THRACIAN - PELASGIAN & MACEDONIAN
THRACE - region, 3,310 sq mi, SE Europe, occupying the southeastern tip of the Balkan Peninsula and comprising NE Greece, S Bulgaria, and European Turkey. It is bordered by the Black Sea in the northeast and the Sea of Marmara and Aegean Sea in the south. Tens of thousands of years ago the Balkans, as in much of the rest of Europe, held sparse populations of small, close-knit clans of nomadic hunters and gatherers near fresh water sources. Several prehistoric sites survived the millennia and contain artifacts and tantalising clues about the original inhabitants of this area. Royal Thracian sites in Bulgaria date 4000 BC to 200 AD. Many of these are caves in Stara Planina (Balkan Mts), such as MAGURA Cave in north-western Bulgaria. Ancient people ca 2700 BC left their mark in Magura cave, as evidenced by wall carvings and cave paintings, which portray people hunting and dancing, as well as creatures resembling giraffes and kangaroos. Also found were pottery shards, remains of a fireplace and discarded flint tools and chippings. By 2000 BC, people in central and southern Balkans were developing a unique culture and language, and subsequently became known as Thracians. They had no known written language, and little is known of an ancient tribal culture which flourished for thousands of years in the mountainous Balkan Peninsula, now encompassing, in part, modern-day Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Ukraine. They prospered in the area for almost two thousand years, until the final conquest of the region in 46 AD, when Thrace became a Roman province. Most of what is known about them comes from archaeological evidence and from sources written by outsiders.
The Thracians bear many names in the different regions of their country, but all of them have like usages in every respect, excepting only the GETAE, the TRAUSI, and those who dwell above the people of CRESTON. Thracians who do not belong to these tribes have the customs which follow. Tattooing among them marks noble birth, and the want of it low birth. (Three gods of the people: Mars, Bacchus and Dian, kings worshipped Mercury.) The only people of whom I hear as dwelling beyond the Ister are the SIGYNNAE, who wear (clothing) like the MEDES, and have horses covered entirely with a coat of shaggy hair, five fingers in length, a small breed, flat-nosed, and not strong enough to bear men on their backs; but when yoked to chariots, they are among the swiftest known, which is why people of that country use chariots. Their borders reach down almost to the Eneti upon the Adriatic Sea, and they call themselves colonists of the Medes. Sigynnae is the name which LIGURIANS, who dwell above Massilia, give to traders, while among CYPRIANS the word means spears.
Strabo (d 79 BC) distinguishes the sacker of Manesia as TRERES, a race known in Bulgaria 5th century BC. He calls these a Cimmerian people passing under another name. At the same time the Thracian Treres were raiding in Asia Minor. TERES I 450-431 BC, king of Thrace, his daughter married Scythian king OCTAMASADAS. Herodotus speaks only of Kimmeri, not Thracians. HERODOTUS (c. 484-425 BC), Greek historian, "Father of History", born in Asia Minor at Halicarnassus, under the rule of queen ARTEMISIA. She left her crown to son Pisindelis (ca 498 BC), succeeded by his son Lygdamis.
According to Herodotus, Thracians were the second most numerous people in the world, outnumbered only by the (East) Indians. Despite a stream of later wars, invasions and eventual assimilation, they are said to be one of the "bedrock" people of Bulgarians today. Thracians were farmers and cattle-herders who were also superbly talented in the arts of war, horsemanship and craft working. Individual tribes were headed by powerful priest-kings and their greatest warriors were considered to be the aristocracy as well. Conflict between Thracian tribes was common, and quite possibly was the only reason the group as a whole did not become the most powerful force in south-eastern Europe at the time. Their skills and bravery in battle were widely noted and feared by other regional groups such as Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome, all of which later often hired Thracian warriors as mercenaries.
