Pindar and Christina Perri sing of people as a Shadow of a Dream: Sports glory, defeat and loneliness

This week after Cristiano Ronaldo won his best player award I remembered two things: one, an ancient greek song about glory and defeat in Sports, and, second, a sad love song by an Italian-American singer, Christina Perri. What a coincidence that Cristiano and Christina share a male/female pair of the same Christian name!

Glory in sports always reminds me of one of the most celebrated ancient Greek poets, the singer Pindar. Almost all of his surviving poems are Victory Odes, songs made to celebrate the victors at Greek games such as the Olympics. In the ancient world, only the wealthy had time to practice sports, therefore the winners of the Olympics and other games were usually rich and they would receive more wealth and admiration upon their return as heroes to their towns. Pindar wrote his poems and songs to praise his employers, the victorious sportsmen, yet he did so with an elegance and beauty that remind us that life is a brief period full of struggles, that not everyone is a celebrated winner, and that the winners of excellence and glory achieve victory only after years of hard labor, grit and persistence.  That is why the sports winners are admired by the gods, their countrymen, and even the jealous defeated. Pindar’s most famous poem, the Pythian 8, dedicated to a famous wrestler, is believed to have been written in his old age and in just a few lines mentions all these motives of hardship and fame.

The Greek bard reminds his listeners that winning is more than mere boasting. Very few are the lucky ones who became wealthy without effort of their own, and for some heroes victory is bittersweet for they return home and may find that a loved one died and will not celebrate their victory. The poet also sings that one’s victory is the defeat of many others, and just like in wrestling the glory raises up some men and crushes others into the ground. For those who fail to win often the aftermath is miserable and their previous supporters, perhaps not even their mothers, give them any comfort or celebration party:

“He who boasts gets tripped, in the fullness of time, by his own violence. (…) At home, though, the hero Adrastus’ fortune will be the opposite. For he alone of the army of Danaoi will have to gather the bones of a son who died. (…) Justice stands beside the sweet-singing victory procession. I pray that the gods may regard your fortunes without envy. For if anyone has noble achievements without long toil, many think he is wise, that his life is well. But that is not ordained to be for men. It is a god who grants fortune; raising up one man and throwing down another. Enter the struggle with due measure. (…) Returning to their mothers, sweet laughter does not rouse delight in them: hidden in alleys, they avoid their enemies, bitten by misfortune.”

Meanwhile the glorious victor celebrates his success, the respect and admiration of everyone is even more important than the material wealth gained.  Yet if the winner is wise, his happiness is disturbed by the knowledge that victory is a fleeting moment in the here and now, and often victory will quickly be followed by a defeat, when everyone will forget his past achievements.

“But whoever has as his lot something beautiful in the here and now, in a time of great splendor, such a man soars driven by his aspirations, lifted high in the air by his feats of manliness, thinking of that which is greater than wealth. In a short time the delight of mortals grows, but just as quickly it falls to the ground, shaken by adverse opinion. Creatures of a day are we. What is someone? What is a no one? Man is the dream of a shadow. But whenever the radiance of Zeus comes, a bright light and gentle life pleases him.”

This is probably Pindar’s last work, he would have been an old man by now, and he sees that both successes and misfortunes are transient and ephemeral. Joy is insubstantial, the dream of a shadow. Men is the creature of a day, nothing more than fleeting dream. Only the worship of religion and the gods, “the radiance of Zeus” gives lasting wisdom and guides our lives. Perhaps this is a lesson for athletes and also sports’ fans today – we must find higher meaning in our lives, rather than just watching silly games. Both famous people and the unknown ones will all be forgotten one day. In fact, Pindar’s most famous line “Man is the dream of a shadow” echoes the thoughts of other Greek tragedians such as Aeschyllus (“The race of mortals thinks only for today and is no more to be relied on than the shadow of smoke.”), Sophocles (in his play Philoctetes, the hero Neoptolemus does not realize he fought against a mere phantom, the shadow of smoke) and even of the Bible, in particular the book of wisdom, the Ecclesiastes (“Who knows what is good for mortals while they live the few days of their vain life, which passes by like a shadow?”). St. James said our life is but a vapor.

That is Pindar’s song: one day we are a great success, another day we are a humiliated loser. How many athletes and coaches today can say they shared this feeling before? Everyone. Cristiano Ronaldo must have felt this feeling and he even shared a tragedy mentioned by Pindar for once he won a game with Portugal’s team, only to find out that his father had passed away.

