THE DIVINE FIRES OF CREATION. HOMERIC HEPHAESTOS AS A COMET / METEOR GOD. part I

THE DIVINE FIRES OF CREATION. HOMERIC HEPHAESTOS AS A COMET / METEOR GOD. PART I: THE PELASGIAN SUBSTRATUM IN THE MEDITERRANEAN Amanda Laoupi Centre for the Assessment of Natural Hazards and Proactive Planning - NTUA

ABSTRACT Hephaestos belongs to the guardian-gods or ‘creators’ of the Universe and functions as a pivotal force among the ‘proto-hellenic’ deities. This paper focuses, firstly, on the strong relationship between Hephaestos and the Pelasgian substratum of circum-Mediterranean region. The Pelasgian nuclei of prehistoric Attica remained active through the dual worship of Athena & Hephaestos and the close connection of the Athenian city-state with the island of Lemnos even in Classical Era. Furthermore, Kabeiroi, these primordial and mysterious daemons of NE Aegean, were introduced by the Pelasgians of the 12th cent. B.C., when removed from Boeotia to Samothrace, Imbros & Lemnos. According to a second ancient tradition, they were children of Hephaestos and the daughter of sea-god Proteas. All the same, another striking complication arises. The Kabeirian Mysteries were yearly celebrated and related to the element of fire. They lasted for nine (9) days, as a remembrance of the nine year period during which Hephaestos remained at the bottom of the sea..

This is the second axis of investigation. Although today, Vulcan is a name given to the nearEarth asteroid 2212, modern thought thinks of Hephaestos as a symbol of earthen fires and related geological phenomena produced by volcanic activity. But Hephaestos’ cult embraces challenging elements that require astronomical interpretation. Various ancient traditions include thought-provoking details : a) Lemnian labyrinth was famous in antiquity. Apart from being viewed as a symbol of our planetary system or as an astronomical map, labyrinth is also mystically connected to the protection of tsunami, a serious side-effect of impact episodes. b) Ancient writers said that Lemnian earth was characterized by some special features which are present in impact cases and extraterrestrial - induced destruction levels all over the world. c) Pandora, one of the most fabulous works of the technician god was made by earth, water and .. divine fire. Even more, Pandora’s box used to compile all the positive and negative parameters of Life. When some invisible forces are released, then destruction strikes humanity. Respectively, impacts have always been seen both as curse and blessing for life on Earth. Metallurgy changed the evolution of human history. Floods, epidemics and other disasters caused by extraterrestrial invaders did also. d) Hephaestos fell from Heaven, either on land (in the latitude of NE Aegean) , or into the deep sea (a submarine impact), where he remained invisible working in his workshop.

Scientific research has shown that both arguments function logically. Furthermore, impact cases can trigger increased volcanic activity, as the geo-archive of our planet has already revealed. e) If the Homeric Iliad is deciphered from the standpoint of Archaeoastronomy, Hephaestos is also related to the meteor swarm of Perseides. Finally, god’s deformity and his reappearance in the latitude of Eastern Mediterranean may include the element of periodicity (? comet). f) On the other hand, Lemnian disasters were notorious in Antiquity, referring to the arrival of Pelasgians and the landing of Argonauts on this island, sacred to the technician god. The mythological cycle of the Argonautic Expedition is also rich in astronomical hints, such as Ellie’s fall into the NE Aegean, Phrixos’ journey from Iolkos to Kolchis (palace of Sun and

departure point for his daily journey around the globe), the Golden Fleece as an heliacal symbol of Spring Equinox and the Ship of Argo (when mission had been completed, Athena transformed the ship into an asterism of the Southern Hemisphere).

In fact, a great deal of information acquired from Iliad seems to refer to the extended catastrophe of the beginning of 2nd millennium B.C. Consequently, Hephaestos may function as a symbolic archetype of past impact events, being one of the pivotal figures within the gnostical system of the Pelasgians during the 3rd and 2nd millennia B.C. Phaethon’s ride, the famous fall of Troy and the 12th cent. catastrophes were added later, forming another mythological ‘layer’ of information in the palimpsest of ancient astronomical knowledge in the circum-Mediterranean region.

