Mythic Birthplace of Zeus Said Found

Antaletriangle · 03-27-2009, 08:18 PM

http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=6075

Mythic Birthplace of Zeus Said Found
2009 03 21

By Heather Whipps | livescience.com

The Greek god of thunder and lightning had Earthly beginnings, and scientists think they finally know where.

Ancient Greeks first worshipped the omnipotent Zeus at a remote altar on Mount Lykaion, a team of Greek and American archaeologists now think. During a recent dig at the site, the researchers found ceremonial goods commonly used in cult activity and dated at over three millennia old, making them the earliest known "appearance" of Zeus in Greece.

Reverse of Arcadian League silver stater, Zeus Lykaios seated on a throne with an eagle in his left hand. 5th century B.C. Diameter 2 cm. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Pennsylvania Museum)

The discovery challenges the idea that Zeus worship began on the Greek island of Crete, which at least one classical historian names as the god's mythic birthplace. The latest finds on Mount Lykaion, in the mainland province of Arcadia, are as old as the idea of Zeus himself, said the project's senior research scientist David Romano, of the University of Pennsylvania.

The Chariot of Zeus image is from the 1879 "Stories from the Greek Tragedians" by Alfred Church.

"This new evidence strongly suggests that there were drinking (and perhaps feasting) parties taking place on the top of the mountain in the Late Helladic period, around 3,300 or 3,400 years ago," Romano said.

Worship of lightning god unbroken
Zeus is the most important figure in ancient Greek mythology. He is the supreme ruler of Mount Olympus, the god of the skies and the father of a slew of other deities and mortals, such as Athena, Apollo, Heracles, Aphrodite and Helen of Troy, say the legends.

The heroic figure was born on either the island of Crete or on Mount Lykaion, according to two competing accounts written in ancient times. While the myths are just that — stories — historians and archaeologists have always been interested in discovering what elements of the stories might be at least loosely based on fact.

Though temples to Zeus, including one of the seven ancient wonders of the world, are found throughout Greece, Zeus' mythic "birthplace" may actually be the spot where Greeks first started to worship him too, the new finds suggest.

Excavating a trench on Mount Lykaion, in an area which ancient Greek historians later called "the ash altar of Zeus," archaeologists found more than 50 drinking vessels, fragments of human and animal figurines, as well as burned sheep and goat bones. All of the artifacts are consistent with cult ceremonies of the Mycenaean people, who settled Greece approximately between 3,000 and 4,000 years ago, historians say.

Lykaion

A portion of these finds were announced preliminarily by the research team last year.

Mycenaean mountain-top altars are very rare on mainland Greece, according to archaeologists. The period also coincides with the first historical mentions of the god Zeus in Greek texts, suggesting that the Mount Lykaion ceremonies were to honor the man himself.

The worship of Zeus, a god traditionally associated with mountains, became popular on Mount Lykaion during classic Greek antiquity, said the team, made up of archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania, Arizona, and the Greek Archaeological Service.

Younger, higher levels of the trench have yielded silver coins, a bronze hand holding a lightning bolt and petrified lightning in past dig seasons. All are clear dedications to Zeus, indicating that the use of the god's altar on Mount Lykaion was likely unbroken for several millennia.

Myth and history
The connection between myth and history doesn't apply solely to ancient Greece. Many ancient cultures worshipped gods that had links to both the spirit and physical worlds.

Real-world spots mentioned in mythic or sacred texts often become places of worship or temple locations or, like Mount Lykaion, vice-versa. This especially applies to birthplaces or homes of the Gods, such as:

Heliopolis, Egypt: Though largely destroyed and swallowed by the sprawl of modern Cairo, the ancient city of Heliopolis was once the center of the Egyptians' worship of Ra, the all-important sun God. Ra died in the evening and was reborn every morning, according to legend, spending the night in a boat floating through the underworld.

Kilauea, Hawaii: This sacred volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii is both feared (it is the most active volcano on the planet) and revered as the home of Pele, Hawaii's fire Goddess. Tourists who disrespect Kilauea or take rocks from the mountain are thought to incur the wrath of Pele, who will curse those individuals with bad luck.

