The Cosmic Context of Greek Philosophy: Part Nine
Delian Divers
Going in another direction now for a
moment, Diogenes mentions a curious exchange in his Life of Socrates.
Unlike most philosophers, he had no need to travel, except when required to go on an expedition. The rest of his life he stayed at home and engaged all the more keenly in argument with anyone who would converse with him, his aim being not to alter his opinion but to get at the truth. They relate that Euripides gave him the treatise of Heraclitus and asked his opinion upon it, and that his reply was, “The part I understand is excellent, and so too is, I dare say, the part I do not understand; but it needs a Delian diver to get to the bottom of it.”[1]
Then, in his Life of Heraclitus, he writes:
The story told by Ariston[2] of Socrates, and his remarks when he came upon the book of Heraclitus, which Euripides brought him, I have mentioned in my Life of Socrates. However, Seleucus the grammarian[3] says that a certain Croton relates in his book called The Diver that the said work of Heraclitus was first brought into Greece by one Crates, who further said it required a Delian diver not to be drowned in it. The title given to it by some is The Muses, by others Concerning Nature; but Diodotus calls it ‘A helm unerring for the rule of life’; others ‘a guide of conduct, the keel of the whole world, for one and all alike’.[4]
What, one might ask, is a “Delian diver”?
Is it as simple as assuming that Heraclitus’ work was so deep that it needed an
experienced swimmer to dive to the depths to obtain the pearls therefrom? Or is
there something more here? Is this a hidden allusion to something that may be
important about the relationships between these individuals? Or about their
ideas?
First, let’s consider one of the charges
brought against Socrates; “…refusing to recognize the gods recognized by the
state, and of introducing other new divinities.” At his death, Diogenes tells
us that:
… according to some, he composed a paean beginning: “All hail, Apollo, Delos’ lord! Hail Artemis, ye noble pair!”
Were Apollo and Artemis ‘new divinities’?
Jupiter (Zeus) watches from above,
etching by Remy Vuibert after Domenichino, 1615-55, via the British Museum
Apollo was recognized as a god of light and
the Sun, truth and prophecy, healing, plague, music, etc. He was the son of
Zeus and had a twin sister, the virginal huntress, Artemis. He was known to the
Etruscans as Apulu. He was the patron
of Delphi – the prophetic deity of the Oracle. The lyre was one of his symbols,
as it was a symbol for Orpheus. (Recall that Socrates undertook to learn to
play the Lyre.) It was long assumed that, as early as the 3rd
century BC, he became identified among Greeks with Helios and Artemis became
identified with the Moon. However, scholar Joseph Fontenrose declared that
there was no evidence of this conflation earlier than the 3rd
century AD![5]
The Homeric hymns represent Apollo as a
Northern intruder and his arrival must have occurred during the Dark Ages. His
conflict with Earth was represented by the legend of his slaying her daughter,
the serpent Python. Apollo and Artemis can bring death with their arrows. The
idea that disease and death come from ‘invisible arrows’ fired by supernatural
beings was common to Germanic and Norse mythology. The Vedic Rudra has similar
functions to Apollo and the terrible god is called ‘The Archer’. The bow is an
attribute of Shiva. Rudra could also bring diseases with his arrows. There are
other dragons and serpents slithering around in all these stories, suggesting
cometary connections.[6] [7]
It seems that the oracular cult goes back
to Mycenaean times, and in historical times the priests of Delphi were referred
to as ‘the double axe men’ which relates them to the Minoans as well. The
double axe was the holy symbol of the Cretan labyrinth and is probably due to
cometary plasma manifestations.
The non-Greek origins of Apollo have long
been acknowledged by scholars, but it was assumed that he came from Anatolia
where oracular shrines, symbols, etc. have been found and purification and
exorcism texts appear on old Assyro-Babylonian tablets. A Hittite text mentions
that the king invited a Babylonian priestess to come and perform a certain
purification. A similar story is told by Plutarch who writes that the Cretan
seer Epimenides assisted Solon (c.638 BC-558 BC) in the purification of Athens
after the pollution brought by the Alcmaeonidae discussed above.[8]
Homer depicts Apollo on the side of the Trojans against the Achaeans during the Trojan
War, thus he is pictured as a terrible god who is not to be trusted by the Greeks.
