Origins of the Golden Fleece Myth

    In European culture seeking wisdom - especially hidden knowledge - finds its reflection in the symbols associated with gold: the Golden Fleece, the Philosopher’s Stone and the Holy Grail.  For all the qualities it embraces - this eternal and most noble of metals - gold was recognised as the metal of the sun.  It has become the foremost physical medium for the expression of men’s spiritual endeavours and the scientific knowledge about working gold is seen as one of the revelations of wisdom itself.

Detail on a 18th century BC cup from Trialeti depicting a religious ceremony.
(Author's Collection. Copyright 2020)

  The two phenomena: gold and knowledge, especially the knowledge of gold amongst the Colchians, were the genesis for rationalising the myth of the Golden Fleece.  It was this Golden Fleece that was the main goal of the first long-distance maritime adventure in mankind’s recorded history.  The Greek philosopher and mythographer Euhemerus went so far as to interpret the Golden Fleece as a technique of writing in gold on parchment or a book written on skins which describes the method of obtaining gold by means of chemistry.

Fourth century BC example of Colchian goldsmith techniques.
(Author's collection.  Copyright 2020)

  Why is the myth of the Golden Fleece - which emerged from the culture of classical antiquity and pursued its life in the alchemy of Medieval Europe - connected to Colchis?  The answer to this question may be found in Greek written sources that mention Colchis as “rich in gold”, similar to the cities of Mycenae, Sardis and Babylon which were all famed for their wealth.  Perhaps more significantly, the answer lies in the knowledge of obtaining, working and using gold for high spiritual goals - the wisdom that was continuously refined, preserved and passed down throughout the centuries in the territory of Colchis and the entire country of Georgia. Today we witness the demonstration of this wisdom in the golden artefacts found all around the country we call Georgia and we continue to re-discover these techniques and knowledge through our study of these pieces of history.

Colchian fourth century(approx) plaque depicting bull, boar and lion.
(Author's collection. Copyright 2020)

Why Colchis?

"The wealth of the regions about Colchis, which is derived from the mines of gold, silver, iron and copper, suggests a reasonable motive for the expedition of Jason."

Strabo, Geographica, 1.2.39

Excavation at Vani, Georgia - Colchian city.  (Author's Collection. Copyright 2020)

    In today’s “age of reason”, we use science to explain our world.  In the previous world it was religion that explained how things worked and before that, it was myth that gave reason to our world.  

Strangely, even today, the Caucasus is a world of myth.

    Myths and legends carry a powerful message through time - how the tellers of these tales view themselves.  Every tribe under the sun has these stories - each rooted in a time too distant to remember and each of them fascinating.  Yet all of these legends have one thing in common - they stand the test of time.  We, as people, are inextricably bound to the past: it makes us what we are today and shapes what we will become tomorrow.  One could even say that without the past there would be no future.

Waterfront in Batumi, Georgia - eastern Black Sea (Author's Collection. Copyright 2020)

    Strabo describes the wealth of an ancient civilisation as the plausible impetus for one of history’s most enduring myths but perhaps the wealth described by Strabo above can be explained by an even older Georgian myth.

In the beginning, God created the Earth and all its people.  He then asked all the people to attend a gathering so that he may parcel out all the lands of the Earth to them for habitation.  On the appointed day, all the peoples of Earth gathered and received, from God, what we call today their ancestral homelands.  Conspicuously, one group of people was not present, but God went ahead and gave the lands out as gifts to those that were.  Once all the lands were dispersed and the people departed from the gathering, the one missing group arrived.  God said unto them, “My children, I’m sorry but you are late and no land is left to be given unto you as a home.  Where have you been?”  The group replied to God that they had been feasting and toasting God’s good name and his benevolence and, according to their traditions, could not stop the feast in order to attend his meeting.  They apologised profusely but re-iterated that they were late because their particular form of worship had deterred them from arriving on time.  So the Lord spoke to this group of people and said, “You are a genuine and pious people who deserve a good homeland, as such, I will give unto you the place on Earth I had reserved for myself: Georgia.

10th century AD (approx) ruins overlooking Rioni River 
from Bagrati Cathedral in Kutaisi, Georgia
(Author's collection. Copyright 2020)

    God’s reservation of Georgia as his own refuge could be an acceptable reason for us to believe in the incredible mineral wealth of the region and through time, this could have manifested itself in the great wealth of the empire of Colchis.  This empire on the eastern end of the Black Sea in today’s Georgia was the target of Jason and his boatload of adventuring heroes.

Colchian anthropomorphic figures in main sqaure fountain. Kutasisi, Georgia
(Author's collection. Copyright 2020)

Feats of Engineering or Imposition of Will?

