PART
2 – Ch.XIV.5
(KION OURANOU. The Sky Column on
in
the country of the Hyperboreans)
XIV.
5. The Sky Column from the Carpathians, as sacred emblem of the acropolis
of
The Sky Column from
the south-eastern corner of the Carpathians, which even today hides its top
into the clouds, had in the most remote times of prehistory, and still has
partly today, the shape of a stunted, four angled pyramid.
Each face of this
column represented then the shape of a trapeze and each face has once been
decorated with certain figures, some of which can be made out even today,
although only just, and about which we shall speak in the next chapters.
The dimensions of
this column, as we ourselves have measured it in 1900 when we climbed the peak
of Bucegi in order to study from a historical point of view this important
monument of ancient world, are: height = 9.99m and base width of the longer
sides =10.72m. (The SE and NW sides are wider, the SW and NE narrower).
This column has
been considered in ante-Homeric times as the most sacred religious symbol of
the entire Pelasgian world. It was represented with the same shape on the
religious monuments of Hellada and
The oldest
reproduction of this column is found on the cyclopean walls which encircled
once the famous acropolis of
The southern part
of Hellada, called
Its oldest name had
been Pelasgia (Strabo, Geogr. lib. V. 2. 4).
One of the most
important provinces of the
There existed in
During the times of
the Trojan War, king in
Homer calls
The acropolis of
On the
south-western side of the citadel was the lower city of Mycenae, also
surrounded with walls, but less significant, although on the site of this city
a number of edifices built in cyclopean style still exist (Ibid, p.92, 94), the
most monumental being the underground so-called “Treasure of Atreus”.
These impressive
buildings tell us that
Euripides calls
He calls the
The first settling
of the Pelasgians in
The material and
moral culture of these Pelasgians during the Neolithic epoch presents from
every point of view the same ethnic character, the same evolution in the way of
industry and art, as the civilization of the Pelasgians from the north of
The stone
implements, chisels and arrows (Schliemann,
Mycenes, p. 144. 181. 354; Perrot,
Grece primitive, p. 116. 119. 127) of these southern Pelasgians, discovered
under the ruins of their cyclopean edifices, their archaic pottery, its
ornamentation (Ibid. Mycenes, p. 107. 127. 130. 167. 191. 192. 243) and their
clay idols (Ibid, Mycenes, p.61. 137;
There is only one
difference: the technique of the clay vases of
The Pelasgians of
the cyclopean times of
[1. The great divinities of the
inhabitants of
As for the physical type of the aristocracy of Mycenae, judging by the gold
masks discovered in the graves of the acropolis (Schliemann, Mycenes, p.300, 371 and 418), it appears as a powerful
and serious race, endowed with great intelligence, with an enterprising and domineering
spirit; it is a type which in its characteristic traits is entirely different
from the Greek figures from historical times].
During the times of
the Trojan War, or in other words the prehistoric epoch of the metals, an
entirely particular civilization begins and flourishes in the lands which
constitute the eastern basin of the
The monuments of
this civilization are especially represented in the ruins of
“The state”, writes
Perrot, “the capital of which was
Mycenae, seems to have been the most powerful constituted state in continental
Greece during the first four or five centuries before the Dorian invasion. This
is attested in the poem by the rank given to Agamemnon as leader of the
alliance against
The national origin
of the Pelasgians of the
Between
Pelasg, the legendary king of
Pelops, the founder of the dynasty of
Eurystheus, the king of
This powerful king
of
Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, chased by the
Furies for having killed his mother Clitemnestra, came to purify himself and
recover his health to the sacred altar from
[2. Ancient traditions tell us that Orestes, after being freed from the
Furies, ran to
We have to note that under the name
of “
It is probable that the legend about
the death of Orestes in Orestion of Arcadia referred in the beginning to the
town Orestia from Ardel (Transilvania).
Aeneas, leaving
The young priestess
Io, persecuted by the caste of the
priests of Argos, takes refuge in the mountains from the north of Istru, from
there she goes to the Amazons, then to the Pelasgians of Scythia, then to those
of Asia, and from there to her people in Egypt.
