CHAOS AND THE GREEKS

«Ήτοι μεν πρώτιστα Χάος γένεται...»

Hesiod’s “Theogonia”

CHAOS AND THE GREEKSCHAOTIC DYNAMICS INTERPRETATION

OF THE GREEK MIRACLE

ByPaul Nicholas Dimotakis,

Ph.D.Cantab.

Emer.Prof. of Nuclear ChemistryFormerly Professor of Radiochemistry

and Radiation Chemistryin the University of Patras

ATHENS 2006

To the coming generations ofHellens

Translation from the original Greek edition Το Χάος και η Φυλή των Ελλήνων 1996

Copyright: Paul N. Dimotakis, 2006Marathonodromou 73, Maroussi15124 Athens – Greecee-mail Dimotakis@hotmail.com

Assistants to the English translation:Nicholas P. DimotakisDiea Constand Angelopoulou

Editing: Maria Dimotaki

Edition: Georgiades

ISBN 960-316-273-6

C o n t e n t s

P r e f a c e IX 1. Myth and Chaos 1 2. The New Science of Chaos 9 3. Chaos in Space and Time 17

4. The Helladic Space and Time 275. Creation of the Greek Space 356. First Signs of Life in the Helladic Space 397. Prehistory of the Greeks in the Stone Age 438. Emergence of the Neolithic Hellene 559. The Metals in the Helladic Area 61

10. The“Minoan Eruption” of Thera 73 11. The Great Creation - Language 79 12. The Brain of the Greeks 87 13. First Hellenic Rally - The Trojan War 91 14. The Great Preparation - Colonization105 15. Greek Deities 111 16. Greek Mythology 117 17. Geometric Dawn of the Spirit 125 18. The Writing 129 19. The Philosophy of Nature 135 20. Pressure from the East 147 21. Democracy 155 22. The Persian Wars 163

E p i l o g u e 185

P r e f a c e

The great moments of human history havebeen illuminated by scientists throughvarious intellectual and/or scientificmeans. Civilization, being the extreme goalof all endeavours still ap-pears to persistin the question of its original cause.

There is no doubt that physical sciencesare gradually be-coming a master key insolving historical and social problems, andmore or less succeeding. Yet, one of themajor questions which insists, concerns thereason and the cause of creation of theunique Greek civilization, the so-calledGreek miracle.

In social problems, the intellectual andmethodological para-digms of natural sciencehave frequently been used. One of the newnovelties employed by scientists is the“theory of chaos”. Connected withuncertainties, nonlinearities andunpredictability it pretends to be a superscience. This field of non-linear dyna-micsaddresses all systems which are far fromequilibrium, being thus “alive”.

The evolution of a distinct civilization,like that of the Greeks - who obviously are

far from equilibrium - should be examined asa chaotic phenomenon. Therefore “physicalchaotic conditions” of the area in whichthis miracle flourished should be examinedas the first cause. Namely environmentalfacts and geological data connected withclimatic conditions of the area ought to beexamined.

Apparently any answer to the problem needsto start with the early Greek thought,including Mythology and the pre-Socraticrationality. Our planet is a part of theuniversal macrocosm ac-cording to thephysical philosophers, even though Socratesand the Sophists limited their attention tothe microcosm of Man.

IX

Besides, scientific and social effectsnowadays seem to be ruledby the same deontology revealing the uniqueinterconnection of Nature and Man.

Certainly, contemporary thinkers who haveextended Aristo-telian syllogistic to thenatural science of today, automaticallyinterpret all stimulants to the human beingsin forms of chemical and physical phenomena.External factors affect the course ofbecoming and decay of man in the eternalpersistence of the evolutionary aspect ofproductive chaos.

This book, originally written in Greek,firstly aimed at ex-plaining the

controversial qualities of the Hellenes andsecondly at revealing the reason for thecreation of the Greek civilization. Thefirst scope of the book should be astimulant for the modern Greeks tounderstand themselves. The second and mostim-portant is to approach, by the moderntheory of chaos, the spatio-temporalsingularity of the Greek area which throughmillennia transferred the samecharacteristics to its people.

The unexpected behaviour of theinhabitants of Greece brings to mind theunprecedented landscape, the non-periodicsuc-cession of mountains and valleys, themultifarious ravines and hills, themicroclimatic individuality of the smallregions and certainly the unforeseen weatherchanges. Moreover the coastline of allislands and mainland of Greece totals alength of up to eighty thousand kilometres -twice the circumference of the globe.

Therefore, the chaotic bas-relief and thedentelated boarder of land and sea,revealing a geometric chaos, have enforcedthe mind of the Hellenes to be continuouslyon guard at every moment in order to facethe unexpected. Obviously alertness is aprerequisite condition enabling one to enterinto creative mode.

The inspiration to the author of chaos’ideas as the first stimulant to explain the

Greek miracle, as well as the ups and downsin Hellenic history, arose initially fromradiochemical experiments he was performingat the University of Cambridge during theearly sixties. Crystalline materialirradiated by neu-

X trons acquired a disorder of the latticeleading to irregular chaotic formations. Thereconstruction of the damaged crystallinelattice, when heat was provided, followed anorderly harmonious recom-bination-dissociation mechanism. Obviously this formof order seemed to have come as a sequenceof a chaotic disorder in the crystallinelattice.

As it is known in Hesiod’s cosmogony andthe pre-Socratic philosophy, Chaos was theprogenitor of all. Therefore the in-spiringstimulant to the author was the idea thatChaos precedes order in both physical andsocial phenomena. This notion was finally amaster key in explaining the cause for thecreation of the Greek miracle.

The Hellenes, who were brought up underthese special conditions, acquired throughmillennia the characteristics of their area.Thus, the mind of the Greeks was deeplyinterconnected with the geometric chaos oftheir landscape. And above all, the Greek

language they elaborated, a melodic andharmonious oral means of humancommunication, acquired in its semantics thechaotic characteristics of the Greek land.

Conclusively, the chaotic (fractal)geometry of the Greek area situated in atemperate zone of the planet and theunprecedented weather changes, gave rise,through its people, to the emergence of theunique civilization in man’s history. Chaostherefore, according to Hesiod, appears tobe the creator of all kinds of order andapparently that of the Greek civilization.

Paul N. Dimotakis

Athens, May 2005

XI

CHAPTER ONE

Myth and Chaos

It is evident that mankind, being still inits infancy - since many events have yet tooccur before man comes to resemble God’simage - is in need of Myth, which nourisheschildren’s fantasy. However, even when onereaches his powerless old age, his “secondchildhood”, he needs support for the endingof his crea-tive imagination and thebeginning of the unknown, which ap-pearswith the idea of death. Man then yearns forconsolation and usually finds it inreligion; myth therefore stands ever-presentfrom the very beginning till the end ofman’s great cycle of life.

Contemporary “myths”, answering theeverlasting question of existence in thisworld, do not differ very much from the oldstanding. Chaos, being one of them, which isdominant nowadays under the mantle ofscience, was for antiquity the creationpoint of the Cosmos. The Greeks, Chinese,Hebrews, Hindus as well as various races inthe Pacific Ocean and Africa made up mythsin which the creation by emergenceoriginates from an underground world, anindefinable chaos, from which it initiallyleaps out in a latent order. Chaos, asopposed to apparently undifferentiatedmatter like water, the cosmogonic egg or themonster in many legends embodies the notionof a certain specific primordial form, whichessentially makes a stand against creation.

In the Helladic area, very early as aprelude to the oncoming order of our cosmosthat portrays the first deities, Uranus,Cronos and finally Zeus, the notion ofprimordial Chaos is considered to be theinitial cause of everything. That is theentity, which 12CHAPTER ONE

Hesiod mentioned in his great poem Theogony.As the subsequent philosophers wrote, “Hesiodsaid that Chaos was born first”, “Ησίοδος πρώτον Χάοςφησί γενέσθαι”, attributing to him thefathering of the notion and the name.Hesiod, one of the great ancient poets ofGreece, lived during the end of the 8th orthe beginning of the 7th century BC. In thesecond part of that poem, after an appeal tothe Muses, “About these you Muses sing for me”, “Ταύταμοι έσπεται Μούσαι”, as Homer starts in hisHeliad with “You Muse about the man narrate for me”,“Άνδρα μοι έννεπε Μούσα”, he describes Cosmogonyfrom Chaos by creation of Gaea and Uranus “Infact Chaos was created first of all…. And from Chaos,Erebus and black Night were born. From Night, Ether andDay came into being”, “Ήτοι μεν πρώτιστα Χάος γένεται….Εκ Χάεος δ’ Έρεβος τε μέλαινά τε Νυξ εγένοντο. Νυκτός δ’αυτ’ Αιθήρ και Ημέρη εξεγένοντο”. According toHesiod, Chaos is an abstract notion fromwhich first spurted Erebus and Night andthen Ether and Hemera. This is themysterious gaping space, yet containing the

seeds of the Cosmos, an obscurity of cloudsand darkness, from which light and day willshine.

The followers of Orphism in the 6th

century BC, as an evolu-tionary bond to theHesiodean Cosmogony, opposed the abovepopular version and initiated metaphysics,by eliminating the mythological mantle ofthe answer to the eternal question. Thusthey accepted as the deterministic advancingentity Cronos or Chronos, for Time. Indeedthe followers of Orphism, besides theHesiodean entities of Cosmogony, i.e. Chaos,Gaea, Uranos, Oceanos and Eros, alsoadmitted the other primary powers: Chronos,Ether, Water and the Cosmogonic Egg, thelatter, apart from Greek Mythology, beingthe creative entity in other mytho-logies aswell. Consequently, according to theOrphics, Chronos (time) existed before allthe others, being itself timeless andtherefore never growing old. Ether is bornfrom Chronos and isMYTH AND CHAOS3

surrounded by Chaos, an immense chasm,wrapped in deep dark-ness. Through Ether,Chronos created the Egg whose shell wasshaped by the Night. The centre of thisgigantic Egg, whose up-per section formedthe vault of the sky and the lower sectionthe earth, shone in the dark chaos. Fromwithin the Egg leapt Phanes -the Light

(Phaethon, Metis, Eros) a strange figure,both male and female, with four eyes andfour animal-like heads, golden wings and avoice like that of a lion and a ram. Howeverthe supreme deity in the Orphics wasDionysos, whose importance is parti-cularlyreferred to.

Later, in Plato’s Symposium, Eros is bornfrom Chaos as a separate figure that createshumanity. Holy daughters of Chaos and Nightare the Moerae, the Fates, forces initiallyevil doers, connected with the firstgeneration of primary powers. These are thedeterministic aspects of the modern theoryof chaos. They are the fate of humanity.

Departing from the mythical world ofTheogony, when scien-tific thought andphilosophy have commenced to prevail,Aristotle in his “Physica” considers chaosas an empty space above the Earth. Order,which according to Aristotle is created fromchaos, penetrates everything and becomesinherent always in more and more complex andcomposite hierarchies. Stoic philosophersattribute to chaos (χάος) the notion offluidity and variability, and define itetymologically from the verb “χέω”, pour. TheRomans later also conceived chaos as theforemost principle of everything.

The pre-Socratic philosophers, likeThales, Anaximandros and Anaxagorasattempted scientific extension of the mythof Chaos. They formulated the notion thatwater and air were in irregular flow and

solidified in the various forms of theCosmos. Yet they believed that order wouldagain be disorganized and the Cosmos shouldreturn to a disorderly cosmic flow, andonce again to4CHAPTER ONE

another Universe and so on. This is thefirst illustration of the succession oforder and disorder and the unstableequilibriumbetween Chaos and Cosmos, according to themodern Chaotic Dynamics. Heraclitosconsidered the synthesis of the two oppo-sites as a prerequisite for the creation ofthe world, which coin-cides with themarginal but indistinct coexistence of Chaosand Order. Yet Dionysos of Mythology, thegod of undisciplined frenzy is a figureinherent to the borderline between Cosmosand Chaos.

We therefore look upon the Greek thoughtthat shapes the unknown as a darkunspecified figure, namely Chaos,originating everything. It is thefundamental concept of disorder from whichorder, the Cosmos, will be born. Thisinitially evolves through myth andsubsequently with philosophy and scientificthought.

Chinese mythology provides a metaphoricalanswer to the people of that immenseterritory, questioning how order came out of

disorder and chaos. The legend tells abouttwo worlds, one real and the otherimaginary; the former being that of ordinarypeople and the latter of their reflection inthe mirror. According to this myth, therewas no distinction between them at thattime, and the people of the two worlds,ordinary and reflections, though dif-feringgreatly, were freely mixed coming and goingthrough the mirror and living in harmony. Atsome point in time, as the legend says, thereflections invaded the real world and chaosprevailed. However, order was restoredthanks to the Yellow Emperor’s interventionthat forced the reflections to return totheir world and forever imitate themovements of the real creatures. Certainlythe legend warns of a new invasion of chaosin the future, which is aligned withcontemporary scientific conceptionsregarding a perpetual succession of orderand chaos.

In another Chinese myth concerning thecreation of the world, Yin, a ray of light,jumps out of chaos and forms the sky,whileMYTH AND CHAOS5

Yang, the darkness, creates the earth. Thesetwo entities, maleand female, still maintaining the characterof chaos, are united in harmony and create

everything. Disagreement between Yin andYang may bring back disorder.

Babylonians conceived the notion of chaosas a polymor-phism of deities. In theirlegend Enuma Elis, the unshaped chaos wasperceived as a monstrous entity.Furthermore, one of theirgods symbolized the expanse of the initialformlessness and another presented the imageof the untouched and inperceptible, whichwas inherent in it. These unlike aspects offormlessness hid a kind of implied order, amutuality of chaos and order. Theirmythology states that as the various newfigures slipped from chaos creating theworld, the main Goddess of Chaos realizedthat she was losing her supremacy. Hence,she launched shapeless monsters to restoredisorder. However, one of her descendantsdefeated them and created a new cosmicorder. Again we observe the mutuality andthe unceasing struggle between order anddisorder.

In the Hindus Pantheon, the initiallyunshaped Chaos is por-trayed as a temporalman, named Pratjapati. Furthermore, thecreator god Shiva is depicted in anundefined borderline between chaos andorder. He fights there, in horrific placesand cross-roads, to conquer the wild beastsof sin and death.

In the Bible, the conception originatingfrom Hebrews and Christianity is that theUniverse was initially unshaped and void,

out of which God created the world and putit in order. However, disorder still existsin a latent state so the struggle is never-ending. In Psalms 73:13 it is quoted thatGod smashed the heads of dragons and that ofLeviathan, the biblical monster. But Noah’sFlood is yet another manifestation ofdisorder, and so is the existence of theDevil, which is a revolt among the powers ofAngels. God combats enduringly againstdisarray and offence and6CHAPTER ONE

as a creator stands on the verge of chaosand order, destruction and creation. Thegreat difference between the God Yahwehof the Jews and the Hesiodean conception ofCosmogony isthat God himself decides and gives thepersonal command “let there be light”, whereas the ancientGreek Cosmogony initi-ates automatically,because Chaos already has within itself theseeds of creation.

In Polynesian myths of the world’screation an eggshell exists, in which thecreator is contained, and it rotates in animpene-trable darkness. Once the shellbreaks, and the creator comes out, the upperpart of the egg forms the sky and the lowerpart the earth.

Thus, according to the Hesiodean Theogony,Mythos takes shape in universal dimensions

and ascribes the origin and the cause of theCosmos to an ambiguous entity of disorder,named Chaos. Philosophy and early sciencelend to it the physical sub-stance offluidity and underline the existence of theseeds of creation within it; hence theinitiation for the concept of co-existingrandomness and determinism, standingnowadays for the modern science of chaos.

Nevertheless, man’s desire to specify thebeginning of time in the creation of theCosmos, which has been attempted nowadays bythe Big Bang theory locating it at thirteenbillion years ago, was otherwise presentedin the 18th century by the Archbishop ofIreland, James Ussher. This scholarly man ofthe Church, after trusty for that eracalculations, formulated in his book“Physica Scara” (1731-1733) the allegationthat “on the evening of October 22nd, 4004 BCGod, being at rest, decided to create theworld”. Evidently at that time there was afundamental need to give a determinativeanswer to that question. Regardless, theeverlasting question arises whether it wasan initial command or a spon-taneousgenesis. Namely, was there someone whodecided on hisMYTH AND CHAOS7

own to form the world, or was the initiationof the creation of the universe assigned tochance?

Hesiod, it must be noted again here,personalizes and denomi-nates Chaos as theprimal entity. It is the cosmic element fromwhich first comes Gaea. Next is Eros, theuppermost manifesta-tion-exortation, urgingthe creative relations among gods and men.This may be the first inkling of thesubsequent Agape (αγάπη, love), to which theGreeks gave a cosmogonic primacy; love toNature and its phenomena, personalized byvarious myths of gods, demigods and heroesand finally love to man. They first ought tolearn more about themselves and then turn tothe neighbour and the stranger to whom theywill offer hospitality, the highest humanrelation, under the patronage of Jupiter(Xenios Zeus). Therefore Chaos is placed atthe top of a triadic scheme with Gaea andEros, creating, according to the Hesiodeanconcept, Cosmos and Order.

CHAPTER TWO

The New Science of Chaos

No one would be able to approach andcommunicate with the common reader withouthaving previously defined the issue. In thecase of chaos, a reader, under a hail ofinformation and new notions at the beginningof the 21st century, should have to be givenrelated depictions. Fortunately (or not), inthe instance of chaos, people every day hearabout the existing situation thatcharacterizes a full disorder. One oftenparticipates or contributes to it withouteven realizing it. Especially in Greece, wefre-quently stand in uncontrolled situationsof chaos, to which we are led due to ourundisciplined temperament, excessiveindividual-ism and lack of appropriatesystem. Once more this is due to thecurrently accelerating rhythm of time andits connection with universal events.

It is not difficult to enumerateexpressions concerning chaotic conditions ofeveryday life, which affect us directly orindirectly, such as: “Following yesterday’sflood, chaos has predominated in the eastern

suburbs of the capital”. “Chaos in theState, suc-ceeding the resignation of thethree ministers”. “Chaos in the streetsafter yesterday’s bus strike”. “Chaos intraffic at the city centre due tofestivities”. “The chaotic situation seemsto recede after the mobilisation of thestrikers” and so on. International eventslike bankruptcies are also related as“Turmoil did not turn into chaos thanks tothe cool-headed investors”.

It is interesting to perceive how acitizen faces these situ-ations and what arethe emotions caused to him. The first thing

910CHAPTER TWO

one feels after the confirmation of thecreation of “chaos” is apassive weakness to change disorder and torestore an organized order by oneself or byother people. Fatalism dominates as thoughthis disorganization has been imposed fromabove and against all those that a modernsociety has decreed for the harmonious co-existence of persons. Under thesecircumstances the cool-headed individualswait passively for the usual order to berestored, being certain that this willhappen sooner or later.

Therefore today we ascertain that chaos isinherent in groups of people, in cities andstates, and generally in the entire planet.

Nevertheless, is this a social phenomenonamong a great number of people or could italso occur to a single person or generallyto an organized unit? As modern sciencemaintains, a chaotic situ-ation is innate inevery complex unity such as in a human beingor in an ensemble of people. Particularlyman, who has recently been studied under thelight of non-linear dynamics, is chaotic inhis brain, in the bronchipneumonic tree, inthe circulatory sys-tem, the heart etcetera.

What auspiciously has to be pointed out isthat a chaotic con-dition can be reorganizedlater into a new order. Hence, we stand in aworld where the borderline between order anddisorder is indistinct and each of thesesituations turns easily into the other. Yet,is this a casual phenomenon or is itgoverned by certain rules? And if theseexist, how could a system be disorganized byleast causes, or how might it beinexplicably self-organized again withoutoutside intervention?

All these changes, which in the pastseemed to occur casually or as a result ofexternal intervention, today we ascertainthat they obey laws, mathematical equations,rules which govern the transition from onestate to the other. Certainly, this conflictbetween chaos and creation turns out finallyto the advantage of the latter, and this hasbeen proved by human history throughout

THE NEW SCIENCE OF CHAOS11

the centuries. Eventually the achievementsof man in the indi-vidual and common domainsaffirm his evolutionary progress.Fortunately chaos and order finally turn thescales towards crea-tivity and progress ofhumanity as far as we know up to thepresent.

A common understanding of chaos, asdescribed above, is sufficiently helpful tointroduce man to the modern concept ofscientific chaos or precisely to chaoticdynamics. From now on-wards many phenomena innature, in man and his societies, in theuniverse, in disease, in the evolution ofthe species, in the eco-nomic systems, inwar etc. will be interpreted according tothis new super-science.

First of all however, we need to defineChaos, this monster of disorder, accordingto modern science: Therefore: Chaos is adynamic state connected with disorder and increasedentropy, and its course is characterized by nonpredictability and a sensitive dependence on initialconditions. These are a series of words andcodified phrases that should be explained.In com-parison with the ancient descriptionsof chaos, the closest of which resemblesfluidity, we are certainly one step ahead.But firstly, what are dynamic systems? Theyare those which are characterized bycontinuous change; that is to say, they are

not static. Specifically, the chaoticdynamic systems are non-linear, which meansthey increase by multiplication. They haveinhe-rently a high degree of disorder i.e.increased entropy. The latter is theproperty which nature acquires whenphenomena of energy changes occur. This isthe taxation necessarily paid to nature as apercentage of energy, allowing us to createanything. Therefore as long as the Universeis alive and proceeds to order by create-vity, the total entropy being increased,leads to chaos. In thepast it was said that the Universe, due toaccumulation of disorder, would be led to a “thermaldeath”. Today this does12CHAPTER TWO

not stand because, as chaotic dynamicsproves, a part of the disorder can be self-organized to restore the creative order. Itis the proof of continuous changes accordingto Heraclitos saying: “Τα πάντα ρει”, “Everything flows”.

We can refer historically as to how wemanaged to achieve today’s scientific notionof chaos. Indeed, after the establishment ofthe scientific order by Newton’s celestialmechanics (where the motion of planets couldbe predicted), Laplace, the French phy-sicist considered that man should be able toforesee everything

by solving a single mathematical equation.Thus, the previously existing disorder oughtto recess. Man therefore, having in hishands a master key and reducing the wholeworld to the slightest detail, would be ableto cut this great monster of Chaos intopieces and subordinate it. Yet as it hasbeen said, a proportion of energy, as taxpaid by man to nature, was alwaystransformed into a useless form of entropy,the passive chaos.

From a mathematical point of view, in the19th century, Aus-trian physicist Boltzmannattempted to impose Newton’s order even onmicrocosm and to interpret, by introducingthe proba-bility, the interference of chaosin his perfect world. Darwin also used thesame reasoning of randomness in his theoryof species evolution, which leads tocomplexity of nature.

All phenomena in Newtonian Physics couldbe simply por-trayed by the so-called linearequations, in which the relation betweencause and effect is predetermined andsimple. From small changes small results arederived, while great variations producegrand ones. This analogue behaviour iscalled linearity. Yet, since then phenomena ofsudden changes were discovered without acharacter of proportion. In these phenomena,great results suddenly appear, caused bysmall changes due to non-linear effects. Thesolution of their non-linear equations de-

manded complex mathematical operationswhich were extremely THE NEW SCIENCE OF CHAOS13

difficult to be solved. But this wasrecently achieved with the application ofall-powerful computers, surmountinglaborious hu-man efforts. Thus, it wasrevealed that the solution of non-linearequations exhibits unexpected and surprisingchanges, disconti-nuity, repetitions and generallydisturbances in the expected results.

Today we know that although thesemathematical equations describe the entireevolution of a dynamic system, they do nothowever allow us to foresee when and wherethis sudden change might occur. We refer forinstance to an earthquake whose pro-cedureis known but we cannot predetermine theplace nor the time it will occur. This isthe ample failure of the old dream ofmastering the secrets of the universe andthus predicting its evo-lution.

Finally a characteristic differencebetween chaos and order, non-linearity andlinearity, is the existence of the feedbackeffect in chaos. Namely there are terms in thenon-linear equations, which can be self-multiplied many times, resulting in maximi-zation. Feedback appears typically in amicrophonic installation when the sound,coming out from the loudspeaker, turns back

to the amplifier through the microphonerepeatedly. That results in the well-knownill-sounding noise, which panics technicianswho hurry to cut off the continuous loop.This occurs because the result of theamplification re-inserts itself continuouslyinto the system via the microphone. Thephenomenon of feedback proves that withsmall causes we can have enormous results.Besides, this is the main characteristic ofthe chaotic systems. It appearsdescriptively as the “butterfly effect”. Abutterfly that supposedly moves its wings inPeking, can gradually disturb the wholemeteorological system as far away as NewYork and cause, by the non-linear effect, anunpredictable storm there.

There are two types of feedback: Thepositive, which pro-14CHAPTER TWO

motes the results to maximization, and thenegative, which forces the system to balancein a predefined condition. Today it isrecognized that both these basic forms offeedback are present in all cases of livingspecies, in ecology, in social systems.Feedback seems to be the old secret for thealteration from order tochaos and vice versa.

Going back to the historical evolution ofthe disorder theory we turn to the greatFrench mathematician Poincaré, who at the

end of the 19th century first introduced thedomination of chaos in the Newtonianparadigm. According to Newton, as mentionedpreviously, all systems ought to be inperfect order, so that man could foreseeeverything. However Poincaré disturbed thiscer-tainty by introducing the element ofambiguity in very predict-able states, likethe planets’ movements around the sun.

Thus, in Newton’s simple mechanics, wheretwo celestial bodies e.g. sun and earthinteract via gravity, if a third body, themoon for instance, is added then acomplexity may lead to an unforeseenprocess. Poincaré’s calculations showed thata very minute attraction, due to gravity ofthe “third body”, would force the planet toan unexpected course; it could even beejected far from the solar system.

Poincaré by his revolutionary view laidthe foundation stone of the modern scienceof chaos. Yet his theory was forgotten formany years, from the beginning till the endof the 20th century. The reason was thatPlanck’s quantum theory and Einstein’stheory of relativity monopolized theimmediate interest of the scientific world.That was until a meteorologist, Lorenz in1960, using a imperfect computer and feedingit with meteorological data, noticed thatthe resulting forecast from thesecalculations was so unpredictably changeablethat no state was repeated. Si-mulating

the weather by means of this primitivecomputer andafter repeating thousands ofcalculations, he observed that veryTHE NEW SCIENCE OF CHAOS15

small differences in the start up ofcalculations led to irrelevant results. Thushe had discovered the basic principle of theevo-lution of chaos that is the highlysensitive dependence on the initialconditions, which has been referred to asthe “butterfly effect”.

CHAPTER THREE

Chaos in Space and Time

Living in the Universe of the four knowndimensions, which Einstein has defined asspace-time (three dimensions of space plusone of time), we have acquired theperception of two con-cepts. Firstly that ofSpace, which gives us the image of a broa-der area in which all things we perceive arelocated, at present, in the past and in theforeseeable future. The sensation of spacehas been acquired by man through hismovement from one place to another. Amountain, a coast, a building are fixedimages giving him the certainty that heexists in an all-containing space. Secondly, the notion of Time isascertained by the change of all things inthe sequence of yesterday - today -tomorrow. The weather changes with clouds,rain and sunshine, the rivers flow-ing

violently and then running dry, the seachanging appearance by eternal variations,the sun rising and then following its courseduring the day, the seasons of the year, allthese show trans-formations in Space andconsolidate our belief that we also live inanother dimension, which we call Time.

The two concepts, space and time, areassociated in the theory of generalrelativity and constitute the four-dimensional space-time in which there is alimitation where everything that moveswithin that space cannot overtake the speedof light. Einstein’s theories have markednew departures and determined the course ofscience in the beginning of the 20th century.By the end of it, we knew that, besides thefour dimensions of space-time, many othersexisted in between or farther from them.Furthermore Time 1718CHAPTER THREE

is not an absolute means by which wedescribe only scheduled and predefined changes - the sun rises inthe morning and sets in the evening - butits rate shows unexpected changes. There isa subjective time, which at certain times itaccelerates and at others it slows down, atime during which nothing happens twice.This non-periodicity is chaos in time.

Space, the area in which man moves, hasacquired its scien-tific form through

Euclidean Geometry. The Greeks have been thegeometers of the planet and this disciplineof Mathematics was founded by Euclid. Hiswork entitled “Τα Στοιχεία” (The Elements)served not only for the measuring of land asthe Egyp-tians did, but also as a means to put an endto the uncertainty of human thought. Thatwas the climax of the Greek Miracle. Theimportance of geometry in philosophy wasshown at the front-ispiece of Plato’sAcademy where it was written “Αγεωμέτρητοςμηδείς εισίτω”, “No one ignorant of Geometry shouldenter”.

It is strange that, while Nature andespecially the Greek land-scape, has mostlyintermediate dimensions of those threeEucli-dean ones, the Greeks possessinggeometry created the science of discretenotions of length, width, and height. Afirst explanation that should be given isthat the existence of geometric chaos in theGreek area demanded from its human beingsthe exaltation of thought to conceive orderin space.

Apart from the three dimensions, themathematical point has been described asdimensionless. A dot has neither entity norvo-lume. Thus, a straight line consists ofinfinite number of points and has only onedimension but no width. A plane surface con-sists of infinite straight lines and has novolume, while a solid body consists ofinfinite planes.

As we shall see, nature in her vastdiversity of material bo-dies, whether aliveor not, reveals them in an enormous scale ofintermediate dimensions according totheir physical or chemical CHAOS IN SPACE AND TIME19

state, as well as their biological function.Contemporary authors of chaos theory mightconsider that the ancient Greek stereotypefigure of the three dimensions falls shortof Mandelbrot’s inter-mediate ones. That would notbe rational because, in the whole notion ofspace dimensions, the reverse course ofhuman thought is the admirable. The Greeks,having ascertained that they were living ina world of a great complexity or chaoticgeometry, searched for the marginalperfection of the objects in the mate-rialistic world. They pursued order and theyfound it in the three Euclidean dimensions,length, width and height.

Yet what are these intermediate orfractional dimensions, the fractals accordingto Mandelbrot? We can depict them with thefollowing example of a thread that can takevarious forms: A stretched thread can easilydepict the one dimension, a straight line. Ifthe thread is left on a table, it attemptstwirling to cover the surface of the twodimensions; however it hardly succeeds. Whenthe thread is woven in texture, then fromthe one dimen-sion, it reaches the second.

So, intermediate dimensions between thethread and the texture can be seen forinstance in a piece of lace, which gives theimage of two dimensions but the vacanciesdetermine a dimensionality between 1 and 2,e.g. 1.26: The den-ser the knitting, thehigher the dimension, e.g. 1.35, 1.58 etc.When the dimension reaches 2 then the threadhas become a fabric. If the thread is rolledinto a tight ball then we reach the thirddimension, viz. 3, but if the ball wereloose, the dimension would be between 2 and3, e.g. 2.38. Dimensionality between 0 and 1can be visualized if a line is traced on arough surface so that the line consists ofnon-consecutive points. Then the dimen-sionality of this line may be, for instance,0.86 and not 1.

Therefore we observe that as we are drawnaway from the sequence of the idealperfection of the Euclidean dimensions 1, 2,3, we enter the physical realm, and amore unexpected chaotic 20CHAPTER THREE

state dominates; a disorder in space thoughstatic. It does not change in time, as faras we can comprehend. It is chaos relati-vely petrified. Therefore mountains, coasts,rocks, stones, soil,trees, plants all have intermediatedimensions. The inside of the human body andits outside form, a plant with stems,

spears, the internal supplying juicesystems, leaves, hair, gills, a sponge andmillions of examples show that Nature makesits creations with geometric characteristicsof intermediate dimensions.

Why is it that all creatures, whetheralive or not, barely have the form of a cubeor a plane? In replying we ought to escalatethe problem, commencing from the veryminute, the invisible, within the domain ofatoms and molecules. Then, proceeding to therange of cells we reach the tissues, theorgans, the limbs, and eventually the partsof a living organism.

Firstly and above all is the atomic andmolecular level. Atoms have the well-knownnuclear structure. Around their nucleus,electrons rotate in a chaotic state ofprearranged energy levels. Specifically,Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle indicates thatit is impossible to know at any given momentboth speed and position of the electron inthe atom. So in reality, the ultimatepicture of an atom is like a hollow sphereof negative charge, because a positivenucleus at the centre, being 10,000 timessmaller, carries almost the whole mass ofthe atom. This sphere is the firstconclusion and order of a primary chaoticsystem. The molecules then follow wherethere is a combination of connected atoms atfirm distances among them. A perfectdeterminism exists with their foreordainedstructure. This is the beginning of a

complex order in the Universe by grantinginformation to the atoms: how to beconnected with a specific number of variouschemical atoms at certain distances andangles.

As for the visible and objective worldwith billions and bil-lions of atoms andmolecules, we distinguish the followingima-CHAOS IN SPACE AND TIME21

ges: A gas or a liquid that macroscopicallyhas a static existence is in reality amicroscopically and perpetually changingsystem. Atoms and molecules are continuouslymoving, they collide, approach each otherand draw away. An unexpected chaoticsituation dominates and only by statisticalcalculations can the system be predeterminedas a whole. When by cooling the liquids andthe gases we come to a solid state, orderdominates by trans-ferring disorder in theform of entropy to the environment. This isdisplayed as a Euclidean array of atoms andmolecules in the crystals. In this state apreassigned order for every body, sets atomsand molecules in straight lines and theircombinations de-fine planes and thenvolumes. Macroscopically they result in theknown Euclidean solids (cubes, octahedral,dodecahedral etc.). They exist becauseNature in its chaotic creative process dis-tinguishes them as crystalline chemical

substances of absolute beauty. These aresalt crystals, quartz, diamonds and otherpre-cious or semiprecious stones and simplecrystalline chemical compounds. By allmeans, man today imitates nature by pre-paring these perfect solids in thelaboratory.

All these constitute mainly the abioticand inorganic cosmos. Yet from the outset,Nature has given elaborate orders for a re-markable experiment: Somehow, starting fromsimple matter, it has been able to createthe phenomenon of life with reiteration andevolution including one more element, thespirit-soul. The first simple chemicalcompounds (amino acids, sugars) irre-gularlymoving in water displayed little by littlephenomena of order and createdmacromolecules, proteins, cellulose, DNA,which operate from then on as assignees ofthis great attempt.

The cellular world of order and lifedemands structure with continuous exchangeof matter and energy, because every changethat is far from equilibrium (death or non-life) needs supply, elaboration and finallyrejection from the cell of the useless che-22CHAPTER THREE

mical substances. However, one cell is onlythe first elementary paradigm in this newphenomenon. Next the multicellular textureof organisms comes with unimaginable complex

functionality. Of course, at the firstimperfect stages of multicellular textureand especially where viruses’ cells areformed without a nucleus,a Euclidean crystallization dominates. Thuswe can distinguish under the microscopebeautiful and characteristic crystals ofthese viruses. Yet we are still at the levelof the microcosm. Complexity and chaoticbehaviour, which will lead to a higher formof order, as in human beings, animals, treesetc., demand a nucleus in the cell, whichcontains the transferable geneticinformation in high concentration; and thesespecify the heredity and evolution of thespecies.