  Flying over the Rhine River last week I was struck by its size.  It is truly a massive obstacle, one that slowed the Allied advance into Germany only 70 years ago, despite their modern technology.  They were forced to be creative in their river-crossing techniques and even had to resort to boat crossings in some places.  

    Caesar writes that in 55 BC boat crossings were beneath him, so he had his field engineers build a forty foot wide wooden bridge across  the Rhine in ten days - including the time to fell the trees!  Scholars believe this crossing to have been accomplished somewhere between Andernach and Coblenz where, today, the river is between 250 and 300 metres wide.

Author's image of a drawing from Caesar I Gallic War, Loeb Classical Library, 1917.

     

    The Roman engineers devised a method of re-enforcing the supporting timbers using the strength of the river’s current while topping it with a paved road as well as building defences upstream to deter and defend from waterborne attacks.  Caesar doesn’t mention any attacks from the Suebi Tribe - whom he invaded Germania to subdue.  In fact, Caesar never engaged them in combat.  He conducted punitive raids against their villages and signed treaties with their enemies: demonstrating that the Rhine was not Rome’s northern border.  So after 18 days in Germania, Caesar decides his goals have been met, whence, he crosses his bridge back into Gaul and destroys it behind him.  

    It is this willingness to do the impossible which made Rome great.  Whether involved in 360 degree siege/counter-siege warfare - as was the case at Alesia - or imposing their will on rebellious natives; Roman technology, accompanied by Roman courage built the world’s largest empire to date.

    Looking at today’s bureaucracy riddled command structures one must wonder what an unencumbered will, like Caesar’s, might impose on a less committed foe.

Passage of Time

This week I have had no time to look at the history of anything as I’ve been too busy walking through the history of Egypt.  Please enjoy these images in lieu of any words.

Pyramids of Giza (from Author's Collection. Copyright 2019)

Pyramids of Giza (Author's Collection. Copyright 2019)

Pyramids of Giza (Author's Collection. Copyright 2019)

Saqqara Pyramid: the oldest building in the world (Author's Collection.  Copyright 2019)

Necropolis of Saqqara (Author's Collection. Copyright 2019)

Pyramid of Unas at Saqqara (Author's Collection. Copyright 2019)

Hieroglyphs inside Pyramid of Unas (Author's Collection. Copyright 2019)

Genetic Encoding, Part Two of Two

  In fact, in Egyptian history it is rare to find changes that were instigated by the masses.  External factors were almost always coming to bear on the people of this great country and those factors were typically “top down” changes.  

Cario in the morning
(Author's Collection, copyright 2019)

Adjusting to these changes was for them to deal with as leaders are rarely concerned with (and quite often unaware) of the daily difficulties that are enacted when they flippantly decide to do something.  Self-righteous Pharaohs, impetuous rulers, colonial oversight and exploitation by empires are but some of the ancient examples of difficulties that the average Egyptian had to contend with but the recent past isn’t any better.

Fast Food in Cairo's Market
(Author's Collection, copyright 2019)

    Recent political turmoil has built upon decades of questionable national level decisions which have created a poor educational system and created mass poverty (average annual income is 6,700USD).  A by-product of this situation is growing sectarian violence and increasing economic instability- the uneducated can’t be expected to make informed decisions or develop insightful philosophical points of view.  

Streets of Imbabah
(Author's Collection, copyright 2019)

In response, the Egyptian Government recently de-valued their currency (Egyptian Pound) and made severe cuts to public subsidisation/aide programs.  This was all in an effort to qualify for a large loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which the Egyptian Government hopes will stimulate the economy before the more impoverished segment of society is crushed.  Does Egypt (or the world) really need another lane in the Suez Canal?

  

  

Egyptian Museum Entrance
(Author's Collection, copyright 2019)

Through all of this, as they have for millennia, Egyptians continue to adjust and compensate for the external factors pressing on their efforts for a better tomorrow.  Without considering all these historical factors, Egyptians live their lives and try to adapt to the radically changing socio-political and economic landscape; doing the best they can before the next change is forced upon them without their consent.  As though adaptation and adjustment have been imprinted in their genetic code.

    

Genetic Encoding. Part one of two

    250,000 BC is the earliest date of human activity in the area we now call Egypt and by 3,100 BC, legend tells us a Pharaoh by the name of Narmer had united the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the first cataract (present day Aswan).  For the inhabitants of this region, they have changed and adapted so many times that they are unaware of their innate ability to compensate for the inconsistencies of others.  

