Edmond Wollmann
2005-01-09 18:39:54 UTC
By Jean Richer, State University of New York Press, 1994
13. A TEXT OF PLATO'S
The Zodiacal Wheel Centered on Delphi
The division of historical Greece into the twelve signs of the zodiac,
which had thus been clearly revealed, had quite probably left traces
in certain texts.
The work of P. Saintyves, Deux Mythes evangeligues: les douze apotres
et les soixante-douze disciples (1938), contributed some important
information. On the question in general, he wrote:
The influence of the stars in the sky, and especially of the twelve
signs that mark the path of the moon and the sun, could be enhanced
and made entirely benevolent if the earth itself was arranged as a
reflection of the heavens. The division of a state, population and
territory, into twelve sectors was an expression of reverence for the
gods of the zodiac, the twelve great celestial deities, and it would
surely attract their blessings. That this was true in Chaldea, at
least towards the year 2000 B.C., can hardly be doubted.
All the peoples who either adopted the Chaldaean zodiac or established
a set of twelve signs by imitation divided their countries into twelve
sectors, which were governed by twelve chieftains.
With regard to Greece, an especially important text for my purpose is
The Laws of Plato (Book V). Here is the essential passage:
Next, the founder must see that his city is placed as nearly as
possible in the center of the territory, after selecting a site
possessed of the other favorable conditions for his purpose; (it will
not be difficult to discover or to state them). Then he must divide
his city into twelve parts; but first he should establish and enclose
a sanctuary of Hestia, Zeus, and Athena-which he will call the
citadel-from which he will draw his twelve divisions of the city and
its whole territory. Equality of the twelve regions should be secured
by making those of good soil small and those of worse soil larger. He
should then make a division into five thousand and forty allotments.
Each of these, again, should be bisected and two half sections, a
nearer and a remoter paired together to form an allotment, one which
is contiguous to the city with one on the border. . . . Of course, the
legislator must also divide the population into twelve sections,
constructing these sections so as to be as nearly as possible on an
equality in respect of their other property of the whole of which he
will have made a careful record. Next he will be at pains to assign
the twelve divisions to twelve gods, naming each section after the god
to whom it has been allotted and consecrated, and calling it a tribe.
Further, the twelve segments of the city must be made on the same
lines as the division of the territory in general, and each citizen
must have two houses, one nearer the center of the state and the other
nearer the border. . . .
Our immediate concern, now that we have resolved on the division into
twelve parts, must be precisely to see in what conspicuous fashion
these twelve parts, admitting, as they do, such a multitude of further
divisions, with the subsequent groups which arise from them, down to
the five thousand and forty individuals-this will give us our
brotherhoods, wards, and parishes, as well as our divisions of battle
and columns of route, not to mention our currency and measures of
capacity, dry and liquid, and of weight-to see, I say how all these
details must be legally determined so as to fit in and harmonize with
each other.
The number 5040, which is so important in Plato's system of divisions,
is the product of the first seven numbers: "The whole integer series,
of course, admits division by any number and with any quotient, while
our 5040 can be divided . . . into fifty-nine quotients and no more,
ten of them, from unity upwards, being successive." And further on
(The Laws, VI) the philosopher goes on to say that although 5040 is
indivisible by 11, 5038 is divisible by 11 and by 458. In terms of the
relationships of 5040 with astrology it has the advantages of being
divisible by 7 (the seven planets), by 12 (the twelve signs), by 36
(the thirty-six decans), by 72 (the 72 spirits), and by 360 (the.
degrees of the zodiac).
Plato writes in The Laws, Book V:
Whether a new foundation is to be created from the outset or an old
one restored, in the matter of gods and their sanctuaries--what
temples must be founded in a given community and to what gods or
spirits they should be dedicated--no man of sense will presume to
disturb convictions inspired from Delphi, Dodona, the oracle of Ammon,
or by old traditions of any kind of divine appearances or reported
divine revelations.
In The Laws and in The Republic, Plato refers to the authority of
Delphi and does so repeatedly. It is therefore highly probable that
his plan of the ideal society was in many ways a later codification of
what had been an ancient practice. I believe this to be especially
true of the division of the country into twelve sectors that
corresponded to the gods of the zodiac.