In the late Bronze Age (1700 to 1200 BC), the Hittite and Hurrian god Aplu was a god of plague who was invoked
during times of pestilence to end same. Aplu
means ‘son of’ and was the title given to Nergal. (Note: Etruscan Apulu above.) Apollo’s cult was already fully established in both Delos and
Delphi by about 650 BC and the frequency of ‘godly names’ given to children,
such as Apollodorus or Apollonios, testify to his popularity.
In conclusion, we can say that, no, Apollo
and Artemis were not ‘new divinities’
being introduced by Socrates, so the claim must apply to something else.
Perhaps he came to these views after reading the works of Heraclitus and
Pythagoras? We recall regarding Heraclitus’ work:
… his treatise ON NATURE was divided into three discourses, one on the universe, another on politics, and a third on theology. He deposited the book in the temple of Artemis and, “according to some, made it the more obscure in order that none but adepts should approach it.”
The claim that only an adept can penetrate
the work of Heraclitus immediately brings to mind the Delian diver as a
descriptive name of such an adept.
Referring back to the apparent northern
origin of Apollo leads me to this point: Pythagoras was associated with ‘Hyperborean
Apollo’ also, and one of the links between Socrates and Pythagoras is that they
both practiced a form of divination. In reference to Socrates, Diogenes writes:
He used to say that his supernatural sign warned him beforehand of the future…
Considering the several connections between Apollo and pestilence/plague, one is reminded of the special point that Diogenes made of mentioning that Socrates was unaffected by the plague that struck Athens during the Peloponnesian wars.
.jpg)
Another curious thing is the remark by
Diogenes that “Unlike most philosophers, he had no need to travel, except when required to go on an expedition”,
followed later by:
Ion of Chios relates that in his youth he visited Samos in the company of Archelaus; and Aristotle [said also] that he went to Delphi…
So, he never traveled unless required, but
two trips are mentioned. Was a visit to Samos, the hometown of Pythagoras, ‘required’
as an expedition of some sort? What about the expedition to Delphi? Was this
also ‘required’ for some reason? Additionally, a fragment by Heraclitus states
the following:
The Sibyl with raving mouth utters things mirthless and unadorned and unperfumed, [in short, no BS!] and her voice carries through a thousand years because of the god who speaks through her.[9] The lord whose oracle is in Delphi neither declares nor conceals, but gives a sign. [Emphasis, mine][10]
This reminds us that Pythagoras was said to
have been taught by the Delphic priestess, Themistoclea. And despite the fact
that Heraclitus put Pythagoras on his short list of people who weren’t able to
figure everything out, he acknowledged that he was, indeed, possessed of a
great deal of knowledge.
So, just what is this “Delian diver”
business about? Who is Croton and what is his book The Diver about? Who is
Crates, said to have brought Heraclitus’ book to Greece and to have given the same opinion of it, using the same term,
as Socrates himself? (Note that it is said that it was Euripedes who gave the
book to Socrates.)
The only Crates we know of is the Stoic
philosopher, Crates of Thebes, who lived between 365 and 285 BC, much too late
to have brought the book to Greece during the time of Socrates. There is no
other Crates to be found. There is no ‘Crates’ or ‘Croton’ mentioned as persons
in the Suda.
In fact, the Suda
fuses both of Diogenes Laërtius’ versions of this Delian diver story into one,
giving the impression that the author of the remark is only Socrates; that they assumed Crates and So-crates (shades of
Bill and Ted!) were one and the same person.
The only thing respecting Croton that
occurs to me is that it was the city that Pythagoras moved to in 530 BC, where
he and his followers were apparently welcomed and became active in the local
politics until they were destroyed.[11]
What about the Delian diver? Why a diver
from Delos and not just any other place? During classical times, divers from
this island were not considered to have any special abilities nor to perform
any special tasks that might distinguish them from divers living on any other
island. So the term underscores the difficulty of penetrating what Heraclitus
wrote and, as I noted above, can be compared to being an adept, which might
suggest some sort of secret society or Mystery cult.
