Achilles Island

The dying Achilles (Αχιλλεας θνησκων), a marble statue in the grounds of Achillion Palace, in the island of Kerkyra, raises the question to where Achilles the bravest of all Greeks was buried after he was killed in the Trojan War.  

In this Attic lekythos c. 510 BC we see Ajax carrying the body of Achilles.  It is exhibited at Staatliche Antikensammlungen in Munich. 

Although there are many sites claiming to be Achilles’ tomb, we have a credible story by Captain Kritzikly, who in 1824 visited the island of Leuke and discovered the ruins of a temple in which a wooden statue of Achilles was found.  Captain Kritzikly drew a map of the temple and described his findings in detail. 

In 1840s the island was visited again.  Unfortunately a lighthouse was built in the same spot and resulted in the complete destruction of the temple and the surrounding structures. (Image from Wikiwands)

The experts agree that there were many temples dedicated to Achilles on Leuke in the 6^th century BC.  Did the construction many temples on Leuke meant to honor Achilles or was it because he was buried in one of them?  Nobody knows as Achilles and Ajax likely were buried near Troy as Nestor tells Telemachus “so many battles round King Pram’s walls we fought, so many gone, our bravest and best fell.  There Ajax lies, there Achilles too, the greatest man of war. (Homer’s Odyssey Book Three 119-122), and this is why the “seabirds dip their wings in the water to sweep the temples clean”.  

Dawn of a New Day and a New Year

The games were over now. The gathered armies scattered,
each man to his fast ship, and fighters turned their minds
to thoughts of food and the sweet warm grip of sleep.

But Achilles kept on grieving for his friend,
the memory burning on . . .
and all-subduing sleep could not take him,
not now, he turned and twisted, side to side,
he longed for Patroclus' manhood, his gallant heart.

What rough campaigns they'd fought to an end together,
what hardships they had suffered, cleaving their way
through wars of men and pounding waves at sea.

The memories flooded over him, live tears flowing,
and now he'd lie on his side, now flat on his back,
now facedown again. At last he'd leap to his feet,
wander in anguish, aimless along the surf, 

until dawn appeared with her rosy finger flaming over the sea and shore 

would find him pacing.

 from Homer’s Iliad Book XXIV 

Parker Solar Probe acquired the first ever photo taken from inside the sun’s corona. The bright streak is a coronal streamer. Up to now, all photos of the sun have been taken from a great distance, either from ground or from telescopes in space given the sun’s extreme heat. The sun is a magnificent, hot, glowing ball of gas with its enormous hot plasma and bright coronal streamers streaking out into the surrounding blackness that matches Homer’s magnificent descriptions of sun’s rays at Dawn in both the Iliad and Odyssey. 

Today, at the dawn of the New Year, my favorite description of Dawn by Homer is… Dawn appeared with her rosy fingers.  I wish you all a Happy New Year.

Last Sail in 2018

My brother Nikos, steering Okyrhoe, to her winter berth.  They are near Patroclus islet and not far from cape Sounion.

Closing towards cape Sounion with a storm looming in the east. 

The sun lights a rock of the precipice at Sounion at sunset. Cape Sounion is surrounded on three sides by the sea and is where king Aegeas waited for his son Theseus return from Crete. 

Cape Sounion which the Venetians called Capo Colonne is noted for its temple of Poseidon, one of the major monuments of the Golden Age of Greece. 

Cape Sounion is close to the city of Lavrio, which in antiquity was called Thorikon.  It was known for its silver mines the proceeds from which supported the rise of Athens to the most important city in Classical Greece.

The leaves fall and the generations pass

Like the generations of leaves, 

So are the lives of mortal men.

Now the wind scatters the old leaves 

Across the earth,

And when the spring comes round again

The living timber bursts with new buds.

And so with men, 

One generation comes to life 

While another dies away.

From Homer’s Iliad

In memory of Norbert (Nobby) Enslen a good man, father and husband who passed peacefully at the age of 68.

An Epic Journey

Voyager I & II are celebrating 40 years of exploration this August and September. Image from NASA.

Amazing planetary encounters in Voyagers’ journey includes discovering the first active volcanoes beyond Earth, on Jupiter’s moon Io and hints of a subsurface ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa.

Voyager I (top) launched on September 5, 1977, has traveled beyond our solar bubble into interstellar space almost 13 billion miles from Earth. Voyager II (bottom) launched on August 20, 1977, is still exploring the outer layer of the solar bubble, is almost 11 billion miles from Earth. Image NASA/JPL-Caltech

Now that Voyager I has left the solar system, its next big spaceflight milestone comes with a flyby of a star called AC +79 3888, which lies 17.6 light-years from Earth, in 40,000 years from now.  Although the spacecrafts’ science instruments will be turned off by 2030, they’ll continue their journeys at their speed of more than 30,000 mph, completing an orbit within our Milky Way galaxy every 225 million years. 

Each spacecraft carries a Golden Record of Earth sounds, pictures and messages. Since the spacecraft journey could last for millions of years, these time capsules could one day tell the story of human civilization on planet Earth. 

και αν μας βρητε ακομα ζωντανους, εδω στη Ιθακη             

θα σας καλοσωρισουμε, με δωρο αντι δωρου                

και θα γλεντησουμε μαζυ, διοτι ετσι ειναι το εθιμο μας, 

με αυτους που ειναι ποντοποροι

but if you found him alive, here in Ithaca

we would have replied in kind, gift for gift,

and entertained you warmly..

that’s the old custom, when one has led the way

                                                                               from Homer’s Odyssey 24.315-18