 | We all have been taught about the Greek Pantheon, the dozen or so gods and goddesses who ruled the world of ancient Greece. I've long been interested in seeing how local divinities were integrated into that pantheon, sometimes with new names, and sometimes with new characteristics, as the Greeks expanded their empire. And, last month I had the opportunity to explore this idea further at 3 sites in Greece: Delphi, north of Athens on the peninsula; the island of Delos, and Knossos on the island of Crete. |
I got to spend several days in each area, studying the sites and the museum collections, and came to understand even better the process by which the ancient, Mother-focused, sharing, earth-oriented cultures were transformed into the male-dominated empire culture of expansion, accumulation, and control.
DELPHI
250 kilometers north of Athens, on the side of Mt. Parnassas, is the site of the most famous oracle in the ancient world.
Looking around, I could see how, with mountain, ocean, and rich farmland coming together, this might be seen as the center of the world.
Arriving by steep trails up the mountain, pilgrims first cleansed themselves at the local spring, which, all over Europe, are dedicated to the divine feminine. Then on to the temple of Athena, the embodiment of wisdom. Then the marketplace to buy sacrifices for Apolo, and then through a series of buildings filled with the treasures people brought to the god and prophetess. The priests interviewed folks as they waited in line to ask their question, and guided the supplicants into the large temple to Apollo, at the back of which was a small, dark room (I took a picture of the location on the slab/foundation) where the virgin prophetess sat on a 3-legged stool, in a trance, and spoke syllables that the priest then interpreted for the supplicant.
But in all this, there was one thing that caught my attention: the Pythia/ prophetess stopped at a large rock on her way to the temple to connect with Sybil, the very first woman in her position.
I went on up to the temple and took pictures of the area in which she would sit and prophesy, but there was no energy there - no sense of presence.
On the way back down, though, I stopped in front of that rock and was literally pushed backward by the energy pouring from it - as was my travelling companion, who was right behind me. Soon my mouth was forming sounds - glossalllalia. That rock, I realized, was the prophetic influence. Not any substance or gas...
Needless to say, the rest of the tour meant little after that.
Looking around, I could see how, with mountain, ocean, and rich farmland coming together, this might be seen as the center of the world.
Arriving by steep trails up the mountain, pilgrims first cleansed themselves at the local spring, which, all over Europe, are dedicated to the divine feminine. Then on to the temple of Athena, the embodiment of wisdom. Then the marketplace to buy sacrifices for Apolo, and then through a series of buildings filled with the treasures people brought to the god and prophetess. The priests interviewed folks as they waited in line to ask their question, and guided the supplicants into the large temple to Apollo, at the back of which was a small, dark room (I took a picture of the location on the slab/foundation) where the virgin prophetess sat on a 3-legged stool, in a trance, and spoke syllables that the priest then interpreted for the supplicant.
But in all this, there was one thing that caught my attention: the Pythia/ prophetess stopped at a large rock on her way to the temple to connect with Sybil, the very first woman in her position.
I went on up to the temple and took pictures of the area in which she would sit and prophesy, but there was no energy there - no sense of presence.
On the way back down, though, I stopped in front of that rock and was literally pushed backward by the energy pouring from it - as was my travelling companion, who was right behind me. Soon my mouth was forming sounds - glossalllalia. That rock, I realized, was the prophetic influence. Not any substance or gas...
Needless to say, the rest of the tour meant little after that.
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DELOS
The second major activity was a return trip to the island of Delos, where I had seen the famous Cycladic figures on my last trip. These are amazing: almost flat, with triangular heads, barely defined facial features and breasts, with arms invariably crossed under the breasts - always carved in white marble. I had to find out what these were about!
We took the ferry from Athens and arrived on Mykonos in the evening and the next morning headed for the old port, where the boat to the island of Delos sails twice daily. Sadly, both the museum and the shop on the island were closed. So, although I hadn't planned to stay with the guided tour, there really was no other way to use the hours until the boat left the island.