Once the multicellular composition createsthe first organs of a living species, Naturecommences to specify on sufferance theinternal arrangement and the external form.Examining the hu-man body we will ascertainthat the geometry applied by Nature is thatof the intermediate dimensions. Looking forinstance at the broncho-pneumonic tree wenotice that the function of breathing(exchange of carbon dioxide with oxygen atshort time intervals) demands a veryextended surface of semi-penetrablemembrane. This consists of millions of verysmall vesicles that, if unfolded, wouldoccupy the area of a tennis court, while itstotal volume is only about 200 ml. So thelungs, resembling a sponge, cannot possiblyhave either the dimensions of a solid that

is 3, or that of a plane, 2. Theirdimensionality is in between 2 and 3.

The human brain with its many foldingscompared with those of other animals, has ahigher dimensionality 2.73 - 2.79. More-overthe circulatory system with arteries andveins cannot have dimensionality 3 butsmaller. It is a complicated means of trans-porting and carrying off the blood thatreaches down to the least of the cellsfilling the whole body. The branching ofthe arteries CHAOS IN SPACE AND TIME23

does not coincide with those of the veins asthey twist inter-weaving each other.

Examining a tree we observe that from itstrunk the branches spring and ramifycontinually down to the smallest ones. Inthis case the wisdom of Nature imposes suchan architecture that it reciprocates withthe functionality of the tree and itsendurance toexternal conditions. A fir tree especiallyshows the so-called self-similarity, thatis, the ramification of the whole treeresembles the large branches and thosesmaller ones etc. As the scientists pointout, only one order of ramification exists,which iterates in greater scales. This isnature’s economy. Certainly, as in thebroncho-pneumonic tree, self-similarityoperates for a certain number of orders and

then varies, so that it responds to itsfunctionality with the greatest economy. Thesmall difference in self-similarity ofvarious orders is sometimes due to the factthat the conditions along the evolution ofevery stage were not the same as theprevious ones. At that point the chaoticbehaviour of the fourth dimension, the time,commences.

Therefore space-time is the unbreakableunity in which ma-terial bodies andcreatures having a chaotic substance existand move. Examining especially the notion oftime, looking at the well-known “clock” ofthe human body, the heartbeat, we find thatthe pace varies around the absoluteperiodicity, displaying a chaotic behaviourwithout resemblance of any beat to the pre-vious one. Certainly this difference mustlie between narrow limits. If the rhythm ofthe paces is absolutely normal, this leadsto a congestion of cardiac insufficiency andif it is non-periodic it leads to abdominalshimmer with unfortunate results. So, ahealthy person has a heart pace which is onthe verge of the normal and chaoticoscillation. This has a particular effect.Should the pace be absolutely firm, it wouldnot change and adapt to sudden alterationof conditions, e.g. strong emotion,shock, 24CHAPTER THREE

running etc. While being in almost periodicoscillation, through feedback effect, mancan acquire the proper pace immediately. Asit has been said, this is the negativefeedback, which forces a system, after adisturbance, to return to its previousstate.

Many social and economic phenomena displaya chaotic be-haviour. Prices in the stockexchange do not reiterate in a regularmanner and being chaotic (very sensitive toinitial conditions), aslight but very important change like a dropin one stock price may disturb the unsteadyequilibrium. Then by non-linear mul-tiplication of the initial cause the wholesystem may result in a much unexpectedcondition and then great economic interestssuddenly crumble. Surely soon after, orderis restored.

In social systems, the effect by whichlittle information is enlarged in a veryshort time causing chaotic disorder is veryoften noticed. In effect, this is exactlythe role of the provocative agents (προκλησίαι,according to the ancient Greeks). The inputof a small cause in a chaotic system like asocial group, under certain provisions, willvery soon be magnified achieving a non-anticipated result. The Greeks specifically,being a peculiar cha-otic set, expressexceptional sensitivity to provocations.

The meteorological system, as it has beensaid, is one of the very characteristic

examples of chaotic behaviour. The weatherforecast often fails in its predictions. Itis an important coinci-dence that thediscovery of the chaotic behaviour of themeteoro-logical system by Lorenz and thecreation of the non-linear dynamics whichfollowed, introduced us to a harsh realityin all domains. Nothing can be foreseen forlong periods, especially the weatherforecast in which governments have investedlarge amounts of money, hoping that theywould control their econo-mies with longstanding weather predictions.

Another chaotic effect we often observe innature is during the continuous flow of aliquid, e.g. the water in a river. Whenthe CHAOS IN SPACE AND TIME25

stream is low and an obstacle like a rockobstructs, water gets past withoutdisturbing its surface. But after adownpour, the river flows faster andvortexes near the rock are observed.Following a storm when the river becomes arapid stream, the vortexes are transformedto turbulence, where a chaotic flow of wateroccurs. The same can be observed in tapwater when it runs at a low rate and laterat a higher rate. The irregular high flow,which appears after the initial smooththread-like form, is also an imageof the creation of chaos.

One would be able to recount many examplesfrom nature and technology showing how chaosappears in time. However, the most importanttemporal appearances are the transition ofthese effects from order to chaos and backagain to order and so forth. This sensitiveequilibrium between the two conditions showsthat one part contains elements of the otherlike a spark for their alternate inter-conversion in time.

CHAPTER FOUR

The Helladic Space and Time

Many authors and historians haveassociated the particularity of peoples withthe region they have been living in throughhistory. Without being specialists, we canalso observe that the characteristics ofvarious races are connected with their land,the sea they adjoin, the climaticconditions, the terrain, the mari-timecharacter and the interaction with othercountries and their people. Man was createdand has evolved according to the con-ditionswhich dominated our planet Earth, but hisstay for many centuries under the specialconditions in each land, has put the seal onhis subsequent development and hisdiversified historical presence.

We do not intend to examine this generaleffect. Our purpose is to find anexplanation of the so-called “Greekphenomenon” in connection with the Helladicspace and time. Namely, what exact-lyhappened when the Greek man started tobecome a human being with so manycomplicated characteristics in hisbehaviour, language and the civilization hedeveloped? Our effort is to focus on theabove and hopefully assist the Greeks tounderstand them-selves. Evidently thespecialists in physical and human sciencesshould examine this specific andunprecedented Helladic space-time inconnection with the people who have livedthere.

Therefore, the first thing we canscrutinize in the light of the science ofchaos, especially of creative chaos, is thegeographic map of Greece. We start from theAegean Sea and its islands, as a centre ofthe surrounding coasts of continentalGreece and Asia 2728CHAPTER FOUR

Minor. We extend to the coastline of theIonian Sea and itsislands and then to the south towards theisland of Crete and in the east to Cyprus.The Aegean Sea can particularly be con-sidered as the centre of the Helladic area.This sea has been characterized sinceantiquity as the birthplace of the Greeks.“Just as a pond is the home place of frogs,who occasionally go out to the land buttheir home is the water”.

The dentelated character of the coasts ofcontinental Greeceand islands shows an exceptionallyinteresting image of a chaotic geometry. Theirregular course of the coasts increases thetotal length of the coastline many times.According to the University of Thessaloniki,the total coastline of both continentalGreece and the islands exceeds 80,000kilometres. If someone walks along all Greekcoasts, it would be like circling the globetwice, taking into account that thecircumference of Earth is 40,000 kilometres.

At this point certain notions of thecontemporary geometry of chaos should beaddressed, namely that of the intermediatedi-mensions. Generally the length of coastsor the borders between two states have oftenbeen found to differ considerably accordingto various measurements. This is obvious,since they are not usually straight lineslike in some African or American States;their total length depends on the details ofthe course along the coasts or theborderlines, if various length units havebeen used.

In fact, if one uses different units onthe terrain e.g. kilo-metres, 100 metersetc. or on the map one centimetre, onemilli-metre etc., as the unit enlarges, thedetails are omitted. So it has been noticedthat by shortening the measuring unit, thetotal measured length increases.Theoretically as the unit length ap-proacheszero the total length increases almost toinfinity. But all these points are paradoxin theory, because in that case allcoastlines or border-lines should be thesame, of infinite length. The length ofunit and how many times it has beenapplied to THE HELLADIC SPACE AND TIME29

measure the total length, define thecharacteristic intermediate dimension of acoast. Thus, Mandelbrot who first introduced

thenotion of intermediate dimensions the fractals,calculated the “dimensionality” of the westcoasts of Britain and found it to be 1.26.

The coasts of the mainland of Greece andthe islands, being more complicated, shouldhave higher dimensionality than that ofBritain. The diversity of the coasts is sogreat, yielding an im-mense coastline thatinspires people with the notion of infinity.The existence of self-similarity of thecoasts in all scales must also be pointedout. If we start examining a map of a largescale and then of a smaller one till we endup with a topographic map, we ascertain thisself-similarity. In nature as well, when wewalk along a coast we notice that the largegulfs become bays, then smaller coves and soforth. In Greece, the coasts are not likethe continuous vast ones in otherterritories of the earth. The coasts ofNorway and Chile, although with fractalmorphology, differ due to a very roughclimate.

The multifarious coasts of the Greekmainland and those of the hundreds ofislands and islets affirm that the Greekarea seems to have emerged from the sea. Byexamining the geological information of thisarea, we learn that this land had sunk andemerged twice or thrice from the sea. Indeedthe mountains of Greece have been submergeda few times, and that is why shells,embedded in their rocks, can be found. From

the “tectonic plates’ theory” we realizewhat was the evolutionary fate in this partof the planet. Namely the African and theEuro-Asiatic plates meet each other underthis region. Their movement, one against theother, and their mutual covering createearthquakes, a usual phenomenon in thisbroad area of the Mediterranean. An argu-ment supporting the geological uncertaintyis also the great vol-canic eruption, whichoccurred on Thera Island in the Aegean Sea 30CHAPTER FOUR

and almost foundered the whole island. Thereare some arguments relating this historicalevent to the fate of the mythologicalAtlantis; that land of a high civilizationas Plato mentions, according to Egyptians’records. This enormous geological up-heavalin the Aegean Sea compels us to imagine thatsince the very old days, mythological titanEncelados and god Hephaestos begotmisfortunes against this odd and privilegedregion of Greece. On the other hand however,it is likely that this area of the earthwith these great geological disturbancesmight deterministically be predestined tocreate a great intellectual phenomenonthrough the human factor.

Let us now examine the bas-relief of theGreek land. One can see a continuous andunforeseen sequence of mountainous eleva-tions with intercessions of small valleys

and gorges, with the exception of those ofthe relatively sizeable Thessaly plains andthe Valley of Axios River. The mountains,each one with its own morphogenesis andpersonality, are spread throughout the wholeHelladic area, exclusive of one mountainrange, Pindos. Some rise very high with asingle summit, others constitute compoundsof smaller volumes and some are adjacent toothers as if belong-ing to the same family.Specifically the hills in small fieldsremind us of islands coming into view out ofan earthen sea. This physical relief eitherstony or studded with forests, when it isseen from the air in its natural sizereveals the subdivisions of the mountains togradually smaller parts. It is a kind ofenlarged chaotic self-similarity. Littleplateaux are interceded, hilly plains,precipitous regions which divide the smallermountainous vo-lumes with deep naturalincisions. All this continuous and un-settled variation of the surface of Greeceshould be topologically considered aschaotic. Furthermore, if the whole surfacecould be unfolded onto one plane, it wouldoccupy a vast area immenselylarger than the geographic Greek mainland.THE HELLADIC SPACE AND TIME31

Therefore, the coasts and the relief ofthe land of Greece manifest thecharacteristics of intermediate dimensions.

It is not a flat area like Belgium that canbe travelled all along by tram. Nor is itlike the immense plains of the Ukraine wherethere are novisible mountains in the horizon. Therefore,the dimensionality of the Greek land must bemuch greater than 2.

Consequently the surface of Greece isunexpectedly chaotic. When one travelsacross the country, not taking the nationalmotorway system but the provincial one,passing through unex-pected landscapevariations, one feels the immensity of thisarea. Yet these variations sometimes creategreat microclimatic differ-rences even inneighbouring places. Particularly at remotedis-tances such as between Macedonia andCrete the differences are even greater. AtNevrokopi in Macedonia, for instance, thetemperature in winter goes down to 30degrees centigrade below zero whilesimultaneously at the coasts of southernCrete there is a perennial spring. InLarissa of Thessaly, at the centre of Gree-ce, the temperature sometimes reaches 45degrees centigrade in summer and in winterit might go down to 10 centigrade belowzero. Therefore one wonders if all theseplaces actually belong to the same smallcountry. Mentioning also the insular climatein the north and south Aegean Sea withdifferent vegetation and the variety betweenthe Ionian Islands and the Dodecanese, weobserve their very different local

particularity. Especially the Aegean Sea,which receives through Bosporos the verycold and strong winds from Siberia, hasformed a microclimate over its islands verydifferent from that of the Ionian Sea.

Indeed the bas-relief of Greece is veryintense especially with high mountains likeOlympos and the White Mountains of Crete(Lefka Ori) at a very close proximity to thesea. It is to wonder how the snow coexistswith the mild climate of their coasts. Onecan ski on the mountains and swim in the seathe same day. 32CHAPTER FOUR

Therefore the great microclimaticdifferences - not to mention yet theirinfluence on the Greek character - resultprimarily in the great diversity ofvegetation and cultivation. It is what wewould call bio-relief without necessarilydenoting the meaning of a separate geometricdimension but a display accompanying thelife on the land relief. The greenchlorophyll colour of the autotrophvegetable organisms destined to the photo-synthetic mission varies greatly. In theGreek landscape one will not encounter theunvarying green foliage of the monotonousimmense forests in other countries. Entirescales of this colour show with their fancypresence the specific multifariousindividuality of the autotroph organisms in

the Greek land. They vary from the grey-green of the olive trees to the green-yellowof the pine trees and the dark-green of thefir.

The cultivation, the natural flora and thebushiness, the wild flowers on the mountainsand ravines enjoy immense variation.Moreover the seasonal succession of green ofthe deciduous trees with the colours ofxanthophyle and carotene, more observed inthe northern regions, portray an intensesignificance of the current chromatic viewof the Greek country. Certainly this vastcolour scale seen from the air alternateswith the rocks and the stony parts where themountains rise bare above the permissibleheight of their vegetation.

Let us now observe another great notion,time. All creatures of this planet,according to the rotation of the earthduring the daily and the annual cycles, havedeveloped various internal bio-rhythms, andtheir performance and habits have come to bein harmony with the cycles of theserotations. Generally the alter-ation ofseasons with invariable characters oftemperature, winds, rains, humidity, snowetc., imposes on the earth dwellers a pas-sive but constant dependence on thesesuccessions. Certainly every region hasgiven commensurate characteristics to itspeople,THE HELLADIC SPACE AND TIME33

who have finally been developed into variousraces and nation-alities with linguisticdifferences. The inhabitant of the Hungarianplain and the Caribbean man have deeplystamped their depend-ence on a firmenvironment and have therefore acquired ananalogous character, spirituality andbehaviour. Anthropogeo-graphy has studiedthese issues, not to be addressed here. Wesimply hint that space and time, flowing inevery corner of the planet, have shaped thepeople with special characteristics forevery region, thus displaying a stablecharacter and unchangeable behaviour.However in the region of Greece where spacespreads in intense intermediate chaoticdimensions, the happenings intime and the behaviour of people progress inunpredictable and non-periodic rhythms. Inthe middle of winter, in January, the“halcyon days” transfer the people into aspring-like atmosphere. There are no fixedrainy or snowy seasons or periods of extremeheat during the year. All these variationsexist in Greece but with intrudingcharacteristics of the other seasons in anunforeseen chaotic mode.

The generally mild climate of Greeceshould normaly be pre-served all year rounddue to the Temperate Zone, devoid of manydeviations out of prearranged seasonalperiods. Yet as it is no-ticed, apart fromits characteristics of geomorphologic image,

one more coincidence of externalmeteorological factors is observed; thoseare the yearly winds, the Etesian, whichfinally determine the invasion of elementsof other seasons, upsetting the summerregularity by bringing strong and freshnorth-easterly winds. This occurs when ahigh barometric pressure stands in CentralEurope and a low one in Cyprus. Thiscombination then creates a violent movementof currents and the whole Aegean Sea isshaken as if god Poseidon comes alive everyAugust, making his eternal pre-sence feltin the Greek Sea. It’s as if a windowopens onto the Hellespont bringing in thecold atmosphere of the Siberian sum-34CHAPTER FOUR

mer. So, once more, time inserts foreignelements, which disturb the sequence ofseasons. It is a disturbance of order in theHelladic chaotic space-time.

Obviously, one may raise objections,pointing out that other regions of the earthalso show an intense fractional character oftheir coasts, like the fjords of Norway orthe coasts of Chile, as it has been said. InGreece however, as it has been observed,there is a combination of the mild climateand the chaotic geometry, conditionsfavouring the creation of greatachievements.

CHAPTER FIVE

Creation of the Greek Space

Every recess of planet Earth has beenshaped to the present form followinggeological transformations lasting formillions of years. The crust of the Earth

following basic alterations which createdthe oceans and the continents, stillfollowing the dynamics of formation,continued to transform the separate regionsmainly through the movement of the tectonicplates and less by seismic activities.

The Greek space more specifically, belongsto the eastern Me-diterranean basin of theold Tethys Sea. Orogenetic movements, whichhave created the mountains, the folding andthe deposition of precipitates in thetrenches of the seabed, began to take place180 million years ago. The trench of thePindos Range and the Io-nian furrow werefilled up gradually and transformed intoele-vations, and 30 million years ago, aftermany cosmogonic dis-turbances, the mountainrange of Pindos arose. Thus Western Greeceappears first and then emerges an immenseland in the area of contemporary Aegean Sea,which, connected with the subsequent coastsof Asia Minor down to the south of Crete,forms a unified land mass, the Aegeais.

Life has now commenced to loom and finallymakes its pre-sence intense withmegatheriums, the bones of which have beenfound these days at Pikermi in Attica and atMegalopolis in the Peloponnese. These arethe remnants of animals that lived 13million years ago. Yet the unsettled fortuneof this land will again lead to newgeological reclassifications which willlast some 35

36CHAPTER FIVE

million years more. Subsequently thepartition of the terrestrialarea of Aegaeis occurs while an invadingMediterranean Sea engulfs large sections ofit. This took place five million years ago.Extended lakes are created in the plungingand the whole image of a prehistoric mapwould show an endless succession between theliquid element and the land. Thus a struggleof the two basic entities commences and willlast for millions of years ending up withthe present complicated coexistence of themainland and island coasts and the sea; itis the outcome of a colossal battle betweensea and land devoid of winners.

Thereafter, a long river road joins theBlack Sea and the Me-diterranean andconstitutes the advanced escort of thecreation of the Aegean Sea. This is theAegean River, which also receives the watersof Axios, Strymon and Evros Rivers. In themeantime another great combat between skyand earth unfolds. The mountains of Greece,multifarious and distinct entity each ofthem, have already come into being and riseto conquer the upper dimension, as ancestorsof the mountainous figures of the Helladiccontemporary space. The liquid element,already the sovereign element of the planet,at times engulfs the mountains, at timespushes them upwards. During this period of

their emer-gence, the history of the seabedrevealed. It is written on the shells foundnowadays on the mountains and theirsedimentary deposits. The oriental part ofAegeais sinks again and the sea penetratesand floods the Hellespont and the Black Seain the north as well as the region betweenCrete and the Dodecanese in the south. TheAegean Sea commences to take shape. Amongthese two basins a submarine mountain rangewill emerge. The summits of its mountainsalready outline the cluster of the CycladesIslands. From the centre of the mysteriousAegean Sea the chaotic geometry of theHelladic space has opened up the road to itspresent form.CREATION OF THE GREEK SPACE37

Although the land of Greece has alreadytaken shape, the sea level fluctuates atvarious periods. Specifically during aglacial period of bitter cold, enormousvolumes of water are drawn outfrom the Aegean and Ionian Sea, and the sealevel drops down 200 meters below that oftoday. The coasts acquire another shapewhile the Cyclades Islands emerge above thesea level as a unified land. It is assumedthat at that period Crete and thePeloponnese probably communicated viaCythera and Anticythera islands, thusbridging the two lands. Simultaneously thethird dimension, that of the Greek

mountains, is weathered by the winds andrains, and the water transports down thematerials, which fill up the closed basinslike those of Thessaly and Boeotia and theirfertile soil will be cultivated by thefuture dwellers.

Yet, in a final stage, other factors willcontribute to the con-figuration of theGreek space. These are earthquakes and vol-canoes. Indeed in all of the European andMediterranean area, volcanoes exist mainlyon coasts and islands of Greece and Italy.The crust of the earth, being sensitive dueto fissures from tec-tonic unsettlement ofthe Euro-Asiatic and African plates, allowsmagma to come to the surface from the depthsof the earth. The volcanoes of Greece likethose of Aegina, Methana, Poros, Milos-Kimolos, Thera, Nisyros and Kos create avolcanic arc in the south of the sunkenland. In the northern Aegean Sea a con-tinuation of this arc comprises of thevolcanoes of Troy, Lesbos and Chios. Aparallel arc includes the volcanoes of Kymi,Lem-nos, Imbros, Samothraki, Pherrai andThrace, which will deliver to the peopleprecious raw materials that will assist inthe un-certain paces of prehistory.

Historically, the most significant volcanoof Greece and one of the volcanic centres ofthe planet is that of Thera. It is locatedat the central area of the Aegean Sea. Afterthe fragmentation of Aegeais and the sinkingof a large part of the land, there remained

38CHAPTER FIVE

a rocky islet in the place of Thera. Duringa long period of volcanic activity a largeisland, Strongili, is formed out of itsmaterial. Twenty five thousand years ago aseries of great eruptions begin to alter theentire island and finally in the 17th

century BC it explodes and its centre sinks,while the ashes cover neighbouring Crete upto Sicily and farther places. It is theverge between history and prehistory thatwill lead to conjectures regarding thewhereabouts and destiny of mythologicalAtlantis. This event is connected with thefate of the Greeks. The order, which hassubmerged out of the depths of history,sinks in the chaotic disorder following theeruption of the volcano. It may be the firstgeologically confirmed invasion of chaos inthe Aegean space throughout Greek history.

CHAPTER SIX

First Signs of Life in the Helladic Space

At some point, when Nature finally settlesdown after enor-mous geologicalreclassifications, the phenomenon of Lifemakes its own debut on the planet. Theunicellular organisms create the firstbeings through their coiling and then startthe great diversi-fication into millions ofvegetable and animal species. Already since26 to 13 million years ago, when Aegaeis wasa separate extension of the European body,rare vegetation, the primeval flora coveredthe relief of its hills. Trees and bushes,coniferous, laurel, myrtle and many otherswere found in lignite in Euboea by theimprints of their leaves. They depicted thefirst idyllic scene of a land which, giftedby its geographical position, would

constitute later the birthplace of a greatcivilization.

Towards the end of these geologicalperiods and between two million and 10,000years ago, the timeless pine trees of Greecedominated in the subsequent transformationsof Aegaeis till to-day’s form of theHelladic space. This is ascertainedinformation found in the lignite of Euboeaand shows the climatic image of a land inwhich these plants thrived.

As it has already been mentioned, thelarge files of prehistoric fauna at Pikermiof Attica reveal a very remote period whenman had not yet declared his presence on theplanet. In Aegaeis, thirteen million yearsago, when the geological disturbancescontinued to cause new reclassifications, anexceptional event destroyed the fauna ofgiant animals. In these records of paleon-

3940CHAPTER SIX

tology the remains of fossilized bones of atleast fifty differentspecies were found accumulated in the sameplace. It seemed that some catastrophiccircumstances forced the massive extinct-tion of many different herbivorous andcarnivorous animals in that area. Was therea lack of food and water due to geologicalalterations? Did the mountains again sinkinto the sea and an invasion of water draw

the animals? Or, according to an inter-esting theory, did massive fires drive theanimals to a gorge at Pikermi where theyfell in and were accumulated there?

A more recent archive of fauna inMegalopolis revealed the skeletons of largeanimals that lived hundreds of thousands ofyears ago. During the age of Pausanias(second century AD) their bones weremistakenly thought to be evidence that,super-natural men lived there. Yet it wasfinally discovered that these remnantsbelonged to animals of different climaticeras, such as the ele-phant, rhinoceros,deer, hippopotamus, horse (all animals of ahot climate) and mammoth, bison and hairyrhinoceros (animals of a cold climate).These were brought out from differentdeposits, which meant that the climate insouthern Greece had changed many times.

Similar cases were ascertained in otherregions of Greece i.e. in Kozani, Grevena,Drama, Crete and the latest in the region ofThessaly, 100 to 70 thousand years old.There, for the first time, a cohabitation ofman and animal appears. The tools of the Pa-laeolithic era testify that coexistence andinteraction between them was realized inthat Helladic area.

Finally the appearance of the most ancientman of the region found in the cave ofPetralona in Chalcidice, related also to thecorresponding flora of that period and datesback to 700 thou-sand years ago. It is the

skull of a Palaeolithic man, like that ofNeanderthal, who, according toanthropologists, seems to have died veryold for that period, at the age of 30.Therefore the first FIRST SIGNS OF LIFE IN THE HELLADIC SPACE41

native Greeks should be placed in the depthsof Greek prehistory 700 millennia ago. Wheredid they first appear as Homo erectus?When did they acquire their firstintelligence and when were they “awakened”by the mysterious Aegean Sea so that theinherited orders were inscribed in theirgenes? All these questions con-cerning thecommencement of the “Helladic man” willremain unanswered for a long time.

The interference of the various tribesshall be mentioned here. Without prejudiceor scientific predisposition, theprehistoric pe-riod, when the crystallizedchaotic geometry of the Helladic space beganto be imprinted on the genetic matter ofcells, will be covered. That was the timewhen the generative chaos of Hesiod’sTheogony materialized the mentalmorphogenesis of man. But not to be carriedaway by the myths: First men came intobeing, and then they created their gods.Specifically the Greeks gave birth to thoseof the Olympic Pantheon. Thus, the HesiodeanChaos, being what it was, gave birth to themortals of Theogony, the first Hellenes.

Surely it is not possible to represent thelife conditions of the first men in thedepth of prehistory. A skull or a skeleton,some stone tools or animal bones carved asweapons or tools, the re-sidues of theircontemporary fauna and other fossils cannotcom-pose an image of the first human beings.Moreover we cannot search for biologicalevolutionary inscriptions in their cells,their intellectual functions and theshallowness of their soul, still in-fantile.There are too few remnants to shed light onthose days.

Nevertheless we dare imagine a slowimprinting of the chao-tic geometry of theHelladic space on the cells of the people;that should have started since the depths ofprehistory. Surely the man of Neanderthal andlater Homo erectus up to Homo sapiens is a verylong ascending evolution of humankind indeep darkness. However the course of man inAegaeis, in parallel with the evolu-42CHAPTER SIX

tionary millennia of prehistory inPalaeolithic, Neolithic and the Bronze Age,we presume resulted in the creation ofanother kind of man, the Helladic Man, alwaysin the same mystictime-space of the Helladic becoming.

Future anthropologists will not search forthe characteristics of these people bymeasuring the volume of the skull or the

elongation of the lower jaw. They willcertainly discover them, if they can, in thesum of the genes, the genome, where thethree-lettered words of the DNA orders willreveal the chaotic ori-ginality imprinted onthe cells of the Greeks. And if at some timein the future the registration andpreservation of mental and psychicalfunctions will be achieved by computers, thepsycho-researcher might be able to discoverthe psycho-chemical in-scriptions, whichtoday are defined imperfectly as human beha-viour (ανθρωπιά), sense of honour (φιλότιμο), andhospitality (φιλοξενία) of the Greeks.

As a prelude to all the about, we mentionthe first achieve-ment of science in codingthe human genome that has been recentlyannounced in 2001. We hope that it may beextended in searching the particularity ofevery race, revealing thus the answers tothe above questions.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Prehistory of the Greeks in the Stone Age

Dissecting with the scalpel of History theelements that scien-tific research hasprovided us about the prehistoric period, werealize that these are discerned in longconsecutive ages ac-cording to the findingsof the first tools of man. These are thePalaeolithic Age (600,000 - 8,000 BC), theMesolithic (8,000 - 7,000 BC), the Neolithic(7,000 - 2,800 BC) and finally the BronzeAge (2,800 - 1,100 BC). After the end ofPrehistory and approximately since 1,100 BC,the dawn of Archaic Hellenism commences.

We have already referred to the oldestprehistoric finding in Petralona ofChalcidice. This very ancient Helladic Manhas been defined as belonging to theanthropological type of Neanderthal Man. Hewas found accidentally on September 16th

1960, by a group of visitors to the site. Itwas only his skull devoid of the lower jaw.The cave with stalactites, which had offeredhim hospitality for millennia, is now atourist sightseeing spot, while his skullrests in the University of Thessaloniki.Yet, this part of the skull, the containerof his brain, was found to have had a smallcapacity, compared with related findings inEurope, Asia and Africa. However from other

characteristics we can say that it belongsto the Neanderthal type.

We are now in the middle of thePalaeolithic Age (100,000 - 33,000 BC) whenman had already become a skilful maker oftools and able animal hunter, as thefindings reveal in his dwel- lings. Fire,the old Promethean gift, was the appropriatemeans 4344CHAPTER SEVEN

for food preparation and heating, as well asfor ousting wild animals out of the caveswhich he wanted for his own instal-lation.

However this type of man suddenlydisappears and the first technologicalrevolution, immediately attained by Homosapiens, is now ascertained. With hisweapons and tools, he tames ani-mals,becomes a stock-farmer and starts tocultivate the land. According to theprevailing scientific opinion it is believedthat Homo sapiens came to Europe fromtemperate areas of south-western Asia or theMiddle East without excluding the Helladicregion or Africa. This onset of the“sapient” man is believed to have been ofcrucial importance to the creation ofWestern civi-lization.

Greece, being at the crossroads ofcontinents and especially in periods whenthe sea level of the Aegean Sea was lower

than it is today, played a decisive role inthe movement of the people. The passageswere at that time more convenient and thetemporary stay of the transient man in theAegean area first set the seal for thesubsequent Europeans of that period. Thusone would main-tain that the firsttechnological revolution, man’s courageousdecision to change attitude towards his fateand nature, might be due to his stay in thechaotic Aegean space. After being baptizedin this place, the thinking man went on to thenorth by necessity, because since then theHelladic area was a narrow place, perhapsdestined for few people.

Let’s examine the Late Palaeolithic Age(33,000 - 8,000 BC). A colossal achievementof man is the making of tools out of si-licic stone. From the same stone he makesthe first double-edged knife and thereaftera whole series of tools. He will then securehis food, clothing and dwelling with ease.Afterwards he will search comfort for hisperishable life by discovering the value ofart. The first imperfect art elements areplaced during this period PREHISTORY OF THE GREEKS IN THE STONE AGE45

of the dawn of the human race. The Aegeanarea with thesucceeding Cycladic civilization providesthe first samples of man’s revelation to thevision of art, first out of usability and

later with effort to achieve a good qualityof life.

The outset of religion must be attributedto the Late Palaeo-lithic Age. This isascertained by the careful burial of thedeads. However, even more significant is theexistence of some kind of articulate speech.The language in an imperfect form wouldconstitute the most important cause for theimpressive speed of development and progressduring that period. The formation of theGreek language in the Aegaeis region wouldhave com-menced at that time because theperfection it had reached at the dawn of thearchaic era (around 1,000 BC) should haveneces-sitated many millennia of brewing andelaboration. Sole means was the oral inter-transference of that gift of communicationand expression of the Greeks, and thatsurely happened mostly among the nativedwellers of Aegaeis.

The first discovery of the newerPalaeolithic relics in Greece was made in1941 in the cave of Seindi at Aliartos ofCopais Lake. The stone masonry found therewas dated around 12,000 BC. Otherexplorations made further in the banks ofPeneos River at Larissa brought to lightnewer Palaeolithic tools, blades, chiselsetc. An excellent first sample ofPalaeolithic art depicting a horse engravedon a hard stone was found in a cave atLechonia village of Mount Pelion.

Plentiful remnants of the newerPalaeolithic era were disco-vered in Epiros,especially a stone building which might bethe most ancient in Greece and perhaps inEurope. That is at Cocci-nopelos and datesaround 35,000 BC appearing to be theearliest European construction whichrepresented an evolutionary mile-stone alongthe migratory route and transfer of humanstowards the west.46CHAPTER SEVEN

People at that time were living mainly incaves and gathering in front of them beforeor after hunting. They followed theanimals in their trek according to theseasons, acquiring thus the habits ofnomadic life as the Saracatsani do nowadaysdescend-ing in winter from Zagoria to thesouthern and coastal places.

Following a very cold period (25,000 -10,000 BC) the cli-mate is stabilized tomild temperatures, and around 8,500 BC itbecomes almost temperate as it is today.People having Mother Nature as an allyentered the “productive” period of history,in-cluding those who passed to the west aswell as the pre-Hellenes that remained inthe Helladic area. The Mesolithic Age, intermediate of thetwo great periods of “hunting” and“productive”, (i.e. transition from thehunting and pickering economy to the

agriculture and stock-raising), is a con-sequence of the great climatic change. Thelarge animals, accli-matized to the coldclimate, emigrate to the remote north and intheir place other species smaller and morenimble dominate. The duration of theMesolithic Age is not the same in otherplaces. In Europe it lasts down to 4,000 BCwhile in the Orient and in the Greek regionit ends as far back as 8,000 BC when anearly Neo-lithic stage starts. Theadvantageous position of the Aegean area isevident as it precedes about four millenniafrom the European evolution, apart from itschaotic geometry already shaped by thegeological transformations. An ally of thisodd space is the unfo-reseen change of theweather conditions lasting all year round.The Hellenic space-time acquires at last itsfinal foundation.

Revealing findings of the Mesolithic Agehave been disco-vered by searching in thecave “Frangthy” in Ermionides, not far fromPorto-Heli. A huge cave in a calcareousslope by the sea-side contained remnants ofanimal bones (deer, bull, wild boar, fox,dog and hare). In another cave, remnants offishes proved that the stage of fisheryhad already begun there. This great cave PREHISTORY OF THE GREEKS IN THE STONE AGE47

was the residence of people at that time,who were generally short, while the

anthropologic remnants showed that theirheight ranged from 1.35m for women to 1.56mfor men. Very importantwas the finding of a buried man, 25 yearsold, 1.58m in height, dated to have livedabout 7,600 BC. That has been the mostancient full skeleton found in the Aegeaisup to now.

