Constellation Families

August 17th, 2010

The Ursa Major Family

1. The constellation Ursa Major (Great Bear)is certainly one of the most famous constellations; it includes the familiar asterism Big Dipper (the Britsh call it the Plow, the Wain or the Wagon; in German it is known as the “Große Wagen”). Ursa Major is an excellant staring point to explore the night sky.
2. The group of stars, which form the Ursa Minor, the Little Bear is often called Little Dipper for its form strongly reminds one on an oldfashioned cream ladle or gravy spoon.
3. One of the very few constellation, who really resembles the figure it was named after, is Draco, the dragon.
4. The constellation of the Canes Venatici , the Hunting Dogs, consists of two bright stars. A modern view is, that these two “dogs” are hunting the Great Bear.
5. The Bear Driver Boötes is sometimes called the Herdman. It lies south and east of the Great Bear.
6. The constellation Coma Berenice has it name after the beautiful Egyptian Queen Berenice, i.e. after the shorn locks.
7. A wonderful circlet is being formed by Corona Borealis , lying between Boötes and Hercules.
8. In a region where stars are few the constellation of Camelopardalis (the Giraffe) can be found.
9. Lynx (the Lynx), likewise in a barren region, forms a sort of fence in front of the Great Bear.
10. North of the constellation Leo lies the Leo Minor, the Smaller Lion.
The last three constellations are modern astronomical images providing identification for a few fainter stars unattacged to the older groups.

The Zodiacal Family
As the name implies belong to this familiy the twelve constellations of the zodiac. There is a nice rhyme to memorize these constellations.
(One remark here: Actually, nowadays there are two more constellation through which the sun passes along the ecliptic: Ophiuchus and Cetus, the Whale.)
11. Looking like the king of beasts is the constellation of Leo, the Lion; it forms an arched mane.
12. South of Coma Berenice lies the group forming Virgo, the Virgin.
13. The stars of Libra, the Scale, remind of the claws of an old scale.
14. On the edge of the Milky Way there can be the realistic form of the Scorpius, the Scorpion, be found.
15. Sagittarius, the Archer, represents a Centaur holding an bow.
16. Capricorn, The Goat,
17. Aquarius, the Water Carrier, and
18. Pisces, the Fishes, occupy a region of the sky which is largely devoted to water creatures of the sea.
19. According to greek mythology an expedition of the Argonauts went out to get the golden fleece of the Aries, the Ram.
20. With its long curved horns and its bright red eye (the star Aldebaran) the constellation of Taurus, the Bull, is most impressive in the sky. The Bull moves continuously away from the advancing Hunter Orion.
21. The Twins Gemini are again a reference to the greek mythology. The both leading stars are named Castor and Pollux after the twin sons of Zeus.
22. The constellation Cancer, the Crab, is not only part of the Zodiacal Family but as well associated with the Hercules Family.
The Perseus Family
23. The heavenly W, the constellation Cassiopeia (sometimes called “The Lady of the Chair) is one of those constellations which can be easily found in the northern sky. In the latidude of Central Europe it appears nearly in the zenith.
24. Cepheus, the royal consort of Cassiopeia, lies to the north and west of the Lady.
25. Andromeda
26. The body of Perseus extends approximately parallel to the Milky Way.
27. Pegasus (see Eridanus).
28. Like the Cancer the Whale Cetus does not only belong to just one family. It also belongs to the family “Heavenly Waters”.
29. The Charioteer Auriga.
30. A inconspicuous modern group is that of the Lizard Lacerta. Its lying between Cepheus on the north and Pegasus on the south.
31. Some nce starfields can be found in the constellation Triangulum, the Triangle.

The Hercules Family
32. Named after the mythological figure the constellation Hercules shows the strongest man kneeling on the head of draco holding a bow in the hand.
33. The Arrow Sagitta flies from this bow in the direction of Aquila, Lyra and Cygnus.
34. The Eagle Aquila.
35. Lyra, the Lyre, has a distinctive geometrical form consisting of a parallelogram an an equilateral triangle.
36. The constellation Cygnus, the Swan, is also known as the “Northern Cross”.
37. South of the Swan lies Vulpecula, the Fox.
38. One of the largest constellations is Hydra, the Sea Serpent.
39. The modern goup Sextans, the Sextant.
40. The Cup (of Bacchus ?) Crater and
41. the Crow Corvus are located between the Sea Serpent and the zodiacal groups Lion and Virgin.
42. The Serpent Holder Ophiuchus is busily struggling with the
43. Serpens, the Serpent.
44. Scutum, the Shield, together with Sagittarius and Centaurus are spectacular to view.
45. Another creature of the legends about Hercules is the Centaurus.
46. The group of stars forming the Lupus, the Wolf, seems to have undergone several transformation in history.
47. The Southern Crown Corona Australis.
48. The Altar Ara and
49. the Southern Triangle Triangulum Australis lie on the outhern fringe of the Milky Way.
50. One of the most conspicous constellations of the southern hemisphere is build from the 4 bright Magnitude stars forming the famous Soutern Cross Crux.

The Orion Family
51. Followed by his two dogs the giant Orion is struggling against the Bull. Orion is certainly one of the most striking figures in the sky.
52. The Larger Dog Canis Major.
53. The Smaller Dog Canis Minor.
54. Behind Orion there comes the Unicorn, Monoceros galopping towards him.
55. Located beneath Orion is the small constellation of the Hare, Lepus

The Heavenly Waters
56. The Doplhin Delphinus and
57. Equuleus, the Little Horse, are lying between Pegasus and Aquila.
58. Near the star Rigel (beta Ori) the river Eridanus is flowing toward the bright star Archenar (alpha Eri).
59. Pisces Austrinus, the Southern Fish.
The great ship Argo has been divided into the following four constellations:
60. Carina, the Keel.
61. Puppis, the Stern
62. Vela, the Sails
63. Pyxis, the Mariner’s Compass.
64. Near the stern of the ship flies the Dove Columba.

The Bayer Group
The following constellations got their name from the astronomer Johann Bayer (early 17th century). He followed the tradition and gave them names related to sea creatures:
65. Hydrus, the Water Snake.
66. Dorado, the Goldfish.
67. Volans, the Flying Fish.
68. Apus, the Bird of Paradise.
69. Pavo, the Peacock.
70. Grus, the Crane, lying south of the Southern Fish.
71. Phoenix, the Phoenix.
72. Tucana, the Toucan.
73. Indus, the Indian.
74. South of the Keel lies the Chamaeleon, the Chameleon – extending its tongue to the neighboring minor constellations.
75. Musca, the Fly. Originally Bayer had designed it as a bee and it was changed somewhen later.

The La Caille Family
In order to fill the star poor regions between the Bayer Group and the other families the astronomer La Caille (well known for his catalog of nebulous objects) conceived the following 13 constellations. He broke with the tradition and gave them scientific names (with one exception: Mensa):

76. Norma, the Level.
77. Circinus, the Compasses
78. Telescopium, the Telescop.
79. Miscroscope, the Microscope.
80. Sculptor, the Sculptor’s Apparatus.
81. Fornax, the Furnace.
82. Caelum, the Graving Tool.
83. Horologium, the Clock.
84. Octans, the Octant.
85. Mensa, the Table Mountain (the Table Mountain at Capetown was the site of La Caille’s observatory)n
86. Reticulum, the Net.
87. Pictor, the Easel.
88. Antlia, the Air Pump.

Οι οικογένειες των Αστερισμών

August 16th, 2010

Της Μεγάλης Άρκτου που έχει:

1. Τον αστερισμό της Μεγάλης Άρκτου, που είναι βέβαια ένας από τους πιο διάσημους αστερισμούς. Η Μεγάλη Άρκτος είναι ένα υπέροχο σημείο πολύ ζωηρό χρήσιμο στην ανίχνευση του νυχτερινού ουρανού.
2. Την ομάδα των αστέρων, που καλείται Μικρή Άρκτος.
3. Έναν από τους ελάχιστους αστερισμούς, ο οποίος αληθινά μοιάζει με την εικόνα που ανήκει στο όνομά του και είναι ο Δράκων.
4. Τον αστερισμό Κύνες Θηρευτικοί, αποτελείται από δύο λαμπρούς αστέρες. Μια σύγχρονη άποψη είναι ότι οι δύο κύνες κυνηγούν την Μεγάλη Άρκτο.
5. Τον Οδηγό της Άρκτου, τον αστερισμό του Βοώτη που βρίσκεται στα Νοτιοανατολικά της Μεγάλης Άρκτου.
6. Τον αστερισμό της Κόμη της Βερενίκης έχει το όνομα της όμορφης Αιγύπτιας βασίλισσας Βερενίκης.
7. Ένας όμορφος μικρός κύκλος που διαμορφώνεται από τον αστερισμό Στέφανος Βόρειος, βρίσκεται μεταξύ των αστερισμών του Βοώτη και του Ηρακλή.
8. Σε μια περιοχή όπου οι αστέρες είναι λίγοι, βρίσκεται ο αστερισμός Καμηλοπάρδαλις.
9. Τον αστερισμό Λύγξ, είναι επιπλέον μια περιοχή άγονη που διαμορφώνει ένα μικρό φράκτη μπροστά από τη Μεγάλη Άρκτο.
10. Τον βόρεια του αστερισμού του Λέοντα, τον Λέοντα Μικρό.
Της οικογένειας του Ζωδιακού που έχει:

Ακριβώς όπως υπονοεί το όνομα ανήκει η οικογένεια των δώδεκα αστερισμών του Ζωδιακού Κύκλου. Θα πρέπει να τονιστεί εδώ ότι πραγματικά υπάρχουν επιπλέον δύο αστερισμοί διαμέσου των οποίων διέρχεται ο Ήλιος καταμήκος της Εκλειπτικής. Ο Οφιούχος και το Κήτος (ή Φάλαινα).
11. Τον αστερισμό Λέων που πράγματι μοιάζει σαν τον βασιλιά των ζώων.
12. Νότια της Κόμη της Βερενίκης βρίσκεται το σύνολο των αστέρων, ο αστερισμός Παρθένος.
13. Τους αστέρες του αστερισμού Ζυγός, που θυμίζει το μοχλό μιας παλιάς ζυγαριάς.
14. Στην άκρη του Γαλαξία υπάρχει ο αστερισμός του Σκορπιού.
15. Τον αστερισμό Τοξότης που ξαναπαρουσιάζει έναν Κένταυρο που κρατά τόξο.
16. Τον αστερισμό Αιγόκερως,
17. τον αστερισμό Υδροχόος και
18. τον αστερισμό Ιχθύς που καταλαμβάνουν μια περιοχή του ουρανού η οποία είναι αφιερωμένη στα δημιουργήματα του νερού της θάλασσας.
19. Σύμφωνα με την Ελληνική Μυθοπλασία μια αποστολή των Αργοναυτών πήγε να πάρει το Χρυσόμαλλο Δέρας του Κριού και αυτό συμβολίζεται από τον αστερισμό Κριός.
20. Με τα μακριά κυρτά του κέρατα ο αστερισμός του Ταύρου με τον κόκκινο αστέρα του Αλδεβαράν, που είναι ο πιο εντυπωσιακός αστερισμός στον ουρανό.
21. Τον αστερισμό των Διδύμων που είναι ακόμα μια αναφορά στην αρχαία Ελληνική μυθοπλασία. Και οι δύο κύριοι ηγετικοί αστέρες Κάστωρας και Πολυδεύκης είναι οι μετέπειτα δίδυμοι γιοί του Δία.
22. Τον αστερισμό Καρκίνος που δεν είναι μόνο ένα κομμάτι του Ζωδιακού Κύκλου αλλά συσχετίζεται και με την Οικογένεια του Ηρακλή.

Της οικογένειας του Περσέα που έχει:
23. Τον αστερισμό Κασσιόπη που μερικές φορές καλείται “Η Κυρία της Εστίας” είναι ένας από τους αστερισμούς που εύκολα μπορεί να βρεθεί στο Βόρειο Ουρανό. Στα γεωγραφικά πλάτη της Κεντρικής Ευρώπης εμφανίζεται νωρίς στο Ζενίθ.
24. Τον αστερισμό Κηφεύς, το βασιλικό σύζυγο της Κασσιόπης, που βρίσκεται στα βορειοδυτικά της Κασσιόπης.
25. Τον αστερισμό Ανδρομέδα.
26. Το σώμα του Περσέα που επεκτείνεται περίπου παράλληλα στο Γαλαξία.
27. Τον αστερισμό του Πήγασου.
28. Ακριβώς όπως ο αστερισμός Καρκίνος, το Κήτος που δεν ανήκει μόνο σε αυτή την οικογένεια. Ανήκει επίσης στην οικογένεια των “Ουρανίων Υδάτων”.
29. Τον αστερισμό του Ηνίοχου.
30. Μια δυσδιάκριτη ομάδα είναι αυτή του αστερισμού της Σαύρας. Βρίσκεται μεταξύ του Κήτους νότια και του Πήγασου βόρεια.
31. Τον αστερισμό Τρίγωνο.
Της οικογένειας του Ηρακλή που έχει:
32. Τον αστερισμό του Ηρακλή που έχει ονομαστεί από την εικόνα του ήρωα και παρουσιάζει έναν ισχυρό άνδρα που γονατίζει το κεφάλι του δράκου κρατώντας ένα τόξο στο χέρι.
33. Τον αστερισμό Βέλος που πετά ένα τόξο στην κατεύθυνση του Αετού, της Λύρας και του Κύκνου.
34. Τον αστερισμό Αετός.
35. Τον αστερισμό Λύρα που έχει μια διακριτική γεωμετρική μορφή που αποτελείται από ένα παραλληλόγραμμο και ένα τρίγωνο.
36. Τον αστερισμό Κύκνος που είναι γνωστός επίσης σαν “Βόρειος Σταυρός”.
37. Νότια του Κύκνου βρίσκεται η Αλώπηξ, δηλαδή η Αλεπού.
38. Ένας από τους μεγαλύτερους αστερισμούς είναι ο αστερισμός Ύδρα, το Φίδι της Θάλασσας.
39. Τον αστερισμό Εξάς.
40. Τον αστερισμό Κρατήρ, μια αρχαία Ελληνική κούπα.
41. Τον αστερισμό Κόραξ που βρίσκεται μεταξύ του Θαλάσσιου Όφεως και του Ζωδιακού συνόλου Λέοντα και Παρθένου.
42. Τον αστερισμό Οφιούχος.
43. Τον αστερισμό Όφις.
44. Τον αστερισμό Ασπίς (Σοβιέσκι), που μαζί με τους αστερισμούς Τοξότης και Κένταυρος είναι ιδιαίτερα ωραίοι στη θέασή τους.
45. Ακόμα ένας άλλος αστερισμός που σχετίζεται με την Ελληνική αρχαιότητα αναφορικά στον Ηρακλή, ο Κένταυρος.
46. Τον αστερισμό του Λύκου.
47. Τον αστερισμό της νότιας Κορώνας, ο Στέφανος Νότιος.
48. Τον αστερισμό Βωμός.
49. Τον αστερισμό Τρίγωνο Νότιο.
50. Ένας από τους πιο καταφανής και διάσημους αστερισμούς στο νότιο ημισφαίριο έχει τέσσερα πολύ φωτεινά αστέρια και ονομάζεται ο Σταυρός του Νότου, τον αστερισμό Σταυρός Νότιος.

