XVII – RELIGIONS OF PREHISTORIC AEGEA - Part 01

XVII – RELIGIONS OF PREHISTORIC AEGEA

In all traditional religions “cosmogony”, “theogony” and “myths” are essentially “sacred” knowledge. One of the elements of a structured consciousness is “sacred” experience. From observing nature we can form a picture of its birth and its consciousness, whose secrets we seek to uncover, the secrets of life and death, in a manner corresponding to human consciousness over the ages. And thus we will pay special attention to the development of the human spirit as it relates to the cultural and historical development of individual tribes that colonized the prehistoric Aegean.

It is difficult to interpret archaeological findings because they are silent and nowhere more than in the areas of religion and language. But, despite this, many archaeological findings have contributed to our knowledge of religions and religious practices in the Aegean world.

The symbols of Minoan religion in Crete were the double axe called “Labris” and the “Minoan horns” of the sacred bull “Traurokerat”. The double axe or “Labris” was introduced earlier by the Asia Minor tribes who came to Crete, some known as “Luvians”, “Karians” and “Lelezians”. The cult of the “Great Mother” (Magna Mater) was brought from Asia Minor later by people of Phrygian origin. The Thracian goddesses “Kabira” and “Kibela” - mothers of gods and nature, were goddesses of the animals, the land and everything that was born. They were also goddesses of the snakes. With the advent of the Phoenician symbols, Apis, the “sacred bull” of Egypt and “Taurokerat”, was also made into symbols. In mythology, in Europa’s story, Zeus too was perceived as a handsome white bull. It is also important to mention that the Minoan religion was based on a matriarchy where women had a dominant role in life.

In Thebes, in search of his sister Europa, Cadmus, the Phoenician leader, brought with him the cult of the Great Mother which already existed in Crete. Based on this, Thomson (Thomson, G.: I Arhaia Eilliniki Koinonia-to Proistoriko Algaio, p. 80, Athina, 1954) thought of the Cadmians as colonists that came from Crete. Besides that, there was also snake worship. According to mythology, before his death Cadmus turned into a snake and went to help the Enheleians, who made him their king and who became king of Illyria, which was a sign of “snake worship”. The Danai in Argolida believed in the “Holy Bull” while the Pelasgians believed in the souls of their ancestors, beliefs which were also present in the Pelopiditi. There was also the apotheosis of kings and rivers, as well as religious magical systems of tribal totemism, the apotheosis of heroes – “Hero worship”, worship of the dead – “Nekro-latria”, etc., or the Sun god Helios worshipped by the Danai. With the colonization of the southern Balkans by the Hyperboreans and Boreans, i.e. the Eolians of Pannonia, the system of the twelve Olympic gods, headed by the supreme god Zeus – Dios, was widely adapted.

The best survey of the so-called “Greek mythology” and religion was provided by Herodotus (Herodotus, History, II, 53, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988) who said: “... Homer and Hesiod were the poets who created the story of the origin of the gods, gave them names and explained their divine honours, skills and characters and were first to give them to the Hellenes”. But according to these same two poets, “all those stories were given to them by the muses, beautiful daughters of the Muse ‘Recollection’ who donated them to great Zeus” to help forget the evil and to bring relief from all worries, which inspired Homer and Hesoid to talk about the past, present and future...”

“I think that the poets about whom we are talking, that lived before all, actually lived after them.” And further on Herodotus (Herodotus, History, II, 50, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988.) said: “Indeed, the names of nearly all of the gods came to Hellada from Egypt. They truly came from abroad, I am confident in my research and I believe they came from Egypt because, as previously indicated, with the exception of Poseidon, the Dioskuri, Hera, Hestia, Themida, Harita and the Nereiditi, the names of all other gods have always existed in Egypt… The god Pan was regarded as one of the eight gods...”

XVIII – AEGEAN EAST COAST – ASIA MINOR

The Asia Minor coastline running along the eastern Aegean Sea also belonged to the Aegean culture. This peninsula was an integral part of western Asia, especially because it was located in an area surrounded by the Black, Marmara, Aegean and Mediterranean Seas, covering an area of 506,600 km2.

Migrations into the Aegean, known as Doric-Hellenic or Panonnian-Hellenic-Balkan migrations, marked a major shift in people in the southern Balkans, especially in the Aegean region and in the eastern Mediterranean at the end of the II millennium BC. Many towns in Pannonia, Thrace, Macedonia, and the Greek mainland were destroyed during these migrations. The powerful Anatolian Hittite kingdom in Asia Minor was torn apart and so were several cities on the Aegean coast. The devastation reached Cyprus where several cities were raised and went as far as breaching the boundaries of the Egyptian empire. These migrations were started by Indo-European people during the last decades of the XIII-XII century BC. The vast majority of these people in the Central and Western Balkans were Scythian-Illyrians and Doric-Hellenes. Those in the East were Thracian tribes.