This table may be used to interpret thousands of monuments from the
Middle East and the Mediterranean area and objects in every museum in
the world-what is utterly astonishing is that since 1967, when this
book was first published, archaeologists have been incapable of using
it! This speaks volumes about the rigidified state of some minds and
the negative effects of a certain kind of "ultra-rationalistic"
education. I have already given some examples of interpreting the
monuments in Delphes, Delos et Cumes. In this book I give yet another
in the detailed study of the temple of Athena in the Troad, which
stands as an anthology of the symbols studied. The table is as
follows:
A transition to the twelve-sign zodiac is impossible, because, in the
heroic deeds of Heracles, the places related to the beginning of the
year and to spring are represented by taurine creatures, such as the
river Achelous, Deianira's suitor. Similarly, Perseus, a solar hero
like Heracles, and as I will soon show, also associated with Leo, is
substituted for him as the conqueror of the Gorgon, the ancient
guardian of Virgo. So the sign of Aries is not really represented in
the labors and deeds of Heracles, and Libra and Virgo are merged. Let
me mention another interesting detail. According to one tradition,
Chiron had a secret refuge in a cave at Cape Malea. And the Mount
Pelion-Cape Malea line runs very nearly north to south, which
demonstrates a rather good knowledge of the relative geographical
positions of various sites on the Greek coast.
2. The Ancient Guardians of the Zodiac ("Hesiodic Guardians")
My observations establish that, in a certain number of labors,
Heracles confronts monsters that characterize the signs of the zodiac.
On this point as on several others, heroes like Theseus and Perseus
were to imitate him but would become more specialized. A list of
pre-Olympian deities, principally established on the Theogony of
Hesiod and The Library of Apollodorus" will be extremely useful for
the subsequent research.
Aries: Phorcys
Taurus: Geryon
Gemini: Thaumas
Cancer: Hydra, Typhon, Cerberus
Leo: Chimaera (Orthus)
Virgo: Gorgon
Libra: Phix or Sphinx
Scorpio: Dracus, Ophion, Echidna
Sagittarius: Centaurs
Capricorn: Griffins
Aquarius: Sirens, Pegasus, Chrysaor
Pisces: Ceto, Triton-Nereus
3. Heracles and Omphale
According to Apollodorus,'3 the conflict between Heracles and Apollo
over the Delphic tripod meant that Heracles wished to institute an
oracle that would rival Delphi. Zeus (or in a more ancient tradition,
Athena) then intervenes. Heracles, who had come to consult the Pythia
about being purified of the murder of Iphitus, was then ordered by the
oracle to be sold into slavery. And he served, for one year (or
three), Queen Omphale at Sardis. This can only mean that Heracles went
to renew himself with the power of the Delphic oracle, since, as I
believe, the oracles of Delphi and Sardis were identical. Marie
Delcourt, for one, was aware of this and wrote: "Between the old stone
of Delphi and the Queen of Lydia there is surely more than a mere
assonance."' In addition, a foundation oracle was to associate Delphi,
Heracles, and Sardis. Wasn't Pelops himself the son of Tantalus who
reigned at Smyrna, which is on the earth line joining Sardis and
Delphi? The Kings of Sardis were called the Heraclides, and Croesus
was so eager to emulate Heracles that he wanted to die on a pyre like
the demigod.
I shall now attempt to reconstruct the cycle of Heracles of Sardis in
general outline. This is a system of eight main directions, like that
of Phlius, where eight of the traditional labors have been placed.
Remaining are:
The Cretan Bull (eighth labor)
The struggle with triple Geryon (tenth labor)
The conquest of the golden apples of the Garden of the Hesperides
(eleventh labor)
The descent to the underworld at Cape Taenarum (twelfth labor).
It is obvious that the Cretan Bull and triple Geryon both stand for
the sign of Taurus. Since this sign is also already represented by
Augeas and Elis, I am led to conclude that Taurus appears no less than
three times in the traditional list of the twelve labors.
The Cretan Bull and triple Geryon must each represent a complete
calendar in which the year began at the spring equinox. And one of
these calendars is that of Sardis, in which the Cretan Bull symbolizes
Taurus. So the eighth labor establishes the link between the systems
of the Peloponnese and Sardis, a connection also represented by the
Sardis-Phlius-mouth of the Alpheus line, which is identical with the
Olympia-Isthmia line.
of a parody of the other labors of Heracles. In order to arrive at an
acceptable layout centered on Sardis, one is forced to eliminate Aries
and shift the earlier system by one sign, putting Taurus first rather
than Aries, then Gemini instead of Taurus and so on. In this way one
arrives at a scheme that probably corresponds to a more ancient state
of the sky than that of Phlius. The symbolic "polar" axis was very
probably the Cos-Mount Olympus of Bithynia direction.
Cancer. Significant in regard to Cancer is the sacrifice of the ram of
the New Year at Cos in the house of Eurypylus. The character's name,
which means "of the wide doors," refers to the solstitial gateways.