Menelaus, the king of
En engraving on an
Etruscan mirror shows Helen dressed
in a rich Pelasgian costume, sitting on a throne and stretching her hand
towards Agamemnon, whom she receives
in her kingdom in Leuce island. Between these two persons is figured Menelaus as a young man, holding in his
right hand a phial, and in his left hand a lance (Duruy, Hist. d. Gr. I. p. 152).
In the traditions
of the Pelasgians of the
A special interest
for the origin of the Pelasgians of Argos and the evolution of the Mycenaean
civilization is presented by the religious
emblem which decorates the cyclopean walls of
Above the main gate
of the acropolis of
It is a sort of
bas-relief on which three altars are represented on the lower part, two at the
front and one at the back, but from this latter only part of the pedestal is
visible (Schliemann, preoccupied more with his findings than with
archaeological research has believed that on this bas-relief only one altar had
been represented). A Doric column rises from the big altar at the back and on
each side of it a lion is figured, facing outwards, with the front legs propped
on the slabs topping the altars. (The artist wanted to indicate by these three
top slabs the number of the altars, which also seem to have been placed in the
shape of a triangle, two small ones at the front and a big one at the back, on
the right, like the real three cyclopean altars cut in live rocks are).
The emblem of Mycenae.
The bas-relief which decorates the
main gate of the acropolis.
(After Duruy, Hist. d. Grecs.
We are here in
front of a monument of religious sculpture ante-dating the epoch of Homer.
Various
archaeologists have tried to interpret the obscure meaning of this monumental
sculpture masterpiece, but so far no satisfying conclusion founded on positive
data, and corresponding at least in part with the original idea, has been
reached.
The emblem of Mycenae.
(After Perrot et Chipiez, Grece primitive. Pl. XIV)
“It is considered
generally”, writes Schliemann
(Mycenes, p.87), “that this figure has a symbolic meaning. But which is this
meaning? Various conjectures have been made: some believe that the column alludes
to the cult by which the Persians worshipped the sun; others see in this column
a symbol of the sacred fire, and finally, some think that it represents Apollo
Agyieus, the guardian of the gates. I share this latter opinion”.
Perrot, another distinguished modern
archaeologist confesses that the difficulties start with the interpretation of
certain details of this emblem. Finally, he reckons that this column is only a
representation in miniature of the palace of the kings of
All these are
simple suppositions, which can not be supported either by texts, or by some
analogous archaeological finding. All the archaeologists who studied the
ante-Homeric civilization generally admit that the sacred emblem from the
cyclopean walls of
When we wish to
interpret the narrative meaning of the monumental bas-relief we are met with
this first matter: why the artist of
The artist of
The main Column on
View from SE
(After a photograph
from 1900)
Whoever
contemplates from close, or even from afar, the grandiose shape of the column
which rises on
Our eyes are first
attracted by two lines almost parallel which start from the base, near the
ground level, continue upwards, and above these lines can be observed two
horizontal lines in the shape of a capital. We can suppose therefore that this
bas-relief almost effaced from the column of the Carpathians, had once
represented the shape of a gigantic Doric column.
Other ancient marks
can also be seen on the left side of the column.
On the lower part
there is the figure of an altar, represented in the same style as on the
Mycenaean slab, and above it a few black points, and under these points some
curved lines rising upwards, with the appearance of a figure which once had
represented the head of a man or an animal, looking outwards.
The Sky Column on
S-SW face, on which can still be
recognized marks almost effaced of a bas-relief
representing a Doric column, an altar,
and above it a human head with long
hair.
(TN – or possibly the head of a lion
and a human head). On the left is the vulture of Prometheus.
(After a photograph
from 1899).
We have talked so
far about the resemblance between these two monuments from the point of view of
the lines which form the outside contour, as well as from the point of view of
the figures.
We have now to find
out how the ancients interpreted this cyclopean emblem of
Euripides, who treated especially the prehistoric
legends and ethnography of Argos, calls the acropolis of Mycenae celestial cyclopean stone walls
(Troades, v. 1088); and in another place cyclopean
and celestial walls (Ibid. Electra, v. 1138). He also calls Mycenae the Cyclops’ altars (Ibid. Iphig. Aul.
v. 152). These expressions of celestial walls and cyclopean altars used by
Euripides to designate Mycenae, are without doubt only an allusion to the
emblem which characterized the Pelasgian walls of the acropolis [3].