Thracians worshiped a mythical hero-horseman, their homelands included the Ukranian steppes. Horses were first domesticated as draft animals on the Ukranian Steppes between 4500 and 2500 B.C. It was at this time the people of that area adopted a nomadic way of life. They had already domesticated dogs, cows, sheep, and goats, but they needed a larger animal to carry their belongings. The horse became their sole livelihood; it provided transportation, milk, meat and skins. By 1000 BC, domestication spread through Europe, Asia and North Africa. The Urumchi Mummies are of Caucasoid origin (long, reddish-blond hair and European features). These 3,000-year-old people celebrated fertility in Western China, at sites where they drew figures identical to 4,000-year-old figures found in Bulgaria and Ukraine. Celtic art was influenced by so called Scythian/Thraco-Cimmerian animal style. Of the groups directly influenced by Scythian use of cannabis, probably the most notable would be the red-haired, fair-skinned Thracians. A Greek speaking nomadic tribe, history of the Thracians is closely tied to that of the Scythians, so that at times the two groups would seem inseparable. Herodotus wrote of the Thracian's ability at working hemp fibres, and claimed that their clothes "were so like linen that none but a very experienced person could tell whether they were of hemp or flax; one who had never seen hemp would certainly suppose them to be linen." Like the Scythian, Thracians used cannabis in a similar manner. Thracian tribes were known to have burned female cannabis flowers (and other psychoactive plants) as a mystical incense to induce trances. Their special talents were attributed to the "magical heat" produced from burning the cannabis and other herbs, believing the plants dissolved in the flames, then reassembled themselves inside the person who inhaled the vapors. Scholars agree that Dionysus, the famous Greek God of Intoxication, was originally a Thracian god. Mircea Eliade commented on the Thracian cult of Dionysus, and connected this worship with the use of cannabis. A certain tribe managed the oracle of Dionysus, the temple on a high mountain, and the prophetess predicted the future in 'ecstacy', like the Pythia at Delphi. Eliade commented on the use of "Hemp seeds among Thracians, and among Scythians", and refers to some ancient shamans as "those who walk in smoke" or KAPNOBATAI. (FYI: among other uses such as oil for cooking, hemp fibres for clothing, hemp crops were used as recently as the 1930's in Canada, to provide nutrients to the soil, after which time it became illegal, pretty much destroying thousands of years of cultural heritage.)
LYDIAN & ETRUSCAN RASENNA
TYRO, Ancestress of the Etruscans. ETRUSCAN League of 12 cities was founded by two LYDIAN brothers; TARCHUN and TYRRHENUS. Tarchun lent his name to the city of Tarchna (Roman Tarquinnii.) Tyrrhenus gave his name to the Tyrrhenians - aka ETRUSCANS. Romans called them Etruscans, Greeks called them Tyrrhenians. There is reference to ATIS, Etruscan patriarch of LYDIA (appellation ATIIERIA.) Their own name for themselves is the same as one of their leaders, RASENNA. Etruscans were known for their great horsemanship; "IVCE" is used as we might use the word "knight". Although there is no consensus on which cities were in the league, the following may be close: Arretium (AREZZO), Caisra (Caere, now Cerveteri), Clevsin, (Clusium, now Chiusi), Curtun (now Cortona, PERUSNA (Perugia), Fufluna or Pupluna (Populonia), Veii, TARCHNA (Tarquinii, nowTarquinia-Corneto), Vetluna (Vetulonia), Felathri (Volaterrae, now Volterra), Velzna (Volsinii, now Bolsena), and Velch (Vulci, now Volci). Some modern authors include Rusellae. The league was mostly an economic and religious league, or a loose confederation, similar to Greek states. (TARQU: a Nessian-Hittite city, also name of "Ethiopian" or Kushite Pharoah 665 BC, also a modern town in Finnland, Tarku.)