    

Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Egyptian Museum (Author's collection copyright 2019)

    During our 247,000 year interval between the above dates Africa became victim of climate change and the rich savannahs became arid, forcing the nomads living there to migrate closer to the Nile River.  Rains further south ensured that the Nile flooded annually - like clockwork - and when those floodwaters tapered off the soil of the surrounding countryside was enriched by silt and soils from all over eastern Africa.  This presented the opportunity to farm and Egyptians don’t hesitate to capitalise on something good.  Sadly, one must take the good with the bad in life and social order came along with farming and Pharaoh placed himself at the top- as all leaders do - and the farmers at the bottom.  Pharaoh himself is credited with establishing social order but the claim is buttressed by archaeological evidence from 3000 BC (circa).

    

Pyramids of Giza(Author's Collection, copyright 2019)

This simple restructuring forced many changes on the population of ancient Egypt but nature did too and the flood period provided a natural respite for farmers which Pharaoh most likely capitalised on by using them as unskilled labour supporting his engineers and architects in building his elaborate infrastructure.  What a summer job, building those magnificent pyramids and monuments, even if you are just hauling baskets full of rubble.  The chaos caused through the ensuing years by multiple changes to the physical location of the Egyptian capital, not to mention adjustments and refinements to the state religions must have had a disorienting effect on the populace but they kept working, trying to make a better tomorrow for them and their families.

A Code to Live By

    Our western traditions in the last 50 years have left something to be desired with regard to how we comport ourselves.  In the last twenty years it seems that people are more concerned with how they look than how they really are.  As proof, steal a glance at someone’s credit card bill next time you have a chance: 85% chance says it is disproportionately high indicating they are living outside their means.   I’ve even heard words like tradition and honour used as punchlines to jokes recently, though no one was ever laughing once I was done with the comedian.

 (Author's Collection. Copyright 2018)

    As a child, cowboy and samurai movies were our favourites because everyone knew what to expect, which means they had a code requiring they act in a certain manner.  While that was just Hollywood, these actions were based on a real code of honour that existed for a long time and allowed the world to function in a manner that imparted balance.  Historically, the warrior class has transcended cultures: the Knights of Europe could identify with the Persian cataphracts and both would have understood the code of Bushido embodied by the Japanese Samurai (attendant), and later, Bushi (warrior) class.

    From 1639 to 1854 AD, Japan employed the policy of sakoku (national isolation).  This was their response to dampen the myriad external pressures exerted on Japan while the Shogun consolidated his hold over the island.  This produced many peculiarities which make their culture so unique, of which, Bushido (the way of the warrior) is but one part.  An administrative restructuring under the Tokugawa Regime saw the Samurai removed from their rural landholdings and placed closer to their lord’s precincts.  Now being paid in rice instead of having to farm for their income, the Bushi found themselves very idle in their daily requirements.  This created the opportunity for a professional class of warrior never seen before: culminating in a daily regimen dedicated to the cultivation of all things martial.  The underlying influence exerted by Zen Buddhism created a thirst for perfection in all aspects of life for the warrior class of Japan and this can be seen today in the minute details associated with many of their martial arts.  Whether drawing a sword or flipping an opponent, the determination to emulate the Buddha in his quest for perfection permeated their daily lives and bled over into their efforts to pour tea or serenely sit while contemplating the world.

     This entire system was only attained through a concerted effort to codify and institutionalise the traditional practice of selected philosophies which, over the centuries, became cultural norm.  Ultimately, it was this cultural norm that empowered the feudal way of life and acquired a level of national discipline that would enable japan to adapt to the modern world so quickly.  

    It is the presence of a code of honour that is so lacking in modern society and which will ultimately be the basis for the ruination of humanity.  One must stand for something or agree to fall for everything.

 (Author's Collection. Copyright 2017)

   

If it Ain’t Broke…

    I am neither an architect nor an Engineer by trade.  I am a natural tinkerer and have spent most of my life breaking my toys, so I have an appreciation for how things are made and what it takes to make them.  As such, I spend a lot of time noticing differences in construction: things like the pathetic stitching on the snaps of Hasbro’s G.I. Joe camouflage fatigues the last year they were made.  Incidentally, I still have a set of those cammies from their first year of production.  Bombproof!

    This is all a way of saying that newer isn’t necessarily better.  Last week I was watching a re-run of a World War Two documentary in which Germany invaded France by running around the Maginot line.  While discussing river crossings and their importance to military operations, historic film reels were played showing a German tank crossing a makeshift bridge; one hastily constructed from little more than timbers laid across numerous small boats.  This bridge struck me as familiar and I began to sift through my library for references to this construction as it seemed out of place in this German war footage.