[3. Above the column represented on
the relief of Mycenae can also be observed a
representation of the walls of
prehistoric citadels, formed by two horizontal slabs and four transverse
beams (Perrot et Chipiez, Grece
primitive, p.479; Froehner, La
Colonne Trajane, Pl. 147-149).
The artist had wanted to express by
this composition that the sacred sky column was in charge of supporting the
walls of the acropolis of Mycenae].
We have therefore a
positive text, coming from one of the most competent authors, relating to the
traditions of Mycenae, text which makes it clear that the slab-trapeze, which
was part of its gigantic walls, did not represent Apollo Agyieus, or the sacred
fire of the Persians, or the palace of the Atreides, but the Uranic column or the Sky column from ancient Atlas in the
country of the Hyperboreans, and at the same time the cyclopean altars of the Olympian gods, which were in fact on the
same mountain, not far from the figure of Zeus aigiochos.
Or, in other words,
those who have built the cyclopean walls of Mycenae wanted to represent in this
emblem the most sacred ancestral symbols, the Sky column and the cyclopean
altars from the ancient country of the dynasty of Mycenae and of its
inhabitants.
The relief of
Mycenae represented in the first place a religious symbol. The walls of the
Pelasgian cities and citadels had always been considered as sacred.
The religious
character of this emblem is also confirmed by some glyptic specimens from the
Mycenaean epoch.
One of these
engraved stones, discovered in one of the oldest graves of Mycenae, shows a
column in the middle and two altars in front of it, one bigger than the other.
There are two griffons figured on it instead of the two lions, tied with gold
threads to the column consecrated to the sky, and propped with their front legs
on the bigger altar at the back.
The country of the
griffons was, according to ancient legends, the country of the Hyperboreans.
They guarded the gold of the Arimaspians, and on the occasions of his great
feasts Apollo the Hyperborean traveled to the southern countries astride a
griffon, which meant that the mother country was also sending gifts of gold to
the sanctuaries of Hellada.
According to Euripides, the rock which stood on ancient Olympus between the sky and the
earth, was tied all around with gold
chains. This was of course an allegorical expression. It designated the
mountains rich in gold which surrounded this column.
On two other
engraved stones discovered, one in Crete, the other in Mycenae, the middle
column has disappeared.
One of the
specimens shows two altars, one larger than the other, and above these altars a
star with twelve rays, symbol of consecration, by which the artist wanted to
express that here were represented the cyclopean altars of the Olympian gods,
altars which had been placed among constellations. On this engraved stone the
heads of the lions, exactly like those of the griffons, are turned backwards.
It is an unnatural representation, certainly executed as such only in order to
put even more in evidence the mystical shape of the trapeze, consecrated by a
certain tradition, and which represented the sky column [4].
Stone engraved in Mycenaean style, Engraved stone, Mycenae.
representing the cyclopean altars (Crete)
( Perrot et Chipiez,
Grece primitive, Pl. XVI. 11; 20)
[4. The funerary columns of Mycenae had
also the shape of a trapeze.
On one of these funerary stelae a column is figured in the middle, and
on its both sides are shown the gold chains of the Olympus rock, in the shape
of thick ropes bent in zig-zags ].
On the other
engraved stone the artist has represented only one big altar. It is the “ara
maxima” of theogony, near which the Olympian gods had made their pact in their
difficult war with the Titans. On both sides of this altar one lion is figured
with only one head among them.
The archaeological
study of this important monument from the Carpathians forces us to open at this
point another parenthesis.
Above the two
almost parallel lines which we see impressed with such expression on this
column, can still be distinguished the almost vanished marks which represented
a huge human head in profile. The figure looks towards left, and from the head
descend three long hair locks, twisted by the archaic custom. It has a very
curious physiognomy. The upper part of the profile has a remarkable preeminence
compared to the lower part. It is the same characteristic type also appearing
on some painted vases, discovered in the cyclopean houses of Mycenae (Schliemann, Mycenes, p.211. 217; Perrot, Grece primitive, p.935; Duruy, Hist. d. Grecs. I. 35).
