle. In the wake of this discovery des Vergers commissioned the drawings of the tomb’s frescoes and then published them in the Atlas of his monumental work L’Étrurie et les Étrusques ou dix ans de fouilles dans les Maremmes toscanes . In 1864 he purchased, on his father-in-law’s behalf, the full-scale tracings of François Tomb’s pictorial cycle, which were made in 1862 by Carlo Ruspi for the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco facsimile. Ruspi’s tracings turned out to be particularly important, both because they provided useful information that helped des Vergers with the description of the tables XXI-XXIX of the Atlas , but also because they were most likely used by the painter Augusto Aviano towards the end of the nineteenth century as a model for the ceiling decorations of the library of Villa des Vergers in San Lorenzo in Correggiano (Rimini).

Index terms

Keywords:

Adolphe Noël des Vergers , 

Alessandro François , 

Ambroise Firmin Didot , 

François-des Vergers-Firmin Didot excavation company , 

Vulci , 

François tomb , 

des Vergers Collection , 

Villa des Vergers , 

Rimini Gambalunga Library , 

Rimini Civic Museum

Keyword:

Adolphe Noël des Vergers , 

Alessandro François , 

Ambroise Firmin Didot , 

François-des Vergers-Firmin Didot excavation company , 

Vulci , 

François Tomb , 

Des Vergers Fund , 

Villa des Vergers , 

Gambalunga Library of Rimini , 

Municipal Museum of Rimini

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• 1 On des Vergers see Firmin Didot – Beulé [1867]; Scott de Martinville 1867; Albini 1930; Copies 1 (…)
• 2 On the versatile figure of Ambroise Firmin Didot see Werdet 1864, p. 32-45; Mollier 1988, p. 81-10 (…)
• 3 On the Villa des Vergers at the time of Adolphe see Mussoni 2011, p. 13-28.
• 4 On the Fondo des Vergers see Delbianco 1996; Delbianco 2014b, p. 22-45; Delbianco 2014c.
• 5 BGR AdV, b. VI, fasc. 11, s. fascicle 8, n. 3-4: Delbianco 2014c, p. 201 sq.
• 6 On François see Conestabile 1858; Pelagatti 1960; Bruni 2011, p. 50-51, notes 5-6.
• 7 Bruni 2011, p. 19-65; 97  sq. , notes 1-17.

1Adolphe Noël des Vergers (Paris 1804 – Nice 1867), an eclectic scholar with interests in orientalist studies, geography and archaeology 1 , son-in-law of the Parisian publisher Ambroise Firmin Didot (Paris 1790-1876), himself an antiquarian, bibliophile and collector 2 , in 1843 purchased the villa of San Lorenzo in Correggiano (Rimini, Papal State) 3 from the Belmontis , making it the Italian base for studies and government missions systematically documented by the materials of the Fondo des Vergers 4 , acquired by the Gambalunga Library of Rimini in 1934 upon the death of des Vergers’ daughter, the Marquise Hélène de Toulongeon (1843-1934). Des Vergers’ interests in Etruscan history date back to a very early period: in 1838, during a trip to Italy, he visited the excavations on Monte Falterona (1838-1839), which brought to light one of the richest votive offerings in the Etruscan world in the site later called the “Lago degli Idoli”. 5 In 1850 he set up an excavation company in the Tuscan Maremma with the already famous excavator Alessandro François (Florence 1796 – Livorno 1857), Royal Commissioner of War and Navy of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany at Livorno 6 , who, with the aim of opening a National Etruscan Museum in Florence with his own collection 7 , carried out excavation work during the leaves periodically granted by the Ministry. The company expanded in December 1852 with the entry of Didot and continued until 1857, the year of François’ death.

• 8 The correspondence exchanged between François and des Vergers, which will be cited with the acronym BGR AdV without the (…)
• 9 On Migliarini see Nieri 1929, 1930; On the Heyde 2003.
• 10 BGR AdV, Report , [1852 post Sept. 14]: Delbianco 2014c, p. 180, n. 40.
• 11 On the Giulietti family, and in particular on Vincenzo, see Barni – Paolucci 1985, p. 28.
• 12 Paolucci 2007, p. 29-38: Francesco Bonci Casuccini (1781-1857); p. 39-47: Ottavio (1819-1886), fig (…)
• 13 On François’ excavations in the grounds of the Mensa Vescovile in Chiusi see Paolucci 2014a, p. 27-35.
• 14 Barni – Paolucci 1985, p. 17; Tailors 2001, p. 29.
• 15 Franceschi, on whom see Marzi Costagli (1984), is also mentioned in BGR AdV, Note of the spe (…)
• 16 Augusto Volpini 1912; Comanducci [1945], II, p. 898.

2The extensive correspondence that François exchanged with his partner des Vergers 8 allows us to follow this second activity step by step before, during and after the excavations, when he took care of having the finds restored and drawn, of regularly sending the drawings and transparencies to his partner in Paris, of having the appraisal and inventories of the materials carried out by Arcangelo Michele Migliarini (1779-1865), curator of the Antiquities of the Uffizi Galleries since 1841 9 . In his letters he tends to gloss over the names of the estates (and their owners) in which he worked in the various Etruscan centres, with the exception of the Statement of expenses incurred by the François-des Vergers excavation company from 5 February 1850 to 24 September 1852 10 , where he mentions both the owners of the estates (Vincenzo Giulietti 11 , Francesco and above all Ottavio Casuccini 12 , Agostino Pacchiarotti, the bishop Giovanni Battista Ciofi 13 , Vittoria Pallottaj widow Rosati), as well as the restorers (Vincenzo Monni, 14 Gian Gualberto Franceschi 15 ) and the painters/designers (Leopoldo Gori, Augusto Volpini 16 ) employed from time to time.

• 17 BGR AdV, letter Livorno 10.10.1852. On the first season of excavations in Vulci see François 1857a.
• 18 For the excavation activity in Vulci by Luciano and Alexandrine Bonaparte see Buranelli 1995.

3From 1850 to 1854 François conducted excavation campaigns in Belora di Riparbella (Pisa), S. Vincenzino di Cecina and Fitto di Cecina (Livorno), Chiusi, Chianciano, Volterra, Orbetello, Vulci. He excavated in Vulci in 1853, a year after Princess Alexandrine de Bleschamp, widow of Lucien Bonaparte, had granted him permission to excavate “perfectly halfway” in the lands of the principality of Canino. “A somewhat onerous condition” – he would admit with des Vergers – but which he had accepted willingly because he hoped to have the fortune of opening the “immense sepulchre” of Cuccumella, 17 succeeding in the enterprise that Bonaparte had failed to do 18 .

• 19 On Torlonia see Felisini 2004 and 2014; Monsagrati 2006.
• 20 BGR AdV, letter Livorno 20.02.1856.
• 21 BGR AdV, letter Livorno 03.24.1856, 04.10.1856, 06.27.1856. See Paolucci 2014a, p. 58-62.
• 22 BGR AdV, letter Livorno 10 and 23.10.1856; 18.11.1856.
• 23 BGR AdV, letter Livorno 18.11.1856; 12.02.1857.
• 24 BGR AdV, letter Livorno 17.02.1857.
• 25 François was retired from service by decree dated 04.03.1857: see BGR AdV, letter Livor (…)
• 26 BGR AdV, Canino letter 16 and 24.03.1857.
• 27 BGR AdV, Canino letter 19.03.1857.
• 28 BGR AdV, Canino letter 03.31.1857.
• 29 BGR AdV, Canino letter 5.04.1857, where the opening is scheduled for the following day. In reality it had the (…)

4Upon the death of Princess Alexandrine (1855), the former fief of Canino and Musignano was purchased by Prince Alessandro Torlonia (1800-1886) 19 . Having entered into negotiations with François, the new owner in February 1856 authorised him to carry out the excavations of Cuccumella 20 , which took place with little success from 10 April to 11 May and were suspended at the end of the month’s leave granted to him by the Tuscan Government 21 . In October of the same year, the excavator signed a contract with Torlonia which allowed him to excavate in the prince’s properties in Canino and Cerveteri for the three-year period 1857-1859. 22 After having obtained assurances from his capitalist partners regarding the financing of the new archaeological research 23 , the research permit from the papal authorities 24 and his withdrawal from service by his Government 25 , on 16 March 1857 François began excavations in the necropolis of Ponte Rotto near the Fiora river with a team of fourteen workers and a corporal. In the meantime he began to think about organising the excavations in the necropolis of Cerveteri, which, at Torlonia’s request, would begin in November, at the end of the research at Cuccumella. 26 Already in the first few days he identified some hypogea, which rose to twenty after a week 27 , to forty at the end of the month 28 and to about sixty not even a week later. Their opening did not begin until 7 April, and was thus delayed because by contract a representative of Torlonia was to be present. François forewarns him in his letter to des Vergers two days earlier, where he renews his invitation to go to Vulci. 29 On 12 April he observes:

• 30 BGR AdV, Canino letter 12.04.1857.

I am absolutely certain that the hypogea I found were never visited by Prince Luciano or by other modern excavators, and those that I found to be such in my investigations I left behind; moreover there are two very new burial grounds discovered by me. 30

• 31 BGR AdV, letter Canino 19.04.1857, with transcription of the inscription of the cippus, published in Buranelli (…)
• 32 On the necropolis of Ponte Rotto see Moretti Sgubini 1987, 2004b. On the Tomb of the Saties see, from u (…)
• 33 BGR AdV, Canino letter 04.28.1857.

5On April 19 he informs des Vergers that the previous week he had found many objects but of little importance in the tombs of plebeian people and that on the other hand he had discovered an inscribed sepulchral cippus, placed at the beginning of the 150-palm dromos of “a large family hypogeum”, which “after the Cuccumella is the most grandiose ever found in these excavations, and must have several sarcophagi”. 31 François had discovered the Tomb of the Saties , which later took his name. 32 On April 28 he had already entered “the atrium in front of the vestibule, where the tombs are, and tomorrow – he assured – I will penetrate it”. 33 On May 1 he sent his partner a detailed and enthusiastic report:

I finally arrived at the first tomb of the necropolis that I announced to him I had discovered in the locality of Ponte Rotto near the Fiora, a river that laps the walls of ancient Vulci. It belonged to Warriors of that city: it is composed of five rooms, the first of which is painted with figures, and if the drawings were to be extracted there would be a lot to write about, but a lot since it is a very interesting subject, and many of the figures have Etruscan inscriptions. These tombs are empty, and in perfect conservation, and worthy of being seen, studied, and published. The necropolis itself is virgin, and I calculate that it has four other tombs at least.

6He continues with the list of the “superb objects” found and concludes by underlining that:

• 34 BGR AdV, letter Canino 1.05.1857, published in Buranelli 1987b, p. 35  sq. , card 2 (manual transcription (…)

Now the essential thing would be to have the drawings of the surviving paintings of the first room extracted, so as not to defraud science, assuring it that they are very interesting both for their beauty, as for their scientific importance, being in my opinion the most beautiful paintings I have ever seen in Etruscan tombs. The Archaeological Institute should send one of its members here with a designer, and then have them published in the Annals of the Institute. 34

• 35 On Rosa see Ferro 1892; Barnabei 1933; Tomei 1999; and, for the relations with des Vergers, von Hesberg (…)
• 36 The pencil drawing on tracing paper, complete with measurements, is preserved in BGR AdV, b. VI, fasc. (…)
• 37 On Henzen see Kolbe 1984; Blanck 2003; and, for his relationship with des Vergers, Blanck 1996 and 2009
• 38 On Nicola Ortis (1830-1896) see Servolini 1955, p. 585. On the agreements between Henzen and des (…)
• 39 The drawings no. I, IV, VII are present in the FdV, located respectively in BGR GDS inv. 5075, 507 (…)
• 40 The Ortis practice is preserved in BGR AdV, b. VI, fasc. 3: Delbianco 2014c, p. 196. On the affair of (…)
• 41 François 1857b, p. 104; Buranelli 1987b, p. 32; 38, card 4.

7Des Vergers visited the excavations at the beginning of May in the company of his friend Pietro Rosa (1810-1891), architect and topographer 35 , who drew the plan of the tomb (fig. 1). 36 Then, following a recommendation from Wilhelm Henzen (1816-1887), first secretary of the Institute of Archaeological Correspondence 37 , he had a copy of the wall paintings made by the young painter Nicola Ortis 38 , a pupil of Tommaso Minardi, who left for Vulci on 12 May and returned to Rome on 1 June with nine pencil drawings on a 1:10 scale. He had accompanied the drawings, three of which have come down to us 39 (fig. 2), with a Description of the paintings in the tomb discovered in the ancient city of Vulci in Etruria , where the figures represented in each panel are listed in order, distinguishing the nude from the clothed and indicating the type of clothing and the relative colour of the latter. He had completed the work with a pen drawing of the plan of the tomb, where the position of the paintings on the walls of the large central room in the shape of an inverted T is marked. 40 On the plan he had also taken care to indicate in hatching the “dry wall” of ancient construction that closed the right side of the vestibule, separating three lateral rooms from the other rooms, or “that rough wall” that François decided to knock down with blows of a hoe 41 .

Fig. 1 – Plan of the François Tomb drawn by Pietro Rosa on tracing paper in 1857 (des Vergers, L’Étrurie et les Étrusques , III, plate XXX ds.).

Zoom Original (jpeg, 339k)

© Gambalunga Library, Rimini.

Fig. 2 – 1:10 scale drawings of the pictorial cycle of the François Tomb made by Nicola Ortis in 1857, plate. VII: Sisyphus and Amphiaraus (des Vergers, L’Étrurie et les Étrusques , III, plate XXVI).