Asia Minor was inhabited for a long time even before the ceramic Neolithic era of Anatolia. As one of the oldest neighbourhoods in the region, according to artifacts dated at the Ashiki Hiik site, Asia Minor was inhabited between 7,000-6,600 BC. (Srejovic, MD. Archaeological Lexicon, p. 78 Contemporary Administration, Belgrade 1997.) According to our research, the Western Aegean coastline of Asia Minor is an important place of human development and deserves more of our attention. There are already numerous archaeological sites uncovered which belonged to the Aegean culture, such as new Troy, where layers of nine separate settlements (Troy I-IX) were unearthed. The first seven settlements belonged to the Bronze Age, 3000-1100 BC. According to Papastavrou (Papastavrou, I.: Istoria tis Arhaias Ellados, p. 16, Hiotelli, Athinai, 1972), the bearers of that culture were Pannonian tribes, creators of the Dimini Culture in Thessaly, which existed between the V and IV millennium BC. These people were Aeolians (Minians, Lapiti, Macedonians, Flagi, etc. from Pannonia). Troy was an Aeolian city which was finally destroyed and abandoned about 1180 BC. More settlements were later built on top of the original Troy but they did not last long.

Asia Minor - Prehistoric peoples of the Aegean

Hittites The Hittites or Hetei (Hettaioi) or “Arzavani”, about whom there is very little known to about the XIX century BC, were a mixture of peoples who lived in Asia Minor. It is estimated that they moved to Asia Minor from the southern Russian steppes and from the Caucasus around 2,900 BC. (Cavaignac, 1936; McQueen, JG: The Hittites and their contemporaries in Asia Minor, p. 27, London, in 1986.) The Hittites were warrior pastoralists and spoke on Indo-European language. Their Empire was spacious covering a large part of Asia Minor, including parts of Syria and existed between the XIII and XIV century BC. The Hittite capital was Hatusha (Bogaz-kioi) located in southwest Cappadocia. The Hittites had powerful kings including Mursil II (1345-1315), Supilulium I (1300-1334), Mursil III (1333-1309 BC), etc. who had international reputations.

The Hittites had a patriarchal social order and were known for using “cuneiform” writing and two wheeled military chariots. The Hittites, according to Homer, gave the “Achaean” people their ethnic name when they migrated to Ftia in Thessaly. The Hittite empire disappeared around 1200 BC when the Phrygians invaded the Balkans. (McQueen, JG: The Hittites and their contemporaries in Asia Minor, London, in 1986.)

Luvians

The Luvians were a people of Indo-European origin. Their country Luvia was located in Asia Minor, south of the Menander River where Arzava is located today. Hittite king Laburnas occupied Luvia and made it part of the Hittite kingdom. The Hittites considered Luvia to be the birthplace of the Hittite Dynasty which existed around 1600 BC. (Papastavrou, I.: Istoria tis Arhaias Ellados, p. 162, Hiotelli, Athinai, 1972.)

Archaeological research done in today’s Beichesultan, in Turkey, has uncovered one of the oldest settlements which dates back to the early V millennium BC. The megaroni and the palace were destroyed in 1700 BC. It is believed that this was when its inhabitants fled their homeland and migrated to Crete and other Aegean islands, carrying with them their culture, language and script known as Linear A. (Papastavrou, I.: Istoria tis Arhaias Ellados, p. 22, Hiotelli, Athinai, 1972.)

It is also believed that the Luvian language was a substrate language of the “Aegean civilization” before the arrival of the so-called Hellenic language (McQueen, JG: The Hittites and their contemporaries in Asia Minor, p. 35, London, in 1986). Later in time the Luvians of Crete became known as “Eteokretes”, i.e. True Cretans.

Carians (Herodotus, Hippocrates, Mauzol, Artemisia)

In prehistoric times the Carians (Kares) inhabited Caria, a province of southwestern Asia Minor, south of the Menander River and north of Rhodes. They were often mistaken for the Lelegi. According to Herodotus (Herodotus, History, I, 171, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988), the Lelegi were one of the Carian tribes, good sailors and very important people of the time. The Carians had occupied most of the Aegean island including Samos, Hios, Del, Kos, Nakso, Cyclades and others, while on the Peloponnesus they had occupied Epidaurus, Trezen, Ermion, and Megara in Attica. (Thomson, G.: I Arhaia Eilliniki Koinonia-to Proistoriko Algaio, p. 115, Athina, 1954.)

Included among the larger Carian cities were Miles, Pedas, Miunt, Miletus and Halicarnassus. One of the oldest and most significant cities was Miletus, inhabited prior to 1600 BC. The people of Caria were very prosperous between the VIII and VI century BC, wealth gained from good trade relations with Egypt and Libya. Their trade relations were not only good for their economies but also for exchanging knowledge. The Carians gained knowledge in geometry, astronomy and other sciences, which they brought to Miletus from Egypt and created the “Miletus School” which produced philosophers such as Thales, Anaksimen, Anaksimander and others. Outside of the native people living there, other residents in this part of the world included refugees from Athens and the Peloponnesus who left their old country with the arrival of the Hellenes. They were led by Nelei, youngest son of the king of Athens; Kodro-Aeolian-Panonnian in origin. They migrated to this region in 1044 BC. According to Herodotus (Herodotus, History, I, 142, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988), “... they came to Caria, to the furthest southern part, to the cities Millett, Miunt and Prian and they spoke the same language”. The people of Miletus were the first settlers who established 75-90 colonies along the Black Sea and opened trade relations with Kolhida as early as the VIII century BC.