At this point, I want to refer back to
something I wrote in my first volume, Secret History, which
marvelously brings several of these elements together, including bringing in
Hecataeus, one of the others on Heraclitus’ short list of wise people who were
close but didn’t quite go the distance. Diodorus Siculus tells a very strange
story about the Hyperboreans that is an
extract from the work of Hecataeus:
Of those who have written about the ancient myths, Hecateus and certain others say that in the regions beyond the land of the Celts (Gaul) there lies in the ocean an island no smaller than Sicily. This island, the account continues, is situated in the north, and is inhabited by the Hyperboreans, who are called by that name because their home is beyond the point whence the north wind blows; and the land is both fertile and productive of every crop, and since it has an unusually temperate climate it produces two harvests each year.
The Hyperboreans also have a language, we are informed, which is peculiar to them, and are most friendly disposed towards the Greeks, and especially towards the Athenians and the Delians, who have inherited this goodwill from most ancient times. The myth also relates that certain Greeks visited the Hyperboreans and left behind them costly votive offerings bearing inscriptions in Greek letters. And in the same way Abaris, a Hyperborean, came to Greece in ancient times and renewed the goodwill and kinship of his people to the Delians. [Emphases, mine][12]
Diodorus’ remark about the relations
between the Hyperboreans and the Athenians and Delians is extraordinary in the specific terms that it was
“inherited from most ancient times.” What gets my antennae quivering is the statement
that something costly and inscribed was taken to the Hyperboreans and left with
them. That this story was common enough is demonstrated by the fact that
Herodotus also writes about the
relationship of the Hyperboreans to the Delians:
Certain sacred offerings wrapped up in wheat straw come from the Hyperboreans into Scythia, whence they are taken over by the neighbouring peoples in succession until they get as far west as the Adriatic: from there they are sent south, and the first Greeks to receive them are the Dodonaeans. Then, continuing southward, they reach the Malian gulf, cross to Euboea, and are passed on from town to town as far as Carystus. Then they skip Andros, the Carystians take them to Tenos, and the Tenians to Delos. That is how these things are said to reach Delos at the present time. [13]
Why is Scythia depicted as being east of the Adriatic? I suspect there are clues here, but I don’t have time to stop and go in ten different directions on that. We have to follow this particular thread to the end. The legendary connection between the Hyperboreans and the Delians leads us to another interesting remark of Herodotus, who tells us that Leto, the mother of Apollo, was born on the island of the Hyperboreans.
That there was regular contact between the
Greeks and the Hyperboreans over many centuries is the claim here, but for
modern historians, it is highly questionable. Here, we don’t know if we are
talking about real people who have been assimilated to comet myths or not. But
my thought is that it suggests an origin for the peoples who came down into
Greece and Anatolia at some point in the distant past, at the time of a great
cometary bombardment, and those people could be the later Mycenaeans and the
Hittites, and even the Roman, but formerly the Trojans who were the people of
Apollo who was Hyperborean! That, of course, leads to the idea, long theorized
by a number of scholars, that Troy was not
in the Mediterranean. [14] Herodotus has another interesting thing to say about the
Hyperboreans and their sending of sacred offerings to Delos:
On the first occasion they were sent in charge of two girls, whose names the Delians say were Hyperoche and Laodice. To protect the girls on the journey, the Hyperboreans sent five men to accompany them … the two Hyperborean girls died in Delos, and the boys and girls of the island still cut their hair as a sign of mourning for them… There is also a Delphic story that before the time of Hyperoche and Laodice, two other Hyperborean girls, Arge and Opis, came to Delos by the same route. …Arge and Opis came to the island at the same time as Apollo and Artemis… [15]
It does sound like something of a migration
took place and there are some mysterious elements that offer shadowy allusions
to objects of power and an exodus. Herodotus mentions at another point, when
discussing the lands of the ‘barbarians’, “All these except the Hyperboreans, were continually encroaching upon one
another’s territory.” Without putting words in Herodotus’ mouth, it seems to
suggest that the Hyperboreans were not greedy, power-hungry and warlike.
