First cities in History founded by Greeks– Apollonius of Rhodes

Here we present and analyze an excerpt from the ‘Argonautics’ by Apollonius of Rhodes.

Argonautics, Book C, Verses 1085-1095

In Ancient Greek: «έστι τις αιπεινοίσι περίδρομος ούρεσι γαία, πάμπαν εύρρηνός τε και εύβοτος, ένθα Προμηθεύς Ιαπετιονίδης αγαθόν τέκε Δευκαλίωνα, ός πρώτος ποίησε πόλεις και εδείματο νηούς αθανάτοις, πρώτος δε και ανθρώπων βασίλευσεν. Αιμονίην δή τήνγε περικτίονες καλέουσιν. Εν δ’ αυτή Ιαωλκός, εμή πόλις, εν δε και άλλαι πολλαί ναιετάουσιν ίν’ ουδέ περ ούνομ’ ακούσαι Αιαίης νήσου. Μινύην γε μεν ορμηθέντα, Αιολίδην Μινύην, ένθεν φάτις Ορχομενοίο δή ποτε Καδμείοισιν ομούριον άστυ πολίσσαι»

In English: «There is a country surrounded by tall mountains, rich in flocks of sheep and herds of cattle throughout its territory, where the son of Iapetus, Prometheus, gave birth to the famous Deukalion, he who was the first to found cities and built temples to the immortals and was the first to reign among men (the first king of men). The country’s neighbors name it Aemonea. There stands Iolkos, my city, and there stand a lot of other cities, and they have never heard the name of Aea’s island. From there Minyas begun, says Tradition, Minyas the son of Aeolos, and at some time built the city of Orchomenos which borders with the Kadmeans»

NovoScriptorium: In this excerpt Apollonius places Jason speaking about his country, the place of his origin, and –concisely- its history. What we have here is another absolute answer from Ancient Greek Mythology –the one which Aristotle, among other ancients, considered as History of Greeks before the Cataclysm– to the modern archeologists and inventors of impossible theories suggesting that Greeks came ‘from elsewhere’ or that they ‘copied their civilization from others’.

‘Aemonea’ is the peninsula of Aemos, i.e. the modern Balkan peninsula. This is Jason’s country of origin. His hometown is Iolkos. Aemonea is a rather rich cattle-breeding country; we suppose rich in agriculture, too, so that a great number of animals could be fed. The story of Deukalion is well-known; he is referred to as survivor of the last Cataclysm. After the Cataclysm obviously, he was the first man to have found cities and built temples to the gods, while at the same time he became first king of men after the Cataclysm. Consequently, Mythology suggests that we should seek the most ancient finds of cities and buildings in the Greek-Balkan region. Archeological search has already brought to light the oldest human building, so far, 23000 years old, at Theopetra, Trikala (Greece). One may find several scientific articles on the matter at our ‘Archeology’ section. We at NovoScriptorium trust ancient Greek Mythology and we are quite certain that as long as honest excavations continue taking place in Greece, the more the very ancient Greek Myths will be confirmed.

If ancient Greeks were not completely…’racists’ and with the term ‘men’ did not mean solely the Greeks, then the Myth here informs us that Deukalion reigned over all the surviving men after the Cataclysm –at least in the wider region of the Mediterranean/Europe, because otherwise we must accept that he was a World-ruler, which is something that cannot be efficiently supported or at all supported. For the Mediterranean and European regions though there are already plenty of archeological and genetic finds (the reader may find quite a few at our ‘Archeology’ section) that seem to confirm this mythological suggestion, i.e., that from the Aegean and Balkan region a specific culture and population did actually expand around Europe and the Mediterranean.

The relation of Iolkos to the Minyans is also clear. What troubles us is that Jason lived much earlier than Homer’s Trojan War and, as himself claims in this excerpt, the tradition around Minyas was already…Tradition in his era. Archaeology recognizes the Minyans as an actual tribe that existed at some point in History, but places them and their deeds purely in the Mycenean era. This doesn’t seem to be what the ancient myths suggest. Unless the so-called Mycenean era had a bigger time extent than the one we believe it had up to now.

Finally, it is very important to notice that the Greek felt the need and obligation, even at those very ancient times, to honor the Divine by building places of worship, the temples. Greek State without God and piety never existed since the dawn of ‘civilized’ (with cities, etc.) History up to our times. It is a very bad sample of mutation of the nucleus of Greek civilization and psychism that leaders and people in Greece tend to adopt an atheistic way of living. We believe that if this doesn’t stop soon, Greeks will face devastation and loss at various levels.

Research-Analysis for NovoScriptorium: Isidoros Aggelos