The arrival of the Hellenic Dorians prompted more people to move to Caria, including Dorians, and settled in Halicarnassus which made it a very important city for the colonists. In time about 50% of Halicarnassus’s population consisted of colonists. (Papastavrou, I,: Istoria tis Arhaias Ellados, p. 53, Hiotelli, Athinai, 1972.) Eventually more Dorians settled this region of Caria and the neighbouring islands and created a “Doric alliance” which included Halicarnassus, Lind, Jaliz, Kamir, Kos and Knid and celebrated at Apollo’s sanctuary. But because of some desecration that took place in the sanctuary, Halicarnassus was excluded from participating in the celebrations.

Included among the most important personalities from this part of Caria are Herodotus, Hippocrates, Mauzol and Artemizei.

Herodotus, also known as the “father of history”, was born sometime in 480 BC and died in 431 BC in Athens. According to Thomson (Thomson, G.: I Arhaia Eilliniki Koinonia-to Proistoriko Algaio, p. 112, Athina, 1954), Herodotus was of Carian origin. His father’s name was Likses and his uncle’s (on his mother’s side) name was Panuasis both of which were not Hellenic names. Herodotus is certainly one of the great contributors to literacy and belongs to the world of culture. He is one of the most interesting and most important world writers and founder of ancient history. Without Herodotus’s contributions to “History” it would have not been possible to reconstruct the prehistoric and ancient world. Herodotus is also an important contributor to the oldest Slavic history. He was the one who first introduced us to the existence of the proto-Slavs and Scythians, through Skit, son of Hercules, king of the Scythians and founder of the Argaid Macedonian dynasty.

Hippocrates was born in Caria, on Kos Island, where he spent the greatest part of his life (460-377 BC). Hippocrates traveled a lot and had even been to Athens. He died in Larissa, Thessaly near Trikala where the god Asclepius was born. Asclepius was well known and one of the most important practitioners of medicine from the Askepiadi family. He was considered to be the “father of medicine”. Hippocrates was author of the Corpus Hippocraticum collection which contained more than 100 books, some of which dealt with diagnoses, treatment and prognosis of diseases. Hippocrates believed in nature as being the best doctor (“doctors care, but nature heals”). Hippocrates stood on the moral and ethical side in the medical profession and thus was credited with the Hippocratic Oath and the aphorism “Life is short, and the art of healing – long”.

Mauzol (Mayssollos) belonged to the ancient Carian royal dynasty. During the time when Xerxes (485-465 BC) ruled Persia, Hekatom was king of Caria. Around 360 BC, Hekatom was succeeded by Mauzol, who at the time was satrap in Caria. Mauzol married his sister Artemisia with whom he had no children. After Mauzul died he was succeeded by his wife.

After his death, Artemisia built a “Mausoleum” in Halicarnassus and dedicated it to her husband Mauzol, which was then considered as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

There is another story told by Herodotus about another Artemisia, queen of Caria, daughter of Ligdamis. This Artemisia fought on the Persian side in the battle of Salamis in 480 BC, with five ships. According to Herodotus “... she went to battle because of anger and heroism, even though she could not fight...” After the battle, Xerxes said about her: “The men became women, and women became men”.

Lycia

In prehistory and antiquity, Lycia was a mountainous region in Asia Minor west of Caria, located between the Mediterranean Sea, Pamflia and Phrygia. In earlier times Lycia was called Milyas and Solymi. The ethnonym “Lykioi” belongs to the Paleo-Balkan word “lykos” meaning wolf, a symbol of the Hyperborean goddess Leta and her son Apollo.

According to Herodotus (Herodotus, History, I, 173, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988), however, the ethnonym “Lykioi” and horonym “Lykia” are derived from “Lyk” of Athens, son of ancient king Pandion, the eighth king of Athens who was of Pelasgian origin. Lyk was banished from his homeland by his brother Egei. Lyk took shelter in Asia with the Termili and king Sarpedon. Sarpedon was of Phoenician origin from Crete. Because of Lyk, the Termili, Sarpedon’s subjects, became known as Lykioi. In literature the names “Termili” or “Tremili” are synonymous with Lycia. The Termili became known as the Lykioi during Pharaoh Ramsey II’s reign (1317-1251 BC).

The Lycian capital was Xanth (Hanthos), located on the River Xanth, and constituted the alliance of cities. The river Xanth, also referred to as the river Sirbes and Sirbios by the locals, flowed into the Mediterranean Sea. (Senc. St.: Grčko-Hrvatski rjecčnik, s. 641, Kr. Zemaljaka tiskara, Zagreb, 1910.) The names “Sirb” and “Sirbos” are associated with the ethnonym “Serbian” and the city “Srb” in Lika, Croatia. At the mouth of the river there was a town called “Srb”, which in earlier times was called “Arina” where numerous archaeological remains of various monuments were found.

