Democritus

Crying Heraclitus and laughing Democritus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Democritus (460-370 BCE) was a Greek Presocratic philosopher born in Thrace whose surviving fragments reveal that he wrote on physics, math, ethics and music.

His atomic theory, coming to us through Aristotle, posits an infinite number of differently shaped and everlasting atoms(tiny indivisible particles) that randomly combine to create an infinite number of worlds throughout time. Each world displays natural laws but since randomly generated, they are not intelligently directed by a creator.

Democritus was keenly aware of the now common distinction between macroscopic and microscopic reality. This is quite remarkable considering he lived over 1,900 years before the first primitive microscope was invented in 1590 CE. As he writes in Fragment 9:

Conventionally sweet, conventionally bitter, conventionally hot, conventionally cold, conventionally color, but really atoms and void.¹

He was also aware of the need for some kind or locus of consciousness (i.e. the soul) which he sees as the underlying cause of life as perceived through the five senses. For Democritus the soul is composed of tiny round atoms, and instead of being eternal, is subject to death. And again, remarkably, Democritus believed that the soul perceives things when its atoms are impacted by the atoms of worldly objects.²

David John Furley notes that Democritus’ theories met with significant opposition. With the exception of Epicurus and Lucretius, the leading figures of the ancient world preferred the ideas of Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics over his own. And by the time of the scientific revolution, when the importance of his ideas became clear, almost all of his complete works were lost.³

—

¹ John Palmer ” Democritus of Abdera ” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome. Ed. Michael Gagarin. © Oxford University Press 2010. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome: (e-reference edition). Oxford University Press. Toronto Public Library. 5 July 2012 http://www.oxford-greecerome.com/entry?entry=t294.e362

² David John Furley, The Oxford Classical Dictionary Oxford University Press 1996, 2000.

³ Ibid.

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Eratosthenes

Eratosthenes’ measurement of the Earth’s circumference Ελληνικά: Η μέτρηση της περιφέρειας της γης από τον Ερατοσθένη (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Eratosthenes (276-194 BCE) was an Ancient Greek who apparently was the first to calculate the circumference of the Earth with remarkable accuracy using math that involved measuring the angles of shadows.

He also invented the idea of longitude and latitude, the leap day, and may have calculated the distance from the earth to the sun.

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Forms

The School of Athens (detail). Fresco, Stanza della Segnatura, Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the philosophy of Plato, the Forms are eternal, unchanging Ideas which, in themselves, are said to be true existence.

Plato believed that the world which we perceive with the senses is illusory. Our day to day reality is a world of becoming. Because our perceptible world is a prisoner of time and always changing, it’s not really real. This view has obvious connections with the Hindu concept of maya.

For Plato, only the eternal and unchanging world of “being” (the Forms) is truly real. Plato outlines his theory of the Forms in the Phaedo and illustrates them through a Cave Analogy in his classic, The Republic.

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Homer

Homer was also called Melesigenes (son of Meles) by the name of the brook which flowed by Smyrna. This photo is of a marble terminal bust of Homer. Roman copy of a lost Hellenistic original of the 2nd c. BC. From Baiae, Italy via Wikipedia

Homer is an Ancient Greek poet (Homeros) of uncertain identity.

He or she was believed by the ancient Greeks and Romans to have authored the classic epics of the Odyssey and Illiad around the 8th-7th centuries BCE, the former epic likely predating the latter. Today, most people will tell you that Homer is the outstanding author of the Odyssey and Illiad but, in reality, this authorship isn’t solidly established.

Not unlike the uncertainty concerning the originality and authorship of some of the works of Shakespeare, Homer probably borrowed from existing mythological tales which were transmitted through oral tradition.  And with a particular poetic genius, he or she depicted the enduring characters of the Olympic pantheon.

Contemporary scholars say that the two Homeric classics may have been authored by several persons.

The ancient Greeks saw Homer as an impoverished, blind minstrel. And a contemporary minority view suggests that Homer was a woman. Regardless of the poet’s gender, his or her lasting impact on Western culture is undeniable.

Medieval bards wrote of Troy and neo-classical painters depicted the pursuits of the Homeric gods in all their outrageous splendor and folly.

The 33 Homeric Hymns, likely written after the two epics, are no longer attributed to Homer.

In more recent times, a Homeric strain is arguably discernible in the works of the Canadian poet and musician Leonard Cohen, who took up residence in Greece during his formative years.

Related Posts » Achilles, Aeneas, Aesculapius, Aphrodite, Athena, Blessed Isles, Cyclops, Demeter, Eleusinian Mysteries, Hermes, Hesiod, Myth, Odysseus, Orpheus, Sirens, Troy

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Gaia

Anselm Feuerbach: Gaea (1875). Ceiling painting, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna via Wikipedia

Gaia (also Ge) is the Greek Goddess of the Earth who arose from Chaos. She was worshipped at Delphi, where her temple was guarded by a Python. The temple was rededicated to Apollo after he destroyed Gaia’s serpent.

Gaia gave birth to the Furies, assisted by heavenly intervention. She was also the mother of Uranus, with whom she gave birth to the Titans and the Cyclopses. She also gave birth to the Giants and other monsters. Her Roman equivalent is Tellus.

Some anthropologists believe that Gaia was worshipped in Neolithic times as a Great Mother, although this academic position has been disputed by most contemporary scholars. Gaia’s Roman counterpart is Tellus.