KEYWORDS: Pelasgian substratum, labyrinth, impact episodes, Lemnian earth, Lemnian disasters, Persides’ meteor swarm 1. INTRODUCTION Catastrophist Mythology seems to use a universal unconscious language, which presents some specific rules: a) collectively experienced events with tragic consequences make myths via a mechanism of symptomatic relief, b) the historical character of the myth demands a cryptographic detection many generations after the initial event, c) perhaps both the mythteller and myth-hearer want the truth to remain concealed, d) this concealment may reinforce symptomatic relief from the dreadful event and e) the duration of pain after the event (for many generations ahead) interrelates with the therapeutic mechanism (de Grazia, 1984b).

Dreams and myths bury the most intense memories under the conscious mind by suppressing and controlling anxiety. Various cultural personalities are characterized by different archetypes and phenotypes. That’s why we encounter several identical kernels in the expression of the catastrophic events (e.g. the symbols of comets) along with many different stories about them. The use of common symbols make the social system operating correctly.

The heroes and the gods are known by many epithets that describe their traits. And.. “the gods in Homer are great gods, because one thunderstorm does not make a great god, nor does one volcano..” . Human tragedies in the past gave birth to great myths (de Grazia, 1984b). Let us follow the path of Hephaistos.

The Neoplatonists (a revival of Platonism, occurring in the third century A.D.) accepted the Twelve Gods as a legacy from Plato. Generally speaking, Vesta represents earth, Neptune water, Juno air, and Vulcan fire. So, Jupiter, Neptune and Vulcan belongs to the Creators of the universe, Vesta, Minerva and Mars to the Guards, Ceres, Juno and Diana to the Lifegivers and Mercury, Venus and Apollo to the Uplifters. The creative and paternal gods make the universe, the life-givers give it life, uplifters harmonize it, and the guards preserve and protect it (http://cura.free.fr/decem/10kengil.html). [42] Especially, Hephaistos or Hephaestus, the god of volcanic and thermal activity, of wild and destructive fires, the patron of smiths and metalworkers, builders, architects; stonemasons , carpenters and wood-workers, seems to represent not only the earthen / subterranean fires but this of extra-terrestrial origin, ever awful and uncontrolable. Divine smiths are peacemakers, too, for they are connected with celestial and subterranean fields, by acting as mediators between them.

2. THE FALL ON EARTH Crippled at birth, Hephaestos was thrown from Olympus (heaven )by Hera who was ashamed of his deformity (Homer Iliad, XVIII.136; Quintus Smyrnaeus Fall of Troy , 2.549).

Another version of Greek myths wants him to be casting from heaven by Zeus himself, when the former tried to help Hera. Then the ‘cosmic invader’ passed the ‘ magic threshold’ (? the

atmosphere of our planet), travelling ‘all day long’ before landing in Lemnos ‘about sunset ’.

In fact, ‘there was not much life left in him’, as he was crippled in both legs (Homer Iliad, I.568 ff & 620; Apollodorus Library, 1.3.5).. But most sources claim that Hephaestus landed in the sea near Lemnos, and was washed up on the shore, where he lay broken until rescued by the Nereids. Thetis and Eurynome (Iliad, XVIII.136 & 423- 432; Homeric Hymn 3 to Pythian Apollo, 310; Apollodorus, 1.3.11 ff.; Pausanias, 8.41.5). Secretly Hephaestus lived with these goddesses in their underwater caves for nine years. He lived in their "mykhos", a Greek word meaning both innermost place and the women's apartments of a house. This nine year hibernation holds a very strong symbolism reflecting a second womblike incubation that awoke his own creative energy. We must be very careful, though, because the word Eurynome was also used as an epithet of Artemis (Pausanias, 8.41.5)!

