What lessons might we learn from the mission of Epimenides to the city of Athens, resulting from a plague? [24], A second group of researchers, including American evolutionary molecular biologist Dr. Beth Shapiro of the University of California, Santa Cruz, disputed the Papagrigorakis team's findings, citing what they claim are serious methodological flaws. :He was considered by the Greeks as a person especially beloved by the Gods, on which account, when the Athenians were afflicted by a plague, and the priestess at Delphi enjoined them to purify their city; they sent a ship and Nicias the son of Niceratus to Crete, to invite Epimenides to Athens; and he, coming there in the forty-sixth Olympiad, purified the city and eradicated the plague for that time…. Information and translations of epimenides in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on the web. )", "Typhus, Typhoid Fever or Avian Influenza? They concluded that the disease that killed the Greeks was typhus. by Hugh Tredennick and Robin Waterfield. The offerings we found consisted of common, even cheap, burial vessels; black-finished ones, some small red-figured, as well as white lekythoi (oil flasks) of the second half of the 5th century BC. Yes, I want the Patheos Progressive Christian Newsletter as well, Identity Politics vs. Transactional Politics. It could also mark traits of personal humility curiously combined with audacity, specifically a willingness to “tell it like it is,” and an ability to make an audience smile or laugh. Dr. Alexander Langmuir, formerly chief epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, US. Socrates…in his relationship to the gods said and did only what was recognizably consistent with the deepest reverence.[13]. The citizens had experienced the plague together and had found common purpose in calling the prophet to their city. The quote views God as source of life, perhaps more in keeping with a female supreme deity rather than male. A. Andrewes and K. J. Dover. The year is 429 B.C., and the place is Athens in the third year of the Peloponnesian war. Did Epimenides himself recognize the paradox? His interpretation sounds to me like an anachronism, written by someone accustomed to arguing for a particular religious viewpoint against supposedly inferior or older ones. Sometimes those carrying the dead would come across an already burning funeral pyre, dump a new body on it, and walk away. So Epimenides had at least an indirect claim for logic. Thucydides is skeptical of these conclusions and believes that people were simply being superstitious. Caves of Crete, all CC by SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons: upper, Wolfgang Sauber; lower, Torben Schramme. The elders of Athens eagerly gathered on Mars Hill the following day to hear the wisdom of Epimenides and his recommendation for dealing with the plague. As a priest Epimenides may have initiated Pythagoras into the rites of Zeus.[6]. Ancient sources identify that person as Epimenides, celebrated by Plato and Aristotle long before Paul arrived. If so, it suggests an awareness of logical analysis and, even more, its limits. Gomme, A. W., ed. Minoan fresco, Wikimedia Commons, by scan from: Dirk Herdemerten: Die Wandmalereien von Thera(santorini). The balance of power between citizens had changed due to many of the rich dying and their fortunes being inherited by remaining relatives of the lower class. Ramsay suggested that the black sheep were supposed to represent older Greek gods and the white sheep newer Greek gods. In retelling it, we’ll expand 3 biblical remarks by the missionary Paul, which can be traced to a prophet who brought reform, healing, and good news to the people of Athens. "[13], During this time refugees from the Peloponnesian war had immigrated within the Long Walls of Athens, inflating the populations of both the polis of Athens and the port of Piraeus. According to Thucydides, those who had become ill and survived were the most sympathetic to others suffering: believing that they could no longer succumb to any illness, a number of survivors offered to assist with the remaining sick. He also describes in detail the symptoms victims of the plague experienced. Athens was ripe for a pestilence; and, after the tyrants were expelled, the slackness and want of forethought which attended Athenian democracy aggravated the evils of city management, while party strife distracted attention. Could the story of his visit to Athens have a lesson for us today? A Minoan influence? [citation needed]. The biblical scholar Ramsay amplified the brief line of Cretica quoted above, adding 3 more lines referring to Zeus, on the basis of an ancient Syriac commentary: They fashioned a tomb for you, holy and high one, Mother's Day Thoughts As Mother's Day approaches, I have been thinking about... As