All of us, normal people, non-athletes, surely shared the same feeling many times. How many times did we look in the eyes of our spouses, partners or even our parents, just to find a feeling of deception and disappointment? Christina Perri sings exactly of this in her chilly song “The Lonely”. Perri wrote the song about her relationship with no one, "nobody or with this ghost of somebody": “Crying off my face again. The silent sound of loneliness wants to follow me to bed. I'm the ghost of a girl that I want to be most. I'm the shell of a girl that I used to know well.”

The major losers today are the unloved ones. Our society is particularly obsessed with those who are less beautiful, unloved and lonelier, and that is why we invented the internet, Facebook and many of the social media, so we feel more in-contact and less alone by ourselves. Probably in the ancient world, such as Pindar’s time, this kind of loneliness was not as common, because people stayed in their hometown and close to their families all their lives. Only a few brave ones would move alone to other cities to study for college and find jobs. Today even people as young as freshmen college students will have felt feelings of loneliness, abandonment, lack of love and rejection, all of this at an age as young as 18!

I end with the links to two translations of Pindar’s poem and Christina’s beautiful song:

http://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/5307

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DP.%3Apoem%3D8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m18idutgCWc

The first ecological writings appear in the Iliad

Recently I was saddened by the news of a horse who dropped dead from exhaustion in Chile. Yet those news of a horse reaching the end of his strength reminded me of a beautiful story in the Iliad of a pair of noble horses who at the limit of their effort cried abundant tears. Although I am not an ancient scholar, I would say this is the oldest text I know of in defense of animal feelings.

In Iliad’s book 17 Homer sings how the two immortal horses of Achilles cried for the death of Patroclus, his corpse covered in dust and blood. The horses detained their race and looked down upon their fallen master, so young and beautiful. Just a few moments before he was full of life and the two animals remembered his fond caresses and love tenderly. Automedon, companion of Patroclus and the rider of the horse carriage, tries to push the exhausted animals, mixing pleas and lashes. Yet the horses do not move, unable to raise their eyes from the sad body of their beautiful young master lain on the ground, immobile just as equine statues over a tomb. They cry ardent tears from their black eyes, disconsolately shaking their long manes. Zeus from his heavenly throne looks upon the suffering animals “Unhappy pair, why did we give you, ageless and immortal, to that mortal king, Peleus? Did we mean you to sorrow with these wretched men? For what is there more miserable than man, among all the things that move and breathe on earth?” The 20^th century poet Cavafy in his short poem “The horses of Achilles” follows Homer’s poem almost line by line and yet he adds a surprising twist! For those horses were far more sensitive and human than the great Zeus imagined – they cried not just for the gentle Patroclus, but also for all the endless deaths of war:

http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=134&cat=1

At that instant Homer relates the two animals recovered strength, shook the dust from their dark fur and took Automedon far from the murderous battle, so that at least one of their masters survived the horror. To me this is one of the most moving scenes of European literature and one that shows that Homer, even without a sophisticated literary technique, was able to depict beautiful images in its war epic. I do not feel it was a mere coincidence that the epic poet dedicated some of his most beautiful phrases to two horses, for he wanted to show how heartfelt and noble the feelings in animals were. Some of the great kings and royal kin in the Iliad fail to show such depth of emotion.

However, Homer did not just write about the nobility of animals and went on to do something even more original by scripting the first environmental defense! On book 21 of the Iliad, the warrior Achilles wishes to avenge his friend Patroclus and kills all the enemies he can, throwing their corpses to the river Xanthus. The river Xanthus stinks with the pestilence of rotten bodies and its waters run full of blood and flesh. The great river god asks Achilles to stop contaminating its waters, formerly clean and crystalline. Achilles replies that he will throw whatever he wants wherever he so chooses! The great river god then raises himself, pounding with turbulent waters and tides upon Achilles who begins to drown. Achilles is only saved thanks to the help of the god Vulcan who burns the river with fire.

These are two beautiful and entirely original scenes in Homer, ones of which we do not find of a similar kind in all of Greek mythology. This leads me to believe that doubtless Homer was an animal rights and environmental activist, the first one in history! The images show the horses of Achilles mourning for Patroclus, Automedon attempting to control the horses, and Achilles drowning in the river Xanthus. A friend of mine also reminded me that the great philosopher Nietzche suffered an emotional collapse after witnessing a horse being flogged, the first event of a prolonged sickness that led to his death.

The Keynesian and Monetarist Policy of Alexander the Great

Archaeological evidence shows that interest rates for business loans hovered around 30% in the ancient world. Gold and silver currency were hard to find and many merchants had to trade goods for other goods. Just think how hard the life of an ancient merchant was without good and widely accepted coins. Instead of using money to pay for his items, the merchant would have to carry goods (say, cereal) and then trade such goods for his new merchandise (say, pottery) somewhere else. Obviously, this involved having to carry heavy goods in horse-pulled wagons both ways. This changed after Alexander’s conquests.

