Greek Druid Interaction

Greek Culture is a mix of Druid and Indo-European. Their attempts at integrating the two cultures is what made Greek culture so dynamic. Their integration is the ancestor to western culture.

archaic era Athenian coin appearing in 512 BCE
classic era Athenian coin minted after 450 BCE
Top image shows the archaic era Athenian coin appearing in 512 BCE. Notice the olive branch behind the owl which was the source of Athens' prosperity prior to its silver mine. The owl image represents the magical divine powers of motion while the goddess Athena is the personification of those powers. Only the owl side has text which is not Greek but instead is Alphabetic Akkadian and its simply says "motion-powers."
Lower photo at top shows the classic era Athenian coin minted after 450 BCE. Notice the addition of the crescent moon behind the owl showing Athena was acquiring the life powers of the goddess Ayu in an ongoing lordification process.
Photos from NG coins at: https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/2245/Ancients-Owls-Through-the-Years---A-Look-at-the-Evolution-of-Athenian-Tetradrachms/
Athenian owl at Acropolis Museum
Photo shows the owl at the Acropolis museum in Athens (Olmsted photo 2019)

Greek Goddess Athena (600 BCE)

(July 9, 2022) The word "Athena" is Akkadian meaning "motion powers." This begins to show just how much the Greeks borrowed from the Neolithic farming culture.

The top figure shows the earliest style of coins minted by Athens. This coin began to be minted around 512 BCE and continued to be minted for another 60 years. These coins were characterized by their thick, compact planchets. They were introduced by the Athenian king Hippias and supported by a seemingly limitless supply of silver from the newly discovered silver mines at nearby Laurium. The wealth produced by this silver is what made Athens.

Around 450 BCE, Athenian coinage improved in quality in an era known as the early Classical period of Greek art. This resulted in the classical era coin shown in figure 40. This style of coin would be minted through the rest of the 400’s BCE.

The classical era coin better shows the letters used on both coins which are Aleph, Ayin, and He or "A'e" which is the Akkadian word for “motion powers” in which /e/ is the suffix used indicating the divine entity is a power and not a person. (Olmsted Jan. 1, 2022).

Consequently, the owl shown on this Athenian coin either represents the astrological (Hu’u) owl mentioned in other Alphabetic Akkadian texts. Astrological owls were the mechanism which pushed winds/breaths/emotions in various directions as directed by the motions of the planets. As such it was the omen of change.

Despite using an Akkadian word, the ancient Athenians did not speak Akkadian but instead spoke Indo-European Greek. This is shown by the fact that Greek tradition reads these letters as “A.th.e” as an abbreviated form of Athena despite the fact that the central letter is not a theta (Theta has a cross and not a central dot).

So why did the Athenians use an old ancestral language? In this they were like the later Americans who placed Latin words on their coinage like “E pluribus Unum” meaning “out of many one.” Americans considered Roman Pagan culture to be ancestral to their nation. We can assume the Athenians thought the same way about Alphabetic Akkadian.

That this central letter is really an Ayin (‘) and not a teth or theta (Th or Ṭ) is shown by the calf-bearer inscription in the figure below from the same place and time. The calf-bearer inscription was found on the base of a statue on display on the Athenian Acropolis (Olmsted, Jan 14, 2021). The theta in that inscription has a cross inside it while the Ayin has a dot like shown on the coin.

References

Olmsted, D.D. (January 14, 2021) Translation of Calf-Bearer Text from Pre-Parthenon Athens in Alphabetic Akkadian References Drought (499 BCE). Humanities Commons Permanent URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/00gp-tm8 Online at: https://www.academia.edu/44902458/Translation_of_Calf_Bearer_Text_from_Pre_Parthenon_Athens_in_Alphabetic_Akkadian_References_Drought_499_BCE
Olmsted, D.D (January 1, 2022) Mediterranean Akkadian Lexicon 3rd Edition – 2022. DOI Permanent URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/nbb6-wg16. Online at: https://www.academia.edu/66851810/Mediterranean_Akkadian_Lexicon_3rd_Edition_2022
Calf Bearer Inscription from the archaic era Athenian acropolis
Proof that the letter represented by the circle and dot on Athenian coins is not a theta is provided by the contemporary Calf Bearer Inscription from the archaic era Athenian acropolis. Both the letters ayin and teth (theta) are shown. The letter ayin has the central dot while teth (theta) has a cross.
The text reads in Alphabetic Akkadian “[Hu’s] fertility-fluids are nesting which is eliminating the openings, Fertility-fluids are going dark which is starving the Supervisor (Ayu or Athena). Astrological owls …..” (Olmsted January 14, 2021)
amphitheater at the temple complex of Epidaurus in Greece
This is the amphitheater at the temple complex of Epidaurus in Greece. Notice its circular ritual area. This complex was first dedicated to the sun god Apollo (Akkadian Hu) and then to his adopted son Asklepios who was considered to be exclusively a deity of healing (healing was only one of Apollo's powers).
One treatment required people to sleep at a complex called the enkoimeteria (meaning "special-knowledge place") so that their dreams could be interpreted as a clue for their cure. Another treatment was participating in or viewing rituals, while another was being cared for by a healer skilled in classifying diseases. The father of Hippocrates (450-380 BCE), the father of medicine," was such a healer at a different temple to Asclepios on the island of Kos. The more successful complexes became well known and wealthy. (photo by David Olmsted)