The punishment of Hera and Hephaestus, who are associated with him, is
an allusion to the equivalent axis in the Delian system.
At Cos, Heracles was honored as a god of marriage. The rite of
transvestism known to have been celebrated there must have been
associated with the summer solstice and Cancer, the lunar sign. The
change of season was interpreted as a change of sex; the decreasing
days marked the beginning of the feminine half of the year.
Gemini. The brothers Cercopes, who are associated with the region of
Ephesus, suggest a pleasant symbol of Gemini. The many images on vases
and sculptures of Heracles holding them like pieces of wild game,
their heads dangling, echo the hieroglyph for this sign.
Leo. Lityerses, the "accursed harvester," must undoubtedly be
associated with Leo and harvesttime in Anatolia (Leo-Virgo sector).
Libra. Similarly, the thief Syleus appears primarily as a grape
harvester. He probably represents the eastern part of Anatolia and the
sign of Libra. He may even represent a Libra-Scorpio-Sagittarius
sector, if one looks at other sites in the same episode: Aulis,
Thermopylae, and Mount Pelion which, in the systems centered on Phlius
or on Delphi, define a rather wide area that takes in the whole
northeast quarter.
Scorpio. The Serpent of Sangaris corresponds to this sign, with which
Hercules is usually associated in the character of the
serpent-strangler.
Capricorn. The episode of Hylas is connected with Cios on the coast of
Mysia and with Capricorn in the Sardis system. It was in this area,
according to Strabo, that some situated the myth of Typhon, another
reference to the Cancer-Capricorn axis.
Aquarius. The expedition against Troy is associated with the sign of
Aquarius (I will return to this).
Pisces. The marine monster Hesione (daughter of a king of Troy)
represents the sign of Pisces.
In the system centered on Sardis, these zodiacal axes can therefore be
found:
Cretan Bull: Serpent of Sangaris (Taurus-Scorpio)
Cercopes: Syleus (Gemini-Sagittarius)
Eurypylus: Hylas (Cancer-Capricorn)
Lityerses: Troy and the story of Hesione (Leo-Aquarius and Pisces),
which corresponds to a division into eight.
Let me point out that, because of the degraded state in which these
legends have come down to us, some correspondences are made by means
of locations in space, while for others (Syleus, Lityerses) the
connection is made through the calendar of field labors.
Furthermore, the Taurus-Scorpio and the Gemini-Sagittarius axes are
merged, a tangible expression of the phenomenon of the precession of
the equinoxes.
The connection between Hylas and Capricorn is not immediately obvious.
But Cios was founded by the lapith Polyphemus, which sets up a
relationship with Capricorn in the system centered on Delphi. Also,
Apollonius of Rhodes tells us that the young people of Cios, who were
sent as hostages to Heracles after the disappearance of Hylas, settled
at Trachis under the guidance of the hero" who represents Capricorn in
relation to Phlius. In this way subtle correspondences are interwoven
between equivalent points in the different systems.
4. A More General System. The Directions of Space
A psychologist of the stature of Jung saw the hero as an image of the
"integrated man," who contains in himself the four elements and the
four cardinal points. This concept doubtless corresponds to an aspect
of the legend of Heracles.
But while it appears clearly that there was a system centered at
Phlius and another at Delphi, it is impossible in the present state of
our knowledge to fully reconstitute the one centered on Delos. There
is, however, an important trace of such a system in the episode of the
"Boreades," who were slain by Heracles at Tinos, an incident that
would relate to the sign of Capricorn, the north-south axis, and the
cult of Boreas, so characteristic of this system oriented to Mount
Haemus.
In my subsequent study of the extension of the system of zodiacal
correspondences over the whole Mediterranean basin, I shall have the
opportunity to come back to certain features of the legend and travels
of Heracles. But I can say right away that several very important
episodes, particularly the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth labors, seem
to designate both spatial directions and prominent sites in the
systems centered at Delphi, Cumae, or Malta.
As already indicated, Geryon and his cattle stand for Taurus in a
calendar of three seasons (see p.118), and the story of the return of
Heracles, driving the cattle before him, supports the hypothesis of a
type of calendar that is valid for the whole Mediterranean basin.
Of such a system at least two axes can be found:
l. A Taurus-Eagle axis (island of Erythea-eagle of Prometheus).
2. A north-south or Cancer-Capricorn axis.
With to the north: Atlas or else the Ceryneian Hind in Istria.
And to the south: Antaeopolis in Lybia.
The pillars of Hercules, Hyperborea, and the Garden of the Hesperides
stand for other directions in the same system, which I believe to be
the southwest, the northwest, and the west, respectively.