Zoom Original (jpeg, 358k)

© Gambalunga Library, Rimini.

• 42 On the role played by the Institute in the first publications of the paintings from the François Tomb see (…)
• 43 On Bartolomeo Bartoccini (1816-1882) see Servolini 1955, p. 55; on Bartoccini’s copies of the drawings (…)
• 44 The delicate affair is documented by Henzen’s letters to des Vergers, Rome 5 and 27.06.1857, 4.07 (…)

8Henzen immediately asked des Vergers for permission to publish in the Monumenti inediti the engravings of the pictorial cycle from the drawings of Ortis 42 , but to his repeated requests his friend replied that he reserved the publication for Paris, after which he would gladly make the engraved plates available to the Institute. He expressed his appreciation for the far-sighted initiative of Henzen, who had had a copy of the drawings of Ortis made by Bartolomeo Bartoccini 43 to use it, if authorised to publish them, or to keep it (with his approval) in the Archives of the Institute as a backup copy. 44

• 45 Des Vergers 1857a. The letter is published in full in Blanck 2009, p. 155  sq.
• 46 François 1857b.
• 47 Des Vergers 1857b.

9Henzen immediately published in the May-June Bulletin a good part of the letter that des Vergers had sent him from Civitavecchia on 7 May via Rosa with the first news of the exceptional discovery 45 , in the July Bulletin François’ excavation report 46 , in the August-September Bulletin des Vergers’ report dedicated to the pictorial cycle 47 .

10The discovery of the tomb had a strong echo in the press, not only nationally, as François reported to his partner in his letter of July 2:

The excavated tomb has aroused universal fanaticism […] The Gazzetta di Genova has a beautiful article in praise of you and Mr. Didot, reporting the article of the Gazzetta di Augusta. From the article of the Diary of Rome inserted by the Municipality, I believe, of Canino, it reports the description of the hypogeum, and lashes out at the Tuscans for their apathy towards archaeological studies; it speaks of our collection, and I believe from what I was written from Turin that it is the work of the Director of those Museums who knows our collection well, and all my works.

• 48 BGR AdV, letter Livorno 2.07.1857.

11In the same letter he informed him that Prince Torlonia had undertaken to cover half of the cost of the restoration, which from now on would be carried out “before my eyes on a daily basis by the very skilled restorer [Tocchelli di Canino] that Prince Luciano had”. 48 In another letter dated 29 July, therefore following the publication of the excavation report, he gave news of further discoveries:

• 49 BGR AdV, letter Livorno 29.07.1857. On the lion-shaped askos , preserved in the British Museum, you (…)

In the last two chambers of the great tomb several very beautiful complete vases were found, very singular for their remote antiquity, being truly Etruscan, and what is most interesting is a magnificent rhyton made in the shape of a lion of surprising beauty, equally intact. 49

• 50 On Henri-Adrien Prévost de Longpérier (1816-1882) see Vapereau 1870, p. 1156; Gran Aymerich 2001, (…)
• 51 Des Vergers 1857c, 1857d.

12François died suddenly in Livorno on 9 October, while he was making preparations for the resumption of excavations in November. The excavation campaign having ended so abruptly, all the grave goods were taken to the castle of Musignano and reunited with the objects found in the Vulci excavations of the previous two years. Between May and August des Vergers had presented to the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres three reports on the excavations and discoveries of Vulci, two read by his friend Adrien de Longpérier 50 and one communicated in person showing the drawings of Ortis 51 , and he was already thinking about writing a volume on the Vulci paintings which would be published by and at the expense of Didot.

• 52 Letter from des Vergers to Henzen, Paris 9.07.1857: Blanck 2009, p. 172.
• 53 Letter from des Vergers to Henzen, dated 24.04.1858: Blanck 2009, p. 184.
• 54 Letter from des Vergers to Henzen, Rimini 23.07.1858: Blanck 2009, p. 188  sq.

13In reality, the plan of the work, as emerges from the correspondence with Henzen, became more precise over time. Des Vergers started from the idea of ​​making it a publication «very restricted and limited only to the number of examples necessary to give to my friends», which is why he offered to pass on the copper plates after its publication to the Institute for Unpublished monuments . 52 He later presented it as «the first shipment of the elite of our Etruscan monuments, the first shipment that will contain the paintings of Vulci», the description of which would have been preceded by «an introduction to Etruria considered under the archaeological and historical perspective ». 53 Finally he decided that he would constitute «the first edition of our work» divided into three parts: «1. The Maremmes – 2. The Etruscans – 3. Description of the monuments (12 plans of tomb paintings and 30 plans of vase paintings. The text is in-8°; the atlas in-f°». 54 – 1:10 scale drawings of the pictorial cycle of the François Tomb made by Nicola Ortis in 1857, plate. VII: Sisyphus and Amphiaraus (des Vergers, L’Étrurie et les Étrusques , III, plate XXVI).13In reality, the plan of the work, as emerges from the correspondence with Henzen, became more precise over time. Des Vergers started from the idea of ​​making it a publication «very restricted and limited only to the number of examples necessary to give to my friends», which is why he offered to pass on the copper plates after its publication to the Institute for Unpublished monuments . 52 He later presented it as «the first shipment of the elite of our Etruscan monuments, the first shipment that will contain the paintings of Vulci», the description of which would have been preceded by «an introduction to Etruria considered under the archaeological and historical perspective ». 53 Finally he decided that he would constitute «the first edition of our work» divided into three parts: «1. The Maremmes – 2. The Etruscans – 3. Description of the monuments (12 plans of tomb paintings and 30 plans of vase paintings. The text is in-8°; the atlas in-f°». 54

• 55 On Brunn see Flasch 1902; Amelung 1910; Lullies 1988; Gran-Aymerich 2001, p. 117  sq. ; White 2009 (…)
• 56 Letter from des Vergers to Henzen, San Lorenzo 25.11.1858 [but 25.10.1858: cf. tp]: Blanck 2009, p (…)

14Then, since the publication times were taking longer than expected due to the decision to reduce the number of vase plates and to publish the Atlas in a single volume instead of three, des Vergers asked and obtained from Henzen that the plates of the Vulci paintings engraved by Bartoccini from his copies of Ortis’ drawings should appear in the Monumenti inediti not in 1858, as planned, but in 1859, and that the related essay on Etruscan painting by Heinrich Brunn (1822-1894), second secretary of the Instituto 55 since 1856 , should appear in the Annals of the same year. 56 The further delay was of little use, because des Vergers’ monumental work with the significant title L’Étrurie et les Étrusques ou dix ans de fouilles dans les Maremmes toscanes was published only in 1862-1864.

• 57 Letter from des Vergers to Henzen, San Lorenzo 5.10.1858, 28.11.1858: Blanck 2009, p. 190, 194.
• 58 On the brothers Alessandro (1823-1883) and Augusto Castellani (1829-1914) see Moretti Sgubini 2000; Sa (…)
• 59 Letter from Brunn to des Vergers, dated 8.5.1860: Blanck 2009, p. 313  sq.
• 60 The corrected plates XXXI-XXXII are preserved in BGR AdV, b. VI, fasc. 7: Delbianco 2014c, p. 198 sq
• 61 Letter from des Vergers to Brunn, Paris 15.05.1860; from Brunn to des Vergers, Rome 26.05.1860: Blanck (…)
• 62 Letter from des Vergers to Brunn, Paris 1.01.1861; from Brunn to des Vergers, Rome 19.01.1861: Blanck (…)

15Brunn, having to deal in his essay also with the cycle of frescoes of the François Tomb, between October and November 1858, equipped with a letter of introduction from des Vergers, made his first trip to Vulci, which was completely fruitless because he was not allowed to see either the grave goods or the paintings of the tomb. 57 He returned in 1860, when at the request of the François heirs it was decided to proceed with the division of the Vulci objects. He made the trip in the company of Prince Torlonia, who had “invited him almost suddenly”, of the Castellani brothers, collectors of ancient art and jewelers 58 , of Fortunato Lanci, secretary of the prince, and of other people. Together they checked the materials stored in the Musignano castle and established that Torlonia should immediately take the gold and the lion-shaped vase with him to Rome, while the vases would be quickly transferred to Rome to the Instituto to be restored under the direct supervision of Brunn. The latter took the opportunity to visit the François Tomb, where he verified the accuracy of the Ortis/Bartoccini drawings, finding them substantially faithful but lacking “in terms of character and style”; furthermore, by removing a piece of the filler wall, he discovered the painting of the group of Marce Camitlnas and Cneve Tarchunies Rumach . 59 Back in Rome, at the request of des Vergers who had not yet printed the plates of the Vulci paintings and therefore could have corrected them, he sent to Paris the plates XXXI-XXXII of the unpublished Monuments of 1859 with some corrections in pencil in the inscriptions and in the details of the figures. 60 He also sent him, in the accompanying letter, a sketch of the newly discovered painting and the transcription of the relative inscriptions. 61 However, he was unable to satisfy the Frenchman who, wishing to have the plates of the Vulci paintings coloured in some copies of his publication, asked him for a more detailed description of the colours than the one Ortis had attached to the drawings. He had not had the time, but above all «it would have been necessary to indicate the various shades not with words, but with real colours». 62

• 63 The documentation relating to the practice of the division des Vergers-François-Torlonia, including (…)

16On 11 June 1861, the division of the objects found in the excavations of Vulci was finally carried out between Torlonia and des Vergers, who also acted as attorney general of the François heirs. Brunn, in charge of the division, had drawn up two lists based on the estimate of the antique dealer Luigi Depoletti: A went to des Vergers, B to Torlonia. The frescoes of the François Tomb were recognized as the property of Prince Torlonia as the owner of the land, but he wanted to reserve “a memory and benefit” of them for the François heirs and des Vergers, assigning them a fifth of the price of the paintings or a tempera copy of them if he managed to sell them within two years of the contract. 63

• 64 Letter from des Vergers to Brunn, [Paris] 2.04.1862: Blanck 2009, p. 332 sq .

17On 2 April 1862, just before the opening of the Musée Napoléon III in Paris, where a place of honour was reserved for the archaeological and artistic testimonies of Etruscan civilisation, des Vergers announced to Brunn the publication of the first part of L’Étrurie et les Étrusques , consisting of an Atlas of 29 folio plates and a volume with half the text. He anticipated that the second part would consist of a plate of jewels, plates of objects for which he had been commissioned to have the drawings made, a map of the Maremma and the final part of the text. 64

• 65 Brunn 1862. Cf. Blanck 1987, p. 174.

18At the end of 1862 Brunn published in the Bulletin an extract from an article by Otto Jahn that had just appeared in the Archäologische Zeitung (1862, col. 307-309), where the German scholar intervened on the pictorial cycle of the François Tomb, correcting the interpretation of the great battle scene contrasted with the sacrifice of the Trojan prisoners proposed by des Vergers and reiterated by Brunn, according to whom it would have been a human sacrifice in honour of the dead. On the basis of the inscriptions and with the support of a speech by the emperor Claudius to the Senate, he instead saw in it the episode of the liberation of Celio Vibenna by Mastarna, the future king of Rome Servius Tullius, in a sudden assault together with three other men who killed their opponents. 65

• 66 On Carlo Ruspi (1798-1863) see Colonna 1984; Weber-Lehmann 1986; Buranelli 1986; Colonna 1999; Lu (…)
• 67 Blanck 1987, p. 174 sq .; Buranelli 1987d. For the detachment of the frescoes carried out under the direction (…)
• 68 Letter from Henzen to des Vergers, Rome 30.01.1864: Blanck 2009, p. 249. Henzen gave notice of the a (…)
• 69 See below and fig. 7-8. The pencil drawing lacks the inscriptions, evidently omitted due to (…)
• 70 Letter from des Vergers to Henzen, Paris 2.04.1864: Blanck 2009, p. 265; of Vergers 1862-1864, III (…)
• 71 The third volume of L’Étrurie et les Étrusques owned by des Vergers bears the mark in Gambalunga (…)

19At the end of February 1864, des Vergers purchased from the heirs on behalf of his father-in-law the life-size tracings of the wall paintings of the François Tomb that Carlo Ruspi, the «artist-archaeologist» pioneer of the drawing/copying from life of Etruscan painted tombs 66 , had executed for the facsimile of the Gregorian Etruscan Museum in 1862, before the frescoes were detached (1863) and transferred to the Torlonia Museum at Lungara (now in Villa Albani in Rome) 67 . The sale took place thanks to the mediation of Henzen, who, after having written about it without success to the Berlin Museum, wanted to secure the tracings by proposing them to the person most directly interested, convinced as he was that after the losses suffered by the frescoes during the detachment and the necessary forthcoming restorations, they would constitute «les restes les plus authenticques de votre belle découverte». 68 The transparencies, where Ruspi had noted the colours, coloured the outlines of the parts and even coloured some parts, proved very useful to des Vergers, because they allowed him to correct several details in the branches taken from Ortis’ drawings and probably to have the drawing of the group of Marce Camitlnas and Cneve Tarchunies Rumach (BGR GDS inv. 5074) done for plate XXX left, as the comparison with the Ruspi transparencies, fig. 4 69 seems to suggest ; furthermore, they provided him with precious information for the explanation of the plates XXI-XXIX that he was completing. 70 Plates XXX-XL and the explanation of all 40 plates were in fact included in the second part of L’Étrurie et les Étrusques , published in 1864. At the same time, the publishing house Firmin Didot put on the market the complete edition of the work in three volumes dated 1862-1864, where the Atlas is covered with a general frontispiece that presents it as the third volume, but retains the old frontispiece with the subtitle Atlas and the date 1862 placed between the preliminary epigraphic appendix and the following explanation of the plates. It is probable that on the initiative of des Vergers, three of the plates dedicated to the frescoes of the tomb of Vulci (XXI, XXII, XXIV) were water-coloured, based on the chromatic indications provided by Ruspi’s tracings, which were then added and bound in the volume owned by him and sent to Gambalunga (fig. 3). 71

Fig. 3 – Des Vergers, L’Étrurie et les Étrusques , III, plate XXI: François Tomb, sacrifice of the Trojan prisoners, from the drawing by Nicola Ortis. One of three water-coloured copper engravings added and bound in the volume owned by des Vergers.