a preliminary step, sometimes it’s necessary to. Epimenides, from the island of Crete in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, broke the rules that constrained human thinking in his time, opening a floodgate of inspiration that swept GSOT to a place and a level that could never have been anticipated. Some 70-80 years after the visit of Epimenides, Socrates enchanted the youth of Athens with wisdom born of humility and audacity. Epimenides came to the brilliant conclusion that the regular gods of Athens were not upset. Together they heeded the conciliatory instruction of the healer from Crete. The last line – “…in you we live and move and have our being” – is quoted by Paul on the occasion of his own visit to Athens around 51 AD, described in the book of Acts. Lower. [12] Aeschylus seems to echo Epimenides in the dramatist’s retelling of the fateful expedition to Troy. From the same frescoes Epimenides would have been familiar with symbolic coloring, but I’m not certain how to connect that with the sheep. I don’t think it’s a crucial call. [3] Immanuel Kant likewise began his major contributions late in life, describing himself as awakening from a “dogmatic slumber” upon instigation from the Scottish skeptic, David Hume. Gödel’s proof threw cold water on positivist hubris and stopped the Pythagorean dream, pursued with zeal right up through the first decade of the 20th century, to prove “that things are numbers…and that the whole cosmos is a scale and a number.”. The plague, so they thought, was due to one of the gods being angry with the city. from Greene D. and Lattimore R. Greek Tragedies, Vol 1. [4] Strataridaki, A.I. Is Zeus described here as slaying a dragon like a Babylonian warrior-god? Unfortunately, the strategy also resulted in massive migration from the Attic countryside into an already highly populated city, generating overpopulation and resource shortage. Epimenides is the story of a mortal who, while tending to his sheep, suddenly became engrossed in a sleep that lasted for fifty-seven years. What can we make of black and white sheep? Skeletons in the graves were randomly placed with no layers of soil between them. Please also opt me in for Exclusive Offers from Patheos’s Partners, #AllLivesMatter: A Theology Of Generic Humanity, TRENDING AT PATHEOS Progressive Christian. There's a beautiful, transformative event in the life of the Apostle Peter... 4th Sunday After Pentecost. Upper: Cave at Lisos. [109] Epimenides, according to Theopompus and many other writers, was the son of Phaestius; some, however, make him the son of Dosiadas, others of Agesarchus.He was a native of Cnossos in Crete, though from wearing his hair long he did not look like a … Lower: Cave of Psychros. To some of his audience, Epimenides may have imparted an additional insight. Despite huge palaces and evidence of vast Minoan wealth, no ancient military fortifications have been found there. Soon the sacred buildings were filled with the dead and dying. "The Thucydides syndrome: ebola deja vu? To make this point clear, the gods revered with altars of honor did not even receive names. A timeline[10][11] helps to make the point while identifying some Athenians who played major roles: 594 BC Solon as archon cancels peasant debt, begins democracy, ~560 Peisistratos seizes power, rules as tyrant (dictator), 510-508 Tyrant rule ends; Cleisthenes extends democracy, ~500 Plague and visit of Epimenides, 11 Sept 490 Combined Greek force defeats Persian army at Marathon, 484 Aeschylus[12] wins prize for tragic theatre, 480 Athens is sacked by the Persians, 480 Athenian ships defeat Persian navy in the strait of Salamis, 468 Sophocles wins prize for tragedy over Aeschylus, 462 Pericles institutes full democracy for Athenian citizens, 454 Euripides enters the drama contest, ~450 Pericles begins paid jury service to include poor citizens, 447-432 Parthenon is built with statue of Athena by Phydias, 423 Socrates is satirized in Clouds, a comedy by Aristophanes, 404 Athens falls to Sparta at end of Peloponnesian War, 399 Socrates, judged impious, chooses drinking hemlock over exile, 387 Plato’s Academy begins in Athenian suburb of that name, 367 Aristotle enrolls in Plato’s Academy. Meaning of epimenides. [20], Given the possibility that profiles of a known disease may have changed over time, or that the plague was caused by a disease that no longer exists, the exact nature of the Athenian plague may never be known. With an up to 21-day clinical incubation period, and up to 565-day infectious potential recently demonstrated in a semen-transmitted infection, movement of Ebola via Nile commerce into the busy port of Piraeus is plausible. Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! [4], Sparta and its allies, with the exception of Corinth, were almost exclusively land-based powers, able to summon large land armies that were very nearly unbeatable. Areopagus, C Messier, CC by SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. Olson PE, Hames CS, Benenson AS, Genovese EN. He observed that carrion-eating birds and animals disappeared, though he leaves it an open question whether they died after eating the corpses or refused to eat them and were driven away: All the birds and beasts that prey upon human bodies, either abstained from touching them (though there were many lying unburied), or died after tasting them. The plague kept coming. Areopagus, C Messier, CC by SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. But who was he? Sheep, Papi, CC Public domain on Pixabay. Epimenides was considered a law giver, prophet, sage, and even a savior to his people on the Holy Island of Crete, and also to his brothers, the Spartans in Athens. When I first encountered those words many years ago, clueless as to their source, I was struck by how starkly they contrasted with what I had learned about primitive Greek mythology. [8], So (A) is true, though unprovable from pure mathematical logic. He was invited to Athens during a plague to purify the city, on which occasion he performed certain mysterious rites with the effect that the plague ceased. Some 30 pathogens have been suggested as having caused the plague. [14], The plague also caused religious uncertainty and doubt. Angelos Vlachos (Άγγελος Βλάχος), a member of the Academy of Athens and a diplomat, in his Remarks on Thucydides (Παρατηρήσεις στο Θουκυδίδη, [1992] I: 177–178) acknowledges and supports Gomme's opinion: "Today, according to Gomme, it is generally acceptable that it was typhus" ("Σήμερα, όπως γράφει ο Gomme, έχει γίνει από όλους παραδεκτό ότι ήταν τύφος"). At a loss over what to do, they called in the philosopher Epimenides, who came promptly. Religious theories of an Orphic character were attributed to him as well. He was asked to advise the city in the matter of a plague. [citation needed], Excavator Efi Baziotopoulou-Valavani, of the Third Ephoreia (Directorate) of Antiquities, reported that "[t]he mass grave did not have a monumental character. [2] Diogenes Laertius. This was no time to kindle debates or to call up old distinctions. EPIMENIDES ΤΗΕ CRETAN. An earlier oracle had warned that "A Dorian [Spartan] war will come, and bring a pestilence with it".[16]. The Athenians who were visited by a plague in consequence of the crime of Cylon, consulted the Delphic oracle about the means of their delivery. If the latter, then one might as well speak of multiple roles of one God, or one source of universal wisdom. The result was as recorded by Maximus, Diogenes, and others; a plague … According to a local myth Zeus was buried there after dying from a wild boar’s attack. Did Epimenides really write that line? EPIMENIDES (c. 600 B.C.) Many of the remaining Athenians were found to be metics who had forged their documentation or had bribed officials to hide their original status. Epimenides gave us the teasing paradox of the liar, when he wrote “Cretans, always liars.” Those lucky enough to survive the plague developed an immunity and so became the main caretakers of those who later fell ill.[12], A mass grave and nearly 1,000 tombs, dated between -429 and -425 CE, have been found just outside Athens' ancient Kerameikos cemetery. It is said to have caused the death of one in every three people in Athens, and it is widely believed to have contributed to the decline and fall of classical Greece. Definition of epimenides in the Definitions.net dictionary. But I do think that his message during the plague may have reflected and reinforced the spirit of that pivotal time, allowing the Athenians to triumph over tyrants, plagues, and foreign invasions. [6] Upon this discovery, Thucydides' accounts of the event as well as analysis of the remains had been used to try and identify the cause of the epidemic. Epimenides purified Athens after the pollution brought by the Alcmeonidae, and that the seer’s expertise in sacrifices and reform of funeral practices were of great help to Solon in his reform of the Athenian state. [citation needed], Σήμερα, όπως γράφει ο Gomme, έχει γίνει από όλους παραδεκτό ότι ήταν τύφος. Hidden facts can beget such legends. [2], The plague had serious effects on Athens' society, resulting in a lack of adherence to laws and religious belief; in response laws became stricter, resulting in the punishment of non-citizens claiming to be Athenian. [4], Symptoms generally associated with typhoid resemble Thucydides' description. Here we are searching for plausible clues. Epimenides of Crete: some notes on his life, works, and the verse ‘Kretes aei pseustai’, Fortunatae 2 (1991): 207-223. Legend says that Epimenides slept 57 years in a cave before awakening with a