5. Vestiges of an Earlier Zodiac in the Legend of Heracles; the Sign
of the Boar
Only one symbol of the earlier zodiac has survived in the labors of
Heracles: the Boar, which corresponds to the region later occupied by
the signs of Aquarius and Pisces. The heroic deed of Heracles
harnessing a lion and a boar to Admetus's nuptial chariot alludes to a
sacred marriage that took place at the summer solstice, the Leo-Boar
axis then functioning as the Leo-Aquarius cosmic axis. This has been
partly perceived by Robert Graves.
Certain incidents in the history of the hero immediately suggest the
following zodiacal symbols:
The swan at Pagasae (Sagittarius sector).
The wolf and the seagull (Keix) at Trachis (Capricorn sector).
Two visits to Calydon in 1963 and 1964 revealed the role played by the
ancient sign of the Boar in the system centered on Phlius. The very
arrangement of the sanctuary at Calydon is in fact very telling. The
sacred theores walked from the temple of Hera to the terrace of the
temple of Apollo and Artemis, which opens to a good view of the Gulf
of Patrae and the Erymanthus mountains. The mountains are invisible
from the temple of Hera, being hidden by the high promontory of
Varassova to the southeast. This clearly marked the symbolic
equivalence of the boars of Erymanthus and Calydon.
The extensive embankment of a natural hill allowed the two temples of
Apollo and Artemis to be oriented to a northwest southeast direction
which defines an angle of 130 degrees to the north. If this angular
value is transferred to the map of Greece, it becomes clear that the
two temples were turned towards Phlius, omphalos of this system. I
shall return to the question of the sign of the Boar in my attempts to
reconstitute the old Greek zodiac."
6. Heracles and Apollo
The myth of Heracles is as closely associated with the sun as is the
myth of Apollo. This is what Jane Harrison perceived when she wrote in
Themis that the demigod was a solar spirit, daimon of fertility and
the annual cycle. She interpreted from this perspective, correctly in
my opinion, the story of the combat of Heracles and the river Achelous
as told by Deianira at the beginning of
Sophocles' Trachiniae. She also commented that, at the beginning of
the play, the wives of Trachis invoked the sun to obtain news of the
hero.
She further mentions that the hero, as the "young sun," struggles with
Hades, the setting sun, at Pylos, and that he once used the cup of the
sun as a vessel. Let me say in my turn that, when he goes to seek
Admetus in the kingdom of the dead, Heracles represents the springtime
sun that regenerates the sun of the winter solstice: this comes out
clearly in the diagrams. The duration of the labors of Heracles is
sometimes given as one lunar/solar year of fourteen months
(Trachiniae), sometimes as eight years and one month.'3 Eight years
is, approximately, one quarter of the mean sun. The extra month,
astronomically unexplainable, may symbolize the entry into another
cycle.
The affinity between the cycles of Apollo and Heracles is expressed in
many details of the legend. Hence, it is said that the god taught the
hero the art of archery.= The struggle of Apollo and Heracles over
Ambracia, judged in favor of Heracles by Cragaleus, takes on all its
meaning when one realizes that this city, situated not far from
Dodona, is opposite Delos, birthplace.,of Apollo, in relation to
Delphi. Since he had failed to conquer Delphi, would not Heracles, or
the group of people represented by this name, have wished to found an
oracle at Ambracia, which, as the direct heir to the oracle of Dodona,
would have tended to rival Pytho's?
A subsequent rearrangement of the mythical data made Apollo the
artisan of the glory of Heracles. It was understood that it was the
Delphic oracle who had directed the hero, after he had slain his
children and those of Iphitus in a moment of madness, to retire to
Tiryns and put himself in the service of Eurystheus, doing the works
that the latter commanded, after which he would gain immortality. And
Arrian says that Heracles was not given divine honors, either before
or after his death, until the god of Delphi had given word to do so.
The reconciliation of the two traditions is completed by the apparent
triumph of Apollo. But certain Heraclean directions, especially the
Sardis-Phlius-mouth of the Alpheus axis, seem to have played quite a
prominent role in the oracles of colonization, as will be seen in
chapter 19. Heracles appears as the champion and almost as the
instigator of Greek expansion, a role which seems natural, bearing in
mind the labors and journeys of the hero. And later he appeared on
many Sicilian and Alexandrian coins. In all these events, it is as
though Apollo, after having supplanted Heracles, had then by
compensation favored the spread of his cult throughout the Greek
world.
Edmond H. Wollmann P.M.A.F.A.
