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alanajoliOne of the bookstores I visited while on the Isle of Naxos had delightful book called Naxos: Old Travel Descriptions edited by C. Ucke. It is an excellent collection of excerpts describing Naxos from texts published between 1687 and 1885, showing (or shewing, as it is most often spelled) a history of observations of the island. A few quick notes for those who (like I was) are unfamiliar with the geography of Greek myth:
Naxos is an island, in the Cyclades, off the coast of Greece to the south east--roughly between continental Greece and Crete. It is said to be the birthplace of the god Dionysus (the only demi-god who became a full Olympian). Leto, the mother of Apollo and Artemis, is said to have stopped on Naxos while she searched for an island that would allow her to bear her children to term (having been cursed by Hera to be unable to give birth on land). Leto eventually stopped on Delos, at the time a floating island, which now can be seen from Naxos's shore. Ariadne, the mortal who was able to guide Theseus through the labyrinth on Crete where he could defeat the minotaur, was alternately abandoned by Theseus or lost at sea and presumed dead: the place where she came to rest in either case was the island of Naxos. It was also on Naxos that Dionysus met Ariadne and became so taken with her that they were married. You can look up the details of any of these stories at the very excellent web resource, Theoi.com.
The following excerpt is taken from The Cyclades: Or Life Among the Insular Greeks by J. Theodore Bent, as translated in the anthology. It is also, I think, a fine example of the mixture (or palimpsest) of Christianity and Christian legends over an older mythology.
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As we sat on this island rock we could not help wondering if this really was the scene of the old worship of Dionysos [sic] at Naxos; even now there are many traces left in Naxos which point to this worship. St. Dionysius, the Christian successor of the ancient wine god, is greatly worshipped here, and about him a curious legend (Von Hahn's Greek Legends) is still told, clearly pointing to ancient cult; it runs as folows. St. Dionysius was on a journey from the monastery on Mount Olympos to Naxos; as he sat down to rest he saw a pretty plant, which he desired to take, and to protect it from being withered by the sun he put it into the bone of a bird. He went on and was surprised to find that it had sprouted before his next halt, so he put it, bone and all, into the bone of a lion; again the same phenomenon occurred, so he put his treasure into the leg bone of an ass. On reaching Naxos he found the plant so rooted in the bones that he planted them all; and from this up came a vine, with the fruit of which St. Dionysius made the first wine. When he had drunk a little of it he sang like a lion, and when he had drunk too much he became as foolish as an ass. The gods of old have been turned into modern saints, sometimes even regardless of sex, as we shall see at Keos, where the male, St. Artemidos, represents the female, Artemis. Demeter, in the present order of things, is also represented by a man, St. Demetrius, who in certain places is the special protector of flocks, herds, and husbandmen,nd in this capacity is called "of the dry land," as opposed to St. Nicholas, the saint of t he sea.
Place names in Naxos still recall the old Bacchic [Alana's note: Dionysian] worship. One of the loftiest mountains of the island is called Mount Koronon, reminding us of the nymph Koronis and the infancy of Dionysos. Just over the town is a fountain called by the natives the tomb or baths of Ariadne: here in 1821 an old man told me that the Turkish dragoman had made extensive excavations and took with him quantities of inscriptions to Constantinople, leaving only one behind him, which forms now the step of a house, and which tells us that it was once a tablet in the Pytaneum of Naxos.
-sunset over the island described above, though the temple is now thought to have been dedicated, unfinished, to Apollo rather than Dionysus
Naxos is an island, in the Cyclades, off the coast of Greece to the south east--roughly between continental Greece and Crete. It is said to be the birthplace of the god Dionysus (the only demi-god who became a full Olympian). Leto, the mother of Apollo and Artemis, is said to have stopped on Naxos while she searched for an island that would allow her to bear her children to term (having been cursed by Hera to be unable to give birth on land). Leto eventually stopped on Delos, at the time a floating island, which now can be seen from Naxos's shore. Ariadne, the mortal who was able to guide Theseus through the labyrinth on Crete where he could defeat the minotaur, was alternately abandoned by Theseus or lost at sea and presumed dead: the place where she came to rest in either case was the island of Naxos. It was also on Naxos that Dionysus met Ariadne and became so taken with her that they were married. You can look up the details of any of these stories at the very excellent web resource, Theoi.com.
The following excerpt is taken from The Cyclades: Or Life Among the Insular Greeks by J. Theodore Bent, as translated in the anthology. It is also, I think, a fine example of the mixture (or palimpsest) of Christianity and Christian legends over an older mythology.
--
As we sat on this island rock we could not help wondering if this really was the scene of the old worship of Dionysos [sic] at Naxos; even now there are many traces left in Naxos which point to this worship. St. Dionysius, the Christian successor of the ancient wine god, is greatly worshipped here, and about him a curious legend (Von Hahn's Greek Legends) is still told, clearly pointing to ancient cult; it runs as folows. St. Dionysius was on a journey from the monastery on Mount Olympos to Naxos; as he sat down to rest he saw a pretty plant, which he desired to take, and to protect it from being withered by the sun he put it into the bone of a bird. He went on and was surprised to find that it had sprouted before his next halt, so he put it, bone and all, into the bone of a lion; again the same phenomenon occurred, so he put his treasure into the leg bone of an ass. On reaching Naxos he found the plant so rooted in the bones that he planted them all; and from this up came a vine, with the fruit of which St. Dionysius made the first wine. When he had drunk a little of it he sang like a lion, and when he had drunk too much he became as foolish as an ass. The gods of old have been turned into modern saints, sometimes even regardless of sex, as we shall see at Keos, where the male, St. Artemidos, represents the female, Artemis. Demeter, in the present order of things, is also represented by a man, St. Demetrius, who in certain places is the special protector of flocks, herds, and husbandmen,nd in this capacity is called "of the dry land," as opposed to St. Nicholas, the saint of t he sea.
Place names in Naxos still recall the old Bacchic [Alana's note: Dionysian] worship. One of the loftiest mountains of the island is called Mount Koronon, reminding us of the nymph Koronis and the infancy of Dionysos. Just over the town is a fountain called by the natives the tomb or baths of Ariadne: here in 1821 an old man told me that the Turkish dragoman had made extensive excavations and took with him quantities of inscriptions to Constantinople, leaving only one behind him, which forms now the step of a house, and which tells us that it was once a tablet in the Pytaneum of Naxos.
-sunset over the island described above, though the temple is now thought to have been dedicated, unfinished, to Apollo rather than Dionysus
no subject
Date: 2008-06-21 11:38 pm (UTC)That is such a funky little island its no wonder that its got some great mythology attached to it.
Albone