Etruscan civilization was well established from the 8th century BC, and ETRURIA was its birthplace. Their economy prospered on land and sea, their leader was the LUCHMON, one political, military and religious authority in each of the 12 large urban centres such as Cerveteri, Tarquinia, Vetulonia, Populonia, Arezzo, and Volterra etc, which formed the "Etruscan Dodecapolis." Etruscans women enjoyed a freedom which was greatly envied by those relegated to bedroom and kitchen by their Greek and Roman husbands. Etruscan ladies not only participated in social events but attended political meetings as well, and not only did they reject modest attire and attitude, but they liked to show off their beauty. They didn't wear veils, but dressed in voile; they were fond of jewels and cosmetics, and they ate, drank, danced with their men without restraint, therefore accused by Greeks of indecent behaviour.
The disciplina etrusca (Roman name for Etruscan religion) comprised three categories of books of fate. Libri Haruspicini dealt with divination from livers of sacrificed animals; Libri Fulgurates, the interpretation of thunder and lightning; Libri Rituales covered a variety of matters. Their curricula included not only religious laws and theology, but also encyclopaedic knowledge required by priests, which ranged from astronomy and meteorology through zoology, ornithology, and botany to geology and hydraulics. The last subject was the specialty of the aquivices who advised city-states on all their hydraulic engineering projects. They were expert diviners, who knew how to find subterranean water and how to bore wells, how to dig water channels, supply drinking water in the towns, and install irrigation and drainage systems in the fields. In addition they created artificial reservoirs and collaborated with other priests who specialized in constructing subterranean corridors and tunneling mountains.
Heaven and earth were imagined as being quartered by a great invisible cross (Sumerian origin) consisting of a north-south axis called cardo and an east-west line called decumanus (Latin terms.) Ritual and religious observance was based on this division of celestial and terrestrial space. It enabled the priests to decipher and understand signs emanating from the gods, and every sacral and secular undertaking on earth had to be coordinated with it. Etruscans believed auspicious and inauspicious powers were irrevocable and for all eternity located in the four quarters of the sky, in accordance with the cosmic stations of the gods. The east was considered of good augury, because there the highest deities favourable to man, had chosen to dwell. The northeast was the most auspicious and promised good fortune. In the south the gods of earth and nature ruled. Merciless gods of the underworld and fate dwelt in the drear regions of the west, especially in the quarter between north and west, which was the most inauspicious. The priest, after fixing the north-south and east-west lines by the sky, turned to the south and announced: "This is my front, and this my back, this my left and this my right." (Ukraine: front of house faces South.) Etruscans believed humans had a cycle of 7x12 years. Ten saecula were allotted to the Etruscan name. (ten celestial stems of China?)
UNI, supreme goddess, and goddess of PERUGIA (peru-gia); husband TINIA; with goddess MENRVA, they form a triad. NORTIA, goddesses of fate; LARAN, war god. ANI/ANA, male/ female; north sky god, god of beginnings. The Lasa: four female dieties: ALPAN, EVAN, RACUNETA, VECU. Very little is known about Etruscan morphological structure. The only noun plural form we know is ais - AISAR ("god or gods") which does not correspond to Indo-European flexions. (aesir "oriental" Norse legend) "Proto-Slavic Script," by G.Grinevich, explained the Etruscan mystery as a branch of Slavic civilization in Italy. (Common thread is gender equality and education.)