© 2005 Altair Publications, SAN 299-5603
Astrological Consulting http://www.astroconsulting.com/
Artworks http://www.astroconsulting.com/personal/
http://home.earthlink.net/~arcturianone/
13. A TEXT OF PLATO'S
The Zodiacal Wheel Centered on Delphi
The division of historical Greece into the twelve signs of the zodiac,
which had thus been clearly revealed, had quite probably left traces
in certain texts.
The work of P. Saintyves, Deux Mythes evangeligues: les douze apotres
et les soixante-douze disciples (1938), contributed some important
information. On the question in general, he wrote:
The influence of the stars in the sky, and especially of the twelve
signs that mark the path of the moon and the sun, could be enhanced
and made entirely benevolent if the earth itself was arranged as a
reflection of the heavens. The division of a state, population and
territory, into twelve sectors was an expression of reverence for the
gods of the zodiac, the twelve great celestial deities, and it would
surely attract their blessings. That this was true in Chaldea, at
least towards the year 2000 B.C., can hardly be doubted.
All the peoples who either adopted the Chaldaean zodiac or established
a set of twelve signs by imitation divided their countries into twelve
sectors, which were governed by twelve chieftains.
With regard to Greece, an especially important text for my purpose is
The Laws of Plato (Book V). Here is the essential passage:
Next, the founder must see that his city is placed as nearly as
possible in the center of the territory, after selecting a site
possessed of the other favorable conditions for his purpose; (it will
not be difficult to discover or to state them). Then he must divide
his city into twelve parts; but first he should establish and enclose
a sanctuary of Hestia, Zeus, and Athena-which he will call the
citadel-from which he will draw his twelve divisions of the city and
its whole territory. Equality of the twelve regions should be secured
by making those of good soil small and those of worse soil larger. He
should then make a division into five thousand and forty allotments.
Each of these, again, should be bisected and two half sections, a
nearer and a remoter paired together to form an allotment, one which
is contiguous to the city with one on the border. . . . Of course, the
legislator must also divide the population into twelve sections,
constructing these sections so as to be as nearly as possible on an
equality in respect of their other property of the whole of which he
will have made a careful record. Next he will be at pains to assign
the twelve divisions to twelve gods, naming each section after the god
to whom it has been allotted and consecrated, and calling it a tribe.
Further, the twelve segments of the city must be made on the same
lines as the division of the territory in general, and each citizen
must have two houses, one nearer the center of the state and the other
nearer the border. . . .
Our immediate concern, now that we have resolved on the division into
twelve parts, must be precisely to see in what conspicuous fashion
these twelve parts, admitting, as they do, such a multitude of further
divisions, with the subsequent groups which arise from them, down to
the five thousand and forty individuals-this will give us our
brotherhoods, wards, and parishes, as well as our divisions of battle
and columns of route, not to mention our currency and measures of
capacity, dry and liquid, and of weight-to see, I say how all these
details must be legally determined so as to fit in and harmonize with
each other.
The number 5040, which is so important in Plato's system of divisions,
is the product of the first seven numbers: "The whole integer series,
of course, admits division by any number and with any quotient, while
our 5040 can be divided . . . into fifty-nine quotients and no more,
ten of them, from unity upwards, being successive." And further on
(The Laws, VI) the philosopher goes on to say that although 5040 is
indivisible by 11, 5038 is divisible by 11 and by 458. In terms of the
relationships of 5040 with astrology it has the advantages of being
divisible by 7 (the seven planets), by 12 (the twelve signs), by 36
(the thirty-six decans), by 72 (the 72 spirits), and by 360 (the.
degrees of the zodiac).
Plato writes in The Laws, Book V:
Whether a new foundation is to be created from the outset or an old
one restored, in the matter of gods and their sanctuaries--what
temples must be founded in a given community and to what gods or
spirits they should be dedicated--no man of sense will presume to
disturb convictions inspired from Delphi, Dodona, the oracle of Ammon,
or by old traditions of any kind of divine appearances or reported
divine revelations.
In The Laws and in The Republic, Plato refers to the authority of
Delphi and does so repeatedly. It is therefore highly probable that
his plan of the ideal society was in many ways a later codification of
what had been an ancient practice. I believe this to be especially
true of the division of the country into twelve sectors that
corresponded to the gods of the zodiac.