Generally the opinions about theMesolithic Age in Greece and Aegeaisconverge to the point that in this countrythe transient stage of prehistory cannot becharacterized by “colonization” of the area.These people are the indigenous evolutionaryspecies of Palaeolithic origin. The pre-Hellenes have now deep roots in their landand are starting to tame their sea as well. The Neolithic Age is finallycharacterized by three main com-ponents ofthe activity of the new man: These are hispermanent settlements, the practice inagriculture and that of livestock. It is theproductive period, and Greece plays theprimary role be-cause, as it has beenproved, only in this south-eastern end ofEurope remnants of agricultural andlivestock stage of the 7th millennium BC wererevealed. The tools on the other hand, arereadjustments of the previous ones. The onlynew element here was the grinding of thestone tools, the last being considered asthe main fact that characterizes theNeolithic Age. This “pro-ductive revolution”is the great leap in man’s progress. It is

considered that this new way of lifecontinued without basic alterations till thebeginning of the “Industrial Revolution” in1770 AD.

During the global increase in temperature,the Middle East preceded climatologicallybecause it had been favoured earlier, whilethe glacial zone of Europe delayed muchlonger. Especially in Mesopotamia, man tookadvantage of this earlier alteration. Thedomestication of sheep just after 9,000 BCwas discovered in 48CHAPTER SEVEN

a settlement, while in others an indicationof cereal gathering was found. At the sametime in the Jordan Valley, a “civilization”flourished by the foundation of a “city”surrounded by fortify-cation and towers,with a population of 2,000 people.

The spread of the neolithic stage from theMiddle East to theneighbouring areas (the Eastern Basin of theMediterranean, the Aegean Sea, the BlackSea, the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf andthe Red Sea) first favoured the Helladicarea. Neolithic settlements, which wereconsidered to be the first in Europe, werefound in 1956 in Thessaly, at Argissa andSesclo. Due to the fact that ceramics hadnot yet appeared, this very ancientNeolithic Period was named Neolithic pre-Ceramic. Later the “non-Ce-ramic” period was

ascertained at Knossos in Crete and at theFrangthy Cave in Ermionide, dated about6,000 BC.

This neolithic period in Greece does notarise with multi-dweller settlements due tothe chaotic anaglyph that breaks theterritorial unity. This area has never beendestined for a popu-lation explosion. Theindividuality of the Greeks, which willlater reveal itself in the city-states,manifests that their civilization will notbe the result of great numbers. Moreover,according to the ancient saying, "good is notfound in plenty", “ουκ εν τω πολλώ τo ευ”.

The main Neolithic Age includes thereafterthe practice of ceramic art, the remnants ofwhich, the “potsherds”, provide nowadaysmuch information to the archaeologists.Ceramics allows for permanent and stabilizeddwellings. The Neolithic Age is divided intothree periods: the Ancient (6th millenniumBC), the Middle (5th millennium) and the Late(4th millennium). Especially in Greece, theend of the Neolithic Age is placed justafter 3,000 BC, as the Bronze Age starts afew centuries later.

Thessaly is again the scene where all thestages of the Neo-lithic Age are provenby the consecutive records of findings.PREHISTORY OF THE GREEKS IN THE STONE AGE49

Sesclo and Diminio, the two well-knownNeolithic citadels near Volos, as well as

Otzaki Magoula, Tzani Magoula, Pyrassos andArgissa are all settlements of the Neolithicbirthplace in Greece. Especially here, thenaturally closed formation of Thessaly withself-sufficiency in agriculture,substantially not isolated, appears as avital centre of cultural evolution andcommunication. FromDomocos to Ossa Mountain and from Volos toTrikkala it is as-certained that the mostancient Neolithic civilization of Greeceflourished there. This is an autonomousplain among surrounding mountains andcoasts. Its people were in continuouscommuni-cation and exchanges, a kind ofcommerce, with neighbouring and perhapsremote areas. Culture of cereals, livestockand earlier ceramics reveal the first phaseof the oncoming evolution.

In Neolithic Thessaly the organizedcommunal cooperation in the production ofearthenware objects commences in small vil-lages consisting of 20-30 houses. As anindication of earlier bakery of cereals, anearthen furnace was found. The ceramicpottery for liquids and other food storagepresupposes and re-veals permanentinstallations and technical know-how forbaking the earthenware objects. People,whose expertise was the latter primitivetechnique, definitely did not haveagricultural occupa-tions. Their firstattainments, small hemispherical pots ofbrown colour with thick and crushing walls,

show a primitive art of pottery. Yet in thesecond period their surface becomes black orwhite due to neat material and betterbakery. First primitive painted decorationsof linear technique, probably of weaving orknitting designs, provide the image of theNeolithic life in Thes-saly. Later, ceramicsis developed by engraving decoration ofpottery and micro-plasticity of “idols”, thefirst human forms of heads and bodies withharmonic arrangement of volumes and anatomicelements of naturalistic rendering.Comparison of these idols with those oforiental or northern regions outsideGreece 50CHAPTER SEVEN

reveals the already early superiority of thenascent Hellenic art. This art is native asit is revealed by the evolutionary stagesfollowing the archaic period. Nothing seemsto have been im-ported. Since then, theautonomy of the emerging civilization isalready ascertained.

In other regions of Greece, from CentralMacedonia to South Peloponnese and fromScyros of the Aegean Sea to Leucas of theIonian Sea, this very ancient Neolithic“civilization” appears characteristicallyuniform in basic lines with that ofThessaly. In the Veria region (NeaNikomedia) an important settlement of theEarly Neolithic Age reveals valuable

elements of dwelling archi-tecture. Thespacious houses consist of a frame of beamsand branches with walls of clay. Theirground plan is rectangular, with dimensions8m by 12m, having an inclined roof. The eco-nomy of this settlement is agricultural andstockbreeding. Most burials of the EarlyNeolithic Age have been disclosed there,showing that the dead bodies were burieddevoid of funeral gifts or special care, intimid posture.

Similar proofs of that era were found inEpiros, Corfu, Leu-cas, North Sporades,Skyros, Phokis, Boeotia and Attica (inAthens, at Nea Makri), as well as in thePeloponnese (Corinth, Nemea, Lerna). In allthese regions the financial and culturallevel is uniform. The findings in Athensalso proved the existence of three importantvery ancient settlements; they were found inthe Agora around the Acropolis, Academia andin Glyfada. The settlement at Nea Makri,near the edge of the Marathon plain, issignificant due to its peculiarity inceramics.

A mature phase of the Neolithic Age issupposed to be the Middle Neolithic, mainlydue to the evolution of ceramics and thearchitectural arrangement and organizationof the settlements. Once again in Thessalythis transformation is obvious, chara-cterized as the “civilization ofSesklo”. Typical feature is the

PREHISTORY OF THE GREEKS IN THE STONE AGE51

ceramics with vivid red linear ornaments seton a white back-ground. Local variations areencountered from Macedonia to the SouthPeloponnese, demonstrating the “common”cultural evo-lution of the Neolithic Age inthe Helladic Area.

The set-up of fortified small “cities”,with a predetermined oecistic plan thatfirst appeared in the European region, isma-nifested in the exceptional model of the“prehistoric citadels” of Diminio andSesklo. A foreign influence from the arrivalof othertribes does not seem to have occurred. Theentire evolution follows the course of thenatives. The citadel of Sesklo, half-preserved up to our days, offers with theremnants of its houses (stonework foundationand groundwork, raw plinths) the image of anorganized Greek settlement. The same can besaid for the originally found palace-likeedifice, having been perhaps the re-sidenceof a ruler or the gathering place of thepeople. The for-tification of Sesklo mayhave included towers; they were there toprotect about fifty dwellings with more orless 300 permanent residents in addition tooutside dwellers. The peaceful character ofthe Early Neolithic Age is replaced byraids, a proof of outside plotting againstthe prosperity and the attained cultural

level of the people of that middle period.Apart from the ceramic evolu-tion and thearchitectural structure of the settlements,the Middle Neolithic Age shows traces of thefirst arrival of metals from the Orient.

The Late Neolithic Age in Greece, which isthe last period of the “Stone Age”, exhibitsevolutionary changes in ceramics as well asin the fortification of citadels. There arefinds in the in-sular area of the Aegean Sealike those of Saliagos in Cyclades, ofEmporio in Chios, in Samos and in NorthernSporades. In Thessaly the “civilization ofDiminio” with its advanced cera-mics (spiraland meander-like themes) and the successivefor-tified surrounding walls of thecitadel, including a central palace, 52CHAPTER SEVEN

bodes the Mycenean citadels. The palace hasdimensions 11m by 6m, an open gallery, twocolumns and firesides, apparently theresidence of the ruler, all these portrayinga social organization of that period.However, a more impressive “palace” wasunveiled in 1941 at “Magoula Bisbiki” inVelestino having a total length of 30m, muchlarger than the palaces of Mycenae, Tyrinsor Pylos.

The Aegean space of that time must also beinvestigated in the insular area, especiallyin Crete which will later create the mostancient and advanced civilization of Europe.

Without havingdata for the Palaeolithic Age of the island,A. Evans in our time (1900), suddenlydiscovered under the courtyards of theMinoan Palace of Cnossos an entire Neolithicsettlement. That was a pre-Ceramic one,probably of the end of the 7th millennium BC.It was the dawn of the Neolithic Age wherethe “productive” stage was commencing. Atthe same place of Cnossos there are finds ofthe Ancient Neolithic Age since the middleof 5th millennium to 3,500 BC. The ceramicobjects are of dark tones with engraved andplastic decorations of forked handholds.

In Gortyna and Katsabas, the MiddleNeolithic Age exhibits dwellings on a stonebase, with clay walls and spacious rooms.The ceramics have the folding of the surfaceas a new element. The constructions thatEvans found in the southern part of thecourtyard of Cnossos Palace are importantarchitectural remains with many rooms,gravelled courts and annexes. The ceramicsare simplified with engraved and varnisheddecoration, which is wide-spread in theAegean region, including new designs thatmake them evident of the subsequent Minoanarticles. Also findings of Egyptian potteryshowed a kind of communication with thewider surroundings of the island, whichindicates that Crete was closer to the newdevelopment of civilization in the Orientduring the Bronze Age.

Generally, Crete in the Palaeolithicand Neolithic Age wasPREHISTORY OF THE GREEKS IN THE STONE AGE53

somehow isolated due to its self-sufficiencyand geographical position. Its populationevidently of Aegean origin will become laterthe creator of the Minoan civilization. Theyseemed to have followed an autonomous coursein the Aegean evolvement, while its mildclimate was critical as a result, but of aslower and de-cisive evolution intransforming the primitive Helladic Man intothe first civilized man of Europe.

Cyprus, at the extreme limits of a broaderAegean area where geological restructuringincluded orogenetic and sinking periods,seemed, according to the dominating theory,to have followed thesame fate of a general Helladic evolvement.The recession of the sea between MtPentadactylos and Mt Troodos creates thefertile plains where the remote pre-Helleneswill develop the first strides of a similarcourse to the rest of the Helladic people.The insular isolation as that of Crete,combined with the closed and self-sufficientNeolithic economy, provides a singularity tothe island. Particularly the development oforiental metallurgy, which will flourishlater in Cyprus during the Bronze Age, willlead the Ro-mans, due to its name, to callthe copper element Cuprum, be-cause they

obtained that mineral from the Island ofCypress Aphrodite.

In Cyprus no Palaeolithic or Mesolithicrelics were found. Therefore, the moreancient Neolithic Civilization suddenly ap-pears, around the end of the 6th millenniumBC. It is referred to as the “civilizationof Choirokoitia” according to the name ofthe village it was found in and was non-Ceramic. The domed dwel-lings found therewere estimated to be about a thousand andconsisted of a small town of 4,000-5,000inhabitants. It was of agricultural andstock-raising economy and had achieved greatsuccess in making stone pots and trays,characteristic features of the ancientNeolithic civilization of Cyprus.Ceramic art was rather unsuccessful during the firstperiod of “Choirokoitia” be-54CHAPTER SEVEN

cause the only samples found there, werebadly baked grey pots.

The art of weaving seems to have beenassured from the bony nails and needles,necessary tools in sewing. Statuettes ofhuman figures made out of hard stone as wellas jewellery (beads) com-plemented in thesense of the unnecessary, the needs of thepre-Hellenes of Cyprus at that time. Theburials with funeral gifts like stony potsand beads revealed the customs as well as

the an-thropologic characteristics of theirpeople: short-heads but with longevity of 35years, high at that time.

The Neolithic II period, the nextimportant one in Cyprus, which isrepresented by the “civilization of Sotira”,is marked athousand years after the previous phase. Thedwellings out of clay are now four-sided,oval or circular. Plain red polished pots ofcombing decoration constitutes the oddcharacteristic of the Cypriot style.

Thereafter follows the Bronze-Lithic“civilization of Erimi”, around the 4th

millennium BC. Yet after a sudden end ofthat period, Copper, as a precursor, appearsin the form of Bronze. The Orient, alreadyadvanced in this sector, will pass the know-ledge to Cyprus which will thus comprise thebridging between Orient and Occident; thoughkeeping an insular pre-Hellenic singularityin its cultural elements remaining in theremote bor-ders of the Helladic space.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Emergence of the Neolithic Hellene

The first genetic seals of the inheritedself-characteristics of the Greek peoplehave been indelibly introduced in the genesof their cells during the multi-millennialcourse through the chaotic Hel-ladic space-time. It is the period during which arestless human being will emerge, identifiedby the unforeseeable weather chan-ges, in an“immense” but of condensed form area,belonging to the geometry of intermediatedimensions.

The Neolithic revolution, an accession ofhumankind to the productive process, was forthe Helladic area a period of criticalachievements, especially in the livingconditions of the pre-Hel-lenes. The newtechniques in tool-making, the domestic set-up and their permanent installation due tooccupation in the productive sector(agriculture and livestock), lead them tothe first consciousness of property (thefirst seals of ownership in that period werefound). Yet beyond the pure materialisticside of life, man progresses in hisintellectual constitution. First step is these-paration of his personal life and therepeated changes of the environment. Theannual cycles of the seasons are realized as

independent but parallel factors affectinghis short life. The first courageousconfrontation of his fate is the self-appreciation of his personal abilities. Heperceives that only with his creativity andingenuity can he face the extraordinary andchronic problems surrounding him. Firsttools are surely his hands; however his mindis his guide.

What are now the achievements of manapart from the sa- 5556CHAPTER EIGHT

tisfaction of his material needs? Thephenomenon is universal,diversified qualitatively and quantitativelyin every region of the earth. In the Aegeanregion, the intellectual life of theNeolithic man, according to thearchaeological conclusions, is distinguish-able in two displays, religion and art.

Religion, an attempt to answer theeverlasting questions of life and death, isinitially manifested by respecting the deadand feel-ing the ecstasy towards the mysteryof women as the source of life. MotherNature on the other hand, follows a parallelprocess and with the intervention of man,produces the means of his survival as arepayment of their harmonious collaboration.It is impossible without the intervention ofman to change the shape of at least his

immediate surroundings. And this depends onhis mental ability. The answer to theprovocation of death and non-existence isthe cultivation of the earth and thepropagation of his species and that isimmortality obtained en masse.

The means of this spiritual endeavour toforming a religious consciousness ismeditation and mythology. Thus man will ap-proach and interpret the dual phenomenon ofbirth-death and will lend the firstsymbolism of mythology to thetransformations of Mother Nature. Factuallyhe will proceed to the primitive pro-cessesof worship, which are the customs of burial.That is why we find the first poor funeralgifts in the graves, which accom-pany theburied relatives on their long journey.

The Neolithic Helladic man gazing at thesky accepts the first impressions ofinexplicable phenomena, which for him aredue to unbeatable forces. The sun, thenight, the stars, the moon, the clouds andthe rain are their expressions. Theperpetually alter-nating phenomena of natureare non-periodic: sunlight is fol-lowed by asudden storm and the chill is replaced byspring warmth, the winds shake the trees andshortly after tranquillity prevails, therough sea suddenly settles down. Allthese are un- EMERGENCE OF THE NEOLITHIC HELLENE57

foreseen appearances of superior beings ofunthinkable temper, and to face them the“Helladic Man” sharpens his mind andkeeps it in continuous alertness. Apathy andfatalism are mortal qualities, which workagainst his survival.

Certainly, as a first action to confrontthe superior powers is the devotionalpropitiation, a hesitant request to thesepowers to behave amicably to the people andsupport them. The struggle of the chaoticforces of disorder against the worldlylawful powers of order in a continuousconflict of prevalence does not leave manunconcerned. The former must impose on himtheir will by moderating the devastation andthe latter have to stand by him for the sakeof the pleas of the poor Neolithic farmersand fisher-men. Specifically “αλς”, the sea,is the most untamed of the sur-roundingelements and the most chaoticallyunforeseeable.

It appears from findings that people atthat time did not have collective devotionalmanifestations; they just had their meagredwellings in the settlements and at the mostan outstanding building for the ruler. Onlyin Nea Nikomedia and Cheronia we-re someconstructions found, which were possiblyspecific build-ings for worship. In theformer case, a large building was foundcontaining many feminine statuettes, whilein the latter a con-struction was foundwhich might be an outdoor altar. Conclu-

sively, it appears that the NeolithicHellene was privately exe-cuting his worshipin a separate place in his dwelling liketoday’s icon stand; this is characteristicof the coexistence in situ of the high powerssupporting every family in their problems.Man will later personify their domesticpresence in the form of various gods, whichwill have a similar but superior behaviourtowards him

Art is the other display of exaltation ofthe Neolithic man who, overcoming the lackof written and oral synthetic word, uses hishands to materialize his creativeapprehensions. It is the simple or 58CHAPTER EIGHT

complex construction without utilitarianuse. In the first phase it is displayed as adecoration of every day pottery withgeometrical figures or of bony tools withsimple engraving. The aim is toembellish every day life.

Therefore decorative art is the first ofthe portraying talents that man uncovers. Heexpresses through it his deepest and mostsacred thoughts specifically orsymbolically, with schematic re-presentations stemming from simple lines andtheir variations. The decoration of pots isapplied with red, brown or black colour forthe painting techniques and with a sharptool for the engrav-ing ones. He succeeds in

forming perfect surfaces, painting the potswhite, sub-white, or tile-coloured and poseson them the de-corative subjects in aharmonious relationship with the surfaces.This gradual evolutionary practice of theNeolithic man creates specific rhythms,which characterize whole periods and definechronological classifications.

Apart from ceramics, plastic arts andjewellery, the decorative arts expand intoweaving, knitting of baskets and strawarticles. A model of a Neolithic housereveals decorations in dwellings, at leaston their exterior, like those on ceramics.

The Neolithic plastic art includesstatuettes of women, men and animals about10cm in size made out of clay. Apart fromthe earthenware, statuettes were found madeout of marble and stone usually in nudeforms. Most of them are feminine, drawingat-tention to the genetic areas. Themasculine statuettes are always seated,manifesting with their monumental posturethe predomi-nance of their sex on the earthand over women. This differren-tiation ofthe Aegean man, which does not appear soearly in other regions of the earth, revealsthat here the human being notifies hisaffirmative presence by becoming independentfrom impenetrable metaphysical situations.The Neolithic Hellenereaches earlier manhood, thanks to thegeometric-chaotic envi-

EMERGENCE OF THE NEOLITHIC HELLENE59

ronment.The great number of feminine statuettes

found has to be con-nected with devotionalacts to mother earth, which express, on theother hand, the awe to the mystery ofcreation by the womanand the earth. Generally the ambiguous roleof man during the late Palaeolithic Age inthe action of recreation is magnified andtakes the position that the “domination byman” has been as-signed to him from theNeolithic Age up to the present. TheHelladic man, though over-emphasising hispresence and being awakened early, acceptsthe parallel role of woman.

CHAPTER NINE

The Metals in the Helladic Area

In the course of the prehistoric man,after the first technological revolution,i.e. his transformation from picker andhunter to farmer and cattle-raiser, a highlandmark differentiates his next evolution.This is the transition to the epoch ofprehistoric che-mistry; more specificallythat of metallurgy. After the exhaustive useof stone as a tool during three millennia(wood was certainly the first tool materialbut no evidence exists to those days),nature reveals metal to man. This materialhidden in the form of various chemicalcompounds remained for millions of years inthe crust of the earth, ready to be given toman as a companion to his earthly and nowspace achievements: it is the hard,malleable, durable metal. This is thesubstance which accidentally was brought tolight when his awakened mind observed that

certain solids when treated with fireproduce a shining fluid, which cooled andsolidified still shines and retains itsplastic properties. It can be transformedinto useful tools, which earlier he had beenobliged to produce by skilfully carvingstones.

The metals are the majority of thechemical elements. Except gold, which isself-sown, copper, iron, tin, zinc andsilver are the first metals that manobtained from their minerals. With thesemetals he commences to make tools, arms,cookware, jewels and primitive coins. Heobserves that with metallic tools heachieves faster and better results and withmetallic weapons hunting and defence aremore effective. He now cooks his food in newpots and he stores the liquids he usesin dispensers out of this new

6162CHAPTER NINE

material, although the very ancient claywith equal plasticity willmaintain its use. The jewels, a necessarysupplement of his elegant appearance are thenew achievements of his art and tech-nique.Later his transactions to obtain the goodswill be facilitated by using metallic coins,the saving form of his labour.

The first long period, during which mancommenced to use metals, belongs to copper

and that is why it is called the Bronze Age,including the intermediate stage after theStone Age, the Copper-Stone Age. Copper asself-sown was used initially by theNeolithic man around 8,000 BC. Copper beadsin the epoch of the first half of 5th

millennium were discovered in Upper Egypt.In this region during the 4th millennium BCthe use of copper be-came more systematic.Dagger blades, axes, spearheads and pots ofcopper were found in royal graves. The useof copper in the same period has beenascertained in Mesopotamia, Persia andIndia. In the Aegean area, it extends to3,000 BC.

Indeed the Near East, preceding theHelladic area and having proportionallylarge populations, owes the use of thismetal most-ly to the urbanization ofMesopotamia. There, the correlation ofvarious activities of the people with copperfindings as self-sown or mineral providesthe potential development of theirdiscovery. From there copper penetrates intoNeolithic Europe through the Helladic space.In this area, Troy, Crete and Mycene are thefirst regions of the Aegean space to usecopper. Later the alloy of copper with tinwill satisfy the needs of men and the nextmillen-nium, the 2nd BC, will be consideredas the real Bronze Age. The extensive use ofiron characterizes the following period.

When the Bronze Age enters, the Helladicarea is still within the bounds of the late

Neolithic stage with an economy based on theold agricultural tradition. So metallurgy isnot a primary but a secondary activity sincecopper comes from the East, where man’ssecond historic revolution has alreadybeen completed; THE METALS IN THE HELLADIC AREA63

that being urbanization and incorporation ofsocial groups and at the same time thefulfilment of great projects of irrigationor ofmonumental character.

The passage of metallurgy from Mesopotamiato the Aegean area and the use of metalswere certainly delayed due to the geographicinsertion of Asia Minor. From the eastcoasts of the Aegean Sea through the islandsand Crete, navigation played a major role inthe spread of copper. Therefore, aconsiderable development of the newtechnology is observed on the islands andcoasts. The “Greek-generating” power of theintermediate dimensions of the Aegean coastsnow possesses a new technology from theEast.

The copper of the subsequent CypressAphrodite is a strong means leading to thedevelopment of the Greek mind. When basicproblems are easily solved, the spirit isliberated and heads towards higher domains.Reminding ourselves of the singularity ofthe Aegean Sea, which played a major role in

the creation of the Greek Civilization, wecan refer to the eminent American ar-chaeologist John Casky, one of the mostimportant learners of Aegean prehistory. Herefers to the Greek environment or the landof Greece as the cause of the “Hellenes-makingland”.

During this long period of prehistory,apart from the auto-nomous course of thepeople of this land, a great parallelmission was to carry the torch of the newtechnology from the East to the rest of theEuropean Continent. Now, the Greek “nation”with its lingual power unified, possessesstrong bastions for the emer-gence of theGreek civilization in Crete and afterwardsin My-cene, its natural extension. TheCretan-Mycenaean civilization, whose artsurpassed worldwide any other similarachievement, will be characterized as theEuropean version of the eastern civi-lization in the Mediterranean area. Thiscivilization is within the human standardsin both art and ideological trends. It isneither a 64CHAPTER NINE superhuman oriental despotism nor a cruelaction of the hordes from the East, it isjust human. This sets the foundation for the“Greek spirit” during the Bronze Age.

The duration of the Bronze Age lasted from2,800 up to 1,000 BC while the first half of

it 2,800 – 1,900 BC was characterized as theEarly Bronze Age. To that period weassociate three “civilizations”: 1) Theproto-Helladic in the continental Helladicarea (from Thrace down to Peloponnese), 2)the proto-Cycladic and 3) the proto-Minoanand pre-Palace Minoan Civilization.Excepting the above, we must point out thedevelopment of the so-called “Trojan”civilization during the same period,belonging to the Aegean people apart fromthe Achaeans of Homer. This civilizationexpands to the northern islands of theAegean Sea and via Chalcidice penetratesinto Macedonia.

There is no necessity to describe indetail this long period, which ischaracterized as the Bronze Age. It is anindisputable fact that it represents theprologue of the emergence of the GreekMiracle with autonomous culturalachievements in all the Aege-an area. The“kneading” of the various elements withtheir own singular variations from everysmall nook in Greece resulted in thisunprecedented evolution. In this case thereis no populous region as those in Egypt,Mesopotamia, China and India with thedespotic uniform functions of the largenumbers, which result in characteristiccreations of great projects like thepyramids, the Great Wall of China andirrigation damns. All these required largegroups with collective efforts under a

unified discipline. In the Helladic area twofactors must be taken into account. Theprevious traditions of the native elementsin a singular geo-graphic chaotic geometry,and the isolated small regions, finallyunified by the common characteristic: theunprecedented ground relief and the immenselength of the coastline. Their autonomy andthe peculiarity of the land is what unitethe Greeks. The un- THE METALS IN THE HELLADIC AREA65

expected climatic and weather changes havealready been refer-red to as the othercomponent of the non-periodic form of theGreek space-time.

Therefore during the first but decisiveperiod of the earlyBronze Age it seems that the development didnot occur underuniform conditions but autonomously inseparate regions under a simultaneousinfluence of the new technology from theEast. So, the Greeks advanced at the atomiclevel and rose later as a col-lectivemiracle. One should compare this phenomenonto the modern holistic apprehension,commencing from reductive layers to provideinterpretations of the collective phenomena.It is the “molecular” analogue of the newforms in sciences. Everything starts from asingular basis.

Thus it is a fact that a sole centralpower never existed in Greece. Nor did itexist during the Mycenean period. The oppo-site occurred later in Italy, because Romegradually kept all the small towns under itscontrol. Besides, there are common cha-racteristics of local “civilizations” in theearlier Hellenic Bronze Age. Firstly, such afeature is the agricultural and live-stockstructure of the economy (mainland in Greeceand Crete) as well as fishing and marinetrade appearing in the Cyclades and thecoasts. The increasing importance ofmetallurgy leads to the gra-dualtransformation of the economic and socialstructure. The use of metals, especially ofcopper, and their metallurgy was as-certained at an early stage in the Cyclades,the basis to infuse the new technology andmetal techniques to the rest of Greece. Themain arms and tools, quite different fromthose of Asia Minor, proclaimed the autonomyof the Greeks in this crucial technicalsector and proved that an assumed adoptionof foreign techno-logy at that time cannotbe justified.

The Cyclades Islands are also creditedwith the gold and silver pots found in otherregions of Greece. The transportation ofthese 66CHAPTER NINE

metals including tin for the production ofbronze with copper, presupposes transittrade and navigation both adequatelyflourishing. The growth of transit tradewith the intention to transport metals,underlines the new era of communications.The ships slip out of the Aegean limits fromthe Cyclades to the BlackSea and the Adriatic Sea and from Crete toCyprus and North Africa. The Greeks, withtheir uneasy mind and the challenge of thesea, expand to remote places to exchangetheir material and intellectual wealth,bringing back any notable creation that theforeign people have made, reproducing itlater.

The small dwellings in the residentialareas still existed, but now denser, havingacquired a kind of fortification in thecoastal areas. “Cities” have not yetappeared. A central authority build-ing doesnot seem to have been created. The reason isthat wealth, still very little, isdistributed among all people. The so-cialstructure seems to have a popular basis withthe immediate participation of everyone incommon matters. The chaotic par-tition ofthe Helladic space does not facilitate theemergence of all-powerful despotism. Theindividual does not become a co-lourlessunit of the mass.

Metals now provide new extensions in art.Jewellery of pre-cious metals shows earlydevelopment in Leucas in the Ionian Sea, the

Peloponnese and Crete up to the Cyclades.Stone-sculpture grows rapidly with somemasterly specimens of that period found inCrete and more in the Cyclades. In thelatter the marble statuettes since the olddays constitute the climax of Art in all theHelladic area. They are non-pictorial andhave no devo-tional character like those ofthe pre-Palace period in Crete. There, theuniform area of that great island, comparedwith the segmented form of the other islandsand the coastal dwellings of the Greekmainland, will soon be driven to an urbanstructure and royal authority. In Crete themiddle Bronze Age blossoms rapidly THE METALS IN THE HELLADIC AREA67

to culminate as the Minoan achievement ofthe Aegean space-time. In contrast theremaining area seems to delay perhaps dueto disturbance from the movements of foreigntribes or the restructuring of the nativesunder the pressure of some foreign factor.

The Middle Bronze Age, approximately from1900 to 1600BC, demonstrated in southern Greece what ischaracterized as “the first Greek miracle”;that being the Cretan-Mycenean Civi-lization. With the help of metals(especially copper), the emerg-ing “proto-Hellene” exempted from material concerns,finally develops his spirit. The so-calledIndo-European races, having swarmed vast

expanses of Europe, devoid of anycivilization comparable to the Greek,certainly cannot be responsible, as it wasbelieved in the past, for the achievementsin the Helladic space. The proto-Hellene, aproduct of a lengthy and intense col-laboration between man and the Helladicspace-time, reaches maturity within thesethree centuries of the Middle Bronze Age.

This period is characterized by a lack ofbalance in the de-velopment of the Helladicarea. The southern part, Crete has theadmirable precedence, being later extendedinto Mycene. It is the Ancient PalaceCivilization of the Minoan Crete, which byhaving an organized trade, dominates theEastern Mediterranean region while thenorthern regions of Aegaeis show constraintand back-wardness. Foreign races probablyinvaded and blocked the devel-opment. Crete,on the other hand, which violently evolvedin two centuries (1900-1700 BC) is shaken bythe catastrophic earth-quakes of Enceladosthat destroy the old Palaces, to be rebuiltafterwards by the tireless people of Crete.

From the viewpoint of organization, Creteabsorbs foreign elements of the East andcreates “cities” with the outstandingpresence of “palaces” and kings. Thecoexistence of Cnossos, Phaestos and Maliaemphasizes the peaceful course of the three68CHAPTER NINE

urban centres involved in a common activityregarding foreign trade and sea power. Theregion of Cyclades, with a brilliantevolution during the Early Bronze Age, nowpresents a reduced activity and step by stepbecomes “Minoan”.

Crete, by rising to the level of asuperior “urban” civilization, creates themonumental architecture of palaces but doesnot display places of worship. That meansthat, on the one hand theruler-king acquires power, but on the otherhand the popular participation in publicaffairs is wide and devoid of theocraticapprehension in the sense of a mighty clergylike the one in the East. Divinity is apersonal affair of man and probably lodgedin the Palace. The Cretans of the AncientPalaces epoch are free people of peacefulactivities (the eastern influence hasweakened greatly) thus originating the firstbrilliant European civilization. Besides,according to the Myth, it is assumed thatZeus (Jupiter) was born in Crete and laterbrought Europe there; a thing thatstrengthens the idea that Crete was thestarting-point of Western Civilization.

However the culmination of the MinoanCivilization in that area is considered asthe third phase of the Bronze Age, the so-called New Palace epoch. Following the totaldestruction of the Minoan centres by violentearthquakes around 1700 BC, a re-creation ofan enormous expanse set out. The Helladic

man of the south, native of geologicalreclassifications of the Aegean area entersinto a splendid era now armed with the newtechnology and as heritage the achievementsof the Ancient Palace epoch. Three goldencenturies of the New Palace Period arecharacterized by their respective phases. Inparticular, the first century, 1700-1600 BC,is a period of recreation and preparationfor great prosperity, the second, 1600-1500BC, a period of climax and the third, 1500-1450 BC, a period of great expansion of theMinoan Civili-zation. The last ischaracterized by a two-way activity,firstly in THE METALS IN THE HELLADIC AREA69

its proliferation to the lower class peoplesand the creation of the MyceneanCivilization and secondly in the receipt andassi-milation of elements of a highercivilization like that of the Cy-clades. Thegenius, the technology and the spiritualabilities of the inhabitants of Crete arethe best principles for the achievement ofthe first European Civilization. Hence thedisasters which pre-ceded, reinforced theHelladic man to accomplish the great leap.The everlasting oscillation of “creation -disorder - creation etc.”,characteristic of the energetic chaos,applies in that area of the Helladicbecoming. The later mythological Phoenix,

being re-created in perpetuity from itsashes, is the proof of a certain self-knowledge of the Greeks since that era ofprehistory.

Main features of that period are: 1)Perfect social organi-zation, which ensuresthe equilibrium of the social classes andthe enduring internal peace. 2) Politicalorganization based on theo-cratic principleshaving as an objective the rule of law andjustice. 3) Set up of sea ruling and freecommunication with the people abroadresulting in the strengthening of trade andcultural re-lations. 4) Colonization andformation of the Mycenean centres. 5)Accumulation of wealth in the centres ofpalaces, yet without abuse of power andcreation of material life. The architectureof settlements and palaces adapted to theclimate equilibrates man into nature andbrings tranquillity to the soul; the latterresulting in the high form of art. Nature,considered divine, is the main source of areligion deeply rooted in human beings morethan any other civilization, but at the sametime devoid of religious com-pulsion.

The advanced technological knowledge ofthat era is expres-sed by the perfect sewersystems, the formation of water net-works,while the making of tools, especially inagriculture, slightly differs from those oftoday’s use. Handicraft was not performedin separate workshops. It was a part ofthe activity in

70CHAPTER NINE

palace compounds and in the households aswell. The great vegetation wealth of Crete,especially in medicinal and sweet-smellingherbs, is applied in purification andpreparation of aro-matic substances anddrugs but also of resins. Colouring sub-stances of mineral and vegetable origin arethe means to carry out painting and murals.A colouring substance originating fromshells, the purple, was widely used andexported, as proven by various finds.

Communication with Egypt, Cyprus andPhoenicia throughexport trade (exclusively handled by thekings) is testified by information ofEgyptian sources but also by murals ingraves. The ships, perfectly equipped,dominate the oriental Mediterranean and theAegean Sea. They have numerous sails andoars, deck cabins and holds, as have beenimprinted on small clay models. When thesemerchant ships are appropriately fitted theyare able to perform offensive and defensiveactions to protect Crete owing to the lackof walls in the palace compounds.