A further clue about the religion of the
Hyperboreans comes from the myths of Orpheus. It is said that when Dionysus
invaded Thrace (coming from the South to the North), Orpheus did not see fit to
honor him but instead preached the evils
of sacrificial murder to the men of Thrace. He taught “other sacred
mysteries” having to do with Apollo, whom he believed to be the greatest of all
gods. Dionysus became so enraged that he set the Maenads[16] on Orpheus at Apollo’s temple where Orpheus was a priest. They
burst in, murdered their husbands who were assembled to hear Orpheus speak,
tore Orpheus limb from limb, and threw his head into the river Hebrus where it floated downstream still
singing. It was carried on the sea to the island of Lesbos. Another version of
the story is that Zeus killed Orpheus
with a thunderbolt (comet imagery) for divulging divine secrets. He was
responsible for instituting the Mysteries of Apollo in Thrace, Hecate in
Aegina, and Subterrenean Demeter at Sparta. And this brings us to a further
revelation of Diodorus regarding the Hyperboreans:
And there is also on the island both a magnificent sacred precinct of Apollo and a notable temple, which is adorned with many votive offerings and is spherical in shape. Furthermore, a city is there which is sacred to this god, and the majority of its inhabitants are players on the cithara; and these continually play on this instrument in the temple and sing hymns of praise to the god, glorifying his deeds… They say also that the moon, as viewed from this island, appears to be but a little distance from the earth and to have upon it prominences, like those of the earth, which are visible to the eye. The account is also given that the god visits the island every nineteen years, the period in which the return of the stars to the same place in the heavens is accomplished, and for this reason the Greeks call the nineteen-year period the “year of Meton”. At the time of this appearance of the god he both plays on the cithara and dances continuously the night through from the vernal equinox until the rising of the Pleiades, expressing in this manner his delight in his successes. And the kings of this city and the supervisors of the sacred precinct are called Boreades, since they are descendants of Boreas, and the succession to these positions is always kept in their family.
First of all, it appears obvious that this spherical temple may be Stonehenge. Well,
Stonehenge is actually circular now, but who knows what it looked like in
ancient times? Perhaps it was made to appear spherical with its finishings? The
second thing is the music which was so important to the Orphics and
Pythagoreans. We also note that after reading Heraclitus’ book, Socrates
apparently took up playing the lyre! The third thing is the reference to the
prominences on the Moon which reminds us that Anaxagoras declared that there
were hills and valleys and dwellings on the Moon. Was he researching in these
areas and – perhaps – mixing things up just a bit, but most dangerous of all,
talking about it publicly, leading – ultimately – to his death? Finally, the
dancing of the god brings us to consider something rather important. Diodorus
is suggesting that the 19-year lunar calendar is a product of the Hyperboreans
and that it relates to a period in which the ‘return of the stars’ is
accomplished. This is easily understood as the Metonic cycle[17], but there is more to this than just that: there is the god dancing through the night from the
vernal equinox until the rising of the Pleiades! One can imagine plasma phenomena dancing in
the sky, looking like the humanoid figure of a god.
Could this knowledge of cycles of
destruction and certain perspectives on the impersonal nature of the universe,
and the attempt to share it widely, be the key to the executions of both
Anaxagoras and Socrates? Could this knowledge of comet cycles have been the
same knowledge possessed by Heraclitus and Pythagoras? Could it be that
Anaxagoras did, actually, predict a period of cometary bombardment as
suggested, which then actually occurred during the Peloponnesian wars? Was
there a Tunguska-like event at the time of the final defeat of the Athenians?