Της οικογένειας του Ωρίωνα που έχει:
51. Τον αστερισμό Ωρίων με την ακολουθία των δύο σκυλιών του, είναι σίγουρο πως κατέχει την πιο εντυπωσιακή εικόνα στον Ουρανό.
52. Τον αστερισμό Κύων Μέγας.
53. Τον αστερισμό Κύων Μικρός.
54. Πίσω από τον Ωρίωνα έρχεται ο αστερισμός Μονόκερως.
55. Κάτω από τον Ωρίωνα βρίσκεται ο αστερισμός Λαγωός.
Της οικογένειας των Ουρανίων Υδάτων που έχει:
56. Τον αστερισμό Δελφίν.
57. Τον αστερισμό Ιππάριον που βρίσκεται μεταξύ των αστερισμών Πήγασου και Αετού.
58. Κοντά στον Ρίγκελ (β Ωρίων) βρίσκεται ο αστερισμός Ηριδανός με τον λαμπρό αστέρα Αχερνάρ (α Ηριδανός).
59. Τον αστερισμό Ιχθύς Νότιος.

Το μέγα σκάφος της Αργώ έχει διαιρεθεί σε τέσσερις αστερισμούς:
60. Τον αστερισμό Τρόπις, που είναι η καρίνα του πλοίου.
61. Τον αστερισμό Πρύμνη, που είναι η πρύμνη του πλοίου.
62. Τον αστερισμό Ιστία, που είναι τα ιστία του πλοίου.
63. Τον αστερισμό Πυξίς Ναυτική, που είναι η πυξίδα της Αργώ.
64. Κοντά στην πρύμνη ο αστερισμός Περιστερά.

Της οικογένειας του Bayer που έχει:
65. Τον αστερισμό Ύδρος, το αρσενικό φίδι.
66. Τον αστερισμό Δοράς, τον ξιφία.
67. Τον αστερισμό Ιχθύς Ιπτάμενος.
68. Τον αστερισμό Πτηνόν, το πουλί του Παραδείσου.
69. Τον αστερισμό Ταώς, το παγώνι.
70. Τον αστερισμό Γερανός, το πουλί Γερανός. Βρίσκεται νότια του αστερισμού Ιχθύς Νότιος.
71. Τον αστερισμό Φοίνιξ.
72. Τον αστερισμό Τουκάνα, το πουλί Τουκάνα.
73. Τον αστερισμό Ινδός.
74. Νότια του αστεερισμού Τρόπις βρίσκεται ο Χαμαιλέων.
75. Τον αστερισμό Μυία, η μύγα.

Της οικογένειας του La Caille που έχει:
76. Τον αστερισμό Γνώμων.
77. Τον αστερισμό Διαβήτης.
78. Τον αστερισμό Τηλεσκόπιον.
79.

Τον αστερισμό Μικροσκόπιον.
80. Τον αστερισμό Γλύπτης.
81. Τον αστερισμό Κάμινος.
82. Τον αστερισμό Γλυφείον, η σμίλη, το καλέμι.
83. Τον αστερισμό Ωρολόγιον.
84. Τον αστερισμό Οκτάς.
85. Τον αστερισμό Τράπεζα.
86. Τον αστερισμό Δίκτυον.
87. Τον αστερισμό Οκρίβας, ο ζωγράφος.
88. Τον αστερισμό Αντλία.

Some Notes about Theogony ( English )

August 7th, 2010

Theogonies are cosmogonies , which have as their subject , the report of the development to which the gods were born and rule the world. Such cosmogonies see the world as entirely a creation of one or more gods. The gods have the power to create from scratch.

Information regarding the creation of the world and the birth of the gods found in just a few poets of antiquity. The first references are attiruted to Homer , mostly fragmented and scattered, but enough to form an adequate picture of the gods and get a first impression on the world’s creation.

The ancient Greeks, through the myths of theogony , tried to explain:
* The first principle from which the world was created,
* The evolution of the world to reach to the current version
* Forces which hold the unity of the Cosmos and the position of man in it.

The first organized attempt of theogonic – cosmogonic records ,were found in Hesiod’s work called Theogonia, around 740 BC . His work is a detailed description of the pre-Olympic gods and the Olympian gods.
Theogonies were also written by Apollodorus and Ovid and what they wrote matches almost exactly with Hesiod . Perhaps the more interesting in terms of the cosmogonic references they have is the Theogony of Orpheus and the Orphic Hymns.

Brief reference to the Orphic Theogony

The cosmic egg

Pindar places Orpheus, the most famous musician and poet, among the oldest heroes of antiquity , after participating in the Argonaut expedition, but he was not mentioned neither in Homer nor in Hesiodic epics. The Argonauts were saved twice from the dangers of the sea thanks to Orpheus, who was initiated into the mysteries of Samothrace, and the Dioscuroi, who, also , participated in the campaign. The first time since their departure from Cape Sigeum of Troy, two stars fell on the heads of the Dioscuroi, and the second, in the middle of the Black Sea, they stopped , again at the behest of Orpheus, who saw the event as s an initiation to achieve a more favorable travel.

The Orphic, followers of of the religious movement that emerged in the 6th BC , attributed the establishment of the religion to Orpheus, hero and author of many epic poems titled Theogoniai. Most of these poems has been lost.

In the Orphic Theogony except Chaos, Gaia, the sky and the ocean , there are other primary forces such as time, ether, water and the cosmic egg as well

Orphic Creation

In the beginning there was Agiraos (ageless) Chronos.From Chronos(Time) came Ether, and around it , the vast gap Chaos , wrapped in deep Erevos(darkness). Within Ether , Chronos created the Cosmic egg , which was shining through Chaos. From the silver egg (egg argyfeon) , hatched Fanis (or Phaethon or Protogonos(Primitive) or Metis or Eros(Cupid-Lover) or Irikepaios) who was both male and female, with four eyes, four heads in the form of an animal, golden wings and voices of lion and ram. The name indicates the light and was named as the bright creator of the world.He and his sister Nyx( Night )gave birth to Uranus(the Sky), which made him dominant in Gods and the Earth (the first gods reigned after Mother Night).He created Uranus (the Sky) for the gods to live , then Gaia(Earth) and the moon.

The subsequent birth of the gods is like in Hesiod’s Theogony with some minor differences. Uranus is expelled from Saturn and he in turn by Zeus, who re-created the world.

Zeus swallows Fanis and becomes so powerful that dominates everything.The epicenter of Theogony is the epic of son of Zeus and savior of the world , Dionysus Zagreus. Dionysus Zagreus was the son of Zeus and Kore – Persephone and his birth brings the creation of divine beings to its end .

The Titans are frangmenting and devouring Dionysus,until came Athena to rescue him but she only managed to retreive his heart . Athesa gives Dionysus’s heart to Zeus and he rebuilts him back to life. As an effect to this disrespect , Zeus eliminates the Titans with thunderbolts and from their ashes , he makes the human race. Due to the fact that the ashes were containing fragments of both the Titans, and fragments for the devoured Dionysus , man has two natures. A Titanic and a divine one . Divine is the soul and Titanic is his body.

According to the Orphic , the human soul was imprisoned within the body as a consequence of the sin of the Titans. People are led to salvation through trying to distract and to distinguish in them the divine element from the Titanic but the road is long, because the soul is constantly subject to new incarnations and returns to earth after a temporary stay in the underworld until he completes his cycle of birth and the number of incarnations.

The initial positions of the Orphic religion of Ancient Age continued in the post-Hellenistic Imperial times , in a form of a new religious movement: the Neo-Orphic.

This new movement has tended to monotheism, having given a superior position in one god over others. God has ranged from Zeus, sometimes Zeus – Dionysus – Sun – Hades and continued during the Roman period.

The Theogony o Hesiod

The Theogony of Hesiod is a lengthy composition of a huge variety of local Greek traditions concerning the gods. The project is organized as a narrative indicating how the gods created and how they established permanent control over the world.

In the Theogony of Hesiod already exist three Primary forces, Chaos, Gaia and Eros. These three forms are not born from one another. They are selfbirth ( in greek is called aftogennita) and are seperated only due the time series of birth. Of the three first gods only Eros cannot create offsprings but He unites and leads the other forces into Creation.

From Chaos came Erebus and the Night. And from the union of two of them came Ether and the Day.

Gaia ,without a previous erotic union creates Uranus (the Sky), which has as much space as she has. Gaia also gives birth to the Mountains and Sea. Thus the whole configuration of the world starts from her . Gaia created Cosmos by giving birth to its constituents.

Gaia gives some of her powers to Uranus and by erotic union with him, she gives birth to the Titans, the Cyclops and Hecatonchires.

Uranus loses its power from Kronos(Saturn), who cuts Uranus genitals to seperate him from Gaia . From the blood of Uranus came Erinyes(Furies), the Giants, the Melies and from the sperm that came from his cut in the genitals came Venus.

Uranus predicted that Kronos will lose its power by one of his children. For this reason,he swallowed all his children that were born by his wife Rhea. He Swallowed Demeter, Hestia, Hera, Hades and Poseidon. When Zeus was born , Rhea gave Cronos a sculptured stone instead of Zeus to eat , and she hide the newborn baby in a cave of Mount Dicti in Crete.

When Zeus grew up he forced Kronos to forces to pull out from his belly , his brothers and sisters and after many conflicts which were named as the Titanomachia(Titan wars), Zeus took the power in his hands and initiated the era of the Olympian gods.

Some Notes about Theogony ( Greek )

August 7th, 2010

Θεογονίες είναι οι κοσμογονίες που έχουν σαν θέμα τους την έκθεση της εξέλιξης με την οποία γεννήθηκαν οι θεοί που κυβερνούν τον κόσμο. Τέτοιες κοσμογονίες θεωρούν τον κόσμο σαν εξ’ολοκλήρου δημιούργημα ενός ή περισσότερων θεών. Οι θεοί έχουν την δύναμη να δημιουργούν εκ του μηδενός.

Πληροφορίες σχετικές με τη δημιουργία του κόσμου και τη γέννηση των θεών συναντάμε σε λίγους ποιητές της αρχαιότητας. Οι πρώτες αναφορές υπάρχουν στον Όμηρο, αλλά ενώ είναι αποσπασματικές και σκόρπιες, είναι αρκετές ωστόσο για να σχηματίσουμε μια ικανοποιητική εικόνα για τους θεούς και να αποκτήσουμε μια πρώτη εντύπωση για τη δημιουργία του κόσμου.

Οι αρχαίοι Έλληνες μέσα από τους θεογονικούς μύθους προσπάθησαν να εξηγήσουν:

* την πρώτη αρχή από την οποία δημιουργήθηκε ο κόσμος,
* την εξελικτική πορεία του κόσμου για να φτάσει όπως είναι με τη σημερινή του μορφή
* τις δυνάμεις που συγκρατούν την ενότητα του κοσμικού συνόλου και τη θέση του ανθρώπου μέσα σε αυτό.

Την πρώτη οργανωμένη απόπειρα θεογονικής – κοσμογονικής καταγραφής συναντάμε στον Ησίοδο, γύρω στο 740 π.Χ. Στο έργο του υπάρχει αναλυτική περιγραφή για τους προ-ολυμπιακούς θεούς καθώς και για τους Ολύμπιους θεούς.

Θεογονίες επίσης έγραψαν ο Απολλόδωρος που ταυτίζεται σχεδόν απόλυτα με τον Ησίοδο, ο Οβίδιος, και η πιο ενδιαφέρουσα ίσως κοσμογονική αναφορά υπάρχει στον Ορφέα και στους ορφικούς.

Συντομη αναφορα Στην Ορφικη Θεογονια

Το κοσμικό αβγό

Ο Πίνδαρος τοποθετεί τον Ορφέα, τον πιο ξακουστό μουσικό και ποιητή, μεταξύ των αρχαιότερων ηρώων, αφού συμμετέχει στην Αργοναυτική εκστρατεία· ωστόσο, δεν αναφέρεται ούτε στα ομηρικά ούτε στα ησιόδεια έπη. Οι Αργοναύτες σώθηκαν δύο φορές από τους κινδύνους στη θάλασσα χάρη στον Ορφέα, που ήταν μυημένος στα μυστήρια της Σαμοθράκης, και τους Διοσκούρους, που συμμετείχαν στην εκστρατεία. Την πρώτη φορά, μετά την αναχώρησή τους από το ακρωτήριο Σίγειο της Τρωάδας, δυο αστέρια έπεσαν στα κεφάλια των Διοσκούρων, και τη δεύτερη, στη μέση του Εύξεινου Πόντου, σταμάτησαν κατά προτροπή πάλι του Ορφέα, ώστε με τη μύηση να πετύχουν ευνοϊκό ταξίδι –σωότεροι ναυτίλλοιντο.

Οι ορφικοί, οπαδοί θρησκευτικής κίνησης που εμφανίστηκε τον 6ο π.Χ. αι., απέδιδαν την ίδρυση της θρησκείας τους στον Ορφέα και τον θεωρούσαν δημιουργό πολλών επικών ποιημάτων με τον τίτλο Θεογονίαι. Το μεγαλύτερο μέρος από αυτά τα ποιήματα έχει χαθεί.

Στη θεογονία των ορφικών εκτός από το χάος, τη γαία, τον ουρανό, τον ωκεανό υπάρχουν κι άλλες πρωταρχικές δυνάμεις όπως ο χρόνος, ο αιθέρας, το ύδωρ και το κοσμικό αβγό.

Η δημιουργία

Στην αρχή υπήρχε ο αγήραος (αγέραστος) χρόνος. Από το χρόνο δημιουργήθηκε ο αιθήρ και γύρω του ένα απέραντο χάσμα, το χάος τυλιγμένο σε βαθύ έρεβος. Μέσα στον αιθέρα δημιούργησε ο χρόνος το κοσμικό αβγό, που έλαμπε μέσα στο χάος. Από το αργυρό αβγό (ωόν αργύφεον) εκκολάφθηκε ο Φάνης, (ή Φαέθων ή Πρωτόγονος ή Μήτις ή Έρως ή Ηρικεπαίος) που ήταν και αρσενικός και θηλυκός, με τέσσερα μάτια, τέσσερα κεφάλια με μορφή ζώου, χρυσά φτερά και φωνή λιονταριού και κριού. Το όνομά του υποδηλώνει το φως και τον θεωρούσαν σαν το φωτεινό δημιουργό του κόσμου. Δημιούργησε τον ουρανό για να κατοικούν οι θεοί, τη γη και τη σελήνη. Με την αδελφή του τη Νύχτα γέννησε τον Ουρανό, που τον έκανε κυρίαρχο στους θεούς και τη Γη (ος πρώτος βασίλευσε θεών μετά μητέρα Νύκτα).
Η διαδοχική γέννηση των θεών γίνεται όπως και στη Θεογονία του Ησίοδου με κάποιες μικρές αποκλίσεις. Ο Ουρανός εκδιώκεται από τον Κρόνο κι εκείνος με τη σειρά από το Δία, που δημιουργεί εκ νέου τον κόσμο.

Ο Ζευς καταβροχθίζει το Φάνητα κι έτσι γίνεται παντοδύναμος και κυρίαρχος των πάντων. Κέντρο της θεογονίας είναι ο γιος του Δία και λυτρωτής του κόσμου Ζαγρεύς Διόνυσος. Ο Διόνυσος Ζαγρεύς ήταν γιος του Δία και της Κόρης – Περσεφόνης και με τη γέννησή του τερματίζεται η δημιουργία θεϊκών όντων.