Political power had a theocratic basis, asthe king-priests performed their dualmission in majestic surroundings yet on ahuman scale. The naming “Minos” might be atitle as was “Pharaoh” in Egypt whilefeminine names of queens and prin-cesses

like Pasiphae, Ariadne and Europe denoted areligious meaning. The important position ofwomen in the religion of the Minoan peoplein public and private life is well known.Her fine and elegant appearance comparedwith today’s style of aesthetics and herparticipation in athletics as in“taurocathapsia” reveal her equal statuswithin the society of that golden period.The Greek man is the first in offering hishand to the Greek woman to ac-company him inorder to reach the highest culturalachievement.

Metal, which characterizes all this epochof prehistory, ela-borated in micro-sculptures and objects of use ordecoration,achieves a high perfection. Samples ofgolden jewels, fabricatedTHE METALS IN THE HELLADIC AREA71

by hammering, casting, graining and wiretechniques, generate admiration for theiraesthetic result and for the high demands ofthe users. Micro-sculpture and micro-plastics on stones, ivory and ceramics,apart from the metal techniques, provideprodigious samples of naturalisticexpression and also of religious andpolitical power especially in seal stones ofsemi-precious gems.

CHAPTER TEN

The “Minoan Eruption” of Thera

During the entire course of man on earth,great events of my-thological calamities

like those of cataclysms have played a de-cisive role regarding his evolution. In theHelladic space, where many geologicalreclassifications preceded the appearance ofman, the historically ascertained volcaniceruption of Thera de-stroyed everything theGreeks had created up to that time in Mi-noan Crete. The island of Thera in theCycladic region of the Aegean Sea had hiddena great volcanic crater since the veryancient times. Gases, steam and magma wereaccumulated under the volcanic cone.Encelados, one of the Titans, at that timeundermined the fate of the peaceful Minoanpeople and finally in the 17th century BCmanifested an explosive image of large geo-logical upheaval. The consequence was achaotic creation of “solitonic” or tsoumamiwaves in the Aegean Sea, which were directedto the south and destroyed the northerncoasts of Crete.

To begin with, it is particularlyessential to formulate some concepts of thischaotic display. It is a non-linear couplingof distinct oscillations, which createsolitonic-lonely waves in the water. Namely,this phenomenon is formed after separateoscil-lations have been produced by adisturbance, such as an eruption of avolcano at the bottom of the sea. Theseoscillations, in-stead of being dispersed in all directions,accumulate and create, by a specialcoupling, a huge wave. This great wave

contains exceedingly large amounts ofenergy. Recent history has already referredto certain occurrences even in modern days.These events

7374CHAPTER TEN

caused great disasters with many casualties.The so-called solitonic waves or “tsounami”, appearedfollowing volcanic eruptions or tectonicreallocations, occurring in deep waters. Avery disastrous one happened in December 26,2004 in Sumatra, Island of Indonesia. Thesolitonic waves destroyed large areas anddrowned hundreds of thousands of people.Similar waves of 30-40m in hight happened in1882 in the Krakatoa Island of the IndianOcean. During 1702 in Lisbon Portugal,thousands of people died by similarphenomena as well.

The evolution of such chaotic conditionsleading to solitonic waves is a strangeproperty characterized by unpredictablecata-strophic results. As we shall see,these solitons in social sets can have anintensively creative or disastrous effect,especially among the Greeks. This quality ofthe Greeks would explain and charac-terizeunforeseen behaviours in their greathistorical events, such as the Persian wars,the Greek revolution against the Ottoman

Empire and more recently the epic waragainst Fascism in 1940-1941.

Therefore we can imagine a chaoticsituation in which full disorder prevailsand determinism and the laws of statisticstake effect. Its course is unforeseen anddepends highly on the initial conditions. Wehave already referred to the fact that inchaotic systems there is a deterministicallyinherent predefined evolution. In this case,the partially organising tendencies of achaotic set, which reveal themselves bydissipation of energy, instead of dis-persing it as wave-oscillations to alldirections, they cause a huge wave by non-linear coupling. The image of “loneliness”of these solitonic waves is in contrast withthe simple harmonic orga-nization ofconsecutive waves, which appear when a shipsails. Solitonic waves can travel very longdistances, usually at a short height, butwith a very long wavelength. Theirdestructiveness develops when they approacha continental shelf where the height THE “MINOAN ERUPTION” OF THERA75

suddenly erupts and rushes like a waterywall of more than 30 meters height towardsthe land.

Returning to the Aegean area we shouldremind ourselvesthat after the fragmentation of Aegaeis andthe sinking of large parts of the land, in

the place of Thera Island there remained tworocky islets devoid of any volcanicmaterial. There, following the end of the“Tertiary Period” (two million years ago),volcanic craters began to take shape aroundthese islets, and by the end of the glacialera (about 30,000-20,000 years ago), theiractivity brought forth a new island,Strongyli, which comprised the two smallones.

The so-called “Minoan eruption” of thevolcano in Thera seems to have occurred,according to new calculations, during the17th century BC, when Crete and the Aegeaninsular area were at the pick of the Minoancivilization. Beneath the volcano largeaccumulations of steam, magma and gases hadbeen produced while in the meantimeStrongyli Island had been sunk and rege-nerated by the volcanic material of thesubmarine “caldera”. The second and fatalexplosion occurred around 1628 BC (accordingto physical measurements of the ashes in1993 AD) and was finally the cause ofdestruction of the Minoan civilization.

The time course of the Greeks since thedawn of prehistory, as we have described,proceeds in parallel with the geological re-allocations of their land. Continuouschanges created chaotic geometriccharacteristics on mountains, coasts and thepopulated geographic isolations, and shapedthe primary material of the people toproduce a particular species of man. These

people learned how to face the unexpectedand the non-periodic. The clear-sightednessof their mind enabled them to confrontexcep-tional situations and to determinewhat proper action to assume.

The recent excavations in Thera revealedthe image of a land under shockinglycatastrophic conditions. The precedingexplo-76CHAPTER TEN

sions and seismic activities threw intopanic the inhabitants, who evacuated theirbeautiful island, which afterwards wascovered by the volcanic ashes. Those ashesburied a whole set of dwellings,one of which has recently been uncovered atAcrotiri. The archaeologists relate thecatastrophe of Thera with that of Crete andthe knowledge of chaotic dynamics interpretsperfectly the results of the volcaniceruption on the Mother Island.

The consequences of this historicallyimportant geological event were significantfor the subsequent evolution of the Hella-dic area as well as for the whole of Europe.Brilliant Minoan Crete was at the zenith ofits colonial expansion. A refined artis-tically and technically advancedcivilization with women being equal to mengradually vanishes from the Mediterranean.In its place the Mycenean civilization,rough, warlike and patriarchal will continue

its mission and thus the Greeks will enterthe early historic era. It is the epoch,which divine Homer will describe later tous, by means of a perfect language that hadnecessitated elaboration lasting formillennia. That process took place in the“Greek-forming” area, because this uniquelanguage is also a product of the Helladicchaotic space-time. We should stress thatnothing substantial has been imported and itwould be mali-ceously naïve today for one toallege the contrary. Because, what else butthe Greek language would the nature ofGreece inspire to its inhabitants? Thisunprecedented oral communication, the lan-guage of harmonious sounds, the music ofHomer’s verses which convey the humansensibilities and relations of the Hellenes,Achaeans and Trojans amongst themselves andtowards their Olympian Gods.

Reverting to this great decisive event ofthe “Minoan erup-tion” it is important torefer to what the experts have concluded.They consider that after the volcanicexplosions, there followed consecutiveearthquakes of great intensity,deafening sounds, THE “MINOAN ERUPTION” OF THERA77

clouds of ashes, poisonous gases and dustthat changed the co-lour of the sea andproduced optical phenomena during sunset fora long period of time.

The most incredible were the solitonicwaves (badly namedtidal because there are no tides in thiscase) which rose and ad-vanced violentlytravelling many kilometres until theyencoun-tered the coast and destroyedeverything standing in their sight. It ispostulated that if the eruption of Therawere of the Krakatoa intensity, the soundshould have been heard up to Scandinavia,the Arabic Sea, Central Africa and theAtlantic Ocean. Due to the fact that thecaldera in Thera was found to be the largeston earth, having a diameter of about 10kilometres and great sea depth, it isestimated that the effect of its explosionsshould be more dis-astrous than the ones inKrakatoa. It is assessed that following theeruption and the sinking of Thera thesolitonic waves would have arrived at Crete20 to 30 minutes later and after three hoursat Syria and Tunisia.

The Minoan centres of Crete had previouslybeen subjected to disastrous earthquakes.The inhabitants rebuilt, after every des-truction, their dwellings and palaces;however this last calamity came unexpectedlyand was completely catastrophic. Fires, de-molitions of walls, accumulation of ashesand the covering by slung stones, pumice andsponge-stones with sulphur were the after-effects of the eruption that blanketed thenorth coasts of the island.

The inhabitants of the Minoan centres ofnorthern Crete, panic-stricken from theirprevious experience by the earthquakes,realized the seriousness of the geologicalphenomenon. Therefore devastationcharacterizes the finds of today’sexcavations of that period. The Minoanpeople abandoned their dwellings and pa-laces, those of a whole brilliant epoch.This dramatic end of the first Europeancivilization was simply a change ofscenery and 78CHAPTER TEN

also the opening of the new illustriousprehistoric epoch, that of Mycene.

The proto-Hellene of Crete will defer tohis geological fate having already carriedthe torch of most of the elements and art ofhis civilization to the Achaeans. Hiswriting by the linear script A (Minoan), the linear script B (Mycenean)and the ideogram-matic (literal) description on the famousPhaestos disk, possibly of a ritual hymn,will formulate the alphabet of the Hellenes.

The Minoan people tolerated the invasionsof the northern Greeks and the great islandthat of the beginning and the end of Europegave birth to Jupiter, as the final outcomeof Theogony, by mixing the new elements.Today on the plateau of Lassithi thevillagers there will show us the deep cave

where Rhea brought to light new-born Zeusand hid him from Cronos. It is Jupiter whobecame the father of gods and men. Myth andHistory for those simple people of Crete,deriving indefinitely from the depths oftradition, always coincide. It is theunsolved beginning of the brilliant climaxof Hellenism, which in a few centuries’ timewill create its greatest achievement.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Great Creation - Language

The very long course of the Helladicpeople in prehistoric times would not haveprepared the “explosion” of the Greekcivilization had it not concluded the first

and most important achievement, which is theGreek Language. That was the attainment of aslow but secure mental process of theHelladic man. In the course of manymillennia, the mind of the human race,donated from above, co-operated with theanimating forces of the Helladic space-time.We wonder how many millennia had passed fromthe inarticulate cries of a primitivecreature to Homer’s language. Aris Poulianosdesignates the initiation of speech 40millennia ago and Ioannides during the 26th-29th Vourmian Glacial Periods, reaching itszenith during the 12th to the 9th millenniumBC.

We are not linguists to diversify fromexisting theories of the origin andevolution of articulate speech. Nor are weneuro-phy-siologists in search of findinghow the folding of the cortex came to shapea sound system of communication, being notonly per-fect but also as complicated as theGreek language. We merely remain ecstatic inthe face of the first impressive element:that this magnificent achievement wascreated solely by oral speech. Thegrammatical rules, the syntax and all theelements consti-tuting a language hadneither been written previously nor taughtby writing.

Let us ponder over these ordinary dwellersof the Aegean area, living close to nature,dressed simply, with occupations so differ-ent from today’s life. We can imagine them

discussing with a 79

80CHAPTER ELEVEN

clear mind and communicating with each otherbringing out theirpersonal ideas and viewpoints, during thepre-Homeric epoch when Greece was passingthe threshold of the brilliant historic era.Certainly the first ideograms and afterwardsthe linear scripts A and B were not used toimprint higher speculations and thoughts norHomer’s epics, which as we know weretransferred orally and much later by theacquired written form. They were ratherabbreviations of transactions or memorablephrases that were discovered, whichscientists of today are strenuously tryingto decode.

Let us take things from the beginning. Weshall define lan-guage as the display of aspecifically formed brain, which ex-pressesthe conclusions and decisions of the mind bya sequence of special sounds. Languagecannot be rendered precisely by writtenspeech. The intonations, the fluctuations ofthe volume and rhythm, the variations of thesound hue and many other per-sonal elementsof the speaker cannot be recorded by thescript. Only a small percentage of thereality is conveyed with punctu-ation. Theintonations and breathings of the Greeklanguage, which nowadays tend to be

abolished, had their own extended meaning.The acute and grave sounds were audiblydifferent, as well as the circumflex thatwas a combination of both. The smooth andthe aspirate breathings gave differentchromatic texture to the beginning of words.The long and short vowels did not have thesame duration. All these details of verbalspeech, apparent in everyday interaction ofthe Hellenes, when the Greek language laterbecame common for many peoples, it wasneces-sary for them to be imprinted. TheAlexandrines, using brea-things and accentscarried that out.

We shall refer to the “definitions” oflanguage and especially to those given byscientists, inscribed in the internationallite-rature. English linguist Henry Sweetprovides the definition that THE GREAT CREATION – LANGUAGE81

“language is an expression of ideas through sounds, whichare combined in words and those in clauses”. TheAmericansBernard Bloch and George Trager wrote thatlanguage is “a sys-tem of arbitrary phonetic symbols bywhich is accelerated the collaboration of a social group”.One notes that the existing previouscultural attitude of each author leads torespective defi-nitions. In the case of theGreek language we have to face a pho-neticsystem by which the acoustic attribution ofthe phenomena (visible or not), entities

(living or not), concepts, ideas, notionsand their characteristics, time continuationetc. are rendered by their physical“depiction”. In principle it is a transferof the sounds of the physical world into themeans of communication of the Helladic men.

The prehistoric Greek who lives near thecoast hears the splashing of the waterrepeating the sound als,als,als. With this soundthe Aegean man will give a name to theliquid element that surrounds him. So, als(αλς) is the initial name of the sea, whichlater became Th-alassa (θ-άλασσα). Accordingly,he will name salt as halas (άλας), thecrystalline substance which whitens therocks after the seawater evaporates.

However M.Stephanides since 1925, hasalready presented the analysis of thisnatural-sounding phenomenon of the Greeklanguage. He writes that these naturalisticwords can be reduced to original sounds,mainly mimics as Plato mentions in Kratilos“voice of what imitates and names the imitating by thevoice”, “φωνή εκείνου ό μιμείται και ονομάζει ο μιμούμενοςτη φωνή”. Phenomena mostly acoustic, hissingsounds, cracking, knocking and whispering asPlato refers as well, mimics with ρο (rho)like κρούειν, θραύειν, θρύπτειν, (knocking,breaking, smashing), with σίγμα (sigma) likeσείεσθαι, φυσάν (shaking, blowing), with λάμδα(lamda) like λείος, λιπαρός (smooth, fatty). Wecould add many examples, as well as anyone of the “Greeks”, according to

82CHAPTER ELEVEN

Isocrates’ definition: “Hellenes are called thoseparticipating in our culture”. We should present, forinstance, the word κόραξ (raven) a soundcoming from its cry κρα, the words φως, φωτιά (light, fire) from the sound φφφ (f f f)when someone blows (φυσά) the fire to ignite,the words λυγμός, κλαυθμός (sob, lamentation)from the spasm of the throat. Contrasteddifferences of the sound in the feelings,e.g. γλυκύς-δριμύς (sweet, acrid), ψυχρός-θερμός (cold, hot), απaλός-τραχύς (soft,rough) etc. are evident. The wordsacoustically speak on their own.

Therefore it seems that this naturalisticstructure and texture of the Greek languageechoes essentially Nature itself, as it isthe great mother of human beings, animalsand plants, expressing itself with annualand daily variations and the meteorologicaland geological phenomena of the planet.Nature speaks with the language of the birdsand the winds, the tempest and the deadcalm, the whispering of the pine-trees andthe bluster of storms, the outburst ofthunder and the hollow of the earthquake.These same words which one randomly takes asexamples depict with clarity the identicalphenomena, the selfsame facts. The netresult of the undoubted musicality of theGreek language, of words as well as phrases

of oral speech, is nothing more than theeternal musical symphony of Nature.

Generally, by examining the communicationof Nature’s crea-tures we see that it isachieved mainly by the language of sounds,which are used by every animal species astheir communication codes. The birds, theseals, the wolves, the dolphins communicatemostly by sound effects apart from opticalcommunication or the sense of smell. Thusmen, apparently imitating the surroundinganimal kingdom, create comparable soundmodes of commu-nication, which become theirown language. The Greeks, raised in thismultifarious and unprecedented area, createtheir language having as examples theharmonious sounds that surround them. THE GREAT CREATION – LANGUAGE83

Apparently, in this sound communication, theblending of con-sonants and vowels prevailin exact proportions, which produce thesensation of the musicality of the Greeklanguage. Neither do more consonants existas we find in the North nor more vowelsas in the South. On the other hand, thesounds of the vowels are simple and clearspecifying perfectly, like in Euclideanmode, the marginal acoustic conditions.There are no intermediate sounds, forinstance between ε and ο, or ου and ι etc.,as in other languages. The Helladic naturedemands no disputed sonic articulations. It

is the precedence of music with its vocals,which requires mathematical expressions,ratios of integral numbers of Pythagoreanlogic. Nothing in between as in fractaldimensions. The geometry of the Helladicspace-time inspires the marginal perfectionof the greatest Greek achievement, the GreekLan-guage.

Sometime, after many millennia, when thefermentation of the Greek Logos reachesattainments like Homer’s Epics, thislanguage of narration, descriptions, ideasand reasoning of Gods’ and men’s acts, willdemand its recording. Due to the enormousincrease of data from that civilization,memorising is not adequ-ate any longer.However, if we assume that technology atthat time had provided man with magneticrecording or at least a phonographic one, itis most probable that writing would not ha-ve appeared. The symbols, which formillennia have recorded the acts andrelations of men or the hieroglyphics, thelinear in-scriptions and finally thealphabets, would not have been in-vented.

The cultural revolution that occurred inGreece with the introduction of writtenspeech during the 8th and 7th centuries BCand the technological revolution ofelectronic recording today, are means thattry to reproduce the sounds of the humanlan-guage. Evidently the electronictechnique surpasses any other

84CHAPTER ELEVEN

because it records and files the identicalsounds. We wonder if the use of digitalrecording would mean the end of writtenspeech.

In the effort to explain the Greekcivilization phenomenon, scientists turn tothe research of functioning andapportionment of parts of the human brain.The writing system of the Greeklanguage, which appeared before the goldenera of Classical Greece, provides fullphonetic image, symbolising vowels andconsonants with the various letters. Thishas been achieved, as scientists ascertain,due to the localization of the writingdepic-tion in the left hemisphere of thebrain, which includes regions efficient forthe required phonetic analysis. Indeed,neurological research shows that brainrepresentation of a non-alphabetic writingsystem like Chinese and Japanese exists inthe right he-misphere and differs greatlyfrom the alphabetic one. The Greek languageby its alphabetic writing form gives birthto the other languages of Westerncivilization. Today, we certainly speakabout Greek-European languages and not aboutIndo-European ones.

Moreover one should deploy arguments ofchaotic origin of the Greek language bysearching the frequency of appearance of

words in a text comparing it with the“genetic” language of RNA or with a “text”of chaotic sequence of random symbols gene-rated by logistic processing.

It is therefore Hesiod’s Chaos, whichgives birth to the lan-guage of the Gods anddemigods of the Olympian Pantheon. This isthe same language, which both Achaeans andTrojans speak in Homer’s epics because nopresence of interpreters is mentionedanywhere. Furthermore the Gods, protectorsof either side, communicate with thebelligerents in the same language. Thereforeit seems that a “common” Greek language pre-existed very long before the Alexandrian“common” one, as a means of understandingamong people in the Helladic area. This isbecau-THE GREAT CREATION – LANGUAGE85

se this great creation, the Greek language,demanded “kneading” by many people in along-lasting melting pot of millennia. Andthat was the great organization of chaos inthe communication of the human race.

CHAPTER TWELVE

The Brain of the Greeks

The difference in behaviour among humanbeings rests on the formation and theeffectiveness of their brain. But let usinves-tigate how the Greek brain mightoperate, based on the inheritedcharacteristics as well as those affected by

the environment. There are two factors,which compose the particularities of man:the genotype and the phenotype. The first isthe sum of the in-herited deposits, whichcompose the series of genes and are found inevery cell. Their final coded form is themolecule of DNA. The phenotype on the otherhand, containing the visible characteristicsof man (form, size, colour, behaviour),includes the physical and biochemicalqualities, which arise by the interaction ofthe geno-type with the environment.

Thus, we have before us a man of singularcharacter. Related to his figure, the Greekdoes not differ much from other Europeanpeople of the Mediterranean region inheight, colour and other external features.Yet, on the other hand, the Greeksthemselves do not have the same figure.Examples of facial differences fromantiquity can be found between the statuesof classic mythological figures and the realhistorical personalities. The so-called“Greek” profile, which is admired in theunique creations of the classic sculptures,might be a “Euclidean” geometric perfectionof human figure and body proportions.Consequently the Greek form is not theirspecial characteristic.

Therefore we must probe into the internalworld of the Greek, and examine the brain ofthe contemporary people as well as that

87

88CHAPTER TWELVE

of the epoch of the Greek miracle. First ofall let us considerwhat the brain consists of. We know aboutits two hemispheres, the right and the left,each having apportioned the functions in thecortex of the complicated folding. Eachregion has steady func-tions in kinetics,memory, processing as well as in sensory.

Commencing from the language as the firstmental expres-sion, we see that no man isborn with the direct ability of speech. If ababy is left to grow up in a forest, it willfinally express itself with inarticulatecries. Yet, what exists as an intrinsiccharac-teristic of a human being is thestructure of his brain. In a special regionof the cortex there already exists a centreof speech, which can be developed as alingual centre if the environment is suit-able. In other words, we are born with theability of learning how to speak, which doesnot exist in animals.

Consequently, a question arises: Does theHellenic environ-ment affect a man inbecoming “Greek”? Certainly a positive replyconfirms the hypothesis that the Helladicspace-time cre-ates its people sustainingtheir particular characteristics. On theother hand, it is a fact that the phenotypealters when external factors cease to causetransmutations. The biological degenera-tion

of one characteristic occurs when theexternal influences va-nish. As an examplewe can refer to the second and third gene-ration of Greek immigrants abroad, whostruggle to maintain their Greek character,because the threat of transformation intonatives of the country in which they live isapparent.

Evidence about a special link between theHellenic environ-ment and its man is theimmense nostalgia of the Greek when he isabroad. Greece holds a mysteriousfascination, everything is idealized, thedisadvantages disappear and an invisibleappeal makes the Greek unhappy when hecannot return home. His Odyssey, as long asit lasts, brings the greatest of miseries tohim. “The return to Ithaca” is the maingoal and not the “travel” of THE BRAIN OF THE GREEKS89

the poet Kavafis, who points out theexperiences gained through its duration.Moreover Seferis, another poet, confesses:“Wherever I travel, it’s Greece that hurtsme”. Hence we speculate that the Hellenicspace-time has since the very old timesengraved in the brain of the Greek itschaotic characteristics, which result insentimental unsteadiness. The Egyptianpriests were probably referring to thelatter by saying, “the Greeks remainchildren forever”. Therefore an invisible

coupling exists between the Greek and hiscountry, an umbilical cord, which is seldomsevered even if he has been abroad for along time.

However let us approach this miraculousworld of the human brain where it is saidthat the ability to acquire and store infor-mation outmatches the number of elementaryparticles in the universe. A whole chaos iscontained within the brain with bil-lions ofneurones in the grey matter of the cortex.These are particular cells, which are allborn with the foetus, and very fewregenerate, staying with the human brainthroughout its longe-vity. These neuronesconsist of a main body, containing the nu-cleus with the inherited characteristics,and the dendrites, which receive thestimulus from other neurones. The main bodyof a neurone has a long axis as anextension, which by electric pulses conveysthe stimulus to the other extremities, thesynaptic ends. By means of dendrites ofother neurones, they transfer the mes-sagefor processing, storage, or kinetic act,speech, sentimental tension etc.

Sherrington, in 1946 gave a poetic imageof all this transfer-ring of information inperpetuity from one neurone to another. Heresembled the brain of a man in alertness tobe “like a magic loom where the electric signals comingand going as shuttles, weave a pattern of notionalsubstance. This does not last for a long time but faints and

another one appears again. It is a harmony of movementof the details of this marvellous image”. A 90CHAPTER TWELVE

scientist today may define this poeticmetaphor in terms of chaotic dynamics, wherethe harmony of detail contains the self-similarity of fractals in the chaoticgeometry of the intermediatedimensions. These are the fractals of theneuronic geometry.

Therefore a dynamic chaos exists in thefunctioning of bil-lions and billions ofneurones in the human brain. It is the im-printing of the non-linear dynamics innatural phenomena from the limited space ofa human brain to the vastness of the Uni-verse. Is this the great experiment of theCreator? Is it indeed the reason why everyman considers himself personally as a wholeuniverse, having his chaotic brain at thecentre of it all?

Localizing our attention back to theGreeks, we have empha-sized repeatedly thatthe Helladic space-time is par excellence achaotic one. Therefore the phenotype of theGreek, regarding at least his behaviour andmode of thought, might have been af-fected(and still is) by the non-linear dynamiccondition of his environment. A whole worldis revealed by travelling a few kilo-metresof the inland in Greece, with constantalternations of the coastal details, a

continuous surprise by the sudden changes ofthe weather and the unexpected earthquakesof Encelados. This Titan occasionally causeschaotic destructions or sometimes mereplayfulness in the everyday life of theHellenes. All these must have been engravedas a chaotic grid in the sum of neurones.And this is why the magic loom ofSherrington, with the “attractors” ready tolead to flashing solutions, weaves the mostcomplex patterns in the Greek brain. Fromthose patterns glorious effu-sions of themind and human behaviour leap upoccasionally, but can sometimes lead tounfortunate self-destructive situations.However, the Hesiodean Chaos of the Greeks,retaining some basic inherent commands,gives birth to the miraculous world of Gods,demigods and men.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

First Hellenic Rally

The Trojan War

The interspersed distribution of themultifarious groups in the Helladic space,natives, aliens or mixed with the indigenousra-ces of proto-Hellenes, displays during

the second half of the 2nd millennium BC amosaic that has not yet declared its pan-Helle-nic identity. It is the end of theMinoan epoch and the commen-cement of theMycenean one. Then, as if by a highercommand, the first Hellenic rally isorganized. It is the great campaign of theAchaeans and their allies against Troy.

The uniform language and writing (possiblyLinear A and B) as well as the paradigm ofthe palace structure of Minoan Crete, whichdominated in the Mediterranean trade,triggered the people of southern Greece toproceed as a whole. Their objective was toconquer Troy of an equally advancedcivilization. Three centu-ries have alreadypassed after the “solitonic” breakdown ofthe brilliant Minoan civilization forMycenean Greece to reach its “multi-golden”splendid epoch. These Myceneans were the an-cestors of the classic era; that is to say,the “ancient fore-fathers” of modern Greeks.The Myth and Tradition of that epoch articu-lated by Homer’s superb epic, indeliblymarked the Greek con-sciousness, which wasthe main cause of the Greek miracle.

However let us see, as a preliminaryapproach to the chaotic interpretation ofthe Greek phenomenon, two characteristicfigu-res in Homer’s epic. Agamemnon andOdysseus, the two predo-minantpersonalities, the former of the Iliad andthe latter of the Odyssey, are the two

finely defined opposing conditions of the 9192CHAPTER THIRTEEN

joint rule of order - chaos. For the firsttime in Prehistory - History, the leader ofthe Achaeans - representing order - ralliedthe Greek people mainly from the west sideof the Aegean space, to an unprecedentedexpedition. The non-linear coupling of thescattered cities and islands, with kings ofambivalent interests, formed a huge“solitonic” wave which commenced from Aulidetowards Troy. This constructive exaltationof the Greeks exhibits elements of disorder.Chaos, which always lurks, will alter thismagnificent pan-Hellenic campaign to a tenyear story of disputes and heroism in frontof the Trojan walls, which do not fall butthrough trickery. And this final act is animprovisation of the Greeks, who always findsolutions when driven to the extreme.

On the other side, Priam, king of theevidently Greek speak-ing Ilion, rallied hisallies of the north-eastern side of theAegean Sea to confront the invaders. Istherefore the Trojan War a civil conflictamong the people of the Aegean space-time?And may that be the reason why the poet andthe Gods share their admi-ration in favourof both warring camps?

Chaos is therefore intrinsic to theapparent order of the cam-paign, and emerges

during the siege period reaching a peak whenIlion finally falls. The Achaeans as winnerscommit atrocities to be later underlinedwith much dislike by the Tragic Poets in theclassic period. The purification and divinepunishment will equally be emphasized in the“Orestia”, “Iphigenia” and “Elec-tra”tragedies. However the splendid myth of thefirst “pan-Hellenic” existence includes thegreatest lecture to the subse-quent Greeksregarding their self-knowledge. These peopleat-tending the tragedies at Dionysos Theatrein Athens will draw on the moral concerningthe behaviour and fate of the chaoticGreeks.

Odysseus on the other hand, who imposesthe end of the ten year disarray throughthe ingenious solution of the Trojan Horse, FIRST HELLENIC RALLY - THE TROJAN WAR93

will later be expressing mainly thedisorganization of order. Thewrath of Poseidon will lead him to anunprecedented adventure where unexpectedevents provide a pattern of non-periodicity,a subject that might be the primeconstituent of this adventurous narration,which has since fascinated people across theglobe.

All the above, during this great rally,underline the chaotic behaviour of men andGods as well as the realization by earlyGreeks that they belong to one nation. The

Trojan War is the dominating event of theMycenean epoch. This great period of pre-history, was in a haze within the Myth,prior to the discovery of the Multi-GoldenMycenes. The Mycenean epoch is, by unin-terrupted continuity, the succession of theMinoan one. That is why the characterizationof the “Creto-Mycenaean” civilizationemphasizes the connection between thepeaceful epochs of the Minoans and thewarlike epochs of the Myceneans.

The period defined as Mycenean commencesaround 1600 BC, just after the “Minoaneruption” of Thera and ends around 1100 BC,coinciding with the culmination andtermination of the Helladic Bronze Age.Later, follows the pre-historic and geome-tric Middle Age of the Helladic area, whichis the epoch of iron, to arrive at theClassic Epoch, the Golden Century of Athens.

The role of the Mycenaeans as founders ofthe Greek nation was disputed by misledscientists because it was considered that“Indo-European races” were those who foundedthe Greek civili-zation by the so-called“descent of the Dorians”. Unforgivableignorance may still exist about the facts onhow civilizations we-re created. These, webelieve, are not evidently due to importedforeign ideas, especially by racesdescending from the North to the Helladicarea. A civilization is the result of an insitu and age-long conjunction of man with hissurroundings. It would be rather absurd to

consider that north-eastern races, stillpossessing the primitive mentality of thehordes, coming from the steppes of 94CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Asia to the forests of Central Europe, couldbring civilization and language to theHelladic area. It is time to abolishtheories onIndo-Europeans and foreign “Dorians” as themain contributors of the Greek miracle.Wandering populations still of an unsettledlife did not carry civilization in theirluggage nor did they com-municate withcomplex lingual means. Just a few wordswould be necessary for the tribe to intra-communicate as they were wanderingthroughout the lands of Europe to settle,live, feed and bring up their children.Civilizations are in situ creations of immortalNature, which uses mortal human beings forits high mission.

The Mycenaean period of the Greeks isdivided into three sub-periods. The twofirst are short, one century each, and arethe prelude of the main period, which coversthe last three centuries until 1100 BC. Allthese have been delimited by ceramic findsand their apparent evolution. The beginningof the Mycenaean epoch that coincides withthe end of the Minoan shows an unin-terrupted continuity of the Greek becoming.As we now realize, in the Aegean area the

torch was passed from one civilization toanother. Minoan Crete in the same centurylaid the foundation of the new palaces whilethe Greek agricultural mainland proceeded toits new fate with dynamism. Particularly thecoastal centres seem to have progressed likethose of Aegina, Eleusis, Chalcis, Iolcosetc. The Minoan and Cycladic influencepassed on the message through the Aegeanelement.

Though Mycenae is situated in the inlandof the Argolis Gulf, it plays the leadingpart in the new changes. Their crucial posi-tion, an entrance to the Peloponnese fromthe southern Aegean Sea, was determinativefor the next splendid evolution. The mes-sages of the Minoan civilization amazed thewarlike Mycenaeans and the naval power ofCrete was a new challenge for the do-minanceof the overseas territories. Thus at theend of the Early FIRST HELLENIC RALLY - THE TROJAN WAR95

Mycenaean epoch (1500 BC) the ancestors ofAgamemnon acquired naval independence andappeared to have been based at Miletos. Theeruption of the volcano in Thera forces thebound-aries of the Minoans towards a retreat. Thecurve of the rise-summit-decline sequence ofCrete proceeds to its conclusion.

In the second phase, Mycenae, havingfounded its dominance, expands as far as

Southern Italy and Rhodes, with access tothe Orient. It is of no significance as tohow the Mycenaeans ob-tained the torch fromthe Cretans. Evans who brought to light theMinoan civilization considered that acolonial process pre-existed while Weissupported the indigenous evolution of theMyce-naeans, yet under a Minoan influence.Nevertheless it is a fact that this period,referred to as a Cretan-Mycenaean amalgamhad the characteristics of an inter-penetration. The linear script B, which wasfound in both areas, reveals the possibleearly instal-lation of Mycenaeans in Cretebut does not exclude the transfer of thewritten speech from the Minoans to theMycenaeans. Besides, the Cretans had reachedearly on the zenith of their progress.

The excavations of Sleeman in Mycenaebrought to light the famous “multi-golden”graves. One of the masks with pure Greekcharacteristics was considered to havebelonged to the Homeric Agamemnon. Yet howmany powerful kings of Mycenae might havehad the stature and the glory of Agamemnon,as how many Minos could have existed duringthe many centuries of Crete? Nonetheless itis a fact that the tradition of the Mycenaenpeople, which lasted more than a thousandyears, reached as far as the time whenPausanias visited them, after 150 AD. Thenatives there, as he writes in Corinthiaca,showed him with pride the Treasury of Atreusand spoke to him about the spot at the

Acropolis where Agamemnon and his escortswere buried, as well as the graves of the“outcast” Clytemnestra and Aegisthos whowere buried outside the wall.96CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The Mycenaean period of the 16th and 15th

centuries BC exhibits even today anunresolved image. Neither Palaces nor maindwelling centres have been found yet. Onlythe royal tombs with plentiful and richfuneral gifts provide information. Thereare no records on plates like those of thelate Mycenaean era. Therefore, it is assumedthat in the main Mycenaean centres a royaldynasty existed as a power structure, whichruled an ex-tended region in anauthoritarian mode. According to tradition,these dynasties seemed to have kindred linksamong them, like those of the European royalfamilies of our modern era. Anyhow it isevident that Mycenae, as proved by the veryrich and mo-numental architecture of thetombs, had surpassed and refrained from theother Mycenaean centres; just as thedistances that se-parated Cnossos from theother Minoan centres in Crete. Were thekings of the Mycenaean centres first amongequals, like those of the Minoan centres?