TYRE, PHOENICIA (Sour or Sur, 4th largest city of Lebanon.) It was an island in ages past. Herodotus visited Tyre during the 5th century BC and described the famous Temple of Melkart (Heracles). Priests told him that the temple was built when Tyre was founded, 2750 BC. Tyre originally consisted of a mainland settlement and a modest island city that lay a short distance off shore. It was not until 1000 BC that the city experienced its golden age. In the 10th century BC, Hiram, king of Tyre, joined two islets by landfill. Later he extended the city further by reclaiming a considerable area from the sea. Phoenician Elissa (Queen DIDO), princess and daughter of king Mattan of Tyre city, extended Tyre's empire through the Mediterranean and founded Carthage in North Africa in 814 BC. Eventually its colonies spread around the Mediterranean and Atlantic, bringing to the city a flourishing maritime trade. Tyre also attracted the attention of jealous conquerors, among them Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander the Great. Early in the 6th century BC, Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to the walled city for thirteen years. Tyre stood firm, but it was probable that the residents of the mainland city abandoned it for the safety of the island. Greeks attributed introduction of the alphabet to their country by CADMUS, son of a Tyrian king. The name of the continent is said to come from Europa, the sister of Cadmus. It was Tyre's purple-dyed textiles, worn throughout the ancient world as a mark of royal rank, that brought fame and fortune to the city. One gram of pure purple dye was worth ten or twenty grams of gold, so it is not surprising that some of the beautiful sarcophagi of the necropolis belonged to wealthy purple dye manufactures of Tyre. Tyrians extracted dye from Murex, a marine snail that still lives along Tyre's shores deep among the rocks and sunken archeological remains. Dye extraction is no longer a viable commercial venture, but scientists have documented the process for historical purposes. Sarafand (north of Tyre) is ancient Serepta (bible.) Excavations here revealed the remains of Canaanite-Phoenician structures and Roman port installations. Sarafand still has a workshop where the ancient Phoenician art glass blowing is practiced. On the road to Qana El-Jaleel, is a burial monument from the Persian period (550 - 330 BC.) This has traditionally been called the tomb of Hiram, Phoenician architect of the Temple of Jerusalem.
PELASGIAN - THRACIAN
Greek people who arrived in four waves between 1900-1400 BC - Achaean, Ionian, Dorian, and Aeolian - found the Carpatho-Danubian PELASGIAN (calling themselves Thracian) at home. Homer (ca 800 BC) noted Thracian leaders: Thersilochus, Mydon, Astypylus, Mnesus, Thrasius, Aenius & Ophelestes (Philistine), Pyraeshmes, Hippias, Apisaon & Asteropaeus. He described Thracians as formidable enemies of the Greeks in the Trojan War. He writes of Thracian King RHESOS, whose horses were "the most royal I have seen, whiter than snow and swift as the sea wind. His chariot is a masterwork in gold and silver, and the armor, huge and golden, brought by him here is marvelous to see, like no war gear of men but of immortals." Pausanius notes: "In ancient times, Thracian people had been more reasonable than the Macedonian in every respect, even more involved in religious matters." Spartacus, the slave-turned-gladiator who led a rebellion against Rome, is considered the epitome of Thracian strength, skill, tenacity and grit. Although their culture and lifestyles were largely based on warfare, they were also very talented artisans. They produced extremely well-crafted gold and silver jewellery and utensils, very advanced weaponry and elaborately designed pottery and sculptures, indicating a society that was comfortably well off enough to devote much time to honing skills other than those of mere survival. Thracians extended as far west as the Adriatic Sea of Greece, but they were pushed eastward ca 1300 BC by ILLYRIANS. (FYI: Carpatho-Danubian - area of Carpathian Mts and Danube River. Danube River aka German Donau, Slovak Dunaj, Hungarian Duna, Serbo-Croatian & Bulgarian Dunav, Romanian Dunarea, Ukrainian Dunay, the 2nd longest river after the Volga in Russia. It rises in the Black Forest mountains of western Germany and flows for some 1,770 miles to its mouth on the Black Sea. Along its course, it passes through nine countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine. Volga and Danube are the 2 longest rivers on the European continent.)
PELASGI was the most ancient native Greek tribe. In the beginning they lived in Cyclades islands (Aegean sea) and Arcadia. Pelasgi used to live near Thrace. Pelasgians founded many cities, including Athens and Thebes. Athenians may have introduced the Geometric style to Greece during the so-called Dark Ages, 1200-600 BC. Sons of Poseidon were rulers and heroes of the Pelasgi (eg Amphitrite, Atlas, Hercules, Zeus, Cronos) and later became gods of Greece.