Teotihuacan, Mexico: The most important site of the pre-Columbian Aztecs and a major world city in its own right, Teotihuacan was also the ceremonial heart of the cult of the feathered-serpent Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec's creator god. It was at the site's temple where Quetzalcoatl first had plumes added to his reptilian body, according to Aztec myth.

oldpaganfreak · 03-27-2009, 08:31 PM

"Worship of lightning god unbroken
Zeus is the most important figure in ancient Greek mythology. He is the supreme ruler of Mount Olympus, the god of the skies and the father of a slew of other deities and mortals, such as Athena, Apollo, Heracles, Aphrodite and Helen of Troy, say the legends."

the concept of zeus as the chief god is relatively modern in the world of greek mythology, not muchn older than the corpus of greek writing. it is evident that the greeks honoured the goddess above all others in ancient times. demeter, the sister of zeus, the goddess of corn and agriculture, was more inportant than zeus, until the shift of society to a more patriarchal view.

Antaletriangle · 03-27-2009, 08:53 PM

Chronus was the big fella wasn't he?-hence chrono=time as in the birth of the metaphysical in zeus and siblings?

Saturn, as in chronos in Greek devouring one of his babbies.Goya, i think.

oldpaganfreak · 03-27-2009, 10:03 PM

cronos was the father o fzeus. he was a nasty bugger who castrated his father.
he was never a god, but one of the titans, the father of the gods, who was a child of gaea and uranus.
again, we see the goddess, gaea as an earlier central figure.

before any of the other gods were born to cronus and rhea, aphrodite was born from the blood of uranus' castration as it hit the ocean waves.
ironic that the goddess of love should be the first child born from such a violent act.
yet again, a goddess upstages zeus.

Antaletriangle · 03-27-2009, 10:24 PM

I was always fascinated by Greek/Roman mythology as a kid-i'm starting to think there's always something behind such myth and legend-modern science would suggest mythology was born out of ignorance and was set in place to answer fundamental questions and keep the people in line by placating the gods etc. Just the same as modern religions; i tend to think that nothing is absolute-it's about blending -such as creationist or evolutionary theory-science says it's one not the other-why can't it be both,as in the essence/issness created evolution or at least natural selection as a matter of the life/spiritual evolutionary strategy.Just ideas but it's a part of what makes life fun!!lol.

oldpaganfreak · 03-27-2009, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antaletriangle

I was always fascinated by Greek/Roman mythology as a kid-i'm starting to think there's always something behind such myth and legend-modern science would suggest mythology was born out of ignorance and was set in place to answer fundamental questions and keep the people in line by placating the gods etc. Just the same as modern religions; i tend to think that nothing is absolute-it's about blending -such as creationist or evolutionary theory-science says it's one not the other-why can't it be both,as in the essence/issness created evolution or at least natural selection as a matter of the life/spiritual evolutionary strategy.Just ideas but it's a part of what makes life fun!!lol.

absolutely. variety makes the world go round!
one thing to remember about mythology is that the greeks never viewed their stories as myth. it was their religion and the stories answered fundamentasl questions for them. obviously, judeo-christian mythology is viewed as the 'word of god', by many, even today.
one culture's truth, is another culture's myth.

Antaletriangle · 03-27-2009, 11:36 PM

I agree oldpagan that is what i was hinting at also.Concerning their belief system.

Humble Janitor · 03-28-2009, 06:09 AM

Ditto.

What we call myth could very well have been truth in ancient times.

I know there is an agenda to obscure this truth and there always has been one.

Dantheman62 · 03-28-2009, 06:51 AM

Wow I didn't know how much was going on there, here's just one page of links.......