(TN – I enlarged the particular area
of the rock about which Densusianu is talking, without retouching it.
One can see very clearly the two
heads, the lion’s head on the left, and the human’s head on the right).
This human figure,
which still adorns the column of the Carpathians, was also well known to Greek
antiquity.
Various specimens
of ceramic painting present the legendary pillar of the sky in the shape of a
Ionic or Doric column, and near this column a human figure in profile, having
in everything the same characteristic type as that from the monument of Dacia.
One of these
paintings represents the ordeal of Prometheus on Atlas mountain.
The hero of human
wisdom has his hands and legs tied to a Doric column. The vulture tears up his
chest. In front of Prometheus is Atlas, with bent knees, supporting on his
shoulders the immense weight of the sky, under the shape of a huge boulder. On
the left there is shown a large irritated serpent, which rises up on its tail,
intent on biting Atlas. Certainly the artist wanted to represent the dragon
from the garden of the Hesperides, which, according to legends, guarded the
golden apples which Atlas had taken.
Prometheus’
physiognomy and his long locks present a curious resemblance with the human
head whose marks can still be observed on the column of Bucegi.
On top of this
column on which Prometheus is tied up, there is figured a bird of a gentle
nature, smaller than the vulture. It is the Phoenix of the ancients, or another
bird symbolizing the sky, which we often find represented in antique paintings,
either on top of some column, or in other scenes with the Olympian gods (Lenormant, Elite d. mon. ceramograph.
I. pl. XXIX A, XXIX B; LXV A, LXXI). In Romanian carols is mentioned even today
a bird which dwells in heaven, admired by God and angels for its sweet
melodious songs (Teodorescu, Folk
poetry, p.89).
This smallish bird,
figured in at attitude as of singing, indicates in any case that Prometheus is
tied on the sky column.
The ordeal of Atlas and Prometheus.
Scene supported by the gigantic column of the Universe.
Painting on a vase.
(Gerhard, Auserles. Vasenbilder. Taf. LXXXVI)
This entire scene
which presents the ordeal of the two famous titans, is supported at its base by
another stronger column. The artist wanted to express through this new motif
that the figure of Atlas, which supports on his shoulders the weight of the
sky, and the figure of chained Prometheus, were represented on the gigantic
column of the world.
We find another
interpretation of the human figure from the column of Dacia on a chalice
discovered in Etruria in the digs from Camposcala (Lenormant, Ibid, I. pl. LXIII).
The decoration from
this antique chalice shows the birth of Minerva from Jove’s head, executed by
an artist from Italy after a Greek model. The great Zeus is shown in profile,
sitting on a throne (high backed chair). At his back is represented a Ionic
column. The god is crowned with laurels, and four long, twisted hair locks fall
on his shoulders. His physiognomy presents the same type as that of the archaic
profile from the monument of the Carpathians.
This column from
the Omul Peak had been therefore very well known to the artists of Greco-Roman
antiquity. It had been considered as the most sacred monument of the ancient
world, symbol of the divine throne, traditional model of hieratic painting.
Only one symbol had
remained enigmatic. The titanic figure, whose faint marks are still seen on the
column from Carpathians, appeared so effaced even during the historical times
of Greece, that some considered that it represented Prometheus in chains, while
others saw in it Zeus, the sovereign of Olympus.
We return now to
the emblem from the cyclopean walls of Mycenae.
Apart from its
religious symbolism, this emblem had at the same time the character of a national tradition. It attested the
origin of the dynasty and of the tribes which had once founded the powerful
capital of Argos.
From this monument of
the cyclopean times, the city of Mycenae appears as a colony founded by people
from the north of Istru, the Pelasgian shepherds who had come to the southern
lands from the Carpathians [5].
[5. Atlas appears in ancient traditions as the ancestor of several famous dynasties and families from the southern
Pelasgian regions, not only from the Peloponnesus (Mycenae, Corinth, Sparta,
Elis, Arcadia), but also from other regions of Hellada, Asia Minor, Italy and
Africa.
