Halcyon days

Halcyon days, a period when storms do not occur derived its name from Alcyone (Αλκυονη in Greek), who was the daughter of Aeolus, God of winds.  When Alcyone's husband fell in the sea, in a shipwreck, she threw herself into the sea whereupon the Gods transformed them into halcyon birds (kingfishers).  When Alcyone made her nest on the beach, waves threatened to destroy it, but Aeolus kept his winds calm so she could lay her eggs.  It was these calm periods that became known as the "halcyon days".  It is a period of 7 to 14 days when storms do not occur or it denotes a period that is remembered for its happiness.  I wish you all dear friends, many Halcyon periods, in your lives.

Picture of seagulls flying near the islet of Rafti by Kostas Fotos. 

Most Popular Posts

As you know on the first day of the new year, I publish the all-time favorites.   This year the top three from the 190 posts were:

1.    In the Land of the Cyclops

http://dgscrosscountrychronicles.blogspot.com/2016/04/in-land-of-cyclops.html

2.   Poseidon’s Temple and the Aegean Sea

http://dgscrosscountrychronicles.blogspot.com/2014/04/poseidons-temple-and-aegean-sea.html

3.   Porto Rafti

http://dgscrosscountrychronicles.blogspot.com/2014/03/porto-rafti.html

Most of the 50,000+ visitors were from the United States, followed by Greece and Russia, France, Germany, Ukraine, Ireland, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia.

I wish you all and your loved ones a healthy and happy New Year.  I also hope 2020 will bring peace on home planet Earth.

The Sirens

Emerging from the Underworld, Odysseus and his few remaining men returned to the island of Circe to learn from her that they were about to begin the most dangerous part of their journey.

According to Circe they must sail past Sirens’ island, who were sea nymphs, and whose songs drew men to a watery grave. The Sirens (Greek: Σειρηνες) were maidens of Persephone, who were transformed to birds by Demeter, Persephone’s mother, in order to assist in the search for her daughter who was abducted by Hades the God of Underworld.  

After their failure to find Persephone they settled on the island of Anthemoessa, which according to Homer was situated between Circe’s island and the rock of Skyla. It is not known with certainty where the island of Anthemoessa was located.  As Capo Circeo was on the north end of the bay of Napoli and Skyla was further south the likely candidates were either the island of Ischia or Capri in the Campania region of Italy.  

When Odysseus and his companions passed by the Sirens and were unmoved by their songs, the legend has it, the Sirens threw themselves into the seas and were metamorphosed into the rocks, as it had been decreed that they should live only till some one hearing their song should pass by unmoved.  Some impressive rocks near Capri are likely connected with the legend of Sirens self-destruction.  

Odysseus on the advice of Circe plugs his crew ears with bee wax and ties himself on the mast.  He admonishes his men to keep rowing and ignore his pleas to untie him.

We sailed past the land of the Sirens on the west coast of Italy.  We kept a safe distance and though we did not plug our ears with bee wax or tied Nikos-our skipper-on the mast, no seductive songs reached our ears on our sail to the Aeolian Islands.