Search results

Mount Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project

About the Mount Lykaion Project. July 7, 2008. Field Season 2008! ... Welcome to the Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project ...
mountlykaion.wordpress.com - Cached
The Mt. Lykaion Project Blog

Mount Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project. Home. About the Mount Lykaion Project ... The Mt, Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project season runs from June 26 – August ...
mountlykaion.wordpress.com/about - Cached
Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey

The American School of Classical Studies at Athens ... Project Overview. Team Members* Area Map. Sanctuary Plan. Photographs. Literary. References ...
corinth.sas.upenn.edu/lykaion/lykaion.html - Cached
Worship at Zeus's "Birthplace" Predates the Greek God

... on the summit of remote Mount Lykaion, some 4,500 feet (1, ... The Mount Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project. University of Pennsylvania: David Gilman Romano ...
news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080125-zeus-altar.html - Cached
Washington University in St. Louis Magazine

... Romano is co-director of the Mount Lykaion Project in Greece's Arcadia region. ... In the ancient world, Mount Lykaion was known as the birthplace of Zeus, ...
magazine.wustl.edu/Winter08/CosmopoulosRomano.html - Cached
"Search for Zeus: The Mount Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project" with ...

Amherst, MA Area Chamber of Commerce ... "Search for Zeus: The Mount Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project" February 25, 2009 - 4:30 PM ...
www.amherstarea.com/events/index.cfm/fa/ShowEvent/EventID/7359.cfm - Cached
New discoveries at Mount Lykaion push Zeus worship back 1,000 years ...

... recognize the spectacular site of the Sanctuary of Zeus at Mt. Lykaion, and ... The Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project, begun in 2004 with the first ...
sciencecodex.com/new_discoveries_at_the_ash_altar_of_zeus_mount_lykaion... - Cached
Godlike Productions - Post New Thread

... discovery by the Mount Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project was described last ... The place of Mount Lykaion in practices venerating Zeus is documented in ...
godlikeproductions.com/bbs/reply.php?messageid=500012&page=1&quote=op - Cached
Lykaion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lykaion is a mountain in Arcadia, sacred to Zeus Lycaeus, who was said to have been born and brought up on it, and the home of Pelasgus and his son Lycaon, who is said to have founded the ritual of Zeus practiced on its summit. This seems to have involved a human sacrifice, and a feast in which the man who received the portion of a human victim was changed...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lykaion - Cached
An Altar Beyond Olympus for a Deity Predating Zeus - New York Times

... ashes, bones and other evidence of animal sacrifices to some pre-Zeus deity on the summit of Mount Lykaion in Greece. ... Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project ...
nytimes.com/2008/02/05/science/05zeus.html?ex=1359867600&...