KARDAMYLA, CHIOS ISLAND - off Turkish coast of Aegian Sea; prior to 1100 BC, little is known. Pelasgic (as in PELASGIAN) structures, existence of a pelasgic wall at the mountain of SKITONAS, pelasgic wells at Parpanta, of Mycenian ceramics at Nagos as well as place names such as Hellinotichos (Greek wall), interpreted as being a prehistoric ruin attributed to the Greeks, presupposes the development of civilization from prehistoric times. Polichne, a small town from which tyrant MYLETOS Estaios disembarked after 494 BC is located in the area found between Delphini and Koila. ("Estaios, with the help of those from Lesbos, rushed toward Polichnes of Chios"; tyrant, tyrannos "ruler")
Pelagos "open sea." Pelagia (L.), Pelageya (Ru.), Pélagie (Fr.) Related words: Pelagios; Pelagius, Celtic philosopher, British monk. (link to Pleiades? PELEG, Shem descendant, ca 2200 BC, "when the land became divided.")
It is assumed that PELAGONIA, land of PELAGONIANS, was located in the southwest of PAEONIA, extending along both sides of the Erigon River (Crna Reka). There is little information about this people, and they are mainly identified with the PAEONS. Homer wrote of PELAGON, father of the PAEONIAN leader Asteropaeus, who took part in the siege of Troy. Pelagon was son of the river god AXIUS and PERIBOEA, daughter of ACESAMENUS of Paeonia. (reoccurring theme: son of RIVER GOD.) Paeonia was a country upon the river Strymon, and the Strymon was at no great distance from the Hellespont. PAEONIANS were colonists of the TEUCRIANS from Troy. (Pigres and Mantyes)
Unlike Macedonians, Thracians tribes formed separate petty kingdoms. Thracians developed high forms of music and poetry, but their savage warfare led the Greeks to consider them barbarians. Greek colonies, Byzantium on the Hellespont and Tomi (modern Constanta) on the Black Sea, were founded in Thrace by 600 BC. Greeks exploited Thracian gold and silver mines, and they recruited Thracians for their infantry. Thrace was reduced to vassalage by Persia from 512 - 479 BC. In the 5th century BC they lost their land west of the Struma (Strimón) River to Macedon. In the north, Thrace still extended to the Danube. One of Europe's most ancient gold treasures is a Thracian hoard found near Panagyurishte, a collection of exquisitely ornate cups, plates and ceremonial urns dating from the 3rd century BC and weighing about 6.5 kg (Sofia's National History Museum.) An attempt to unite the tribes, under the leadership of the Odrysae tribe in the 4th - 5th centuries AD, didn't succeed.
Slavs were part of the great migrations out of central Asia. They arrived in the Balkans in the 6th century; though numerous enough to absorb most of the Thracian-Roman population living on the Balkans at the time, they were peaceful people who lived in fairly democratic farming communities. Slavic language and customs spread across the region and took root, making it the dominant culture in the area by the time the next invading group came along in the following century.
KYTHERA ISLAND (pka Porfiris, Porfiroussa), Kythera is the island of Aphrodite, goddess of love who was born there when Cronos castrated Huranus and flung his genitals into the Kytheran Sea; Aphrodite was said to have emerged from the resulting foam. The mythical organs turned into two small rocks which protrude from the sea off the east coast of the island. A temple to Kythera was said to be built by Phoenicians or Trojans. The goddess made her way to Cyprus, where she was worshipped as Aphrodite URANIA, goddess of chaste love, whom Cyrinians revered. MINOANS established themselves very early in Kythera, a way station in their travels towards the west, founding a settlement named SKANDIA, at the site of modern PALAIOPOLIS, and an important peak sanctuary at Agios Georgios on the Mount. The museum contains Minoan finds from excavations of Palaeopolis, one of the most important being an archaic lion. Remains of settlements from that period can still be seen: Mesa Vouno, TRIFYLLIANIKA, Zaglanikianika, Pitsinades, Kato Chora, Mylopotamos, Mitata, Logothetianika, Aroniadika, Kastrisianika, Kalokerines and Viaradika. (Minoan Trifyllianika and Trypilla, Ukraine. Kythera > Kitura. Skandia, Scandza, Scandinavia?)