Perhaps without intention, Alexander the Great was a revolutionary in economic policy. After capturing an enormous quantity of gold and silver talents from the Persian Empire, Alexander the Great sponsored temple reconstruction, road building, monuments and art. This was a Keynesian policy in the style of an ancient conqueror! However, Alexander also implemented a monetarist policy, issuing huge amounts of gold and silver coins, which lowered interest rates from 30% to 6%. This differed from the Persian policies regarding currency, since they preferred to accumulated gold and silver in huge reserves in their treasuries. Money went from treasury keepers to the business men. City-states however had to borrow at slightly higher interest rates, perhaps because lenders were afraid that city governors (which at the time could control small armies) would refuse to pay unless by force.  Entrepreneurs in trade, art and construction projects benefited from the new coins issued by the Hellenes all over the Western Asia and the Middle East. Artists and builders could get funding for their projects. Merchants found currency easily available to buy their merchandise in other countries, without pulling heavy wagons with goods on their way, which saved their troubles for at least half of the path. A new age of Hellenistic art and economic prosperity started.

Of course, anti-cyclical policy or concerns about unemployment or potential GDP were far from Alexander's concerns. His reign coincided with a big increase in expenditures, because he had a concern for grandiose projects. The increase in money issue was certainly only driven for two reasons: one, to finance his expenditures in military (Alexander had to repay a big debt inherited from his father Phillip II's Persian expedition preparations) and big monuments, and second, because new coins were a good way to celebrate the glorious events of a new reign. Still, in ancient times just as now, monetary expansion has an inflation cost. Historical evidence shows that in cities such as Tyre, Gaza and Babylon, there was an increase in prices, perhaps by twice as much, and the economic boom ended in a recession. However, the economy and trade did boom back again after the Diadochi conflicts subsided into a relatively more peaceful era.

Why do we have a Facebook and not a Voicebook?

I just realized something. Over the centuries the human cultures have always preserved visual depictions such as paintings and portraits quite well. Even better we have 3D visual representations of humans such as sculptures, busts and statues. We have lifelike representations of Greek and Roman men and women in painting and sculpture, although several other civilizations (Persia, China, India) can claim similar achievements. Below and on the left I show a mosaic of a Mycenaean woman, a roman copy of an ancient Greek original now called the Borghese Ares, and another roman copy of the Aphrodite by the Greek sculptor Praxiteles. In all of these representations the movement and expression are so bursting with life that we feel the sculptures are about to walk and touch us. And yet such perfect images always have a certain sadness, since we know they are unable to speak. All statues therefore look like beautiful figures of mutes, perfect in their looks and yet forever trapped in their inability to speak, to scream what they feel.

But the truth is that humanity was unable to preserve voice and sounds for most of its history. We know the written language of Homer, Sappho and Pindar, and the meaning of their poems, but no one knows how their language sounded. Some scholars speculate their language had no accent on the syllables and that it may have sounded like a flowing rhythm as some French poets speak in modern days. Only in the late 19th century did Edison invent the sound recording. However, in the late 20th century it is quite easy for us to make sound recordings or even video recordings of ourselves, therefore mixing both sound and image as memories.

But how many of us do indeed preserve sound as a memory? For decades most families collect photo albums as a sort of memory book. High schools and college graduates would keep books with photographs of their classmates, either as individuals or together in a group photo. But how many of us preserved sound recordings of our family? Or of our classmates?

Even more troubling. Why do we now have on Facebook photo memories of all our friends' special moments, their family, beach vacations, travels and even dinner events? Why don't we have sound memories or recordings kept on a sort of Voicebook? Humans are the only animal that can speak and sing. Many birds, cats and dogs look beautiful, yet none of them speak. Words and emotions of grief, passion and empathy, are what makes us special and unique.

Is it because we have plenty of interest in looking at each other as eye-candy and yet we have nothing to say? Maybe that explains why we all feel misunderstood and unheard. Not even a thousand of photos of us at the gym, beach or touristic spots, will ever make a single word heard! Maybe we should go beyond just looks and listen more. We have dreams, hopes and pains to speak. I finish my thoughts with one of my favorite poems by Cavafy. It really makes my heart beat, because the poet has forgotten how his loved one looked like, yet the impression of his voice, his words still fills him with memories, meaning and sound.