And I'm so glad I did! Not that I learned anything about the figures, but the information this guide shared was very different from what I had heard before, and, again, filled in gaps and made sense of pieces I've been wondering about for some time. This guide was a student of anthropology and art history, as were we, so her understanding of what she saw was much more in alignment with our interests. For one thing, the dates of things were somewhat older than I had been told on the last trip, and the influence of the Romans much less. For another, she understood the symbols worked into the structures and the evolution of the place. So I got to see how the original island, with its stream and lake (very rare in this part of the world), trees, and meadows, was a bit of a paradise, dedicated to Leto, who, when transferred into the Greek pantheon, was called the mother of Apollo and Artemis, hiding from Hera, wife of their father Zeus.
Leto's temple is by the lake (which was emptied last year "because of malaria") and is the first temple one passes as one walks along the avenue of lions and enters the temple complex.
Leto is also said to have been a prophetess, so it's likely that a woman lived here who was considered the embodiment of the goddess, and taught and spoke for the goddess to the residents of the many islands that form a spiral around Delos (Cycla - des).
We took the ferry from Athens and arrived on Mykonos in the evening and the next morning headed for the old port, where the boat to the island of Delos sails twice daily. Sadly, both the museum and the shop on the island were closed. So, although I hadn't planned to stay with the guided tour, there really was no other way to use the hours until the boat left the island.
And I'm so glad I did! Not that I learned anything about the figures, but the information this guide shared was very different from what I had heard before, and, again, filled in gaps and made sense of pieces I've been wondering about for some time. This guide was a student of anthropology and art history, as were we, so her understanding of what she saw was much more in alignment with our interests. For one thing, the dates of things were somewhat older than I had been told on the last trip, and the influence of the Romans much less. For another, she understood the symbols worked into the structures and the evolution of the place. So I got to see how the original island, with its stream and lake (very rare in this part of the world), trees, and meadows, was a bit of a paradise, dedicated to Leto, who, when transferred into the Greek pantheon, was called the mother of Apollo and Artemis, hiding from Hera, wife of their father Zeus.
Leto's temple is by the lake (which was emptied last year "because of malaria") and is the first temple one passes as one walks along the avenue of lions and enters the temple complex.
Leto is also said to have been a prophetess, so it's likely that a woman lived here who was considered the embodiment of the goddess, and taught and spoke for the goddess to the residents of the many islands that form a spiral around Delos (Cycla - des).
The largest temple on the island is, of course, Apollo's, and there once was a huge statue of the god dominating the complex. (At some point in the 16th-17th century, the Portuguese thought they'd take it home with them and cut it up into pieces, but even they were too heavy for the ships, so the pieces are strewn across that part of the island.)
But, up the hill that is the dominant feature of the island, near the source of the stream (which, across Europe, are typically dedicated to the goddess (or female saint, under Catholic Christianity), is another, very visible temple, dedicated to Isis, the Egyptian Mother-goddess.
But, up the hill that is the dominant feature of the island, near the source of the stream (which, across Europe, are typically dedicated to the goddess (or female saint, under Catholic Christianity), is another, very visible temple, dedicated to Isis, the Egyptian Mother-goddess.
Of course, the standard explanation has to do with the many cultures that overlapped on this island, but more likely, the last wave of Romans were those who honored the "dark madonna" - which they called Isis. Their images of her are scattered across Europe, and they used the name in many places where the Mother was still venerated.
As for the figures - well, a local merchant selling replicas called them "primitive attempts to model the human form," at which I refrained from laughing and let him know there are many, much older, much more accurate figures all over the Mediterranean.
Fortunately, I was able to learn much more on Crete. The museum in Heraklion has many such figures, and also many other figures, tools, and vessels made at the same time. What became obvious is that these people were capable of fine, accurate representations of all kinds of life forms, but that they had buried these figures with their loved ones - these abstractions of the female form. So I've come to believe that they are representations of the divine Mother, buried with them to ensure Her guidance and love in the afterworld as in this one.