clear new vision about human purpose and relation to the Creator. The theory has also found support recent in a study of the plague by Greek epidemiologists. When Epimenides arrived in Athens, he was amazed at the number of statues of gods the Athenians had erected, to which he stated, "Gods must be easier to find here then men!" No. stated that "while this DNA analysis confirms that the Athens sequence is possibly Salmonella, it demonstrates clearly that it is not typhoid. [3] The plague returned twice more, in -428 CE and in the winter of -426/-425 CE. The Pythagoreans formed secret societies devoted to ritual practices, dietary restrictions, philosophical purification, and geometry. Over the next 100 years Athens reached the peak of its influence in ancient Western history while becoming more democratic. The result was as recorded by Maximus, Diogenes, and others; a plague struck the city.[1]. a Greek shepherd and philosopher from the island of Crete – a Cretan – named Epimenides released a flock of sheep on the Areopagus to placate the Greek gods to avert a plague which was ravaging Athens. This meant that many people died alone because no one was willing to risk caring for them. Aeschylus has King Agamemnon saying this: Zeus: whatever he may be, if this name The 5th century BC began with military struggle, then moved toward relative peace. It appears in a brief line recalled from his lost epic poem titled Cretica – “Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies.”. In overcrowded Athens, the disease killed an estimated 25% of the population. “Athens was ripe for a pestilence,” said the scholar William Mitchell Ramsay in a lecture delivered by odd coincidence in 1916, in the middle of a world war and shortly before a global flu epidemic that killed millions. Caves on the island of Crete. At least both expressed a spirit of bold exploratory thinking as the classical age of ancient Greece began and progressed. Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies. Many of Athens' infantry and expert seamen died. Who was Epimenides? According to the ancient historian Diogenes Laertes6: He was considered by the Greeks as a person especially beloved by the Gods, on which account, when the Athenians were afflicted by a plague, and the priestess Images: Header – Temple on the Acropolis in Athens by Chronis Yan on Unsplash. Here’s a link to his personal blog.]. The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers. If lying, he fits the pattern and so paradoxically affirms the phrase. Their political strength had weakened and morale among their armies as well as the citizens had fallen significantly. 1 Samuel... Today’s lectionary text is among the most famous in the all of... God describes himself as patient, kind, gracious, and merciful nine times in... Crazy About the Children: Mamaw's Drawers. Get updates from Mercy Not Sacrifice delivered straight to your inbox, [This is a guest-post from my father John Guyton who’s interested in the parallel between Athens’ great plague of 500 BC and the COVID pandemic today. For in you we live and move and have our being.[9]. Admittedly much of what follows is speculation. It is a story that goes back some roughly 600 years before Paul preached. Almost all the rest is hidden in legends, in fragments of his reportedly extensive writings, and in histories written hundreds of years after he lived. Something about Epimenides you may not have known before, (at least I didn’t) is that he is none other than the “prophet” that the Athenians believed once saved Athens from a great pestilence. London, Penguin, 1990, p. 72. So the wise man instructed the Athenians to gather at Mars Hill, bringing with them a flock of sheep, a band of stonemasons and a large supply of stones and mortar. It’s easy to suggest that the verse addressed only certain Cretans who arrogantly built a tomb for Zeus in their precinct. The distressed citizens sought help from a revered sage on the island of Crete. He is often classified with Orpheus, Pythagoras and Empedoklis, as a man of secret and superhuman knowledge. A widespread belief throughout the eastern Mediterranean region held that Zeus himself as an infant was kept hidden in a Cretan cave to escape the fate of other children of his father Kronos (or Time – for Time day by day eats its children). A remarkable achievement. [9][10], Thucydides states that people ceased fearing the law since they felt they were already living under a death sentence. But the phrase “Cretans, always liars” attracted interest because Epimenides was Cretan himself. The dead were heaped on top of each other, left to rot, or shoved into mass graves. Religious rites were held in some of the many limestone caves in Crete. The plague, which had broken out only a year before, was still claiming its victims. [15] The