At this point we must make two crucial observations. The number nine, which was ritually repeated within the duration of the Kabeirian Mysteries covers probably an archaeoastronomical truth. One strong analogy is traced in the plasma model of the Plasma physicist Anthony (http://www.circlon.com/HTML/darkmatter.html ; http:www.mythopedia.info/; http://physun.physics.mcmaster.ca/~pgs/dark-matter3.html ; http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2004/arch/041231predictions-rock-art.htm). [81] He states that ca. in 4kya B.P., a giant plasma column was produced in the atmosphere of the Earth, so luminous that it was observed by human populations around the world . The early development of this column was transformed into a stack of 9 segments. During that episode, the magnetosphere of our planet was glowing as a semi-permanent aurora.

3. THE DIVINE WORKS 3.1 Pandora: comets’ gifts Among the most prominent divine works was Pandora, when Zeus wanted to make an evil thing for men as the price of fire. Earth, water and divine fire were the ingredients of this magic creation. Her name was Pandora, a woman’s name, ‘because all the gods who have their homes on Olympos had given her each a gift, to be a sorrow to men ’ (Hesiod Works and Days, 60; Hyginus Astronomica, 2.15).

According to Hyginus (Fabulae, 142)she was Athena who gave it life. Her box of evils used to compile all the positive and negative parameters of Life. When some invisible forces are released, then destruction strikes humanity. Respectively, impacts have always been seen both as curse and blessing for life on Earth. Metallurgy changed the evolution of human history. Floods, epidemics and other disasters caused by extraterrestrial invaders did also.

But there is another striking information (Orpheus Argonautics , 972 - 977). Midea’s mystical ritual invited the monstrous Hecate, this chthonic goddess, to appear from Hades agile and luminous, with her three heads and the face of iron. Her name among the chthonian deities was Pandora!

3.2. The necklace of Harmonia: Dragon’s pearls Another allegory of cosmic invasions is the symbol of the necklace. Dragon’s pearls are a worldwide symbol of impacts. The god forged a cursed necklace of Harmonia as a gift for the girl at her marriage to Kadmos. The necklace was designed to curse her and all of her descendants, for Hephaistos had a grudge against this child born of Aphrodite's adulterous affair with Ares (Apollodorus 3.25; Diodorus Siculus The Library of History, 4.66.3; Statius Thebaid, 2.265; Pausanias, 9.41.1). Nonnos (Dionysiaca, 5.562), characterizes this necklace as curious, consisted of many colours, as ‘breathing still of the furnace’. Later on (Dionysiaca, 5.88), the description of this masterpiece includes serpents with coiling shape that spit poison from either mouth and eagles, both alternative symbols of comets. Once again, according to Hyginous (Fabulae, 148) there were both Athene and Hephaistos, who

gave a robe and necklace as gifts. The ‘meteoritic’ symbol of the eagle is also repeated in the metal work of Hephaistos concerning Prometheus’ daily suffering , a repeated suffering of humankind by exo-terrestrial invaders (Hyginus Astronomica, 2.15).

The East-Asian dragons are almost invariably portrayed with a red sphere in their mouths, in front of their mouths, or ( in Javanese art) on top of their heads. This sphere is called by the Chinese ‘huoh chuh’, meaning the ‘fire pearl’ and also the 'meteorite'.. The flames that erupt from the pearl in some representations parallel the flames exhaled by dragons in other traditions. A widespread superstition warns that when the blue dragon and the yellow dragon battle in heaven, fire balls and pearls fall to the ground. The ‘dragon eggs’ (gemstones) were believed to cause thunderstorms. When the egg hatched, a young dragon would ascend to the sky amid thunder, lightning, rain, and darkness.

And scores of other dragons around the world, swallowed, enclosed, or carried similar spherical objects, alternately identified as the sun, an egg, an eye, the heart or soul of the serpent, or a precious stone.

In Greek mythology, the giant Typhon had serpents for legs and a body all winged or feathered, the feathers usually representing the flames of fire. Its 100 heads emanated also destructive heat (Hesiod Theogony, 820; Aeschylus Prometheus Bound, 356 & 371; Apollodorus, 1.6.3).