Such knowledge would be terrifying to the wealthy elite and their need to
control and dominate populations of people which would explain why individuals
who knew such things went underground and gave out the clues in a sort of code
about ‘Delian divers’. Tatian, (c. 120-180 AD) the early Assyrian Christian,
writes along this line:
I cannot approve of Heraclitus, who, being self-taught and arrogant said, ‘I have explored myself.’ Nor can I praise him for hiding his poem in the temple of Artemis, in order that it might be published afterwards as a mystery; and those who take an interest in such things say that Euripides the tragic poet came there and read it, and, gradually learning it by heart, carefully handed down to posterity this darkness.[18]
Well, certainly, as a Christian, he would
think that the physics of Heraclitus was demonic, but it seems that he was
offended by more than just that. The Christians had a very good reason to
conceal the possibilities of cyclical cosmic destruction that was not under the
control of their god!
Now, what about Delos, itself? We find the
answer with Pherecydes and his Pentemychos Recall the lines from the Odyssey:
There is an island called Syrie – perhaps you have heard of it – above Ortygie, where are the turnings of the sun.
Compare it to Diogenes’ report about
Pherecydes:
There is preserved of the man of Syros [Pherecydes] the book ... and there is preserved also a solstice-marker in the island of Syros.
Obviously, if this marker was known to
Homer, it was there long before Pherecydes! Also, as it happens, the former
name of Delos was Ortygie. The name, Delos, alludes to the concept of
brilliance, clarity and transparency. The myth tells us that Apollo, in
gratitude, changed the name of the island on which he was born, formerly called
Ortygia, to Delos, ‘visible’, ‘manifest’, ‘clear’.[19] Further, according to Diogenes Laërtius, Pythagoras included in his
list of former incarnations a Delian
fisherman named Pyrrhus. No, it’s not a ‘Delian diver’, but one who fishes from the surface, and afterward
he was reincarnated as Pythagoras, a Delian Diver? Additionally, the name Pyrrhus was also given
to the son of the warrior Achilles who died
in the Trojan war. I’ve already mentioned that I suspect that the Trojan war
itself was a cometary event or was related in some way to same.
So, the question is: was there some sort of
knowledge passed on to such as Socrates, from Heraclitus and Pythagoras, and
others, Delian divers all? And did that knowledge include ideas relating to
periodic cometary bombardments and destruction of society? Were those ideas
predicated in terms of the behaviors of society – particularly the wealthy
elite rulers - attracting or repelling destruction? Is that the sort of thing
that would have gotten both Anaxagoras and Socrates executed because it was
seen as disruptive to the public order because it challenged the very existence
of a wealthy elite?
Finally, in respect of the term Diver, let me remind you of what I wrote above:
A selection of the stories of the Northern Eurasians – mainly those living between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea[20] – have been collected together, along with some of the geological and archaeological evidence, by Heinrich Koch in a book entitled The Diluvian Impact.[21] It is highly recommended, with a small caveat: he seems to have conflated a number of events. Nevertheless, I found there the origin of certain stories that are said by Yuri Stoyanov[22] to be the oldest forms of dualism:
The Palaeo-Siberians have created remarkable rock drawings, so-called petroglyphs, which not only represent a peculiar early artistic style, but also reveal incredibly precious traditions from hoary antiquity. One motif, which is repeatedly outlined, is the Mudur, the divine sky-dragon… The Mudur is connected to coiled and crooked-line ornaments, the Amur-spiral, and the Amur-network, symbolizing the divine serpent, another figure that represents the comet. …
It is the primeval myth of the three suns which is permanently repeated among almost all Palaeo-Siberian peoples, and it says this: In former times, three evil suns were standing in the sky which brought death and devastation over Earth in a violent fire-storm and an everything-destroying forest fire. The heat, as it is reported, even softened stones, so that birds left marks of their claws on them when stepped upon. The legendary hero Boa-Enduri destroyed two of the suns by arrowshots, however, he missed the third one. The splinters and fragments of the evil suns got spread as stars over the whole firmament. Earth and water boiled in the ardour. Finally, the whole globe was covered with water. Thereafter, the sky or water-dragon disappeared from the firmament, and since that time it lives hidden in the swamp or under water. Also the diver’s motif re-appears here: Three swans fetch earth from the bottom of the water which covered the whole country for seven days. After this, the ground solidified again….Recent newborns died from the ardour, later on from the cold… On Earth, the corpses piled up, however, it was impossible to bury them… (p. 51)
Now, I've asked a lot more questions than I have answered; that seems to be the way of history when so much has been destroyed. In the case of the archaeological leavings, we can imagine now why they have been largely destroyed; but as for the records of the reasons for the destructions, it seems that human hands have often covered up more than has been revealed. Keep in mind that both Socrates and Pythagoras were ‘handled’ by Plato after their deaths, possibly for reasons having to do with self-preservation. Their ideas and teachings were modified and ‘Platonized’ and, in the end, whether it was conscious and deliberate to keep on the right side of the authorities, or simply ego, it still amounts to a systematic cover-up of the truth.