"December, 1903" (Translated by Edmund Keeley/Philip Sherrard)
And if I cannot speak about my love—
if I do not talk about your hair, your lips, your eyes,
still your face that I keep within my heart,
the sound of your voice that I keep within my mind,
the days of September that rise in my dreams,
give shape and color to my words, my sentences,
whatever theme I touch, whatever thought I utter.

Chariot Racing and Sports Stars in the Ancient World

(Neither Messi, Ronaldo, Federer, Jordan, Schumacher or Tiger Woods are the best paid sports player in history. In fact Cristiano Ronaldo is not even the top athlete in Portuguese history! The top earnings prize goes to a Lusitanian (old Portuguese) chariot racer born in 104 AD. Also, in Roman Races even a dead man could win if his horses finished the race, a true posthumous glory! And fights among ancient “hooligans” reached a violence far above today.)

The predecessors of most sports started as Funeral Games in Ancient Greece. All of the Pan-Hellenic Games – the Olympics, Pythian, Nemean and Isthmian festivals – honored a patron god and a deceased human hero. Homer in the Iliad describes how sports in the Bronze Age were already a tradition during funerals of great warriors. In a previous post I wrote how Alexander the Great paid for an elaborate set of athletic games for his deceased friend Hephaestion.

The Olympic Games were the oldest of the four festivals and according to tradition begun in 776 BC. Some of the games played by the Hellenic peoples still exist such as wrestling, boxing, foot races, long jump, discus throw and the pentathlon. Chariot racing was perhaps the most popular of all ancient sports. While chariot races no longer exist it is easy to imagine them as a close predecessor to some modern sports, such as equestrian races and car races such as Formula 1. Chariot races in Greece and Rome were done at special venues, the hippodromes, which resemble quite well the elliptical shapes of modern horse or car race circuits. Above I show a modern recreation in France of how a roman chariot race could have been like. Another pic shows a gymnasium in Olympia where Hellenic athletes would train to improve their skill.

In Greece and Rome the owner and driver of the chariot were different persons, since the drivers were often slaves or men of low birth. Even nowadays in equestrian races the owners are often more prestigious than the jockeys. Races were risky events where drivers and horses would often crash or be trampled to death by the other competitors. Women were not allowed to drive, but they could own the cart and horses, a prominent case being Cynics, daughter of a Spartan King. Unlike other Hellenic sports which were practiced by males in the nude, charioteers wore sleeved garments and a leather helmet to protect themselves from the dust and the crashes. Below I show a mosaic with a Roman charioteer. Greeks and Romans no longer used chariots for battle at this time, since they were unstable and riders could be thrown out of their cart. However, the most enthusiastic moments of these races were really the round turns when the spectators could expect incredible crashes with deadly results for both horses and driver, sometimes of several cars in a row as competitors would knock and crush into each other around the post.

The largest hippodrome ever built was the Circus Maximus in Rome which could seat up to 250,000 people. In this circus you could do extensive betting on the winners of a race. There was an extensive market of bookies and professional betters willing to take advantage of the naïve and greedy. Some people would lose their fortunes and even their freedom from lost bets. Rules of winning were tricky at times, because the winner of the race was the first chariot passing the finishing line – even if the man had been trampled to death way behind. Nowadays we celebrate deceased athletes, but the Roman racers could actually claim a truly posthumous glory for their victory! In the center of the race there was a series of pillars with sculptures and engravings on top. These pillars and adornments increased the number of crashes (the Romans called these accidents, naufragia or "shipwrecks"). and the death risk of the races. Racers would want to be as close as possible to the center of the track in order to reduce space and pass their opponents, but the closer to the center the riskier their moves were. In general the bravest and most intelligent horse had to be the one closest to the center of the track, since his movements would be the ones to either lead him to glory or to death. Above I show a picture of the Circus Maximus in Rome which is pretty much an abandoned field nowadays and below I show the hippodrome of Constantinople which forms part of the city center of Istambul. There were four teams disputing the championship of races in ancient Rome and Constantinople, with their identities being given by their colors – Red, Blue, White and Green. Fanatics of these teams often descended into violence and hooliganism and their power was enough to topple down big politicians. In 532 AD the Nika riots started as a dispute between different chariot teams and threatened the reign of emperor Justinian, ending up with half of Constantinople burnt and tens of thousands of people killed.