On the other hand, one of the three cities of Troy, described by Homer is referred to the period around 1.800 B.C., when the polar star Tuban (a Draco), according the phenomenon of the wobble of Earth’s axis (Precession of the Equinoxes), gave its place in the heavens to the star b Ursus minor. The fall of that Troy was also symbolized by the retirement of the constellation Ursus major from the area of the celestial North Pole. [125] 3.3 Impact events and the beginning of Metallurgy What is the most astonishing is the correlation between metallurgy and natural phenomena that enhance its expansion: ‘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’. Once again, the sacred knowledge is derived from both gods, Hephaistos and Athena (Odyssey, vi.233 & xxiii.160; Homeric Hymn 20 to Hephaestus; Solon fr. 13; Plato Protagoras, 320C - 322A).

In ancient Greek mystical tradition an odd information seems to be rather provoking.. The ‘Idaioi Daktyloi’ (Diodorus, 5.63.3), well known in Minoan Crete, were interrelated with Asia Minor - especially with the area of Phrygia -, with the god Hephaistos, the technical skills of metallurgy and the mountainous regions that contained iron ores (1a, 4, F.89 SCHOL. APOLL. RHOD. I 1129). In fact, the texts refers to two different situations, the ‘creation of iron’ and the mining activities.

In Egypt, the belief that the Pharaoh could magically control celestial events is well attested in literature. The personage of these fleshy gods was often directly equated with a cosmic object. [122] For instance, we can [38, p. 224] in utterance 570 of the Pyramid Texts (translated sections 1454-55): ‘Do not break up the ground, O you arms of mine which lift up the sky as Shu; my bones are iron and my limbs are the Imperishable Stars. I am a star which illumines the sky, I mount up to the god that I may be protected, for the sky will not be devoid of me and this earth will not be devoid of me for ever’. de Grazia [28] generalized about the origin of several of the metals used by ancient people (see also http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/bobk.html : A NICKEL PICKLE The Problems of Building High-Tech From a Meteoroid Wreck, by Bob Kobres). The Egyptians called iron ‘the bones of Typhon’, ‘the metal from heaven’, or ‘the gift from Seth’ and meteoritic iron was known to the early dynasties. [118] As for the Hebrew, they called it ‘nechoset’, meaning ‘dropping of the (cosmic) serpent’. We shall also remember that meteoroid falls can

accomplish hard crashes, as well as soft landings. In this case, an iron ore may be formed.

Similar masses of iron (ore-mountains that are evidently foreign to their surroundings) are found in Greenland, Austria, Sweden, Russia, India, N. & S. America and W. Australia. [31] 4. THE ARGONAUTS The Argonauts , this band of heroes who accompanied Jason to Kolchis in his quest for the Golden Fleece , a generation before the Trojan War, after their depart from Iolcos, they landed on the island.The strong interrelation between both sides of Aegean Sea is reflected upon an information given by Homer (Iliad, V.9), saying that the worship of Hephaistos was held by the Trojans, too. In fact, the god rescued his priest, Dares.

But there is more than one striking evidence of Hephaestos’ connection considering the final destination of the Argonauts. Kolchis was strongly related to him also (Homer Odyssey, vii.93; Apollonius Rhodius Argonautica, 3.215; Apollodorus, 1.127-128; Nonnos, 29.193).

Furthermore, the palace was guarded by a pair of animate, gold and silver watchdogs, crafted by Hephaistos at the request of the king's father Helios (Homer Odyssey, vii.93).

Finally, the god created a pair of bronze, fire-breathing bulls (Apollonius, 3.215; Apollodorus, 1.127-128; Mimnermus, fr. 12; Ovid Metamorphoses, 2.104; Nonnos, 29.193).