(FYI: hegemon, from Greek hegeisthai, 8th - 4th c BC, means leader or guide, probably root of Ukrainian "hetman, aka ataman". Hegemonic rule includes definition "willing acceptance of one's social group.")
PIT-GRAVE CULTURE 3500 BC - UKRAINE
Pit Grave Culture replaced TRYPILLIAN (Tripolie) Culture in the Ukrainian Steppe 3500 BC, and "kurgan" type burial structure is described. Kurgans have been found from Romania to the Steppe areas of the Ukraine. Pit Grave people are tall with a broad face and a strong superstructure in the region of the forehead, European without a Mongoloid mixture. The Eneolithic Age is the time period between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age and is seen as a special period when traditions of Neolithic development are present and when bronze tools are being prepared in small numbers. During the Eneolithic, many objects still are worked in flint. Bronze is an artificial alloy of copper with some additions such as arsenic and tin. Different cultures have different additions. Analysis of bronze establishes relationships among cultures (there are massive migrations of populations across the European and Asiatic Steppes from west to east during this period). Preliminary figures indicate 6 - 8,000 population for the Black Sea area based on the presence of 2,000 kurgans. This culture lasted for 1500 years.
TRIDENT (TRYZUB, TRIZUB) meaning "maritime domain" has been a Ukrainian heraldry symbol for at least 2000 years. A thousand years ago, it was the coat of arms of the Ruryk dynasty (Scandinavian founder of Novgorod, Moscow.) A trident was the symbol of Poseidon, sea god of Greek mythology. It has been found in different societies, such as Bosporan and Pontic kingdoms, Greek colonies on the Black Sea, Byzantium, Scandinavia, and Sarmatia (all ultimately related to each other), and has been used in various ways: as a religious and military emblem, a heraldic symbol, state emblem, monogram, and simply a decorative design. Oldest examples of the trident, discovered on Ukrainian territory, date to the 1st century AD. At that time the trident probably served as a symbol of power in one of the tribes that became part of the Ukrainian people. The trident was particularly associated with Cossacks because they were especially adept at fighting on water. Much of their military success depended on the fact that they could attack by water as well as by land. They had light ships "strugi" which rowers could pick up and carry. They could travel by river to the rapids of Dnipro, pick up the strugi and carry them past the rapids. Ships persuing them could not follow. Strugi were also effective because they were low to the water and hard to see, allowing sneak attacks. They were also more manueverable than large vessels. (No reference for strugi; Slavic struga "form a corridor" - lots of links to Macedonia, home of the first Slavic university. Runic symbol resembling Trident = 'Z' sound; Greek/Slavic 'PS' sound; Etruscan/Greek/Slavic sound for 'F' is same symbol. Phoenician; Poseidon; poisson - French "fish")
"TETHYS brought forth also a race apart of daughters. They are Peitho, Admete, Ianthe, Elektra, Doris, Prymno and Ourania like a goddess, Hippo, KLYMENE, Rhodeia nad Kallirhoe, Zeuxo, KLYTIA, Idyia, Pasithoe, Plexaura, Galaxaura, lovely Dione, Melobosis, Thoe, Polydora the shapely, Kerkeis of the lovely stature, ox-eyed Plouto, Xanthe, Akaste, Perseis, Ianeira, Petraie the lovely, Menestho, Europa, Metis, Eurynome, Telesto robed in saffron, Khryseis, Asia, alluring Kalypso, Eudora, Tykhe, Amphiro, Okyroe, and Styx, who among them all has the greatest eminence. Now these are the eldest of the daughters who were born to Tethys and Okeanos, but there are many others beside these." (Tethys is earth, Okeanos the sea. KLYTIA - Greek: Klutih, Klytiê. From Iamus descended the diviners called IAMIDES. He was a son of Apollo & Evadne, daughter of Poseidon & Pitana. Klemne, an Amazon. Greek mythology, unlike the bible, names countless women.)