temples themselves were sites of great misery, as refugees from the Athenian countryside had been forced to find accommodation in the temples. For a mathematician, (A) is the Liar’s Paradox. They represented a variety of gods, all of whom deserved and all of whom were accorded respect. The Greeks thought that they must have offended one of their gods, so they began offering sacrifices on altars to all their various false gods. Those who tended to the ill were most vulnerable to catching the disease. The Athenians decided to bring in a consultant, Epi-menides of Crete. The Plague of Athens The Plague of Athens occurred during the early years of the Peloponnesian War; the first outbreak was in the summer of 430-429B.C. [28], Thucydides' narrative pointedly refers to increased risk among caregivers, more typical of the person-to-person contact spread of viral hemorrhagic fever (e.g., Ebola virus disease or Marburg virus) than typhus or typhoid. I’ll list a few, and you may think of others. Yet there is no suggestion that the religious observances differed by the shade of sheep. Also, send me the Progressive Christian Newsletter and special offers. Also, send me the Progressive Christian Newsletter. Conceivably a ferment of cultures still changing could have led a thoughtful person to new, more universal ideas. Phoenix Books, Univ. In his visit to Athens, Paul preached about an “altar to an unknown god.” To understand that altar, let’s continue the description by Diogenes Laertius: …they sent a ship and Nicias the son of Niceratus to Crete, to invite Epimenides to Athens; and he, coming there in the 46th Olympiad, purified the city and eradicated the plague for that time, he took some black sheep and some white ones, and led them up to the Areopagus, and from thence he let them go wherever they chose, having ordered the attendants to follow them, and wherever any one of them lay down they were to sacrifice him to the god who was the patron of the spot, and so the evil was stayed; and owing to this one may even now find in the different boroughs of the Athenians altars without names, which are a sort of memorial of the propitiation of the gods that then took place. In the face of a combined campaign on land from Sparta and its allies beginning in 431 BC, the Athenians, under the direction of Pericles, pursued a policy of retreat within the city walls of Athens, relying on Athenian maritime supremacy for supply while the superior Athenian navy harassed Spartan troop movements. The inner circle were called mathematikoi, giving us the word “mathematics.” Aristotle wrote, The Pythagorean…having been brought up in the study of mathematics, thought that things are numbers…and that the whole cosmos is a scale and a number.[7]. Suffering unequally today from a worldwide viral plague, let’s revisit this nearly forgotten story. Epimenides was the best-known wise man of ancient Crete. Life in Athens returned to normal. Unfortunately any search for a factual Epimenides must end almost as soon as it starts. [10] https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191736452.timeline.0001, accessed 6/27/2020. The elders of Athens eagerly gathered on Mars Hill the following day to hear the wisdom of Epimendies and his recommendation for dealing with the plague. The 2015 west African Ebola outbreak noted persistence of effects on genitalia and eyes in some survivors, both described by Thucydides. So the wise man instructed the Athenians to gather at Mars Hill, bringing with them a flock of sheep, a band of … That descriptor may have been derived from direct observation because Lucretius cited scientific predecessors in Greek Sicily Empedocles and Acron. Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath. The distressed citizens sought help from a revered sage on the island of Crete. “Cretans, always liars” reveals this – math cannot explain everything that is true. These include typhus, smallpox, measles, and toxic shock syndrome. Transl. [17], The plague was an unforeseen event that resulted in one of the largest recorded loss of life in ancient Greece as well as a breakdown of Athenian society. Caves of Crete, all CC by SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons: upper, Wolfgang Sauber; lower, Torben Schramme. A plague ravaged the young city-state of Athens sometime around 500 BC. Transl. Accounts of the Athenian plague graphically describe the social consequences of an epidemic. The sight of the burning funeral pyres of Athens caused the Spartans to withdraw their troops, being unwilling to risk contact with the diseased enemy. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191736452.timeline.0001, https://ancient-greece.org/resources/timeline.html. pleases him in invocation, Athens would then go on to be defeated by Sparta and fall from being a major power in Ancient Greece. This opinion is expressed in his monumental work Historic Comments on Thucydides,[22] completed after Gomme's death by A. Andrewes and K. J. Dover. Democracy began prior to Epimenides, who received his invitation to visit via majority consent. They did as he instructed and sacrificed the sacred sheep. [11], Another reason for the lack of honorable behavior was the sheer contagiousness of the illness. found in the life of Epimenides by Diogenes Laertios (1.110). The only reward he would accept was a branch of the sacred olive, and a p… A plague ravaged the young city-state of Athens sometime around 500 BC. If he speaks the phrase in general terms, is he lying or telling the truth? The people sacrificed to every god in the pantheon, but the gods did not stop the plague. His visit came just at the start of the classic age of Athenian and Greek civilization. Therefore as an alternative, one might consider that the black and white sheep symbolized a spectrum of diverse faiths, a situation likely familiar to the Cretan prophet. As Maximus of Tyre wrote, “he had come into relations with the gods and the oracles of the gods and truth and justice.”[5], Many in the eastern Mediterranean came to recognize Epimenides for a philosophical conundrum called the Liar’s Paradox. [citation needed], In January 1999, the University of Maryland devoted their fifth annual medical conference, dedicated to notorious case histories, to the Plague of Athens. The laws of sanitation, which the old religion had prescribed for small social groups, were quite inadequate for a large city. Church and ministry leadership resources to better equip, train and provide ideas for today's church and ministry leaders, like you. 3 in Asianic Elements in Greek Civilisation, University of Edinburgh, 1915-1916, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1928; pp. of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 1960. Thucydides' account clearly details the complete disappearance of social morals during the time of the plague: ...the catastrophe was so overwhelming that men, not knowing what would happen next to them, became indifferent to every rule of religion or law.”, The perceived impact of the Athenian plague on collective social and religious behavior echoes accounts of the medieval pandemic best known as the Black Death,[8] although scholars have disputed its objective veracity in both instances, citing a historical link between epidemic disease and unsubstantiated moral panic that bordered on hysteria. That's when, in desperation, Athens brought in a consultant from Cyprus, a poet by the name of Epimenides. If telling the truth, then his truthtelling makes the statement a lie. City, killing about one third of its inhabitants and looking like it would kill the.! An unknown God albeit with less impact sage and as the citizens had fallen significantly shock syndrome cause patient. Sciences journal literature though unprovable from pure mathematical logic consequential mathematical discovery of the th... Infantry and expert seamen died in desperation, Athens stood poised to lead a of... Did Die after eating corpses, or simply fled: See Thuc sailed back to Crete to via. Who tended to the city of Athens had promised amnesty to a band of rebels, then toward. The 5th century BC began with military struggle, then one might as well, Identity Politics vs. Transactional.! Reached the peak of its influence in ancient Greece Liar ’ s Paradox overcrowded Athens, the gods and... Forgotten story a state of panic, quite possibly due to one of the plague also caused uncertainty... Personal blog. ] its victims before, was due to one of the Apostle Peter 4th... Wild boar ’ s easy to suggest that Epimenides purified Athens from the ancient report that Pythagoras came Crete! And audacity thought, was still claiming its victims 21 ] in a letter to Titus more than 500 later..., or simply fled: See Thuc suggests an awareness of logical analysis and, even,... Until the poet Epimenedes suggested they raise an altar to an unknown.. Wall that seems to have protected the cemetery from a plague better, calmed. Epidemic typhus fever is the best documented fact is simply that he did come to Athens stood to. The prophet to their city. [ 1 ] many of Athens had promised amnesty to a local myth was... Would then go on to be metics who had forged their documentation or had bribed officials to hide original! Classified with Orpheus, Pythagoras and Empedoklis, as a man of ancient Crete Duke... Is that of Titus Lucretius Carus typhus, typhoid fever or Avian?... Gomme, έχει γίνει από όλους παραδεκτό ότι ήταν τύφος by a low wall that seems to have enough to... Was Pericles, the disastrous Sicilian expedition prior to Epimenides, conceived of Zeus. 1... 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