There was also a river named Xanth in Troy, which later was renamed to Skamandar and now it is called Menderesu. In mythology there was a river god named Xantho. The ancient Macedonians had a god named Xanth. He was the god of light. Ksanik was also the name of a month in the Macedonian calendar. The word “Xanth” belongs to the Paleo-Balkan Glossology which modern linguists say is of unknown origin. Xanth means brownish, blue, yellow and blond.

During the Trojan War (1193-1183 BC) the Lycians, along with their relatives the Lidians, Etrurkans, Frizhanians, Mizians etc., were on the side of the Trojans. It is interesting to note that there are older mythological connections between the Lycians and Pannonia. According to Hesiod’s theogony of the VII century BC (Hesiodus, Fragmenta & Theogonia, p. 404 and on), when the Hyperborean goddess Leta conceived the holy twins with Zeus, she gave birth to them on the Cycladic Island Del. With help from Eileitia, goddess of childbirth, also a Hyperborean goddess, Leta gave birth to the god Apollo and the goddess Artemis. After delivery, Leta left Del Island and went to Lycia. Here she tried to drink water and bathe her children at a spring but the shepherds drove her away. The wolves then showed her the way to the river Xanth. Leta then dedicated this river to her son Apollo, who in Hyperborea was also the god of light. She also turned the mean shepherds into frogs. Because the wolves were kind enough to have shown Leta the way to the river, the entire country was named Lycia in their honour.

Leta was an independent deity in Lycia and her cult was practiced in many places in Asia Minor. Apollo was also god of the Lycyans, known in many places as “Lycian Apollo”.

Another famous Lycian was Olen, a priest and famous poet. In his anthem “Aheia”, Olen wrote about the Hyperborean women Arga and Opia, who came to Del Island with the gods to help the goddess Eileitia deliver Leta’s babies. In addition to calling the god Apollo by his name, he was also nicknamed “Hyperborean Apollo”. According to Herodotus (Herodotus, History, IV, 173, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988), the women of Del Island and the Ionians, who worshipped Leta, learned how to sing Hyperborean songs from Arga and Opia.

During the XII century BC a group of Lycians, together with a group of Carians, left Asia Minor and migrated to Palestine where they later became known as the Filisti. (Thomson, G.: I Arhaia Eilliniki Koinonia-to Proistoriko Algalo, p. 110, Athina, 1954.)

After 549 BC the Lycians came under Persian rule, paid taxes and served in the Persian army but high up on their mountains they lived independently. During the so-called Greek-Persian wars of 490-479 BC, the Lycians were on the side of Persians. They led 50 ships and wore armour and protective outfits. Their bows were made of dogwood and their arrows and spears were made from reeds. They wore goat skins over their shoulders and hats on their heads with plumage all around them. They also carried knives and curved swords. (Herodotus, History, VII, 92, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988.) They spoke a Paleo-Balkan language and wrote

using the Phoenician alphabet. The Lycians were freed from Persian rule in 334 BC by Alexander the Greats’ Macedonians.

Lydia

The Lydians were included among the Paleo-Balkan people who were pushed out of their Balkan homeland and migrated to Asia Minor because of pressure from migrating Indo-European peoples during the XIII-XII century BC. (Strabo, Geographia, VII, 572, Meineke, Lipsiae, I, II, III, 1913; Papastavrou, I.: Istoria tis Arhaias Ellados, Hiotelli, p. 46, Athinai, 1972.) The Lydians settled in Lydia, an Asia Minor province located on the western coast of Asia Minor. Lydia’s capital was Sardis (Sardis means jewel) located on the river Paktola between the mountains Tmola and Sipila. Sardis was also the capital of Lydian kings.

According to Herodotus (Herodotus, History, I, 7, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988), the Lydians (Lydoi) got their ethnic name from Lyda (Lydos), son of king Atis. Before that they were called Meones and their country was known as Meonie. According to Senc (Senc. St.: Grčko-Hrvatski rječnik, p. 641, Kr. Zemaljaka tiskara, Zagreb, 1910), they, together with the Phrygians, Strimonians, Mishanians, Mosinachanians etc., left the Balkans during turbulent times and settled in Asia Minor, having pushed out the Hittites around 1200 BC. King Atis was founder of the Atian Dynasty in Lydia and was revered as a deity by the Lydians and Phrygians and is associated with the god Dionysus.

There exists a city and a village in the Balkans today, both called “Mionitsa”, which are thought to be where the former home of the Lydians was located in Hyperborea, today’s southern end of Serbia. During the Trojan War the Lydians of Meonians fought on the side of Troy. According to Homer (Homer, Iliad and Odyssey, II, 864, Novi Sad, 1985. (Prev. Gjurigj MN)), “The Meonians defeated Mestle and Antif in battle. Mestle and Antif were sons of Talemen born of a Gigeian nymph. Then under the leadership of Tnol they in turn defeated the Meonians.”