An important difference seems to prevailin the succession of the two civilizations.The theocratic organization of Crete givesplace to the military dominance of the new

Helladic structure. Certainly, the firstdynasties might have originated from arather democratic tradition of old localcustoms because nowhere in the middle-Helladic dwellings, elements of centralizedauthority were found. In this new royalstructure of the Mycenaean period, thecounsellors of nobility and other royalmembers should have basically constituted akind of pyramidal hierarchy with the king atthe top. Nevertheless it is a fact,ascertained by archaeological excavations,that queens and princesses (funeral giftswere found in their graves which weresimilar to those of males) fullyparticipated in the activities of thedynasty. Scenes of huntingand bullfighting on rings and stone seals,and later in wall paint-ings exhibit womenco-existing with men. The Cretan traditionwhich sets woman to be equal to man ispassed on to the rest of FIRST HELLENIC RALLY - THE TROJAN WAR97

Greece. It is now certain that Clytemnestrareigned jointly with Agamemnon.

Naval power, on the other hand, provingthe “universality” of the Mycenaean epoch,is transferred from Crete which rulesjointly for a period of time. Trade,evidently controlled by thekings, is expanded to foreign countries andthe Mycenaeans, be-ing taught by the

Cretans, begin to displace the lattergradually. The Mycenaean ships, similar tothe Cretan ones, perform double missions asmerchant and warships and carry the torch ofthe Greek tradition to conquer the seas fromthe Cretan islanders

As sea transportation and trade aretransplanted to the Greek mainland,handicraft and the way of life are alsotransferred to the Mycenaeans from theCretans who had been civilized long before.Therefore the old Mycenaean art has anintense Minoan character. The miniatures instamps depicted the fashion of the dressesthat were also identically transferred.Entertainments, sports, dances, baths andjewels were initially Cretan, but thewarlike character of the Mycenaeansgradually transforms the way of life tosomething more masculine. It is the greatprepara-tion for the Helladic rally and theconsciousness of a unified Greek identity.

The art of ceramics, stone-sculpture,metalwork and gunsmith follow the samecourse of evolution from one civilization tothe other, ascending the steps of man’s fateto reach higher forms of expression and toproclaim the reality of the perishable humanbeing. The eternity that Mycenaeansattained, was due to the use of gold inunique works of art that lent them thecharacterization as “Multi-Golden Mycenae”.The influence of Minoan art is alwaysapparent even in the themes, the techniques

being well known in the course of manycenturies in Crete. The only dif-ferencewas that the great island was behind increating golden items because there was a shortage ofthis noble metal there, a98CHAPTER THIRTEEN

fact that on the contrary did not occur onthe mainland.

After the Early Mycenaean epoch, whichends in 16th century BC, the rise of thedominance of the Achaeans commences. This isreinforced by the destruction of the lastpalaces at Knossos by fire around 1400 BC.The penetration and final dominance of theMycenaeans in Crete is assisted by thisevent. But what was thecondition of the recently born sovereignstate on the mainland of Greece? During the14th century BC the Greek population lived insmall villages. About 130 of them havealready been ascertained. The circumstancesduring that era drove the population to thecoasts or near the sea. This occurred fromcape Taenaron up to the Tempe of Thessaly,including Iolcos in Thessaly, Orcho-menosand Thebes in Boeotia, Chalcis in Euboea,Corinth, My-cenae, Tiryns and Menelaion ineastern Peloponnese, Pylos and Kyparissia inwestern Peloponnese. Near the sea routes,mainly of the Aegean Sea, the Achaeans areinspired by the mystic chaotic geometry of

the coastline and dash to occupy the insulararea to expand in overseas lands of theknown world.

They start to settle down in the closestislands like Naxos, Delos, Cythnos,Seriphos, Milos in the Cyclades. Theycontinue in Miletos, Rhodes and Cyprus whereArcadians are installed in Engomi andMaroni. The expansive penetration to theEast is achieved by favourable conditions atthat time. Egypt, the Near East and thecoasts of Syria are suitable and alreadyprepared by the long lasting Minoan tradeactivity. Moreover at the eastern coasts ofthe Aegean Sea, in Troy, as well as in thewestern Mediterranean, Italy, Sicily,Mycenaean products are circulated,underlining the commercial genius of theincubated Greeks.

Following the overseas expanding activityof the Achaeans, it commences proliferationtowards the Greek mainland, especially tothe rich areas. During the first halfof the 14th century BCdwellings are extended to the north up tothe Axios valley, to theFIRST HELLENIC RALLY - THE TROJAN WAR99

west as far as to Epiros and Acarnania andare multiplied in Locris, Phthiotis, Elisand Triphylia. Passing the Ionian Sea theyreach Ithaca and Zacynthos. At that timeimpressive population density appears in

Attica, Boeotia, Corinthia, Argolis andThessaly. The evident peaceful growth of thepopulation without invasion of new elementsmanifests the flourishing period of Achaeandomination and the rise in the standard ofliving; thatwas due to the improvement of cultivationmethods and exploi-tation of naturalresources. That explains the efficientapplication of new administrative methods,the rise of economic potentiality as well asthe planning of collective projects; onebeing the con-struction of a complex systemof earth-works, trenches and tun-nels after1350 BC, which drained the Copais marsh,thus giving the farmers one of the mostfertile lands in Greece. Simulta-neously inTyrins and Mycenae as well as in Pylos andThebes, cyclopean walls and palaces areerected. These were the head-quarters of thedespots and their administration andcoordinating centre of the economicactivities.

It is the most glorious period of theMycenaean civilization during which theHelladic area prospers and the dwellings areincreased, more than four hundred in number.These have been extended as far asChalcidice, Cos, Carpathos, Rhodes, Lesbos,Samos. Bursting population development ofsuch a size will be repeated only in theclassic epoch. Administrative organizationof city complexes becomes evident andgreater regions obtain their respective

rulers. All these facts are well known fromthe Iliad and the “Tradition”. Both throughthe “Ships’ Roster” enumerate the Achaeanswho fought in Troy and describe their Greeklocalities with the corresponding leadersand the number of vessels.

All these self-governed city-stateshad the characteristics ofindependence and did not constitute partof an “empire” as were100CHAPTER THIRTEEN

the large states with overseas possessionscalled at that time. Mycenae and Argolis hadof course the primacy and as pioneers hadformed the trends of that time. However theeverlasting splintering of the Greeks manytimes led to conflicts and wars among theMycenaean states. It is not mentioned eitherin the Tradition or in the Epic how allthese particular leaders decided to join inthe campaign against Troy and to elect onecommander in chief, Agamemnon. We assumethat according to the theory ofnon-linear dynamics, only a single spark wasnecessary to create the non-linear couplingof the individual chaotic entities, thecity-states. The result, as we have alreadyreferred to, is a “solitonic” wave withmassive energy.

Yet what was the initial cause, whichrallied so many warring leaders? Theperpetual task of literature in keeping a

distance from the real facts and reasonsutilises in this case the myth of avoluntary rape of “Fair Helen”. She is thewife of Menelaos, Agamemnon’s brother, andis presented as the pretence. How-ever theeverlasting causation for such grand scaledeeds by the Greeks is honour. It is notdifficult to understand that the real objectbehind that great rally was the disruptionof Troy, a rival entity of the Achaeans. Thechaotic Greek mass is thus trans-formed intoan order of very high organization, which isrepre-sented by the elected commander-in-chief Agamemnon, who will lead a huge fleetwith a great army against Troy. But thedisorder, as it has been pointed out manytimes, is already intrinsic; this time isthe personality of Achilles, who disputesthe leader from the beginning and willcontinue doing so during the siege.

To note the magnitude of that hugeorganized rally of the Achaeans and pan-Hellenes, one needs to examine the “Ships’Roster” we have referred to. It is a sourceof information, sorting geographically and by importance thevarious kingdoms of the Mycenaean dominion.In the B΄ of Iliad (verses 487-760) Homer,FIRST HELLENIC RALLY - THE TROJAN WAR101

through poetic descriptions, records, as ifhe was the historian of the campaign, one byone the cities and the regions, which took

part with their sovereigns, as well as thenumber of their ships. “Peneleos and Leitos ruled…with fifty ships carrying one hundred twenty Boeoteanwarriors each” (494…510) “Βοιωτών μεν Πηνέλεως καιΛήϊτος ήρχον…των μεν πεντήκοντα νέες κίον, εν δε εκάστηκούροι Βοιωτών εκατόν και είκοσι βαίνον”. Thereforethe Boeotians were the first in the Roster,because the great gathering occurred inAulis of Boeotia. Their leaders werePineleos, Leitos, Arcesilaos, Prothoinor andClonios; among their twenty-nine cities,there were the following: Aulis, Erythrai,Copai, Aliartos, Plataia, Hypothibai. Thisis the main corps of Boeotians, who werepresent with fifty ships. These sailscarried one hundred twenty young-warriorseach. The Roster later men-tions thirty moreBoeotian ships from Orchomenos and Asplidon,which are added to the first. These citieswere prosperous and perhaps for this reasonmentioned separately.

Twenty-seven large groups of pan-Hellenesand Achaeans follow: Phoceis, Locroi,Avantes, Athenians, Argeioi, Mycenae-ans,Lacedaemonaeans, Pylioi, Arcades, Epeioi,Doulichieis, Ce-phallines, Aetoloi, Cretans,Rhodioi, Symioi, Dodecanesaeans, Myrmidones,Enienes-Peraevoi and Magnetes. The richestand more populous cities are present indozens of ships: the My-cenaeans bring onehundred, the Pylioi ninety, the Cretans andthe Argeioi eighty each, the Lacedaemonaeansand the Arcadeans sixty each, the Atheniansand the Myrmedones of Achilles fifty each.

The small cities also bring many ships sothat this unpre-cedented fleet will sum,according to the Roster, up to a thousandone hundred eighty six (1186) ships. If theaverage number of the crew in every ship wasone hundred warriors, this great rally must have raised an army of more than one hundredthousand men (100,000). The leaders areAgamemnon, Achilles, Menelaos, 102CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Nestor from Pylos, Idomeneas from Crete,Ajax the Speedy, Ajax Telamonios, Diomedesfrom Argos and certainly the ingeniousOdysseus.

This is the first time that the people ofthis chaotic area, main-ly from Aegaeis,maturing for millennia by the non-periodicchanges of weather and climatic differences,lacking a uniform entity yet decidingtogether, have formed such a large rally.That is the first proof that the Greeksbeing individualists to the extreme, whenconjugating non-linearly, i.e. inmultiplicative way, are able to performdisproportional acts to achieve greatconquests.

On the other side of the Aegean area andfurther inland, around Priam of Troy ralliedhis strong allies that Homer reports in B΄of Iliad (816-877). These are the people ofTroad and the region of Hellespont withtheir leaders Aenias, Pandaros, Adre-stos,

Amphios, Asios, Hippothoos and Pyleos.Following the people of the northern coastalareas of the Aegean Sea, are the Thracaeansunder Acamas and Peiroos, the Cicones underEuphimos and the Paeones of Axios underPyraechmis. Further in the population ofPropontis and the Black Sea is recordedPhryges under Phorkys and Ascanios, theremote Paphlagones under Pylaemenes and theAlizones under Odios and Epistrophos. Fromthe regions of western Asia Minor the Mysoi(Chromis and Ennomos), the Maeones of Tmolos(Methslis and Antiphos), the Cares(Amphimachos and Nastis) and the Lycioi(Sarpidon and Glaucos) are mentioned.

All these people, residing around theAegean Sea, belong to Greek races. Theyspeak the same language and their names areGreek. Therefore, this is not a campaign ofGreeks against Troy. It is a juxtapositionof two great armies of the Aegean space. Ho-mer who, according to the prevalent opinion,was born in Smyrna in Asia Minor,certainly does not take side with theAchaeansFIRST HELLENIC RALLY - THE TROJAN WAR103

(besides, the same occurs among the godswho are divided). However the narration ofthe Iliad only refers to a minor episodeduring the tenth and last year of the TrojanWar and the close siege of Ilion. The fifty-two days of the Epic, with the most im-

portant four days and three nights, concernthe quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles.Chaos dominates over the camp of theAchaeans, and the Trojans seem to beat theinvaders. Thus imperceptible are the limitsbetween order and disorder and the TrojanWar may be the first historical proof of themodern theory of chaos.

Conclusively this campaign was for theinhabitants of the main Helladic land anindisputable and glorious event. Thucy-dides, who wrote about it, stressed thisunprecedented close col-laboration of theGreeks: “Before the Trojan War nothing seems to haveoccurred to point out to a close collaboration in Greece”."Προ γαρ των Τρωικών ουδέν φαίνεται πρότερον κοινήεργασαμένη η Ελλάς". Related to the city of Troyitself, the excavations carried out bySleeman and others later on, brought tolight a very large ancient city populatedcontinually since 3000 BC till the beginningof historical times. This city foreverfacing the Aegean Sea had few relations withthe mainland of Asia Minor. The mostimportant of its seven consecutive phases,Troy VI (1800 BC), had many common elementswith the Greek mainland at that time and itis believed that its founders were a branchof Greek-speaking races. It has been provedthat Troy was finally destroyed by firearound 1200 BC when its enemy reduced it toruins in a systematic and merciless manner.

The victorious (?) Achaeans, returninghome enter a long period of mishaps bringing

to prominence the Odyssey in which Homersymbolically continues his secondcreation of the Epic Cycle. Disorder prevails fully and thisis the first lesson of thechaotic self-destruction of the Greeks thathistory teaches us. The104CHAPTER THIRTEEN

colossal sweeping power of the solitonicwave that originates from Aulis and breaksout on the coasts of Troad and the walls ofIlion, is reduced to small broken up forces.And then the Cassandras, slaves of thevictors, will prophesise the beginning ofgreat sufferings for the Greek nation. TheMycenaean civilization, like the course ofany civilization, is in decline but whatshould be considered as the greatachievement of that golden period, is thefirst great rally of the Greeks. The fate ofthis land to create new civilizations “fromashes”, has been proven by history, whichhas recorded the everlasting oscillations ofthe facts and works of the inhabitants ofAegaeis.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The Great Preparation - Colonization

The first Greek rally that inspired themyths and created the epics and traditionswas, as proven, a great historic event. Butmore than that, it was the ascertainment ofthe common Greek character of the residentsin the Aegean space. The Greek cos-mosfounds solid cornerstones and the Greeknation acquires its self-consciousness. Theimpersonal groups, which only geogra-phically coexist in a broader area, havelearned the lesson of common origin andshared fate. The personal features of their

lea-ders are displayed and become mythicalin the grand scale of human characteristics.But every city-region, separated fromneighbouring ones by the multifariousmountains and the laby-rinthine coastline,has individual features and deploys indepen-dent but common characteristics. Thereforethese ruling states, often engaging inbattles, evolve into autonomous civilizationspots and follow in politics the progressfrom monarchy to ari-stocracy and finally todemocracy. The free mind, the greatestbenefit they bequeath to us, will evolve asa final outcometo become the evident basis for the creationof the “Greek Miracle”.

This land, “small but great”, acquires theconsciousness of its mission as a spot fromwhich the Hellenic light will be dispersedto radiate in broader horizons, universal atthat time. Thus the colonization anddiaspora of the relatively few Greeks isborn and directed towards the easilyaccessible coasts of the three conti-nentsin the Mediterranean basin and the BlackSea. Moreover the

105106CHAPTER FOURTEEN

mainland of these regions never interestedthe colonising Greeks.These new homelands held together with theeternal accom-panying element of the sea,

embrace the ingenious Greeks who, by theiroverflowing vitality and superiorintelligence, give the lights of incubatedcivilization to the world.

Firstly emigration starts by innerrelocation from the outer regions to theinterior of the Mycenaean area. The peopleof poorer areas, being far away from therapidly developing cities, move towardsthem. A shift has renewed all MycenaeanGreece, mainland, islands and western coastsof Asia Minor and Cyprus; moreover the Greekelement has been boosted in Crete andCyprus, while Sicily and Southern Italy arealso colonized.

The Mycenaean structure, both authorityand worship (re-mains of the Minoan era)become useless. The kings are disputed bythe ascending aristocratic classes. Tradeand handicraft obtain broader popular basisand the pan-Hellene acts as an autonomousfree man and not as a subject of the localkings.

The Greeks now feel the new connectingbonds of the pan-Hellenic worship to somegods, and both theology and mythology supplytheir brain with common archetypal. Writingis introduced as a necessity to cover themultiplied data of the ascending in-tellectual civilization. Around the end of along period that lasted from the 11th to 8th

century BC, they inaugurate the informalOlympic Games, which denote the pan-Hellenic

national con-sciousness and identity of theinhabitants of a broader area.

Let us however follow the inner-movementsat the begin-ning of that period, because they includethe famous “Descent of the Dorians”. Thiserroneously was supposed to be an externalinvasion and domination of northern tribes,inducing a critical impact on the Greekentity and evolution. Today we certainlyknow the date of 1125 BC when Aetolians andDorians went across to the Peloponnese fromSterea Hellas. These people livingTHE GREAT PREPARATION - COLONIZATION107

in the west part of this broader area andbeing strengthened by groups of othertribes from Epiros, invaded the lands viatheGulf of Patras. The Aetolians wereafterwards installed in Elis while theDorians advanced to Messenia, Mycenae andArgos and in the basin of the Eurotas River.As a consequence of that in-vasion, theAchaeans of Argolis, being driven out afterthat event, streamed into the northernPeloponnese mainly in the Achaia of today,where the Ionians were expelled from. Thelatter moved towards the seacoasts ofSaronic Gulf and Attica.

The greatest movement however of theAchaeans, with the equally ejected Arcades,was towards Lesbos, Tenedos and mainly Crete

and Cyprus. From the northern regions, theMagne-tes of the Macedoneans moved toThessaly and Mount Pelion while theinhabitants of Pindos went towards the mainplain of Thessaly. Finally the Boeotiansresiding in these lowlands de-parted andinstalled themselves in the region west ofCopais Lake. All these critical intra-movements took place between 1125-1100 BC,namely within twenty-five years. During thenext fifty years the necessary movements ofthe tribes to cover vacancies will befulfilled. Thus the Aenianens of Epiros willarrive in Itea and Spercheous River whilethe remaining of the Dorian tribes moving byships from Maliakos Gulf via the Euboic andSaronic Gulf will occupy Corinthia. Finallyone part of the Ionians moves from Atticatowards Euboea and replaces the Avantes who,having been shifted, move towards Chios. Itwas a real cosmogonic reclassification ofthe Greeks, with all the elements of a non-linear chain reaction, where the exit of thefirst movement is an entry to the secondmovement, whose exit is an entry to thethird one and so on. The result is a rapidmaximization of the disorder in the Helladicspace. Fortunately the phenomenon wasextinguished at that time by the initiationof colonization towards the lands far awayfrom the Helladic area,108CHAPTER FOURTEEN

and therefore did not lead to a chaoticsystem.

Following the end of that period,commences the great wave of emigration ofthe Greek tribes, which will last for ahundredyears till 950 BC. Thus around 1050 BCIonian emigrants will stream to the Cariccoasts after crossing the Aegean Sea andoccupy Miletos, a Greek colony of theMycenaean era. They are mainly Athenians andIonians who took refuge in Attica when theDorians chased them away. The Ionians in thenext years colonize the facing coasts ofChios and Samos, eastern coasts of theAegean Sea, while the Aetolians fromThessaly will colonize northern Lesbos andTenedos and the facing coasts of Asia Minor.The Magnetes and the people of Thessaly havealready driven these people away. Also, theArcades and the Achaeans from Troezen,Epidauros and Sicyon slip away towards theeastern Aegean Sea. All these pieces ofinformation and many other details originatefrom Herodotos, the “father of history”.

Finally in the middle of the 10th centuryBC, the Dorians of the northeasternPeloponnese and Messenia occupy Megaris butthey stop before Attica. Later on, throughan overseas campaign, they colonize Creteand a part of the Dodecanese. All these mo-vements create chain reactions ofdisplacement and colonization, having had as

initial cause the hardened Dorians. Thesepeople, as it has been writen, were residingon mountainous and infertile regions ofAetolia, numbering about 32,000. They movedtowards the rich and coastal areas of thecountry when Mycenaean Greece was declining.That is the famous invasion-descent of theDo-rians, which substantially added a newdynamic element to the melting pot of theGreek becoming. Two great civilizations,namely the Minoan and Mycenaean, had alreadyoffered their fundamental contribution tothe latter. The important difference of thefollowing contribution to the “GreekMiracle” between theDorians and the Ionians, is that the formerrepresent the model ofTHE GREAT PREPARATION - COLONIZATION109

discipline - absolute order - while thelatter are in the domain of personalfreedom, that is Democracy, with the wellknown elements of disorder. The conflictwill occur during the Pelo-ponnesian War andit will signify the end of the greatcreation.Undoubtedly, as we recognize, this was notfounded on the concept of discipline but itis always born on the borderline of chaosand order, in the creative indefinableregion.

Now, the final colonial expansion of theGreek element to-wards the West is a

critical and comprehensive phase of GreekHistory. During that period, around 800 BC,a new great cam-paign commences towardsSicily and southern Italy; the revival oftrade and colonial activity of the Greeksoccurring simulta-neously. First theEuboeans colonised the Pithecusae Islandsand Cyme in southwestern Italy. In thesoutheastern side Achaean cities Sybaris andCroton are founded, as well as the SpartanTaras. The Rhegium at the end of Calauria isfounded by Messe-nian emigrants while inSicily the Hyblaea Megara is founded byMegarians, Syracuse by Corinthians andCatani, Naxos, Zagli etc. by Euboeans. Thelatter are those who will impart the Euboicalphabet to be established as Latin, theuniversal brother of the Greek alphabet.

At that time the Greeks, with the AegeanSea as their centre, spread towards the Eastand West, because the old fatherlands werealways insufficient to house them. All thesecolonies of Io-nians, Aeoleans, Dorians,Megareans, Euboeans, Corinthians as well asthe Helladic cities of Athens, Corinth,Sparta and Megara had systems of governmentallowing freedom and enjoying a high levelof economic power. Therefore they constitutea fertile land from which the universallyunprecedented Greek civilization willemerge.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Greek Deities

The deeds of men as well as their desiresand decisions have always a metaphysicalextension, an ideal projection towardsheaven, as a confirmation of the correctnessof the way of living. The interactionbetween physical and metaphysicalequivalence produces the vital force, whichdetermines the course of human beings. Thusthe domain of the gods or the God is shapedand the relations between perishable andeternal beings are established. It istherefore the human experience on physicalphenomena and the insight of character andhuman behaviour, which are projected ontothe imaginary space and thus take shape inthe various de-ities. Nature first formshuman beings and thereafter the lattercreate their gods.

This elaborate and immense Helladic space,with such un-foreseen diversity of shapesand phenomena, finally gives birth to itsgods. The weather changes, the celestial andnatural phe-nomena, the recycling in natureand the reciprocation of mother earth in theeternal collaboration with human beings, areper-sonified into the various representativedeities. However there is one more element,

the anthropomorphism of the deities withtheir superhuman and yet so human behaviour.Here, in the Hellenic space, the common mancreates his gods and the poets express themin a perfect way. According to Herodotos,the poets Homer and Hesiod managed toorganize all the confused doctrines of theGreeks in the post-Mycenaean epoch. Theydefined a “Theo-gony”, giving “nicknames”to the gods and prescribing their 111112CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“image”, allocating their “works”.This order, imposed on the indefinable

chaos of the intel-lectual Hellenic cosmos,establishes the so-called “Olympian Re-ligion” that will for a long time be theofficial religion of the Greeks. Heliad andOdyssey provide a rudimentary framework intowhich the gods operate like human beings.The divine family exhibits all thecharacteristics of an ordinary human family,with the usual disputes and quarrels amongits members. Homer, as Xenophanes accuseshim, ascribed to all gods “everything that is ashame and blame in human beings”. The domesticscenes in the Olympian quarters, as the poetdescribes, are reduced right down todefamation of their dwellers. When JupiterPluvius can no longer provoke feelings ofawe, the Greek becomes bold and makes fun ofhim.

Where did this theology of familialdominance originate from? We are reminded ofthe royal families in the Mycenaean erawhere the king lived in his palace on thehighest point of the structure. Thus Zeushas his own palace on top of Mount Olympos.The other gods dwell in lower zones. Zeus isthe god of weather changes. He himselfcontrols the gathering of the clouds being“Nepheligheretis” and causes the rain as“Pluvius”. He is also “Semaleos” because hesends messages formed by clouds. He is a“farmer” or “underground” in consequence ofhis effect by the rain, “family supporter”because he is the father of the gods andalso “Polieus” as protector of the wholecity (“Polis”). His wife Hera isparticularly the supporter of marriage,“Nym-phevomeni” or “Zyghia” and enjoys aspecial position next to him.

Homer displays Athene as a warrior-goddessand he dif-ferentiates her from her rivalAres, because she battles with “wisdom”.This attribute renders her skilful withingenuity and abilities in handiwork. Sheis also “Erghani”, goddess of craft, GREEK DEITIES113

earthenware, shipbuilding and copperware.Moreover she pro- tects the health and thecultivation of olive-trees. Poseidon is thegod of drinkable and spring waters of riversand the sea, and being “Phytalmios” he

assures fertility like his brother Zeus. Hestrikes the earth with his trident andcreates springs. In the Heliad he is mainlythe god of the sea yet he protects men fromearth-quakes, being “Asphalios”.

Artemis has the first place in the worshipof the Olympian Gods. Virginal goddess ofrural life, “Cyneghetis” carrying the bow inthe forests, she is the ruler of thephysical world, being “Calisti”, the bestamong the escorting nymphs. Yet being theprotector of marriage and birth, “ArtemisLochia”, is a fierce controller of women’slives. Apollo, the oracular god, is the so-vereign of men’s future and besides theDelphic sanctuary in Phocis he is alsoworshiped in many other places in theHellenic area. Yet he takes care of theflocks, the fruitfulness and the harvesting.

Hermes is the patron of men’s course oflife, especially of traders and consequentlyhe encourages profit, therefore being“Cerdoos”. His perfect physical form makeshim god of gym-nastics, where physicalexercise was in harmony with mentaltraining, so he was also named scholar,“Loghios”. Protector of the fertility offlocks he was portrayed with the phallus asan emblem in the Hermaic columns.

Hestia represented the spirit of familialrelations with her sanctuary being thefireplace. Hephaestos, the god of fire andvolcanoes became “Chalceus”, coppersmith,because he pro-tected the work on metal.

Aphrodite, originating from Cyprus, was thegoddess of love, while Ares was the wild godof war. Demeter, the goddess of the farmers,represented the annual cycle. In the twelve-member structure of the Olympic “supreme”council, when Hestia was staying closeto the people to protect 114CHAPTER FIFTEEN

their family, Dionysos replaced her in theOlympian Palaces. He was the son of Zeus andSemeli.

Dionysos represents for the Greek his mostfaithful depiction.He is the god who participates in both chaosand order. The quick spread of his divineacceptance in all of Greece through myths,which are interlaced with local folklore,wins people and spreads from city to citylike a religious epidemic. His worshipintroduces ecstasy and dance, that being anovelty in the Olympian Religion, and theDionysian hymn “Dithyrambos” replaces theApollonian “Paean” during the winter months.There is an abundance of myths about histravels and his warm acceptance by folk, butthe most characteristic is the one about hisAegean voyage. It is connected with the mythof Theseus and Ariadne and possesses thechaotic substance of the sequence of orderand disorder.

Theseus from Athens, as the mythmaintains, comes into the Labyrinth of

Cnossos, which geometrically has the featureof an infinite course in a limited space.Therefore topologically it is a chaoticspace. Anyone who enters it will not comeout again be-cause the monster of disorder,Minotaur, will tear him up. In thisgeometrically chaotic condition, order isimposed by Ariadne’s clue. Theseus profitsby the dominance of order and kills Mino-taur, rescuing thus the young boys and girlswho were to be sacrificed. The return voyageof Theseus, carrying the young people toAthens and followed by Ariadne, brings theship to Naxos, where the Athenians finallyabandon Ariadne, Minos’ daughter.

At the same time Dionysos is found inNaxos. He had em-barked from Attica on atrireme of Tyrrenes, who intended, afterNaxos, to sell him in Asia Minor. Dionysosdiscovers the plot and imposes ordertransforming the mast of the ship into avine-yard trunk. As the pottery painterExecias reproduces the scene on the insideof the famous “cylix”, bunches of grapeshang on the mast. GREEK DEITIES115

Moreover a deafening clamour of pipes makesthe pirates go mad after the miracle andfall into the sea. They are transformed intoharmless dolphins, which aestheticallyaccomplish the splendid scene of the potterypainter.

Now Dionysos sails glorified and framed bythe vital saps of the vine. The Aegean Seais calm when it is dawning. This scene isdepicted in a poem by Rangavis entitled“Dionysos’ Sailing”. Thus the god of theborderline between chaos and order sails inthe centre of the Aegean Sea and soon afterhe arrives in Naxos. There he will meetAriadne half-asleep by the seaside, afterTheseus and the Athenians had abandoned herthere. Chaos and Order balance in the Aegeancentre. No finest scene could be found tosymbolize the characteristic attribute ofthe Greek peo-ple exactly at the centre ofthat creative Sea.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Greek Mythology

The first intellectual creation of theinfantile age of man is myth making. Theimaginary situations that children plead asreal inci-dences astonish the adults, whocertainly have forgotten that theythemselves have passed through the samestage. Furthermore, the fables that childrenseek to nourish their mental maturity belongto the same primitive level. It is, as ithas already been said, the “magic loom”ofSherrington, which weaves the fancy imagesthrough chaotic combinations of neurones.The human brain commences to mature withfairy-tales.

Thus the Greeks, like other peoples, hadmyth-making ten-dencies during theirinfantile age and earlier on they createdtheir first intellectual achievements,mythology. The myths, facts pro-jected on animaginary plane, contain the poetic element,main feature of the human soul. TheMythology of the Hellenes, the richest inthe world, surely has constituted the solidcorner-stone to erect the brilliant edificeof the Greek civilization. Fantasy, as it iswell known, comes first before creation.During the onset of the intellectual course

of the Greek people, still having a languagedevoid of abstract notions, the myths of theGreeks contain the experience about life,its laws, the fate of human beings anddeath. It is the preamble of philosophy, bywhich the fortune of the mythologicalpersons is represented by morality, thecorrect verdict of Greek rationalism. Themyths have no recreational character but, bybeing instructive, express the internalconcerns regarding the unknown, which ismuch related to the chaotic

117118CHAPTER SIXTEEN

space-time of Greece. The unknown, theunprecedented whichsurrounds the Greek, makes sense and givesfascination to his life.

The Greek myths, which have offeredunlimited matter for inspiration to artistsand poets, have intrinsically the grains ofhistorical figures. Hesiod in his “Works andDays” portrays heroes who lived as ageneration of demigods before his age. Inthe post-Mycenaean years, figures ofsovereigns of the Myce-naean epoch wereestablished as heroes and gods. That was theera when the Homeric and Hesiodean theologyput in order the immense realm of populardoctrines. The image of the mytholo-gicalpersons engraved in the memory of men was solively, that already since ancient times,

the theory of historical origins of heroesand gods had been formulated. The mostoutstanding theory was that of Euemeros,around 300 BC, who was certain that not onlythe heroes but also the gods were men whohad been distinguished as sovereigns andbecame later divine. The outer-moststandpoint of the theory was that even Zeuswas a real per-son, born in Crete, where hisnative cave and grave were sup-posed toexist. On a personal note of the author,even today there is still a popular beliefabout Zeus as a historical person. Peas-antsin the plateau of Lassithi in Crete showwith astonishing certainty to visitors thecave where Zeus had been born, the “DictaeonAndron”.

The symbolism of the gods and mythicalheroes, e.g. Demeter as the personificationof bread, Dionysos of wine, Poseidon ofwater and Hephaestos of fire, had also beenused later by the physical philosophers. TheHomeric heroes were considered symbols ofthe earth, the stars and the outer cosmicspace. Me-trodoros, the scholar ofAnaxagoras, regarded Helen as the per-sonification of “earth”, Paris who raped herwas the “air”, while Agamemnon represented“ether”, the burned cosmic element of GREEK MYTHOLOGY119

the sun and the stars. Apollo, as it is wellknown, symbolized

the sun and Artemis the moon. Pasiphae, thewife of Minos, alsosymbolized the moon. The Minotaur, which wasbegot by Pasi-phae, symbolized in a myth themonster of the storm; the solar heroTheseus, dominance of order againstdisorder, killed Mino-taur. Theextermination of the two dragons by Heraclesand of Python (cloud of the storm) by Apollowas symbolism for the dominance of orderafter a great struggle. During the fight thesun disappears into the clouds, but finallyshines through, like a winner in the sky.

Nevertheless there exist explanatory mythsand stories crea-ted to explain situationsand facts. The “Stymphalian birds” forinstance were birds, which had beenwandering around Greece damaging the crops;the Sphinx was the strong leader of a navalpower etc. Certainly rationale strips theenchantment of myths, which are based mainlyon autonomous poetic elements beyond theworld of reason; it flows from a kind ofsentimental thought and presupposes animmature and pure predisposition. It is theage of innocence of people as well as thatof man.

During the Mycenaean and Minoan periods nomyths had been created about theirancestors. Mythological portrayals do notexist either in Mycenaean or in Minoanpalaces. Even in their ceramics and ring-stones with rich decorations, mythologicalscenes are not depicted. As it is

ascertained, Mycenaean and Minoan peoplehave not created fiction about theirprodigious ancestors, great kings orsovereigns. On the contrary, these peoplehave been used as the mythological matterfor the subsequent era. It seems that themental awakening of the Greeks, after a longperiod of maturing, occurs during the firstpost-Mycenaean centuries. Besides, mythmaking demands a temporal distance from theevents, and then the triggering of theheroic figures gradually grows to giganticdimensions in the simple mind andfinally 120CHAPTER SIXTEEN

passes into the realm of legend. However,even periods of non-heroism also attempt toreaffirm their existence through the past.