In Ovidius’ works the ram is called ‘phrixea ovis’, while in Columella is called ‘pecus Athamantidos Aelles’, ‘Phrixus’ and ‘portitor Phrixi’ (Temple, 1976). The Fleece was a heliacal symbol. The famous Argo (Apollonius & Apollodorus, 1.9.16), found in the homeric verses of Odyssey (xii.69 - 72), was represented by the asterism with the same name (Argo Navis, the biggest asterism according to the ancients, with 829 stars). Its brightest star was called Kanopos or Kanobos, name of an Egyptian town on the Nile’s delta, 1.5 km west of Abukir. [4] The celestial projection of the asterism points out three major nodes, Dodona (the sacred oak provided the wood for ship’s building), Egyptian Behdet (N.E. of Alexandria) and Aia, forming a model of sacred geodesy. And Behdet seems to be one of the most prominent centers of sacred geodesy among the Bronze Age Mediterranean world. [111] Especially, the name kanobos, from an Egyptian word meaning ‘golden soil’, or from the name of Menelaos’ fleet commander, is attributed to the star aTropis, the second brightest star after Sirius A. Hipparchus gave to it this name because the Egyptian town was the northest part of the latitudes in which it was visible (< 37ϊ ). Lockyer mentions many Egyptian temples that were oriented either to Canobos’ heliacal rising or its setting. [64 & 65] Very recent investigations have shown that the western side of the later central court at Phaistos palace in Minoan Crete was oriented to the geographical points of the horizon where Canopus rose and set near the equinoxes. [13]The rising of it marks the year, the ripening of dates, the end of summer heat and the weaning of young camels. It also has the tradition of being used by travelers in the Southern Hemisphere in the same way as Polaris in the North.

To sum up, the Aiolian substratum of the mythological cycle of the Argonautic Expedition (Athamas, the father of Phrixos and Ellie, was considered as son of Aiolos) is also rich in archaeoastronomical hints. Ellie’s fall into the NE Aegean, Phrixos’ journey from Iolkos to Kolchis , where the palace of the Sun was as departure point for his daily journey around the globe, the Golden Fleece as an heliacal symbol of Spring Equinox (Phrixos himself had dedicated the Fleece to the god Ares) and the Ship of Argo, when mission had been completed, Athena transformed the ship into an asterism of the Southern Hemisphere are extremely complicated information which needs interdisciplinary interpretation.

5. THE PELASGIAN SUBSTRATUM: THE CIRCUM-MEDITERRANEAN NUCLEI The groups of Pelasgians were related to Keos and other cycladic islands, to Minoan Crete, to Attica (especially prehistoric Athens, the eastern slopes of mountain Hymettos and the area

of Mesogaia), Thessaly and Arcadia. These areas were also related to specific agricultural and pastoral activities. In ancient Athenian tradition (Herodotus, 6.138 - 140), the native Pelasgians were expelled from Attica by the Athenians, when the former cultivated successfully the land at the foot of mountain Hymettos, given to them as exchange gift for the erection of the ‘ Cyclopian’ Walls. On the other hand, the pelasgian nucleus seems to be related to the Eleusinian Mysteries. [62] The rescued fragments of Hellanicos’ works (e.g. Ia,4,F.4 Dionisios Halicarnasseus A RI 28; Ia,4,F.6a4 Schol. Eust [A Hom. II. G75] & Schol. A; Ia,4,F.52 Harpokration Suidas s.v. ‘tetrarchia’ ) often refer to the migrations of Pelasgians during Prehistoric times and the strong bonds among them, from Argolid to Thessaly, the Ionian Coasts, Magna Grecia and Sicily. It is also noteworthy that Homer (Iliad, V.480 & X.429) mentions that the Pelasgians had once built a city, named Larissa, in the area of the Troad. For this reason, they stood for the Trojans during the Trojan War. 5.1. Minoan Crete and Lemnos : the Labyrinth Homer (Odyssey, xix 172-178) calls Crete a land of many peoples (Achaeans, great-hearted native Cretans, Kydonians, Dorians and goodly Pelasgians). On the other hand, information derived from ancient sources (Diodorus, 3. 67.1) connects the cultural group of Kadmos with the Pelasgian roots of first alphabet signs.