[1] Diogenes Laertius, II 21-23.
[2] Father of Plato.
[3] Seleucus of Alexandria, a Roman-era Grammarian. He was nicknamed ‘Homeric’.
He commented on most of the ancient poets, wrote a number of exegetical and
miscellaneous works, the titles of which are given by Suidas but there’s not
much else to go on.
[4] Diogenes Laertius, IX 11-13.
[5] Bowden (2005) Classical Athens and the Delphic Oracle: Divination
and Democracy.
[6] Nilsson (1992) Die Geschicthe
der Griechischen religion, Vol. I p.543.
[7] Hall (2005) ‘Getting Shot of Elves: Healing, Witchcraft and Fairies
in the Scottish Witchcraft Trials’.
[8] Nilsson, op. cit., pp. 563-564.
[9] DK 22 B 92.
[10] DK 22 B 93.
[11] Also, while it cannot possibly have any relationship, I am reminded
of Virginia Dare and the lost colony of Roanoke. The only clue to the colonists'
fate was the word 'Croatoan' carved into a post of the fort, and the letters
'Cro' carved into a nearby tree.
[12] Diodorus of Sicily, trans.
C. H. Oldfather, Volumes II (1935) and III (1939). All quotes from Diodorus are
from the same translation.
[13] Herodotus, The Histories,
Book IV, trans. Aubrey De Selincourt, p. 226.
[14] See Iman Wilkens’ book Where
Troy Once Stood for details, but keep in mind that he is working without
taking cometary bombardment into account and is assuming that the Trojan War
was actually a human-fought conflict.
[15] Herodotus, The Histories,
pp. 226-227.
[16] This word reminds me of Alcmaeonidae.
[17] A period of very close to 19 years, which is nearly a common
multiple of the solar year and the synodic (lunar) month. The Greek astronomer
Meton of Athens (5th century BC) observed that a period of 19 years
is almost exactly equal to 235 synodic months, and rounded to full days counts
6,940 days. The difference between the two periods (of 19 years and 235 synodic
months) is only a few hours.
[18] Tatian, Oratio ad Graecos and
Fragments, III.
[19] “Delos, celebrated for its temple of Apollo… According to the
story, Delos for a long time floated adrift … Aristotle has recorded that it
owes its name to its having suddenly appeared emerging from the water…” Pliny, Natural History, 4.66.
[20] Today’s Azerbajian, Armenia and Georgia.
[21] Koch (2000).
Comment received via the Contact Form:
ReplyDelete"Great series!!! History has been my strong suit with me pouring into
sciences to better understand it. You have done an excellent job of pulling
the two together. Appreciate the sources. Thanks!"
Comment received via Contact Form:
ReplyDelete"When I was barely into a parochial grade school, I found a book
titled "They Wrote On Clay" and read it. Your articles on Greek Philosophy
have helped me deepen my esoteric understandings on these important aspects
of human history considerably as the routes taken following Atlantis. Thank
you. And thank you for starting SOTT. I read the English version daily."
Updated the "Photons on loops" file.
ReplyDeleteAfter this historico-philosophical series ends, the next guest post will be " Plato was right " by Marek Wolf
ReplyDelete