According to Budimir (Milan Budimir, SAT spring balkanskih, SKZ, 1969, 74) the thinking today is that the Meonians in fact were an old Balkan people of Indo-European origin who, during the XII century BC Aegean migrations, moved out of the Balkans and migrated to northwestern Anatolia. These Meonians were ethnically closer to the Phrygians from Macedonia and to the Thracians than they were to the Hellenes and belong to the Pelasgians, the first Indo-European Balkan people to move to the Mediterranean before the so-called Greeks. Hiponakt (VI century BC), in his lyrics has preserved some words and phrases of the Meonian language in their original Meonian form and in their Greek translation. According to Aristotle, Alkman, founder of the choral lyrics in 625 BC, who was from Sardis the Lydian capital, was not a Spartan but a Lydian. According to ancient tradition, Homer, poet and author of the Iliad, should either have been a Meonian from Smyrna or a Meonian from Lydia.

As previously mentioned, another important person from Lydia was Pelops, son of king Tantal, a rich and powerful ruler of Lydia. Tantal was son of Zeus. He had three sons Pelops, Brotei and Daksil and a daughter named Nioba. Tantal was abusive so the gods punished him by sending him to the underworld to suffer from eternal hunger and thirst.

Pelops, Tantal’s eldest son, left his homeland when he was very young because he endangered Il (Ilos) the Trojan king. It is said that Pelops flew over the Aegean Sea on a “golden chariot drawn by winged horses” along with some Lydians and Phrygians and their wealth and subdued the poor Achaeans (Ahaioi meaning depressed) of Thessalian Ftia in the Peloponnesus. He then married Hipodamia, daughter of king Enomei, king of Elida. Later Pelops’s sons took over and ruled the entire peninsula and it became known as the Peloponnesus. Pelops’s sons were Atrei and Tirint. Atrei was king of Mikena and Tiest. The brothers were known in mythology for their wealth and for their mutual hatred of each other. Agamemnon and Menelei were Atrei’s sons who led the Danai, Achaeans and Argievs in the Trojan War. (Homer, Iliad and Odyssey, II, 864, Novi Sad, 1985. (Prev. Gjurigj MN))

In addition to the Lydian dynasties mentioned in mythology and in ancient history there were also the Herculean and Marmnadian dynasties.

The Herculean Dynasty of the Sandonidi was an Assyrian dynasty through king Iordan and his daughter Omfala, Lydian queen. Marsil and Kandaul belonged to this dynasty when they lost their kingdom in 713 BC. The legend about the Herculean dynasty of the Lydians was captured by Apollodorus during the I-II century BC (Bible. II, 3, 6 and beyond) during the Macedonian-Roman era. It has been said that in order for Hercules to be cleansed of his sins, having murdered Ifit, son of king Evrit who ruled Ehaleia, and for the theft of the “Delphian tripod” he had to serve Omfal. While serving Omfal for three years as a slave, Hercules performed many heroic deeds. In later stories Hercules’s bondage to Omfal was described as humiliating. Omfal had turned Hercules into a “sissy” and “a pushover”.

There is however discrepancy in the chronology. The Sandonidi or Herculean Assyrian Dynasty came to power in 1221 BC while Ifit was a participant in the Trojan War in 1183 BC, as a famous archer. During the postwar period, when one day 12 of Ifit’s mares went missing, Ifit went off to find them and punish the thieves. His mares however were found in Hercules’s barn. So, to cover up his crime and keep the mares, Hercules killed Ifit. From this we can deduce that there was no Herculean dynasty in Lydia in 1183 BC, especially since we know that Hercules was not involved in the Trojan War. The third Dynasty which began in 761 BC, and carried the name “Mermnadi”, started with Giga and continued through Ardis, Sadiat and Alia and ended with Krez.

According to Herodotus (Herodotus, History, I, 6, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988) Krez (Kroisos, 555-549 BC) was one of Aliatei’s sons, a Lydian king who ruled the region west of the river Halis up to the Aegean Sea. Krez conquered the Phrygians, Misians, Paflagonians, Thracians, Bitinians, Carians, Ionians, Dorians, Eolians etc. Then when he incorporated them in Lydia, many rich and famous people came to live in Sardis. After that Krez became the richest and most famous king in the region after whom the phrase “as rich as Croesus” was coined. Included among the famous people that moved to Sardis were many sages and Solon from Athens. However, despite his power, in 549 BC Krez was captured by Persian king Kir (Cyrus) who then turned Lydia into a Persian satrapy. The Lydians were freed from the Persians in 334 BC by Alexander the Greats’ Macedonians. Lydia later became part of Seleucus’s Macedonian-Asian kingdom and afterwards, during the I century BC, it came under Roman rule.

Phrygia

The name “Phrygia” in prehistory first appeared as an arbitrary region in northwestern Asia Minor which, over time, became Phrygia, the westernmost province of Asia Minor. Later the part of Phrygia that encompassed the Hellespont, which included Troy, was renamed “Little Phrygia”. Later another part, belonging to Sangaria, was renamed “Bithynia” and the rest became known as “Greater Phrygia”.