Electra, one
of his daughters, is the mother of Dardanos,
the patriarch of the Trojans. Another daughter of Atlas, Calypso, is the mother of Auson
and Latinus; and finally, his
daughter Pasiphae is the mother of Ammon, the shepherd king of Libya and
Egypt (Pauly-Wissowa, R. E., Atlas,
p.2122)].
Curtius writes about the conditions in which the
ancient colonies of Hellada were formed and governed (Bouche-Leclercq, Histoire grecque, I. 575).
These colonists
took their country with them everywhere they went. They took the fire from the
hearth of their mother-city. From there they also took the images of the gods
of their race. They were accompanied by priests and prophets descended from the
old families. The protective divinities of the old metropolis were invited to
take part in this new settlement and these colonists were always animated by
the wish to represent everything in their new country after the model of their
city of birth: acropolis, temple, plazas and streets. The colony took often the
name of the mother-city, or the name of a village which belonged to it.
So, during the time
of the building of its cyclopean walls, the city of Mycenae appears to have
been, as expressed figuratively by its emblem, subordinate, from a religious
point of view, to the cult of Dacia. But the religious and political
administration was concentrated in those times in the same hands. The great
priests were at the same time the kings.
We can therefore
suppose that Mycenae in ante-Homeric times was subordinated not only to the
religious hierarchy from the north of the Danube, but it had also to accept the
decisions of the mother country in some political matters.
In the great war
with the Trojans, Mycenae played the principal and decisive role.
The Pelasgians of
Hellada and Thrace, allied with the Pelasgians from the north of Istru, fought
the Pelasgians of Asia Minor for the rule of the seas which separated Europe
from Asia. Troy was destroyed. A part of its citizens was taken in captivity
and another part was forced to emigrate. History though, this divine nemesis,
had reserved to Mycenae the same sad fate.
As Diodorus Siculus writes (lib. XI. 65),
“during the 78th Olympiad (468bc) a war erupted between the
inhabitants of Argos and Mycenae.
The cause was the
following: the inhabitants of Mycenae, proud of the ancient glory of their
country, refused to accept the hegemony of Argos, in contrast to the other
cities from the province of the Argolid. They governed themselves by their own
laws and institutions, which had nothing in common with those of the Argiens.
The Mycenaeans also had a quarrel with the Argiens for the temple of Juno and
for the religious ceremonies of that temple, and they pretended at the same
time that the direction and administration of the Nemeian games belonged to
them.
As for the Argiens,
they resented Mycenae because, while the Argiens had decided to send help to
the Spartans at Thermopyle only with the condition of receiving part of the
supreme command, the Mycenaeans alone among all the inhabitants of the Argolid
had sent troupes to help the Spartans. Finally, the Argiens feared that the
Mycenaeans will contest their hegemony, encouraged by their ancient glory.
So the Argiens,
envious of Mycenae and having wanted for a long time to destroy this city,
believed that the time had come, especially seeing that the Spartans were in no
situation to give help to Mycenae. So, they gathered a large army from Argos
and other allied cities and sent it against Mycenae. The inhabitants of Mycenae
were defeated and withdrew inside the walls, where they were besieged. They
resisted for a while, but finally they weakened and because the Spartans could
not send them any help, as they had their own wars and calamities, like some
earthquakes, the citadel was assaulted. The citizens were taken into captivity
and Mycenae was razed to the ground.
This city, which in
ancient times had enjoyed a great prosperity, which had given birth to famous
men, and boasted glorious deeds, was destroyed and has been deserted to our own
days”.
And Pausanias also writes (lib. V. 23. 3;
VII. 25. 6) on this matter:
After the Persians
were chased out of Greece, Mycenae and Tirynth were destroyed by the Argiens.
Because the Argiens could not conquer Mycenae because of its walls which were
very strong, built as it is told, by the Cyclops, the inhabitants of Mycenae
were defeated through famine and forced to leave the city and the citadel. Some
withdrew at Cleonae (between Corinth and Argos), others ran to Cerynia in
Arcadia and almost half of them withdrew to Macedonia.
The fall and destruction
of Mycenae had happened during the time of Euripides.
He alludes to this fate of Mycenae in one of his fine tragedies (Orestes, v.
947 seqq).