03-27-2009, 08:18 PM	#1
Antaletriangle Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: U.K. Posts: 3,380	Mythic Birthplace of Zeus Said Found http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=6075 Mythic Birthplace of Zeus Said Found 2009 03 21 By Heather Whipps \| livescience.com The Greek god of thunder and lightning had Earthly beginnings, and scientists think they finally know where. Ancient Greeks first worshipped the omnipotent Zeus at a remote altar on Mount Lykaion, a team of Greek and American archaeologists now think. During a recent dig at the site, the researchers found ceremonial goods commonly used in cult activity and dated at over three millennia old, making them the earliest known "appearance" of Zeus in Greece. Reverse of Arcadian League silver stater, Zeus Lykaios seated on a throne with an eagle in his left hand. 5th century B.C. Diameter 2 cm. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Pennsylvania Museum) The discovery challenges the idea that Zeus worship began on the Greek island of Crete, which at least one classical historian names as the god's mythic birthplace. The latest finds on Mount Lykaion, in the mainland province of Arcadia, are as old as the idea of Zeus himself, said the project's senior research scientist David Romano, of the University of Pennsylvania. The Chariot of Zeus image is from the 1879 "Stories from the Greek Tragedians" by Alfred Church. "This new evidence strongly suggests that there were drinking (and perhaps feasting) parties taking place on the top of the mountain in the Late Helladic period, around 3,300 or 3,400 years ago," Romano said. Worship of lightning god unbroken Zeus is the most important figure in ancient Greek mythology. He is the supreme ruler of Mount Olympus, the god of the skies and the father of a slew of other deities and mortals, such as Athena, Apollo, Heracles, Aphrodite and Helen of Troy, say the legends. The heroic figure was born on either the island of Crete or on Mount Lykaion, according to two competing accounts written in ancient times. While the myths are just that — stories — historians and archaeologists have always been interested in discovering what elements of the stories might be at least loosely based on fact. Though temples to Zeus, including one of the seven ancient wonders of the world, are found throughout Greece, Zeus' mythic "birthplace" may actually be the spot where Greeks first started to worship him too, the new finds suggest. Excavating a trench on Mount Lykaion, in an area which ancient Greek historians later called "the ash altar of Zeus," archaeologists found more than 50 drinking vessels, fragments of human and animal figurines, as well as burned sheep and goat bones. All of the artifacts are consistent with cult ceremonies of the Mycenaean people, who settled Greece approximately between 3,000 and 4,000 years ago, historians say. Lykaion A portion of these finds were announced preliminarily by the research team last year. Mycenaean mountain-top altars are very rare on mainland Greece, according to archaeologists. The period also coincides with the first historical mentions of the god Zeus in Greek texts, suggesting that the Mount Lykaion ceremonies were to honor the man himself. The worship of Zeus, a god traditionally associated with mountains, became popular on Mount Lykaion during classic Greek antiquity, said the team, made up of archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania, Arizona, and the Greek Archaeological Service. Younger, higher levels of the trench have yielded silver coins, a bronze hand holding a lightning bolt and petrified lightning in past dig seasons. All are clear dedications to Zeus, indicating that the use of the god's altar on Mount Lykaion was likely unbroken for several millennia. Myth and history The connection between myth and history doesn't apply solely to ancient Greece. Many ancient cultures worshipped gods that had links to both the spirit and physical worlds. Real-world spots mentioned in mythic or sacred texts often become places of worship or temple locations or, like Mount Lykaion, vice-versa. This especially applies to birthplaces or homes of the Gods, such as: Heliopolis, Egypt: Though largely destroyed and swallowed by the sprawl of modern Cairo, the ancient city of Heliopolis was once the center of the Egyptians' worship of Ra, the all-important sun God. Ra died in the evening and was reborn every morning, according to legend, spending the night in a boat floating through the underworld. Kilauea, Hawaii: This sacred volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii is both feared (it is the most active volcano on the planet) and revered as the home of Pele, Hawaii's fire Goddess. Tourists who disrespect Kilauea or take rocks from the mountain are thought to incur the wrath of Pele, who will curse those individuals with bad luck. Teotihuacan, Mexico: The most important site of the pre-Columbian Aztecs and a major world city in its own right, Teotihuacan was also the ceremonial heart of the cult of the feathered-serpent Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec's creator god. It was at the site's temple where Quetzalcoatl first had plumes added to his reptilian body, according to Aztec myth.

03-27-2009, 08:31 PM	#2
oldpaganfreak Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: great northern boreal forest Posts: 440	Re: Mythic Birthplace of Zeus Said Found "Worship of lightning god unbroken Zeus is the most important figure in ancient Greek mythology. He is the supreme ruler of Mount Olympus, the god of the skies and the father of a slew of other deities and mortals, such as Athena, Apollo, Heracles, Aphrodite and Helen of Troy, say the legends." the concept of zeus as the chief god is relatively modern in the world of greek mythology, not muchn older than the corpus of greek writing. it is evident that the greeks honoured the goddess above all others in ancient times. demeter, the sister of zeus, the goddess of corn and agriculture, was more inportant than zeus, until the shift of society to a more patriarchal view.

03-27-2009, 08:53 PM	#3
Antaletriangle Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: U.K. Posts: 3,380	Re: Mythic Birthplace of Zeus Said Found Chronus was the big fella wasn't he?-hence chrono=time as in the birth of the metaphysical in zeus and siblings? Saturn, as in chronos in Greek devouring one of his babbies.Goya, i think.

03-27-2009, 10:03 PM	#4
oldpaganfreak Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: great northern boreal forest Posts: 440	Re: Mythic Birthplace of Zeus Said Found cronos was the father o fzeus. he was a nasty bugger who castrated his father. he was never a god, but one of the titans, the father of the gods, who was a child of gaea and uranus. again, we see the goddess, gaea as an earlier central figure. before any of the other gods were born to cronus and rhea, aphrodite was born from the blood of uranus' castration as it hit the ocean waves. ironic that the goddess of love should be the first child born from such a violent act. yet again, a goddess upstages zeus. Last edited by oldpaganfreak; 03-27-2009 at 10:06 PM.