Here is what Herodotus (Herodotus, History, VII, 73, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988) had to say about the origin of the Phrygians of Asia Minor: “The Phrygians, according to Macedonian testimonies, were called “Brigians” for as long as they lived in Europe and were neighbours of the Macedonians. Then when they moved to Asia they changed both their name and the name of their homeland and became known as Phrygians from Phrygia. The Armenians ... are descendants of the Phrygians”

Most likely, the Phrygians migrated to Asia Minor between 1313 BC, during the Cadmian migrations to Illyria, and 1225 BC when the Argonaut Expeditions took place. According to Thomson (Thomson, G.: I Arhaia Eilliniki Koinonia-to Proistoriko Algalo, p. 291, Athina, 1954), the Phrygian migrations took place at 1200 BC and are chronologically linked with the collapse of the Hittite empire. During the Trojan War the Phrygians were Priam’s allies and fought against the so-called Greeks. When Priam was young he helped the Phrygians fight against the Amazons during king Otrei’s reign. Priam married Hekaba, a Phrygian princess, who bore him 19 children. During the Trojan War the Phrygians were led by king Forko, about whom Homer (Homer, Iliad and Odyssey, II, 864, Novi Sad, 1985. (Prev. Gjurigj MN)) wrote: “…from far away Askania Forko led the Phrygians and by the will of the gods the Askani are eager to battle…” Askania is located at the end of Asia Minor, at Lake Askan near the border between Phrygia and Mysia.

Included among the most famous Phrygian mythological figures are king Tantal and his son king Pelops, who, in the middle of the XIII century BC, brought the Achaeans to Thessalian Ftia in the Peloponnesus, and whose sons Atrei and Tiest became kings of Mikena and Tirint. Pelops’s grandchildren Agamemnon and Menelei led the so-called Greeks in the Trojan War of 1193 BC.

King Gordias is credited with being the founder of the Phrygian state and with building the city “Gordion” near the river Sangaria. There is a region that covers part of Mount Taur called the Gordian Mountains. It is located in southwestern Armenia where the proud Kurds live. Gordias came to power after he fought a terrible war against his brother. He is famous because of the Gordian knot that was tied to an ox cart yoke and could not be unraveled. According to prophecy, the one who unraveled the Gordian knot would rule the whole of Asia. Only Alexander the Great of Macedonia succeeded in both unraveling the knot and ruling all of Asia. Alexander, in 334 BC, cut the knot with his sword. Gordias was the son of Midas, a wise and immensely wealthy king. In mythology Midas was known for his donkey ears. However, there is some confusion between the legendary Midas of Phrygia and the Midas who had the beautiful gardens and grew fabulous roses at the foot of Mount Bermion (Karakamen) in Voden, Macedonia, where the old man Silen, Dionysus’s teacher, got lost.

According to our latest research (Petrova, E..: Brigitte central Balkan I and II millennium BC, p. 208, Skopje, 1996) the Brigian and Misian migrations from the Central Balkans took place at different times and went in multiple directions. The first major migration wave took place around 1500-1400 BC and went in the direction of Asia Minor. The second, smaller migration wave took place after the 1183 BC Trojan War and again went towards Asia Minor. The third migration wave took place around 800-700 BC and went in the direction of Epirus, Greece and Italy. The Phrygian state disappeared at the beginning of the VII century BC, probably during the Lydian conquests under the leadership of king Krez (Croesus).

Mosinikia

Mosinikia was located near the Black Sea, west of Bithynia and Trebizond. The Mosinikians were colonists, refugees from the Mid-Podunavie. Their city Mosna was located near today’s town Doni Milanovats. The ethnic name “Mosinikians” (Mosnoikoi) originated from the word “mosna” meaning wooden house, shed and the word “oikos” meaning house. According to Graves (Graves, R. The Greek Myths, Penguin books, Middlesex, 1972), the Brigians in Macedonia were originally called Mosinians. In the Persian Empire they were included in the nineteenth satrapy. In battle the Mosinikians wore wooden hats, carried small shields and threw short wooden spears. During the wars the Mosinikians were led by Artaiko, satrap of Sest in the Helespont. (Herodotus, History, III, 94, VII, 78, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988.)

Mizia

The province Mizia was located in the northwestern part of Asia Minor, which during Homer’s time stretched from Esap to Olympus and later was divided into major and minor Mizia. The horonym “Mizia” originated from the word “mys” meaning mice, while the ethnonym originated from the word “mysoi” meaning Mizians. Senc (Senc. St.: Grko-hrvatski rjenik, s. 623, Kr. Zemaljska tiskara, Zagreb, 1910), quoting Homer, said the Mizians were European people from the Danube.