The most intriguing connection between Crete and other areas of Mediterranean (Egypt, Lemnos, Etruria) is the famous labyrinth (elaborate complex system of path and tunnels).

Apart from a great number of scientific works worldwide trying to deciphering this symbol, one aspect seems fascinating.

The fabled Labyrinth of Minos on Crete is believed to be the remains ofthe Bronze Age royal palace of city of Knossos (Philostratus De vita Apollonii Tyanei, 4.34). Legend says that King Minos of Knossos demanded from the Athenians a tribute every nine years of seven young men and seven maidens, who were then "destroyed by the Minotaur in theLabyrinth, or else wandered about at their own will and, being unable to find an exit, perished there" (Plutarch, Lives: Theseus XV.2, XVII.3 & XIX.1). On the legend of the Minotaur and the cause for the Labyrinth, Diodorus explains that “Daidalos built the Labyrinth, with winding passageways that were very difficult to follow for those unacquainted with them…” ( 4.76.180.3). This Daedalus was Athenian by birth, at the end finding himself in Sicily.

On the other side, poetically, the comets are like sky dancers. And the Cretan labyrinth had been a dancing ground made for Ariadne rather than for Minos (Homer Iliad, XVIII.590 593). ‘Homer compares the dance worked by Hephaistos on the shield of Achilleus to a dance made by Daidalos, because he had never seen more clever workmanship’ (Pausanias, 8.16.3). “Dancers as sacred extra-human models revealed the divinity, for example the pyrrhic, the martial dance created by Athena, or the heroes, cf. Theseus’ dance in the Labyrinth.. A dance always imitates an archetypal gesture or commemorates a mythical moment” [35, pp. 28 – 29] Graves claims that Hephaestus has affinities with Daedalus and Icarus. [46] By the fifth century B.C., the city of Knossos began to mint coins , and the earliest shows the Minotaur on the obverse and a labyrinthine swastika with a star or sun motif in the center on the reverse. Over time, the swastika gave way to the maze pattern and a human or bovine head replaced the central star (http://www.athenapub.com/11labyr.htm). [69] Another striking evidence, though indirect, is the name of Asterion, son of Cometes, who was among the Argonauts (Apollonius, 1.35 - 39; Orpheus Argonautics, 163; Hyginus Fabulae, 14). Asterion (ruler of the stars) was called king of Crete (Herodotus, 1.173 ; Apollodorus, 3.1.7), taking the form of the bull (Sun). According to Karl Kerenyi and other scholars, the

star at the center of the labyrinth on Cretan coins was Asterion, the Minotaur. [56] Today this is the name of the star b Canes Venatici.

Pliny the Elder in his Natural History (XXXVI. 13) speaks of a remarkable labyrinth in Lemnos, which has not been identified in modern times. Apollodorus (Epitome, I:9) records that when Dionysos found Ariadne abandoned on Naxos, he brought her to Lemnos and there fathered Thoas, Staphylus, Oenopion, and Peparethus. Though called the Lemnian Labyrinth in this section, Pliny previously refers to this Labyrinth as the temple built by Theodorus at Samos (34.83, 35.19, 82 & 36.90).

This misinterpretation, though, derives from the fact that Samos was the old name of Samothrace, as the Homeric tradition passed into the verses of Apollonius’ Argonautics (1.923) and beyond (Diodorus, 3.55.8 ) Diodorus’ narration (5.47.1 ff.) on the flood that affected the n.E. Aegean, Asia Minor and Black Sea. [91 & 92] The scientists date a major episode in 5.600 B.C. when the salt waters of Aegean spoured into the brackish watres of Black Sea ), correlates the island of Samothrace, the flood episode, the very ancient nuclei of Eastern Mediterranean cultural substratum and the fishermen’ altars near the shores in an excellent and highly valuable framework of environmental information. In the ancient text, the flood is expressed by the term ‘labros’, a Homeric word that means the impetuous waters of the sea or the rivers!