Theaters derive from Early Ritual Spaces

(July 9, 2022) All the earliest amphitheaters are found in Greek temple complexes usually dedicated to Apollo or Asklepios. All had circular floor spaces for rituals. These rituals were designed to have spectators perhaps because many in the audience would be ill. Consequently, all also were situated near a hill slope so people could sit on the hill and observe the ritual. The largest ones were situated in the center of valleys so more people could see from the surrounding hills.

The purpose of any emotion magic ritual is to make people feel, More specifically to make them feel certain types of emotions in order that they will open themselves up to certain emotional/spiritual channels. Appropriate channel opening and closings would have been considered important for ancient healing rituals.

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Educating the audience about a ritual was also an important part healing. Hence a narrator was later added on a a raised platform facing the crowd. This platform would later become the theater's stage.

Initially, an interactive question and answer approach was taken to narration. The most common questions were then made part of the narration so two people were now on stage. Slowly more people were added to make certain points. These were the first actors. The first Greek plays were emotional lessons centering on human frailty. These were the classic Greek tragedies, comedies, and satires. Only in the Hellenistic era after 200 BCE would plays become more free-form.

In time the circular ritual space to shrink. First it became semi-circular then only a space for the music makers. Today we know it as the orchestra pit. Yet even as late as the time of Shakespeare theaters still used the ritual space as cheap, standing-only seats in front of the stage.

References

Epidauroshttp://www.civilization.org.uk/greece/greece-extra/epidauros
Hippocrates - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophyhttps://www.iep.utm.edu/hippocra/#H3
Greek Medicinehttp://www.greekmedicine.net/whos_who/Hippocrates.html
Amphitheater at Temple of Apollo in Epidaurus Greece

Amphitheater at Temple of Apollo in Epidaurus Greece

This photo shows how the later stonework was placed over a hill slope. This ritual space had a very long history being in use at least from 500 BCE. The stonework first added around 300 BCE. This temple complex continued in use until banned by the edicts of Christian Roman emperor Theodosius (379-392 CE).
Amphitheater at Priene in Turkey Showing Stage

Later Amphitheater at Priene in Turkey Showing Stage

This is a later style amphitheater was used for entertainment. This one has a stage at the front. The layout of its ritual area is not known. (Olmsted personal photo 2014)
Early Amphitheater at Temple of Apollo in Cyprus

Early Amphitheater at Temple of Apollo in Cyprus

This is a small amphitheater which has been partly reconstructed. (Olmsted personal photo 2019)

Trojan Horse

Mykonos Pithos with Earliest Trojan Horse (650 BCE)

Mykonos Pithos with Earliest Trojan Horse (650 BCE)


The legend of the Trojan Horse likely developed from the ambiguity surrounding the Akkadian word rakbu or rikbu which meant "rider" to include boater, charioteer, and waggoneer. The Akkadian speakers did not distinguish the vehicle of transport. The original ruse likely involved some supply wagons which the story tellers then embellished. The Trojans would have been Akkadian speakers because Akkadian was the language of Europe and the Mediterranean prior to the invasion of the Indo-Europeans and that survived in all Mediterranean civilizations not Roman or Greek. Akkadian was the language of the first farmers who migrated into Europe.
Image from https://ir.lib.uth.gr/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11615/14818/article.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Complete Side of Mykonos Pithos with Earliest Trojan Horse (650 BCE)

Complete Side of Mykonos Pithos with Earliest Trojan Horse (650 BCE)

Mykonos Pithos Scene of Killing of Hector's Son (650 BCE)

Sequence starts with lower left image than goes clockwise
In this scene Odysseus kills the son of Hector (crown prince of Troy) named Astyanax. Neoptolemus takes Hector's wife Andromache captive. The Greeks make a human sacrifice of Priam's daughter Polyxena at Achilles' tomb causing the goddess Athena to plan revenge upon the Greeks during their return.
Image from https://ir.lib.uth.gr/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11615/14818/article.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Mykonos Pithos Scene of Killing of Hector's Son (650 BCE)

Sequence starts with lower left image than goes clockwise
Image from https://ir.lib.uth.gr/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11615/14818/article.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y