"Zeus Altar" is older than Zeus


	"Zeus Altar" is older than Zeus

invictus

1-28-2008 4:10 PM

1638 views

tags:

archaeology, greece, zeus, minos

8 Comments |

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1-28-2008 7:37 PM

MomLes

The altar of Zeus near Altinoluk looked to me to be older than classical Greek religion. It felt like one of those "high places" the Jewish prophets railed against, a place where Baal and Asherah were worshipped. The mountaintop seemed to have been split by lightning or an earthquake, and there is a spring of water on it - a mystical place indeed.

1-29-2008 1:30 AM

mickfinn

Interesting indeed.

1-29-2008 5:23 PM

syncopath

For know that no one is free, except Zeus.

Aeschylus

1-29-2008 9:39 PM

neochonetes

I just love this stuff; BTW you live in a great country for visiting all the wonderful sites; I especially am fascinated with older cities like Catal Huyuk;D

1-30-2008 5:06 PM

wiccantexan

Oh, great, the Christians co-opted another pagan altar.... wait, I mean the pagans co-opted someone else's altar... this just totally screws up the neo-pagan "everyone else is so bogus because we were first" argument.

1-31-2008 6:03 PM

invictus

You're right neochonetes, Anatolia keeps the essential secrets about the past of our civilization and Catalhoyuk is not the only one. Latest excavations at Gobekli Tepe (Southeastern Turkey) reveal so many stunning facts about the beginning of neolithic period. Some scholars even say "The history textbooks should be rewritten" after recognizing the new evidence. All recent data points at a much earlier beginning for civilization - much earlier than officially acknowledged date. The oldest societies were (very likely) emerged in south and southeastern Anatolia about 10,000 BCE. Gobekli Tepe began to reveal these evidence one by one in recent years.

3-11-2008 12:59 PM

neochonetes

Sorry it took me so long to see this! I agree that history books, encyclopedia articles of world history and school texts definitely need to be updated.

Studying the neolithic/paleolithic interface has been a hobby of mine since I was a teen.

All the evidence for these earlier civilizations existence is rock solid. I would say that the entire Black Sea region contains vestiges of an earlier development of neolithic types cultures.

Who really knows what else is out there? I think the various areas of scientific advancements in archaeology are a boon to these recent discoveries.

Right now the whole area of archaeology seems to be in flux. Just as you mentioned about the recent digs in ot...

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/0bdebbb4-5eaf-44bf-8644-8965ae4e2985/4D044C1B-3757-4EA9-A794-D47644527E46/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-01/uop-nda012408.php" href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-01/uop-nda012408.php" style="font-size: 11px;">www.eurekalert.org</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-01/uop-nda012408.php"><P>“On the highest point of the mountain is a mound of earth, forming an altar of Zeus Lykaios, and from it most of the Peloponnesos can be seen,” wrote Pausanias, in his famous, well-respected multi-volume Description of Greece. “Before the altar on the east stand two pillars, on which there were of old gilded eagles. On this altar they sacrifice in secret to Lykaion Zeus. I was reluctant to pry into the details of the sacrifice; let them be as they are and were from the beginning.”</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-01/uop-nda012408.php"><P>What would surprise Pausanias—as it is surprising archaeologists—is how early that “beginning” actually may be. New pottery evidence from excavations by the Greek-American, interdisciplinary team of the Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project indicates that the ash altar—a cone of earth located atop the southern peak of Mt Lykaion where dedications were made in antiquity— was in use as early as 5,000 years ago—at least 1,000 years before the early Greeks began to worship the god Zeus.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-01/uop-nda012408.php"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.eurekalert.org/img/301BD009-0390-4F49-8F7A-7EB9BF2B1E1C" alt="" /></div></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/4D044C1B-3757-4EA9-A794-D47644527E46/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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