Οι Τιτάνες κατατεμαχίζουν και κατασπαράζουν το Διόνυσο, μόνο που η Αθηνά καταφέρνει να περισώσει την καρδιά του με την οποία ο Δίας τον ξαναδημιουργεί και τον επαναφέρει στη ζωή. Ο Δίας με τους κεραυνούς του τιμωρεί τους Τιτάνες και από τη στάχτη τους φτιάχνει το γένος των ανθρώπων. Αλλά επειδή η τέφρα των Τιτάνων περιείχε και την τέφρα του καταβροχθισθέντος Διονύσου, ο άνθρωπος έχει δυο φύσεις. Μία τιτανική και μία θεϊκή. Θεϊκή είναι η ψυχή του και τιτάνιο είναι το σώμα του.

Σύμφωνα με τους ορφικούς η ανθρώπινη ψυχή φυλακίστηκε μέσα το σώμα ως συνέπεια του αμαρτήματος των Τιτάνων. Οι άνθρωποι οδηγούνται προς τη λύτρωση μέσα από την προσπάθεια να αποσπάσουν και να διαχωρίσουν μέσα τους το θεϊκό στοιχείο από το τιτανικό αλλά η οδός αυτή είναι μακρά, γιατί η ψυχή υπόκειται συνεχώς σε νέες μετενσαρκώσεις, επιστρέφοντας στη γη μετά από πρόσκαιρη διαμονή στον Άδη και πρέπει να ολοκληρώσει ολόκληρο τον κύκλο των γενέσεων και τη σειρά των μετεμψυχώσεων .

Η Θεογονια του Ησιοδου

Η Θεογονία του Ησιόδου είναι μία μακροσκελής σύνθεση μιας τεράστιας ποικιλίας τοπικών ελληνικών παραδόσεων που αφορούν τους θεούς. Το έργο είναι οργανωμένο ως μία διήγηση που αναφέρει πώς δημιουργήθηκαν οι θεοί και πώς εγκαθίδρυσαν μόνιμο έλεγχο επί του κόσμου.

Στην Θεογονία του Ησίοδου προϋπάρχουν τρία στοιχεία, το Χάος, η Γαία και ο Έρως. Αυτές οι τρεις μορφές δεν έχουν γεννηθεί η μία από την άλλη. Είναι αυτογέννητες κι απέχουν μόνο χρονικά στη σειρά της γέννησής τους. Από τους τρεις πρώτους θεούς μόνο ο Έρως δε γεννά απογόνους. Αυτός ενώνει και ωθεί τις άλλες δυνάμεις σε δημιουργία.
Από το Χάος γεννήθηκαν το Έρεβος και η Νύχτα. Κι από την ένωση των δυο τους γεννήθηκαν ο Αιθέρας και η Ημέρα.

Η Γαία χωρίς ερωτική ένωση γεννά μόνη της τον Ουρανό, που έχει όση έκταση έχει κι εκείνη. Γέννησε επίσης τα Όρη και τον Πόντο. Έτσι όλη η διαμόρφωση του κόσμου ξεκινά από εκείνη. Η Γαία δημιουργεί το σύμπαν γεννώντας τα συστατικά του.

Παραχωρεί μέρος από τις εξουσίες της στον Ουρανό και τεκνοποιεί από το σπέρμα του τους Τιτάνες , τους Κύκλωπες και τους Εκατόγχειρες.
Ο Ουρανός χάνει την εξουσία του από τον Κρόνο, ο οποίος του κόβει τα γεννητικά όργανα. Από το αίμα του Ουρανού γεννιούνται οι Ερινύες, οι Γίγαντες, οι Μελίες και από το σπέρμα του κομμένου αιδοίου του γεννιέται η Αφροδίτη.

Ο Ουρανός προφητεύει ότι ο Κρόνος θα χάσει την εξουσία από κάποιο από τα παιδιά του. Για το λόγο αυτό καταπίνει όποιο παιδί γεννάει η σύζυγός του Ρέα. Καταπίνει τη Δήμητρα, την Εστία, την Ήρα, τον Άδη και τον Ποσειδώνα. Όταν έρχεται η σειρά να γεννηθεί ο Δίας η Ρέα δίνει στον Κρόνο έναν σπαργανωμένο λίθο αντί του νεογέννητου Διός και κρύβει το βρέφος σε ένα σπήλαιο του όρους Δίκτη στην Κρήτη.
Όταν μεγαλώνει ο Δίας αναγκάζει τον Κρόνο να βγάλει από την κοιλιά του τα αδέλφια του κι ύστερα από συγκρούσεις, ο Δίας, παίρνει την εξουσία στα χέρια του και από τότε ξεκινά η εποχή των Ολύμπιων θεών.

Τα χρυσά έπη τού Πυθαγόρα

July 10th, 2010

Τα χρυσά έπη του Πυθαγόρα

Τό Ἀρχαίο κείμενο & η Μετάφραση

Ἀθανάτους μὲν πρῶτα θεούς, νόμωι ὡς διάκεινται, τίμα καὶ σέβου ὅρκον. ἔπειθ’ ἥρωας ἀγαυούς τούς τε καταχθονίους σέβε δαίμονας ἔννομα ῥέζων σούς τε γονεῖς τίμα τούς τ’ ἄγχιστ’ ἐγγεγαῶτας. τῶν δ’ ἄλλων ἀρετῆι ποιεῦ φίλον ὅστις ἄριστος.
Να τιμάς πρώτα, τους αθάνατους θεούς, όπως ορίζει ο νόμος,
και να σέβεσαι τον όρκο [κι] έπειτα, τους ένδοξους ήρωες,
και να σέβεσαι τους καταχθόνιους δαίμονες , κάνοντας τα νόμιμα,
και να τιμάς τους γονείς [σου] και τους κοντινότερους συγγενείς [σου],
από τους άλλους δε, να κάνεις φίλο, όποιον είναι άριστος στην αρετή.

Πραέσι δ’ εἶκε λόγοισ’ ἔργοισί τ’ ἐπωφελίμοισι. μηδ’ ἔχθαιρε φίλον σὸν ἁμαρτάδος εἵνεκα μικρῆς, ὄφρα δύνῆι· δύναμις γὰρ ἀνάγκης ἐγγύθι ναίει.
Να προτιμάς τα λόγια της πραότητας και τα έργα τα επωφελή.
Ούτε να εχθρεύεσαι τον φίλο σου ένεκα μικρής αστοχίας,
εφόσον μπορείς, διότι η δύναμη κοντά στην ανάγκη κατοικεί.

Ταῦτα μὲν οὕτως ἴσθι, κρατεῖν δ’ εἰθίζεο τῶνδε· γαστρὸς μὲν πρώτιστα καὶ ὕπνου λαγνείης τε καὶ θυμοῦ. πρήξηις δ’ αἰσχρόν ποτε μήτε μετ’ ἄλλου μήτ’ ἰδίηι· πάντων δὲ μάλιστ’ αἰσχύνεο σαυτόν.
Αυτά μεν, έτσι να τα ξέρεις. Να συνηθίσεις δε, να κυριαρχείς στα παρακάτω:
Πρώτα, στο στομάχι και στον ύπνο, και στη λαγνεία και στο θυμό. Ποτέ δε, να μην πράξεις κάτι που να σε κάνει να ντραπείς, ούτε με άλλον, ούτε μόνος σου, περισσότερο απ’ όλους δε, να ντρέπεσαι τον εαυτό σου.

Εἶτα δικαιοσύνην ἀσκεῖν ἔργωι τε λόγωι τε, μηδ’ ἀλογίστως σαυτὸν ἔχειν περὶ μηδὲν ἔθιζε, ἀλλὰ γνῶθι μέν, ὡς θανέειν πέπρωται ἅπασιν, χρήματα δ’ ἄλλοτε μὲν κτᾶσθαι φιλεῖ, ἄλλοτ’ ὀλεσθαι.
Έπειτα, να ασκείς την δικαιοσύνη με τα έργα και με τα λόγια,
ούτε να συνηθίζεις να είσαι ασυλλόγιστος για τίποτε, αλλά να γνωρίζεις μεν, ότι είναι πεπρωμένο όλοι να πεθάνουν, τα χρήματα δε, άλλοτε [της μοίρας] αρέσει να τ’ αποκτάς, άλλοτε να τα χάνεις.

ὅσσα δὲ δαιμονίαισι τύχαις βροτοὶ ἄλγε’ ἔχουσιν, ἣν ἂν μοῖραν ἔχηις, ταύτην φέρε μὴδ’ ἀγανάκτει. ἰᾶσθαι δὲ πρέπει καθ’ ὅσον δύνηι, ὧδε δὲ φράζευ· οὐ πάνυ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς τούτων πολὺ Μοῖρα δίδωσιν.
Όσα δε, βάσανα έχουν οι θνητοί, από δαιμονιακή τύχη, όποιο μερίδιο τυχόν έχεις [από τα βάσανα], να το υποφέρεις χωρίς να αγανακτείς, αλλά πρέπει, όσα μπορείς να τα θεραπεύεις. Τούτο δε σκέψου:
δεν δίνει η μοίρα στους αγαθούς το μεγαλύτερο μερίδιο απ’ αυτά.

Πολλοὶ δ’ ἀνθρώποισι λόγοι δειλοί τε καὶ ἐσθλοί προσπίπτουσ’, ὧν μήτ’ ἐκπλήσσεο μήτ’ ἄρ’ ἐάσηις εἴργεσθαι σαυτόν. ψεῦδος δ’ ἤν πέρ τι λέγηται, πράως εἶχ’. ὃ δέ τοι ἐρέω, ἐπὶ παντὶ τελείσθω· μηδεὶς μήτε λόγωι σε παρείπηι μήτε τι ἔργωι πρῆξαι μηδ’ εἰπεῖν, ὅ τί τοι μὴ βέλτερόν ἐστιν.
Στους ανθρώπους δε, φτάνουν πολλά λόγια, και ευγενικά και ανάξια,
για τα οποία να μην επιτρέπεις στον εαυτό σου, ούτε να εκπλήσσεται,
ούτε να τα απορρίπτει. Αν δε ψέματα για κάτι λέγεται, να είσαι πράος. Ό,τι δε, θα σου πω, να το κάνεις πάντοτε:
κανείς να μην σε πείθει, ούτε με λόγια, ούτε με κάποιο έργο,
να πράξεις ή να πεις, ό,τι δεν είναι καλύτερο για σένα.

Βουλεύου δὲ πρὸ ἔργου, ὅπως μὴ μωρὰ πέληται· δειλοῦ τοι πράσσειν τε λέγειν τ’ ἀνόητα πρὸς ἀνδρός. ἀλλὰ τάδ’ ἐκτελέειν, ἅ σε μὴ μετέπειτ’ ἀνιήσει. πρᾶσσε δὲ μηδὲ ἓν ὧν μὴ ἐπίστασαι, ἀλλὰ διδάσκευ ὅσσα χρεών, καὶ τερπνότατον βίον ὧδε διάξεις.
Να σκέπτεσαι δε, πριν από κάθε σου έργο, για να μη κάνεις ανόητα [πράγματα], ο άνθρωπος που κάνει και λέει ανόητα, ανάξιος χαρακτηρίζεται, αλλ’ εκείνα να εκτελείς, για τα οποία δεν θα μετανιώσεις μετέπειτα. Να μην κάνεις τίποτε, από ‘κείνα που δεν ξέρεις, αλλά να διδάσκεσαι σε όσα υπολείπεσαι και με τον τρόπο αυτόν, θα ζήσεις την πιο ευχάριστη ζωή.

Οὐ δ’ ὑγιείας τῆς περὶ σῶμ’ ἀμέλειαν ἔχειν χρή, ἀλλὰ ποτοῦ τε μέτρον καὶ σίτου γυμνασίων τε ποιεῖσθαι. μέτρον δὲ λέγω τόδ’, ὃ μή σ’ ἀνιήσει. εἰθίζου δὲ δίαιταν ἔχειν καθάρειον ἄθρυπτον καὶ πεφύλαξο τοιαῦτα ποιεῖν, ὁπόσα φθόνον ἴσχει. μὴ δαπανᾶν παρὰ καιρὸν ὁποῖα καλῶν ἀδαήμων μηδ’ ἀνελεύθερος ἴσθι. μέτρον δ’ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ἄριστον. πρᾶσσε δὲ ταῦθ’, ἅ σε μὴ βλάψει, λόγισαι δὲ πρὸ ἔργου.
Δεν πρέπει ακόμη, να αμελείς την υγεία του σώματος [σου], αλλά, με μέτρο, να πίνεις, να τρως και να γυμνάζεσαι, ως μέτρο δε λέω εκείνο, για το οποίο δεν θα μετανιώσεις. Να συνηθίζεις δε, να έχεις καθαρή, λιτή διατροφή, και να φυλάγεσαι από το να διατρέφεσαι έτσι, που να προκαλείς τον φθόνο, ούτε να σπαταλάς άκαιρα τα καλά, όπως οι αδαείς, μήτε να στερείσαι, γιατί, το άριστο είναι, το μέτρο σε όλα. Κάνε δε, εκείνα που δεν θα σε βλάψουν και να σκέπτεσαι πριν πράξεις.

Μὴ δ’ ὕπνον μαλακοῖσιν ἐπ’ ὄμμασι προσδέξασθαι, πρὶν τῶν ἡμερινῶν ἔργων τρὶς ἕκαστον ἐπελθεῖν· «πῆι παρέβην; τί δ’ ἔρεξα; τί μοι δέον οὐκ ἐτελέσθη;» ἀρξάμενος δ’ ἀπὸ πρώτου ἐπέξιθι καὶ μετέπειτα δειλὰ μὲν ἐκπρήξας ἐπιπλήσσεο, χρηστὰ δὲ τέρπευ.Μήτε να επιτρέπεις τον απαλό ύπνο στα μάτια σου, πριν εξετάσεις τρεις φορές τις ημερήσιες πράξεις [σου]:
«Που ξέφυγα; Τι έκανα; Τι απ’ ό,τι έπρεπε δεν ολοκλήρωσα;» αρχίζοντας δε από το πρώτο να επεκτείνεσαι στα μετέπειτα, για τα ανάξια μεν που έπραξες να επιπλήττεις τον εαυτό σου και για τα χρηστά να ευχαριστιέσαι.