The two most well-known mythologicalcycles are related toArgos and Thebes, and Homer used a part ofthem in Heliad and Odyssey. Out of thesecycles and heroic mythology, the tragicpoets will later draw subjects to makeunique plays of the ancient repertoire. Butthe single most important “incident” of theGreek myth-history is the Trojan War, whichis described by many poets who supplementeach other. It is during these twocenturies, 800-600 BC that myth makingreaches its peak; this is a period thatnourishes furthermore the young Hellenic

nation to achieve great deeds in the nextcenturies.

The Trojan War that established the Greekconsciousness was in reality an Aegean war.Upon that the descendants of the Achaeansand pan-Hellenes, who composed the main bodyof the Greek nation, will become thesymbol of unity and pride, whereas,Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis will laythe na-tional milestones of the classicHellas. Due to the fact that cri-ticalreasoning commences to emerge in the mind ofthe Greeks, the whole destructive campaignof Troy is justified as a solution derivedfrom above, curing the problem of over-population on earth. It is Zeus whoconceives this “reasonable” scheme and thepeople will certainly apply it.

“Starting from Zeus”, "από Διός άρχεσθαι", definesthe old saying. The father of gods inventsthe scheme of the Trojan War and, accordingto the myth, everything starts from awedding ceremony. Zeus wanting to takerevenge upon Nereid Thetis, who had rejectedhim, forces her to marry a common mortal,Peleas. Invited to the marriage were all thegods and goddesses except Eris, who beinginsulted, wanted to avenge and threw intothe gathering a golden apple to be given tothe “best of women”. Paris, the son ofthe king of Troy, was chosen to decideamong GREEK MYTHOLOGY121

the prevalents Hera, Athene and Aphrodite.He selected Aphro-dite, who rewarded himwith the promise of the most beautiful womanfor his wife. That was Helen, wife ofMenelaos, andAphrodite helped him to elope with her.

As a chain sequence, the Greeks take a vowto Tyndhareo to undertake a campaign againstthe abductor. Therefore they set sail fromAulis but mistakenly the fleet arrives southof Troy where they land ashore and destroyTeuthrania. There, they are confronted byTelephos, the son of Heracles. Achillesinjures him on the leg with his spear butthe wound is incurable. The oracle offersthe divination “he who has wounded willcure”; so Tele-phos comes as a suppliant andis cured by Achilles, who scrapes the rustof his spear on the wound. Telephos beinggrateful assumes to lead the fleet to Troy.

During the disembarkation on the coast ofTroy, Hector kills the first who lands,Protesilaos, but the invaders succeed to in-stall their camp. They fight for nine years,securing their supplies by incursionsagainst the neighbouring city-allies toPriamus. One of them is Trojan Thebes, whereAchilles kills its king Eetion. From anothercity, they abduct Chryseis, the daughter ofthe priest Chrysis and they preferentiallyassign her to Agamemnon. The above periodand the preceding events are described inthe “Cyprus Epics”. Fifty days of the tenth

year of the siege are the main theme of theHeliad (wrath of Achilles, death ofPatroclos by Hector and his extermination byAchilles).

The continuity of the war after the Heliadis referred in “Ae-thiopid”. Amazones, theneighbouring to Troy, arrive to assist theTrojans but Achilles confronts them andkills their queen Pen-thesileia. ThenMemnon, the king of Aethiops, son ofTithenos who is the brother of Priamus,comes to the assistance of the Trojans andkills Antilochos, a friend of Achilles.Avenging the death of his friend,Achilles kills Memnon and afterwards, pur- 122CHAPTER SIXTEEN

suing the defeated Trojans, comes into Troywhere he is killed by Paris with the help ofApollo. Ajax and Odysseus save his body, butquarrel about Achilles’ arms.

The epic of “Small Heliad” narrates thesequel during whichthe Achaeans decide that Odysseus shouldkeep the arms. Ajaxover-whelmed commits suicide. In themeantime the prisoner soothsayer Helenos,son of Priamus, informs Odysseus that He-racles’ arms, which Philoctetes keeps inLemnos, will conquer Troy. So Philocteteskills Paris while Odysseus helped by Dio-medes enters Troy secretly and picks up thesacred wooden sta-tue Palladium, which

protected the city. Now Troy is unprotectedand its fall is already unavoidable. Thetechnician Epeios, constructs the “TrojanHorse”, inside of which are hidden thebravest of Greek warriors, while the othersoldiers pretend of breaking the siege andleaving.

The fall of Troy is described in the epic“Ilion Persis” in which the Trojans transferthe Horse into the city through a breach inthe walls. The Greeks, being informed byfire, sail to the coasts, surge into thecity and being helped by the hiddenwarriors, they finally conquer Troy. Priamusis killed by Neoptolemos, to whomAndromache, Hector’s widow, is assigned. Thereturn of the various Greek leaders to theirhomelands is described in the epic “Noston”and Odysseus’ wandering in Homer’s“Odyssey”. Odysseus, the main representativeof the chaotic destiny of the Greeks,continues his adventures, even after hisreturn to Ithaca, in the epic of“Telegonia”.

The Greek myths show endless developments,inter-weaving and complementing each other.They constitute a chaotic set from which theprinciples that will teach the nation of theHellenes spring. Patriotism, friendship,justice, punishment of the guilty, sense ofhonour, hospitality, affection and respectto the elderly, are praised, while theatrocious acts like those after the fallof

GREEK MYTHOLOGY123

Troy, lead the mortals to catharsis, whenultimately only the gods decide. During thismythmaking period, which is the prelude ofthe following splendid worldwideachievement, the Greeks are taught abouttheir eternal fate, which is the sequence ofhigh attainments and catastrophes, of orderand chaos.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Geometric Dawn of the Spirit

It is not an incidental fact that inparallel to the creation of myths aboutheroes and gods, which will accompany theGreek for centuries, the first rationalizedbrain function results in geometricrepresentations. This art characterizes agreat epoch, previous to the classical era.Its ceramic painting samples adorn manymuseums in the world today. This epochcoincides with the beginning of historical

times and lasts for four centuries followingthe end of the Mycenaean world on 1100 BC.

The Minoan and Mycenaean traditionswithdraw themselves, and the commontechnician, who expresses ideas, beliefs andge-nerally the concern for the life of allGreeks, commences in a timid mode to“geometrize”. The curves become straightlines, the helices take shape intoconcentric circles and the waving line thatrivers frequently follow is transformed intothe known meander, the dominating element ingeometric decorations. Rhythm, symmetry andaccuracy now prevail in the expressivedesign. This means that the brain hasstarted to trace the borderline of order ina world of chaotic geometry. The so-calledintermediary dimensions of today, thefractals, take shape with the first attemptsof a geometric depiction of nature. TheGreek commences to impose order on thegeometric chaos.

The shaping form of pottery is anotherarea, where the plastic clarity of volumesstarts to prevail as an advancing period ofthe subsequent classic sculpture andgeometry of solids. It is the re-mote pastmemory of the Cycladic art of thestatuettes, which expurgates from thenaturalistic but naïve concept of volumes. 125126CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Many millennia have passed and the AegeanHellene now enters from childhood andinfantile age into adolescence; he now com-mences to discover the ideal God of theGreeks, the one who “always acts in geometry”.

Interpretations by earlier scholars on theswing and elevation of the Greek spirit alsoincluded assumptions that the Dorians, as astrong race, gave a spark to the chainmovements of the others, especially insouthern Greece. Today it is believed thatthe main region of the proto-geometricperiod was Athens because a lot ofcharacteristic decorative ceramics werefound in Attica. Yet similar samples werefound in all Hellenic areas, Macedonia,Thessaly, Cyclades, Sterea, Ionian Islands,Crete, and as far as Cyprus.

If we accept the chaotic interpretation ofthe effect of a “Greek forming” Helladicspace-time on the Greek’s brain, it is alogical consequence that the geometric stagewas a prelude to the Greek civilization.Moreover it has been pointed out that theGreeks, being the geometers of this planet,have subsequently based the edifice of theother sciences on this mathematicaldiscipline, espe-cially philosophy, theirgreat achievement.

Going back to the Minoan epoch, theconstruction of the la-byrinth by theAthenian Daedalos should be considered as anattempt to portray the intermediatedimensions of nature. That technologist to

whom the first conception and execution ofhu-man flying has been attributed (amongother inventions) had no doubt insight intothe fundamental rules of practical geometry,in order to be able to violate it by thisunrealistic design and con-struction.

The “labyrinthine” course in the maze waswillingly leading to intrinsic false-disorder from which Theseus with theAthenian young boys and girls would exitonly by means of Ariadne’s clue. Thus ifAthens is considered the mother ofgeometric art, GEOMETRIC DOWN OF THE SPIRIT127

obviously one must search in its past forthe first triggers ofrationalization in the decorative elements.

From the geometric elements, whichdominate the ceramic articles, a number ofconcentric cycles or semicircles are de-signed by a pair of compasses, with paint-brushes of equal num-ber. The crooked linesand the triangles, the abacus-like orna-ments such as a chess-board, the hookedcrosses (swastikas) and particularly thesimple and complicated meanders possessingthe element of perpetual continuity, thestandardized horses, chariots and theabstract figures of men, all these completethe beliefs of an entire epoch. If God“geometrizes”, men must also expressthemselves geometrically. That is why in the

oversized epitaph pots, amphorae andcraters, the intervention of men for a fa-vourable reception of the dead by the gods,is accomplished by engraving geometricdepictions of credence and lament for thedeceased.

Therefore Attica must be considered as thecradle of geo-metric art. Ionia, itscolonial extension on the coasts of AsiaMinor, will give the first spark to set theflame of Science. There, in the sisterregion of Attica, with Miletos as thecentre, Ionians continue with theconvenience of a new and spacious homeland,the elaboration of ancient Athens, whichwill inevitably play the central role in theGreek Miracle. Hence, it is the geometricAttic tradition from which the first greatpersonality in founding science, Thales theMilesian (640-546 BC), will arise. Ascribedto him is the greatest invention of thehuman mind, the establish-ment of proof inmathematics and particularly in geometry.The great German philosopher Immanuel Kantin his famous treatise “Kritik der reinenVernunft” praises the work of Thales under-lining that this was the basis in creatingmodern civilization.

Thales, the greatest of the seven wise menof ancient Greece, apart from geometrythat constituted the corner stone ofscience 128CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

and philosophy, first put forth the bases ofmathematical astro-nomy. He also discoveredmagnetism and static electricity (magnet, amber) and in philosophy had theinspiration to search for the holisticaspect of the world, reducing all phenomenato one principle. Apart from being ascientist and a philosopher he was also animportant politician, adviser to the Ioniansand as well to Croesus. Of his manyaphorisms that tradition has preserved isthe Delphic epigram “Know thyself”. It realybelongs to him, who was the first and greatgeometer, and to whom the Aegean space gavebirth. His admonitory teachings, ought to beconsidered as the wisest exhortation to theGreeks.

In Ionia, the river Meander, facingMiletos, is exempted from the improbablewaving course and acquires geometricperfection. The geometric decorative elementof a whole epoch of the pro-gressing Greekspirit will get its name from this river.From that point onward this symbolism willbe the first limitation of the in-termediatedimensions of nature. Meander as adecorative element will remain in the agesas the trademark of the Greek civilization.

Thales first, then Pythagoras in Samos,Eucleides in Alex-andria, Archimedes inSyracuse and tens of other geometers ofGreek antiquity will describe to us a world,which springs from primordial chaos to

represent the basis for the order of theCos-mos, the order that God seeks, because“αεί ο θεός ο μέγας γεωμετρεί”, “God the great alwaysgeometrizes”. Decoding this phrase based on thenumber of Greek letters in each word, thenumber 3.14159… is derived, which is equalto π, the ratio of the circumference and thediameter of a circle.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The Writing

Communication between primitive men wascarried out by optical signs in parallelwith the acoustic expression of shouts. Whenman, who had just become Homo Erectus,wanted to turn away another man who wasprying on his quarry, he followed his crieswith gestures of refusal. Later when hewanted to describe an animal he had killed,he designed it on the ground and to make itlast longer he painted it on the rocks ofhis cave. Therefore sound and opticaleffects were the first means ofcommunication, and design was the first form

of writing. The images depicted living andinanimate things as well as events.

But how many millennia had passed beforehe connected the-se two types of expression,speech and writing? We assume that speechneeded many millenia and its evolutionarycreation for the Greeks was a marvellouselaboration that finally reached its climaxin Homer’s epics, by sole means ofmemorization.

Yet writing, defined as the “invention ofexpression of speech elements by means ofconventional optical signs” is consideredtoday by scientists not to have existed lessthan 5,000 years. Evidently, the first“sketched” expression of man has to be re-garded as “non writing”. In sketches thereexist only images, perhaps having narrative,artistic, instructive or a warning mis-sion.Moreover the recording of certain huntingscenes where the armed primitive man isdepicted defeating very strong animals isthe first attempt at narrating importantevents, which signify the beginning ofhistory. This descriptive display was alsoconnected 129130CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

with the first man’s attempt to propitiatethe higher powers whichwas the beginning of religion. Nevertheless,writing is taken over by “semantics”, whichincludes descriptive-representative and

reconnaissance-mnemonic inventions, similarto the traffic signs of today.

Therefore, the course towards the final“alphabetic” repre-sentation of speech, inwhich every vowel or consonant has its ownsymbol that is the writing of today’swestern languages, commences, as we shallsee, by the Greeks while other nations orgroups of different civilizations followedcompletely different routes.

The course of “phonography” by which thesound is trans-formed into symbols, namelycomplete writing, has followed the stages:1) lexis-syllabic writing, 2) syllabicwriting, and 3) al-phabetic writing. Thefirst stage in which the word has just asingle symbol appears as a characteristicexample in the Chinese language. Thislanguage has not been developed like theothers to the next stages. And this is thegreat difference between the two majorcivilizations of our planet. Chinesecivilization remained in a state that wascreated many millenia ago. Certainly,analogous was the evolution of these peoplein science, art, etc. That im-mense countrywhere everything is magnified withoutsurprises, like the plains, the mountains,the rivers and their floods, is the antipodeof the Aegean space. In the Chinese languageone word, even today, is a complex staticsymbol. In the Helladic space, with thegreat invention of alphabetic printing, thesound of the words is depicted as a “time

series” of the frequency alterations and theundertones of every vowel and consonant. Itis the unexpected successive presence ofsounds in time, the chaotic sequence of alogical elaboration.

The first stage, the lexis-syllabic, wasfollowed initially by all peoples who atsome point, except the Chinese, passed tothe THE WRITING131

second, the syllabic. These were the Aegeans(and Hettites), the Egyptians and theSoumerians. The Chinese writing evolveslaterto the syllabic form, not in that countrybut in Japan, which today has the so-calledJapanese syllabarium. The development to thesyllabic writing (where there is one symbolfor each syllable sound) was different forthe various peoples. For the Soumerians theevolution was to the sphenoid syllabaria,for the Egyptians the western-Semiticsyllabaria and for the Aegeans, the Aegeansyl-labaria. Out of these, the western-Semitic that leads, as it is todaypostulated, to the Greek alphabet has asprecedence the Ugarit, Phoenician, Hebrewand Aramaic syllabaria. On the other handthe Aegean syllabaria include the Linear A,the Linear B, the Cypro-Minoan, Cyprianwriting and the Phaestos Disc.

The third and last stage, the alphabeticwriting, was finally invented by the Greeks,as decisively consents today the eminentAmerican linguist Ignace J. Gelb, author ofthe work “A Study of Writing”. Hespecifically writes that after the various“sylla-baria” (Aegean and western-Semitic)came into being, a question had been raised:“If these early Semitic writings do not constitute alphabetsthen what is the alphabet? The reply is clear. If by the termalphabet we consider a writing, which denotes thedifferentiated speech sounds, that is the phonemes of alanguage, then the first alphabet is the one the Greeks haveinvented”.

Therefore let us set the record straight.Since the stereotype that “the Greeksreceived the alphabet from the Phoenicians”,has been long-time standing, we can nowfinally see the truth restored; a nakedclear truth that could not be any different.After so many achievements of the Greekspirit it would be unthink-able that thealphabet invention of writing was borrowedpar-ticularly from people like thePhoenicians, who had not given any sign ofcivilization. Furthermore W.Durant in his“History of Ci-vilization” (1946) wrote,“The Phoenicians were the peddlers and 132CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

not the inventors of the alphabet”.But how did this misconception occur? In

this case we must

mention Herodotos, the “father of history”,endowed with a lot of fantasy but withobscurity as well. He had named the lettersof the alphabet “Phoenicia” as well as“Cadmea” which led rightfully tomisunderstanding though the evidence fromother authors is completely different.Diodoros Siceliotis writes later “…it wasCadmos who brought from Phoenicia the so-called letters…that were named Phoenician…” But Cadmos thefounder of Thebes came from Phoenicia ofCaria, a region in south-western Asia Minor,facing Rhodes Island, which had beencolonized by Greeks. Therefore it is evidentthat we must credit the Helladic-Aegean areafor the alphabetic expression of writtenspeech.

Nevertheless if we suppose the alphabeticletters had come from the western-Semiticsyllabaria of Phoenicians, Ugarit etc., i.e.those that as whole phonemes were depictedby a single symbol, then the Greeks werethose who separated them in dis-tinctconsonants and vowels. And the creation ofspecial vowels which in the Greek languagehave the clearness of the sounds α, ε, ι, ο,ου, constitute the phono-geometric boundaryof a chaotic set of sounds. As Euclid’sGeometry puts in order the chaotic geometryof the intermediate dimensions in nature,the fractals, the Greeks also impose orderon the chaos of sounds. In the Aegean areathere is no acoustic or optical obscurity asin other countries, which obviously have

created analogous behaviour in their people.The distinct image of the Greek landscapeand the generation and transport of soundsin the crystalline purity of the atmosphere,are the basic generative causes of the Greekcivili-zation.

However, today the scientific research ofthe writing moves very fast and no one hasyet said the last word. The reason is thatthe interconnection between both theMinoan Linear A and the THE WRITING133

Mycenean Linear B writings with the Greekalphabet, has not yet been found. CertainlyEvans who brought to light the Minoancivilization uncovered by his excavationsthat there is a relationbetween them. Moreover, the last decadeshave given rise to the view that even thePhoenicians, the “peddlers of the alphabet”,got their syllable-letters from the Cypriotswho had taken them from the Arcades. Allthese explanations should be expected, thatis to say that peoples such as the Greeks,with the left hemisphere of their brainparticularly developed, were those whocreated and led the western civilization tothe summit. And certainly writing was themain means since the alphabet is consideredthe most significant and historicallyeverlasting offering of the Greeks to theEuropean civilization. All achievements in

sciences, literature and art of the westernworld have been written with alphabetsdisplaying a small variation from Greek,namely Latin-based and Slavic alphabets. Itis well known that the origin of the Latinalphabet comes from the Euboic or Chalcidaicalphabet of the Greek colonists in SouthItaly and was delivered to the Latins eitherdirectly or through the people of Etruria.The Slavic alphabet is a modification of theGreek one by the monks Cyrillos andMethodios, who put thus the basis for thecivilization of the Orthodox Slavs. TheCatholic Slavs used variations of the Latin,completing thus the cycle of the alphabeticwriting of the European people, originatingfrom the Greek.

During the 8th century BC, the emergingGreeks, inhabitants of the Aegean-Helladicarea and that of “Magna Grecia” of thewestern colonies, will erect the magnificentedifice of the Greek civilization. They willhave alphabetic writing as a tool, whichperpetuates thoughts, actions and the art ofspeech.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The Philosophy of Nature

The early firm steps of the Greeks, withthe mind as a sole tool, led to philosophy.The objective world and its continuouschanges, is the first stage of philosophicalthought. With the cosmogonic poetry, theproblem of “the genesis of all” “της των πάντωνγενέσεως” has already been posed, so the nextstep is to find the cause of everything. Thephilosophy of the archaic Hel-lenism firstexamines Nature, the Cosmos. This admirableHelle-nic area was an unprecedented gift ofthe gods and demigods, with the plethora ofmyths explaining nature and its annual chan-ges. After Homer’s and Hesiod’s poeticperiod (the youthful age of the Greeks) thequestion of the initial cause is now posedseriously. Nature comes first and thenfollows Man. The physical philosophers, thepre-Socratic, searched initially thesurround-ings of men so that later Socratesand the other philosophers we- re able topenetrate into the immense depth of thehuman soul.

Therefore it is in the Hellenic area whereman’s great pursuit will commence with thescience of nature. Today science, aided bytechnology, gives wings to the descendantsof Icarus in break-ing the limits of theplanet Gaea, for the great outer-spaceadven-ture of humankind. Philosophy, motherand eternal companion of Science insearching for the truth and the knowledge of

matter was developed in the Helleniccolonies where the people had the comfort ofan anthropo-geographic spaciousness. In theHellenic mainland where space is limited,the Greeks were crowded and inter-conflicteddue to their chaotic temperament, creatingthus a

135136CHAPTER NINETEEN

high degree of entropy. The colonialism that had spread the

restless heirs of the chaotic country to thecoasts of Asia Minor and to southern Italyand Sicily, by the richness of materialcommodities, allowed the Greeks theconvenience to think far beyond everydayneeds. These ideal conditions helpedphilosophy to emerge.

The transition from the poetic myth tophilosophy is attained through Orphism. Thismystical religion, which escaped from thepopular perception of cosmogony, considersEros as the initial reason of everything.For Orphism it is the Orphic Phanes who isthe progenitor of gods and cosmos.

Pherecydes from Syros becomes a turningpoint in the tran-sition from mythology tophilosophy. He regards Zantas (Zeus),Chronos (Cronos) and Chthonia (Gaea) as thethree original au-thorities of the Cosmos.Out of these, Chronos gives birth to fire,air and water. So, these three basic world

entities are created from the eternalChronos (time). A few centuries laterEmpedocles will add the Earth, whichPherecydes already includes in the firsttriad. It is worth repeating that today thestates of matter are considered to be four:1) solid, earth, 2) liquid, water, 3) gas, air,and 4) plasma, fire. These are the absolutelydifferentiated states of matter; one istransformed into the other by adding orsubtracting energy. When heat is added thesolid melts into a liquid, the liquidevaporates into gas and at a very high tem-perature (fire) the atoms of the gas startlosing electrons. Finally at extremely hightemperatures they are transformed into astate in which only the nuclei of the atomsexist (plasma). This happens in the interiorof stars and our sun. It is the firstcreative phenomenon of the universe andoccurs in the stars where by fusion ofhydrogen all chemical elements are produced.

Yet it is considered that the outset ofscience, pure andreasonable philosophical thought, was bornin the Miletos School THE PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE137

by Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes.Thales first sought the answer to thequestion of “the first cause” and, while Homerconsidered that the Ocean surrounds theEarth, he depicted an image in which the

Earth floats on water, which is the stableground of the changes of all phenomena.Indeed, we ought to regard water as havingproperties inspired by God. It is liquid inearth’s temperatures while, for physical-chemical reasons, it had to be a gas. Itexpands when it solidifies making the icefloat while all other solids sink in theirliquid. This effect has prevented the oceansfrom freezing; otherwise to a major extentthe phenomenon of life would have vanished.Water dissolves almost everything,facilitating the chemical reactions amongthe various compounds; therefore itcontributes to the course of becoming.Consequently water is the origin ofeverything, an inexhaustible spring ofcreation of beings and phenomena andparticularly of the phenomenon of life.Water is animate, which means it containspsyche, the soul.

Thales considers that God, who resides inevery body, in-spires everything. That isthe general principle of Miletos’ philo-sophers, the Hylozoismos (matter-life). Butapart from the co-incidence of today’sunderstanding about water with that ofThales, the most significant offering ofthis philosopher was that the mind of manposed for the first time the cosmogonicquestion of the origin of everything; andthat apart from the dominating concepts ofthe poets. But the most important idea isthat the acquired knowledge is just for the

philosopher’s use. No practical benefit issought.

Anaximander, Thales’ pupil, is the founderof the written phi-losophical logos-reason.He is an astronomer, geographer andmeteorologist. He seeks the principle andcause of the world’s genesis and wearing out ofthe beings. He is also the first drawer of maps of the Earth and the Sky. Heinitiates the concept of138CHAPTER NINETEEN

infinity as the origin of everything. Infinity,according to him, has no character, it isimpersonal; that is why it is inherent inall tangible qualitative states withoutbeing identified with them. Itcontains the antitheses, which are composedand become a spring of everything. Infinityis an unborn element, imperishable, im-mortal, with a divine existence. Itcontributes to becoming and decaying. Decayis the inevitable return of every being tothe bosom of infinity because throughbecoming and separation from infinity, anoffence (ύβρις) has been committed. Themetaphysical right of existence belongs onlyto infinity. Chronos, time on the otherhand, is independent of beings and infinity,and imposes the punishment.

Anaximander depicts a mathematical imageof the world in the form of a sphere in thecentre of which the earth, as a cy-linder,

is suspended. Physical phenomena likeearthquakes, thun-derstorms, lightning,rain, are the result of some cause and notthe effect of divine powers. It is the“principle of cause and effect”. For the livingcreatures, Anaximander considers that thefirst organisms were born in the liquidelement when the sun condensed it. It is themodern theory of synthesis by the basicchemical compounds (aminoacids, sugars,etc.) of the cells in “warm ponds”. Thecreatures came out of those when they wereable to survive out of the water. It ismarvellous to think of this hypothesis as afirst theory of the origin and evolution ofthe species, which coincides with the modernconcepts of genetics.

Anaximenes, the third Miletian insuccession and pupil of the previous, seeksthe empiric answer, without rejecting theconcept of infinity. He regards that air(material element) is infinite but not theprimary element. Air is divine and animate.He goes back to Thales’ concepts, whichpresumed water to be living. Ana-ximenes’air is not tangible. We can only feel itwhen it thins out by heating andcondenses by cooling, and then thebodies are THE PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE139

created. But with this concept heestablishes air as an empirical matter.

Generally he considers that there alwaysexists a physical explanation of the changesof matter. In his “About Nature” poem he says:“As our soul, which is air and supports allthebody, thus the entire world is held togetherby breath (spirit) and air.” Anaximenesformulates a primary relation between theCosmos and Man. The soul, as a breath oflife, coincides with the origin of Nature.

In another region, the Magna Grecia, thePythagorians, a religious and reformatorymovement, flourishes in the 6th century BC.Leader and founder was Pythagoras fromSamos, that great geometer, whose life wasmythologized very early on. There has been arift between himself and the tyrant of SamosPolycrates so he left to southern Italy andestablished at Croton a religious andscientific School. The “Thiasos” troupe, as itwas called, was a religious company and hadan organized form for the purpose of moraland spiritual rebirth of the popular stratumof men and women. In these troupes themembers lived in a communal way and wereoccupied with intellectual-scientificsubjects, mainly in music and mathematics.They considered as their bases the conceptsof measure (μέτρον) and harmony, because thelatter is the composition of many oppositetrends: "Εστι γαρ αρμονία πολυμιγέων ένωσις και δίχαφρονεόντων συμφρόνησις". “Therefore harmony is thejunction of different elements and the synthesis of opposite

ideas”. They are not interested in the courseof becoming but in the existence of matter.

The relations among beings are numerical,and the truth is not based on the initialcause but in a functional relation which isintrinsically regulated. The sense of numberis the basis of Py-thagorian philosophy,definite and concrete, like the distinctionbetween even and odd numbers. Therefore theinternal structure of the Cosmos andmatter is a concrete numeric and geometric140CHAPTER NINETEEN

relation. That is to say, anything thatstands for the universe also stands for thesmallest being. From a religious point ofview, thePythagorians believed that the soul, theabsolute being, descend-ed in the prison of thebody. So, to help it return to its initialform, it had to follow a series of birthsfrom one body to anotherand to live the Pythagorian way of life.Finally, from a mathema-tical point of view,Pythagoras and his students raise geometryto a real science starting from the theoremsand not from a practical basis. Besides, thenumbers are regarded as the substance ofbeings but they are not identfied with them.That is why Ari-stotle’s dictum referring toPythagorians says: “the numbers imitate thebeings” “μιμήσει τα όντα φασίν οι αριθμοί”.

The next great philosophical school isthat of the Eleats. Xenophanes, its founder,who was born in Colophone of Ionia in 570BC, received there the first teachings ofIonic philosophy and when the Persiansconquered Ionia he took refuge in Elea insouthern Italy. Initially being an epic poetand later a poet and philosopher, he wrotehis own philosophical poem “About Na-ture”. Hewas a critic of the popular religion so hereviled against Homer and Hesiod, who “withtheir anthropomorphism insulted divinity”.He says that they attributed to the gods allthe shameful and disgraceful acts of men,like fraud, theft and adultery. Theanthropomorphism of his contemporaries forthe gods was lashed out intensively becausethey created them in their own image: “likethe Ethiops who paint their gods black andwith a wide nose, while the Thracians depictthem with blue eyes and red hair”. Hecontinues by saying, “if the bulls, thelions or the horses had hands and were ableto paint, their gods would have looked likethese animals”. Xenophanes abolishespolytheism because the unique God isalmighty. He is the One having neither theface of the mortals nor their mind. Hedominates everything by his intellect.Aristotle writes accordingly about him,interpreting as: THE PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE141

“Xenophanes who first disputed, he nothing clarified”,“Ξενo-φάνης δε πρώτος ενίσας ουδέν διεσαφήνισεν”. By“disputed” he means that he identifies thedeity with the Cosmos, therefore he isconsidered as pantheistic, but he is also atheist because he connects personalcharacteristics to the concept of God. Xeno-phanes is the first teacher and philosopherof the unity of theWorld and to him was attributed the saying“What exists is One” “Εν το παν”.

Parmenides is regarded as the greatestfigure of the Eleatic school. He lived inthe 5th century BC, and as Plato refers tohim, when he was very old, he met Socratesin Athens. In his philo-sophic and religiouspoem “About Nature” he makes use of theapocalyptic language of mysteries, when theGoddess shows him the route in search of thebeing, “ον”, the truth, and the world ofglory. These courses lead to pan-logismosand to the notion of the truth, which is themost basic philosophical thought, and towhich he is led through the world ofperception. The truth is one and the beingalso one; because the being is determined asreal, while the becoming constitutes thesemblance of pursuit.

The distinction of being from non-being “μηον” is achieved only through the intellect.Thus Parmenides is considered as the firstsystematic thinker of philosophy of the purelogos (λόγος - reason) and logic. Yet logic isnot separated from ontology since the being

does not differ from understanding.Understanding is not translated into thinking.Understanding is the immediate intuition andconcept, not the thinking of speculation.Glory (δόξα) on the other hand, coming fromthe verb believe (δοκέω), declares the aspectof one side of the beings but also a point ofview that a man establishes. Glorysimultaneously belongs to man and to thebeings. Yet what is the relation of truth toglory? The Parmenidian route leads to aprimary coherence. The “present” does notseparate from the “absent” nor the “is”from the “is 142CHAPTER NINETEEN

not” but the absent is adjacent to the presentin a coherence of an overchronic “now”. Theroute remains always a single one and itaddresses itself to the relation and thecontrast between glory and the truth.

Zenon the Eleat, pupil of Parmenides, alsolived in the 5th century BC. He took part inthe plot against the tyrant of Elea but wasarrested and subjected to torture withoutdisclosing hiscompanions. He is the founder of dialectics. Heis the supporter of the One but objects tothe Pythagorians on the theory that thebodies consist of many distinct units. Hisdialectics is based on the fact thatconsequences confirm the absurdity of theinitial conditions. It is the famous method

of “process by elimination”, (reductio ad absurdum). Hetakes a stand against the plethora of matter,considering that it has to consist of unities.These unities, however, must have the basicnotion of the undivided in the sense thatevery one has to be zero, so that the sum ofzero unities leads to zero plethora.

Zenon the Eleat became famous from his so-called paradoxes, like the above-mentioned,which lead to contradictory conce-quences.Another paradox refers to the sense ofspace: “Zenon wondered, if a space exists, into whatspace does it exist?" meaning that if a place(space) is real then into what other realplace (space) should it be? But the mostrenowned paradox is that of the competitionbetween Achilles and the turtle. The turtleleads the race at the start and whenAchilles arrives to the point where theturtle was before, the turtle will havemoved to some distance, which will berepeated continually thus preventingAchilles from overtaking it.

Melissos, the youngest of the Eleats, camefrom Samos where the Ionic philosophydominated. He lived in the 5th century BC andfollowed Parmenides in philosophical thoughtand particularly in the sense that thebeing is one, complete, whole, immovable, THE PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE143

invariable and undivided. The non-being doesnot exist. Yet he disagrees, supporting that

the being is not limited like a sphere, butit is infinite. This concept has temporaland spacious sub-stance. By a temporalaspect infinity is eternal without a startand an end because the being could not beborn from something that does not exist nordisappear and fall into something that alsodoes not exist. In space the being must beinfinite because if it had an end it shouldhave a common frontier with something else,and then it would not be just one. ThusMelissos does not accept the existence ofthe void. He is considered together withZenon as the founder of dialectics and thedisputatiousness.

Among the great philosophical schools thatof Ephessos is included. This city of Ioniacontinues the philosophical thinking afterMiletos with the top-ranking and mostimportant natural philosopher Heraclitos. Helived during the period of 540-480 BC anddue to the depth of his concepts he wascalled “obscure”. A dominating personality,he was the first who tried to reform thepolitical life of his country throughphilosophy. He foresaw chaos in anarchy andmob rule and tried to oppose it. He believedthat Nature and State have their own rigidlaws. He first introduced the concept oflogos (reason). This is examined in itsorigin, pecu-liarity, truth and aim. Logosis found in the beings, in the be-coming andthe being "είναι" of the world, and in thesouls of the people. The principle of

becoming, of being and the truth have ametaphysical substance.

To reach the logos, man must be liberatedfrom his subjectivity because his delusiontowards the general problems and the essenceof the world is the existence of thesubjective truth. The “logos” as an internalrhythm of the Cosmos is objective and thepeople do not conceive it, neither when theyare awake nor when they are asleep.Heraclitos does not introduce a materialelement to interpret the genesis of theCosmos and the beings, but proceeds144CHAPTER NINETEEN

beyond matter and conceives the sense oflogos, which is the eternal logos of theCosmos. He accepts that no god or man setthe order of the Cosmos. The order is aliving “fire” that ignites and extinguishesitself according to fixed measures. No beingcan overlook these internal measures, thelogos, since it would other-wise be an“insult”. Everything is governed by a highercon-ceivable harmony. The fire, which is amaterial element, is used by Heraclitossymbolically and not as a prime principle.This furnishes the tangible image of theeternal genesis. The being"είναι" does not exist. It does only in thebecoming "γίγνεσθαι" that means there are nolimits between life and death. Everythingdies and is born at the same time. This is

“the synthesis of the opposites” in our intellect,the existence itself of the eternal Greek.It is the antithesis of disorder, whichproceeds towards an entropic death and thatof creative order, which leads to theperfection of the Cosmos; the connection ofChaos and Order. This synthetic co-existenceof the opposites exists because the oneseeks the other. It is the harmony, whichstruggles against itself.