This table may be used to interpret thousands of monuments from the
Middle East and the Mediterranean area and objects in every museum in
the world-what is utterly astonishing is that since 1967, when this
book was first published, archaeologists have been incapable of using
it! This speaks volumes about the rigidified state of some minds and
the negative effects of a certain kind of "ultra-rationalistic"
education. I have already given some examples of interpreting the
monuments in Delphes, Delos et Cumes. In this book I give yet another
in the detailed study of the temple of Athena in the Troad, which
stands as an anthology of the symbols studied. The table is as
follows:
A transition to the twelve-sign zodiac is impossible, because, in the
heroic deeds of Heracles, the places related to the beginning of the
year and to spring are represented by taurine creatures, such as the
river Achelous, Deianira's suitor. Similarly, Perseus, a solar hero
like Heracles, and as I will soon show, also associated with Leo, is
substituted for him as the conqueror of the Gorgon, the ancient
guardian of Virgo. So the sign of Aries is not really represented in
the labors and deeds of Heracles, and Libra and Virgo are merged. Let
me mention another interesting detail. According to one tradition,
Chiron had a secret refuge in a cave at Cape Malea. And the Mount
Pelion-Cape Malea line runs very nearly north to south, which
demonstrates a rather good knowledge of the relative geographical
positions of various sites on the Greek coast.
2. The Ancient Guardians of the Zodiac ("Hesiodic Guardians")
My observations establish that, in a certain number of labors,
Heracles confronts monsters that characterize the signs of the zodiac.
On this point as on several others, heroes like Theseus and Perseus
were to imitate him but would become more specialized. A list of
pre-Olympian deities, principally established on the Theogony of
Hesiod and The Library of Apollodorus" will be extremely useful for
the subsequent research.
Aries: Phorcys
Taurus: Geryon
Gemini: Thaumas
Cancer: Hydra, Typhon, Cerberus
Leo: Chimaera (Orthus)
Virgo: Gorgon
Libra: Phix or Sphinx
Scorpio: Dracus, Ophion, Echidna
Sagittarius: Centaurs
Capricorn: Griffins
Aquarius: Sirens, Pegasus, Chrysaor
Pisces: Ceto, Triton-Nereus
3. Heracles and Omphale
According to Apollodorus,'3 the conflict between Heracles and Apollo
over the Delphic tripod meant that Heracles wished to institute an
oracle that would rival Delphi. Zeus (or in a more ancient tradition,
Athena) then intervenes. Heracles, who had come to consult the Pythia
about being purified of the murder of Iphitus, was then ordered by the
oracle to be sold into slavery. And he served, for one year (or
three), Queen Omphale at Sardis. This can only mean that Heracles went
to renew himself with the power of the Delphic oracle, since, as I
believe, the oracles of Delphi and Sardis were identical. Marie
Delcourt, for one, was aware of this and wrote: "Between the old stone
of Delphi and the Queen of Lydia there is surely more than a mere
assonance."' In addition, a foundation oracle was to associate Delphi,
Heracles, and Sardis. Wasn't Pelops himself the son of Tantalus who
reigned at Smyrna, which is on the earth line joining Sardis and
Delphi? The Kings of Sardis were called the Heraclides, and Croesus
was so eager to emulate Heracles that he wanted to die on a pyre like
the demigod.
I shall now attempt to reconstruct the cycle of Heracles of Sardis in
general outline. This is a system of eight main directions, like that
of Phlius, where eight of the traditional labors have been placed.
Remaining are:
The Cretan Bull (eighth labor)
The struggle with triple Geryon (tenth labor)
The conquest of the golden apples of the Garden of the Hesperides
(eleventh labor)
The descent to the underworld at Cape Taenarum (twelfth labor).
It is obvious that the Cretan Bull and triple Geryon both stand for
the sign of Taurus. Since this sign is also already represented by
Augeas and Elis, I am led to conclude that Taurus appears no less than
three times in the traditional list of the twelve labors.
The Cretan Bull and triple Geryon must each represent a complete
calendar in which the year began at the spring equinox. And one of
these calendars is that of Sardis, in which the Cretan Bull symbolizes
Taurus. So the eighth labor establishes the link between the systems
of the Peloponnese and Sardis, a connection also represented by the
Sardis-Phlius-mouth of the Alpheus line, which is identical with the
Olympia-Isthmia line.
From the story of the adventures of Heracles in Anatolia, a zodiac can
be reconstituted which, in its present bastardized form, is somethingof a parody of the other labors of Heracles. In order to arrive at an
acceptable layout centered on Sardis, one is forced to eliminate Aries
and shift the earlier system by one sign, putting Taurus first rather
than Aries, then Gemini instead of Taurus and so on. In this way one
arrives at a scheme that probably corresponds to a more ancient state
of the sky than that of Phlius. The symbolic "polar" axis was very
probably the Cos-Mount Olympus of Bithynia direction.
Cancer. Significant in regard to Cancer is the sacrifice of the ram of
the New Year at Cos in the house of Eurypylus. The character's name,
which means "of the wide doors," refers to the solstitial gateways.