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© Gambalunga Library, Rimini.

• 72 On Julius Zielke (1826-1907), whose drawings are not preserved in BGR FdV, see Thieme – Becker 1 (…)
• 73 On the Marquis Giovanni Pietro Campana and his collection see, most recently, Gaultier – Haumesser (…)

20It is now worth dwelling on the Atlas, whose composition substantially reflects the history of the excavation company, in its successes and its setbacks. In 1862 – as we have seen – the first 29 plates were published, which we will review in their far from casual succession. The chromolithographic plates I-III, taken from the drawings of Julius Zielke 72 , reproduce the Tomb of the Reliefs of Cerveteri (third quarter of the 4th century BC), discovered in the winter of 1846-1847 by the Marquis Giovanni Pietro Campana (1808-1880) 73 in the Banditaccia necropolis, showing a general view, the back wall and the entrance wall, a lateral portion and some pillars (fig. 4).

Fig. 4 – Des Vergers, L’Étrurie et les Etrusques , III, plate. I: Tomb of the Reliefs of Cerveteri, general view. Chromolithograph from the lost drawing by Julius Zielke.

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© Gambalunga Library, Rimini.

• 74 BGR AdV, b. VI, fasc. 11, s. fasc. 9: Delbianco 2014c, p. 202, 389 under the year 1855.
• 75 Des Vergers 1857d, p. 231  sq.
• 76 Des Vergers 1862, p. 409  sq.
• 77 Des Vergers 1862-1864, I, p. 93-95.
• 78 Des Vergers 1862, p. 409-411; letter from des Vergers to Henzen, Paris 15.12.1863: Blanck 2009, p.  (…)

21In truth, the Tomb of the Reliefs had already aroused des Vergers’ interest years before: in August 1855 he was supposed to illustrate it at the Institut de France , accompanying the report with an exhibition of drawings specially commissioned by Zielke. But on that occasion, due to lack of time, he managed to read two of the three scheduled reports and this one was left behind. 74 He presented it in 1857 to the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres with the support of Zielke’s drawings, after having spoken about the discoveries in the necropolis of Vulci. 75 He later published the adapted text in the article dedicated to the Musée Napoléon III 76 and in the first volume of L’Étrurie et les Étrusques. 77 In 1862, Zielke’s drawings were used to create the facsimile of the burial chamber of the Tomb of the Reliefs in one of the rooms of the Musée Napoléon III. 78

 Des Vergers, L’Étrurie et les Étrusques , III, plate XXI: François Tomb, sacrifice of the Trojan prisoners, from the drawing by Nicola Ortis. One of three water-coloured copper engravings added and bound in the volume owned by des Vergers.

• 79 For the place and circumstances of the excavation, the description and attribution of the vases published in the A (…)
• 80 Volpini’s suggestive watercolour drawings were transmitted by François to his partner together with oth (…)
• 81 Des Vergers 1862-1864, III, p. 14  sq.
• 82 Des Vergers 1857b, p. 130  sq.

22Plates IV-XIX reproduce vases found in the first four years of the company: in Chiusi in 1850 and 1853, in Chianciano in 1851, in Vulci in 1853. 79 The chromolithographic plate XX is dedicated to the Cuccumella, the monumental and impenetrable supposed tomb of the Lucumoni which François was preparing to continue the excavation of before he died. It was engraved from the copy, made in 1853 by the painter Volpini 80 , of a drawing preserved in the castle of Musignano and commissioned by Luciano Bonaparte after the first excavations of the tomb (1828-1829) (fig. 5). 81 The chalcographic plates XXI-XXIX, engraved from Ortis’ drawings, reproduce the pictorial cycle of the François Tomb, created by Etruscan workers between 340 and 310 BC (des Vergers had also dated it to the Hellenistic age before the Roman conquest of Vulci) 82 and characterised by superb figurative scenes arranged on the walls of the atrium and the tablinum and punctuated by the eight doors that overlook the vestibule and seven burial chambers. Des Vergers, respecting the peculiar contrast of the frescoes, first presents the episodes taken from Greek myth (Trojan cycle, Theban cycle), then those linked to local traditions and historical events, starting in both cases with the large scenes on the side walls of the tablinum. Plate XXI depicts the sacrifice of the young Trojan prisoners to honour Patroclus (left wall of the tablinum); XXII Ajax Oileus insulting Cassandra (entrance wall, left); XXIII Nestor and Phoenix (left wall of the atrium); XXIV the duel between Eteocles and Polynices (half-wall to the left of the entrance to the tablinum); XXV the liberation of the Vulcentian Caelius Vibenna by Mastarna (the future king of Rome Servius Tullius) and the triple massacre of Etruscan warriors at the hands of his companions on the expedition, one of whom was Aulus Vibenna, brother of Caelius (right wall of the tablinum); XXVI Amphiaraus and Sisyphus (entrance wall, right); XXVII Vel Saties , the founder of the tomb, with his little son Arnza (right wall of the atrium); XXVIII the back wall of the tablinum with the Trojan prisoner (part of the scene on plate XXI) and Caelius Vibenna (part of the scene on plate XXV); the XXIX is the semi-wall to the right of the access to the tablinum with a door surmounted by decorative and animalistic friezes.

Fig. 5 – Des Vergers, L’Étrurie et les Etrusques , III, plate. XX: Tomb of the Cuccumella of Vulci. Chromolithograph from drawings by Augusto Volpini.

Fig. 4 – Des Vergers, L’Étrurie et les Etrusques , III, plate. I: Tomb of the Reliefs of Cerveteri, general view. Chromolithograph from the lost drawing by Julius Zielke.

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© Gambalunga Library, Rimini.

• 83 On Augustin François Lemaître (1797-1870), who collaborated on several illustrated publications of the Fi (…)
• 84 It should be noted that some readings and identifications proposed by des Vergers for the pictorial cycle n (…)
• 85 For the goldsmith’s works, sold by des Vergers and Torlonia to the Musée Napoléon III and then passed to the Louvre (…)
• 86 Des Vergers 1862-1864, III, p. 33-58.

23Plates XXX-XL, published with the second part of the work in 1864, are still dedicated to the François Tomb, with the exception of the last one. Plate XXX, engraved by Augustin François Lemaître 83 , closes the representations of the pictorial cycle: they depict, side by side, the group of Marce Camitlnas and Cneve Tarchunies Rumach ( Gnaeus Tarquinius of Rome defeated by Marce Camitlnas ), absent in plate XXIX already engraved at the time of its discovery (1860), and the plan drawn by Rosa in 1857. 84 Plates XXXI-XXXIX refer to the tomb furnishings: plate XXXI, drawn and engraved by Lemaître, presents the very refined goldsmith work found in the tomb, which he associates with the precious earrings found in Belora in 1850 85 ; the others portray four Attic red-figure vases, among which the large amphora by the Syleus Painter stands out in five plates (XXXII-XXXVI). Finally, plate XL presents the synoptic table of the Etruscan, Phoenician and ancient Greek alphabets, complementary to the long essay De la langue et de l’alphabet étrusques . 86

Fig. 5 – Des Vergers, L’Étrurie et les Etrusques , III, plate. XX: Tomb of the Cuccumella of Vulci. Chromolithograph from drawings by Augusto Volpini.

• 87 See above and note 39.
• 88 BGR GDS, inv. 5070-5072.
• 89 An attempt to re-establish the connection between the drawings of antiquity and the François correspondence in (…)
• 90 For the current location of the unpublished objects and their collection history see Bu (…)

24In the Des Vergers Fund of the Gambalunga Library are preserved drawings I, IV, VII by Ortis 87 , the large group of transparencies and drawings (often watercolour) of vases and bronzes transmitted to Des Vergers by François and later by Brunn, the three drawings of the goldsmiths’ works of Vulci and Belora by Lemaître 88 , the proofs of the chalcographic, lithographic and chromolithographic engravings for the plates of the Atlas. With regard to the group of drawings and transparencies commissioned by François, it should be noted that the majority remained unpublished and that Des Vergers did not take care to maintain the relations between the graphic documentation and the letters of transmission, causing the loss, if not noted on the pieces, of the information on the circumstances of their discovery. 89 This explains why he himself incurred some uncertainty/inaccuracy in the localisation of the published pieces. 90

Fig. 6 – 1:1 scale transparencies of the pictorial cycle of the François Tomb made by Carlo Ruspi in 1862, fig. 3: Vel Saties and her little son Arnza (des Vergers, L’Étrurie et les Étrusques , III, plate XXVII, left half without the frieze). SAERBo AF, neg. no. 1750.

• 91 The stamp is accompanied, as in all photos of the same provenance, by a brief description (…)
• 92 The negatives are marked with no. 1749-1753: no. 1749 reproduces the Ruspi transparency fig. 4 (des (…)

25The collection also included 17 transparencies by Carlo Ruspi, recorded in the old inventory of Gambalunga drawings and prints at nos. 3179-3195, now untraceable. Traces of them are also preserved in two photographs from the Gambalunga photographic archive bearing the stamp «Soprintendenza alle Antichità dell’Emilia e della Romagna in Bologna. Gabinetto fotografico» 91 on the back , and also in five negatives preserved in the photographic archive of the former Archaeological Superintendence of Emilia Romagna in Bologna, two of which coincide with the Gambalunga photographs. The five negatives, dated 5 October 1934, provide documentation of seven transparencies: four are copies of details of the decoration, three of scenes from the figurative cycle 92 (fig. 6-9). Unfortunately, at the current stage of research, there is a lack of elements to clarify the mystery of their disappearance.

Fig. 7 – 1:1 scale transparencies of the pictorial cycle of the François Tomb executed by Carlo Ruspi in 1862, fig. 4: Cneve Tarchunies Rumach won by Marce Camitlnas (des Vergers, L’Étrurie et les Étrusques , III, plate XXX sn.). SAERBo AF, neg. no. 1749.

Fig. 6 – 1:1 scale transparencies of the pictorial cycle of the François Tomb made by Carlo Ruspi in 1862, fig. 3: Vel Saties and her little son Arnza (des Vergers, L’Étrurie et les Étrusques , III, plate XXVII, left half without the frieze). SAERBo AF, neg. no. 1750. Fig. 8 – Cneve Tarchunies Rumach won by Marce Camitlnas . Preparatory drawing, without inscriptions, of plate XXX left, probably taken from the Ruspi tracing, fig. 4, immediately after its purchase (February 1864).

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© MiBAC. Superintendence of archaeology, fine arts and landscape for the metropolitan city of Bologna and the provinces of Modena, Reggio Emilia and Ferrara, formerly the Archaeological Superintendence of Emilia-Romagna.

Fig. 7 – 1:1 scale transparencies of the pictorial cycle of the François Tomb executed by Carlo Ruspi in 1862, fig. 4: Cneve Tarchunies Rumach won by Marce Camitlnas (des Vergers, L’Étrurie et les Étrusques , III, plate XXX sn.). SAERBo AF, neg. no. 1749.scale transparencies of the pictorial cycle of the François Tomb executed by Carlo Ruspi in 1862: decorative friezes with a female head inserted into a scaly bull and motifs of ovoli, small arches and a perspective meander. SAERBo AF, neg. no. 1752.

Zoom Original (jpeg, 305k)

© MiBAC. Superintendence of archaeology, fine arts and landscape for the metropolitan city of Bologna and the provinces of Modena, Reggio Emilia and Ferrara, formerly the Archaeological Superintendence of Emilia-Romagna.

Fig. 8 – Cneve Tarchunies Rumach won by Marce Camitlnas . Preparatory drawing, without inscriptions, of plate XXX left, probably taken from the Ruspi tracing, fig. 4, immediately after its purchase (February 1864).

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© Gambalunga Library, Rimini.

Fig. 9 – 1:1 scale transparencies of the pictorial cycle of the François Tomb executed by Carlo Ruspi in 1862: decorative friezes with a female head inserted into a scaly bull and motifs of ovoli, small arches and a perspective meander. SAERBo AF, neg. no. 1752.

Zoom Original (jpeg, 417k)

© MiBAC. Superintendence of archaeology, fine arts and landscape for the metropolitan city of Bologna and the provinces of Modena, Reggio Emilia and Ferrara, formerly the Archaeological Superintendence of Emilia-Romagna.

• 93 Longperier 1867.

26Des Vergers died suddenly (a fate shared with François) in Nice on 2 January 1867. At the end of April his extraordinary collection of antiquities, consisting of painted vases, bronzes and paintings, was sold at auction, the sales catalogue of which was compiled by Adrien de Longpérier. 93

• 94 For the restoration work on the villa carried out by the des Vergers see Mussoni 2011, p.