Electra, the
daughter of king Agamemnon, who after his return from Troy had been killed by
his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegistus, laments like this:
“Oh, country of the Pelasgians (o
Pelasgia), I begin to lament you and with my white nails I scratch my
bleeding face and I beat my head, as it is fit for you, beautiful queen of the
other world. Let the country of the
Cyclopes (ga Kyclopia) lament with me, let her undo her tresses and mourn
the unhappiness of the house of the Atreides. They deserve this lamentation for
the family which once commanded the armies of Greece has been extinguished. It
vanished, it vanished the entire family of the descendents of Pelops, vanished
the glory which had crowned the head of this blessed house. It succumbed
because of the envy of the gods and because of the hostile and murderous
feeling which overcame the community of Argos. Oh! piteous race of the mortals,
condemned to suffering, you can see how fate brings suddenly upon us
misfortunes over misfortunes ….
Oh! if I could go
to that rock which rises between sky and
earth, to that piece of land at that Olympus, tied all around with gold
chains, and call from there, crying, the ancient father Tantalus, who gave birth to the ancestors of my people” (Ibid,
Orestes, v. 969-977) [6].
[6. The Olympus of Euripides is the
Olympus from near Oceanos potamos, the father of the gods (Homer, Iliad, XIV. v. 201. 246; Hesiod, Theog. v. 119), the Olympus
Atlantiacus of Calpurnius (IV.
83), or from the country of the Hyperboreans at north of Istru, where,
according to Ovid (Pont. II. 10.
45), Pliny (H. N. IV. 26. 11) and Mela (III. 5), were the cardines mundi, the pillars or hinges
of the universe].
This rock from
ancient Olympus at the ends of the world, identical with the column of the
Carpathians, had played therefore an immense role in the traditions and beliefs
of the Pelasgians of Argos. It had been the sacred symbol of the country from
where the dynasty of Mycenae drew its origin and this symbol had been figured
on its cyclopean walls, had been represented on the funerary stelae of the Mycenaean
aristocracy and on the engraved stones which served as seals and amulets [7].
[7. The origin of the Mycenaean dynasty having been near the mountains of
Bucegi can also be confirmed by the ancient kinship of families.
Between ancient Argos and the region
of south-eastern Carpathians there exists a surprising identity of family
names.
Representatives of the ancient
Pelasgian families from Argos appear to have been the following:
Perseus, the
founder of Mycenae (Pausanias, II.
15. 4), and Sthenelos, a son of his;
Pelops, the
great hero of Hellada, venerated as a demi-god even by Hercules (Pausanias, V. 13. 1. 2). His reign had
extended over the entire Peloponnesus, to which it had been given his name;
Atreus, a
son of Pelops, king of Mycenae;
Tantalos, a
friend and guest of the gods on Olympus, the father of Pelops. He had been king
in Sipylos (Apollodorus, II. 5. 6),
but certainly not Sipylos of Phrygia. He had been married to one of the
daughters of Atlas (Dione or Tagyete);
Dasculos, a
son of Tantalos;
Inachos, a
son of the river Oceanos (prehistoric Istru), mythical king in Argos;
Proetos,
king in Argos, under the reign of whom Tirynth
was surrounded with cyclopean walls (Pausanias,
II. 16. 5).
In the Romanian villages from the
feet of Bucegi mountain in Transilvania, still existed, according to official
acts from the beginning of the past century, and maybe still exist today, the
following ancient families: Persoiu,
Plesa, Andreiu, Inescu, Preotesa, Turia, Stanciu, Staniloiu and Tatar.
The name Tatar appears as very
ancient in the northern parts of Istru. The historian Herodorus, who lived before Herodotus, mentions a Scythian with the
name of Teutaros, who had taught
Hercules the art of the bow and arrows (Fragm. 5).
As we see, there is a remarkable
resemblance between the names of the ancient princely persons from Argos and
the names of some Romanian families from the vicinity of Bucegi, and this
resemblance acquires a historical value when we keep in mind that the origin of
the Pelasgians from Argos goes back (by monuments and traditions) to the north
of Istru and to the same group of mountains.
The name Pelops seems though to correspond more to the form Pelescu or Peles.
The name Atreus, its original form has certainly been Andreius, as the same name appears in
As for the name