Plato in Cratylos mentions the fragment ofHeraclitos: “every-thing proceeds and nothing rests”,"πάντα χωρεί και ουδέν μένει" and also “twice in thesame river you may not enter”, "δις ες τον αυτόν ποταμόνουκ αν εμβαίης". Generally, in Heraclitos’philosophy the becoming of the worldresembles a continuous flow, which isconstantly renewed. The fire of Heraclitos,which includes the image of movement is theorigin of beings and is transformed intoinfinite states. It is the symbolism ofLogos or in other words, the divine law,destiny, necessity, opinion, mind.

In Acragas of Sicily, Empedocles (492-432BC) an impressive personality in philosophyforms through the thoughts of Ionians,Parmenides and Pythagorians a compositeimage of the Cosmos. He combines religionwith philosophy and his activity extends toalmost all the fields. He is apolitician, physician, poet-philo-THE PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE145

sopher, biologist, mystic-theologian, andorator. He is considered as havingcontributed to Medicine by founding theSicilian Medical School, worthy of those ofKos and Knidos. In his poem, also “AboutNature”, he considers the origin of the soulas divine and believes in reincarnation. Healso refutes the popular religion in whichthe lowest instincts of men are deified andprojected on a divine level.

The being "είναι", according to Empedocles, isconsidered as a material substanceconsisting of four elements: fire, air,water and earth. He names them “the roots ofeverything” and “divinequadruplet”. Like the earlier image ofFerecydes, and that of Empedocles, theseelements coincide with the current notion ofthe four states of matter. The concept offriendship (φιλότητα) and hatred (νείκος) make thecombination and the separation of theseelements. These are the two opposite powers,attraction and repulsion. Mixing these twodifferent powers in certain propor-tionsforms the compounds. According to today’sapprehension, two opposite forces contributeto a chemical bond; the attractive onesbetween the electrons of the two atoms,forming a pair of them and the repulsiveones of the opposing positively chargednuclei. Indeed the two forces in a certainproportion are equalized at a fixed distancebetween the two atoms, and that is thelength of the chemical bond. The most

impressive information about thephilosopher’s life, according to thetradition, is that Empedocles ended his lifeby falling into the crater of the Aetnavolcano.

Anaxagoras (500-428 BC) was born inClazomenae of Asia Minor and was the one whobrought philosophy to Athens. He had afriendly relationship with Pericles but hewas persecuted because of him on a charge ofatheism. According to Anaxagoras thebeing"είναι" consists of infinitely smallparticles. This is the first “atomic”consideration of matter. All bodies consistof these corpuscles and each of them hasan ontological existence. There-146CHAPTER NINETEEN

fore the basic elements are not only four butinfinite. Matter is moved by external forcesand is composed. The elements of mat-ter arenot all tangible because the human sensesare imperfect. Concerning the becoming“γίγνεσθαι”, the elements or the seeds wereinitially mixed in a chaotic mode in anindifferent mass. They separated as concreteentities after their disconnection from themass.

The mind, "νους” is regarded by Anaxagoras asthe first cause of the creation of orderfrom a chaotic state. The mind moved theelements and this praxis was not aimless. Ithad a teleological character because it was

destined to bring harmony and order tothe Cosmos. Therefore the mind of Anaxagorashas two mean-ings, movement and aim. It is afine material substance, infinite, distinctand self-governed. Scope is included in theconcept of the mind. It is Anaxagoras whofirst conceived the meaning of scope i.e.the goal, and he first employed the wordCosmos to express the Universe.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Pressure from the East

It has been the destiny of Europe, over andover again, to suffer from invasions of

barbaric hordes as a consequence ofpopulation explosions generated in the Eastbut moving towards the West. It seems as ifa meteorological analogue exists but movingcontrary to the course of cyclones andanticyclones formed over the Atlan-tic Oceanand travelling to the East. These organizedbarometric “Lows” and “Highs” in the globalmeteorological system, being of a chaoticorigin, affect peoples’ life in the Europeanarea and particularly in the region of theAegean Sea. Especially in Greece theygenerate instabilities and multifariousclimatic variations. It is the eternalspacious-temporal becoming of the non-periodic oscil-lations of this area.

The Aegean space, as a stronghold ofEurope, begins around the 6th century BC tosuffer the first expansive pressure by ori-ental peoples. The immense Asiatic areaoccasionally creates “highs” in population,which are later driven from these populousregions to the European space. And as longas the European area, after the end of theglacial epoch, was almost uninhabited, thefirst “Indo-European” or other invasions didnot create problems. The arriving hordesoccupied virgin areas. Small tribalskirmishes with the local people wereinitially taking place and later ananthropo-geographic equilibrium wasestablished in every region.

Yet in historical times, the orientalgreatness and primitive arrogance of the

kings of the Near East populous areas,sought self-affirmation by expansiontoward the West and in “establish-

147148CHAPTER TWENTY

ing universality”. The first and mainattempt was that of the Persianimperialism. This will be confronted by thegreat pan-Hellenic rallying of the Aegeanspace people, which will intercept itprotecting thus the subsequent EuropeanWestern civilization. It is the destiny ofthe Aegean area to act as a breakwateragainst the eastern tidal waves. But thefinal outcome of the first great at-temptfrom the East, after the victoriousdeterrence by the Greeks, will take later areverse course by the imposition of theGreek spirit on the East by Alexander theGreat’s campaign.

Before the Persian flood commenced toextend into the Aegean Sea, the Hellenes ofthe east coasts had incurred the blow fromother peoples living in the inland of AsiaMinor. The Greek co-lonialism in the 8th - 5th

centuries BC had already installed theingenious Greeks on the coasts and had madeconcrete popula-tions of crowded marine andtrade centres and had established thefirst intellectual explosion. Philosophy,the foundation of the Greek spirit, was bornon the east coasts of the Aegean Sea. This

period is one of the peaks of Greek historyand is regarded as a great stride for thelater evolution of European Civilization.

During the same period, in the mainland ofGreece, the cities are transformed intostates, such as those of Sparta, Thessalyand Macedonia. Other smaller entities areformed in the Peloponnese and Crete, on thecoasts of Asia Minor and in Cyprus. Fede-rations of city-states like those inChalcidice, Locris, Phocis, Boeotia andAchaia abandon fragmentation, an age-longfate of the Greeks. These new unities hammerthe national conscious-ness, which isexpressed at a pan-Hellenic level at Olympiaand Delphi. The Olympic Games which startedofficially in 776 BC are not only a peacefulcompetition of the Greeks in the name ofathletic ideals but also the boundary-markof the beginning of historical times. Thespirit of Delphi on the other hand expressesthe pan-Hellenion and gains universalityranging up to the great PRESSURE FROM THE EAST149

states of Asia Minor, which adjoin theGreeks of Aeolis, Ionia and Doris. Thus,under these circumstances, the Greeksmade preparations to confront the greatoncoming pressure from the East. The chaoticset of the city-states intrinsicallycontains the seeds of self-organisation,which transforms the Greek disorder to a

composite ensemble through the process ofnon-linear conjunc-tion, as chaotic dynamicsimplies today. And this is what emergentHistory will record hereafter as greatformations in pursuance of the unprecedentedachievements by the Greeks.

It is very characteristic that the Greeks,creation of the chaotic geometry of theirarea and specifically of the coasts, wherethe boundaries of land and sea inter-penetrate, conveying the feeling ofinfinitude of the land, the sea and themind, developed in the coasts of Asia Minorby forming their new cities. Nearby, thecoastal colonies and few kilometres inland,the other nationalities, the barbarians,with their motionless mind relaxed on therichness of their land, formed states,living usually in harmony with the mobileinhabitants of the coasts. The latterbrought to them merchandise from abroad.Therefore the barbarian and immobile peopleslived in a stable and consolidated inlandwhile the Greeks, with their restless mindand their permanent mobility, occupied thecoastal areas. Thus, the eastern coasts ofthe Aegean Sea are inhabited by Aeolians,Ionians and Dorians, while in the hinterlandthe peoples of Caria, Mysia, Lydia andPhrygia live. The richness flows in theirrivers, as in the gold bearing PactolosRiver of Lydia, where the mythological Midasbathed in.

The historic Midas, king of Phrygia, hadclose relations with the Greeks. He had beenmarried to Demodici, daughter of Aga-memnonthe king of the Aeolian Cyme, and he veryoften con-sulted Delphi, having dedicated athrone there. Croesus of Lydia byexploitation of the gold-bearing PactolosRiver had established his capital Sardisas an international centre, and hiscourt was 150CHAPTER TWENTY

frequented by the great wise men of the era,like Thales the Milecian, Vias of Prieni,Solon the Athenian, Pittacos of Mytilene. Itis well known the story by Herodotos aboutSolon’s visit toSardis, where he was asked by Croesus “who isthe happiest man in the world” and Solon’s answerwas "call no man happy, before his end”.

The disputes and juxtapositions among theGreek cities on the coasts of Asia Minorwere very common. The pressure therefore onthe Greeks by the barbarian neighbours,either through diplo-macy or by force, wasgradually becoming more substantial.Sometimes, the people of the extendedcountry of Lydia con-quered the colonies ofthe Miletians in the Hellespont and Pro-pontis, and later threatened Miletos andSmyrna. The Phrygians however, distantneighbours, kept very good relations withthe Greeks. Later the Lydians were occupied

by the Cimmerians, and temporarily stoppedthe pressure on the Greeks. When they werelater freed they resumed the attacks againstthe Greek cities of Priene, Colophon andSmyrna.

The relations of the Greek cities with thegold-bearing bar-barians had always beenbased on the interest of the former toimport precious metals for luxuriousvessels, jewels and works of art, and forcoining which was a Greek invention in thethird quar-ter of the 7th century BC. On theother hand Greeks provided the barbariansthrough foreign trade with ceramics andoverseas rari-ties like ivory and metals, aswell as special artisans and mercen-arysoldiers.

The state of Lydia, since 560 BC, whenCroesus ascended to the throne, imposedtaxation on the Aeolian and Ionic citiesexcept for Miletos. The suzerainty wasextended to all coastal cities in the south-eastern Aegean Sea, apart from the Dorianones. However, while Croesus was conqueringthe Greek cities, far away on the plands ofPersis, in 559 BC, Cyrus II ascendedto the Persian PRESSURE FROM THE EAST151

throne. This Iranian people set up a greatstate during the 8th and 7th centuries BC.

As history relates, Croesus the king ofLydia decided to attack the Persians, but

before attempting to cross the Aly River, heconsulted the various Greek oracles. Theanswer that Delphi gave him was the famousprophecy that “if he attacked first, hewould overthrow a great state.” Yet,according to one interpretation of theoracle, this was his own state, which wasfinally defeated. To confront the Persians,Croesus asked for an alliance with the La-cedemonians. Thus for the first time theGreeks came into the system of internationalrelations and juxtapositions. Cyrus never-theless, creating a diversion, asked theGreeks subordinate of Croesus to rise inrevolt against the Lydians but did notsucceed. Finally Cyrus defeated the Lydiansand occupied their capital Sardes. Croesus,held captive, would have ended his life onthe fire had he not remembered the wisesaying of Solon, whose name he shouted thelast moment. That gave Cyrus the opportunityto understand the wisdom of Solon and thevanity of power and richness, so he sparedCroesus’ life. Thus Croesus was saved and hespent the rest of his life as a consultantto Cyrus.

The Greeks, realizing the fact of theexpansive pressure from the East, demandedfrom Cyrus to treat his subjects with thesame courtesy as they had enjoyed underCroesus, but Cyrus refused. Threatened bythe very strong foreign power, all theGreeks, Aeolians, Ionians, Dorians ralliedat Panionion and asked for help from the

Spartans, who at that time were the mostpowerful among the Greeks. The Spartansconsented and asked Cyrus not to touch anyGreek city. Cyrus returned to Persia whilethe Lydians regained their forces andinfluenced the Greeks to fight the Persians.Cyrus conquered Lydia and the Greek statesby sending his troops under Mazari. TheGreeks had to face the cruel reality andas their homelands were exposed togreat danger, they152CHAPTER TWENTY

escaped to the islands and despite theirresistance, were finally conquered aftermany battles. Thus the Greek cities exceptfor Miletos became tax subordinates toPersians and were obliged to supply men tothe Persian army.

Some ambitious and power-loving Greeksaccepted the regimethat was imposed by the Persians. Theircivil conflicts ceased and “order” prevailedin the chaotic whole of the Greeks. NowDarius is on the Persian throne. His kingsand satraps use the old and new tyrants asorgans of their power in the Greek colonies.It is the end of the 6th century BC and theGreek people feel the eastern pressure heavyon their shoulders. The obligations of thecon-quered people many times force them to

participate in military and naval Persianwars of conquest.

The Greek versatility facing the Persianroad-roller imposes conditions in which thethreatened people either “go over to the Medes”,“μηδίζουν” or offer “earth and water” “γην και ύδωρ”.The collaborators of the conqueror,forerunners of “real politik”, establish a kindof coexistence that will be applied manytimes in the future and will be a savingmode to the nation’s survival.

The adolescent age of the Greeks,confronting the oriental expansionism gaveway to maturity, which intrinsically had thecharacter of a compromise. The adaptabilityof the Greeks deve-loped strategic rules,which were based on the flexibility of hu-man and international relations up to thepoint, sometimes, of misunderstanding theirbehaviour. What would be considered ascompliance was perhaps the over tolerantattitude of the Greeks down to the lowerlevels, comparing it to the incineration ofthe mythological Phoenix, only to be rebornfrom its ashes.

However the Persians did not know eitherthe kind of people they were trying toconquer or the chaotic region of the Aegeanspace. Driven away by the Greeks andwithdrawn from the Helladic area, theywould later ascertain that those peopleof aPRESSURE FROM THE EAST153

chaotic temperament were historicallydetermined to defend their civilization intheir chaotic space.Democracy and the Right of Man, the

ideals that were born in this region ofthe earth, would deliver the greatmessage to humanity to proceed towardshigher spheres of intellectual andtechnical civilization. During thecritical hours the Greeks divided intosmall and powerless entities but sensingtheir great mission, rallied in “solitonic”waves and imposed themselves victoriously onthe invader. The Hesiodian chaos anddisorder proved once more to be thegenerative cause for the creation ofeverything.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Democracy

Two thousand five hundred years havealready elapsed since the first legislativeform of a government system, according towhich any active citizen took equal part incommon affairs. The Demo-cracy of Clisthenesin 508 BC is the greatest contribution ofthe Greeks to humanity. After a series ofadventures and the abolition of monarchy,trying also various regimes, they finallyadopted the one in which the “Ecclesia ofDemos” (assembly of the city), as a rulercorpus, constituted the expression ofcollective attitudes and decisions. So, forthe first time, free will of these chaoticpersons is ensured and following the rulesof “creative chaos” they will leadthemselves to the classical epoch. Only outof the free and restless spirit of man, willAeschylos, Pheidias, Ictinos and the othergreat creators emerge and approach eternityand immortality with their works. That will

be the great response of men to thechallenge of their perishable fate.

The discrete racial entities in Greece,enclosed by the geo-metry of intermediatedimensions in small coastal regions, in thevalleys of the hinterland and in islands, aswell as in the colonies of Asia Minor,Southern Italy and Sicily, grow bycommunicating among themselves by means ofcontinuous mobility of their in-habitants.Large states are not favoured, certainly notdespotic rule ones, as they do in theoriental multitudinous peoples.

The development of the economy due to newmeans of production, the import and exporttrade and the collaboration with thecolonies that almost every Helladic city hadestablished, now 155156CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

demand new rules of administration. Thatwill be achievedby balancing the old established structureswith new dynamic groups that contribute tothe economy.

The royal families have to a large extentperished and the no-bles of the oldstructure, the aristocrats, compete forpower esta-blishing “associations” byconspiratorial activities. Yet distancestill exists between the aristocrats and theother social classes. As it is referred, thenobles had "σχολή" (free time) while the

others had "α-σχολία" (lack of free time).Thus the aristocrats had ample time toexercise the body, spirit and soul. The lackof free time for the working people forcedthem to exhaust the body and humiliate thesoul. Owing to their work, which either hadprofit as an aim or was commanded by others,they did not have the time and certainly notthe education to cultivate their spirit.

Under such hard conditions the workingpeople at that time were in actuality slavesbereft of free spirit; thus only the noblesremained to express an opinion and toexercise authority. It is characteristicthat in Thebes a citizen was only permittedto take part in the rule if he had given upworking for a decade. Thus the aristocratsprepared their offspring to succeed them byeducating in the gyms, where they exercisedboth body and spirit. People in Athens werewealthy, living a luxurious life and, asThucydides writes, were dressed in linenrobes and their long hair was fixed by pinshaving a golden "τέττιξ" (locust), proof of thenative noble Athenians before Solon’s era.

The lords of the various races weredivided into different "φρατρίες" (factions)thus alternating in authority and in exileas well. The personal consciousness withideals of "κλέος" (fame) and "αριστεία"(bravery) is considered to have appearedworld-wide for the first time. Thus theGreek nobles were the first to achievepersonal freedom, to become rulers, poets,

legislators or philosophers. And that was the prelude tothe subsequent general-DEMOCRACY157

ization of freedom of the other classes ofGreeks.

From the military point of view, the"φάλαγξ" (phalanx) isintroduced into the Greek states as aninnovation. It was a unique group ofmutually supported soldiers. Yet thisintroduction had political implicationsbecause the nobles, who provided horses forthe war composing the cavalry, were nowlowered to an inferior mission. That reducedtheir class and raised the other ranks,which acquired consciousness of theircontribution as political power. Thosepeople were the rich farmers, professionals,tradesmen and generally venturesome people,daring and seafarers. They be-longed to"οπλίτες" (hoplites) and bought their weaponsby them-selves while the poorest classeswere the "ψιλοί" (light armed). Specificallythe indigent citizens devoid of propertyafter conti-nuous fragmentation of the land,composed the "θήτες" (poor farmers), who bycontinual estrangement became the serfs.This phenomenon grew out of proportion inAttica, and as Solon said, if it were tohave spread to all of Greece, then thepolitical evolu-tion to democracy would have

been different; because if that had happenedit would have had historically universalconsequences. Devoid of personal freedom,Greece would have never attained the highlevel of its achievements, bequeathed to thewestern civilization.

Solon, as elected by the large majority ofthe ascending clas-ses in Athens, was ableto enact the first bases of Democracy, whichsimilarly occurred in the other cities. Thatwas the time when the dynamics of themajority changed through the arrival ofsettlers and the participation of "θήτες"(poor farmers). Especially during thisstage, when there was demand for workingpeople, due to the growth of the secondaryand tertiary sectors of the economy, slaveswere used for the first time. These wereinitially prisoners of war and afterwards akind of buying and selling species. Inparallel the racial structure of thestates was transformed to 158CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

"πόλεις" (cities) and "κοινά" (unions) i.e.federations. With the proper conditions andcommon interests, the races and "φρατρίες"(factions) formed cities, while the smallgroups of dwel-lings formed municipalities.

However, the route to Democracy wentthrough many stages, during which the Greeksportrayed an immature and even un-steady

character. Aristotle informs us how royaltywas abolished in 700-500 BC in most of theGreek states. He names two reasons which ledto the abolishment of the institution. Onewas that the kings ruled oppressively byviolating the laws, and the other that aninternal antagonism developed among theroyal genres. By the end of the 6th centuryBC kings remained only in Macedonia, Sparta,Epiros and Cyprus. The constitutions whichfollowed the kingdoms were aristocraciesdevoid of kings or dynasties and collectivetyrannies.

The aristocracies conserved the “ecclesia ofdemos” and the parliament, while one or morenoblemen replaced the kings. There was aseemingly broader participation in thecommons but sub-stantially theresponsibilities were extended to the otherclasses, specifically when the oligarchyfailed in the wars.

Slowly the aristocracies were thentransformed into another kind of oligarchybecause newly rich people acquired rights bythe "τίμημα" (price). The naming of theregimes at that time were “plutocracy”,“timocracy” and “oligarchy”. However the dimin-ution of this price also allowed theintroduction “into the city” of those who wereable to buy and carry weapons in the army;therefore a mixed regime was established,the “armed city”. These establishments weresusceptible to the ambitious noblemen whofinally dominated, transforming them into

“tyrannies” which like the moderndictatorships, were to be greatly blamed inan-tiquity; especially the tyrants weredescribed with the darkest colours.Aristotle characterizes tyranny as the“monarchy” of one DEMOCRACY159

man, who seized authority “by fraud or force”,without giving an account of his acts, being“irresponsible”.

The tyrants ruled in many Greek statesfrom archaic times till the Roman conquest.The cause leading to a successful seizure ofauthority was the immaturity of thecitizens, the social turmoil, the politicalinstability and the vicinity of the citiesto powerful and aggressive states. ThePersian imperialism, through occupation ofthe Greek cities, specifically in Ionia,imposed the friends of the conqueror astyrants. A few of them were creative, suchas Peisistratos in Athens, even though heseized authority thrice by fraud, basedeither on the participation of the nobles orthe stupidity of the Athenians at the time.It is well known the story of a girl fromPaeania, who came into Athens to establishPeisi-stratos as ruler, being dressed as thegoddess Athene carrying the spear and ridingon a chariot.

The period of tyrannies in the Greekcities was, according to Aristotle, an age

of disgrace for the citizens. As he says:“The tyrants humiliated the morale of the people, spreaddiscord among them, maintaining thus the people weak, hitthe distinguished, exterminated those having a high morale,imposed the education and the cultured gatherings fromwhich originated the spirit and the faith, using spies,eavesdroppers, and potagides, women extracting secrets”.The enforcement and preservation oftyrannies is a black period in theevolutionary course of the Greeks. Perhapsthe increase of an internal disorder in thecitizens, by imposing an “order” by illiberalregimes, contributed to the self-conscioussearch for freedom of the people and thecourse towards Democracy.

Finally the chaos of the Greeks istransformed at that time into the organizedform of Democracy, in which the self-conscious participation of every citizen isadded voluntarily creating a so-litonicentity of high energy. It is theclimax of the grouping 160CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

through freedom of the people, which willlead the Greeks and specifically theAthenians to the Greek Miracle. Philosophy,which was initiated in the colonies by thepre-Socratic natural philosophers, isimplanted in democratic Athens byAnaxagoras, and finally elevates the humanmind to unattainable heights bySocrates. He is the philosopher who

voluntarily led himself to death to confirmhis faith in human values and obedience tothe laws of Democracy.

In Athens many things originated fromTheseus’ era, because the Athenians had thetendency to attribute the first steps oftheir civilization to mythology. Theseus,who defeated Minotaur, the monster ofdisorder, was considered the one whoestablished the democratic regime in hiscountry. Historically Dracon’s legisla-tionand specifically that of Solon, wereconsidered as the sub-stantial introductionto Cleisthenes’ democracy. When the latter,being the typical founder of Democracy,undertook by the end of the 6th century BCthe ruling of the Athenian State, the legalsystem of Solon had fell into decline. Thatoccurred because Pei-sistratos and his sonshad led Athens by their tyranny to the pointof no return. Thus the Athenians, now moremature, became ready to accept great socio-political reforms.

The democratic arrangements ofCleisthenes, in spite of the aristocrats’reactions, introduced to the ruling abroader contribu-tion of the citizens byextending Solon’s number of official racesfrom four to ten. Cleisthenes added to theparliament of four hundred, one hundredmore, so the representation of each of theten races would be of fifty members. TheEcclesia of Demos became the main instrumentof the State and all citizens participated

in the legislative, administrative andjudicial acts.

Later, Euripides in his “Icetides” willstate the regime of “iso-nomy democracy” as theideal for equal rights of all citizens.Additionally through the sophists’teaching in political subjects, DEMOCRACY161

the concept of democracy acquires asubstantial meaning. During Pericles’ erathe privileges of Areios Pagos are abolishedand thus the nine magistrate positions areaccomplished by the lower class as well.Apart from Athens which was the mostcharacteristic example of a democraticstate, there was real democracy in othercities as well, such as Naxos, Argos etc.

The enforcement of oligarchic Sparta onthe democratic Athens, by installing thethirty tyrants after the end of the Pelo-ponnesian war, stops the evolution of theregime and the demo-cratic order isrestricted by the military status quo of theforeign oligarchy. The alternation of orderto chaos follows the very old course and thefunction of society ought to be comparedwith the physical chemical model of idealgases, where “the product of pressure and volume at afixed temperature remains constant”. If this idea isapplied to a total sum of atoms, it givesthe picture in which the limitation of thefree space of the moving atoms (re-duction

of the gas volume) creates an increase ofthe internal pressure i.e. an increase ofdisorder. Therefore in a non-demo-craticregime the increase of the oppression(increase of the gas pressure) does not leadto order, as claimed by the dictators, butto an internal disorder. That is the greatlesson of nature’s law and the laws ofdemocracy.

Sparta on the other hand, as an oppositemodel to the Athenian democracy sustains akind of limited participation of itscitizens in public affairs; in reality it isfar from the meaning of a democratic state.Plato, follower of the aristocratic system,in his Laws admires the equilibrium of thisregime, which so harmonically combinesroyalty with the senate, the Curators andthe “Apella”; since in this oligarchic regimethere existed democratic elements as well.In parallel to the institution of the king(there were usually two) there also operateda democratic one. In the Apella, the popularassembly of Sparta, only those occupiedwith the mili-162CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

tary and financing of the common meals couldparticipate. From that assembly five newcurators originated annually, who hadunlimited authority to censure the kings andthe senate. Yet the main difference betweenAthens and Sparta was that forty thousand

citizens participated in Athens, whereas inSparta only a few hundreds. Moreover theEcclesia of Demos in Athens was continuallyrenewed while in Sparta, as an oligarchiccity, astatic system was maintained. Therefore bycomparing the two institutions, one mayconclude that the highest benefit ofpersonal freedom and the legislateddemocratic laws of Athens were those thatestablished the classic epoch.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

The Persian Wars

The national wars of the Greeks against theimperialistic sche-mes of the East, a greatmilestone in western world history, tookplace successfully when the Greek nationreached the age of maturity and acquired thefull consciousness of its power, both moraland spiritual. The principles and the idealswhich con-stituted the pedestal of today’sEuropean civilization, Democracy and FreeMind, were founded at that time in the Greekspace.

The pressure from the East was already aninevitable reality. The Greek cities of AsiaMinor belonged to the domain of the “neworder” imposed by the superpower of thatepoch. The great kings of Persia, Cyrus,Darius, Xerxes, with all their evidentarrogance and self-confidence, behaved withdexterity towards the untamed andresourceful Greeks, sometimes asking themsymboli-cally to offer “earth and water” and inother cases restoring ficti-tious democraticregimes but in reality installing obedienttyrants. The court of the great Persianking, a centre of universal power, used tooffer hospitality to exiled Greekpersonalities, who ex-pressed the realisticpolicy (real politik) of that time. It was therethat political discussions were held,

substantially aimed at the expansive plansof the Persians towards the Helladic andgenerally the European area.

A universal state, the creation of whichwas the ultimate goal of the Persians, wouldbe in reality a revival of the “worlddomination” of Mesopotamia as in the thirdmillennium BC. As the historical sourcesrefer to, the sovereigns of that state werenamed “kings of the four points of theearth”. Thus the Persian

163164CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

kings considering themselves as successorsof the Babylonians and Assyrians, aimedfinally at aquiring obedience from theGreeks as a significant part of theirexpansion to the West.

There were three campaigns of the Persiansagainst Greece. The first in 492 BC byMardonios in Thrace and Macedonia, thesecond in 490 BC with Datis and Artafernisin the Aegean Sea and Attica, and the thirdin 480-479 BC with Xerxes in central Greece,who personally oversaw it. Prior to those,the campaigns in Thrace and Scythia and therepression of the so-called “Ionian Revolt”,an attempt of the Greeks in Asia Minor toward off the Persian occupation, hadpreceded.

In all the expeditionary attempts of thegreat kings towards the West, the Greek

subjects participated in their military andnaval forces. When in 513 BC Darius marchedagainst Scythia and passed over Bosporuswith a large military and naval corps, thearchitect from Samos Mandrocles yoked abridge made of ships. This attainment waslater immortalized in his home Heraeum.Miltiades, the future winner at Marathon,tyrant at that time of Chersonesos in theHellespont of Thrace, also took part withthe Ionic fleet, following the west coast ofthe Black Sea with the Persian army. TheGreeks were those who, during the Persianinvasion in Scythia, yoked the Delta of theDanube with ships. Finally the failure ofthis campaign sparked the subsequent “Ionianrevolt”. In the meantime the return of thePersians was realized via the Hellespontwhile a part of the army under Megavasosoccupied Thrace and Macedonia. There, kingAmyntas offered “earth and water” and becamea subject of the great king. That was thefirst and sole success of the Persians inthe European continent.

In Ionia the deprivation of freedom andautonomy of the Greek cities with asimultaneous loss in trading and navigation,gave theGreeks cause to revolt, a fact thatexpressed in parallel theirTHE PERSIAN WARS165

opposition to the local tyrants. Besides,Ionia was the birthplace of Democracy andthe tyrants installed by the Persians, likeIstiaeosand his brother-in-law Aristagoras inMiletos, played an equivocal role. The causeof the revolution sprang in Naxos when thedemocratic party seized power exiling thearistocrats to Miletos. Aristagoras helpedby the Persian satrap Megavates attemptedthen to occupy Naxos but, having failed, heturned against the Persians, carrying alongthe whole of Ionia and restoring thedemocratic regime.

The capricious and inconsistent rise ofthe Ionian revolution presents a whole imageof chaotic dynamics, which finally does notsucceed in forming a solitonic wave. Duringthis revolution, Greeks revolt first againstGreeks, forming an alliance with thePersians and finally revolt against thelatter, devoid of plans and leaders. TheIonians did not face the situation in unisonand the sole thing they were concerned withwas to mint a common coin. Sparta refused tosend assistance and only the Athenianscontri-buted symbolically to the revolt bysending twenty triremes while another fivewere added from Eretria. Thus Aristagoras,who was substantially leading therevolution, did not succeed in uniting theGreeks from both sides of the Aegean Sea andhaving unsuc-cessfully asked for help from

the Spartans his failure was finallypresumed.

Minor successes took place on the landlike the occupation of Sardes by an Ionicarmy corps together with Athenians in 498BC. There, after they burned the city theyfinally retreated and the Atheniansabandoned Ionia. Some naval successes, whichdid not really alter the expected course,took place as well. Therefore when thesatrap Artafernis occupied Clasomenes andCyme of Aeolia in 496 BC, Aristagoras tookrefuge in Thrace where he was killed. In 494BC, Miletos was conquered and demolishedwhile most of its men were killed.Finally in 493 BC the Persians166CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

restored stability as it had been prior tothe revolution. Darius was not cruel inconsidering the tyrants responsible for therevolt. This revolution was the firstattempt of defence against the Persianmass and would cause the Greeks to becomemore determined so that later, in 480 BCthey would fight united. The Persians weredemystified because the Greeks had alreadycollaborated with them, like Miltiades wholater proved to be the winner of the battleof Marathon, and also because the fewmilitary and naval successes of the “Ionianrevolt” had demonstrated to them that thePersians were not unconquerable. The errors

of the unorganized revolt were a greatlesson, which led to the uproar against thethree subsequent descents of the Persiansinto the Greek mainland.

The destruction of Miletos, the sister-city of Athens, shocked common opinion inAthens and sentimentally prepared the peoplefor their next decisions. The establishmentof the democratic regime by Cleistheneswould prove that the Greeks struggle againstthe enemy when they feel free and aremasters of their land. Certainly theoligarchic people lurked and PeisistratidesIppias awaited the chance to return afterthe Persian arms would have paved the way.Some of the Greek cities believed that thePersian new order and the subordination tothe great king had to be the inevitablerealistic policy. Besides, the existence ofcolla-borators to the conqueror, alwaysambitious to seize power was a commonphenomenon since then. They also flourishedin the European area in the twentiethcentury, when freedom was broken down by theoccasionally “powerful”.

Nevertheless, the lesson of the navalweighing up during the “Ionian revolt” as acatalytic factor in the oncoming greatstruggle, suggests to Themistocles, anascending personality in the AthenianDemocracy, to create a great navalforce. The Aegean Sea is the homeland andthe great contests must be held there. War

and trade have the sea as their naturaldomain.THE PERSIAN WARS167

The three Persian campaigns against themain body of Greece commence with theoperation in 492 BC with Mardonios asleader. The Persians, after the “Ionianrevolt”, aim at the restora-tion of theirdominance, direct and indirect, in all theHelladicarea. Mardonios, son-in-law of Darius, wantsto punish parti-cularly Athens and Eretriafor their taking part in the revolution.Therefore his army crosses the Hellespontand subjugates all people and cities up toMacedonia. The fleet under Mardonios sailingalong the coasts of Ionia, Aeolis and Thracearrives at the narrow point of the Athospeninsula. In the attempt to continuesailing south, half of the fleet isdestroyed at the cape and a major part ofthe crew drowns. That was the ingloriousfirst attempt to subdue the Greeks. Here inthe north Aegean Sea, alone the geometricchaotic space of the coastline raises itsresistance against the invader. Afterwards,in the subsequent contests, it willcollaborate with the Greeks for the finalvictory.

The second attempt, this time withoutMardonios, is organized by Darius to achievethe same goal, i.e. the punishment of Athens

and Eretria. Previously he sends heralds tothe Aegean islands and the cities ofcontinental Greece asking for theirobedience with “earth and water”. Manypeoples of northern Greece responded(Macedonia had already been subjected) andalso many of the Aegean islands, evenAegina, the island neighbouring Athens.

The heralds who arrived in Athens andSparta were put to death, the two citiesdeclaring thus their decision to resist.This diplomatic campaign of Darius hadpossibly intended to isolate the Atheniansfrom the other cities and perhaps hesucceeded because only the people fromPlateae fought on their side at Marathon.

The heads of the Persians, Datis andArtafernis, in 490 BC, embark a huge armyon the ships and sailing near the coastsofIonia and Samos attack the Aegean islandsfirst. This time Naxosis caught by surprise and occupied.Afterwards almost all the 168CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

islands are subdued to the Persians, whofinally arrive in Carystos. That city, dueto internal quarrels and without help fromthe Athenians, who had previously promisedit, stands defenceless and is destroyed.Thus Athens alone remains for the Persianscheme of punishment. The Athenian Ippias

exiled in Carystos isseeking to return to power in Athens thistime supported by the Persian arms.Therefore he suggests that they make theirde-barkation in Marathon. That was also theplace his father, tyrant Peisistratos, hadchosen in the past to return to Athensbecause the people living around there weredevoted tyrannophiles. On the Athenian side,as it would be proven later, Marathonfavoured their plans because otherwise afight close to Athens would have thedisadvantage of helping the enemy throughIppias’ followers. Moreover, Athens did notdispose of strong fortification or a fleetfor the contest or even replenishment incase of siege.