Ταῦτα πόνει, ταῦτ’ ἐκμελέτα, τούτων χρὴ ἐρᾶν σε· ταῦτά σε τῆς θείης Ἀρετῆς εἰς ἴχνια θήσει ναὶ μὰ τὸν ἁμετέραι ψυχᾶι παραδόντα τετρακτύν, παγὰν ἀενάου φύσεως. ἀλλ’ ἔρχευ ἐπ’ ἔργον θεοῖσιν ἐπευξάμενος τελέσαι. Τούτων δὲ κρατήσας γνώσεαι ἀθανάτων τε θεῶν θνητῶν τ’ ἀνθρώπων σύστασιν, ἧι τε ἕκαστα διέρχεται, ἧι τε κρατεῖται, γνώσηι δ’, ἣ θέμις ἐστί, φύσιν περὶ παντὸς ὁμοίην, ὥστε σε μήτε ἄελπτ’ ἐλπίζειν μήτε τι λήθειν. γνώσηι δ’ ἀνθρώπους αὐθαίρετα ήματ’ἔχονταςτλήμονας, οἵτ’ ἀγαθῶν πέλας ὄντων οὔτ’ ἐσορῶσιν οὔτε κλύουσι, λύσιν δὲ κακῶν παῦροι συνιᾶσιν. Τοίη μοῖρ’ αὐτῶν βλάπτει φρένας· ὡς δὲ κύλινδροι ἄλλοτ’ ἐπ’ ἄλλα φέρονται ἀπείρονα πήματ’ ἔχοντες. λυγρὰ γὰρ συνοπαδὸς Ἔρις βλάπτουσα λέληθεν σύμφυτος, ἣν οὐ δεῖ προάγειν, εἴκοντα δὲ φεύγειν.
Αυτά να προσπαθείς, αυτά να μελετάς, αυτά πρέπει ν’ αγαπάς, αυτά θα σε βάλουν στα ίχνη της θείας αρετής. Ναι, Μα τον παραδώσαντα στην ψυχή μας την Τετρακτύ! την πηγή της αέναης φύσης! Άρχιζε λοιπόν, προσευχόμενος στους θεούς, για να ολοκληρώνεις τις πράξεις σου. Και εφόσον τα τηρείς αυτά:
- Θα γνωρίσεις την σύσταση των αθανάτων θεών και των θνητών ανθρώπων, κι αν το κάθε τι παρέρχεται, και διατηρείται.
- Θα γνωρίσεις δε, αν η Θέμις το θέλει [αν το δικαιούσαι], ότι η φύση είναι παντού η ίδια, ώστε μήτε τ’ ανέλπιστα να ελπίζεις, μήτε κάι
- Θα γνωρίσεις ακόμη, ταλαίπωρους ανθρώπους, από συμφορές που ίδιοι προκάλεσαν, οι οποίοι, ενώ τα αγαθά βρίσκονται κοντά τους, ούτε τα βλέπουν, ούτε τ’ ακούν, λίγοι δε, γνωρίζουν πώς να λύσουν τα κακά. Η μοίρα δε αυτή τους συσκοτίζει το μυαλό. Σαν κύλινδροι δε,
περιφέρονται εδώ κι εκεί, μέσα σε ατελείωτες συμφορές, γιατί τους ξεφεύγει ότι, η Έριδα, που τους είναι σύμφυτη, τούς είναι μια ολέθρια συνοδός που τους βλάπτει, και [επομένως] δεν πρέπει να προάγεται, αλλά να αποφεύγεται.

Ζεῦ πάτερ, ἦ πολλῶν κε κακῶν λύσειας ἅπαντας, εἰ πᾶσιν δείξαις, οἵωι τῶι δαίμονι χρῶνται. ἀλλὰ σὺ θάρσει, ἐπεὶ θεῖον γένος ἐστὶ βροτοῖσιν, οἷς ἱερὰ προφέρουσα φύσις δείκνυσιν ἕκαστα.
Ζεύ Πάτερ, μπορείς αναμφίβολα ν’ απαλλάξεις όλους από πολλά κακά,
εάν δείξεις σε όλους πώς να χρησιμοποιούν τον δαίμονά [τους].
Αλλά, να είσαι θαρραλέος, επειδή θείο γένος βρίσκεται μέσα στους θνητούς, στους οποίους η ιερή φύση δείχνει το κάθε τι,
εφόσον σού τ’αποκαλύψει.

Ὧν εἴ σοί τι μέτεστι, κρατήσεις ὧν σε κελεύω ἐξακέσας, ψυχὴν δὲ πόνων ἀπὸ τῶνδε σαώσεις. ἀλλ’ εἴργου βρωτῶν ὧν εἴπομεν ἔν τε Καθαρμοῖς ἔν τε Λύσει ψυχῆς, κρίνων καὶ φράζευ ἕκαστα ἡνίοχον γνώμην στήσας καθύπερθεν ἀρίστην. ἢν δ’ ἀπολείψας σῶμα ἐς
αἰθέρ’ ἐλεύθερον ἔλθηις, ἔσσεαι ἀθάνατος, θεός ἄμβροτος, οὐκέτι θνητός.
Τηρώντας αυτά που σε διατάσσω, απαλλάσσοντας δε, την ψυχή [σου] από τους πόνους αυτούς, θα την σώσεις. Αλλά, να απέχεις από τις τροφές, για τις οποίες μιλήσαμε, και για την κάθαρση και για την λύτρωση της ψυχής, κρίνοντας και σκεπτόμενος το κάθε τι, έχοντας ως ηνίοχο την, ως προς την ανωτερότητα, άριστη γνώμη. Όταν δε, εγκαταλείποντας το σώμα, έλθεις στον ελεύθερον αιθέρα, θα είσαι αθάνατος, θεός άφθαρτος, όχι πια θνητός.

Pythagoras Golden Verses

July 10th, 2010

1. First worship the Immortal Gods, as they are established and ordained by the Law.

2. Reverence the Oath, and next the Heroes, full of goodness and light.

3. Honour likewise the Terrestrial Dæmons by rendering them the worship lawfully due to them.

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4. Honour likewise thy parents, and those most nearly related to thee.

5. Of all the rest of mankind, make him thy friend who distinguishes himself by his virtue.

6. Always give ear to his mild exhortations, and take example from his virtuous and useful actions.

7. Avoid as much as possible hating thy friend for a slight fault.

8. [And understand that] power is a near neighbour to necessity.

9. Know that all these things are as I have told thee; and accustom thyself to overcome and vanquish these passions:–

10. First gluttony, sloth, sensuality, and anger.

11. Do nothing evil, neither in the presence of others, nor privately;

12. But above all things respect thyself.

13. In the next place, observe justice in thy actions and in thy words.

14. And accustom not thyself to behave thyself in any thing without rule, and without reason.

15. But always make this reflection, that it is ordained by destiny that all men shall die.

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16. And that the goods of fortune are uncertain; and that as they may be acquired, so may they likewise be lost.

17. Concerning all the calamities that men suffer by divine fortune,

18. Support with patience thy lot, be it what it may, and never repine at it.

19. But endeavour what thou canst to remedy it.

20. And consider that fate does not send the greatest portion of these misfortunes to good men.

21. There are among men many sorts of reasonings, good and bad;

22. Admire them not too easily, nor reject them.

23. But if falsehoods be advanced, hear them with mildness, and arm thyself with patience.

24. Observe well, on every occasion, what I am going to tell thee:–

25. Let no man either by his words, or by his deeds, ever seduce thee.

26. Nor entice thee to say or to do what is not profitable for thyself.

27. Consult and deliberate before thou act, that thou mayest not commit foolish actions.

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28. For it is the part of a miserable man to speak and to act without reflection.

29. But do that which will not afflict thee afterwards, nor oblige thee to repentance.

30. Never do anything which thou dost not understand.

31. But learn all thou ought’st to know, and by that means thou wilt lead a very pleasant life.

32. in no wise neglect the health of thy body;

33. But give it drink and meat in due measure, and also the exercise of which it has need.

34. Now by measure I mean what will not incommode thee.

35. Accustom thyself to a way of living that is neat and decent without luxury.

36. Avoid all things that will occasion envy.

37. And be not prodigal out of season, like one who knows not what is decent and honourable.

38. Neither be covetous nor niggardly; a due measure is excellent in these things.

39. Do only the things that cannot hurt thee, and deliberate before thou dost them.

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40. Never suffer sleep to close thy eyelids, after thy going to bed,

41. Till thou hast examined by thy reason all thy actions of the day.

42. Wherein have I done amiss? What have I done? What have I omitted that I ought to have done?

43. If in this examination thou find that thou hast done amiss, reprimand thyself severely for it;

44. And if thou hast done any good, rejoice.

45. Practise thoroughly all these things; meditate on them well; thou oughtest to love them with all thy heart.

46. ‘Tis they that will put thee in the way of divine virtue.

47. I swear it by him who has transmitted into our souls the Sacred Quaternion, the source of nature, whose cause is eternal.

48. But never begin to set thy hand to any work, till thou hast first prayed the gods to accomplish what thou art going to begin.

49. When thou hast made this habit familiar to thee,

50. Thou wilt know the constitution of the Immortal Gods and of men.

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51. Even how far the different beings extend, and what contains and binds them together.

52. Thou shalt likewise know that according to Law, the nature of this universe is in all things alike,

53. So that thou shalt not hope what thou ought’st not to hope; and nothing in this world shall be hid from thee.

54. Thou wilt likewise know, that men draw upon themselves their own misfortunes voluntarily, and of their own free choice.

55. Unhappy that they are! They neither see nor understand that their good is near them.

56. Few know how to deliver themselves out of their misfortunes.

57. Such is the fate that blinds mankind, and takes away his senses.

58. Like huge cylinders they roll to and fro, and always oppressed with ills innumerable.

59. For fatal strife, innate, pursues them everywhere, tossing them up and down; nor do they perceive it.

60. Instead of provoking and stirring it up, they ought, by yielding, to avoid it.

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61. Oh! Jupiter, our Father! if Thou would’st deliver men from all the evils that oppress them,

62. Show them of what dæmon they make use.

63. But take courage; the race of man is divine.

64. Sacred nature reveals to them the most hidden mysteries.

65. If she impart to thee her secrets, thou wilt easily perform all the things which I have ordained thee.

66. And by the healing of thy soul, thou wilt deliver it from all evils, from all afflictions.

67. But abstain thou from the meats, which we have forbidden in the purifications and in the deliverance of the soul;

68. Make a just distinction of them, and examine all things well.

69. Leaving thyself always to be guided and directed by the understanding that comes from above, and that ought to hold the reins.

70. And when, after having divested thyself of thy mortal body, thou arrivest at the most pure Æther,

71. Thou shalt be a God, immortal, incorruptible, and Death shall have no more dominion over thee.

Definitons of Helicon

August 1st, 2009

A. A helicon is a low frequency electromagnetic wave.
Helicons have the special ability to propagate through pure metals, given conditions of low temperature and high magnetic fields. Most electromagnetic waves in a normal conductor are not be able to do this, since the high conductivity of metals (due to their free electrons) acts to screen out the electromagnetic field. Indeed, normally an electromagnetic wave would experience a very thin skin depth in a metal: the electric or magnetic fields are quickly reduced upon trying to enter the metal. (Hence the shine of metals: the electromagnetic waves of light are screened out, leading to a high reflectivity.) However, skin depth depends on an inverse proportionality to the square root of angular frequency. Thus a low frequency electromagnetic wave may be able to overcome the skin depth problem, and thereby propagate throughout the material. A helicon discharge is a excitation of plasma by helicon waves induced through radio frequency heating. The difference between a helicon plasma source and an inductively coupled plasma is the presence of a magnetic field directed along the axis of the antenna. The presence of this magnetic field creates a helicon mode of operation with higher ionization efficiency and greater electron density than a typical ICP. The Australian National University, in Canberra, Australia, is currently researching applications for this technology. This includes plasma based rockets for interplanetary travel. This experiment can be conducted with fairly affordable equipment, and may be found in university-level undergraduate advanced physics laboratory courses. A metal such as 99.999% pure Indium is commonly used: it is cooled using liquid helium to reach the conditions of low temperature, while the high magnetic field is accomplished using a superconducting solenoid. Ultimately, the experiment characterizes the resonance frequency and resonance width of the Helicon standing waves. It can also be used to measure the magnetoresistance and Hall coefficients of the pure metal.

B.Helicon is a small lunar impact crater that is located on the north part of the Mare Imbrium. To the northwest is the prominent Sinus Iridum formation, a mountain-ringed bay on the mare. Just to the east is the slightly smaller Le Verrier crater. Helicon is a nearly circular crater formation with inner walls that curve down to a relatively flat floor. There is a tiny craterlet located at the mid-point of the interior, and a small craterlet along the southwestern rim.

C.In Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Series, Helicon is the name of the home planet of Hari Seldon, discoverer and developer of psychohistory. Helicon was small in population and not particularly rich in resources, and tended to be bullied by its more powerful neighbours. It was noted for martial arts (called ‘Twisting’ in the Foundation Universe). Hari Seldon claimed that the best Twisters came from Helicon, although his objectivity is questionable. It may be covered primarily by land, as opposed to sea. Tobacco may be grown there, though the only evidence of this is Seldon’s father’s supposed occupation, labelled by the Encyclopedia Galactica ‘a legend of doubtful validity’. In the seventh century of the tenth millennium of the Galactic Era, a large movement of Heliconians convinced themselves that Helicon was the only inhabited world in the Galaxy.

D.Mount Helicon is a mountain in the region of Thespiai in Boeotia, Greece (Kerenyi, 1951, page 172), with an elevation of 1,749 meters (5,735 ft). It is located just off the Gulf of Corinth.
The mountain was made famous in Greek mythology because two springs sacred to the Muses were located here: the Aganippe and the Hippocrene, both of which bear “horse” (hippos) in their toponym. This was related to the myth that the Hippocrene spring was created when the winged horse Pegasus aimed his hoof at a rock, striking it with such force that the spring burst from the spot. On Helicon too was the spring where Narcissus was inspired by his own beauty
In Greek Mythology, Helicon was believed to be a sacred site that was used by the Gods and Goddesses. Helicon was especially associated with the Muses, who were considered to be “Divine Spirits of Inspiration” who shared with humanity their gifts of creative arts such as poetry, literature, and sculpture. There had been a temple built on Helicon in their honor which contained statues of these Muses
The Hippocrene spring was considered to be a source of poetic inspiration. In the late seventh century BCE, the poet Hesiod sang how in his youth he had pastured his sheep on the slopes of Helicon (Theogony, 23), where Eros and the Muses already had sanctuaries and a dancing-ground near the summit, where “their pounding feet awaken desire” (Hesiod, 8). There the Muses inspired him and he began to sing of the origins of the gods, Thus Helicon became an emblem of poetical inspiration. Hesiod mentions other springs that were the haunt of the Muses: “They bathe their lithe bodies in the water of Permessos or of Hippocrene or of god-haunted Olmeios”.
In Hesiod’s Theogony Helicon was mentioned:
“From the Heliconian Muses let us begin to sing,
Who hold the great and holy mount of Helicon,
And dance on soft feet about the deep-blue spring
And the altar of the almighty son of Cronos, and,
When they have washed their tender bodies in Permessus
Or in the Horse’s Spring or Olmeius,
Make their fair, lovely dances upon highest Helicon
And move with vigorous feet”

E.Helicon Sound System was a label located in Athens,Gr.
HELICON SOUND SYSTEM RECORDS R.I.P.

Typhoeus

August 1st, 2009

Typhoeus

TYPHOEUS (or Typhon) was a monstrous immortal storm-giant who was defeated and imprisoned by Zeus in the pit of Tartaros. He was the source of devastating storm winds which issued forth from that dark nether realm.

Later poets described him as a volcanic-daimon, trapped beneath the body of Mount Aitna in Sicily. In this guise he was closely identified with the Gigante Enkelados.

Typhoeus was so huge that his head was said to brush the stars. He appeared man-shaped down to the thighs, with two coiled vipers in place of legs. Attached to his hands in place of fingers were a hundred serpent heads, fifty per hand. He was winged, with dirty matted hair and beard, pointed ears, and eyes flashing fire. According to some he had two hundred hands each with fifty serpents for fingers and a hundred heads, one in human form with the rest being heads of bulls, boars, serpents, lions and leopards. As a volcano-daimon, Typhoeus hurled red-hot rocks at the sky and storms of fire boiled from his mouth.