Screenshot of bridge by author

   I worked backwards in time and was consulting J. Caesar’s The Gallic War without finding my bridge, so I looked further back in time.  Finally, I found it.  The description went something like this:  

    

Many boats (654) were placed side-by-side and facing into the current while cables were used to secure them to the shore and the individual bows were anchored up and down stream to keep the boats in line relative to each other and adding more stability.  Boards were then placed between the boats and over the cables to connect them while brushwood and soil were placed over the boards to create a walkway and a more even surface after which a handrail was placed on either side to keep soldiers and beasts of burden from falling in. 

Author's image of a bridge in Afghanistan taken from The Histories

    This resource that listed my bridge was actually Herodotus when his Histories were describing how the Persian Empire invaded Greece.  Xerxes used this bridge type to cross the Hellespont in 482BC (circa).  This narrows is approximately 1240 metres (1350 yards) of the most difficult waters in the world.  This successful iteration was actually the second effort.  The first had ended badly for all: the engineering supervisors were beheaded and the waters of the Hellespont were flogged with 300 lashes while being subjected to verbal abuse for being disobedient.  

Author's image of a sketch from The Histories  

So, in 2019 I saw a film from 1939 which spoke about how technologically advanced the German Army was and how incorporating this technology gave the Germans a battlefield advantage.  Yet in this film, our twentieth century technological genius’ used a bridging technique from 2,421 years earlier.  Perhaps part of their genius was their ability to recognise when something works well.

Homecoming, another word for respite

    Under the warm, wet blanket of a Virginia summer's eve, I am standing on the curb at the airport arrival terminal, awaiting my ride home after a few weeks abroad.  This is where I love to be.  I have renewed my faith in mankind by viewing the countless happy reunions inside the terminal and, now, I am waiting on my own.  My wife will be here soon - she's caught in traffic.  After years of traveling for a living I still love this evolution and I have seen all forms that it can take.

Bazaar in Lahore Pakistan (Author's collection Copyright 2019)

    Parades and receptions have been the recent form of fanfare for returning heroes but that wasn't always the case.  Homer tells us that after twenty years of war fighting and mis-adventures, Odysseus returned only to find his home being ravaged, his wife being pressured to leave him and his kingdom on the brink of collapse.  Luckily, this most cunning man had the wherewithall to unmask and dispatch his enemies in one well-orchestrated stroke.  On the other side of Greece, in Mycenae, Agamemnon wasn't so lucky.  His wife and her lover killed him in his sleep.
    Perhaps, Agamemnon was delivered from himself in this tragic event: saved from a future that he couldn't see because of his desire to return home. Tennyson has followed up with an exploration of this sentiment.  Through the ageing eyes of Odysseus who, after fighting his way to the underworld and back with the sole purpose of regaining his home had become bored and longed for the adventure of travel once again.

...For always roaming with a hungry heart 
Much have I seen and known; cities of men 
And manners, climates, councils, governments,... 

Erg Chgagah, Morocco (Author's collection copyright 2015)

Travel is a heady concoction that plays on the senses like a highly addictive drug; eventually seducing you into what you try to rationalise is your last time.  Tennyson's Odysseus understood this intrinsically when, despite his advanced age, he stated his intention to turn his kingdom over to his son and roam the wine-coloured seas in search of adventure.

Japanese garden icon (Author's collection copyright 2019)

...Come, my friends, 
’Tis not too late to seek a newer world. 
Push off, and sitting well in order smite 
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds 
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths 
Of all the western stars, until I die. 
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down: 
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, 
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. 
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’ 
We are not now that strength which in old days 
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; 
One equal temper of heroic hearts, 
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will 
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. 

So, I load my bags into the car and hug my Wife as though I haven't seen her in a lifetime.  We kiss and try to make up for lost time on the way home catching up on all the happenings since our separation.  Yet, although all this electrifying human interaction is genuine, it is perhaps made sweeter by the quiet realisation that this homecoming is really just another respite.

Aquarius Habitat, Key Largo, Florida, USA(Author's collection copyright 2015)

Disney Wasn't the First

    My Daughter and I love to go to the cinema.  It is our go-to for our Daddy/Daughter date night.  After the film, we will talk for hours over burgers and chips discussing the subtle nuances of our most recent film.  In fact, our discussions often continue for days on this subject until we have begun to explore new ways of telling the same story and delved into fresh ideas about the meaning of the film and the intentions of the creators.

