Tag: Myth

‘Atlantis – The Evidence’ with Bettany Hughes to air on BBC Two

Expect to see Bettany Hughes visit the Knossos Palace at Crete in 'Atlantis, The Evidence'. Airs Wednesday June 2 2010 at 9pm on BBC Two Historian Bettany Hughes will star in Timewatch Special ‘Atlantis: The Evidence’, to premire on BBC Two next week. She’ll be tracing the origins of the Atlantis myth and presenting evidence that the Thera eruption inspired Plato’s account of the mystical land.

2,400 years ago Greek philosopher Plato wrote of an ancient island civilisation of unparalleled wealth and splendour, which was struck by earthquakes and floods and was swallowed up by the sea in one grievous day and night.

But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea. For which reason the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable, because there is a shoal of mud in the way; and this was caused by the subsidence of the island. (Plato, as translated by Benjamin Jowett)

Atlantis has captured minds and imaginations like no other legendary land. Scores of mavericks, treasure-hunters and fantasists have devoted their lives to finding this lost world (see possible location on Google Earth). Historians and scholars have searched and debated where the real roots of the myth lie for centuries.

Bettany Hughes is among a growing number of experts who believe Plato’s story was inspired by a real historical event the eruption in the Bronze Age of a massive volcano on the Aegean island of Thera, better known to British tourists as Santorini. It was this event which wiped out one of Europe’s first civilisations in a single night.

Photo courtesy NASA. A satellite image of Santorini. Located between Crete and mainland Greece, Thera supported a thriving civilisation that reached its peak between 2000 and 1600 BC. Thera’s capital Akrotiri had its own navel fleet and many trade connections across the Aegean and Near East. Its artists painted beautiful frescoes as far as the Hyksos capital in Egypt. But the Minoan civilization – named after legendary King Minos – came to an abrupt endwhen Akrotiri was devastated by earthquakes. Shortly after a massive volcanic eruption occurred, burying the city.

In this one-off documentary Bettany Hughes presents evidence to support the theory that the Thera Eruption inspired Plato. Recent scientific findings show the eruption was much bigger than previously thought. Archaeological excavations have revealed the remains ofBronze AgeSantorinientombed by the eruption, a frozen moment of the past. As Bettany will show in ‘Atlantis: Evidence’, the parallels between Atlantis and the Minoans are striking.

‘Atlantis: The Evidence’ airs Wednesday, June 2nd 2010 at 9pm on BBC Two

The Truth behind Saint George

Saint George killed a dragon, saved a princess and became the patron saint of England. Tomorrow he’ll be honoured with no small amount of flag-waving, beer-drinking and, you’d think, a fair few A&E visits. But who’s the man behind the myth, the man Shakespeare’s Henry V evoked so brilliantly at Agincourt?

George – good, strong English name, right? Wrong:George was born into Christian nobility in Cappadocia, a lunar landscape in central Turkey best known for its ‘fairy chimneys’, around the middle of the 2nd century AD. In truth George’s early years are about as ephemeral as Emile Heskey’s England career, but as the son of a high-ranking soldier he soon worked his way into the Roman Emperor Diocletian’s personal entourage.

George’s military career is ill-documented, but Diocletian issued an edict in 302 declaring that every Christian soldier be rounded up and made to convert to the Roman pagan faith. George refused to renounce Christ, and was summarily tortured and executed by beheading in Palestine a year later, on April 23. Various sources claim these tortures were particularly nasty, including lasceration on a wheel of swords and being tossed into a burning cauldron, though they’re not the most reliable.

George’s brave refusal led many to honour him as a martyr. A church was consecrated in Lydda, Palestine by Emperor Constantine (ruled 306-337; introduced Christianity officially into the Roman Empire), to ‘a man of the highest distinction’, but his identity has never been revealed. Yet George wasn’t made a saint until 494, and it wasn’t until the 11th century that Crusaders reignited the story of George, adding the famous tale of his slaying a dragon to save a princess. In 1222 the Synod of Oxford declared the day of Saint George’s death a feast in England, a decision that endures to this day.

“Cry, ‘God for England, Harry and Saint George!'” Henry V

Today it’s sad that more isn’t done to celebrate St. George’s Day. Yes, we can complain about the hijacking of the English flag by far-right loons like Nick Griffin, but apathy in the face of globalisation and turgid politics is surely to blame. It’s a shame England doesn’t put the same intensity into its patron saint as the Irish do on St. Patrick’s Day, or the Scots do on Burns Night. Yet a whispered post-modern patriotism is beginning to burble below the surface in Britain, sparked this year by a hotly-contested election and the forthcoming World Cup.

The St. George’s Day website aims to take back the flag from the right, and claims to have over a million voters in its poll to make tomorrow a public holiday. The Turkish town of Urgup, which claims to be the home of George’s dragon-slaying exploits, has invited English villages with ties to the saint to twin with it. “We are very proud of being connected to such a famous and well known character, who has since become the patron saint of England,” says mayor Fahri Yildiz. “It is good to know that the tradition of Saint George, and the legend of Saint George and the Dragon is alive and well there.”

So there’s the history of our patron saint, however swathed in mystery. His day might fall on a Friday night this year, but wherever you’re drinking tomorrow raise a glass to George: the old boy’s had a tough few decades.