The punishment of Hera and Hephaestus, who are associated with him, is
an allusion to the equivalent axis in the Delian system.
At Cos, Heracles was honored as a god of marriage. The rite of
transvestism known to have been celebrated there must have been
associated with the summer solstice and Cancer, the lunar sign. The
change of season was interpreted as a change of sex; the decreasing
days marked the beginning of the feminine half of the year.
Gemini. The brothers Cercopes, who are associated with the region of
Ephesus, suggest a pleasant symbol of Gemini. The many images on vases
and sculptures of Heracles holding them like pieces of wild game,
their heads dangling, echo the hieroglyph for this sign.
Leo. Lityerses, the "accursed harvester," must undoubtedly be
associated with Leo and harvesttime in Anatolia (Leo-Virgo sector).
Libra. Similarly, the thief Syleus appears primarily as a grape
harvester. He probably represents the eastern part of Anatolia and the
sign of Libra. He may even represent a Libra-Scorpio-Sagittarius
sector, if one looks at other sites in the same episode: Aulis,
Thermopylae, and Mount Pelion which, in the systems centered on Phlius
or on Delphi, define a rather wide area that takes in the whole
northeast quarter.
Scorpio. The Serpent of Sangaris corresponds to this sign, with which
Hercules is usually associated in the character of the
serpent-strangler.
Capricorn. The episode of Hylas is connected with Cios on the coast of
Mysia and with Capricorn in the Sardis system. It was in this area,
according to Strabo, that some situated the myth of Typhon, another
reference to the Cancer-Capricorn axis.
Aquarius. The expedition against Troy is associated with the sign of
Aquarius (I will return to this).
Pisces. The marine monster Hesione (daughter of a king of Troy)
represents the sign of Pisces.
In the system centered on Sardis, these zodiacal axes can therefore be
found:
Cretan Bull: Serpent of Sangaris (Taurus-Scorpio)
Cercopes: Syleus (Gemini-Sagittarius)
Eurypylus: Hylas (Cancer-Capricorn)
Lityerses: Troy and the story of Hesione (Leo-Aquarius and Pisces),
which corresponds to a division into eight.
Let me point out that, because of the degraded state in which these
legends have come down to us, some correspondences are made by means
of locations in space, while for others (Syleus, Lityerses) the
connection is made through the calendar of field labors.
Furthermore, the Taurus-Scorpio and the Gemini-Sagittarius axes are
merged, a tangible expression of the phenomenon of the precession of
the equinoxes.
The connection between Hylas and Capricorn is not immediately obvious.
But Cios was founded by the lapith Polyphemus, which sets up a
relationship with Capricorn in the system centered on Delphi. Also,
Apollonius of Rhodes tells us that the young people of Cios, who were
sent as hostages to Heracles after the disappearance of Hylas, settled
at Trachis under the guidance of the hero" who represents Capricorn in
relation to Phlius. In this way subtle correspondences are interwoven
between equivalent points in the different systems.
4. A More General System. The Directions of Space
A psychologist of the stature of Jung saw the hero as an image of the
"integrated man," who contains in himself the four elements and the
four cardinal points. This concept doubtless corresponds to an aspect
of the legend of Heracles.
But while it appears clearly that there was a system centered at
Phlius and another at Delphi, it is impossible in the present state of
our knowledge to fully reconstitute the one centered on Delos. There
is, however, an important trace of such a system in the episode of the
"Boreades," who were slain by Heracles at Tinos, an incident that
would relate to the sign of Capricorn, the north-south axis, and the
cult of Boreas, so characteristic of this system oriented to Mount
Haemus.
In my subsequent study of the extension of the system of zodiacal
correspondences over the whole Mediterranean basin, I shall have the
opportunity to come back to certain features of the legend and travels
of Heracles. But I can say right away that several very important
episodes, particularly the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth labors, seem
to designate both spatial directions and prominent sites in the
systems centered at Delphi, Cumae, or Malta.
As already indicated, Geryon and his cattle stand for Taurus in a
calendar of three seasons (see p.118), and the story of the return of
Heracles, driving the cattle before him, supports the hypothesis of a
type of calendar that is valid for the whole Mediterranean basin.
Of such a system at least two axes can be found:
l. A Taurus-Eagle axis (island of Erythea-eagle of Prometheus).
2. A north-south or Cancer-Capricorn axis.
With to the north: Atlas or else the Ceryneian Hind in Istria.
And to the south: Antaeopolis in Lybia.
The pillars of Hercules, Hyperborea, and the Garden of the Hesperides
stand for other directions in the same system, which I believe to be
the southwest, the northwest, and the west, respectively.