THEOKOLEON: Their election from important priestly families of Elia, such as IAMIDES and KLYTIDES, took place at each new Olympiad. Klytides, 4th c BC, were a very old aristocratic family of Chios, as were Homerides and Oinopides, privileged in the ancestral land where their sacred property was founded, the borders of KARDAMYLA. "The ancestral land" began at the foot of the mountain Pelinneo, from the area of Nagos and Yiosonas, and it reached Parpanta, where many sacred places were founded: Taighero, THEOKEPA (God's Gardens), Nagos, the altar in Aktes. The god worshipped here was Patroos (Pelinneo) Zeus, Zeus Patroio. Other deities were Actaios DIONYSUS, Xenios Apollo in the ancient temple of Actaia near Parpanta, where KYTHERIA Aphrodite was also worshipped. Delphinios Apollo at Delphini along with Delphinia Artemis, "Apollo in Koilois" at Koila, Caucaseus Apollo and Caucaseus Artemis at Caucasia (probably the area of Loutra) as well as sea god Poseidon at Vlichada were also worshipped. At the altar at Nagos, the worship of Apollo, Poseidon, Asklepios as well as Hygeia has been ascribed without any certainty. From this settlement, eight family lines were left: Frangias, Halkias, MAKRINOS, Vayianos, MELIS, Aspiotis, MOSCHOS and Lignos.
CHIOS ISLAND: aka XIOS, called Chora by locals, was inhabited 4000-3000 BC. According to tradition the first to live on the island was Minoas' grandchild, INOPIONAS, who taught people how to make wine. Homer recounts that in the 18th century BC, the valley of loanina and Dodoni was inhabited by a branch of the Thesprotian tribe, the Hellopes (Helloi, Selloi), a clan of priests and prophets dedicated to Zeus of Dodoni. "Hellene" may be related to "Helloi". It was here ancients established their first oracle, which spoke through the rustling of a primeval oak tree. Homer, ca 850 BC was teaching in Daskalopetra ("teacher's stone"), a big rock near the sea of Vrontadou. The southern part of the island is most fascinating. The monastery of Agios Minas has a bush that "weeps" a thick liquid, a white gum flowing from the bark and branches - the scented mastich of Chios, famous all over the world. Dionyssos aka Dionysus, born in Ikaria, near Drepano, d 367 BC. Molossian king Pyrrhus of Epirus, 318-272 BC, cousin of Alexander the Great. Epirus was invaded by Slavs 550 AD. Yanina aka Ioannina founded 527 AD by emporer Justinian.
IONIAN ISLANDS: A group of seven islands (Heptanesus), between Italy and the west coast of Greece: KERKIRA (Corfu), PAXI, LEFKADA, KEFALONIA (Cephalonia), ITHAKI (Ithaca), ZAKINTHOS (Zante.) (Kerkira Island and Kerkinda river, Ukraine. Zante or Xanthe "yellow.")
KNOSSOS (aka KO-NO-SO) is the site of the most important and better known palace of MINOAN civilization, dated 2000-1350 BC. Partially destroyed in 1450 BC, it was settled by Mycenaeans from the Greek mainland. According to tradition, it was the seat of the legendary king Minos, also Daidalos and Icaros. Villa of Dionysos was built ca 67 BC, after capture of city by Roman Quintus Caecilius Metelus Creticus. Mycenaean kings were called WANAX.
