Konstantinos Konstantinidis – Amphiktyon
I shall sing the voyage of the Argo, many-oared and glorious,
that from Iolcus set forth, from the far Thessalian land,
and opened paths upon seas unknown to mortal men.
As Apollonius of Rhodes has told,
first to the Euxine Sea the brave ones sailed,
and to Colchis rich in depths;
there the dread Aeëtes pursued them.
And they, with wisdom in their hearts,
turned not their sails to the south,
but northward, to escape his snare—
perhaps driven also by curiosity.
Rivers and tributaries they crossed,
and frozen lands they traversed;
welcomed by the Hyperboreans,
they were borne with the Argo across wild white expanses,
until they reached the bounds of the Arctic,
where earth communes with heaven,
and the Pole Star stands above the head of man.
From there they descended into the great Ocean, the Atlantic,
and through the Pillars of Heracles
they returned again to familiar seas.
Yet a second voyage did the Argonauts dare,
with Jason and the divine Orpheus as helmsmen,
aboard the Argo beloved of the gods.
One morning, from Iolcus—modern Volos—
they set forth: a mighty fleet,
and men of valor, countless in number.
And all the city followed them with blessings,
as they left behind the land of their fathers.
With favorable winds they crossed the Mediterranean
and came to the Pillars of Heracles,
where they paused to rest
and to replenish food and water.
Then they set sail for distant Atlantis—
the Azores.
A great wonder met their eyes:
green islands, serene and blessed.
And they remembered what Plato had taught,
of a land Zeus had sunk
for the hubris of its people.
There they passed the winter,
with much rain, yet no frost.
Then they followed the “Great River,”
flowing ever from east to west,
like a vein of the earth.
The current bore them first northward,
then southward;
and suddenly they beheld the islands of Bermuda.
One island to the north they named Andros.
There they remained for a long time,
to rest and gather knowledge
of winds, currents, and unknown seas.
The people there were hospitable;
and they repaired their ship,
mast and hold alike.
At Bimini, a jar of oil
fell into the depths of the sea;
and though divers strove,
they could not recover it.
(And even today men wonder
how a Greek amphora was found there.)
Then they sailed along the coasts of South America,
passing Jamaica, Puerto Rico,
Hispaniola, and Trinidad.
And they entered the great Amazon River,
vast as a sea.
Many peoples they encountered,
many tribes and unknown lands.
And they came even to Cusco,
to the Inca of Peru.
There they exchanged wisdom and arts,
and taught much of their own civilization.
Sacred signs they left behind:
the Gorgon Medusa, the trident of Poseidon,
and other ancient symbols.
And as gods were they honored by those people,
who received them with love
and laid them upon beds of rest.
When the hour of return came,
they were sent forth with gifts and tears;
for beloved were the Greeks in every land.
They even gifted them the wind-rose tablet—
the plate of Poseidon—
a tool most useful to seafarers.
But later, when foreign conquerors came,
many of these things were lost or hidden,
that the memory of the old gods might fade
and the rule of the conquerors prevail.
Only the Argo, it is said, dared such a voyage—
she passed dread rocks and mighty waves,
and crossed the Atlantic
through frozen circles of the north.
And Homer sang:
“Surely no ship of mortal men could pass that way…
save only the Argo, known to all,
whom the gods themselves sent forth.”
For she was a vessel that seemed to fly,
even defying the weight of earth;
no helmsman did she need,
but from her captain received unseen command.
And thus it is told: the road to the West
was no straight path,
but full of circles, dangers, and wandering.
For the West in those days was dread and unknown—
a realm of loss, or endless roaming,
the dwelling even of Pluto—
more uncertain than a voyage to the moon.
(21/4/26)
Amphiktyon – Major General (ret.) Konstantinos Konstantinidis
Author, Member of the Hellenic Literary Society
http://www.amphiktyon.blogspot.com
https://www.amphiktyon.org