Finally, no modern athlete, neither Messi, Ronaldo, Federer, Jordan, Schumacher nor Tiger Woods can claim to be the best paid sports player in history, since even the richest of these have only earned slightly more than 1 billion USD. In fact Cristiano Ronaldo is not even the top athlete in Portuguese history! The top earnings prize goes to Gaius Appuleius Diocles, a Lusitanian (the roman name for the ancient Portuguese people) chariot racer born in 104 AD. Diocles earned the sum of 35,863,120 sesterces which amounts to roughly 15 billion USD and all of these winnings came from race prizes, not advertising revenues. Diocles was known for being a strong finisher, who would wait for an opportunity and then pass his opponent from behind at the finish line.  He won 1,462 of his 4,257 races and finished second 861 times. Through his long career Diocles raced for three teams – White, Green and Red – and retired at 42 years of age, still quite able to enjoy a good life. His supporters erected him a monument in Rome detailing his victories. Most of the chariot champions died young, with one example being Scorpus who won over 2000 races before dying in a collision at 27 years of age. As a finish note, Cristiano Ronaldo does not have to mind being passed by his Portuguese ancestor. I am a Portuguese and a fan of Sporting, therefore he is still my big hero.

The Ancient Greek diaspora spread over half of Eurasia: Greek India in the time of Buddha and Jesus

A nation of merchants left the Aegean and reached the edges of the ancient world, from the mouth of the Tagus in Portugal to the cliffs of the Himalayas in northern India and the borders of western China. These remote communities were almost forgotten by Greek historians. Who would guess that the Indo-Greek kingdom remained an influent and independent state for almost two centuries after Greece became a mere Roman province? How many of us know that the first images of the Buddha were Greek? Immigrant nations – often seen as weak, impure and degraded versions of their metropolis – outlive their parents!

The Mediterranean and Black Sea were the first playing grounds of the Greeks, who settled colonies in Asia Minor, Crimea, Cyprus, Sicily, southern Italy, eastern Spain, south France and even Libya. The ancient Greeks would trade with their original cities and keep strong ties with their international community, including the worship of the same gods and traditions. They even reached the mouth of the river Tagus, the most western point in Europe, where a strong Greek community existed in the city of Olisipo which would become modern Lisbon. Historians debate who founded Lisbon, perhaps either Phoenician or Greek traders. Greeks and Romans believed the city was founded by Ulysses during his travels, but some think Olisipo was a Phoenician-influenced name and that later Greek colonists who arrived at this city misinterpreted the name as part of their mythical traditions. The name of Olisipo was later abbreviated to Lisbon after the Islamic occupation, but its original Greek-Phoenician name is still in use in cultural circles: when buying books you often read on the first page the editorial details as “published in Olisipo”. Lisbon is a city prone to earthquakes and floods from the river and ocean who bath it. It is a city on top of many older cities. The left pic below shows Roman ruins underground in Lisbon.

Even more splendid than the Mediterranean expansion were the Hellenistic kingdoms in Egypt, Persia and India, which followed the expedition of Alexander the Great. However, there were already many Greeks living in Persia before Alexander. Persians brought Greek slaves from their territories in Asia Minor, many of whom worked as artisans and goldsmiths. Often these slaves were forced to live with mutilated bodies, since their masters would cut a body-part such as a nose, hand or limb in order to make their escape more difficult and so that they would be recognized as runaway slaves.

The picture on the right shows a Greek influenced Persian gold cup from 400 BC. This object is a rare item, since gold can be melted and few such antiques survive. This cup inspires me with the feeling that such beautiful artworks were the only joy their unhappy creator knew.

After Alexander’s death Hellenistic kingdoms were founded in Pergamum, Ptolemaic Egypt and Seleucid Persia. There were large Greek populations in big cities such as Alexandria, Antioch and Seleucia-on-the-Tigris. However, these three brilliant kingdoms were exhausted in wars against each other and with Rome. By 129 BC Rome had reduced Greece and Pergamum to mere provinces and the Seleucid Empire had lost almost all its territory to the Parthians, being reduced to a few cities in modern Syria. Ptolemaic Egypt ended when Cleopatra and Mark Antony committed suicide in 30 BC after losing the Roman civil war.

All the political and family intrigues of the Seleucids, Ptolemais, Attalids of Pergamum, ancient Macedon and the Greek cities are detailed by the Roman historians. Roman and Greek historians wrote little about the Greco-Bactrian (in Afghanistan) and the Indo-Greek (in Pakistan-North India) kingdoms. These two remote kingdoms were described by Roman historian Justin as “the extremely prosperous Bactrian empire of the thousand cities”, and expanded as far as Uzbekistan and western China. The pics on the sides show a Greek influenced Chinese vase and a wool tapestry representing Greek soldiers from around 220-200 BC found in the Chinese city of Urumqi.

