Written by Konstantinos Konstantinidis Amphiktyon
Epimenides 6th century BC came from Knossos, Crete. He was the son of Phaestius, or Dosiadus, or Agesarchus and the Nymph Valte, or Vlasti. When he was still a child, his father sent him to the field to look for a lost sheep. At noon, he entered a cave and slept there for fifty-seven (57) whole years, and according to others only fifty (50) or forty (40). When he woke up from sleep, he asked for the sheep, thinking that he had slept the usual sleep. However, he did not find it and came to the field and there he found another owner and the field unrecognizable and completely renovated. Then he came to the city to his house and there he found the same situation. I asked him who he was and what he was looking for? Finally, he found a younger brother of the old man and from him he learned the whole truth about how his village was going crazy about his loss. From this, Epimenides was considered a God-fearing man and his speech was valuable and respected among the Greeks of his time. For this reason, the Athenians called him to cleanse the city of the “Cylonioagos”. He also built in Athens the Sanctuary of the “Semnae gods”. Then he saw the port of Munichia and said prophetically: “How many great evils will this port cause you” and the Athenians hated him terribly for this. Apparently, Epimenides predicted that evil would come because he saw this natural port unfenced, unkempt and abandoned by the city. And indeed, it was not long before the Persians captured it and the Persian fleet landed there, causing great harm to the city of Athens. The Athenians voted a talent as his reward, but he did not accept it. He agreed on friendship and alliance between the Cnossians and the Athenians, then taking a branch from the “sacred olive tree”, he departed for Crete and shortly afterwards died. He lived one hundred and fifty-seven (157) years or one hundred and forty-four. The Cretans said that he lived two hundred and ninety-nine (299) years. Epimenides flourished in the era of the seven sages and there is even a letter of his to Solon in which the latter received Epimenides’ advice on legislation. He was a highly educated man, prophetic and even predicted the victory of the Arcadians over the Lacedaemonians. He left works: the Theogony, the Argonautica, the Republic of Minos and Rhadamanthys. Unfortunately, his works are not preserved. The Abrahamic religions (Christianity and recently Islam) in order to impose themselves destroyed the Greek works of art and spiritual such. However, it should be noted that some Greek monasteries saved ancient Greek works to our days. When he was building the sanctuary of the Nymphs, a voice was heard saying: “Not of the Nymphs but of Zeus.” He said that he was Aeacus (son of Zeus and the nymph Aegina) pretending to have lived many times in the past. In Crete there is a large underground cave that starts from Knossos to Mount Dikty where Zeus was raised by the Nymphs. There Minos of Crete wrote his laws. Epimenides also lived in this cave, hidden from the world. Some say that he stayed for some time in the mountains, engaged in “rhizotomy”. Then, when he appeared, they said that he slept in the cave and that the Nymphs fed him with an ox’s “hooves”, which never ended. He did not seem to eat either. Pausanias writes that the Lacedaemonians, who were at war with the Cnossians, captured Epimenides and killed him because he foretold bad prophecies and had his tomb there. But the Lacedaemonians deny it. He also said “Cretes always lie” which contradicts himself as a Cretan and he (the paradox of Epimenides)
Commentary:
1/ Knossos, capital of the Minoan state The Minoan palace is the main visitor site of Knossos (or Knossos), an important city in antiquity, with continuous life from the prehistoric years to the 5th century. It is built on the hill of Kefala, with easy access to the sea but also in the interior of Crete
2/ The decline of the Minoan Civilization is due either to a natural disaster, in combination with the possible invasion of the Mycenaeans, Although it disappeared, the Minoan civilization left an indelible mark on history, and its achievements continue to be admired to this day.
3/ The Cylonian Agos: Cylon, taking advantage of the The fact that he was an Olympic champion and a nobleman, as well as the habit of making sacrifices at the altars during festivals with his brother and his followers, he captured the Acropolis in 632 BC (or 628 BC). However, he did not achieve his goal because the then eponymous archon of Athens Megacles, who belonged to the powerful Alcmaeonid family, reacted actively and, besieging the Acropolis, forced Cylon and his brother to flee to Megara, while his followers sought refuge as suppliants at the altar of Athena Polias. At that time, those who took refuge at the altars were considered protected by the gods and were therefore inviolable. However, the followers of Megacles, while promising them that if they left the sanctuary they would not bother them, violating the pan-Hellenic sacred custom, murdered them in front of the sanctuary of the Eumenides, at the moment they were descending from the Acropolis, holding ribbons, according to tradition, the other end of which was tied to the altar, after having previously cut these ribbons (thus, they considered that they no longer enjoyed divine protection).
4/ The Modest Goddesses (Charites): There were three Charites: Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia. According to Hesiod, they were children of Zeus and the Oceanid Eurynome, or Hera or Harmonia, while according to others they have an older origin and were daughters of Uranus. They represent the ultimate in beauty and grace
5/ The Port of Mounichias is the third and smallest natural port of Piraeus, today’s Mikrolimano for yacht.
6/ Rhizotomy: Intervention in the nervous system of the spine and the cutting of certain nerves that cause pain.
7/ Oxen trough: A container used to feed the oxen. It was so large that it was not visible when it ate (6/7/25)
*Amphiktyon, Major General (retd) Konstantinos Konstantinidis Author, Member of the Society of Greek Writers amphiktyon@gmail.com http://amphiktyon.blogspot.com/ https://amphiktyon.org Anyone wishing to be deleted should return this with the indication “deletion” “in accordance with article 14 of law 2672/98