To begin the new series, we are starting at the city of Pylos, from where the characters resume their search for the sacred relics of the Mother Goddess.
The ancient site of Pylos was a Mycenaean city in southern Greece, established in the bronze-age, circa 1,300 BCE. Its location on the western coast in the Peloponnese, facing the Ionian Sea and the Italian coast, enabled the city to become a trading port.
Legends and mythologies have a basis in fact, the nexus from which ancient cultures tried to make sense of their world. It was a way to explain decisions and actions a person makes and to give guidance. Long before the bible, these tales served to provide instructions and warnings to communities. For example take Herakles and his 12 labours. A son of a god to a mortal woman (sound familiar??) who is condemned by a jealous goddess, influenced to kill his family, then told by the Delphic Oracle he must seek out the King of Tiryns to atone for his terrible deeds. Did a man called Herakles exist? Then one must ask the question as to whether Jesus existed. If the answer to the latter is yes, then couldn’t Herakles also be a real person?
One of the most famous depictions of Heracles, originally by Lysippos (Marble, Roman copy called Hercules Farnese, 216
Courtesy of Wikipedia
The concept of a physician or medicine man, depending on the culture, has been around since prehistoric times and used both natural and supernatural means to treat patients. The first recorded physician dates back to Egypt (2667-2648 BCE) named Imhotep and the first surgery performed in 2750 BCE. The Egyptians were also the first to write medical texts outlining the disease, diagnosis and treatment. Herodotos makes note in his ‘Histories’ of the specialist treatment by the Egyptians. The Babylonians also had written medical texts dating back to the first half the 2nd millennium BCE. The first field doctors to be mentioned were in Homer’s Iliad, two men each skilled in different medical practices, much like a specialist and a GP today.
Asklepius
The Glypotek, Copenhagen
Photo by Nina Aldin Thune
Wikipedia