The Greco-Bactrian kingdom initially included the Greek colonies in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. It lasted from 250 BC to 120 BC, when a central Asian nomad people, the Yuezhi, occupied Afghanistan as they escaped from wars in China. After some internal disputes between Greek generals there was also an independent Indo-Greek kingdom in northern India, which lasted from 190 BC to 20 AD. The Indo-Greeks thrived in cities such as Alexandria on the Caucasus, Alexandria in Arachosia (modern Kandahar), Taxila and Gandhara. Below I show the ruins of Alexandria in Arachosia and a Greek sculpture from Alexandria on the Caucasus.

The most famous Greco-Bactrian kings were Demetrius I and Menander I, who were undefeated in war and were often compared to Alexander the Great. Eucratides I was another famous Greco-Bactrian king, who ruled for several decades and issued very good currency, including the largest gold coin ever found from antiquity, as seen in the pic below.

The capital of Eucratides was Alexandria on the Oxus (the current site of Ai-Khanoum) and its ruins located between the rivers Oxus and Kokcha are very well preserved. This capital founded by some soldiers of Alexander which were perhaps too tired to pursue his Indian campaign had every trace of a great Greek city within its great walls and fortress towers, including classical temples, a palace, a theater, and even a gymnasium, as seen in the pics below.

Menander I (ruled from 155 to 130 BC) became a patron of Buddhism and an important Buddhist work, the Milinda Panha (“Questions of Milinda”) portrays him as a wise man, who knew philosophy and many sciences besides war. Roman historian Plutarch reports that Menander I was so popular that its ashes were divided among several Indian cities, placed under sacred shrines in the same way as the Buddha. In fact the Greeks were extremely important for Buddhism. The first human representations of the Buddha appeared in the Greek cities of India around 130 BC, right after Menander’s death. Before then the Buddha was represented by symbols such as the Dharma wheel or a Palm Tree as in this coin issued by the Indo-Greek king Menander. The other pic shows a 2nd century BC Buddha from the city of Gandhara, where a strong Greek community embraced Buddhism and expressed this religion with Hellenized art forms.

The Indo-Greek kings started losing power as new peoples such as the Sakas and the Yuezhi (which would found the Kushan Empire in northern India) pressed from the north after 70 BC. There are few written stories from such period, but fortunately for us there are plenty of Greek coins until 20 AD. These coins often show that Greek kings such as Hermaios and Saka or Kushan kings in the same coin. Some think this shows that Greek kings and the new nomad settlers shared power for several decades and ruled India jointly. Other historians think that this simply shows that the new Kushan kings admired the Greek civilization and wanted to be seen as worthy successors of those wise rulers. In fact the Kushan kings used Greek language for their administration and currency until 127 AD, one century after the last Greek king existed in India. Below I show a coin of Greek king Hermaios and the first Kushan king, Kujula Kaphises.

Gandhara was a center of Greek influenced Buddhism until the end of the Roman Empire. Below there are sculptures of Buddhist gods on the left from the 3rd century AD and a Bodhisattva on the right from the 4th century AD, which show a clear influence from Greek-Roman art of the time. Therefore a vibrant Hellenic community lasted in India at least four centuries after Christ.

The most expensive funeral in history: Alexander of Macedon mourns his dearest friend Hephaestion

Novels and movies perhaps fall too easily into the temptation of over-romanticizing Alexander the Great. In my view Alexander was both a tyrant and a hero of the ancient world. He was clearly a tyrant, since in India and Tyre the Macedonian army committed massacres that would be considered genocidal by modern standards. Paradoxically Alexander was also a hero of the ancient world, since he brought great wealth and authority to his followers. But of course that is only because ancient heroes were judged by their victories over others, not by saving children or by achievement in sports as in our modern times. Perhaps an attenuating factor when evaluating these atrocities is that Macedonians replicated the brutal war actions already present in the ancient world. In Persia there were Greek slaves working as artisans and these often had a body-part – such as a nose, hand or limb – cut from them in order to prevent their rebellion. The picture below shows a Greek influenced Persian gold cup from around 400 BC. This object is a very precious item. Since gold can be melted to form new objects (unlike marble sculptures), then few such artworks survive from antiquity. This beautiful cup inspires the feeling that perhaps the slave Greek artisan who made it lived an unhappy life and these artworks were the only joy he knew.