In the 1970s, the British scientist, author and environmentalist James Lovelock proposed the Gaia hypothesis, where the planet Earth, itself, is seen as a self-regulating entity geared toward sustaining life.

In his own words, Gaia is

a complex entity involving the Earth’s biosphere, atmosphere, oceans, and soil; the totality constituting a feedback or cybernetic system which seeks an optimal physical and chemical environment for life on this planet.¹

Today, Neopagans revere Gaia as The Goddess.

—

¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis

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Juno

Image: Andy Hay via Wikipedia

In ancient Roman religion Juno is the sister and wife of Jupiter with whom she guards and rules women throughout the course of their lives.

Juno also presides over female warriors. She is the Roman counterpart to the Greek Hera.

In the contemporary world, Juno is the name for Canadian music awards, as ‘Oscar’ is to Hollywood film awards.

And she’s been the object of much scholarly discussion by mythographers, as evidenced in this excellent Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_%28mythology%29

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Sappho

Safo o Afrodita, Museu Arqueològic d'Istambul by Sebastià Giralt

Sappho (610-580 BCE)

Greek lyric poetess, born in Lesbos who wrote within the context of the cult of Aphrodite and the veneration of the Muses.

Only 8th and 9th century copies and fragments – along with more fragments obtained from papyrus discoveries since 1898 – of her work and one complete address to Aphrodite remain.

Sappho was married and wrote verse for weddings. She also arranged poetic gatherings where she and other women composed and read poetry, as was the custom of women of good standing in Lesbos. From this she developed several close relationships.

Her extant work reveals no clear evidence of physical intimacy with these women but other ancient figures caricaturized her and the entire island of Lesbos as a center for lesbianism. As such, she went into exile in Sicily, later returning to Mytilene.

She is often cited today as an inspiration for lesbian love. Speaking about herself and her associates, she once wrote,

I think that someone will remember us in another time.

» Goddess vs. goddess

On the Web:

• “Sappho (Σαπφώ) was born in the seventh century BC, in the island of Lesbos. Her love of women reflects a deeper love for civilization.”

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Tiresias

Odysseus and Tiresias by litmuse

Tiresias

In Greek myth Tiresias is a Theban who inadvertently sees the chaste Athena bathing. She immediately punishes him with blindness, although he is compensated to some extent with the gifts of wisdom and prophecy and an exceedingly long life of seven generations.

In another mythic cycle Tiresias’ blindness comes about after he sees two snakes coupling. After killing one of the snakes he is transformed into a woman. Seven years later he once again sees two snakes coupling. In one variant of the myth he kills the snakes, in another he leaves them alone. But in both versions he’s changed back into a man.

At this point Zeus and Hera ask him whether men or women gain more sexual pleasure. Tiresias, having experienced both, replies that women receive nine time more pleasure than men. Hera doesn’t like this answer and strikes him blind. But Zeus gives him the gift of prophecy to compensate for his loss.

Two strange sounding stories, they perhaps point to the idea that losing things in life is often replaced or rewarded by something else.

In Homer‘s Odyssey, the seafaring hero Odysseus asks the departed Tiresias in the underworld about his return journey home. Tiresias warns Odysseus of many dangers, facilitating his safe return.

In pop culture the British progressive rock band Genesis speaks of “father Tiresias” in the song, The Cinema Show (1973):

Take a little trip back with father Tiresias,
Listen to the old one speak of all he has lived through.
I have crossed between the poles, for me there’s no mystery.
Once a man, like the sea I raged,
Once a woman, like the earth I gave.

On the Web:

• Wikipedia entry with more mythic variants and examples of representation in art » http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiresias
  

» Hephaestus, Seer, Wisdom

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Tartarus

"The Gypsy Girl...might be Gaea, goddess of the Earth. Hesiod...says that in the beginning there was Chaos, which in Greek means "yawning." Into that yawning, or void, came Gaea (Earth), Tartarus (the lowest region of the underworld), Eros (Love)" NOVA - Photo by and text abridged from Becky Lai

Tartarus

In Greek myth Tartarus is a deity, son of Aither (Sky) and Gaia (Earth).

Additionally, the philosopher Plato wrote of Tartarus as a terrible place of afterlife punishment.

Over time Tartarus came to be spoken of as the lowest abyss in Hades.

The Greek poets say that Ixion and Tantalus were condemned to Tartarus for offending the gods. The evil Titans also were sent there for punishment.

Interestingly, Tantalus was the name of a Penal Colony in the original Star Trek TV series, where people’s minds were blanked out as part of their psychiatric treatment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagger_of_the_Mind).

Digital Dame adds:

Another ST tie-in for Tantalus: In the episode “Mirror, Mirror” where they transposed with their evil counterparts in an alternate universe, Mirror-Kirk’s girlfriend, Marlena, shows good Kirk the Tantalus Device, or Tantalus Field, that vaporizes his enemies. » See in context

Further Reading:

David Sacks, A Dictionary of the Ancient Greek World, Oxford 1995, pp. 8-9.

On the Web:

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Thanatos

Thanatos

A Greek word meaning death. In Greek myth Thanatos was the brother of Hypnos, the benevolent god of sleep who lived in the underworld.

Sigmund Freud used the term to symbolize a hypothesized death instinct.

» Civilization and its Discontents, Dreams, Eros, Freud (Sigmund), Id, Libido, Repression

On the Web:

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