KOS - During the Mycenaean Era, Kos was a crowded and overdeveloped island which participated in the Trojan War. In the 7th and 6th century BC, Kos was a member of Six DORIAN Cities along with Alikarnassos, Knidos, Lindos, Ialissos and Kamiros. After the end of the Persian Wars, Kos became a member of the Athenian Alliance. In the 4th century BC, Kos became one of the most significant naval and commercial units, while it also thrived in the Hellenistic Era. In the 2nd century BC, the island was conquered by Romans, but it flourished once again in the Byzantine years.
MYCENAE: The chief city on the Greek mainland. It was settled by peoples from Asia Minor as early as 2500 B.C. Circa 1900 B.C. New Indo-European invaders seized the hilltop at Mycenae. These invaders were called Achaean Greeks.
Cretan cities were open and pleasant. Mycenae was strongly fortified. Around the fortified hilltop (acropolis) were cemeteries with vaults or shafts for the bodies of the dead. Princes later were buried in bee-hive shaped tombs.
There are at least nine layers of cities built one on top of the other on the site of Mycenae. The siege of Troy by the Mycenaeans (Greeks) was probably not to recapture the beautiful queen Helen, kidnapped by the Trojans, but to attack to pillage that city. The Greeks adopted athletic contest, artistic creations and devotion to music and dance from the Minoans. From northerners they borrowed language, wheel-made pottery and architecture. An example of an architectural feature they borrowed is known as a megaron. This is an oblong building having a hearth in the center of the floor, a porch supported by pillars, and a sloping roof (better than the flat roofs of the Minoans in cold, rainy winters). Mycenae suddenly crumbled circa 1200 B.C.. The reasons are unknown. At this time, newcomers from the north known as Dorion Greeks took control of the region. Some bands settled in Thessaly and Boeotia. Most went to the Peloponnesus. They forced the previous inhabitants to move to the east. The Aeolians and Achaeans (later Ionians) moved to Asia Minor. Later the Dorians moved across to Asia Minor and took the coastal land for themselves.
Homer was supposedly an Ionian Greek from Chios (island). Scholars are not sure whether he wrote down the vast extensive poems such as the Iliad and the Odyssey. What is certain is that these were passed by word of mouth by bards for a long time. In following Homer's stories, we gain an understanding of his time.
Greek comes to us from the term the Romans used. Greeks actually called themselves Hellenes and their land Hellas. Greece is on the southern projection of the Balkan peninsula, about the same size as Nova Scotia and New Brunswick combined. Greece is a region with poor land. The limestone absorbs rainfall and will not hold topsoil. Less than a third of the country can be cultivated. Grain, wine and oil were the main products. The rest of Greece was covered with scrub vegetation. The main meal for most early Greeks was porridge. The country was fit for little more than goat-and sheep-raising -- and that in summer. Herodotus said that "Hellas and Poverty have always been foster-sisters.
Poor vegetation, lack of natural resources, a harsh geography and the difficulty of overland communications combined to prevent the growth of large states. Moreover, Greece was almost cut in half by Corinthian and Saronic Gulfs. This meant that the districts near the Isthmus of Corinth were strategic, because here land and sea routes converged.
Though land divided the Greeks, the sea united them. Most settlements were on the coastline. During the sailing season, winds from the north and clear skies made navigation easy. A land trip from Athens to Corinth by land took two or three days over robber-infested roads. By sea the same trip took one day. In spite of this, the history of Greece is the history of Greek cities. They did not unite until Alexander the Great arrived.
Homer's Greeks were somewhat primitive in their societal structure. They plundered, measured wealth in flocks and herds and bartered. Their gods were jealous, played favorites and lived on Mt. Olympus. Immortality was vaguely believed in. The body was cremated and the soul survived in Hades, a land of shadows where the dead were like a swarm of bats fluttering and screeching in the hollows of a great cave. Achilles said, "I had rather be a slave of the meanest landless man on earth than be king in Hades."