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The Land of the Solstices: Myth, geography and astronomy in ancient Greece
Tomislav Bilic
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Following the recent upsurge of interest in ancient geography and astronomy, together with the ever-present fascination with myth, this book offers a fresh study of what is commonly but erroneously known as ‘solar myth’. This subject has been at the margins of scholarly interest, mainly due to the now-outdated theories of myth that used solar phenomena as an interpretative key to explain most traditional narratives. This book offers a more rigorous methodology and more selective interpretation applicable to a group of myths referencing solar phenomena. The class of ‘solar’ myths discussed in this book is thus formed out of traditional narratives that either explicitly include references to solar movement or the recognition of such references does not require strained interpretations.
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The Land of the Solstices
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Contents
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List of figures
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Abstract
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1. Introduction
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1.1. Selective interpretation of myth
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1.2. Ethnographic context
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1.3. Inclusive definitions of science
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1.4. Myth and physical phenomena
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1.5. Myth and ancient science
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1.6. Anthropomorphisation and narrativisation
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1.7. Observational data in myths
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1.8. Mythic models
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1.9. Conclusion
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Part One: Annual solar movement
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2. The Laestrygonians and the geographical arctic circle
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2.1. Interpreting the ‘meteorological’ facet of the Lastrygonian episode
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2.2. Crates’ interpretation of the Laestrygonian passage
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2.3. Crates’ interpretation and arctic circle
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2.4. The limits of the annual solar movement
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2.5. Arctic circle in epic poetry
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2.6. Laestrygonia, the sun and the Otherworld
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2.7. Conclusion
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3. The Bear Mountain
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3.1. The Cyzicus episode
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3.2. Celestial bears at the solstice island
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3.3. A pre-Homeric Argonautica
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3.4. Conclusion
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4. Snatched away by the gust of wind
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4.1. The island of turning
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4.2. The Harpies and eschatology
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4.3. Other mythic snatchings
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4.4. The snatchings in their solar context
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4.5. An alternative model—cosmological solstice mountain
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4.6. A reinterpretation of the northern mountains model
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4.7. A region outside the sun’s course in non-Greek traditions
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4.8. Conclusion
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5. The island of the sun’s turning
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5.1. The concept of solstices in early Greek tradition
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5.2. Heliotropia and the localisations of Homeric tropai êelioio
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5.3. The localisations of Homeric tropai êelioio in the context of solar movement
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5.4. Pytheas’ Thule and the turnings of the sun
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5.5. Conclusion
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6. Pytheas and Hecataeus: Britain and Hyperborea
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6.1. Pytheas and the northern barbarians
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6.2. Britain in the wake of Pytheas
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6.3. Hecataeus’ Hyperborea
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6.4. Hyperboreans, Apollo and Celts
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6.5. Conclusion
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7. Apollo’s Hyperborean voyage: a narrative model of solar movement
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7.1. Delphian traditions
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7.2. Athenian and Delian traditions
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7.3. Beyond calendar
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7.4. Apollo and the solstice island
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7.5. Conclusion
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8. ‘Hyperborean Apollo’s’ swan chariot
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8.1. Hyacinthus—a convergence of literary and iconographic testimonies
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8.2. Archaeological evidence
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8.2.1. Dupljaja
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8.2.2. Northern Europe
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8.2.3. Italy
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8.2.4. Eastern Alpine region
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8.2.5. Possible Central European parallels
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8.2.6. The Aegean
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8.3. Methodological procedure for comparison of literary and iconographic record
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8.3.1. Material evidence for past beliefs
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8.3.2. Reading the visual language
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8.3.3. Structural analysis of visual language
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8.3.4. The transfer of meaning
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8.3.5. The transfer of beliefs
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8.3.6. Transfer of complex symbolic structures
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8.3.7. The Dupljaja model as a complex symbolic structure accompanied by a muthos
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8.3.8. Comparison of literary sources with iconography
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8.4. Concluding remarks: large-scale context, anthropomorphism and the contents of the muthos
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Part Two: Diurnal solar movement
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9. Diurnal path of the Sun in Greek tradition
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9.1. The high northern mountain
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9.2. The southerly path of the sun
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9.3. Diurnal solar movement in Homer (Figure 9.2)
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9.4. The sun’s cup and its southerly course (Figure 9.2)
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9.5. Stesichorus’ account of the sun’s voyage in a cup
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9.6. Hesiod’s house of Night in the light of the ‘uni-polar’ model
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9.7. The sun’s cup and Heracles (Figure 9.2)
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9.8. Iconographical testimonies for the sun in a cup
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9.9. The Presocratic tradition of the sun’s bowl
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9.10. Non-Greek traditions of the sun travelling in a boat
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9.11. Conclusion
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10. Liminal imagery in the accounts of solar movement assimilated to the world of the dead
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10.1. Hesiods’ concept of the daylight/night exchange
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10.2. Corresponding models in Mesopotamian tradition
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10.3. Homer, Hesiod and the liminal features in Hades
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10.4. Gates of the otherworld assimilated to the gates of the sun
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10.5. The Pylian gates
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10.6. The White Rock and the Odyssey
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10.7. Pherecydes’ gates
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10.8. Conclusion
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11. Aea and the voyage of the Argonauts
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11.1. The return of the Argonauts
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11.2. Circe, Calypso and the Argonauts’ return voyage
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11.3. Conclusion
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12. World of the Dead at the Antipodes
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12.1. Hades at the antipodes conceived in terms of the diurnal solar movement
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12.2. Later testimonies for an antipodal Hades conceived in terms of solar movement
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12.3. Hades at the celestial ‘antipodes’
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12.4. The antipodal world of the dead in non-Greek traditions
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12.5. Navigating to the Otherworld in Greek and non-Greek traditions
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12.6. Conclusion
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13. Beyond Odysseus: Gilgameš
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13.1. Gilgameš breaking a path for Odysseus
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13.2. The twin mountain
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13.3. Scorpion-men
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13.4. Gilgameš on the diurnal course of the sun
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13.5. Gilgameš arrives at the mouth of the rivers
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13.6. Dilmun
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13.7. ‘The mouth of the rivers’ outside the Mesopotamian tradition
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13.8. From Gilgameš to Odysseus
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13.9. Conclusion
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14. Beyond Odysseus: Alexander
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14.1. Hellenistic tradition
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14.2. Land of Darkness
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14.3. Mount Mûsās
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14.4. Mount Mûsās in later tradition
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14.5. Alexander in the far north in the Islamic tradition
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14.6. Conclusion
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15. Conclusion
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15.1. An outline of the main argument of the book
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15.2. The ‘practical’ main points of the book
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15.3. A final word
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List of citations
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Appendix 1. Diurnal solar movement in Mesopotamian tradition
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A1.1. Solar mountains and gates
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A1.2. Interacting conceptual domains: solar movement and eschatology
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A1.3. The Mesopotamian sun-god’s ‘house of Night’
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Appendix 2. Diurnal solar movement in Egyptian tradition
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A2.1. Books of the Netherworld
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A2.2. Gates and mountains
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A2.3. The horizon-sign
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Index
Citable Link
Published: 2021
Publisher: BAR Publishing
- 9781407358628 (paper)
- 9781407358635 (ebook)
BAR Number: S3039