The plan of the Athenian resistance inMarathon in defence of the ideals of freedomand democracy and, as it has been proved, ofthe Greek civilization, clearly belonged toMiltiades. He knew the Persians from thepast and having observed the disadvantagesof organization and armament of their army,he persuaded the Athenians (their war-lordCallimachos and the generals) to useaggressive attack far from the city.Moreover, he had apprehended the strategicadvantages of the area for conducting thebattle. There the half-marshy form of thesoil ought to allow a limited use of thestrong Persian cavalry while the surroundingareas of the hills at the foot of PenteliMountain, would reinforce the few Athenian

soldiers. Moreover the morale of the peoplefighting far from the city of Athens withouthaving the pressure of its im-mediateprotection would be higher.

Miltiades following the establisheddemocratic order in makingdecisions might have asked and received adecree of the “Ecclesiaof Demos”. Afterwards, the Atheniansaddressed themselves to THE PERSIAN WARS169

the Spartans and asked for immediateassistance sending a speedy messenger namedPheidippides. Yet the Spartans, as it isknown, arrived after the end of the battle,because they were impeded either byreligious reasons (prohibition before thefull moon) or by entanglement with theEilotes and the Messenians. The battle tookplace in 490/489 BC and possibly on the 13or 14 Ecatomvaeon(August). The Athenians did not receive anyhelp from the other cities, except fromPlateae. It is possible that the others wereafraid of reprisals on the part of thePersians in case of defeat.

The Persians, with high morale since theyhad just occupied Carystos and Eretria andmany of the Cyclades islands, arrived andstarted to disembark at the Marathon plain.The Athenians, being informed in time,arrived via Cephissia at dawn of the next

day. This mountainous run secured them fromany attack by the Persian cavalry. Thesoldiers from Plateae arrived the same even-ing and camped with the Athenians on thehills of Penteli at the west part of theplain. The Persians had already occupied theeast part of the plain and when they becameaware of the Greeks, they arrayed theirarmy, thus being ready to conduct battlewith the support of the cavalry. Thisprovocation remained without re-sponse andseven days elapsed without a single movementof the two armies. The reason was that inthe Greek camp, the eleven generals of thecouncil were torn in conflict regarding thebattle, with Callimachos the war-lordwavering; Miltiades finally per-suaded himusing inspired words. It is verycharacteristic that for seven days theGreeks, being divided in opinion, were notable to agree on how to face the superiorPersian army.

Miltiades, an expert in the Persianmilitary advantages and disadvantages,trusting in the fighting abilities of theGreeks andhaving studied for many days the peculiarconfiguration of the land, he conceived avery genuine strategic plan. He took advan-tage of the location, having the sea inthe south, hills in the north170CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

and west and a large marsh in the east.Through a gradual advancement of the Greekcamp and by constructing log fences,Miltiades was waiting for the right momentwhen the Persian cavalry would have beenwithdrawn. So on a moonlit night someIonians deserted the Persian camp andinformed the Greeks that the cavalry hadgone and possibly embarked on the ships tobe transferred to Athens. At that momentMiltiades implementedhis plan, which was a close combat throughfast contact with the enemy. Thus thePersian archers did not find time to defeatthe Greek phalanx. The tactics of the battlewere as follows: A strong attack at the twoends and retreat in the middle, which putthe Persians of both edges to route towardsthe coast where they embarked on the shipswhile the main body at the centre marchedtowards the retreating Greeks. Afterwards,the pursuing Greeks at the two ends alsoturned against the main body of thePersians, who found themselves in a pincermovement between the two Greek parts. Beingdefeated they were put to flee on the rightcoastal lane between the large marsh and thesea trying thus to embark. The geometry ofthe land in collaboration with the fortitudeof the Greeks had triumphed this time. Thepursuit ended in the well-known debacle ofthe Persians, who were trying to embark atthe narrows between the pine trees and thesea. At that point very heroic scenes took

place. The war-lord Callimachos, the generalStecilaos, Cynegeiros the brother ofAeschilos and others fell on the battle-field. The story of Cynegeiros, whose handwas cut off as he was trying to prevent aPersian ship from departing, is well known.

The battle had already been won at eighto’clock in the mor-ning and the lastPersian ship had departed to the south. Thefleet of Datis and Artafernis, carrying all theeffective cavalry and a great part of thearmy, by-passed the Sounion Cape heading forAthens. Miltiades with decisiveness andpromptness moved theTHE PERSIAN WARS171

army again through the Cephissia route andwithin nine hours, arrived and camped in thePhaleron plain. When the Persian fleetarrived later, the Greeks were alreadyprepared for a new battle. But after a shortstay on the offshore of the Phaleron bay theleaders of the Persian fleet decided todepart for Asia. The first great victory ofthe Greeks was immortalized by Simonides’epigram: “Athenians fighting for the Greeks at Marathonlaid down the power of gold-bearing Medes” "ΕλλήνωνπρομαχούντεςΑθηναίοι Μαραθώνι χρυσοφόρων Μήδων εστόρεσανδύναμιν".

The third and last attempt to enslave theGreeks commences with the ascension of

Xerxes to the Persian throne succeedingDarius. The battle at Marathon wassubstancially the failure of a navaloperation, which changed the Persian plansto a land cam-paign, as a continuation ofthat in 492 BC. Xerxes was probably promptedto this solution by Mardonios and theambassador of the Greek defectors (going over tothe Medes) Aleyades of Thessaly and even bythe Greek exiles who were in his court, likethe deposed king of Sparta Demaratos, thePeisistratides and others.

The preparations were executed at twolevels: First, imple-mentation of works,food reserves, army mobilization, andsecond, diplomatic activities to divide theGreeks and win allies over, especially fromThessaly, Boeotia, Argos etc. Theaccomplish-ment of the plan demanded a hugearmy concentration, a fleet to support itduring the campaign and also substantialworks like the bridging of the Hellespontand the opening of a canal in Athos to avoida disaster of the fleet this time.Nevertheless, Xerxes ignores the chaoticgeometry of the Helladic land and itsinhabitants with their chaotic behaviour.

The field of attraction among the Greekcities now has a double character. Athenson one side is a new naval power with agreat fleet of two hundred triremes, builtby Themistocles. Sparta on the other side isruler of the Peloponnese excluding Argos.The agree-

172CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

ment between the two cites was motivated inprinciple by the common ideals and similarinterests. Athens, if it were to be enslavedby the Persians, would pay for the victoryat Marathon by slavery and Sparta would facethe restoration of Demaratos and loss ofhegemony in the Peloponnese. Therefore, dueto the general threat, the two great citiesattempted to collaborate and unify allGreeks.

By the end of 481 BC the Greeks had beeninformed about the army and fleetconcentrations of the Persians, the bridgingof theHellespont, the opening of the Athos canaland the arrival of Xerxes at Sardes. So theyconvened a general meeting in Corinth toestablish a new pan-Hellenic alliance.Delegations from many cities were presentthere, and the first resolution they tookwas a general reconciliation like the onebetween Athens and Aegina. They appointedthe military forces for the participation ofevery city and decided to send a secretmission of spies to Sardes. The leadershipof the defensive operation, due to themodest attitude of Athens which sacrificedits ambitions, was assigned to the Spar-tansby appointing as field marshal their kingLeonidas and as admiral Eurybiades.

Now the Greeks, having decided to fightfor their homeland, compensate thedisadvantages of shortage in cavalry andlack of a common military and politicalcommand, with the everlasting vir-tues ofthe Greek race. They know the peculiarity oftheir country, the land, the mountains andthe coasts. Owing to continuous strug-glesamong the cities they are well trained inwar. Their armament is heavier than that ofthe Persians and the “phalanx” is a movingwall. They are hardened soldiers due totheir way of living and their morale is insuperable. The “solitonic”wave as a consequence of the non-linearcoupling of the Greek chaos will bematerialized once more and will overpowerthe oncoming Persian mass. Obvi-ously, theever-improvising Greeks being also self-centred do notTHE PERSIAN WARS173

devise a plan in the beginning. Casuallythey lay down three phy-sical defensivelines, which have as advantage themorphology of the regions. These are atTempi, Thermopylae and the Isthmos ofCorinth. The Persian army was considered as anunprecedented gathering, either bysubstantiated information or fantasy andfear of the impending campaign. Aeschyloswrote that Asia fell vacant of all males and

Herodotos said that a huge flock of peoplewere moved by Xerxes to conquer humanity.Herodotos, regarded by many people as havingexaggerated, totalled the number ofwarriors to two and a half million soldiers,sailors and horsemen. Modern calculationsassign the total not to have exceeded half amillion. The number of ships, fluctuating bydifferent sets of in-formation seemed toapproach the one given by Aeschylos for thebattle of Salamis, namely 1,207 ships intotal. The Greek army at its strongest inthe Plataea battle, according to Herodotoswas 110,000 men. The Greek fleet atArtemision was, again according toHerodotos, 325 triremes and at Salamis 366triremes. Compa-ratively at allconfrontations on land as well as at sea,the Persians seemed to be four times morethan the Greeks.

The movement of the Persian army and fleetwas executed according to very careful staffplans. The crossing of the Helles-pont wasachieved via two roads bridged by ships,over which the Persian army passed for sevendays and nights. In Thrace and Macedonia,which were subordinated to the Persians,their pro-visioning and reinforcement helpedthe phalanxes of the invader and thanks tothe Athos canal, “Xerxes’ canal” as it iscalled today, the sailing roundChalcidice was performed without diffi-culties this time. The first defensive lineof the Greeks at Tempi was not used at

all because, in the meeting at theIsthmos of Corinth, they decided to sendonly 10,000 hoplites, who due to the localconditions (the inhabitants of Thessalywere not favourable)174CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

returned to the Isthmos. The second defensive line, at the Pass of

Thermopylae, was during antiquity aninsurmountable obstacle because theSperchios River had not widened at that timethe coastal region with alluvium. Thepassage via consecutive straits, like themarsh of Hot Springs, was thus verydifficult. Therefore the Persians had topass through that obstructive area. Relatedto the conduct of the historic battle it hasbeen said that if the Greeks had employedlarger forces (and without Ephialtes’betrayal) the defence of that passage wouldhave succeeded. Leonidas, the king ofSparta, who took up this strait, apart fromthe “three hundred” men, he had intotal an army of 6,000 hoplites. To defendThermopylae by naval support the Athenianssent their entire fleet to Artemision, whichguarded the north entrance to Euripos. Yettheir army remained in Attica to protect thecity of Athens.

The army groups of Xerxes, after havingdescended through the passages of westernMacedonia and not via Tempi, invaded

Thessaly where the people had alreadyacceded to the Persians. They then marcheddown and arrived by a coastal way toThermopypylae where they set camp. ThePersian fleet sailing along the coast ofPelion Mountain suffered severe damages dueto the rough sea. About four hundred shipsand thousands of sailors were lost, a factthat was important to the Greeks, whoconsidered it as a divine message. In thiscase the Helladic space again resisted theforeign invasion. Finally the Persian fleetar-rived and anchored opposite Artemision.

Xerxes himself with his Persian army infront of Thermopylae presumed that themass of the multitudinous Medes andPersians would induce the Greeks to withdraw. Butwhen he sent mes-sengers asking for thesurrender of their arms he received fromLeonidas the most universally known gloriousreply. His im-perious attitude wassummarized, according to Ploutarchos, in twoTHE PERSIAN WARS175

words: "Μολών λαβέ", "come and take them". Afterthat, Xerxes gave the order of attackbelieving that the few “impertinent” Greekswould be easily overwhelmed and heinstructed to seize and bring them alive.First the Medes, later the Persians andfinally the Corps of Immortals were repulsedwith great losses as they fell in waves. The

defeat of the Persian army was due to thesuperiority of the Greek armament, which hadlonger spears and stronger shields, and alsoto the difficulty of the narrow passprohibiting them from using great force.Certainly the high morale of the fightingGreeks and the distinguished performance ofthe Spartans were the significant factors inthese temporary successes. Specifically thetactics that Leonidas applied, compellingtheenemy not to use great force due to thenarrow passage, proved once more thesuccessful collaboration of both chaoticspace and people. His tactics was to attackfirst with Spartans and then retreating tomisguide a large number of enemies into thenarrow passage where they were exterminated.That took place the first and second day ofthe battle when Ephialtes appeared in thePersian camp and offered to lead part ofthem through the Ano-paea pathway.

Thus with Ephialtes as a guide, theselected Corps of the Im-mortals withYdarnes as leader arrived behind Leonidas’posi-tions. After that, the renowned heroicbut hopeless sacrifice of Leonidas wasfulfilled, which nevertheless saved 5,000soldiers, being ordered to depart. Threehundred Spartans and seven hundred Thespieisoffered the sacrifice but the battle was forthe general benefit of all of Greece,because it was a lesson of a highest moralvalue.

The progress of the events at the field ofbattle was murderous for the Persianswhere two brothers of Xerxes fell. Whenafter a titanic struggle Leonidas fell onthe field of honour, “Homeric battles” tookplace around his body and the Greekssucceeded four176CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

times in putting the Persians to flight.However when larger armies arrived the fewGreeks retreated to a hill, from where, evenunarmed, were still causing fear. ThePersians exterminated them to the lastsoldier from afar by javelins and arrows.Thus the moral victory of one of the mostfamous and glorious military events inHistory was achieved there.

Later Simonides engraved three epigrams onthe graves of the fallen. The one for thethree hundred of Leonidas, plain and mo-destornament of bravery and obedience to thelaws of the father-land, was the renowned:“Oh foreigner, inform the Lacedae-monians that we lie herein obedience to their saying”, "Ω ξειν, αγγέλεινΛακεδαιμονίοις, ότι τήδε κείμεθα τοις κείνων ρήμασιπειθόμενοι".

In parallel to the defensive operation atThermopylae the Greek fleet equally tried todelay the descent of the Persians throughthe maritime strait of northern Euboea,which would propel them to the rear of theGreeks. Three sea battles took place at

Artemision, two of them by an offensiveinitiative of the Greeks, which re-sulted ina strategic victory. In reality the missionof the fleet was to delay the Persianmanoeuvre to the south. At the time of theconfrontation two hundred Persian ships,which tried to overtake Euboea, weredestroyed by the tempest. Generally,excluding the losses of the Persian fleet,the Greeks gained the experience at seabattle and, especially for Themistocles, wasan overall test useful in subsequentconfrontations.

After the sea battle, when the informationabout Leonidas’ sacrifice and the fall ofThermopylae had reached Athens, theimmediate departure of the Greek fleet wasdecided, as its mission had already been accomplished. Themistoclesimmediately spedto Athens since the next phase of thestruggle would be in the Attica region. TheAthenians were informed about the outcome ofthe battle at Thermopylae and thatthere was no possibility ofTHE PERSIAN WARS177

receiving help from the other Greeks becausethe main forces of the Peloponnesians werestationed at the Isthmos. Thus they facedthe dilemma of either joining the Persiansor abandoning the city because Athens wasunprotected from the land.

Themistocles at that moment played theimportant role of persuading the Atheniansto evacuate Attica under the protection ofthe Greek fleet, which had finally anchoredin Salamis. The Delphic oracle about “woodenwalls” in saving Athens was interpreted byThemistocles as the “wooden” triremes. Thesewould protect the homeland, as it was laterconfirmed by the events.

Following the battle of Thermopylae thePersians sent their fleet to Saronicos. Thusnine days after the departure of the Greeksfrom Artemision, the Persians also sailedand arrived atthe Bay of Phaleron where they anchored. Themain body of the Persian army then arrivedin Attica and pillaged it. In Athens veryfew had remained enclosed in the Acropolis,which the Persians after siege and greatstruggle from the defenders, occupied andset fire to the sanctuaries. After the fallof the Acropolis the Persians regarded thatthe occupation of half of Greece had beencompleted and only the Peloponnese areaafter the Isthmos of Corinth had remained.They then proceeded to a plan of attack.

According to the schedule, the Persianfleet had to follow their army. Yetbeforehand, they were obliged to counteractthe Greek fleet whose main body was alreadyin Salamis, while a part of it was in Aeginaand another in Poros. At that moment Xerxesdecides that his fleet should follow theroute through the gulf of Salamis in

parallel with the army. To succeed thisoperation theGreek ships in Salamis would have to bedestroyed and the island, where a part ofthe Athenian population had takenrefuge in, would have to be occupied. Thatwould be the only solution allowing thePersians to open up the route to theIsthmos.178CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

On the Greek side there is no doubt thatThemistocles was the man who conceived theplan of the sea confrontation at the Salamisstrait. However to persuade the othercommanders and to compel them to fight a seabattle there, he employed many tacticsincluding a secret misleading mission toXerxes, urging him to attack first. Just onthe eve of the battle confusion anduncertainty prevailed in the Greek fleetbecause many of the leaders wanted the fleetto sail to the Isthmos and to confront thePersians there. One of the last arguments ofThemistocles was that the Athenianpopulation would immigrate to south Italy tofound a new city there. Finally all theGreeks decided to stay and confront thePersians in the strait. EvidentlyThemistocles had knowledge of the morphologyof the coastline as well as the sea currentsand the local winds. Therefore thefractional-chaotic geometry of the region

together with the bravery and decisivenessof the Greekswere destined to collaborate and bring aboutthe glorious victory.

Initially the Persians tried to surprisethe Greeks and on the eve of battle theyinvaded the strait where the Greek fleet wasan-chored on the Salamis side. The navalbattle as it is referred to by historians,occurred on the 28th or 29th September 480 BC.The misleading message of Themistocles tothe Persians had suc-ceeded. In support ofthe whole operation, the Persians had dis-embarked at Psyttalia Island a selectedCorps for the collection of theirshipwrecked marines. Furthermore theyguarded the two entrances of the Salamisgulf, the one at Cinosoura and the other atMegara, barring thus the escape of the Greekfleet.

The Phoenician ships first came into thestrait, which had as their mission toencircle the anchored Greek ships andthen the Ionic and Caric ones. The Greeks wereinformed about the Persian movements byAristeides, who came from Aegina in time andalso by Panaetios from Tenos, who defectedfrom the Persians with his trireme. To viewthe naval battle Xerxes had taken aposition onTHE PERSIAN WARS179

his throne on the opposite Aegaleo summitand expected to see the shattering of theGreeks.

Nevertheless the element of surprise bythe Persians had failed. As it was dawning,the Greeks were quite ready singing thePaean: “Oh sons of Greece liberate your country, liberatesons, women..... now is the battle to defend all these”, "Ωπαίδες Ελλήνων, ίτε, ελευθερούτε πατρίδ’ελευθερούτε δεπαίδας, γυναί-κας….. νυν υπέρ πάντων ο αγών".Simultaneously the trumpets sounded from theships. Then the anchored Greek fleet startedto sail offensively against the Persianships. The two confronted arrays had thefollowing layout: The Greek right wingtowards Cinosoura consisted of sixteentriremes of the Spartans with Euriviades andthirty from Aegina facing the strong Ionicfleet. To the left end of the Greeks wastheir strongest part, the Athenian fleet ofone hundred and eighty triremes underThemistocles and on the opposite side werethe Phoenician ships. As a firstmovement to avoid the entrance of more shipsinto the strait, theGreeks brought the ships back to the coastby rowing, misguiding the Persians facingthem and always having the bow directed tothe enemy. That took place until the lightwind that blows early in the morning startedcausing waves which proved advantageous forthe Greeks, because the high decked ships ofthe Phoenicians would thus be tossed about

making their archers fail and becom-ingtargets for the Greek triremes.

Carrying out this manoeuvre the AthenianAmeinias first dashed and rammed aPhoenecian ship. Then followed the otherAthenian triremes and the naval battlebecame general. Simul-taneously the shipsfrom Aegina on the right part were throwninto battle. The narrowness of the place did notallow the Persians to use more ships thanthe Greeks. Therefore bravery and skillplayed a ruling role in every confrontationand that turned out to the advantage ofthe Greeks, who were fighting for hearthand180CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

altar engaging in the supreme battle. ThePersians were also fighting heroically asXerxes watched them from Mount Aegaleo.

Later, according to Themistocles plan, theAthenian triremes on the left advanced tothe right, in an aggressive movement andcontinually succeeded in defeating part ofthe Phoenician ships. The Greeks rammed themand after seizing exterminated their crew.Shortly after, panic spread to the entirePersian fleet, which was finally pursuedfrom the strait to the Phaleron bay. Thelosses were two hundred Persian ships andonly forty Greek. Victory had once morecrowned the Greek chaotic area and the

similarly chaotic behaving Greeks. Bravery,zeal and patriotism are uni-versalcharacteristics but in the Greek land theresourcefulness of the brain of the ever-improvising people finds solutions adaptedto accomplish the great mission.

The chaotic self-organized indefinitenesscreated a huge soli-tonic wave, the peak ofwhich was possessed by the leader The-mistocles, the great strategic genius. AsPlutarchos said, “braveryand willingness was of all those engaged in the battle butopinion and skill was that of Themistocles”, "ανδρεία μενκαι προθυμία κοινή των ναυμαχησάντων, γνώμη δε καιδεινότητι τη Θεμιστοκλέους".

Xerxes, after the defeat of his fleet,decides to go back to Asia leaving his armywith Mardonios. His diplomatic attempts todi-vide the Greeks, by winning over theAthenians (whom he “would pardon for theirmistakes”) have failed. Thus, after seizingAthens for a second time and destroying itcompletely, he ascertains that the Greeksare united and the Spartans have decided tocross the Isthmos and fight a commonbattle. Thus Mardonios departs toBoeotia following the Deceleia-Tanagracourse.

The Peloponnesian army coming from theIsthmos with Pau- sanias joins the Atheniansand the army from Megara. Together theymarch towards Boeotia via MountCithaeron. This is the

THE PERSIAN WARS181

place that Mardonios has chosen for thegreat confrontation luring the Greeks into aplace convenient for his cavalry. Yet flatregions in Greece are rare and arealternating with mountainous volumes. Thefractal geometry of the relief withcontinuous successions of their peculiarityis again the great ally to the Greeks in thefinal confrontation. Consequently, whileMardonios planned to fight a battle on flatterrain, the manoeuvre of Pausanias towardsthe foot of Mount Cithaeron will mislead thePersian army to the rough soils, which theGreeks always have been accustomed to.

Arriving at Plataea the Greek army foundthe Persians there already organized. Theyhad their vanguards in the north of Pla-taeaand Erythrae, and their main corps in anentrenched camp with wooden walls and towersnear Thebes. Mardonios did not disturb theGreeks hoping that they would cross AsoposRiver where he could use the advantages ofthe region for his cavalry. The Greekscamped at the foot of Mount Cithaeron wherethe Spartans occupied the right wing, theAthenians the left and the rest the centre.The region was favourable because smallhills andgorges in front of the camp disrupted thecontinuity of thesmoothness of the terrain.

Mardonios sent at first his cavalry toattack the Greeks but the place wasunsuitable and the conflict ended with hisdefeat. He then realized that he could notrely upon his cavalry’s activity. LaterPausanias moved his army to a nearer placeto Plataea once more on uneven ground withsmall hills. That forced the Persians tomove accordingly to equivalent positions. Inthese places the two arrays remainedinactive for eight days. In the meantimeMardonios blocked the supply passage ofthe Greeks. From this favourable position the commander of thePersian army con-sidered that he shouldfight a battle there, calculating on thesupremacy of his army. Mardonios was alsopressed to fight the battle as soon aspossible for reasons of supply andprovision of182CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

his army.On the twelfth day Mardonios ordered his

cavalry to com-mence the attack and hesucceeded in occupying the place where theGreeks were obtaining water supplies. TheGreeks, being com-pletely cut off from theroute of supply and in a terrible predi-cament, were forced to retreat. This move onbehalf of the Greeks was made fullyuncoordinated so finally a great disorderprevailed. Thus the Athenians moved towards

the front and to the opposite direction ofthat of the Lacedaemonians, as apparentlythe Ma-rathon winners considered a retreatdishonourable. In any case the Spartansafter having cleared the supply passages,occupied the foot of Mount Cithaeron but theentire Greek front did not show coherence.Hence Mardonios decided to take advantage ofthe situation and fight the decisive battle.

The battle at Plataea took place on the27th August 479 BC, almost one year after theSalamis triumph. It was conducted in threeseparate but inter-dependent battles and thefinal success was based on the movement ofthe Spartans that misguided the Persiancavalry to a rough place. Mardonios placinghimself at the left of his array consideredthat he should move the brunt of theattack there to defeat the Spartans; but theexact oppositeoccurred. The Persian infantry having theirbowmen protected with wooden shields movedagainst the Spartans shooting forth a cloudof arrows. This shower was endured withforbearance by Pausanias, who after havingprayed towards the Heraeum of Plataea, hedecided that it was time to give the finalorder for the great attack.

The hoplites from Tegea, positioned on theleft of the Spartansrushed against the Persians and the Medes,who were the bravest section. This clash,during which Mardonios was killed, waslethal and ended with the Greek victory. The

courage and the military virtue of theSpartans, armed with strong spears, grantedthe deci-THE PERSIAN WARS183

sive blow to the whole struggle. The Athenians, on the other side, moving

ahead faced the “going over to the Medes”Greek defectors, most of them re-treating,except those from Thebes. The latter foughtwith bravery against the Athenians and thehoplites from Plataea and Thespiae, but theywere defeated and retreated swiftly toThebes where they were enclosed within thewalls. The central section of the Greekarray appears also to have fought withbravery though the wit-nesses did not referto it. In that section commander of thePersian army was Artavazos, who ordered ageneral retreat. The altar erected after thevictory of the Greeks, which was dedicatedto “Liberator Jupiter”, testified theparticipation of all the sections in thishistorically critical confrontation.

The Persian army, completely defeated,retreated far and wide and a part of it tookrefuge in their entrenched camp where theAthenians and Spartans exterminated them.The final battle had been sealed and anotherpart of the Persian army under Artavazosretreated rapidly to Phocis with the remainsof the Mardonios section. That was the onlypart of the army, which succeeded in

returning to Asia after many hardships andgreat losses.

This campaign was the last attempt of thePersians to sub-jugate Greece. All Greeks in spite of theirendogenous disadvan-tages of non-coherence,fought united “for hearth and altar” whenthe great moment arrived. Their gods alwayssupported them and the Greeks beinggrateful, dedicated sacred altars to them.How-ever, the greatest support to theirstruggle, unknown to them, came from theHelladic chaotic space. This spaceimperishable by timehad created a unique species of men. Inspite of their many controversial chaoticcharacteristics they achieved the raising ofthe Greek civilization to a universalstardom. Therefore the greatest altar isowed to the generative Helladic space.

Epilogue

The enumeration of cases in historyjustifying the postulation that the creationof the Greek civilization and the behaviourof the Greeks are owed to their land wouldbe endless. Every region on this planetforms its people granting them, by theinherited genotypes and the continuallymodified phenotypes, its special seal. Thus,

after many centuries of brewing in situ andmixing of races by movements among lands,the various nationalities have been formed.Particularly from this time onward, by theever-facilitated emigration of people aroundthe globe and their con-tinuous mixing, atype of universal man may finally arise.This issue however concerns the historiansof the future; when the human species, owingto overpopulation necessity, advances toouter space, they will have to face crucialconclusions. Then, the overall accounting ofthis old planet will certainly have theGreek civilization as one of its centralthemes.

As the planet has evolved until now, twouniversal poles of the human mind dominate:The Greek and by its extension the Europeanor Western mind, and the Chinese mind. Thedifference between them was developed due tothe dynamic evolutionary course of thefirst, based on the chaotic character andthe syn-thesis of the opposites, while thesecond one remained intrinsically static.Greek civilization was based on Man as adistinct unit of free thought; that is whythere were no projects that required theendeavour of large groups, like the Pyramidsof the Egyptians or the Great Wall of theChinese. Therefore the Helladic Man was theresult of elaboration of a unique space-timeof the planet. The chaotic geometry of thearea is due to multiple geological trans-formations of a coincidental encounter

of the African and the 185

186EPILOGUE Euro-Asiatic tectonic plates. Thispeculiarity, in conjunction with a mildclimate and unprecedented weather changes,were the causes for the indelible imprintingon the genes of the Greeks.

Initially, by successive submergence andemergence of the land in the Tethys Sea(East Mediterranean), a coastal line arises,which today has the length double of theearth’s circumference. Similarly, if theland relief could be measured it would showan immense area much larger than thecorresponding geographic one.

Conclusively, we have a combination of theHelladic Space with unforeseen fluctuations,and Time bringing equally unex-pectedweather changes. Thus a man who had beencreated under these conditions became animprint of the chaotic space-time of thisarea and consequently for his survival, hewas obliged con-tinually to be on guard andto invent plausible explanations facing theunanticipated space-time changes. This canprobably explain the lack of long-standingprogramming of the Greek mind. Greeks mustalways alter planning since the externalconditions change. Therefore the substantialoutcome of such a chaotic environment wasthe creation of a restive spirit with a

particular insight and promptitude ofimprovisation. All this nourished theimagination that favoured the establishmentof a spiritual stand on which the arts,sciences and philosophy were developed.

The other “human” characteristics of theHelladic man such as extroversion anddomination of ego finally came to arationalized acceptance of a coexistencewith the other people, which led toDemocracy, the greatest social concept ofhumanity. This system, as a combination ofopposites, is virtually an orderlyorganization of chaos in which every chaoticperson is connected non-linearly with theothers to compose a dynamic state, havinghowever many degrees of freedom. Certainlythe disorganization, which fre-quentlyoccurs, again leads to new formations oforder because it seems that within thechaotic entirety an indestructible “memory”EPILOGUE187

functions, destined to drive the humanspecies to evolution.

The “incubation” period of the Greeknation until the Persian wars, was necessaryfor its maturing, which would subsequentlylead to the high cultural achievements andto the great events of history. The Artsfrom the Cycladic and Cretan-Mycenean to thegeometric and archaic periods, finallyculminate in the unique works of the classic

period. Speech already written but alwaysoral becomes the means of the great dramaticarts in which the events of the past andmythology (obscure in their entity,historical or not) are employed in many waysto emphasize the human tragedy in thestruggle with the superior and finallycatalytic powers. Universal literature,theatre, music and sculpture up to thepresent have represented those myths withnew recreations.

Greek philosophy commencing from thephysical philosophers reaches finally thedepths of the soul and mind. The Socraticculmination and the Platonic refinedperfection, the science with theAristotelian systematization and theDemocritean intuition of the atomicity ofmatter - which may also be of the spirit andsoul - create the modern civilization withemphasis on science and technology.Mathematics, with the Euclidean Geometry asspear-head supplied the motive power for thetechnological take-off either to otherplanets or to new modes of living with new adeity, Information. Medicine and Biologypass from sorcery and super-stition tosystematic observation, today reachingmolecular interpretation by a unique andunprecedented means, the Atom of Democritos.The diachronic behaviour of the Greek

nation is chara-cterized by theachievement of great historical events.The non-linear conjunctions, when

history imposed it, produced unparallelimages of superb human behaviour ofinexplicable interpretation. The smallnumber of Greeks, following the victoryexamples against the Persians,occasionally asserted188EPILOGUE

themselves on enemies greater in number.Alexander the Great rallying the Greeks,

except for the Lace- daemonians, defeatedthe Persian giant and conveyed the Greeklight all the way to India. The Greekrevolution for independence in 1821 is agreat example of how the inter-disputedGreeks con-fronted the Ottoman Empire. TheBalkan Wars in 1912 extend the frontiers ofa small poor country, despite all itsdisadvantages of internal dispute. The Warof 1940 is one of the more luminous examplesin modern times of an astonishing rallyingof the Greeks, who in parallel with moralcourage used the fractal geometry of themountains in north Epiros to create anepopee similar to that of the ancients. TheNational Resistance against the invaders onthe multiple mountains in 1941-1944 hadflourished while there was a near acceptanceof subordination by the European nations tothe powers of violence.

The question often being posed is ifmodern people in Greece are a continuity ofthe ancient Greeks. The answer has already

been provided by their temporal repetitivebehaviour. The same virtues and vices of thepeople of the Helladic space, who bio-logically have a time span of only 80-100generations from the epoch of the Greekmiracle, can also authenticate it.Nevertheless every nation follows an upwardcourse and when the conditions arefavourable attains a superior level. That iswhat occurred in classic Greece. The laterdescending route during Hellenistic timesdoes not imply that these Greeks did notbelong to the same nation. Simply, thesummit is always followed by a fall. Thesame could be said about the Renaissancewhen the Europeans had achieved the uniquepainting, sculpture and music in Europe.

Finally, in today’s transition from the20th to 21st century, the Helladic man,sustaining the same characteristics, isconstantly being endowed with the non-continuity of a non-periodic variation ofexternal conditions. The superb Greeklandscape and the multi-EPILOGUE189

variation of the relief rekindle hisimagination, and with the chromatic scale ofthe biosphere maintain a phenotyperesembling that of antiquity. Yet this areais limited in size for the activity of allGreeks; therefore necessarily asphyxiating.Hence by a part of

them immigrating to distant lands, theysucceed unimpeded in all sectors. Certainlythe most characteristic example of how theGreek, when the objective conditions arefavourable, achieves great things abroad, isthe Greek ownership of marine vessels. It isthe largest fleet universally, because theoceans are immense and the ingeniouscharacter of Odysseus’ descendants, spantheir wings over their natural element, thesea, which is the extension of thegenerative Aegean Sea. That mysterious areabrought forth the Greek man, as aconsequence of the chaos of the Helladicspace. The Chaos that is transformed intoOrder, as Hesiod first be-queathed to usthrough his Theogony.

PAUL N. DIMOTAKIS

CHAOS AND THE GREEKSCHAOTIC DYNAMICS INTERPRETATIONOF THE GREEK MIRACLE

GEORGIADESATHENS 2006

This book, originally written in Greek,firstly aimed at ex-plaining the reasonfor the creation of the Greekcivilization and secondly to present thecontroversial-chaotic qualities of theHellenes.The basic idea to justify such a uniquephenomenon in human history was theapplication by the author of the modernChaos Theory. Moreover, according tothis theory, disorder is the causationof order.On the other hand, in Hesiod’s Cosmogonyand the pre-Socratic philosophy, Chaoswas the progenitor of all. Therefore thespatio-temporal singularity of the Greekarea with the unprecedented landscape,the non-periodic charac-teristics ofcoastlines and the bas-relief, ought tohave transferred their chaoticcharacteristics to its inhabitants.Under such unexpected conditions themind of the people of the Greek land hasbeen enforced to be continuously onguard in order to face theunprecedented. This obvious alertnesswas the prerequisite to enter the Greekmind into a creative mode.

Conclusively the spacio-temporal chaoticGreek area, having as a centre thecosmogonic Aegean See, has to beresponsible, through the Hellens, forthe “Greek Miracle”.

ISBN 960-316-273-6

CHAOS AND THE GREEKS PAUL N. DIMOTAKIS