Details from HOMER IN THE BALTIC

[rockessence]

I have just been reading this about the "Moon of Hermes" from HOMER IN THE BALTIC:

"In one of the HOMERIC HYMNS (a collection of poems of different origins, which the ancients ascribe to Homer), we find a signal indicating both that the Homeric Pieria lay in what is now Lapland, and that the original Achaean homeland was situated at very northern latitudes.

The HOMERIC HYMN TO HERMES tells of the birth of this god in a dark cave and of his first nocturnal feat. On the fourth day of the lunar month, towards the end of the night, the new-born baby goes to Pieria and steals fifty cattle from Apollo's herd, 'in the moonlight'.

In the opinion of scholars, this tale is "impossible" from an astronomical point of view: "On the fourth day of the lunar month, the divine Selene certainly does not shine until the end of the night approaches. Her crescent, which is still very slight, disappears very quickly beneath the horizon and only casts a very dim light." (C. Robert, "Notice" introductory to the HYMNS).

However, if one moves beyond the Polar Circle, the phases of the moon have a very different appearance. Were we exactly at the pole during the winter solstice, we would be able to watch the moon shine uninteruptedly for 14 days. As a matter of fact, the moon rises when it is already at the end of its first quarter, i.e. as a half-circle, and starts to trace a circlar trajectory above the horizon ( without setting, of course), waxing and rising up in the night solstice along a spiral path, until it reaches its maximum height a week later, in correspondance with the full moon.

After this, it starts to get smaller and descends towards the horizon, describing again a spiral trajectory, until it sets at the end of the folloeing week (we would like to leave to the reader the pleasure of reconstructing the equally interesting summer solstice phases, which, however, are not relevant to this HYMN).

This phenomenon is also verified at other points , within the Arctic Circle, although it becomes less marked as one moves further away from the Pole. At this point, if we consider the myth at issue is set in Pieria- i.e. in northern Finland- the astronomical anomaly of the HYMN TO HERMES is easily explained. The new moon, in the 4th day of its cycle, actually shines in the darkness of the solstice night, thus lighting up the plain from which Hermes steals the cows with its arcane radiance, in an unreal Arctic scenery: "(Hermes)...put out the embers and covered the black cinders with sand/ in the last hours of the night; Selene's beautiful light was shining up above"

Therefor, this extraordinary "literary fossil" certifies the Achaean presence in the far North thousands of years ago. It has miraculously survived for dozens of centuries, perhaps as the Pyramids did, remaining intact throught the vicissitudes of human history."

"By bearing in mind the meaning of "the Sun God's cattle", whose slaughter brought a dreadful fate to Ulysses's companions, we note that the rustling of fifty head of Apollo's cattle carried out by Hermes, very likely hints at the removal of the lost days in the solstice darkness. ......."

[rockessence]

Here is an interesting bit from HOMER IN THE BALTIC:

"Incidentally, the discovery (or rather the rediscovery) of an important modern scientific concept has been made possible by the ILIAD. In the 17th century, it was still believed that maggots were generated spontaneously during the process of putrifaction, until the Italian doctor and poet Francesco Redi in 1668 published his work EXPERIENCES ON INSECT GENERATION, reporting experimental proof that flies eggs produce putrifaction, not vice versa. Redi himself admitted that this idea came to him after he had read a passage in the ILIAD, where Achilles is worried that the flies will cause Patrochlus' corpse to decompose: "I am very afraid/ that flies may penetrate Menoetius's strong son/ through the wounds the bronze opened/ and bear worms, which should deface his corpse,/ thus his flesh should rot, as his life was extinguished./ Silver-footed Thetis replied:/ Son, do not worry about this:/ I will try to repell that wild race,/ the flies, which feed on the men killed in battle./ Even if it lies a whole year/ his corpse will keep intact"

In other words, Homer was acquainted with a scientific truth mankind later forgot, This can be linked to a Northern location, where decomposition occurs only in summer, when flies appear(therefore, it is possible to produce dried fish there, processing it in winter). This climatic factor explains why the ancient Achaeans realized what was the cause of this phenomonen, which, on the contrary, occurs all the time in the Mediterranean."

[rockessence]

Paraphrasing from HOMER IN THE BALTIC:

Agamemnon of the house of Atreus....Brother in law of Menelaeas. One interesting point discussed in HOMER IN THE BALTIC is the question of why, really, would the whole world go to war over the theft of a woman? Homer repeatedly insists that this is the sole reason for the war.
The fact that Menelaeas, the injured party, is really a relatively minor character in in the story, seems to reveal that this is a true history.

Anyway, Helen and Clytemnestra are sisters, the daughters of powerful Tyndareus. The abduction of Helen could have been a private matter, or could it have jeopardized Menelaus' claim to the throne of Sparta, which had been vested in him as a result of his marriage to Helen, causing a "constitutional crisis" in his (or rather HER) kingdom. This is the real reason for the war: the Achaean kings intended to regain the beautiful queen, not for her beauty, but because she was a queen, in order to restore to Menelaus his rights to the throne of Sparta(and, above all, to preclude a dangerous precedent). In particular, it is clear why Agamemnon, Menelaus' brother invested so much in the success of the expedition: he had become king of Mycenae thanks to his marriage to Tyndareus' eldest daughter. What they have the loss of is "geras", also possessed by Ulysses by virtue of his marriage to Penelope. "Geras" is status, privilege, and royal honors of sovereignty, and the right of bequeathing that sovereignty to ones descendants. This is what Paris stole along with the body of Helen. This is a huge public offence against a king, and a death blow to the status of his succeeding generations.