03-27-2009, 10:24 PM	#5
Antaletriangle Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: U.K. Posts: 3,380	Re: Mythic Birthplace of Zeus Said Found I was always fascinated by Greek/Roman mythology as a kid-i'm starting to think there's always something behind such myth and legend-modern science would suggest mythology was born out of ignorance and was set in place to answer fundamental questions and keep the people in line by placating the gods etc. Just the same as modern religions; i tend to think that nothing is absolute-it's about blending -such as creationist or evolutionary theory-science says it's one not the other-why can't it be both,as in the essence/issness created evolution or at least natural selection as a matter of the life/spiritual evolutionary strategy.Just ideas but it's a part of what makes life fun!!lol.

03-27-2009, 11:36 PM	#7
Antaletriangle Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: U.K. Posts: 3,380	Re: Mythic Birthplace of Zeus Said Found I agree oldpagan that is what i was hinting at also.Concerning their belief system.

03-28-2009, 06:09 AM	#8
Humble Janitor Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 3,201	Re: Mythic Birthplace of Zeus Said Found Ditto. What we call myth could very well have been truth in ancient times. I know there is an agenda to obscure this truth and there always has been one.

03-28-2009, 06:51 AM	#9
Dantheman62 Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: So. Cal. U.S. Posts: 4,205	Re: Mythic Birthplace of Zeus Said Found Wow I didn't know how much was going on there, here's just one page of links....... Search results Mount Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project About the Mount Lykaion Project. July 7, 2008. Field Season 2008! ... Welcome to the Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project ... mountlykaion.wordpress.com - Cached The Mt. Lykaion Project Blog Mount Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project. Home. About the Mount Lykaion Project ... The Mt, Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project season runs from June 26 – August ... mountlykaion.wordpress.com/about - Cached Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey The American School of Classical Studies at Athens ... Project Overview. Team Members* Area Map. Sanctuary Plan. Photographs. Literary. References ... corinth.sas.upenn.edu/lykaion/lykaion.html - Cached Worship at Zeus's "Birthplace" Predates the Greek God ... on the summit of remote Mount Lykaion, some 4,500 feet (1, ... The Mount Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project. University of Pennsylvania: David Gilman Romano ... news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080125-zeus-altar.html - Cached Washington University in St. Louis Magazine ... Romano is co-director of the Mount Lykaion Project in Greece's Arcadia region. ... In the ancient world, Mount Lykaion was known as the birthplace of Zeus, ... magazine.wustl.edu/Winter08/CosmopoulosRomano.html - Cached "Search for Zeus: The Mount Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project" with ... Amherst, MA Area Chamber of Commerce ... "Search for Zeus: The Mount Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project" February 25, 2009 - 4:30 PM ... www.amherstarea.com/events/index.cfm/fa/ShowEvent/EventID/7359.cfm - Cached New discoveries at Mount Lykaion push Zeus worship back 1,000 years ... ... recognize the spectacular site of the Sanctuary of Zeus at Mt. Lykaion, and ... The Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project, begun in 2004 with the first ... sciencecodex.com/new_discoveries_at_the_ash_altar_of_zeus_mount_lykaion... - Cached Godlike Productions - Post New Thread ... discovery by the Mount Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project was described last ... The place of Mount Lykaion in practices venerating Zeus is documented in ... godlikeproductions.com/bbs/reply.php?messageid=500012&page=1&quote=op - Cached Lykaion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lykaion is a mountain in Arcadia, sacred to Zeus Lycaeus, who was said to have been born and brought up on it, and the home of Pelasgus and his son Lycaon, who is said to have founded the ritual of Zeus practiced on its summit. This seems to have involved a human sacrifice, and a feast in which the man who received the portion of a human victim was changed... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lykaion - Cached An Altar Beyond Olympus for a Deity Predating Zeus - New York Times ... ashes, bones and other evidence of animal sacrifices to some pre-Zeus deity on the summit of Mount Lykaion in Greece. ... Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project ... nytimes.com/2008/02/05/science/05zeus.html?ex=1359867600&...