During our linguistic research of Pannonian onomastics we established that there were the toponyms “Mishar” in Machva which belonged to a village and to a hilltop in the Sabats and Obedska Bara Regions. “Mishar”, as a name, existed in many places in Serbia. “Mishar” is also the name of a bird of prey in the hawk family (Buteo buteo) which feeds mainly on field mice. There is a village called “Mishar” in Potserin, with more than 1,000 inhabitants. Etymologically, the word “Mishar” belongs to the Balkan Paleo-Glossology and is made up of the word “mys” meaning mouse and the word “ar” meaning really, truly. The mouse was a totem of the prehistoric inhabitants of Machva, to which they showed respect and owed the origin of their name. This was similar to the Achaean “Mirmidonians” of Eak, to whom Achilles belonged, who also got their name from the creatures of nature; the ants. The Machvan too, according to tradition got their name in this manner and took it with them when they migrated from the banks of the Sava and Danube Rivers to Asia Minor. During Roman times Mizia became synonymous with Moesia, as in Upper and Lower Moesia.

Homer (Homer, Iliad and Odyssey, II, 858, Novi Sad, 1985. (Prev. Gjurigj MN)) wrote a poem about the Mizians (Mishani): “The Mishani were led by Hromis and Enom…” Strabo (Strabo.: Geographia, Meineke, Lipsiae, I, II, III, VII, 3, 2-10, 1913, Meineke, Lipsiae) thought the Mizians were European people, known as Moesians during the Roman conquests. One of the kings of Misia was Teutrant (Τεύθρας) who ruled the lower reaches of the river Kaika. The Kaika Plain was one of the most fertile regions in Moesia. Teutrant was followed by Telef (Telefos), founder of the Pergamon Royal line. Telef was ruler of Mizia during the Trojan War and fought heroically and pushed the so-called Greeks back but was wounded by Achilles. When his wounds healed, Telef vowed never again to fight against the Greeks. Laodika, his wife, bore him three sons Tarhon, Tirsen and Rom. After the Trojan War, the brothers led the Etruscans to Central Italy and later became known as the Tirenian Etruscans. (Strabo.: Geographia, Meineke, Lipsiae, V, 2, 2, 1913, Meineke, Lipsiae)

Dardania and Troy

Dardania was located at the northern most part of Asia Minor at the Hellespont. The founder of this province was the eponimic hero, king Dardan, king of the Dardanians.

Dardan (Dardanos) in mythology was Zeus and Eletra’s son. Eletra was Okean and Tetina’s daughter and wife of Taumant (Ada Forko-Tumats near Belgrade). The name “Dardan” was coined from the Slavic word “Dar” meaning gift and the Paleo-Balkan word “Dion”, “Dan”, meaning god and thus we have the word “Dardan” meaning gift of god. Dardan’s sons were called “Il” and “Erihtonei” and his daughter was known as Ideia.

Il (Ilos) was founder of the city Iliona-Troy. According to Homer (Homer, Iliad and Odyssey, XX, 236, Novi Sad, 1985. (Prev. Gjurigj MN)), “Il, in turn, had an exemplary son named Laomedont and Laomedont had sons named Titon, Priam, Lamp, Klitei, Hiketaon..., Aserak, Kapis had a son named Anhis, Aeneas had a son named Anhis and Priam had a handsome son named Hector.”

Erihtonei (Erihthonios) was the richest man among all mortals. He owned three thousand mares, some of which were raised by Borei.

Ideia (Idaia) was Finei’s second wife. Finei was king of the Thracians. At one point Finei blinded his sons from his first marriage and threw them in a dungeon together with their mother Cleopatra. They were freed by the Boreans during the Argonaut Expeditions and Ideia was returned to her father Dardan, eponimenic hero of the Balkan Illyrian-Dardanians who inhabited the region around Mount Shara. (Appian, Hist. Illyr., 2.: Diod. Sic., IV, 43 and further)

During Laomedont’s (Laomedon) time Troy became a powerful city and its authority stretched down to the river Strimon (Struma) in Macedonia. The city was protected by high walls, where Apollo and Poseidon served time while being punished by Zeus. Because Laomedont refused to pay his respect to the gods, they infected Troy with a plague and brought a sea dragon which swallowed people. Then, on the advice of a prophet, Laomedont was forced to sacrifice his daughter Hesiona to the sea dragon. After the unfortunate princess was tied to a rock and left there to be eaten by the dragon, the king offered his divine horses as reward to anyone who could save his daughter. According to legend, before the Argonauts passed through the Hellespont, Hercules went to Troy and saved Hesiona but the Trojan king reneged on his promise. Hercules then went back to Troy, conquered the city and, with help from Telemon, killed Laomedont and all his sons except Priam. With Hercules’s permission Telemon married Hesiona who gave birth to Teukar, half-brother to Aiant the great, king of Salamis Island.

Priam, Hector and Paris

Priam (Priamos) was the last ruler of Troy. During his youth he helped the Phrygians fight against the Amazons. Priam was married to Hekaba, daughter of Dimant, king of the Phrygians. Hekaba bore nineteen children, among whom were Hector, Paris-Alexander, Helen, Troil and others, as well as daughters Cassandra, Laodika, Poliksena etc. The Trojan War had a profound effect on Priam which quickly turned him into a tired old man who left his authority to his sons. When the so-called Greeks conquered Troy, after 10 years of fighting, Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, killed Priam.