Recent archeological, theological, and natural research, has, brought forward new hypotheses about the origins of the labyrinth, and that the forces of an ancient tsunami (seaquakes) may play a special part in labyrinth history. The earliest examples for which an accurate date can be ascribed are to be found around the shores of the Mediterranean. A labyrinth-inscribed clay tablet from Pylos, Greece is over 3200 years old. The depiction of the labyrinth on a wine jar from Tragliatella dates to the 7th century BC; it shows armed soldiers on horseback running from a labyrinth with the word Truia (Troy) inscribed in the outermost circuit (http://www.labyrinthos.net/centre.htm).

There are remarkable examples of the labyrinth shape from a whole range of ancient and disparate cultures (http://www.labyrinthos.net/centre.htm). “In its earliest use the labyrinth seems always to have been associated with death”. [15, p. 10] The symbol has appeared in all forms, throughout most parts of the world (Europe, Mesoamerica, Mediterranean, Java Australia, India and Nepal). Since ancient times, people have used labyrinths to invoke the mercy of the Gods in their dealings with the sea.

At the shores of Iceland and the Baltic Sea, there are still many old labyrinths that were once used by fishing communities as indicators of the directions of the winds and as shrines to the old sea Goddesses which would protect the fishers in a safe return home.

[95 & 96] Legends tell how labyrinths near lakes and sea sides have also been used as a place to guide the souls of the deceased to the hereafter. Moreover, the name of troytown has been discovered for several locations in N. Europe. [31 & 102] Labyrinths also appear in various countries throughout the world ( India, England, Scotland, and the Hebrides), as a form of spiritual protection against the ‘evil eye’. This protective aspect was also reflected upon the planning of prehistoric cities, in order to offer tactical protection from military invasion, as in the case of Troy, which was constructed in a mazelike configuration. [15 & 39, p. 413] In its duality, it is cosmos to those who know the way, and chaos to those who lose it. It is Ariadne's thread, whose windings create the world and yet enable us to unravel it or ravel it..

[86, p. 29] This symbolic ‘conjunctio oppositorum’ (see the nadrogynous nature of Hephaistos) is the place where opposites such as life/death, light/dark, male/female, are transformed and melt into each other, in the dance of the spiral . [39, p. 413] The labrys is sometimes referred to as a double axe and is believed to have been an agricultural tool. Minoan depictions of the Mother Goddess show her with the labrys. [72]

The Latin word dolabra (labrys) meaning axe or hoe, used in Minoan Crete, Lydia and Etruria, symbolizes also the lightning, being an ‘ar falando’, meaning a sky fire (http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Crosthwaite%2C%20H ugh). [31] 5.2 The Etruscans The sons of Hephaitos and Aitna, the Palikoi, deities of the Hot-Springs and Geysers of the region of Palikoi in Sicily, were the western equivalent of Kabeiroi in Samothrace and Lemnos (Nonnos, 14.17 & 30.42). Early settlers of Lemnos are thought to be related to the Etruscans of Italy (http://www.compmore.net/~tntr/lemstelea.html), as evidenced by the burial rites of the pre-6th-century B.C. and the inscriptions that archeologists have found on the island , with striking resemblance to those of the Etruscans (see the 6th century inscription on a funerary stele known as the Lemnos stele - Athens National Archaeological Museum).

The cult of Hephaistos was ‘Pelasgian’. According to Herodotus (6.140.1 ) the ‘pre-Greek’ population of the Lemnos island was Pelasgian, as the population of the Greek mainland before the flood of Deucalion (Thucydides , 1.3.2: the nation of the Pelasgians). The Etruscans, said by Herodotus (1.94) to be Anatolian Lydians arrived to Etruria before the Trojan War, were especial worshippers of Jupiter and lightning of all forms (at least 30)due to a very consistent lightning fear. Lightning prefers damp areas, underground waters, towers and hilltops, metallic substances and objects in the soil. In Etruscan mythology, Techulka, a smith-god and death- demon, clubbed his victims with a giant hammer, accompagnied by a winged demon figured with snakes. Recent investigations have shown that their bloodtype is similar to the Urartu people of Lake Van in N.E. Anatolia. [31] 5.3 The Phaeacians Hephaistos’ implication with this group is found in the words of Odyssey ( vii.93), when Odysseus is laid to the famous palace of king Alcinoos (Phaeacia, in Greek, means the ‘shining land’).