5. Vestiges of an Earlier Zodiac in the Legend of Heracles; the Sign
of the Boar
Only one symbol of the earlier zodiac has survived in the labors of
Heracles: the Boar, which corresponds to the region later occupied by
the signs of Aquarius and Pisces. The heroic deed of Heracles
harnessing a lion and a boar to Admetus's nuptial chariot alludes to a
sacred marriage that took place at the summer solstice, the Leo-Boar
axis then functioning as the Leo-Aquarius cosmic axis. This has been
partly perceived by Robert Graves.
Certain incidents in the history of the hero immediately suggest the
following zodiacal symbols:
The swan at Pagasae (Sagittarius sector).
The wolf and the seagull (Keix) at Trachis (Capricorn sector).
Two visits to Calydon in 1963 and 1964 revealed the role played by the
ancient sign of the Boar in the system centered on Phlius. The very
arrangement of the sanctuary at Calydon is in fact very telling. The
sacred theores walked from the temple of Hera to the terrace of the
temple of Apollo and Artemis, which opens to a good view of the Gulf
of Patrae and the Erymanthus mountains. The mountains are invisible
from the temple of Hera, being hidden by the high promontory of
Varassova to the southeast. This clearly marked the symbolic
equivalence of the boars of Erymanthus and Calydon.
The extensive embankment of a natural hill allowed the two temples of
Apollo and Artemis to be oriented to a northwest southeast direction
which defines an angle of 130 degrees to the north. If this angular
value is transferred to the map of Greece, it becomes clear that the
two temples were turned towards Phlius, omphalos of this system. I
shall return to the question of the sign of the Boar in my attempts to
reconstitute the old Greek zodiac."
6. Heracles and Apollo
The myth of Heracles is as closely associated with the sun as is the
myth of Apollo. This is what Jane Harrison perceived when she wrote in
Themis that the demigod was a solar spirit, daimon of fertility and
the annual cycle. She interpreted from this perspective, correctly in
my opinion, the story of the combat of Heracles and the river Achelous
as told by Deianira at the beginning of
Sophocles' Trachiniae. She also commented that, at the beginning of
the play, the wives of Trachis invoked the sun to obtain news of the
hero.
She further mentions that the hero, as the "young sun," struggles with
Hades, the setting sun, at Pylos, and that he once used the cup of the
sun as a vessel. Let me say in my turn that, when he goes to seek
Admetus in the kingdom of the dead, Heracles represents the springtime
sun that regenerates the sun of the winter solstice: this comes out
clearly in the diagrams. The duration of the labors of Heracles is
sometimes given as one lunar/solar year of fourteen months
(Trachiniae), sometimes as eight years and one month.'3 Eight years
is, approximately, one quarter of the mean sun. The extra month,
astronomically unexplainable, may symbolize the entry into another
cycle.
The affinity between the cycles of Apollo and Heracles is expressed in
many details of the legend. Hence, it is said that the god taught the
hero the art of archery.= The struggle of Apollo and Heracles over
Ambracia, judged in favor of Heracles by Cragaleus, takes on all its
meaning when one realizes that this city, situated not far from
Dodona, is opposite Delos, birthplace.,of Apollo, in relation to
Delphi. Since he had failed to conquer Delphi, would not Heracles, or
the group of people represented by this name, have wished to found an
oracle at Ambracia, which, as the direct heir to the oracle of Dodona,
would have tended to rival Pytho's?
A subsequent rearrangement of the mythical data made Apollo the
artisan of the glory of Heracles. It was understood that it was the
Delphic oracle who had directed the hero, after he had slain his
children and those of Iphitus in a moment of madness, to retire to
Tiryns and put himself in the service of Eurystheus, doing the works
that the latter commanded, after which he would gain immortality. And
Arrian says that Heracles was not given divine honors, either before
or after his death, until the god of Delphi had given word to do so.
The reconciliation of the two traditions is completed by the apparent
triumph of Apollo. But certain Heraclean directions, especially the
Sardis-Phlius-mouth of the Alpheus axis, seem to have played quite a
prominent role in the oracles of colonization, as will be seen in
chapter 19. Heracles appears as the champion and almost as the
instigator of Greek expansion, a role which seems natural, bearing in
mind the labors and journeys of the hero. And later he appeared on
many Sicilian and Alexandrian coins. In all these events, it is as
though Apollo, after having supplanted Heracles, had then by
compensation favored the spread of his cult throughout the Greek
world.
Edmond H. Wollmann P.M.A.F.A.
© 2005 Altair Publications, SAN 299-5603
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