ZamZamma in front of the Lahore Museum (Author's collection, copyright 2019)

    I was recently in Lahore Pakistan and no visit there is complete without a stop at the Zamzamma and the Wonder House, in front of which it stands. These terms are, of course, from Rudyard Kipling's Kim and like every twelve year old boy prior to the eighties, I spent some of my time buried in the pages of that amazing book.  So, while I was at the Wonder House last week, I purchased a copy of Kim as an homage to a writer whose works helped shape my outlook on life.  Through those pages, I was delighted to, again, travel by te-rain through India and pursue Russians through the high passes of Afghanistan.

The facade of the Wonder House, Lahore (Author's collection, copyright 2019)

    The strange thing is that as I read the story for the first time in decades, I saw things from my adult perspective - not that of a twelve year-old boy who had never left the farm.  Here was a story I hadn't read before.  A story of intestinal fortitude and intrigue as its own reward that could have been placed anywhere in the last twenty years of the Wars on Terror.  The boyish fantasy which I remember was still there, but I didn't remember the extent of deep underlying foreboding and impending doom, as well as the heavy emphasis placed on personality assessment and exploitation.  I started to realise the depth of the storyline in this book and, over the course of the week, my internal monologue about this book started to sound like the post-film discussions I have had with my Daughter all her life.  Somewhere around 0230 yesterday, I realised that Kim was the fore-runner of the Disney-Pixar films.  These films have delighted families since 1995 by providing relevant, multi-dimensional entertainment for the entire family.  Children and parents alike were excited to go to these films because there was something in them for all and, in the end, there were hours of conversation stimulated by the cinematic experience.
    That is exactly what Kipling did with Kim.  Families discussed their interpretations of the subject matter because India is a foreign land to most Westerners; not to mention the unique and nebulous nature of the Great Game.  At the end of all this ruminating, I realised that Disney-Pixar - though incredibly talented and creative as a group - wasn't as innovative as I thought they were all those years ago.  They merely employed an age-old, proven technique for mass entertainment that had not been used for some time, so the novelty was palpable.  Rudyard Kipling made great use of this one hundred years before Disney in his timeless classic, Kim, as it is a vibrant and riveting story for children of any age that explores and challenges the instincts of us all.

Similarities over time

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious...Whoever doesn't know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead..."

Albert Einstein

Lycurgus Cup in Both Forms

In the sixth book of the Homer's Iliad, King Lycurgus of Thrace chased the god of wine, Dionysus, into the sea before he set upon the god's entourage.  Amrosia, a member of this group, who was under duress, called upon the Earth to help and the Earth responded by changing Ambrosia into a vine.  Once in this form, Ambrosia restrained Lycurgus so that Dionysus could return and torture him for his insolence.  It is this scene that was immortalised on one of the most amazing works of art extant today.

Glass holds a special place in our world, it has been used to enchant, insulate, encase and torture for millennia and this cup continues that tradition.  Crafted some 1,700 years ago, this 16.25cm (6.5in) class vessel has only been known to the public since 1958 when the British Museum acquired it from the estate of Lord Rothchild. 

What has been known is man's special relationship with glass over time: American history is rife with legends of land transactions based on glass beads and the Sassanian empire had a great tradition of glasswork as well.  In fact, Islamic glassmaking techniques were distributed from Europe to China and their success stemmed from a combination of Roman and Sassanian techniques that were combined by the consolidation of the entire region by the Islamic expansion.  During the early years of Islamic rule, glassmakers of the eastern mediterranean continued using the Roman recipe which called for calcium-rich sand combined with the mineral natron which can be found in the area of Wadi al Natrun (today's Egypt).  The natron supply from this era was disrupted in the early 9th century AD and plant ash was substituted in its stead.  It seems that this forced adaptation led to the amalgamation of Sassanian and Roman techniques which spawned great innovations in the production of glassware throughout the world and, by the early 1300's resulted in exquisite examples of art like the Mosque lamp image (above) found in Egypt.

Today, our fascination with glass has not diminished.  During a 2013 exhibit in Virginia, I watched throngs of people walk, mouth-agape in wonder, through a Dale Chihuly exhibition.  His work is sought after the world over and appeals to the ancient human attraction to light in its many forms. 

Chihuly Glass Display, VMFA, Richmond, VA- 2013 from the author's collection

Our Lycurgus Cup is a unique example of glass' ability to reflect light in a way that changes the cup's color depending on the nature of light falling upon it.  In ambient light the cup is a milky, opaque green - but when light is shined directly on it, the glass appears as a translucent, ruby red

At work here is ancient nanotechnology: as a microscopic analysis of the glass shows it consists of 40 parts per million of gold and 300 parts per million of silver.  Of course there are more ingredients than silver and gold, this simple revelation of nanotechnology use 1,700 years ago brings us back to our original question:  What did the ancients know and why did we forget it?