The study of religious or heroic legends and tales. One constant rule of mythology is that whatever happens amongst the gods or other mythical beings was in one sense or another a reflection of events on earth. Recorded myths and legends, perhaps preserved in literature or folklore, have an immediate interest to archaeology in trying to unravel the nature and meaning of ancient events and traditions.
"The 79 A.D. eruption of Vesuvius was the first volcanic eruption ever to be described in detail. From 18 miles (30 km) west of the volcano, Pliny the Younger, witnessed the eruption and later recorded his observations in two letters. He described the earthquakes before the eruption, the eruption column, air fall, the effects of the eruption on people, pyroclastic flows, and even tsunami. Volcanologists now use the term "plinian" to refer to sustained explosive eruptions which generate high-altitude eruption columns and blanket large areas with ash. It is estimated that at times during the eruption the column of ash was 20 miles (32 km) tall. About 1 cubic mile (4 cubic kilometers) of ash was erupted in about 19 hours." (University of North Dakota, http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/). This eruption obliterated the ancient Roman resort towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum as it covered them in 3 meters of ashes.
This does not answer the question about Etna, however. Back to the drawing board.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
After doing a quick sweep of google using Atlantis Volcano as key words I didn't find anything quoting Plato (which is the only horses mouth we have). There are many sites that believe the Santorini explosion was the origin of the legend.
Warning: if you google anything using Atlantis as a keyword - beware of horse shit.
If I get time I may actually read some of the Dialogue with Solon.
But going to an original point - many scholars are certain that these legends are rooted in historical fact.
It seems that Mount Etna is an altogether different type of volcano than Vesuvius. Volcanologists believe that it's last violent eruption was around 1,500 BC and that would have been well before the Greeks or Phoenecians got to the island.
Generally, Etna tends to ooze lava rather than explode violently, hence the apparent ignorance of the Romans to what was coming.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
even platos tale is not original
he claims Socrates as a source who in turn claims Solon who in turn claims an egyptian priest
one things for sure
that egyptian priest didn't say that Poseidon did it
Stromboli, also in Italy, seems to erupt constantly but mildly putting out a modest amount of ash. As with Etna, not the sort of place which would give rise to legends of catastrophe....more likely a place of wonder associated with gods.
In addition, there are two other mainland volcanic sites in Italy and France, however, neither has erupted in historic times.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
Bob, I didn't know what you were getting at, but you're saying that they wouldn't have known how to describe a volcano since they never seen one, but they were familiar with earthquakes. Still they would have commented on the sky going black in the middle of the day. The dust cloud would have effected the entire planet to a degree.
Beagle, I seem to remember that same description of the sky turning black like that too, but I can't find any good site with Plato's words on it. It's all second hand descriptions. I did see mention of an Egyptian account of it, but I was in a hurry and didn't read it. I'll see if I can find it again.
What was the name of Plato's story of Atlantis? Sorry I sidetracked this thread from Troy to Atlantis. Maybe we should just make it a generic legend thread.
Homer, like Plato, was writing, or retelling, stories hundreds of years after the facts. Much of the new testament was also written centuries after the facts.
Things can get cloudy after hundreds of years, and like the current day, the official, or public, reasons given for actions are not always the real reasons.
Still there are many very good clues to the past in such literature.
he talked about it in "Critias" and in "Timaeus"
surely you've read them Frank
Oh yeah sure! Toilet reading for me. To be honest I had trouble getting through Homer's Odyssey. It was an olde english translation which I never understood. Why the hell did we have to read it in that old hard to understand crap? Gimme a modern English translation. One reason I quit college after one year.
Barracuda wrote:Homer, like Plato, was writing, or retelling, stories hundreds of years after the facts. Much of the new testament was also written centuries after the facts.
Things can get cloudy after hundreds of years, and like the current day, the official, or public, reasons given for actions are not always the real reasons.
Still there are many very good clues to the past in such literature.
Long time no see, 'Cuda. This seems to have turned into a very lively and popular topic. No religous shit at all!
Bob, I didn't know what you were getting at, but you're saying that they wouldn't have known how to describe a volcano since they never seen one, but they were familiar with earthquakes. Still they would have commented on the sky going black in the middle of the day. The dust cloud would have effected the entire planet to a degree.
That depends on where you are standing and which way the prevailing winds are blowing, Frank.
To be sure, areas to the East and South East of the explosion would have been covered in falling ash. However, before that, they would have had a bigger problem with the tsunamis rolling ashore and smashing everything in their path.
Alexandria did not exist at this time and I'm not certain what the extent of Egyptian settlement in the Nile Delta may have been around 1,600 BC but it sure as hell seems likely that anyone standing there would have been killed outright. One would also expect the Canaanite coast as well as Cyprus and Southern Turkey to have been smashed as well. To the north, Greece would have been hit by the waves but I can't recall from memory what, if any, Greek cities existed at that time. I do recall speculation that the body blow that was absorbed by Crete did permit the mainland Greeks to rid themselves of Minoan domination and, centuries later, to take revenge. Some of this is preserved in the myth of the minotaur where Athens had to pay tribute every year to the minotaur until Perseus went and slew the beast.
The truth is that there may not have been any great culture in Greece at the time to be damaged but the Mycenean culture arose as a result of the weakening of Crete due to the blast.
Thoughts?
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