27In 1880 Emma Firmin Didot (1819-1902), widow of des Vergers, began the restoration of the villa of San Lorenzo in Correggiano based on a project by her friend Arthur-Stanislas Diet, one of the most important architects then active in Paris, who managed to complete the restoration of the exterior of the villa. Upon his death (1890) the architect Georges Paul Chédanne, a famous exponent of Art Nouveau, took over and seems to have taken care of the interiors (furnishings, ceilings, fireplaces, balustrades, doors and windows). 94 The works, which lasted until 1902, were directed by Gaston des Vergers (1840-1913), son of Emma, ​​who entrusted the Friulian painter Augusto Aviano 95 with the execution of the frescoes on the ceilings and walls, the pictorial cycle of the chapel and other artistic works. As documented by a photograph taken by Gaston and contained in the photo album of the restored villa that he donated in January 1907 to Tito Azzolini, director of the Emilia Regional Technical Office for the conservation of monuments 96 , Aviano sumptuously decorated the ceiling of the library, among other things reproducing in the upper band of the walls the animalistic frieze and some figurative scenes from the tomb of Vulci (fig. 10). It is more than probable that the artist took Ruspi’s tracings as a model and it is not excluded that the three coloured plates of the Vulci paintings bound in the des Vergers copy of the third volume of Gambalunga’s L’Étrurie et les Étrusques are rather to be understood as preparatory studies by Aviano for the decorations of the library, now unfortunately lost.

 The library of Villa des Vergers, with the upper band of the walls decorated by Augusto Aviano with reproductions of the animalistic frieze and some figurative scenes from the François Tomb. Photograph taken by Gaston des Vergers in 1906 ca. ABABo GDS (Studio Pym, Giuseppe Nicoletti).

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=1408e98ab1991b60&sxsrf=ADLYWIJI9E3MyWJzl7-G6VKKgwa1VsB69g:1715248655007&q=pompeii+frescoes+ancient+greek+fresco+painters+ad+in+italy&udm=2&uds=ADvngMgdL8BcAQ_9RiOWqU9OSDC-pw6BU1UeanOPyo9iHgAGn0PtGxR04Bs6u4EO3kSKtWqSVJmw4WP6IJ1KDHEE7qjGjagT7PibleWDbO51tVkOJN9JVYLa5emiq8kchv8ZzNpi_tIDz1RT_zbtp9Q1sXBjJoQDjQsMUeKuJz-fx8D36hxGObJWkGlSzaSR6QYZBP29Txmn&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjgwaGWp4CGAxXdBhAIHZbPCEoQgIoDKAB6BAgREA0&biw=1024&bih=447&dpr=1.88

MAGNA GRAECIA

Two set-piece frescos dominate.

In one, the god Apollo is seen trying to seduce the priestess Cassandra. Her rejection of him, according to legend, resulted in her prophecies being ignored.

The tragic consequence is told in the second painting, in which Prince Paris meets the beautiful Helen – a union Cassandra knows will doom them all in the resulting Trojan War.

The Greek dialects in Magna Graecia—the collection of Greek colonies established in southern Italy and Sicily—were indeed diverse and unique. These colonies, founded between the 8th and 5th centuries BCE, became thriving centers of Greek culture and influence, yet the dialects spoken in these areas evolved in distinct ways from the Attic dialect spoken in Athens and other parts of Greece.

Some of the most prominent dialects in Magna Graecia included:

Doric: The Doric dialect was perhaps the most widespread in Magna Graecia, especially in the cities of Syracuse, Catania, and Rhegium. Doric was also spoken in the colonies along the western coast of Italy (e.g., Tarentum), as well as in Sicily. This dialect was known for its conservative features and was used in many monumental inscriptions and poetry.

Chalcidian: This dialect was spoken in colonies founded by the Chalcidians (from the island of Euboea) and was particularly prevalent in places like Naxos and Catania. It was a variant of the Ionic dialect, which had its roots in the eastern Greek world, and it exhibited some unique characteristics influenced by the local conditions.

Ionic: In areas such as Cumae and some parts of the Campania region, Ionic Greek was spoken. This dialect was associated with the more eastern Greek world and was more flexible and adaptable than Doric in its linguistic features.

Aeolic: In the northern part of Magna Graecia, particularly in the colony of Thurii, elements of the Aeolic dialect were present. This dialect was used primarily in Lesbos and Boetia but made its way into some of the colonies of southern Italy.

The Greek colonies in Magna Graecia were not only influenced by the language of their Greek founders but also incorporated local elements from the Italic and Sicilian languages, which led to further linguistic variations. Over time, these dialects developed their own unique features, contributing to the cultural richness of the region.

These dialects were not just spoken languages—they were also reflected in the literature, poetry, and inscriptions of the region. Poets like Pythagoras, the playwright Euripides (who was connected to the colony of Syracuse), and philosophers from these colonies utilized these dialects in their works, adding to the lasting cultural legacy of Magna Graecia.

Ultimately, the Greek dialects of Magna Graecia represent an important chapter in the history of the Greek language, marking the spread of Greek culture far beyond its homeland, and revealing the adaptability and diversity of Greek civilization.

MAGNA GRAECIA /ribbed NESTORIS, a GREEK CEREMONIAL VESSEL, with a use analogous to that of the AMPHORA, from APULIA in SOUTHERN ITALY, of the Gnathia technique. 300 BC GETTY Museum Collection. No. 78.AE.320.

Beginning in the 5th century BC, pottery flourished in Southern Italy. APULIA, a region characterized by its incredible artistic richness and dynamism, became an important center of production. During the fourth century, Apulian potters created pottery in a new style known as GNATHIA ware, named after the eastern Apulian town of Egnazia, where the first examples of this technique were first discovered in the 19th century, which appeared around 370/360 BC.

Gnathia vessels were traded throughout the Eastern Mediterranean and quickly gained influence throughout the region. Although they may have originated there, they were soon manufactured in many centers in southern Italy and SICILY. The technique was based on the application of additional color, mainly white, yellow and red, to enliven the surface of a black-glazed vessel. The black varnish is often decorated with painted floral motifs in red, white or yellow. Later, after 330 BC the white color dominated more.

Decorative subjects that once included love affairs, scenes from women’s lives, theatrical scenes and Dionysian motifs are now limited to tendrils of vine, ivy or laurel fruits, theatrical masks and, small human heads hares, doves and swans. While the lower half of the vessels was now often decorated with ridges.

The production and quality of Greek colonist potters working in Southern Italy increased greatly after the Peloponnesian War, when Attica’s exports fell sharply, and it was probably concentrated around Taranto, with workshops in Egnatia, Canossa and Sicily. The Greek craftsmanship of the settlers of Lower Italy in the 4th century BC. created a fusion of the Ionic (Attic) styles and the corresponding Doric (western Greek colonies), combining them with a remarkable native Italian aesthetic. The five dominant regional schools of pottery in Southern Italy were: Apulia, Sicily, Lucania or Laucania, Campania and Poseidonia (Paestum).

In the photo, the vase, which I mentioned at the beginning, with the characteristic shape produced in Southern Italy, called nestoris. From Apulia, of the Gnathia technique, 300 BC. With dimensions: 50.9 × 26.3 cm (including handles). The type of this nestorid is A, (according to the evolution of the shape of the body and the handles, there are 3 types). Neckless with flared lip and two horizontal and two upright high handles. The upright grips are decorated with tablets, here decorated by eight-pointed stars, surrounded by a dotted circle in additional white. On the shoulder there is a decoration of ivy tendrils with leaves and fruits rendered with white dots. The larger part of the lower part, about 3/4, is decorated with vertical ridges.

Akragas. Anfora attica a figure nere del Pittore Taleides: Teseo uccide il Minotauro; intorno si trovano due coppie, con uomini nudi e armati di lancia e donne interamente vestite. Scoperto ad Agrigento e infine pervenuto al MET Museum di New York, il vaso presenta la firma di Taleides e la scritta “Klitarchos kalos” (Klitarchos bello). 540-530 a.C.

MAGNA GRAECIA 320-280. before the era of PUGLIA

Golden fibula Gold, length: 8,8 cm,

Boston Museum of Fine Arts

By: Олег Марголін: A RARE GREEK GOLD TWELFTH STATER OF TARENTUM**OR TARANTO = ΤΑΡΑΣ (GENETIVUS FORM: ΤΑΡΑΝΤΟΣ) 

(CALABRIA). FROM THE TIMES OF ALEXANDER THE MOLOSSIAN 333 BC. AV TWELFTH STATER – HEMILITRA (6.5mm, 0.43 g, 7h). RADIATE HEAD OF HELIOS FACING SLIGHTLY RIGHT/ THUNDERBOLT; TARAN ABOVE,AΠOΛ BELOW . Fischer-Bossert G3b (V3/R3) = Vlasto 14 (this coin); HN Italy 906; SNG ANS 977; SNG BN 1775-6; SNG

**THE ORIGIN OF THE CITY OF TARANTO DATES FROM THE 8th CENTURY BC, WHEN IT WAS FOUNDED, AS a GREEK COLONY, KNOWN AS TARAS . TARAS GRADUALLY INCREASED ITS INFLUENCE, BECOMING A COMMERCIAL POWER AND A CITY-STATE OF MAGNA GRAECIA AND RULING OVER MANY OF THE GREEK COLONIES FOUNDED BY SPARTA IN THE 8th CENTURY BCE, AS PART OF THE EVEN OF THE OTHER GREEK

COLONIES, AS THE CORINTHIAN ONES (SYRACUSE, ETC….) 

 Copenhagen 833; SNG Lloyd 188; Jameson 145; McClean 596 (all from the same dies). Good VF, underlying luster, slight die wear on reverse. VERY RARE.

And when everything calms down, a one-day excursion to one of the most shocking places in the ancient Greek world is a must. Until the 1990s, Ancient Messina, the city founded by the general Epaminondas in 369 BC and which was the cradle of Messinia, was nothing more than an archaeological site with few remains. The vision of archaeologist Petros Themelis, unprecedented for Greek standards, led to its systematic discovery and restoration. Today, in tourist terms, it is considered the rival of Ephesus and proves that such visions can resurrect the enormous cultural wealth of the country, its greatest strength, which in many cases is woefully neglected.
The four-column propylon of the gymnasium of Ancient Messina after the restorations

The impressively rare funerary monument of Ancient Messina
The funerary monument K3, as it was conventionally called, belongs to a series of funerary monuments and Heroes of various forms that were built around the Gymnasium and Stadium of Ancient Messina and belonged to heroes and prominent families of the Messinian elite. But why did the members of these families enjoy such heroic honors after death from their fellow citizens and had the privilege of building their funerary monuments within the walls, and even next to public spaces such as the Gymnasium? According to archaeologist Petros Themelis, the purpose was not to demonstrate the wealth and luxury of the Messinian aristocracy, but the constant contact with the world of dead ancestors cultivated in the young the right role models for their future lives. The Gymnasium and the Stadium were not only places of physical exercise but also places of spiritual training for a three-year term of adolescents with the aim of their initiation and integration into society as worthy warriors, athletes and citizens. They were also centers of the city’s public life.
It was built at the beginning of the 3rd century BC and in its chamber eight cist tombs of an aristocratic family were found with the names of its members engraved on the Ionic epistle of the monument. The conical roof, reminiscent of a tent, rests on a square chamber and is crowned with a Corinthian capital on which a solid stone vessel (hydria or amphora) dominates, a combination unique for the data of ancient Greek architecture. Its restoration was completed in 2018 as part of the systematic restoration and promotion of Ancient Messina by Petros Themelis.

MAGNA GRAECIA/Campi FLEGREI.

According to the poet VIRGIL, this might be your land, here you might find your history.

Known as the “Burning fields”, this large area to the north of NAPLES, is one of the MOST fascinating land in the CAMPANIA region. The PHLEGREAN FIELDS (from the Greek FLEGRAIOS, or “BURNING”) is an enormous volcanic area that extends to the west of the Gulf of NAPLES from the hill of POSILLIPO to CUMA, and includes the islands of NISIDA, PROCIDA, VIVARA and ISCHIA. The ancient town of Cuma was situated close to the current city of Naples, and traces of the earlier city can still be seen nearby. The setlement was founded by the ancient Greeks in a location that had been occupied since prehistoric times, and is notable as being the first Greek settlement in Italy.

The families and descendants from the original settlement at Cuma went on to create further towns and villages, including the one that was later to become Naples.

For years people talked about the opportunity to visit an “Underground Naples,” with evidence of Naples in its first period when it was founded by people from Cuma – in fact, there is an “Underground Naples”, which today can be visited by tourists interested in antiquities. The brief historical notes below may be useful to those who would like to explore Naples as it was “in the time of Cuma”.

Temple of Serapis in Pozzuoli, on whose columns the marks left by marine organisms (lithodomas) are visible during the phases of subsidence of this sector of the Campi Flegrei caldera and therefore submersion under the lm, which occurred due to bradyseism.

Cuma: early origins

During the mid-seventh century BC the Coumans built the Greek city of Parthenope between the hill of “Pizzofalcone” and the “Megaride” island, once connected to the mainland and now the seat of the “Castello dell’Ovo”, on a promontory overlooking the sea, where there was the port. The settlement of Parthenope, as we can see from ceramic materials found in a necropolis of the city, seems to have been a lively place from the first half of the 7th century to the second half of the 6th century BC.

At the end of the sixth century BC the Coumans founded “NEAPOLIS ( = ΝΕΑΠΟΛΙΣ”= NEW CITY)on a plain sloping from north to south towards the sea. The place where the “first” NAPOLI was located is now included in the heart of the Old Town of Naples. The walls were arranged around the perimeter of the plain, and cemeteries surrounded the city on three sides. The oldest part of the city walls dates back to the early 5th century BC.