However, for all their brutality ancient men valued friendship and art in ways as strong as we do. In my view a defining moment in Alexander’s life was when Hephaestion passed away. Until then the conqueror had lived the life of an unbreakable hero, admired by the whole world. Who knows if perhaps at that moment Alexander felt vulnerable and mortal just like all men? Upon hearing of the deceasing of his best friend (or perhaps his lover, obviously we will never know), Alexander interrupts the celebrations organized for the return of his soldiers from India, orders the execution of the physician in charge (Alexander, the tyrant again…) and then mourns for two days next to Hephaestion’s corpse. When Alexander’s companions pull him away from the decaying body, the Macedonian king will begin the plans for what may have been the most expensive funeral rites in history. Alexander wishes to offer his friend a departure more dramatic and pompous than of any of the great kings. The pictures below show the busts of Alexander and Hephaestion.

Soon Hephaestion’s body is mummified and transported in a gilded coffin to Babylon. There Alexander requests a grand funeral pyre from architect Stasicrates, an endeavor which lasts six months. In an early spring dawn several thousands of Macedonian and other Hellenic soldiers who followed the expeditions of Alexander gather for the last goodbye. Decorated horses in golden clothes and painted war elephants face the silent men. In front rises a wooden palace some 60 meters tall and 200 square meters in area. The great building has seven floors, with each tier supported by gigantic wood columns carved with beautiful figures. Each detail sculpted as if to last forever and yet meant to burn in a single morning. The first story had 240 ships painted gold with red flags flowing in between. In the second one the columns resembled flaming torches surround by golden wreaths, serpents and eagles. Above mounted a hunting scene, towered by a battle of centaurs and mythological creatures. The fifth story was a golden jungle of lions, bulls and elephants, shining like planets in the dawning light. The next tier presented the arms of Macedon and Persian, while the seventh level bore sculptures of sirens with a hollow interior where women would chant in lament. On top of it all rose the sarcophagus of Hephaestion. Below I show artistic drawings of what Hephaestion’s funeral pyre might have looked like in a splendid morning plus the drawing of a decorated army elephant.

As the singers descended the stairs, still singing the funeral chants, the early sun was rising in the sky, when Alexander threw down his torch, followed by several of his men. It is easy to imagine the bonfire spreading through each step of the gigantic pyre, ascending upwards as a cataract of flames and smoke. The tower started to creak and as the heavy sculptures and columns would fall from high, eagles, lions, serpents, plunging in flames with a thudding noise. The heat, glow and sound reverberated in the distance until all became ash.

After the ceremony Alexander requests for the sacred flame of the temple of Babylon to be extinguished, an act reserved for the death of the great king himself. The funeral ceremony was followed by 15 days of celebration with a theater and music festival, besides a large arena where over 3000 athletes competed in sports and games. One must imagine the impact of such an event, since Hellene athletes of the time practiced sports almost naked. The audience must have seen ball games, wrestler and runners everywhere fighting for victory with their naked muscles. Below I show artistic images of athletic games and Dionysian music festivals.

Some estimate Hephaestion’s funeral to have costed the equivalent of 2.3 billion USD, similar as a Forbes billionaire burning its entire fortune to mourn a companion. Such was the emotion lived by Alexander and his companions in life. Of course, one may think that the pyramids of Egypt were more expensive tombs, however those were monuments meant to last forever and not merely a funeral rite. This funeral was extensively described by ancient historian Diodorus Siculus, but it goes unmentioned in several other ancient sources. Some modern historians, such as Robin Lane Fox, express some doubts about whether this funeral really happened or whether Diodorus was confused a crazy plan conceived by Alexander and that never really materialized. In my personal opinion I believe it is more likely that Diodorus was describing real events, although perhaps a bit exaggerated. After all Alexander was the wealthiest man of his age and often had no qualms about spending the money he pillaged during his invasions. One can even think that his expeditions to Afghanistan and Pakistan were merely the result of his wish to spend funds to gain more glory, since those were backward regions that his men really did not want to invade. Therefore why not believe that the Macedonian king would not have spent on a lavish funeral for a friend? More recently a gigantic tomb was discovered in Greece, which some people think could be the final resting place built for Hephaestion:

http://www.theamphipolistomb.com/   .

The Beginning of History: A Naked Woman, The First Coin and a King who believed himself to be Fortunate

In July of 2015 I visited Turkey for two weeks, enjoying the historical ruins of that magnificent country. Although I visited the standard attractions in Istanbul, Ephesus and Cappadocia, the best day of my travel was a place isolated from the larger urban centers. One hot summer morning I took a bus and stopped in the middle of a road in order to walk some 3 kms to ancient Sardis. After a long walk which passes through a small town we reach the Temple of Artemisia, one of the most beloved goddesses of the ancient Hellenic peoples and their West Asian neighboring civilizations. This temple has been reconstructed only with stones found in site, therefore we can have an authentic feeling of what it was like in older times. The photos below are from my visit to the temple, with one including me. As you see these isolated ruins do not have any tourists besides me, being are ideal for those who wish to escape the crowds.