As for the figures - well, a local merchant selling replicas called them "primitive attempts to model the human form," at which I refrained from laughing and let him know there are many, much older, much more accurate figures all over the Mediterranean.
Fortunately, I was able to learn much more on Crete. The museum in Heraklion has many such figures, and also many other figures, tools, and vessels made at the same time. What became obvious is that these people were capable of fine, accurate representations of all kinds of life forms, but that they had buried these figures with their loved ones - these abstractions of the female form. So I've come to believe that they are representations of the divine Mother, buried with them to ensure Her guidance and love in the afterworld as in this one.
KNOSSOS
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The site is a half-hour bus ride from the museum at Heraklion. It's beautiful in the spring: olive trees in bloom, tall cypresses around the edges, surrounded by green hills lined with stone walls and dotted with wildflowers.
CoVid has meant the closing of several spaces, so it wasn't possible to go inside rooms, but we got a good sense of the layout of the excavation, and saw much of the "restoration" undertaken by generations of archeologists and art historians over the past hundred years.
And what I saw was neither a palace nor a temple, but a town, like Taos Pueblo or Catal Hayuk. A beautifully laid out and decorated set of structures with shared walls, a deep step well, a broad avenue and central atrium/square, a sewer and storm water drain system, carefully designed light wells, and shared storage facilities in the center.
It's a very tall structure, at least 6 stories in many places, so it's not too surprising that they had to figure out something other than thick piles of stones covered with plaster as walls. Columns supporting the next level up and letting both light and air into the interior made perfect sense.
I read all the explanations on the signs and didn't know whether to laugh or cry over the assumptions built into the interpretations - archeologists have not historically been trained in anthropology and it is so obvious here! So, while I greatly appreciate all the work that has gone into this display, it's a bit saddening to think of how it reinforces empire culture assumptions.
Even the stories told by the Greeks about this place are written from and about the ways that empire works. King Minos ruling over the islands, a minotaur devouring Greek youths - totally unsupported by the cultural norms of this space at that time.
We didn't make it down to the labyrinth cave, but that, too, is a reconstruction, and ignores the evidence of sacred soul journeys into the inner core of being, where we all are a mixture of human and animal, and all can be transformed into the fully human beings we were born to be.
Seeing all these things in person - feeling the presence of the past - has brought my thinking into clearer focus. I'm so glad I made this journey!
CoVid has meant the closing of several spaces, so it wasn't possible to go inside rooms, but we got a good sense of the layout of the excavation, and saw much of the "restoration" undertaken by generations of archeologists and art historians over the past hundred years.
And what I saw was neither a palace nor a temple, but a town, like Taos Pueblo or Catal Hayuk. A beautifully laid out and decorated set of structures with shared walls, a deep step well, a broad avenue and central atrium/square, a sewer and storm water drain system, carefully designed light wells, and shared storage facilities in the center.
It's a very tall structure, at least 6 stories in many places, so it's not too surprising that they had to figure out something other than thick piles of stones covered with plaster as walls. Columns supporting the next level up and letting both light and air into the interior made perfect sense.
I read all the explanations on the signs and didn't know whether to laugh or cry over the assumptions built into the interpretations - archeologists have not historically been trained in anthropology and it is so obvious here! So, while I greatly appreciate all the work that has gone into this display, it's a bit saddening to think of how it reinforces empire culture assumptions.
Even the stories told by the Greeks about this place are written from and about the ways that empire works. King Minos ruling over the islands, a minotaur devouring Greek youths - totally unsupported by the cultural norms of this space at that time.
We didn't make it down to the labyrinth cave, but that, too, is a reconstruction, and ignores the evidence of sacred soul journeys into the inner core of being, where we all are a mixture of human and animal, and all can be transformed into the fully human beings we were born to be.
Seeing all these things in person - feeling the presence of the past - has brought my thinking into clearer focus. I'm so glad I made this journey!
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