The walls were reinforced at the end of the 4th and at the end of the 3rd century BC, with further additions in the early Middle Ages. The acropolis of the Greek city shows the agora, the forum, the Odeon and the “macellum” with business functions, while the shrines were located in the higher part of the hill, with the Temple of Castor and Pollux.

The best preserved structures date back to the Flavian age, and, in any case to the imperial age, with references to outstanding figures of emperors such as Augustus and Nero.

In fact, thanks to archaeological excavations a Marblehead dating from the middle of the first century came to light, which, according to some scholars, represents the Emperor Nero. From the historical point of view, this is proof that the excavation area was once a place of imperial cult.

Not far away there are the remains of the theatre where the Emperor Nero performed in front of audiences from Naples with poetry readings and musical exercises. In fact, the Emperor Nero was in Naples in 64 AD to preside over the so called “isolympic” games [equal to Olympic Games] remaining then in Benevento to attend the Gladiatorial games. Naples was also a favourite city of the Emperor Augustus.

By the will of Augustus, the cult of the emperor was banned in Italy. The only exception was Naples, which was a “Roman city” in the first century BC, but remained a “Greek city” for all practical purposes. In the city a series of Olympics games, like athletics, heavy athletics, horse racing, art, poetry, theatre and music took place.

After Augustus, Naples remained a reference point for the emperors and the Roman ruling classess, who built villas of extraordinary beauty, and, of course, with “sea views.”

In order to safeguard the delicate environmental EQUILIBRIUM, the area was made into the PHLEGREAN FIELDS Regional Park in 1997.​

CUMA with its magnificent ACROPOLIS perched on a high crag by the sea was founded by the CHALCIS of EUBOEA (Greek islands of EUBOEA and SKYROS) around 730 B.C., who were ALREADY established at PITHECUSAE (modern ISCHIA Island).

PITHECUSAE: Nestor’s Cup is an eighth century BC wine cup discovered in 1954 in the San Montano cemetery associated with the ancient trading site of Pithekoussai in Magna Graecia, on Ischia, an island in the Gulf of Naples (Italy). The cup has a three-line inscription, one of the earliest surviving examples of writing in the Greek alphabet. It is currently held by the Museo Archeologico di Pithecusae on Ischia. The cup was originally made in the eastern Aegean, either on the island of Rhodes or in northern Ionia. The inscription was scratched into it after its manufacture, possibly during a communal drinking event known as a symposium. It was found by Georgio Buchner in 1954 in a cremation grave dating to the end of the eighth century, which contained the remains of three adults as well as burnt animal bones, a fibula and fragments of other vessels. The cup is a SKYPHOS or kotyle^[a] decorated in the GEOMETRIC style, 10.3 cm (4.1 in) in height and with a diameter of 15.1 cm (5.9 in). It was made around or before approximately 735–720 BC, either on the island of RHODES or in northern IONIA. It was found in 1954^[ in a cremation grave dating to approximately 720–710 BC^[ on the island of ISCHIA, home of the EUBOEAN Greek EMPORION (=trading-site) of PITHEKOUSA.

The cup’s decoration has been called “typical, conventional, and predictable” by Nathan Arrington. It consists of two panels, the uppermost of which is divided into four metopes decorated with diamonds, a stylised drawing of a sacred tree and meander hooks,^[ a device common on Attic skyphoi of the Geometric period.The lower panel includes a zigzag decoration, but also blank spaces, one of which was used for the inscription.

Neapolis, Parthenope and Naples in the time of Cuma

When we say that Naples was a colony of Cumae, that is correct – but the history of the origins of Naples has long been controversial, since Naples was known by two names, “Parthenope” and “Neapolis.” The issue of the “names of Naples” dates from antiquity.

Strabo [58 BC-25 AD], in the fifth book of his “Γεωγραφικά” [Geography], wrote that the colony founded by the Coumans was called “Neapolis” [= New City]. However, some ancient historians like Pliny the Elder [23-79 AD] said that Naples was also called Parthenope, because the sepulchre of the siren “Parthenope” was here. For Pliny, Parthenope and Naples were the same city.

However, Lutatius Catulus [consul in 102 BC] wrote that Parthenope was located in a different area than Naples, and that Parthenope was older than Naples:

Lutatius wrote in the fourth book that some Cumaean colonists were moved away by their parents and they founded the city of Parthenope, so named because of the sepulchre of the siren Parthenope. Later on (the new city), thrived for fertility and beauty of the landscape, and attracted more immigration, and Cuma, for fear of depopulation, decided to destroy Parthenope. After that, however, the Cumans were struck by a plague and, on the instructions of the oracle, restored the city and also the worship of Partenope. Because of its recent foundation, the city was called ‘Neapolis’ that is ‘the New City’”

The most recent archaeological excavations have shown that, in reality, the Cumans first founded Parthenope and then later founded “Neapolis”.

See also the history of Cuma to learn more about the ancient origins of the town.The first indigenous settlements of Cuma are on the acropolis and date back to the end of the ninth-first half of the eighth century B.C. The city was the oldest Greek colony in the West, founded by groups from the cities of Chalcis and Eretria, who at the same time had also settled in the island of Ischia

The temple shows remains of almost all the complex phases of life of the building: the foundations of the late seventh century B.C., the large foundation blocks of the Samnite age, the brick pillars of the early imperial age, the early Christian baptistery; finally, the medieval tombs that occupied the five naves of the basilica of San Massimo, protector of Cuma, abandoned in 1207, when the city was cleared after the attack of the Neapolitans.

The first indigenous settlements of Cuma are on the acropolis and date back to the end of the ninth-first half of the eighth century B.C. The city was the oldest Greek colony in the West, founded by groups from the cities of Chalcis and Eretria, who at the same time had also settled in the island of Ischia (Pithekoussai the Greek name): as shown by the first Greek tombs, the colonization must have taken place in the second half of the eighth century B.C., in accordance with the traditional foundation date handed down from ancient literary sources (730 B.C.). Since the beginning the plain was occupied where later, from the IV sec. a.c., the lower city would have risen, overlooking the lake of Licola. The cliff of the acropolis dominates the plain, allowing the control of a vast stretch of coast, from Miseno to Circeo.

Cuma, panorama from the acropolis

Naxos of Sicily. Terracotta counterface with fragmentary Silenian mask. The original pigmentation is still partially retained, including the redness of the ears and the lines of the thick beard. From the settlement of the 5th century BC. Locally manufactured. Naxos Archaeological Park Antiquary (Naxos Gardens, ME)References

Among the epithets of Athena there is also that of PANDòROS (giver of all things), connected to the story of Pandora, the first woman. The idea of ​​creating this creature came to Zeus, who charged Hephaestus, master of all those who work metals, to create a clay statue that reproduced in every way the appearance of a real woman. All the divinities were called to give gifts to that splendid creature; Athena taught her embroidery, weaving and all the other practical virtues that a woman should be endowed with. She also dressed her in beautiful clothes and precious necklaces and placed a garland of flowers on her head. Hermes and Aphrodite also contributed to making the creature graceful and Zeus, blowing on the skillfully shaped clay, gave her life. She was called Pandora, “she who has all the gifts”. Then before sending her to earth, Zeus gave her a vase and ordered her never to open it.
Once she arrived on earth, imagining who knows what treasures her vase contained, after having married Epimetheus, no longer able to resist her curiosity, she opened the vase: from it in a sinister hiss came out Lies, Suspicion, Hunger, Jealousy, Hardship and every other misfortune. Pandora immediately closed the vase, but by then all the evils that would afflict humanity from that moment on had come out; at the bottom of the vase there was only one last gift: Hope (Elpìs).
It seems that Athena was also related to rivers, as in the Peloponnese as in Asia Minor she is associated with watercourses.
It should not be forgotten that she also has a relationship with physical health, as she was invoked as IGHIéIA and KATHàRSIAS, that is, purifier; during the Panathenaic festivals she was also honored from this point of view.
The name of PARTHèNOS (virgin) is connected to the anecdote of Tiresias who one day, by chance, surprised her bathing. The goddess, not wanting to punish him too cruelly, placed her fingers on his eyes, taking away his ability to see real things, but in exchange granting him the gift of clairvoyance.
Also linked to Athena is the figure of Erichthonius or Erechtheus, a creature half man and half snake, born on earth by Hephaestus and raised by the goddess. Jealously guarded by her in a wicker basket (the daughters of Cecrops who dared to open it deserved death), he was protected by Athena to the point of becoming the first king of Attica and one of the most honored, given that the Erechtheion, the monument on the acropolis of Athens, was dedicated to him.
The ancients therefore attributed to the virgin goddess par excellence this sort of moral maternity which is only apparently contradictory if one considers it as an extension or an accentuation of her strong protective character.

Elisabet Pantazi Cultura dei Greci-Magno Greci-Ελληνων Πολιτισμός

Beautiful “Horoscope” with the 12 Olympian Gods.
Aphrodite is always depicted with her son God “Eros”
It is located in the Louvre museum.

On these aspects of the historic centre of Naples, See C. Negro, “Neapolis. Le ultime scoperte archeologiche”, in “La Rassegna d’Ischia”, 2005, n. 1, pp. 17-24

See “F 9 (Schol. Vatic. in Verg. Georg. 4,563 = F 7 Peter HRR = F 2 Funaioli GRF“ in „Die Communes Historiae des Lutatius: Einleitung, Fragmente, Übersetzung, Kommentar“ von Uwe Walter, Bielefeld, in „Göttinger Forum für Altertumswissenschaft (GFA)“, 12, 2009, , p. 11).

Europe’s First Greek Settlement: Pithekoussai

Celebrated for its thermal springs and verdant landscapes, the volcanic island of Ischia—located in the Bay of Naples—harkens back to the Mycenaean era when it was part of a wide network of Tyrrhenian settlements that traded extensively with the Mycenean Greeks. Although now known for its tourist trade, Ischia—called Pithekoussai during its Greek days—was the first Greek settlement in all of Europe. Enterprising pioneers primarily from the Greek city-state island of Euboea (present-day Evvia) founded the colony in the mid-eighth century BCE naming it Pithekoussai.

B But how did the Greeks arrive at that name? In his Natural History, Pliny the Elder claims that Pithekoussai was named for its numerous pithoi (large terracotta amphoras) which were more common there than in neighboring Iron Age sites. Others insist that the word was derived by the Greek pithekos meaning ape or monkey. Situated on what was then the western-most boundary of the Mediterranean, why was the island named after monkeys? To be sure, there are none nor have there ever been any monkeys in the area. But the notion of monkeys on a combustible island comes from Greek mythology when Zeus transformed naughty forest creatures into monkeys banishing them to a remote volcanic island. Still others surmise that its name may come instead from the Greek word pithekizo which meant “to monkey around” and may have been a term used derisively by mainlanders to refer to the speculative and profiteering Greeks, who originally hailed from the Athens environs, several hundred miles away.

C Hailing from the Euboean cities of Eretria and Chalcis, although Euboeans were the island’s most populous settlers, the Corinthians had a presence in Pithekoussai as well. Yet the Greeks had company on the island. Excavated in the burial sites of the area is a population that is often overlooked when considering colonial settlements—the indigenous people. Based on Italic artifacts found there, speculation had been that the female natives of the community intermarried with the settlers. The theory was that the natives had no say in their culture except by virtue of marriage within the colonial community. But the assumption that the indigenous people were passive and subservient to the colonials has since been debunked. Instead, it has been affirmed that the Italic community were active and vital members working alongside the settlers in Pithekoussai. In fact, extensive trading between the natives and the colonists may have forged their relationship and acted as a chief impetus for setting up the colony in Pithekoussai in the first place.

Indeed, Italic people of the Tyrrhenian region likely lived in the area from the Bronze age onwards, though to date there is no written record of their story. It should be noted that writing was becoming more common around the time the island was being colonized with the Greeks leading the vanguard from the fifth century BCE and beyond. Perhaps, it is because of these inscribed records that we have an historical bias in favor of the influence of the Greeks in the region. That being the case, the Greeks were not Pithekoussai’s only settlers. It is now known there was a sizable establishment of Phoenicians in Pithekossai as well. Indeed, experts believe that the Greek, Phoenician and native communities may not have only worked together on the island but lived together as well, developing a multi-cultural settlement.

D Excavations of burial sites in the area have found the population to be both ethnically and culturally mixed with a populace that was more multi-layered than previously thought sporting a hodgepodge of Italic, Greek and Levantine ethnicities. It is interesting to note, that in the eighth century BCE, the notion of ethnicity was a fluid and evolving concept. Some believe that it was not until around the fifth century BCE that the Greeks began defining themselves vis a vis everyone else. Further, it may have been the colonizing experience in and of itself which advanced their notion of Greek identity with language forging their bound as a Hellenistic people. The word “barbarian” comes from the Greek word “barbaroi,” which meant babbler and was an onomatopoeic term which labeled foreigners as ‘bar-bar’ speakers. Derisive and mocking to those who spoke a language other than some dialect of Greek, the word was relatively uncommon until the fifth century BCE; becoming more and more popular once the Greeks began colonizing and were exposed to a plethora of languages other than their own.

Which begs the question, why on earth would settlers from as far afield as Euboea—a sea-faring island to the east of Athens—or even further afield as Phoenicia—present-day Syria, Lebanon and Northern Israel—be interested in colonizing an island that was on the outer western limit of the Mediterranean? In order to answer this question definitively, it is important to understand what was occurring at the time. Ancient Greece, never known for its arable land, was experiencing a farmland shortage that was becoming pronounced during the population explosion of the Archaic Age. It was because of this scarcity that colonizing other areas from the eighth through the sixth centuries BCE became fashionable to the intrepid ancient Greeks.