Now these ruins introduce us to the very first few pages of the earliest history book, “The Histories” of Herodotus! I received such a book as a birthday gift from my twin brother some 10 years ago and its lessons were not wasted on me. The Histories is a fantastic book in three dimensions at the very least: 1) it is a serious History treatise in which the author separates facts and sources from mere tale, legend and hearsay, posing well-grounded comments on what is known with more certainty and what is more doubtful; 2) it includes an anthropological and ethnographic narrative of the ancient peoples of Herodotus time (5th century BC) and their customs; and 3) a geographical description of the eastern Mediterranean world and its natural phenomena such as the flood of the Nile, the Ukrainian/Caucasian steppes and the river Danube. Therefore Herodotus is the founder of three sciences: History, Anthropology and Geography.

Furthermore, Herodotus wrote with great flair and style. This man did not receive government grants or visit universities full of boring academics. He was a serious scholar and yet one who travelled from town to town reading excerpts of his book and living from the support of ordinary people. Therefore instead of using a dry language Herodotus wrote the most profound tales with a beauty many novelists and poets today could envy!

Well, the beginning of Herodotus’ work is truly just like the title of my post. His story starts with the oldest kings of whom he knew accurate facts. In the 8th century BC Candaules was king of Lidia, a region in west Asia. The Lidians were a people known by their civilized culture and beautiful horses, worshipping gods similar to their Greek neighbors. Candaules tells his friend Gyges that his queen is the most beautiful woman in the world. The king hides Gyges behind the entrance to the royal quarters, so that his friend can spy on the naked queen after her bath and ascertain the truth of his words. Unfortunately, the Queen realizes there was a second man who escaped the room and in the following day orders Gyges to her presence. Since no man was allowed to see the queen in a state of nakedness and the previous event represented a shame for her honor, the Queen poses two options to Gyges: either kill himself or kill her husband, becoming himself her new spouse and king. Gyges begs not to choose between two terrible acts, but the Queen is adamant and Gyges ends up killing his friend Candaules and becoming the new king. The Lidian people is scandalized and a group of citizens goes to Delphi to consult the oracle. Apollo’s priest answers that Gyges shall be King of Lidia, but at the end of five generations the vengeance of the god will fall on the house of Gyges.

Gyges, his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren become great rulers, conquering many of the neighboring cities and kingdoms. Furthermore, the Lidians open mines of gold and silver, becoming the first people to make coins! Although the world had currency instruments such as written tablets before then, it was indeed the Lidians who invented those small metal circles we all carry in our pockets. Their coins were neither of pure silver or gold, but of a mixed alloy called electrum. I show an ancient Lidian coin with their traditional lion in front. You can see pics of Lidian coins here or here or here, with all heads showing lions or a lion and bull pair.

No one remembers a curse after 150 years. Croesus, a descendant of Gyges, is now King and even wealthier than his predecessors, being the first king to issue gold coins! Below I show photos of the ruins of a gold mine (left) and an electrum factory (right) from my visit to Sardis.

Croesus’ fame and power reach far and wide over the East Mediterranean sea. He receives the famous philosopher Solon, a mysterious wise man who laid down the constitutional laws of ancient Athens. The king asks his wise guest whether he is or not the most fortunate man in the world, but Solon answers that fortune may come and go and that men is at the mercy of unpredictable disasters. Indeed one man may know such a disaster at the end of his life that the event wipes away his fondest memories. Unpersuaded by his guest, Croesus lets Solon go. Several years later Croesus loses his only male son in a boar hunt.

Afterwards Lidia faces an invasion from a new eastern empire, Persia. Croesus seeks Apollo’s advice, receiving an apparently auspicious answer “By initiating the war you will end a great empire”. Croesus, after a battle ending in a tie, retreats to Lidia, but he is followed by the Persians who take over his kingdom and reach his capital, Sardis, where Croesus is preparing to immolate himself in a funeral pyre. Cyrus, the Persian King, orders that Croesus must be saved from the flames, but over the following days his prisoner only repeats the words “Solon, Solon, Solon”. After calming Croesus and hearing his story, Cyrus understands that Fortune is ever changing and turns Croesus into one of his most trusted advisers.

After the Persians came the Macedonians and then the Romans, who moved the city one mile away from its original site. Above is my photo of the Imperial Temple of the ancient roman Sardis.