ENCYCLOPEDIA

TYPHON or TYPHOEUS (Tuphaôn, Tuphôeus, Tuphôs), a monster of the primitive world, is described sometimes as a destructive hurricane, and sometimes as a fire-breathing giant. According to Homer (Il. ii. 782; comp. Strab. xiii. p. 929) he was concealed in the country of the Arimi in the earth, which was lashed by Zeus with flashes of lightning. In Hesiod Typhaon and Typhoeus are two distinct beings. Typhaon there is a son of Typhoeus (Theog. 869), and a fearful hurricane, who by Echidna became the father of the dog Orthus, Cerberus, the Lernaean hydra, Chimaera, and the Sphynx. (Theog. 306; comp. Apollod. ii. 3. § 1, iii. 5. § 8.) Notwithstanding the confusion of the two beings in later writers, the original meaning of Typhaon was preserved in ordinary life. (Aristoph. Ran. 845; Plin. H. N. ii. 48.) Typhoeus, on the other hand, is described as the youngest son of Tartarus and Gaea, or of Hera alone, because she was indignant at Zeus having given birth to Athena. Typhoeus is described as a monster with a hundred heads, fearful eyes, and terrible voices (Pind. Pyth. i. 31, viii. 21, Ol. iv. 12); he wanted to acquire the sovereignty of gods and men, but was subdued, after a fearful struggle, by Zeus, with a thunderbolt. (Hes. Theog. 821, &c.) He begot the winds, whence he is also called the father of the Harpies (Val. Flacc. iv. 428), but the beneficent winds Notus, Boreas, Argestes, and Zephyrus, were not his sons. (Hes. Theog. 869, &c.) Aeschylus and Pindar describe him as living in a Cilician cave. (Pind. Pyth. viii. 21; comp. the different ideas in Apollon. Rhod. ii. 1210, &c., and Herod. iii. 5.) He is further said to have at one time been engaged in a struggle with all the immortals, and to have been killed by Zeus with a flash of lightning; he was buried in Tartarus under Mount Aetna, the workshop of Hephaestus. (Ov. Her. xv. 11, Fast. iv. 491; Aeschyl. Prom. 351, &c.; Pind. Pyth. i. 29, &c.) The later poets frequently connect Typhoeus with Egypt, and the gods, it is said, when unable to hold out against him, fled to Egypt, where, from fear, they metamorphosed themselves into animals, with the exception of Zeus and Athena. (Anton. Lib. 28 ; Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 28; Ov. Met. v. 321, &c. ; comp. Apollod. i. 6. § 3; Ov. Fast. ii. 461; Horat. Carm. iii. 4. 53.)

Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology…>

THE BIRTH OF TYPHOEUS

Hesiod, Theogony 820 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) :
“Now after Zeus had driven the Titanes out of heaven, gigantic Gaia (Earth), in love with Tartaros (the Pit), by means of golden Aphrodite, bore the youngest of her children, Typhoeus.”

Homeric Hymn 3 to Pythian Apollo 300 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th – 4th B.C.) :
“She [Ekhidna the drakaina of Delphoi] it was who once received from gold-throned Hera and brought up fell, cruel Typhaon to be a plague to men. Once on a time Hera bare him because she was angry with father Zeus, when Kronides bare all-glorious Athene in his head. Thereupon queenly Hera was angry and spoke among the assembled gods : … . . Yes, now I will contrive that a son be born me to be foremost among the undying gods–and that without casting shame on the holy bond of wedlock between you and me. And I will not come to your bed, but will consort with the blessed gods far off from you.’
When she had so spoken, she went apart from the gods, being very angry. Then straightway large-eyed queenly Hera prayed, striking the ground flatwise with her hand, and speaking thus : ..Hear now, I pray, Gaia (Earth) and wide Ouranos (Sky) above, and you Titanes gods who dwell beneath the earth about great Tartaros (Storm-Pit), and from whom are sprung both gods and men! Harken you now to me, one and all, and grant that I may bear a child apart from Zeus, no wit lesser than him in strength–nay, let him be as much stronger than Zeus as all-seeing Zeus than Kronos.’
Thus she cried and lashed the earth with her strong hand. Then life-giving Gaia (Earth) was moved: and when Hera saw it she was glad in heart, for she thought her prayer would be fulfilled. And thereafter she never came to the bed of wise Zeus for a full year . . . But when the months and days were fulfilled and the seasons duly came on as the earth moved round, she bare one neither like the gods nor mortal men, fell, cruel Typhaon, to be a plague to men. Straightway large-eyed queenly Hera took him and bringing one evil thing to another such, gave him to the Drakaina; and she received him. And this Typhaon used to work great mischief among the famous tribes of men.”

Pindar, Pythian Ode 1. 16 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :
“Typhon the hundred-headed, who long since was bred in the far-famed Kilikion cave.”

Stesichorus, Fragment 239 (from Etymologicum Genuinum) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric III) (C7th to 6th B.C.) :
“Typhoeus : Hesiod makes him son of Gaia, Stesichorus son of Hera, who bore him without a father in order to spite Zeus.”

Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 353 ff (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
“The earth-born (gêgenês) . . . Typhon.”

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 39 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
“The defeat of the Gigantes [or Titanes] by the gods angered Ge (Earth) all the more, so she had intercourse with Tartaros and bore Typhon in Kilikia. He was a mixture of man and beast, the largest and strongest of all Ge’s children.”

Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 152 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
“Tartarus begat by Tartara, Typhon, a creature of immense size and fearful shape.”

Ovid, Metamorphoses 5. 319 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
“Typhoeus, issuing from earth’s lowest depths . . . Typhoeus Terrigena (Earthborn).”

Virgil, Georgics 1. 276 ff (trans. Fairclough) (Roman bucolic C1st B.C.) :
“Luna [Selene the Moon] herself has ordained various days in various grades as lucky for work. Shun the fifth . . . then in monstrous labour Terra [Gaia the Earth] bore Coeus, and Iapetus and fierce Typhoeus, and the brethren [Gigantes] who were banded to break down Heaven.”

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTIONS OF TYPHOEUS

Hesiod, Theogony 820 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) :
“Typhoeus; the hands and arms of him are mighty, and have work in them, and the feet of the powerful god were tireless, and up from his shoulders there grew a hundred snake heads, those of a dreaded drakon, and the heads licked with dark tongues, and from the eyes on the inhuman heads fire glittered from under the eyelids: from all his heads fire flared from his eyes’ glancing; and inside each one of these horrible heads there were voices that threw out every sort of horrible sound, for sometimes it was speech such as the gods could understand, but at other times, the sound of a bellowing bull, proud-eyed and furious beyond holding, or again like a lion shameless in cruelty, or again it was like the barking of dogs, a wonder to listen to, or again he would whistle so the tall mountains re-echoed to it.”

Pindar, Pythian Ode 1. 16 (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :
“Typhon the hundred-headed.”

Greek Lyric V Anonymous Fragments 931M (Oxyrhynchus papyrus) (trans. Campbell) :
“The coiling of Typhon.”

Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 353 ff (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
“That destructive monster of a hundred heads (hekatonkaranos), impetuous (thouros) Typhon. He withstood all the gods, hissing out terror with horrid jaws, while from his eyes lightened a hideous glare.”

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 39 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
“Typhon was a mixture of man and beast, the largest and strongest of all Ge’s children. Down to the thighs he was human in form, so large that he extended beyond all the mountains while his head often touched even the stars. One hand reached to the west, the other to the east, and attached to these were one hundred heads of serpents. Also from the thighs down he had great coils of vipers, which extended to the top of his head and hissed mightily. All of his body was winged, and the hair that flowed in the wind from his head and cheeks was matted and dirty. In his eyes flashed fire. Such were the appearance and the size of Typhon as he hurled red-hot rocks at the sky itself, and set out for it with mixed hisses and shouts, as a great storm of fire boiled forth from his mouth.”

Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 18. 10 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
“[Amongst the figures depicted on the throne of Apollon at Amyklai near Sparta :] On the left stand Ekhidna and Typhos [serpent-tailed], on the right Tritones [fish-tailed].”

Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 28 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
“Typhon was the son of Ge (Earth), a deity monstrous because of his strength, and of outlandish appearance. There grew out of him numerous heads and hands and wings, while from his thighs came huge coils of snakes. He emitted all kinds of roars and nothing could resist his might.”

Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 152 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
“Typhon, a creature of immense size and fearful shape, who had a hundred Draco (dragon) heads springing from his shoulders.”

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 1. 145 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :
“Typhoeus . . . yelled as his warcry the cries of all wild beasts together: the snakes that grew from him waved over his leopard’s heads, licked the grim lions’ manes, girdled with their curly tails spiral-wise round the bulls’ horns, mingled the shooting poison of their long thin tongues with the foam-spittle of the boars . . . With trailing feet Typhoeus mounted close to the clouds: spreading abroad the far-scattered host of his arms, he shadowed the bright radiance of the unclouded sky by darting forth his tangled army of snakes . . . Typhoeus bowed his flashing eyebrows and shook his locks: every hair belched viper-poison and drenched the hills … flinging the rocks about he leapt upon Olympos. While he dragged his crooked track with snaky foot, he spat out showers of poison from his throat; the mountain torrents were swollen, as the monster showered fountains from the viperish bristles of his high head; as he marched, the solid earth did sink, and the steady ground of Kilikia shook to its foundations under those drakon-feet . . . many-armed Typhoeus roared for the fray with all the tongues of all his throats, challenging mighty Zeus. That sonorous voice reached [the distant streams of Okeanos] . . . as the monster spoke, that which answered the army of his voices, was not one concordant echo, but a babel of screaming sounds : when the monster arrayed him with all his manifold shapes, out rang the yowling of wolves, the roaring of lions, the grunting of boars, the lowing of cattle, the hissing of serpents, the bold yap of leopards, the jaws of rearing bears, the fury of gods. Then with his midmost man-shaped head the Gigante yelled out threats against Zeus.”

TYPHOEUS FATHER OF MONSTERS

Hesiod, Theogony 306 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) :
“Men say that Typhaon the terrible, outrageous and lawless, was joined in love to her [Ekhidna], the maid with glancing eyes. So she conceived and brought forth fierce offspring; first she bare Orthos the hound of Geryones, and then again she bare a second, a monster not to be overcome and that may not be described, Kerberos who eats raw flesh, the brazen-voiced hound of Haides, fifty-headed, relentless and strong. And again she bore a third, the evil-minded Hydra of Lerna, whom the goddess, white-armed Hera nourished, being angry beyond measure with the mighty Herakles . . . She was the mother of Khimaira who breathed raging fire, a creature fearful, great, swift-footed and strong, who had three heads, one of a grim-eyed lion; in her hinderpart, a dragon; and in her middle, a goat, breathing forth a fearful blast of blazing fire. Her did Pegasos and noble Bellerophontes slay.”

Homeric Hymn 3 to Pythian Apollo 365 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th – 4th B.C.) :
“[Apollon gloats over the vanquished Ekhidna-Python :] ..Against cruel death neither Typhoeus shall avail you nor ill-famed Khimaira.’”

Lasus, Fragment 706A (from Natale Conti, Mythology) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric III) (C6th B.C.) :
“The Sphinx was daughter of Ekhidna and Typhon, according to Lasus of Hermione.”

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 31 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
“It [the Khimaira] was allegedly reared by Amisodaros, as Homer also states, and according to Hesiod its parents were Typhon and Ekhidna.”

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 113 :
“An immortal serpent guarded them [the golden apples], the child of Typhon and Ekhidna, with one hundred heads which spoke with voices of various types.”

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 120 :
“When he [Herakles] reached the mainland on the other side he killed with an arrow the Eagle on the Kaukasos, the product of Ekhidna and Typhon that had been eating the liver of Prometheus.”

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 52 :
“While he [Kreon] was king, quite a scourge held Thebes in suppression, for Hera sent upon them the Sphinx, whose parents were Ekhidna and Typhon.”

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca E1. 1 :
“Theseus slew the sow at Krommyon called Phaia after the old woman who kept it. Some say its parents were Ekhidna and Typhon.”

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 2. 38 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) :
“Amykos [a king of Mysia] made one think of some monstrous off-spring of the ogre Typhoeus.”

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 2. 1206 ff :
“[The Kholkian drakon] a deathless and unsleeping beast, offspring of Gaia herself. She brought him forth on the slopes of Kaukasos by the rock of Typhaon. It was there, they say, that Typhaon, when he had offered violence to Zeus and been struck by his thunder-bolt, dropped warm blood from his head.”

Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 6. 260 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th A.D.) :
“Kerberos, whom Ekhidna (the Loathly Worm) had borne to Typhon in a craggy cavern’s gloom close on the borders of Eternal Night.”

Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 12. 444 ff :
“A cave there was, beneath a rugged cliff [near Troy] exceeding high, unscalable, wherein dwelt fearful monsters [the two Drakones of Troy] of the deadly brood of Typhon.”

Pseudo-Hyginus, Preface (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
“From Typhon and Echidna [were born] : Gorgon, Cerberus, draco which guarded the golden fleece at Colchis, Scylla who was woman above but dog-forms below whom Hercules killed, Chimaera, Sphinx who was in Boeotia, Hydra serpent which had nine heads which Hercules killed, and draco Hesperidum.”

Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 151 :
“From Typhon the giant and Echidna were born Gorgon, the three-headed dog Cerberus, the Draco which guarded the apples of the Hesperides across oceanus, the Hydra which Hercules killed by the spring of Lerna, the Draco which guarded the ram’s fleece at Colchis, Scylla who was woman above but dog below, with six dog-forms sprung from her body, the Sphinx which was in Boeotia, the Chimaera in Lycia which ahd the fore part of a lion, the hind part of a snake, while the she-goat itself formed the middle.”

Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 15 :
“He [Zeus] sent an Eagle to him to eat out his liver which was constantly renewed at night. Some have said that this eagle was born from Typhon and Echidna, other from Terra (Earth) and Tartarus.”

Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 4. 514 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) :
“While they [the Harpyiai] hovered, wearing and panting with fear of death’s approach [at the hands of the pursuing Boreades], and weighed down in low and timorous flight implored with ghastly shriek their father Typho, he rose and brought up the darkness with him, mingling high and low, while from the heart of the gloom a voice was heard: ‘It is enough to have chased the goddesses so far; why strive ye father in rage against the ministers of Jove [Zeus], whom, though he wield the thunderbolt and the aegis, he has chosen to work his mighty wrath? Now also hath that same Jove commanded them to depart from the dwelling of Agenor’s son [Phineus]; they hearken to his prompting, and withdraw upon his word.”

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 18. 274 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :
“[Ares] brought low such another, Ekhidna’s son, the gods’ enemy, spitting the horrible poison of hideous Ekhidna. He had two shapes together, and in the forest he shook the twisting coils of his mother’s spine.”