E Although the rich fertility of Pithekoussai’s volcanic soil was desirable to the settlers, even more alluring to the Iron Age colonists were its ample iron ore reserves. In the eighth century BCE, iron was the new bronze and the adventurous settlers were willing to travel far and wide for their current metal of choice. Because of its protected, well-positioned harbor along with its vast resources, trade networks were bountiful in Pithekoussai. The island traded heavily not only with their mainland neighbors of Campania, Apulia, Etruria and Latium but also with the Near East and Carthage, amongst others. Throughout Greek settlements, Pithekoussai was recognized as having the widest range of objects from the farthest reaches of the Iron Age Mediterranean.

Today, chief among Pithekoussan objects of interest is a seven-inch cup, originally fired on the island of Rhodes and dated to around 750 BCE. Battered and diminutive, at first glance this artifact is unimpressive, but upon closer inspection an engraving can be found that has sparked no small amount of interest in the academic community. The etching, believed to have been scribbled in Pithekoussai around 725 BCE, is not only the earliest example we have of Greek writing, more compelling still is that this is the first example we have of Greek poetry. Two of the three lines of text are in Homeric hexameter and refer to Nestor, a character from Homer’s Iliad:

“I am Nestor’s cup, good to drink from. Whoever drinks this cup empty, straightaway Desire for beautiful-crowned Aphrodite will seize him.”

F ronically, the earliest recorded evidence we have of Homer’s epic hymn is in the form of a sexual joke. The cup’s humble size is in contrast to Nestor’s cup in the Iliad (11.632-637) which is enormous and too heavy to lift:

“Anyone else would hardly have been able to lift it from the table when it was full, but Nestor could do so quite easily.”

On the one hand, it was a play on words as the cup’s modest size is in direct contrast to Nestor’s cup in the Iliad. On the other hand, it was a bawdy quip as the reference to Aphrodite bespeaks. The fact that Greeks living in the eighth century BCE on the edge of Magna Graecia could jest about the Homeric legends testifies to how deeply ingrained, even prosaic, Homer’s narratives must have been.

G Undeniably, the Iliad was originally composed as an oral hymn, to be sung or recited, possibly as early as 1200 BCE with its written format believed to have been penned anywhere from 725 BCE to 634 BCE. But as a result of this discovery of an etching on this obscure cup in the backwaters of ancient Greece, some scholars now argue that the date of Homer’s poem must be pushed back for knowledge of his verses to be as common as this cup attests. Sadly, in contrast to its amusing engraving this cup has a more sobering epilogue; it was discovered in the grave of a ten-year old boy offered by his father in a funeral pyre. Doubly tragic is that the young lad, who was in death its final recipient, would never know the adult delight the cup’s inscription signified. Alas, the ancients were used to death inching up and making itself comfortable in the unlikeliest of places. The somber conclusion of this cup’s destiny is a reminder that in the Greek world omnipresent death was humor’s dark companion.

Companionable death is the subject for another noteworthy Pithekoussan artifact fashioned at roughly the same time as Nestor’s cup. Considered to be the oldest painted krater in all of Italy, the images on the vase read like a tale from what must have been an all-too common narrative on the seafaring shores of the Mediterranean—a shipwreck. “The Pithekoussai Shipwreck” begins with the image of a capsized ship followed by the figures of sailors in various stages of either swimming or sinking. Of the latter, one sailor—appearing lifeless—is floating on the water. Another sailor’s head is between the jaws of a gargantuan fish. The story’s conclusion ends with a colossal fish standing on its tail demonstrating the enormity of his human feast to one and all.

Could this narrative have also come out of Homer’s epics as some have speculated? As can be expected from a seafaring people there is much about shipwrecks in the Homeric epics. Below are a few key passages which paint a picture close to what is depicted on the krater. One such scene is in the Odyssey after Zeus hurls a thunderbolt at the ship: “All the crew were swept overboard…..,for the god denied them their homecoming” (Odyssey 14.305-13). Then in the Iliad, Achilles mocks Lykaon (one of Priams’s sons).“Now lie there among the fish…your mother will not lay you out on the bier and lament for you…. and fish rising through the swell will dart up under the dark ruffled surface to eat the white fat of Lykaon” (Iliad 21.122-7).

In another scene from the Iliad, Skamandros (the River god of Troy) taunts Achilles:

“I shall wrap his body in sand, and pile an infinite wealth of silt over it, so the Achaeans will not know where they can gather his bones, such is the covering of mud I shall heap on him.” (Iliad 21.316-23).

Because shipwrecks were common in the ancient world, death by sea was a demise most dreaded by the ancient mariners. The horror of not being buried and properly mourned by family on the one hand and becoming a feast for fish on the other is aptly portrayed in both the Pithekoussan shipwreck krater and the ubiquitous Homeric epics demonstrating, once again, death’s hovering presence in the ancient world.

Which brings us to the fate of Pithekoussai. In a booming land of plenty with a population boasting ten thousand at its zenith in 700 BCE, why was this plucky Greek settlement not better known? While it was the rich volcanic soil that initially lured the Greeks and Phoenicians to settle the island of Pithecusae, the reason for its demise may also lie in the soil’s combustible origins. According to geographer and historian Strabo (64 BCE to 24 CE), severe volcanic and earthquake activity impacted Pithekoussai’s acclaim leading one classical scholar to term it “the lid of a cauldron.”

H While geographic activity was harmful to trade, others speculate that political reasons relating to the growth of Cumae on the Italian mainland may have contributed to Pithekoussai’s downfall as well. Nevertheless, an exodus ensued and Pithekoussai’s bustling trade was eventually transferred to neighboring Cumae. Most historians agree that by 500 BCE the settlement of Pithekoussai was all but destroyed by a volcanic eruption of Mount Epomeo, the island’s largest volcano. Perhaps in a fitting Homeric denouement, discovered in a funeral pyre, the fiery fate of Nestor’s cup foreshadowed the incendiary collapse of the once burgeoning land from which its famed inscription had sprung.

Pithekoussai, Ancient Greek Colony of Nestor’s Cup” Celebrated for its thermal springs and verdant landscapes, the volcanic island of Ischia, called Pithekoussai during its ancient Greek days —located in the Bay of Naples—harkens back to the Mycenaean era when it was part of a wide network of Tyrrhenian settlements that traded extensively with the Mycenean Greeks. It was the first Greek colony in all of Europe. Enterprising pioneers primarily from the Greek city-state island of Euboea (present-day Evvia) founded the colony in the mid-eighth century BC naming it Pithekoussai.Zeus’ Monkeys or Pithoi?

But how did the Greeks arrive at that name? In his Natural History, Pliny the Elder claims that Pithekoussai was named for its numerous pithoi (large terracotta amphoras) which were more common there than in neighboring Iron Age sites. Others insist that the word was derived by the Greek pithekos meaning ape or monkey. Situated on what was then the western-most boundary of the Mediterranean, why was the island named after monkeys? To be sure, there are none nor have there ever been any monkeys in the area. But the notion of monkeys on a combustible island comes from Greek mythology when Zeus transformed naughty forest creatures into monkeys banishing them to a remote volcanic island. Still others surmise that its name may come instead from the Greek word pithekizo which meant ‘to monkey around’ and may have been a term used derisively by mainlanders to refer to the speculative and profiteering Greeks, who originally hailed from the Athens environs, several hundred miles away.

Hailing from the Euboean cities of Eretria and Chalcis, although Euboeans were the island’s most populous settlers, the Corinthians had a presence in Pithekoussai as well. Yet the Greeks had company on the island. Excavated in the burial sites of the area is a population that is often overlooked when considering colonial settlements—the indigenous people. Based on Italic artifacts found there, speculation had been that the female natives of the community intermarried with the settlers. The theory was that the natives had no say in their culture except by virtue of marriage within the colonial community. But the assumption that the indigenous people were passive and subservient to the colonials has since been debunked. Instead, it has been affirmed that the Italic community were active and vital members working alongside the settlers in Pithekoussai. In fact, extensive trading between the natives and the colonists may have forged their relationship and acted as a chief impetus for setting up the colony in Pithekoussai in the first place.
Indeed, Italic people of the Tyrrhenian region likely lived in the area from the Bronze age onwards, though to date there is no written record of their story. It should be noted that writing was becoming more common around the time the island was being colonized with the Greeks leading the vanguard from the fifth century BCE and beyond. Perhaps, it is because of these inscribed records that we have an historical bias in favor of the influence of the Greeks in the region. That being the case, the Greeks were not Pithekoussai’s only settlers. Indeed, experts believe that the Greek and the later Semitic Phoenician and native communities may not have only worked together on the island but lived together as well, developing a multi-cultural settlement.

Excavations of burial sites in the area have found the population to be both ethnically and culturally mixed with a populace that was more multi-layered than previously thought sporting a hodgepodge of Italic, Greek and Levantine ethnicities. It is interesting to note, that in the eighth century BCE, the notion of ethnicity was a fluid and evolving concept. Some believe that it was not until around the fifth century BCE that the Greeks began defining themselves vis a vis everyone else. Further, it may have been the colonizing experience in and of itself which advanced their notion of Greek identity with language. The word “barbarian” comes from the Greek word “barbaroi,” which meant babbler and was an onomatopoeic term which labeled foreigners as ‘bar-bar’ speakers. Derisive and mocking to those who spoke a language other than some dialect of Greek, the word was relatively uncommon until the fifth century BCE; becoming more and more popular once the Greeks began colonizing and were exposed to a plethora of languages other than their own.
Which begs the question, why on earth would settlers from as far afield as Euboea—a sea-faring island to the east of Athens—of the Archaic Age. It was by colonizing other areas from the 5000 BC(Cretans) through the sixth centuries BCE became fashionable to the intrepid ancient Greeks.

Although the rich fertility of Pithekoussai’s volcanic soil was desirable to the settlers, even more alluring to the Iron Age colonists were its ample iron ore reserves. In the eighth century BCE, iron was the new bronze and the adventurous settlers were willing to travel far and wide for their current metal of choice. Because of its protected, well-positioned harbor along with its vast resources, trade networks were bountiful in Pithekoussai. The island traded heavily not only with their mainland neighbors of Campania, Apulia, Etruria and Latium but also with the Near East and Carthage, amongst others. Throughout Greek settlements, Pithekoussai was recognized as having the widest range of objects from the farthest reaches of the Iron Age Mediterranean.
Today, chief among Pithekoussan objects of interest is a seven-inch cup, originally fired on the island of Rhodes and dated to around 750 BCE. Battered and diminutive, at first glance this artifact is unimpressive, but upon closer inspection an engraving can be found that has sparked no small amount of interest in the academic community. The etching, believed to have been scribbled in Pithekoussai around 725 BCE, is not only the earliest example we have of Greek writing, more compelling still is that this is the first example we have of Greek poetry. Two of the three lines of text are in Homeric hexameter and refer to Nestor, a character from Homer’s Iliad:
“I am Nestor’s cup, good to drink from. Whoever drinks this cup empty, straightaway Desire for beautiful-crowned Aphrodite will seize him.” 

Undeniably, the Iliad was originally composed as an oral hymn, to be sung or recited, possibly as early as 1200 BCE with its written format believed to have been penned anywhere from 725 BCE to 634 BCE. But as a result of this discovery of an etching on this obscure cup in the backwaters of ancient Greece, some scholars now argue that the date of Homer’s poem must be pushed back for knowledge of his verses to be as common as this cup attests. Sadly, in contrast to its amusing engraving this cup has a more sobering epilogue; it was discovered in the grave of a ten-year old boy offered by his father in a funeral pyre. Doubly tragic is that the young lad, who was in death its final recipient, would never know the adult delight the cup’s inscription signified. Alas, the ancients were used to death inching up and making itself comfortable in the unlikeliest of places. The somber conclusion of this cup’s destiny is a reminder that in the Greek world omnipresent death was humor’s dark companion.
Companionable death is the subject for another noteworthy Pithekoussan artifact fashioned at roughly the same time as Nestor’s cup. Considered to be the oldest painted krater in all of Italy, the images on the vase read like a tale from what must have been an all-too common narrative on the seafaring shores of the Mediterranean—a shipwreck. “The Pithekoussai Shipwreck” begins with the image of a capsized ship followed by the figures of sailors in various stages of either swimming or sinking. Of the latter, one sailor—appearing lifeless—is floating on the water. Another sailor’s head is between the jaws of a gargantuan fish. The story’s conclusion ends with a colossal fish standing on its tail demonstrating the enormity of his human feast to one and all.
Could this narrative have also come out of Homer’s epics as some have speculated? As can be expected from a seafaring people there is much about shipwrecks in the Homeric epics. Below are a few key passages which paint a picture close to what is depicted on the krater. One such scene is in the Odyssey after Zeus hurls a thunderbolt at the ship: “All the crew were swept overboard…..,for the god denied them their homecoming” (Odyssey 14.305-13). Then in the Iliad, Achilles mocks Lykaon (one of Priams’s sons).“Now lie there among the fish…your mother will not lay you out on the bier and lament for you…. and fish rising through the swell will dart up under the dark ruffled surface to eat the white fat of Lykaon” (Iliad 21.122-7).
In another scene from the Iliad, Skamandros (the River god of Troy) taunts Achilles:
“I shall wrap his body in sand, and pile an infinite wealth of silt over it, so the Achaeans will not know where they can gather his bones, such is the covering of mud I shall heap on him.” (Iliad 21.316-23).
Because shipwrecks were common in the ancient world, death by sea was a demise most dreaded by the ancient mariners. The horror of not being buried and properly mourned by family on the one hand and becoming a feast for fish on the other is aptly portrayed in both the Pithekoussan shipwreck krater and the ubiquitous Homeric epics demonstrating, once again, death’s hovering presence in the ancient world.
Which brings us to the fate of Pithekoussai. In a booming land of plenty with a population boasting ten thousand at its zenith in 700 BCE, why was this plucky Greek settlement not better known? While it was the rich volcanic soil that initially lured the Greeks and Hellenic Phoenicians to settle the island of Pithecusae, the reason for its demise may also lie in the soil’s combustible origins. According to geographer and historian Strabo (64 BCE to 24 CE), severe volcanic and earthquake activity impacted Pithekoussai’s acclaim leading one classical scholar to term it “the lid of a cauldron.” 