The ‘flying’ Poseidon of Scheria, Atlantis and Nisyros may be an impacting meteorite. A number of Greek Geologists claim that a sizeable meteoritic crater exists between Nisyros and Kos (de Grazia, 2005). King Nausithous, head of Phaeacians’ race, led out of Hypereia when giant stones (‘the gifts of Mars’) were hurled upon their land (Odyssey, vi.3 & ix.110; Pausanias, 8.28.1; Strabo, 13.1.25; Souidas, s.v. ‘Kyklopes’ ). This may be a part of a terrible destruction all over Eastern Mediterranean (de Grazia, 1984c). Ancient writers as Apollodorus (1.9.16) correlate, the Phaeacians to the inhabitants of Kolchis.

Ancient writers hold , also, various key items of information for us. Pausanias, when describing the catastrophe of Helike in 373 B.C. (7.24.5 ff.), knew an analogy from his homeland. [31] I t was the mythical city of Tantalis on mount Sipylos (N.W. of Ermos river), 48 km. east of Smyrna, which disappeared into a chasm (? the city of Zippasla in the Hittite texts).. From the fissure in the mountain water gushed forth this chasm named Lake Saloe.

The ruins remained visible in the waters of the lake until the deposits of the local torrent covered them up with mud. Homer (Iliad, II.575, VIII.203 & XXIV.614 - 617) and Diodorus (14.80.1) speak of it, too. P. James located the legendary city in the area of Magnesia, in ancient S.W. Anatolia. [52] The tragic place is also related to the heroine Niobe, daughter of Tantalus (Plato Cratylus, 395D - E: devastation of Tantalis due to an earthquake and flood; Demokles in Strabo, 1.3.17 ; Diodorus, 4.74; Antoninus Liberalis Metamorphoses, 36; Plinius Junior, 5.31), whose children had being staying unburied for 9 days, because Zeus had turned people into stones (see the motif of nine in Hephaistos’ myth)! Euripides in Orestes (5) ties the much-abused Tantalos to a ‘bolos’ swinging in orbit around Olympos!

In Phrygia, the lake and morass near Tyana were ascribed to the wrath of Zeus and Hermes, who, having visited the cities which formerly stood there, and having been refused shelter by all the inhabitants save Philemon and Baucis, rewarded their benefactors (Ovid, Metamorphoses, 8.621), but sunk the wicked cities. Stories of similar import grew up to explain the crater (impact lake on mount Yamanlar, near Medivenli village) near Sipylos in Asia Minor and that of Avernus in Italy (Virgil, Aeniad).

In the case of Helike’s destruction, Aristotle (Meteor. A6, 343 b1-6; A6, 343 b18 - 25; A7, 344 b 31 - 345 a 10) mentions another intriguing detail. The same period during which the destruction took place (around the winter solstice), was characterized by the apparition of a comet from the west. This comet during the archonship of Asteios (373 / 2 B.C.) was later identified with the appearances of A.D. 1664 or 1843. Besides it , during the archonship of Nichomachus (341 / 0 B.C.) another comet appeared in the west sky and a stone fell in the area of Aigos Potamoi (E. Thrace)! Respectively, Diodorus (15.1.32 ff.) speaks of an earthquake and a flood that took place in Peloponnnesus after the apparition of a ‘torch’ in the sky. This event is said to have been happened during the years of Theban invasion in Peloponnesus, the synoikismos of Messena and the Spartan expedition to Corfu (4th cent.

B.C.).

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