THE BATTLE OF ZEUS & TYPHOEUS

Hesiod, Theogony 820 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) :
“Now after Zeus had driven the Titanes out of heaven, gigantic Gaia (Earth), in love with Tartaros (the Pit), by means of golden Aphrodite, bore the youngest of her children, Typhoeus; the hands and arms of him are mighty, and have work in them, and the feet of the powerful god were tireless, and up from his shoulders there grew a hundred snake heads, those of a dreaded drakon, and the heads licked with dark tongues, and from the eyes on the inhuman heads fire glittered from under the eyelids: from all his heads fire flared from his eyes’ glancing; and inside each one of these horrible heads there were voices that threw out every sort of horrible sound, for sometimes it was speech such as the gods could understand, but at other times, the sound of a bellowing bull, proud-eyed and furious beyond holding, or again like a lion shameless in cruelty, or again it was like the barking of dogs, a wonder to listen to, or again he would whistle so the tall mountains re-echoed to it.
And now that day there would have been done a thing past mending, and he, Typhoeus, would have been master of gods and of mortals, had not [Zeus] the father of gods and men been sharp to perceive it and gave a hard, heavy clap of thunder, so that the earth gave grisly reverberation, and the wide heaven above, and the sea, and the streams of Okeanos, and the underground chambers. And great Olympos was shaken under the immortal feet of the master as he moved, and the earth groaned beneath him, and the heat and blaze from both of them was on the dark-faced sea, from the thunder and lightning of Zeus and from the flame of the monster, from his blazing bolts and from the scorch and breath of his stormwinds, and all the ground and the sky and the sea boiled, and towering waves were tossing and beating all up and down the promontories in the wind of these immortals, and a great shaking of the earth came on, and Haides, lord over the perished dead, trembled, and the Titanes under Tartaros, who live beside Kronos, trembled to the dread encounter and the unending clamour.
But now, when Zeus had headed up his own strength, seizing his weapons, thunder, lightning, and the glowering thunderbolt, he made a leap from Olympos, and struck, setting fire to all those wonderful heads set about on the dreaded monster. Then, when Zeus had put him down with his strokes, Typhoeus crashed, crippled, and the gigantic earth groaned beneath him, and the flame from the great lord so thunder-smitten ran out along the darkening and steep forests of the mountains as he was struck, and a great part of the gigantic earth burned in the wonderful wind of his heat, and melted, as tin melts in the heat of the carefully grooved crucible when craftsmen work it, or as iron, though that is the strongest substance, melts under stress of blazing fire in the mountain forests worked by handicraft of Hephaistos inside the divine earth. So earth melted in the flash of the blazing fire; but Zeus in tumult of anger cast Typhoeus into broad Tartaros.
And from Typhoeus comes the force of winds blowing wetly, except Notos and Boreas and clear Zephyros. These are a god-sent kind, and a great blessing to men; but the others blow fitfully upon the seas. Some rush upon the misty sea and work great havoc among men with their evil, raging blasts; for varying with the season they blow, scattering ships and destroying sailors. And men who meet these upon the sea have no help against the mischief. Others again over the boundless, flowering earth spoil the fair fields of men who dwell below, filling them with dust and cruel uproar.”

Pindar, Pythian Ode 1. 16 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :
“But violence brings to ruin even the boastful hard-heart soon or late. Kilikion Typhon of the hundred heads could not escape his fate.”

Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 353 ff (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
“Pity moved me [the Titan Prometheus], too, at the sight of the earth-born (gêgenês) dweller of the Kilikian caves curbed by violence, that destructive monster of a hundred heads (hekatonkaranos), impetuous (thouros) Typhon. He withstood all the gods, hissing out terror with horrid jaws, while from his eyes lightened a hideous glare, as though he would storm by force the sovereignty of Zeus. But the unsleeping bolt of Zeus came upon him, the swooping lightning brand with breath of flame, which struck him, frightened, from his loud-mouthed boasts; then, stricken to the very heart, he was burnt to ashes and his strength blasted from him by the lightning bolt. And now, a helpless and a sprawling bulk, he lies hard by the narrows of the sea, pressed down beneath the roots of Aitna; while on the topmost summit Hephaistos sits and hammers the molten ore. There, one day, shall burst forth rivers of fire, with savage jaws devouring the level fields of Sikelia (Sicily), land of fair fruit–such boiling rage shall Typhon, although charred by the blazing lightning of Zeus, send spouting forth with hot jets of appalling, fire-breathing surge.”

Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 486 ff :
“Hippomedon [one of the leaders of the army of the Seven Against Thebes], tremendous in form and figure. I shuddered in fear as he spun a huge disk–the circle of his shield . . . The symbol-maker who put the design on his shield was no lowly craftsman: the symbol is Typhon, spitting out of his fire-breathing mouth a dark, thick smoke, the darting sister of fire. And the rim of the hollow-bellied shield is fastened all around with snaky braids . . . Hyperbios, Oinops’ trusty son, is chosen to match him . . . Hermes has appropriately pitted them against each other. For the man is hostile to the man he faces in battle, and the gods on their shields also meet as enemies. The one has fire-breathing Typhon, while father Zeus stands upright on Hyperbios’ shield, his lightening bolt aflame in his hand. And no one yet has seen Zeus conquered. Such then is the favor of the divine powers : we are with the victors, they with the vanquished, if Zeus in fact proves stronger in battle than Typhon. And it is likely that the mortal adversaries will fare as do their gods; and so, in accordance with the symbol, Zeus will be a savior for Hyperbios since he resides on his shield. I am sure that Zeus’ antagonist, since he has on his shield the unloved form of an earth-born deity (daimon khthonios), an image hated by both mortals and the long-lived gods, will drop his head in death before the gate.”

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 39 – 44 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
“The defeat of the Gigantes [or Titanes] by the gods angered Ge all the more, so she had intercourse with Tartaros and bore Typhon in Kilikia. He was a mixture of man and beast, the largest and strongest of all Ge’s children. Down to the thighs he was human in form, so large that he extended beyond all the mountains while his head often touched even the stars. One hand reached to the west, the other to the east, and attached to these were one hundred heads of serpents. Also from the thighs down he had great coils of vipers, which extended to the top of his head and hissed mightily. All of his body was winged, and the hair that flowed in the wind from his head and cheeks was matted and dirty. In his eyes flashed fire. Such were the appearance and the size of Typhon as he hurled red-hot rocks at the sky itself, and set out for it with mixed hisses and shouts, as a great storm of fire boiled forth from his mouth.
When the gods saw him rushing toward the sky, they headed for Aigyptos to escape him, and as he pursued them they changed themselves into animal shapes. But Zeus from a distance hurled thunderbolts at Typhon, and when he had drawn closer Zeus tried to strike him down with a sickle made of adamant. Typhon took flight, but Zeus stayed on his heels right up to Mount Kasium, which lies in Syria. Seeing that he was badly wounded, Zeus fell on him with his hands. But Typhon entwined the god and held him fast in his coils, and grabbing the sickle he cut out the sinews from Zeus’ hands and feet. Then, placing Zeus up on his shoulders, he carried him across the sea to Kilikia, where he deposited him in the Korykion cave. He also hid away the sinews there in the skin of a bear, and posted as guard over them the drakaina Delphyne (a girl who was half animal). But Hermes and Aigipan stole back the sinews and succeeded in replanting them in Zeus without being seen. So Zeus, again possessed of his strength, suddenly appeared from the sky in a chariot drawn by winged horses, and with thunderbolts chased Typhon to the mountain called Nysa. There the Moirai (Fates) deceived the pursued creature, for he ate some of the ephemeral fruit on Nysa [i.e. the intoxicating grape of Dionysos] after they had persuaded him that he would gain strength from it. Again pursued, he made his way to Thrake, where while fighting round Haimos he threw whole mountains at Zeus. But when these were pushed back upon him by the thunderbolt, a great quantity of his blood streamed out on the mountain, which allegedly is why the mountain is called Haimos. Then, as Typhon started to flee again through the Sikelian (Sicilian) Sea, Zeus brought down Sikelia’s Mount Aitna on him , a great mountain which they say still erupts fire from the thunderbolts thrown by Zeus.”

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 2. 38 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) :
“Amykos [a king of Mysia] made one think of some monstrous off-spring of the ogre Typhoeus.”

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 2. 1206 ff :
“On the slopes of Kaukasos by the rock of Typhaon. It was there, they say, that Typhaon, when he had offered violence to Zeus and been struck by his thunder-bolt, dropped warm blood from his head, and so made his way to the mountains and plain of Nysa, where he lies to this day, engulfed in the waters of the Serbonian Lake.”

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5. 71. 2 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st B.C.) :
“He [Zeus] slew the Gigantes (Giants) and their followers, Mylinos in Krete and Typhon in Phrygia.”

Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 5. 484 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th A.D.) :
“In the dust outstretched he lay, like Typhon, when the bolts of Zeus had blasted him.”

Oppian, Halieutica 3. 15 (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd A.D.) :
“Pan of Korykos, thy son, who, they say, was the saviour of Zeus–the saviour of Zeus but the slayer of Typhon. For he tricked terrible Typhon with promise of a banquet of fish and beguiled him to issue forth from his spacious pit and come to the shore of the sea, where the swift lightning and the rushing fiery thunderbolts laid him low; and, blazing in the rain of fire, he beat his hundred heads upon the rocks whereon he was carded all about like wool. And even now the yellow banks by the sea are red with the blood of the Typhonian battle.”

Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 152 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
“Tartarus begat by Tartara, Typhon, a creature of immense size and fearful shape, who had a hundred Draco (dragon) heads springing from his shoulders. He challenged Jove [Zeus] to see if Jove would content with him for the rule. Jove struck his breast with a flaming thunderbolt. When it was burning him he put Mount Etna, which is in Sicily, over him. From this it is said to burn still.”

Ovid, Metamorphoses 3. 302 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
“[Zeus] he soared ascending to the ethereal sky, and by his nod called up the trailing clouds and massed a storm, with lightnings in the squalls, and thunder and the bolts that never miss . . . wielding the fire with which he’s felled hundred-handed Typhoeus.”

Seneca, Medea 771 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) :
“[Amongst various fabulous ingredients used in a spell by the witch Medea :] To thee [Hekate] I offer these wreaths wrought with bloody hands, each entwined with nine serpent coils; to thee, these serpent limbs which rebellious Typhoeus wore, who caused Jove’s [Zeus'] throne to tremble.”

Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 3. 130 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) :
“Huge as Typhon when he glares from the measureless sky, red with fire and tempest, while Jove [Zeus] on high grips him by the hair.”

Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 4. 235 ff :
“Typhoeus, boasting that already the kingdom of the sky and already the stars were won, felt aggrieved that Bacchus [Dionysos] in the van [of a chariot] and Pallas, foremost of the gods, and a maiden’s snakes [Athena's aegis] confronted him.”

Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 6. 168 ff :
“The ground trembles and quakes at the shock, as when Jupiter [Zeus] strikes Phlegra [home of the Gigantes] with his angry brand and hurls back Typhon to the deepest recesses of the earth.”

Suidas s.v. Haliplanktos (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek lexicon C10th A.D.) :
“Haliplanktos (Sea-roaming) : Thus Pan is called . . . because he hunted Typhon with nets.”

TYPHOEUS & THE FLIGHT OF THE GODS TO EGYPT

Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 28 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
“Typhon was the son of Ge (Earth), a deity monstrous because of his strength, and of outlandish appearance. There grew out of him numerous heads and hands and wings, while from his thighs came huge coils of snakes. He emitted all kinds of roars and nothing could resist his might.
He felt an urge to usurp the rule of Zeus and not one of the gods could withstand him as he attacked. In panic they fled to Aigyptos (Egypt), all except Athena and Zeus, who alone were left. Typhon hunted after them, on their track. When they fled they had changed themselves in anticipation into animal forms.
Apollon became a hawk [Horus], Hermes an ibis [Thoth], Ares became a fish, the lepidotus [Lepidotus or Onuris], Artemis a cat [Neith or Bastet], Dionysos took the shape of a goat [Osiris or Arsaphes], Herakles a fawn, Hephaistos an ox [Ptah], and Leto a shrew mouse [Wadjet]. The rest of the gods each took on what transformations they could. When Zeus struck Typhon with a thunderbolt, Typhon, aflame hid himself and quenched the blaze in the sea.
Zeus did not desist but piled the highest mountain, Aitna, on Typon and set Hephaistos on the peak as a guard. Having set up his anvils, he works his red hot blooms on Typhon’s neck.”

Pseudo-Hyginus,>”When the god in Egypt feared the monster Typhon, Pan bade them transform themselves into wild beasts the more easily to deceive him. Jove [Zeus] later killed him with a thunderbolt. By the will of the gods, since by his warning they had avoided Typhon’s violence.”

Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 28 :
“Egyptian priests and some poets say that once when many gods had assembled in Egypt, suddenly Typhon, an exceedingly fierce monster and deadly enemy of the gods, came to that place. Terrified by him, they changed their shapes into other forms: Mercurius [Hermes] became an ibis, Apollo [Apollon], the bird that is called Thracian, Diana [Artemis], a cat. For this reason they say the Egyptians do not permit these creatures to be injured, because they are called representations of gods. At this same time, they say, Pan cast himself into the river, making the lower part of his body a fish, and the rest a goat, and thus escaped from Typhon.”

Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 30 :
“Pisces. Diognetus Erythraeus says that once Venus [Aphrodite] and her son Cupid [Eros] came in Syria to the river Euphrates. There Typhon, of whom we have already spoken, suddenly appeared. Venus and her son threw themselves into the river and there changed their forms to fishes, and by so doing this escaped danger.”

Ovid, Metamorphoses 5. 139 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
“Typhoeus, issuing from earth’s lowest depths, struck terror in those heavenly hearts, and they all turned their backs and fled, until they found refuge in Aegyptus and the seven-mouthed Nilus . . . Typhoeus Terrigena (Earthborn) even there pursued them and the gods concealed themselves in spurious shapes; ..And Juppiter [Zeus] became a ram’, she said, ..lord of the herd, and so today great Ammon Libys’ [Zeus-Ammon] shown with curling horns. Delius [Apollon] hid as a raven, Semeleia [Dionysos] as a goat, Phoebe [Artemis] a cat, Saturnia [Hera] a snow-white cow, Venus [Aphrodite] a fish and Cyllenius [Hermes] an ibis.’”

Ovid, Fasti 2. 458 ff (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
“Once Dione [Aphrodite], in flight from terrible Typhon (when Jupiter [Zeus] armed in heaven’s defence), reached the Euphrates with tiny Cupidos [Eros] in tow and sat by the hem of Palestine’s stream . . . She pales with fear, and believes a hostile band approaches. As she clutched son to breast, she cries : ..To the rescue, Nymphae, and bring help to two divinities.’ No delay; she leapt. Twin fish went underneath them.”

TARTAREAN PRISON OF TYPHOEUS

I) INSIDE THE STORM PIT OF TARTAROS

Hesiod, Theogony 869 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) :
“Zeus had headed up his own strength, seizing his weapons, thunder, lightning, and the glowering thunderbolt, he made a leap from Olympos, and struck, setting fire to all those wonderful heads set about on the dreaded monster [Typhoeus] . . . [and] Zeus in tumult of anger cast Typhoeus into broad Tartaros. And from Typhoeus comes the force of winds blowing wetly, except Notos and Boreas and clear Zephyros. These are a god-sent kind, and a great blessing to men; but the others blow fitfully upon the seas. Some rush upon the misty sea and work great havoc among men with their evil, raging blasts; for varying with the season they blow, scattering ships and destroying sailors. And men who meet these upon the sea have no help against the mischief. Others again over the boundless, flowering earth spoil the fair fields of men who dwell below, filling them with dust and cruel uproar.”

Pindar, Pythian Ode 1. 15 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :
“That enemy of the gods, who lies in fearsome Tartaros, Typhon the hundred-headed, who long since was bred in the far-famed Kilikion cave. Today the cliffs that bar the sea o’er Kumai and Sikilia’s (Sicily’s) isle, press heavy on his shaggy breast, and that tall pillar rising to the height of heaven, contains him close–Aitna.” [N.B. Tartaros is here the under-earth, rather than the cosmic pit.]

Aristophanes, Frogs 475 ff (trans. O’Neill) (Greek comedy C5th to 4th B.C.) :
“[Aiakos threatens the god Dionysos with torment in the Underworld :] ..The black hearted Stygian rock and the crag of Akheron dripping with gore can hold you; and the circling hounds of Kokytos and the hundred-headed ekhidna (serpent) [probably Typhoeus] shall tear your entrails; your lungs will be attacked by the Myraina Tartesia (the Tartesian Eel) [probably Ekhidna], your kidneys bleeding with your very entrails the Tithrasian Gorgones Teithrasiai will rip apart.’”

Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 4. 514 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) :
“While they [the Harpyiai, storm-daimones] hovered, wearing and panting with fear of death’s approach [at the hands of the pursuing Boreades], and weighed down in low and timorous flight implored with ghastly shriek their father Typho, he rose and brought up the darkness with him, mingling high and low, while from the heart of the gloom a voice was heard.”

Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 6. 168 ff :
“The ground trembles and quakes at the shock, as when Jupiter [Zeus] strikes Phlegra [home of the Gigantes] with his angry brand and hurls back Typhon to the deepest recesses of the earth.”

II) BENEATH THE STORM-DRENCHED LAND OF THE ARIMOI

Homer and Hesiod describe Typhoeus and Ekhidna imprisoned beneath the land of the Arimoi (also known as the Arimaspoi, or Kimmeroi), a mythical race who dwelt at the ends of the earth shrouded in mist and darkness (beyond the River Okeanos). The gates of Tartaros, the usual prison of the pair, were probably believed to be found in this territory.
Strabo, however, identifies several locations later identified by the Greeks with Homer’s Arimoi.

Homer, Iliad 2. 780 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) :
“The ground echoed under them, Zeus who delights in thunder were angry, as when he batters the earth about Typhoeus, in the land of the Arimoi, where they say Typhoeus lies prostrate.” [Cf. Hesiod below.]

Hesiod, Theogony 295 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) :
“She [Ekhidna] has her cave on the underside of a hollow rock, far from the immortal gods, and far from all mortals. There the gods ordained her a fabulous home to live in which she keeps underground among the Arimoi, grisly Ekhidna, a Nymphe who never dies, and all her days she is ageless.” [N.B. Ekhidna's home of Arimoi is the same place where Homer says Typhoeus is imprisoned].

The land of the Kimmeroi (Of the Frost-Chilled Air), described by Homer, was probably identical to that of the Arimoi, and the Arimaspoi (which according to Herodotus meant one-eyed in the Scythian tongue, from arimos, one, and spou, eye):–

Homer, Odyssey 11. 10 ff (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) :
“The vessel [of Odysseus] came to the bounds of eddying Okeanos, where lie the land and the city of the Kimmeroi, covered with mist and cloud. Never does the resplendent sun look on this people with his beams, neither when he climbs towards the stars of heaven nor when once more he comes earthwards from the sky; dismal night over hands these wretches always. ariving there, we beached the vessel [near the rivers Akheron and Styx].”

Strabo, Geography 13. 4. 6 ff (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
“Some [poets] add the following fourth verse : ..At the foot of snowy Tmolos, in the fertile land of Hyde.’ But there is no Hyde to be found in the country of the Lydians . . . And they add that the place is woody and subject to strokes of lightning, and that the Arimoi live there, for after Homer’s verse, ..in the land of the Arimoi where men say is the couch of Typhon,’ they insert the words, ..in a wooded place, in the fertile land of Hyde.’
But others lay the scene of this myth in Kilikia, and some lay it in Syria, and still others in the Pithekoussai Islands [volcanic islands off the coast of Italia], who say that among the Tyrrhenians ‘pithekoi’ (apes) are called ‘arimoi.’ Some call Sardeis Hyde, while others call its acropolis Hyde. But the Skepsian thinks that those writers are most plausible who place the Arimoi in the Katakekaumene (Burnt Up) country in Mysia. But Pindaros associates the Pithekoussai which lie off the Kymaian territory, as also the territory in Sikelia (Sicily), with the territory in Kilikia, for he says that Typhon lies beneath Aitna : ..Once he dwelt in a far-famed Kilikian cavern; now, however, his shaggy breast is o’er-pressed by the sea-girt shores above Kymai and by Sikelia (Sicily).’ And again, ’round about him lies Aitna with her haughty fetters,’ and again, ‘but it was father Zeus that once amongst the Arimoi, by necessity, alone of the gods, smote monstrous Typhon of the fifty heads.’
But some understand that the Syrians are Arimoi, who are now called the Arimaians, and that the Kilikians in Troy, forced to migrate, settled again in Syria and cut off for themselves what is now called Kilikia.”

Strabo, Geography 12. 7. 19 :
“In fact they make this [the volcanic plains of Lydia] the setting of the mythical story of the Arimoi and of the throes of Typhon, calling it the Katakekaumene (the Burnt Up) country. Also, they do not hesitate to suspect that the parts of the country between the Maiandros River and the Lydians are all of this nature, as well on account of the number of the lakes and rivers as on account of the numerous hollows in the earth. And the lake between Laodikeia and Apameia, although like a sea, emits an eflluvium that is filthy and of subterranean origin.”

Strabo, Geography 13. 4. 11 ff :
“The Katakekaumene (Burnt Up) country [of Lydia or Mysia], as it is called, which has a length of five hundred stadia and a breadth of four hundred, whether it should be called Mysia or Meïonia (for both names are used); the whole of it is without trees except the vine that produces the Katakekaumenite wine, which in quality is inferior to none of the notable wines. The surface of the plain is covered with ashes, and the mountainous and rocky country is black, as though from conflagration. Now some conjecture that this resulted from thunderbolts and from fiery subterranean outbursts, and they do not hesitate to lay there the scene of the mythical story of Typhon . . . but it is not reasonable to suppose that all that country was burnt all at once by reason of such disturbances, but rather by reason of an earth-born fire, the sources of which have now been exhausted. Three pits are to be seen there, which are called ‘bellows,’ and they are forty stadia distant from each other. Above them lie rugged hills, which are reasonably supposed to have been heaped up by the hot masses blown forth from the earth. That such soil should be well adapted to the vine one might assume from the land of Katana, which was heaped with ashes and now produces excellent wine in great plenty.”

III) BENEATH THE SERBONIAN MARSH

The Serbonian Lake or Marsh lay on the borders of Egypt and Phoenicia. Typhoeus was here identified with the Egyptian god Set, who was believed to have been vanquished by Osiris in the marsh.

Aeschylus, Suppliant Women 556 ff (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
“The fertile groves sacred to Zeus [Aigyptos or Egypt], that snow-fed pasture assailed by Typho’s fury, and the water of the Neilos (Nile) that no disease may touch.”

Herodotus, Histories 3. 5 (trans. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.) :
“Now the only apparent way of entry into ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Egypt is this. The road runs from Phoinikia as far as the borders of the city of Kadytis . . . from Ienysus as far as the Serbonian marsh, beside which the promontory Kasios stretches seawards; from this Serbonian marsh, where Typho is supposed to have been hidden, the country is Egypt. Now between Ienysus and the Kasian mountain and the Serbonian marsh there lies a wide territory for as much as three days’ journey, terribly arid.”..:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” />

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 2. 1206 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) :
“Typhaon struck by his thunder-bolt, dropped warm blood from his head, and so made his way to the mountains and plain of Nysa, where he lies to this day, engulfed in the waters of the Serbonian Lake.”

Strabo, Geography 13. 4. 6 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
“[Quoting Pindar :] ..But it was father Zeus that once amongst the Arimoi, by necessity, alone of the gods, smote monstrous Typhon of the fifty heads.’ But some understand that the Syrians are Arimoi, who are now called the Arimaians [and it is here that Typhon is buried].”

TYPHOEUS IMPRISONED BENEATH MOUNT ETNA

Pindar, Olympian Ode 4. 6 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :
“O son of Kronos [Zeus], lord of Aitna, that windswept mount where Typhon the monster hundred-headed is held in thrall.”

Pindar, Pythian Ode 1. 15 ff :
“That enemy of the gods, who lies in fearsome Tartaros, Typhon the hundred-headed, who long since was bred in the far-famed Kilikian cave. Today the cliffs that bar the sea o’er Kymai (Cumae) and Sikilia’s (Sicily’s) isle, press heavy on his shaggy breast, and that tall pillar rising to the height of heaven, contains him close–Aitna (Etna) the white-clad summit, nursing through all the year her frozen snows. From the dark depths below she flings aloft fountains of purest fires, that no foot can approach. In the broad light of day rivers of glowing smoke pour forth a lurid stream, and in the dark a red and rolling flood tumbles down the boulders to the deep sea’s plain in riotous clatter. These dread flames that creeping monster sends aloft, a marvel to look on, and a wondrous tale even to hear, from those whose eyes have seen it. Such is the being bound between the peaks of Aitna in her blackened leaves and the flat plain, while all his back is torn and scarred by the rough couch on which he lies outstretched.”

Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 363 ff (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
“He [Typhon] was burnt to ashes and his strength blasted from him by the lightning bolt. And now, a helpless and a sprawling bulk, he lies hard by the narrows of the sea, pressed down beneath the roots of Aitna; while on the topmost summit Hephaistos sits and hammers the molten ore. There, one day, shall burst forth rivers of fire, with savage jaws devouring the level fields of Sikelia (Sicily), land of fair fruit–such boiling rage shall Typhon, although charred by the blazing lightning of Zeus, send spouting forth with hot jets of appalling, fire-breathing surge.”

Lycophron, Alexandra 688 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
“The island [Sikelia] that crushed the back of the Gigantes and the fierce from of Typhon, shall receive him [Odysseus] journeying alone: an island boiling with flame.”

Strabo, Geography 5. 4. 9 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
“The Khalkidians [who settled the island of Pithekoussai, Italia] . . . were driven out of the island by earthquakes, and by eruptions of fire, sea, and hot waters . . . Hence, also the myth, according to which Typhon lies beneath this island, and when he turns his body the flames and the waters, and sometimes even small islands containing boiling water, spout forth, But what Pindaros says is more plausible, since he starts with the actual phenomena; for this whole channel, beginning at the Kaumaian (Cumaean) country and extending as far as Sikelia (Sicily), is full of fire, and has caverns deep down in the earth that form a single whole, connecting not only with one another but also with the mainland; and therefore, not only Aitna clearly ahs such a character as it is reported by all to have, but also the Liparoi Islands, and the districts around about Dikaiarkheia, Neapolis, and Baia, and the island of Pithekoussai. This, I say, is Pindaros’ though when he says that Typhon lies beneath this whole region : ..Now however, both Sikelia and the sea-fenced cliffs beyond Kume press hard upon his shaggy breast.’”

Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 28 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
“When Zeus struck Typhon with a thunderbolt, Typhon, aflame hid himself and quenched the blaze in the sea. Zeus did not desist but piled the highest mountain, Aitna, on Typon and set Hephaistos on the peak as a guard. Having set up his anvils, he works his red hot blooms on Typhon’s neck.”

Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 5. 14 (trans. Conybeare) (Greek biography C1st to C2nd A.D.) :
“They came to Katana, where is Mount Aitna; and they say that they heard from the inhabitants of the city a story about Typho being bound on the spot and about fire rising from him, and this fire sends up the smoke of Aitna.”

Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 5. 16 :
“Poetical myths are given by the vulgar of Aitna . . . belonging to the class of dramatic stories which fill the mouths of our poets. For they sway that a certain Typho or Enkelados lies bound under the mountain [of Aitna], and in his death agony breathes out this fire that we see.
Now I admit that Gigantes have existed, and that gigantic bodies are revealed all over earth when tombs are broken open; nevertheless I deny that they ever came into conflict with the gods; at the most they violated their temples and statues, and to suppose that hey scaled the heaven and chased away the gods therefrom,–this it is madness to relate and madness to believe.”

Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 5. 13 :
“Typho a many-headed monster, was threatening Sikelia (Sicily) with his violence [i.e. threatening a volcanic eruption].”

Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 152 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
“Jove [Zeus] struck his [Typhon's] breast with a flaming thunderbolt. When it was burning him he put Mount Etna, which is in Sicily, over him. From this it is said to burn still.”

Ovid, Metamorphoses 5. 346 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
“The huge three-angled isle of Trinacris [Sicily] lies piled upon the body of the giant, Typhoeus, whose hopes had dared heaven’s palaces and hold him fast beneath its mighty mass. Often he strives and strains to rise again but on his right hand long Pelorus stands, and on his left Pachynum; Lilybaeum crushes his legs, Etna weighs down his head, where, face upturned, his fierce throat vomits forth cinders and flames. Often he strains his strength to heave earth’s heavy weight aside, to roll away the mountain range and the teeming towns. Then the land quakes and even Rex Silentum (the king who rules the land of silence) [Hades] shudders lest the ground in gaping seams should open and the day stream down and terrify the trembling Umbrae (Shades).”

Ovid, Metamorphoses 14. 2 ff :
“Etna heaped high upon the Gigante’s [Typhon's] throat.”

Ovid, Fasti 1. 543 ff (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
“You would think every blast was Typhoeus’ breath, a bolt of lightning hurled from Etna’s fire.”

Ovid, Fasti 4. 491 ff :
“Soaring Etna lies over huge Typhoeus’ mouth, whose gasping fires ignite the very earth.”

Seneca, Hercules Furens 80 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) :
“Unbar Sicily’s mountain cave, and let the Dorian land, which trembles whenever the giant [Typhon] struggles, set free the buried frame of that dread monster.”

Seneca, Medea 407 ff :
“What ferocity of beasts, what Scylla, what Charybdis, sucking up the Ausonian and Sicilian waters, or what Aetna, resting heavily on panting Titan [Typhoeus], shall burn with such threats as I?”

Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 2. 16 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) :
“Typhoeus lies crushed beneath Sicilian soil. Men say that as he fled, blasting forth the sacred fires from his breast, Neptunus [Poseidon] grasped him by the hair, bore him out to see and entangled him in the waters, and as the bloody mass rose again and again, churning the waves with serpent limbs, took him far away to the Sicilian waters and down upon his head placed all Aetna with her cities; savage still he throws up the foundations of the caverned mountain; then heaves Trinacria [Sicily] throughout her length and breadth, as he struggles and shifts the burdening mass with weary breast, to let it fall again with a groan–baffled.”

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 2. 600 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :
“For I [Zeus] with one hand have vanquished your hands, two hundred strong. Let three-headland Sikelie (Sicily) receive Typhon whole and entire, let her crush him all about under her steep and lofty hills, with the hair of his hundred heads miserably bedabbled in dust. Nevertheless, if you did have an over-violent mind, if you did assault Olympos itself in your impracticable ambitions, I will build you a cenotaph, presumptuous wretch, and I will engrave on your empty tomb, this last message : ..This is the barrow of Typhoeus, son of Gaia, who once lashed the sky with stones, and the fire of heaven burnt him up.’”

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 13. 319 ff :
“Aitna (Mt Etna), where the rock is alight and kettles of fire boil up the hot flare of Typhaon’s bed.”

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 45. 210 ff :
“He [the gigante Alpos] lifted the waters and deluged Typhaon’s rock [Sicily], flooding the hot surface of his brother’s bed and cooling his scorched body with a torrent of water.”

TYPHOEUS IDENTIFIED WITH THE EGYPTIAN GOD SET

Herodotus, Histories 2. 156. 1 (trans. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.) :
[Leto, Egyptian Buto] taking charge of Apollo [Horus] from Isis, hid him for safety in this island [Khemmis] which is now said to float, when Typhon [Set] came hunting through the world, keen to find the son of Osiris. Apollon [Horus] and Artemis [Bastet] were (they say) children of Dionysus [Osiris] and Isis, and Leto [Buto] was made their nurse and preserver; in Egyptian, Apollon is Horus, Demeter Isis, Artemis Bubastis.”