While geographic activity was harmful to trade, others speculate that political reasons relating to the growth of Cumae on the Italian mainland may have contributed to Pithekoussai’s downfall as well. Nevertheless, an exodus ensued and Pithekoussai’s bustling trade was eventually transferred to neighboring Cumae. Most historians agree that by 500 BCE the settlement of Pithekoussai was all but destroyed by a volcanic eruption of Mount Epomeo, the island’s largest volcano. Perhaps in a fitting Homeric denouement, discovered in a funeral pyre, the fiery fate of Nestor’s cup foreshadowed the incendiary collapse of the once burgeoning land from which its famed inscription had sprung.
Pithekoussai, Ancient Greek Colony of Nestor’s Cup” Celebrated for its thermal springs and verdant landscapes, the volcanic island of Ischia, called Pithekoussai during its ancient Greek days —located in the Bay of Naples—harkens back to the Mycenaean era when it was part of a wide network of Tyrrhenian settlements that traded extensively with the Mycenean Greeks. It was the first Greek colony in all of Europe. Enterprising pioneers primarily from the Greek city-state island of Euboea (present-day Evvia) founded the colony in the mid-eighth century BC naming it Pithekoussai.Zeus’ Monkeys or Pithoi?
But how did the Greeks arrive at that name? In his Natural History, Pliny the Elder claims that Pithekoussai was named for its numerous pithoi (large terracotta amphoras) which were more common there than in neighboring Iron Age sites. Others insist that the word was derived by the Greek pithekos meaning ape or monkey. Situated on what was then the western-most boundary of the Mediterranean, why was the island named after monkeys? To be sure, there are none nor have there ever been any monkeys in the area. But the notion of monkeys on a combustible island comes from Greek mythology when Zeus transformed naughty forest creatures into monkeys banishing them to a remote volcanic island. Still others surmise that its name may come instead from the Greek word pithekizo which meant ‘to monkey around’ and may have been a term used derisively by mainlanders to refer to the speculative and profiteering Greeks, who originally hailed from the Athens environs, several hundred miles away. 

 The Pithecusan Shipwreck: this new drawing is taken from a Late Geometric crater made on Ischia—the first figured Geometric vase found in Italy.

Dedicated to God Apollo

HARP = AΡΠΑ: symphonic stringed musical instrument. It comes from the ancient Greek verb άρπω/arpo and
ΑΡΠΑΖΩ/ARPAZO(=SNATCH)
and in
ἍΡΠΗ/ARPE = a kind of bird of prey, as it was considered that the instrument is played with the use of all the fingers imitating a bird of prey.
The oldest Greek musical instruments are avloi (lyre), which is dating back to the Neolithic Age. The three civilizations of the Aegean, which are the Cycladic, the Minoan and the Mycenaean, provide evidence of the importance of music in their cultures such as Cycladic marble figures representing lyre players.

The harp has legendary origins: in Greek mythology, it was invented by the god Apollo. Charmed by the sound of Artemi’s bow, he gave her strings to attach to the weapon, creating a new instrument. The harp, played by angels and by kings, amazes us with its delicate and crystalline sound.

Orpheus, the son of Apollo, whose “rich clear words and the silvery notes from his harp were so enchanting that they … had a magical effect on everything around him. His songs could charm even rocks and rivers as well as humans and animals.

Hermes is said to have created the lyre. As the story goes, Hermes used the instrument to steal 50 of Apollo’s prize cattle, offering up the lyre to the latter when Apollo became angry. Thus, the lyre is now a historic attribute to the god of music and prophecy, symbolizing wisdom and moderation.

The Aeolian harp has a long history of being associated with the numinous, perhaps for its vibrant timbres that produce an ethereal sound. Homer relates that Hermes invented the lyre from dried sinews stretched over a tortoise shell. It was able to be played by the wind.
In Later centuries came The psalterion (Greek ψαλτήριον) is a stringed, plucked instrument, an ancient Greek harp. Psalterion was a general word for harps in the latter j part of the 4th century B.C. It meant “plucking instrument”.

An early ancestor to the harp appeared Greece, and later in spread in India , China and Burma. During the Middle Ages, it was played all over Europe and became very popular in the Celtic nations. The harp was the instrument of the troubadours, and accompanied their narratives throughout their journeys.

Monarchs have also played the harp, from Sapho, Queen Marie Antoinette, as well as innumerable poets. Often richly decorated, it can be as much a statement of wealth as a musical instrument. But the palette of sounds that the harp produces gives it true status. Refined, sparkling, and subtle, the sound of the harp is dreamy and enchanting.

Ancient Greek warrior playing the Salpygum (Salpyx) , late 6th–early 5th century BC, Melanomorph vase at Lykythos.

In the 6th century e.g. music becomes the object of a systematic theoretical approach by philosophers, although at first their interest is indirect. The first mentioned is Pythagoras from Samos and his students, who lived in Magna Graecia Croton in Lower Italy. Believing that the world is made of whole numbers, the Pythagoreans described the harmonious sound of a melody and its effect on the human soul as a result of numerical proportions. They even reduced musical harmony to a theoretical model of the general harmony of the universe and performed acoustic experiments. [20] Their texts, however, like the texts of Lasso from Hermione , who taught music in Athens and is said to have written the first treatise on music, have not survived. Their views are fragmentarily known from vague information that reached later writers. Music must have had a similarly important place in the philosophical work of Philolaus from Croton , Damon from the municipality of Oa in Attica and Democritus from Abdira , but their relevant works have not survived. Finally, the presence of music in the extant work of PLATO and ARISTOTLE is prominent , although neither of the two great philosophers wrote a treatise exclusively dedicated to music.
The ancient Greek term music (inv. art ) appeared to initially declare instrumental music ( κροῦσις ), song ( ᾠδὴ ), speech (λεξις) and rhythmic movement ( ὄρχησις ) as an inseparable performance unity, but also in general education, spiritual cultivation and eloquence, which were under the protection of the Muses . Musician as an adjective meant “cultivated”. Already in the Homeric Epics , the practice of music symbolizes the peaceful life and culture of an organized society in contrast to the brutality of wa.

How can we understand the present if we don’t look at the past? says a proverb. And very wisely he says, because we must always look back, to our roots, so that we can excel in the future and never make the same mistakes as our ancestors in the present, creating an eternal chain of repetition. So with music. We should look back to see the musical history of our people as well as the world musical history, to perceive on the one hand the beginning of music and its evolution but also on the other to be able to have the knowledge to spread the musical feats of our ancestors.

Regarding the etymology of the word music : the word, according to the writings of the ancient Greek poets and philosophers, is derived from the word muse . The word muse, again, is derived from maousha = muse. ” ma ” is the root of the verb mao-mo which means to devise or search or ask mentally . (In the Doric dialect, the word ” muse ” is ” moses “).

Lyres appear in Greek mythology as an instrument played by the gods Hermes and Apollo, and by the Greek hero Orpheus. All three were famous as superb lyre players.

Orpheus played the lyre, a harplike instrument that had been given to him by the god Apollo. Most legends relate that Orpheus’ mother was one of the Muses; most often she is said to be Calliope, the patron of epic poetry

The nine muses. Originally these deities were mountain and water nymphs. Hesiod in Theogony recounts: ” Memory slept in Pieria with the son of Cronus and gave birth to these virgins . “

An important point in world music history is the flourishing period of ancient Greek music. When geometry and mathematics contributed to the study of music but also to the construction of the first musical instruments, instrumental music began to develop in ancient Greece, since until the 6th century we have mainly vocal music as a means of expression. This shift towards instrumental music is confirmed by the work ” Pythic Law “, which is the most important court law of the music of ancient Greece and described the fight between Apollo and the dragon Python . It was Sakada ‘s invention , and perhaps the first example of purely programmatic (descriptive) music.

The amount of information that has survived to this day about ancient Greek music allows us a systematic classification of the sources, which applies not only to Greek antiquity but to the history of music in general. The first and basic category of sources are written sources and they are divided into two separate categories, practical and theoretical . Practical sources are called surviving fragments of music in musical notation. From these sources mainly hymns have survived in fragments and have been transcribed into today’s musical writing (two Delphic hymns of Apollo , the Epitaph of Sicily, etc.). These passages about ancient Greek music are few (about 50 in total) and above all short and often with gaps and deficiencies in the notation. Texts about music are called theoretical sources. Theoretical sources include, in addition to special treatises on music theory, the numerous references to music and musical life contained in literary, philosophical and historical works. Theoretical sources of this category are often called here philological sources . The theoretical, as opposed to the practical, are numerous and contain valuable and often extensive information on many issues, yet there are gaps and difficulties in understanding them. The main works are those of Aristoxenus , Euclid , Nicomachus and Alypius , who gives us detailed tables of ancient Greek musical writing.

The lyre represents the peace of Elysium, the paradise where heroes were sent after they were appointed immortality by the gods. As for Orpheus, he acquired the lyre from his father, Apollo, who taught Orpheus how to play

In addition to written sources, another very important category of sources is pictorial testimonies or pictorial sources (depictions of scenes of musical life on vases), as well as the remains of musical instruments found in excavations . The number of pictorial testimonies is great and this fact in itself is testimony to the importance of music in the daily life of the ancient Greeks.
Lyra: the most widespread stringed instrument of ancient Greece, a musical instrument particularly popular since it was not necessarily an instrument of professionals. A symbol of Apollo, the lyre was not used in public events, while it was the instrument par excellence for training the young. It can be characterized as the national organ of the ancient Greeks. 

A typical example is the Harpist in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, a marble statue of Proto-Cycladic art (2800 – 2300 BC) that represents a seated harpist playing a type of harp.

Lyres are found in the palace of Pylos and in Crete (1400 BC). The lyre was identified with Apollo. According to mythology, Hermes invented it: When Apollo (Fig.) discovered that Hermes had stolen his oxen, he chased him. Running to hide, he accidentally stepped on a turtle shell. Noticing that the raven made the sound louder, he made the first lyre and gave it to Apollo, appeasing his anger.
The flute, the diaulos, the askalos, the syrigus of Pan, the salpyx, the drum and the rattle, the cymbals, the rattles, the seistro, the croupezio, the whisper and the chalkeophone are some of the wind and percussion instruments.

Lyra: the most widespread stringed instrument of ancient Greece, a musical instrument particularly popular since it was not necessarily an instrument of professionals. A symbol of Apollo, the lyre was not used in public events, while it was the instrument par excellence for training the young. It can be characterized as the national organ of the ancient Greeks. The lyre was the civilised instrument of the cultured Apollo, while the pipe or flute was used by the wilder, nature-dwelling deities. On one occasion the god Pan, boasting of his mastery of the pipes, was foolish enough to challenge Apollo to a contest.

“Apollo the Guitarist” seated on a rock, holding his lyre and key. (Detail from the sides).
Roman copy of a Greek original of the 4th BC. h. The work can be dated to the late Hadrian-Antonine period (mid 2nd century AD). It is possible that it was placed in a temple as a gift from the emperor, the only one who could dispose of such a precious material in large quantities as porphyry or porphyry.
Purchased by the Farnese from the Sassi family, it was located in the Palazzo in Campo dei Fiori. The earliest Farnese catalogs specify the “metal or bronze” construction of the head, arms and legs. These parts were removed and replaced by what is visible today in white marble, the work of Carlo Albacini (1734-1813), on the occasion of the sculpture’s transfer to Naples in 1805. Napoli Museo Nazionale – Piano Terra – Collezione Farnese – sala I .
The god, clothed in a long tunic of purple porphyry, held by a belt below the breast, sits on a rock holding the lyre in the left hand and the key in the right (in white marble, inserted by Albacini). His costume, which resembles a woman’s, is the festive costume of the Pythians, worn by the performers taking part in the music competition.
From 1850 BC at Minoan Knossos large column bases of some variety of porphyry are found. And the ancient Egyptians used varieties of this stone in their constructions. It is a volcanic rock that forms when magma cools slowly below the earth’s surface. It has a unique texture and “luxurious” color, which was especially valued during the Roman period to satisfy the love of luxury of the Roman elite. It was red-brown to red-purple in color, like the color dyed with the material from the rare sea snails with the ancient Greek name “porphyres”, hence its name. The purple porphyry was also called “imperial” and had been discovered in an isolated location in Egypt in 18 AD by a Roman legionnaire, according to Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus, 23-79), in his “Natural History” (Naturalis Historia) . Like the purple cloth, it was characteristic of the emperors (e.g. their “tongas” were made from it in their busts). But also later, it was used by the emperors of the Eastern Roman state, called Byzantium by the historians, in their sarcophagi and in Byzantine imperial monuments.This stone is also valued for its versatility.It can be cut and carved into various shapes and sizes , making it ideal for a range of applications.Its use continues later, in the constructions of Western European emperors and kings.