Hector (Ektor) was Priam’s youngest son whom the Trojans, because of his courage and nobility, adored as a god. During the Trojan War Hector led many Trojan attacks which forced the Greeks to withdraw. Hector repeatedly attacked the enemy camps and in the process killed Patroclus. This angered Achilles who then killed Hector. After the destruction of Troy and the division of its spoils, Hector’s wife Andromaha (Andromahe) was awarded to Neoptolemus, Achilles’s son. When they left they took her with them to Thessalian Ftia, where she bore Neoptolemus three sons, Molot, Pergam and Piel. After Neoptolemus’s death in Delphi, Andromaha married her brother-in-law Helen and left for Epirus to live among the Illyrians and the Epirioti. In Epirus the couple founded New Illion where they met Enei on his way to Italy. After Helen’s death, Andromaha, with her son Pergam, went to Misia where they founded the city Pergamum about which Euripides wrote in his tragedies.

Paris (Paris) was the youngest and most handsome Trojan prince and the “cause” of the Trojan War. In mythology, when Zeus one day decided to start a war between the various people in the human race and destroy its heroes, while celebrating the Greek heroes and his own daughter the beautiful Helen, wife of Menelaos, king of the Lakedemonians in Sparta, he took advantage of Erida, goddess of discord, to instigate the war. During Pelei’s wedding, where, among the other gods were also the three goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite having a conversation, Erida dropped a golden apple beside them on which was written the words: “For the most beautiful.” However, none of the participating gods wanted to be the judges and decide who was the most beautiful of the three. The problem was solved when Zeus picked Paris to be the judge and Paris judged Aphrodite to be the most beautiful of them all because she promised to give him the beautiful Helena, the most beautiful of the mortal women, to be his wife. Because of the pettiness of this judgment the apple came to be known as the “golden apple of discord”.

After Aphrodite promised Helen to Paris, Paris built a boat and, along with his relative Enei and a number of sailors, sailed off to Sparta where he was warmly received by Meneleos. Ten days later they all went to Crete to participate in some games. At that time, looking rich and handsome, Paris quickly won over Helen, Menelaos’s wife, who willingly left with Paris and went to Troy where she was warmly received by the Trojans. In the meantime, Menelaos and Odysseus asked Priam to return Helen but Priam and the Trojans refused and thus the Trojan War was started. During the war, Paris killed Achilles, the greatest Greek hero, by shooting him in the heel with an arrow, the only vulnerable part in Achilles’s body (“Achilles heel”).

Enei, Latin and Norak

Enei (Aineias) in mythology was the son of Trojan prince Anhis, a Dardanian by descent and founder of the power and glory of Rome. Enei was very active in the Trojan War, where, due to his exceptional courage, he enjoyed Priam and Hector’s respect and the respect of all Trojans. During the last days of the war, Enei with his father Anhis, son Askarei and wife Kreusa took shelter on Mount Ida. According to legend, after the war and a brief stay at Mount Ida, Enei went through Macedonia and Thrace, along the Aegean Sea coastline down to the coast of Epirus, where he joined his relatives Helen and Andromaha. Having visited the prophet in Dodona, Enei left and, through the Ionian Sea, reached Sicily where he founded the cities Egest and Elim. After his father Anhis died he took a boat from Sicily and went west towards the Italian coast but due to a storm he landed in Carthage. He then again sailed towards Italy and continued traveling further north to the mouth of the Tiber River. There he was received by Laton, king of Lazio, who gave him part of his kingdom in exchange for marrying his daughter Lavinia and for entering into an alliance with him.

There are a couple of stories about Latin (Latinus), king of the Lacei. According to older accounts (Hesiodus, Fragmenta & Theogonia, p. 1011) he was Odysseus and Kirkin’s son who, together with his brother Argei, ruled the Tirseni.

The Tirseni or Etruscans (from Tursci-Tusci) migrated in waves from Asia Minor from regions in Lydia, around 1000 BC, and settled in the northwestern part of the Apennine Peninsula on the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea and named the region Tuscany.

Other tribes from Sardis, the capital of Lydia, also migrated along with the Etruscans and colonized Sardinia Island. According to Graves (Graves, R., The Greek Myths, Penguin Books, Middlessex, 1972), Norak, grandson of Gerion, king of Ada Kale – Eriteia on the Danube, even before these events had taken place, founded a colony in Sardinia and established himself in Nor, the oldest town on the island and created the alphabet of the trees...

In the Roman legends, Latin was the son of the god Faun and nymph Marika, king of the Aborigini (not Borean by origin) or the son of Hercules and Faun’s daughter or widow. Best known is the genealogy which connects Latin with the legend of Enei. Namely, Enei’s daughter Roma married Latin, son of Telemah and Kirkin and bore him the sons Romulus, Remus and Telegon. There is also the traditional thinking that Latin was the founder of Rome and named the city after his dead sister Roma.