Herodotus, Histories 2. 144. 1 :
“Before men, they said, the rulers of Egypt were gods, but none had been contemporary with the human priests. Of these gods one or another had in succession been supreme; the last of them to rule the country was Osiris’ son Horus, whom the Greeks call Apollon; he deposed Typhon [Set], and was the last divine king of Egypt. Osiris is, in the Greek language, Dionysos.”

Some facts about the Moon

August 1st, 2009

The following questions were answered by astronomer Dr. Cathy Imhoff of the Space Telescope Science Institute.

How big is the moon?
The moon is about 2,000 miles across.

How far is it from Earth to the moon?
It is about 250,000 miles from Earth to the moon.

How old is the moon?
The moon is the same age as the Earth and the rest of the solar system — about 4.5 billion years. Our solar system was all formed at that time.

How did the moon form?
We think that the moon and Earth formed at about the same time, back when our whole solar system was formed. Earth was forming from many chunks of rock and icy material. Possibly a big chunk hit the new Earth and knocked loose a big piece, which became the moon.

How hot and cold does it get on the moon?
As you may have learned, the moon doesn’t have any air around it. The air that surrounds our earth acts as a nice blanket to keep us warm and comfy! But the moon, since it doesn’t have this blanket, gets much colder than the earth — and much hotter than the earth. On the side of the moon that the sun is shining on, the temperature reaches 260°Fahrenheit! That is hotter than boiling. On the dark side of the moon, it gets very cold, -280° Fahrenheit.

What is the surface of the moon like?
The surface of the moon has about two inches of dust. Much of this dust has fallen to the moon from the spaces between the planets over the last several billions years. It probably feels pretty soft. You can see this in some pictures taken by the astronauts of their footprints on the moon.

How many holes are in the moon?
We call those holes “craters.” They are the places where many years ago meteors hit the surface of the moon and put dents into it. There are thousands of big craters, but even more little ones. There are probably millions of little craters on the moon! Some are only an inch or so across.

Why does the moon have big rocks?
The moon is made up of various kinds of rocks. These rocks are fairly similar to the rocks on earth. But on earth, we have wind and rain that help wear the rocks down into sand and dirt. There is no air or wind on the moon, so the rocks don’t get worn down as they do on the earth.

How many moons are there all together?
Earth has only one moon. If you count all the moons around all the planets in our solar system, there are 61 (Earth has one, Mars has two, Jupiter has 16, Saturn has 18, Uranus has 15, Neptune has 8, and Pluto has one). There may be more that we haven’t discovered yet!

Why does the moon change its shape (as in full, half, and quarter moon)?
The bright part of the moon is the part that the sun is shining on. This is like daytime on earth. The dark part is in shadow, like night on earth. Now the moon goes around the earth once every 29 days (approximately).

At new moon, the moon and the sun are on the same side of Earth. We see the part of the moon that is in shadow, so the moon is dark. Then the moon moves around in its orbit. At first quarter, it has gone one-fourth of the way around Earth. Now we can see part of the moon that is sunlit, but part still in shadow. Note that if the sun is setting in the west, the bright part of the moon is on the side toward the sun and the dark part is away.

About a week later, the moon has moved halfway around its orbit. Now it is on the opposite side of Earth, away from the sun. Now we see only the sunlit side — that is the full moon. Note that if the sun is setting in the west, the moon is just rising in the east.

About a week later, the moon has moved now three-fourths of the way around in its circle around Earth. Once again only part of the moon is sunlit and part is dark. Now you can see the moon in the morning, and note that once again the sunlit side is on the side towards the sun, and the shadow side away. Another week and we are back to the new moon.

It’s easier to demonstrate if you have a ball to represent the moon and a flashlight for the sun. Have someone stand several feet away, holding the flashlight so it shines on the ball. Hold the “moon” ball and slowly turn around, watching the moon go around you (you are Earth). Do you see the moon’s phases?

What is a lunar eclipse? What is a solar eclipse?
Anytime there are three bodies (the sun, the moon, or planet) lined up so that one blocks the light from another, we call that an eclipse. During a solar eclipse, our moon moves between us (on Earth) and the sun and blocks the sunlight. During a lunar eclipse, Earth blocks the sun’s light that normally lights up the moon. Since we are standing on Earth, what we see is that the moon gets dark. Other kinds of eclipses happen too. For instance if you were standing on the surface of Jupiter (kind of hard, but we can imagine) you might see one of its moons eclipse the sun!

How come we can sometimes see the moon during the day?
The reason that you don’t see the stars during the day is that the sky is too bright. Sunlight scatters around in the air and makes the sky look bright blue. But if you had a telescope and pointed it at a bright star you could still see it during the day! The stars are still there, just hard to see. The moon is bright enough that we can see it during the day or night. It orbits Earth once every 29 days. So during some of that time, it is easiest to see during the day and sometimes during the night.

Does the moon really have volcanoes?
Yes, the moon has some volcanoes. But as far as I know they are all “dead” volcanoes that have not erupted for millions of years. Most of the craters on the moon are from the surface being hit by asteroids and comets billions of years ago. The moon is a very “quiet” place. There is no air or water to erode the surface, and there are no earthquakes or volcanoes to change the surface. Only the smallest rocks may still hit the surface. So it has not changed much in billions of years! Probably the biggest changes recently are the footprints from the astronauts that visited the moon about 30 years ago!

Does it ever rain or snow on the moon or the other planets of our solar system?
To have rain or snow, we need to have water and an atmosphere of some kind. The moon has no atmosphere, so it has no weather at all! Mars has only a very thin atmosphere but it does have weather. Strong winds can blow up big dust storms. Pictures from the Mariner spacecraft show that sometimes thin frost forms on the surface of the planet. Sometimes just after Martian dawn, we see an icy fog rising from the craters! I believe that it is too cold for rain, but frost and icy fogs have definitely been seen. And of course, Mars has polar caps of frozen water and carbon dioxide (”dry ice”). Perhaps it snows at the polar caps. The atmosphere of Venus is very thick and very hot. There is a little water in its clouds, but I don’t believe it ever rains. Mercury has no atmosphere. The outer planets — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto — are extremely cold. Their atmospheres are mostly made up of methane, ammonia, nitrogen, and stuff like that. There are probably some ice crystals in their atmospheres too, but they probably just blow around in the strong winds. So there might be a sort of “snow” but not very much like what we are used to on Earth.

Is there really water on the moon?
Water that would be found on the moon may have existed from the days when our solar system was formed. Comets that may have hit the moon could also be a source of water. Generally we think water, that was part of the moon as it formed, would have probably evaporated away. Water from comets would have evaporated too. However, the area where Clementine found the possible signature of water is at the very cold south pole of the moon, in a dark, cratered area where the sun never shines. So it seems possible that the water (or ice) has survived there. We are hoping that other observations can be made with other satellites that can confirm whether this is really water on the moon. If so, it would be a great help for manned space travel in the solar system!

Can you plant something on the moon?
You could plant something, but it would die. There is no atmosphere (it needs carbon dioxide) and no water. The sunlight would burn it during the lunar day, and in the nighttime it would freeze. I don’t know if the soil would provide the nutrients that it would need, because it is just rock dust; there are no organic components that earth plants need to fix nitrogen, and so on. Life on earth is very special and very precious!

If there is no weather or atmosphere on the moon, then where does the ice come from?
We think that the ice on the moon came from comets! Comets are made up of mostly ice with some rocks and dirt mixed in. We think that most of the water on the earth probably came from comets that crashed into the earth when the earth was very, very young. The ice on the moon may have come the same way. Most of the water on the moon evaporated away a long time ago. But the ice at the South Pole stayed there because it is very, very cold and is in a dark area where the sun never shines.

Is the moon moving away from Earth?
Yes, it is! But it is moving only about an inch farther away each year.

Do you think it is possible that the moon was once a star and is now a black dwarf?
No, I don’t think so. The moon is way too small in mass (too little material) to have ever been a star.

Why are parts of the moon called seas?
Galileo was responsible for naming the major features on the moon. You may know that he was the first person to study the night sky using a telescope. He thought the dark, smooth areas were seas, and called them “maria” (Latin for seas; “mare” is the singular). For instance, the first Apollo landing occurred in Mare Tranquilitatis (the Sea of Tranquility). Of course we know now that there are no seas. The “seas” look flat from ancient lava flows. But the names stayed.

If a man was walking on the moon and he picked up a rock and threw it really hard, would it go past the moon’s atmosphere?
The gravity on the surface of the moon is one-sixth of Earth’s, so the astronaut could certainly throw that rock a lot farther. Did you know that one of the Apollo astronauts took a golf club to the moon and hit a golf ball a really long way? Even so, the gravity is strong enough that the ball or rock would not go into orbit or leave the moon. But it would go six times as far.

How long would it take to fly in a 747 to the moon?
Of course we know that this can’t happen, because there is no air and a plane couldn’t fly fast enough to escape the earth’s gravity. But we can pretend. A 747 airplane normally flies at about 400 miles per hour. The moon is about 250,000 miles away. So if we divide 250,000 by 400, we find that the plane would take 625 hours — or 26 days — to fly to the moon! Boy that would be a looong trip! Twenty-six days of eating airline food — yuck!

In a spaceship, how long does it take to get to the moon?
It depends on how fast the spaceship can travel. When the Apollo astronauts went to the moon, it took about two days.

What is “the man in the moon”?
Have you looked at the moon and noticed the dark patches? Some people think that they make the moon look like it has two eyes and a big smile. The next time the moon is nearly full, it would be a good time to look in the early evening at the moon and see if you can see the “face.” In other cultures people see different things on the moon. The Japanese people talk about the rabbit on the moon. I have looked at the moon and seen the “rabbit” too — it looks like a rabbit is walking up the left side of the moon. You might want to look for the rabbit too.

How did the moon get its name?
The moon is something that even the cavemen must have seen and given a name to. Maybe something like “big light in the sky at night when the sun isn’t around.” According to my dictionary, the Old English word for the moon was mona. In Latin it was mensis. In Greek it was mene (mee-nee). The words moon and month come from the same roots. That is probably because a month was originally measured by the phases of the moon. It takes 29.5 days for the moon to go from full moon to full moon. But there have been many changes to the calendar since that was true, so now months are a little longer and people don’t pay too much attention to the phases of the moon anymore.

In what year will man be able to live on the moon?
Right now there are no definite plans by NASA to go back to the moon, even just for a visit. NASA scientists and engineers have been studying how to live on the moon, so it is probably possible. But so far, no plans.

If we are going to have space probes on the moon, should they be on the light or dark side of the moon?
Some people talk about the Dark Side of the moon as if it is a specific place, but this isn’t correct. As the moon orbits Earth, different parts are in sunlight or the dark at different times. It takes roughly 29 days for the moon to circle Earth. Since it keeps the same side toward Earth, this means that the moon turns once every 29 days. This is hard to visualize, but you can try it with a ball (for the moon) and a flashlight (for the sun, and you as Earth), perhaps with some help from your teacher. This is also why the moon has phases.

When the astronauts went to the moon, they wanted to be on the side facing Earth so they could communicate with us, and also they wanted to be in the sunlight so they could see and also get power to their solar arrays. So they went around the full moon. They stayed only a few days. If they had stayed for two weeks, they would have ended up in the dark during the new moon!

If we sent a space probe, we would have to decide where to put it based on what kind of studies it would be doing. For instance, if you wanted to study radio waves from the stars, you might want to be on the far side of the moon so you wouldn’t get any interference from Earth’s TV and radio waves. But you would also have to set up a communications relay station so you could communicate with the probe.

Why does the moon affect the tides?
The moon actually CAUSES the tides. If there were no moon, we would have no tides. The tides arise due to the pull of the moon’s gravity. On the side of Earth nearest the moon, the moon’s gravity is the strongest and it pulls up the water slightly (high tide). On the side of Earth furthest from the moon, the moon’s gravity is the weakest and the water can move a little away from the moon (which is also high tide). This also affects Earth itself. During high tide Earth rises by an inch or two, not enough for us to notice.

How come the moon reflects the sun’s light and things on earth (like rocks) don’t reflect the sun’s light?
Actually everything DOES reflect sunlight. If something doesn’t reflect light, it looks completely black. There aren’t many things like that around. If you stand outside in the sunlight, you are seeing because the sun’s light is bouncing off of everything and your eyes see that light. When you are inside, you see things because the light from the lamps or the fluorescent lights bounces off things in the room.

Extracts from the Book of living and dying

August 1st, 2009

These are some extracts from a special book , The book of Living and Dying
Thks to Poppy for translating the extracts from greek to english with much patience.

The perception of the nature of the mind is automatically set free into the absolute nature, like burst bonds into the heaven.

The consideration, the viewing of the true state of things as they are the true nature of the mind is also the true nature of things.

The consideration is the comprehension of the bare awareness which includes everything : the perception through the senses and the ostensible (deceptive) being , the samsara and nirvana .

Void – Absolut

Phenomena or perception

Mind mirror of 5 wisdoms

1.The opening of the mirror and its vastness is the wisdom of the space which embraces everything

2.The ability to project in every detail , is the “lensal wisdom”

3.The fundamental lack of bias towards any impression is the educative wisdom

4.The ability to distinguish without perplexing the various and different phenomena is the wisdom of distinction

5.Its ability to have each and everything already fulfilled , finished and automatically present is the wisdom that fulfills everything

Semantic mind

The state of being consists of three parts: body-speech-mind

Internal metamorphosis through deep consideration pondering over:

The uniqueness of the human being

The presence of transience and death

The unmistakable of cause and consequence of our actions

The unprincipled cycle of futility and pain which is samsara

Path

Dealing wit ourselves

Dealing with others

Dealing with the hardships of life

Grace and wisdom

When a past though is present and a future one hasn’t appeared yet ,in this gap , at that point in the middle , lays the awareness of he present moment. A novel looking , virgin , bare , luminous awareness which is not altered by the slightest idea

However in the mind does not remain in that state forever , because another though suddenly appears

But if you don’t recognize this thought for what it really is , the moment it emerges it will be modified into another simple ordinary thought like before

That is called “chain of deception” .

If you manage to recognize the true nature of the thought once it has emerged , leave it alone and not follow it , then every other emerging thought will automatically be dissolved in the infinite vastness of the cleanliness of rigpa and set free

Whoever feels wrath or desire and reacts with attachment or repulsion, becomes diverted and is bound tighter to the chain of deception . The great secret is to see through them , what they really are

Through the diversions and the activity of the world the real experience is not going to be born in your mind.

Gradual deliverance

1.Deiverence and emergence happen simultaneously like the recognition of a friend in the crowd

2.Deliverance happens simultaneously with the emergence of the though or motion

3. At the final phase of dominance , liberation is like the thief entering an empty room.

Anything that may not appear does neither do any harm nor any good to the real human

When you leave something to its own state then its shape does not change , its colors does not fade away and its glow(shining is never lost.

Anything that appears remains untouched by any kind of attachments .everything u perceive , appears like the bare wisdom of rigpa , which is the subdivision of light and emptiness

When u employ consideration , even thought the deceitful perceptions of samsara may appear in your mind , u will be like heaven . When the rainbow makes its appearance , it does not become infatuated by it , and neither when dark clouds appear does it become disappointed

There is a deep sense of satisfaction

You smile inside as you see the mask of samsara and nirvana. Consideration keeps you constantly happy , with a bearly visible inner smile shedding its dim light at all times

Having deleted the great illusion , the darkness of the heart , the radiant light of the unhallowed sun dawns constantly

Respect,

CRX,athens.Gr

Helicon Sound System Records

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