The harp has legendary origins: in Greek mythology, it was invented by the god Apollo. Charmed by the sound of Artemi’s bow, he gave her strings to attach to the weapon, creating a new instrument. The harp, played by angels and by kings, amazes us with its delicate and crystalline sound.

FRENCH INNOVATIONS
The first pedals were the invention of the Bavarian luthier Hochbrücker at the beginning of the 18th century. Several instrument makers in France developed new innovations and patents, including one by the writer, watchmaker, diplomat and businessman Pierre Beaumarchais. The famous piano maker Sebastien Érard gave the harp seven pedals in the 19th century, one per note of the scale.

In the 20th century, the innovations continued. At the beginning of the century, the Pleyel House patented a harp without pedals, called the chromatic harp, at the request of several musicians. This harp was used in a composition by Claude Debussy, the Sacred Dance and Secular Dance. Although it was not a commercial success, the piece is very interesting for the history of music and is a masterpiece of chamber music.

Ravel
Maurice Ravel with the harpist Lily Laskine at a performance of Ravel’s Introduction et allegro in 1935.
French involvement in the development of this instrument is still strong today! The French harpist Anja Linder, who was paralyzed following an accident, invented the “Anjamatic”, an electro-pneumatic harp without pedals. Anja teaches the “Anjamatic” at the Strasbourg Conservatory. She was named a Knight of the National Order of Merit in 2016.

The history and development of the harp is bursting with as many notes, high and low, as the instrument itself is capable of. The most exciting part of the harp’s history is what’s still to come for this ancient instrument.

The word music, according to the writings of the ancient Greek poets and philosophers, is derived from “Musa”. Musa again, is produced from maousa = Musa. “ma” is the root of the verb mao-mo = to devise or search or ask mentally. (In the Doric dialect the word “Muse” is “Moses”).

The word music The word music, in today’s time, means the art of sounds, unlike the ancient Greeks who gave the word music a different meaning, they meant the indissoluble unity of sound and speech, something that does not exist nowadays.

With sport the body is exercised, while with music the spirit.

Music, the gift of the Muses, in ancient Greece, defined and characterized the man who acts, thinks and feels. Thus, as a means of spiritual maturation, the word that would characterize ancient Greek music is not the word “art” but the words education and power. This can also be seen from the fact that the one who played the flute e.g. he was called a piper and not a musician, i.e. he was considered a simple performer. But after the separation of music from speech, language, which happened shortly after Plato, we see the use of the concept musician. This change was to be the birth of an autonomous art which, as mentioned above, was embedded within discourse.

Ancient Greek Music

Ancient Greek music holds a special place among the musical cultures of Antiquity. The main reason for this is certainly the fact that the historical evidence and sources for the study of ancient Greek musical culture are more than for any other musical culture of antiquity. However, apart from this, and perhaps thanks to this, the ancient Greek musical culture exerted a great influence on later musical cultures in Europe and also in the Middle East, mainly on the Arab musical culture. This effect concerns, at least in the case of European music, the aesthetics of music, music creation, music education and more generally the place of music in education, music theory and other fields, which are today, as well as the former subject of musicology.

The influence of ancient Greek music on later musical cultures is not only due to any historical testimonies and sources regarding it. It is due, and in fact to a large extent, to the overall effect of the ancient Greek and Roman civilization on modern Europe, especially during the Renaissance years, but not only then. Ancient Greek music became for the humanists, but often also for the musicians of the Renaissance, the ideal model of music. Thus, as often happens in similar cases, a myth was created around ancient Greek music, based more on the musical reality of later times and on historical fallacies, than on the positive knowledge of the sources that survived. This myth was certainly productive for the development of modern music, as it shows e.g. the genesis of opera. However, for the knowledge of ancient Greek music itself, it had several negative consequences, which musicological research began to overcome from the middle of the 19th century. and so on. From this time, a systematic research of ancient Greek music, freed from the distorting lenses of later periods, began.

SOURSES

The abundance of surviving information on ancient Greek music allows a systematic classification of sources, which is not only valid for Greek antiquity, but for the history of music in general and is used to classify sources at least until the end of the Middle Ages.

The first and basic category of sources are written sources. Written sources are divided into two separate categories, practical and theoretical sources.

Practical sources are called surviving fragments of music in musical notation. From the practical sources mainly hymns survived in fragments and have been transcribed into today’s musical writing (two Delphic hymns of Apollo, the epitaph of Sicily, etc.). These passages about ancient Greek music are few (about 50 in total) and above all short and often with gaps and deficiencies in the notation.

Texts about music are called theoretical sources. Theoretical sources include, in addition to special treatises on music theory, the numerous references to music and musical life contained in literary, philosophical and historical works. Theoretical sources of this category are often called here philological sources. The theoretical as opposed to the practical are many and contain valuable and often extensive information on many issues, yet there are gaps and difficulties in understanding them. The main works are by Aristoxenus, Euclid, Nicomachus and Alypius (who gives us detailed tables of ancient Greek musical writing).

In addition to written sources, another very important category of sources is pictorial evidence or pictorial sources (depictions of scenes of musical life on vases), as well as the remains of musical instruments found in excavations. The number of pictorial testimonies is great and this fact in itself is testimony to the importance of music in the daily life of the ancient Greeks.

Historical Overview

It is difficult for anyone to determine the temporal and geographical boundaries of the musical culture of ancient Greece. A key difficulty is the dissociation between the temporal origins of different kinds of sources. Thus, the surviving theoretical sources, as well as the surviving nuggets of practical sources, date almost exclusively to the first post-Christian centuries. On the contrary, the philological and pictorial sources are abundant already from the period of greatest flowering of this culture – that is, from the 7th to the 4th BC. century or so. therefore, following a demarcation that is more or less generally accepted and corresponds in general terms to the geographical and temporal demarcation of the period of birth and heyday of the ancient Greek culture, we can say that ancient Greek music covers a period of time that begins in the last centuries of 2nd millennium BC and ends at the end of the 4th century BC. (i.e. at the beginning of the Hellenistic Period), and developed mainly in the main part of Greece and in the Greek cities of Asia Minor and Lower Italy. The period of more than a thousand years determined by the above time limits corresponds to various periods of ancient Greek history. Thus the history of ancient Greek music can be subdivided into two major periods:

Aphrodite is , as well associated with the harp. Though she wasn’t an actual goddess, Calliope is often depicted with one. The character of Orpheus, again not regarded as a god, was a harpist (or probably more accurately, the lyre)

Orpheus, ancient Greek from Thraca legendary hero endowed with superhuman musical skills. He became the patron of a religious movement based on sacred writings said to be his own. Traditionally, Orpheus was the son of a Muse (probably Calliope, the patron of epic poetry) and Oeagrus, a king of Thrace (other versions give Apollo). Apollo, as the god of music, gave Orpheus a golden lyre and taught him to play it. Orpheus’s mother taught him to make verses for singing. (Orpheus name derives fro the verb root *h₃erbʰ- ‘to change allegiance, status, ownership’. Cognates could include Greek: ὄρφνη (órphnē; ‘darkness’) and ὀρφανός (orphanós; ‘fatherless, orphan’) from which comes English ‘orphan’ through Latin.

The story of Orpheus has resonated through the millennia and has been a popular subject of art, music and literature for more than 2,500 years. The Greek legend was flourishing by the mid-sixth century B.C., and variations of his story appear in the ancient writings of Aristophanes, Plato, Aristotle, Apollodorus, Virgil and Ovid. According to one version of the myth, Orpheus was the son of the muse Calliope. Given a lyre (a form of ancient harp) by the god Apollo and instructed in its use by the Muses, he became so skilled at creating music with it that he was able to charm and placate elements of both the natural and supernatural world. Animals, trees, rocks and even some of the gods themselves were moved by the music from his golden harp, and ancient images of him often depict scenes in which Orpheus is surrounded by a variety of tranquil creatures, both real and mythical.

Abode
Symbol	LYRE
Personal information
Born	PIMPEIA, PIERIA
Died	Pangaion Hills, Odomantice
Parents	Oeagrus and Calliope
Spouse	EURYDIKE
Children	MUSAEUS

The power of Orpheus’s music led Jason and his fellow Argonauts to seek his aid on their quest for the Golden Fleece, but the primary story associated with Orpheus concerns his wife, a nymph named Eurydice. According to legend, she was killed after being bitten by a poisonous snake. Devastated by her death and determined to recover his lost love, Orpheus descends into the underworld, where he uses the power of his music to charm Charon, the ferryman who brings the dead across the River Styx, in order to gain passage to the underworld. As he continues, he also enchants the monstrous guardian of the gates to the underworld, the three-headed dog Cerberus.

Glancing back however is often a symbol of a reluctance to look forward, to be distracted, dwell on the past and remain static. To the ancient Greeks, Orpheus was a legendary prophet, poet and musician. Because the moral behind both stories is “Don’t look back.” Orpheus wanted to bring his wife, Eurydice, back to life and was told not to look back or he would lose everything. Lot was told by God that he must not look back or he would turn to ashes. Of course his wife didn’t listen and she became a pile of ash/salt

His music and grief so moves Queen Persephone that she pleads with her grim consort, Hades, to release Eurydice and allow Orpheus to bring his wife out of the underworld. The god of the underworld grants this request, but only on the condition that Orpheus trust that Eurydice is following him; he must not look back at her until they pass beyond the realm of Hades’ domain and into the world of the living. Their escape is depicted in Sir Edward John Poynter’s dramatic 1862 oil-on-canvas Orpheus and Eurydice. At the last moment, Orpheus is unable to resist looking back at his love, and thus he is forced to watch as she is once again transported back to the world of the dead..

*******A R I O N

Arion was a lyric poet from Mithymna (Molyvos) in Lesvos. We do not even know the year of his birth and death. The information about him and his life comes mainly from the historian Herodotus. He left Lesbos early and lived near the tyrant of Corinth Periandros (625 – 585 BC).

He was the best guitar player of his time and contributed to the development of the dithyramb, the hymn of Dionysian worship, which was the forerunner of tragedy. Arion was the first to compose a dithyramb, gave it a lyrical form and narrative content and presented it at the court of the art-loving tyrant Periander, in Corinth. Arion presented the dancers disguised as Satyrs, i.e. with characteristics of goats, which is why he was called the “inventor of the tragic way”. As a poet and composer, he wrote chants (hymns) and preludes (guitar rules), of which not a single verse has survived. According to Herodotus Arion had won a musical competition in Sicily.

Arion, playing his kithara and riding dolphins. Sculpture by Jean Raon (Grove of the Domes [fr], Gardens of Versailles)

There is a story about his life, which is more like a fairy tale, and it was bequeathed to us by Herodotus. Once, Arion decided to travel to Sicily for a living. There, after having collected a lot of money and wealth through his art, he started the return journey in a Corinthian ship. During the voyage the sailors decided to rob him and throw him overboard. Arion offered to give them money to save his life, but in vain. Then, he begged them to do him one last favor. To let him sing before his death. The sailors accepted. Arion, having put on his good clothes, took the guitar in his hands, stood on the prow of the ship and sang the “standing law”, a hymn to Standing Artemis and others a hymn to Apollo the god of music. His song attracted dolphins around the ship. At the end of the song he threw himself into the sea. A dolphin enchanted by his song took him on its back and took him out to Cape Tainaro. From there, Arion went on foot to Corinth, where he reported everything to Periander, the tyrant of Corinth. He ordered the sailors, who had meanwhile returned to Corinth, to be arrested and put to death.

Arion, riding a dolphin; from the statue by Ernest-Eugene Hiolle. Illustration for The Chefs-D’Oeuvre d’Art of the International Exhibition, 1878, edited by Edward Straham (Gebbie & Barrie, c 1878).

Greek mythology is intended to serve as an education for the people of Ancient Greece, and with the Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, they are taught two things. First, you need to stay true to your word. And, second, always be respectful to the gods.

He was the best guitar player of his time and contributed to the development of the dithyramb, the hymn of Dionysian worship, which was the forerunner of tragedy. Arion was the first to compose a dithyramb, gave it a lyrical form and narrative content and presented it at the court of the art-loving tyrant Periander, in Corinth. Arion presented the dancers disguised as Satyrs, i.e. with characteristics of goats, which is why he was called the “inventor of the tragic way”. As a poet and composer, he wrote chants (hymns) and preludes (guitar rules), of which not a single verse has survived. According to Herodotus Arion had won a musical competition in Sicily.

There is a story about his life, which is more like a fairy tale, and it was bequeathed to us by Herodotus. Once, Arion decided to travel to Sicily for a living. There, after having collected a lot of money and wealth through his art, he started the return journey in a Corinthian ship. During the voyage the sailors decided to rob him and throw him overboard. Arion offered to give them money to save his life, but in vain. Then, he begged them to do him one last favor. To let him sing before his death. The sailors accepted. Arion, having put on his good clothes, took the guitar in his hands, stood on the prow of the ship and sang the “standing law”, a hymn to Standing Artemis and others a hymn to Apollo the god of music. His song attracted dolphins around the ship. At the end of the song he threw himself into the sea. A dolphin enchanted by his song took him on its back and took him out to Cape Tainaro. From there, Arion went on foot to Corinth, where he reported everything to Periander, the tyrant of Corinth. He ordered the sailors, who had meanwhile returned to Corinth, to be arrested and put to death.