Post by wren on Jan 15, 2007 11:09:16 GMT -5
In Greek mythology, according to tradition, the Hyperboreans were a mythical people who lived far to the north of Thrace. Their land, called Hyperborea, or Hyperboria ("beyond the Boreas (north wind)"), was perfect, with the Sun shining twenty-four hours a day.
Reaching such exotic lands is never easy:
Legends
Alone among the Twelve Olympians, Apollo was venerated among the Hyperboreans: he spent his winter amongst them.[1] For their part the Hyperboreans sent mysterious gifts, packed in straw that came first to Dodona and then were passed from people to people until they came to Apollo's temple on Delos (Pausanias). Abaris, Hyperborean priest of Apollo, was a legendary wandering healer and seer. Theseus and Perseus also visited the Hyperboreans.
Along with Thule, Hyperborea was one of several terrae incognitae to the Greeks and Romans, where Pliny and Herodotus, as well as Virgil and Cicero, reported that people lived to the age of one thousand and enjoyed lives of complete happiness. According to Herodotus (4.13) the Hyperboreans lived beyond the Arimaspians and were visited by Aristeas, who is said to have written a hexameter poem (now lost) dealing with them. Hesiod mentioned the Hyperboreans, Herodotus reported, "and Homer also in the Epigoni, if that be really a work of his". Also, the sun was supposed to rise and set only once a year in Hyperborea. Large quantities of gold were here, guarded by griffins.
Maps based on reference points and descriptions description given by Strabo[2] Hyperborea, shown variously as a peninsula or island, is located beyond France and has a greater latitudinal than longitudinal extent.[3] Other descriptions put it in the general area of the Ural Mountains.
Modern interpretations
As with other legends of this sort, selected details can be reconciled with modern knowledge. Above the Arctic Circle, from the time of the vernal equinox to the time of the autumnal equinox, the sun can shine for twenty-four hours a day; it rises and sets only once a year, possibly leading to the erroneous conclusion that a "day" for such persons is a year long, and therefore that living a thousand days would be the same as living a thousand years.
The term "Hyperborean" sees some self-consciously jocular contemporary use to refer to any who live in a cold climate.[4] Under the Library of Congress classification system, the letter subclass PM includes "Hyperborean Languages", a catch-all category that refers to all the linguistically unrelated languages of peoples living in Arctic regions, such as the Inuit.
Since Herodotus places the Hyperboreans beyond the Massagetae and Issedones, both Central Asian peoples, it appears that his Hyperboreans live in Central or Eastern Asia; while Hecataeus of Abdera clearly places the Hyperboreans in the British Isles.
Notes
^ J. Rendel Harris, 1925. "Apollo at the Back of the North Wind", Journal of Hellenic Studies 45.2 pp. 229-242.
^ Strabo, 11.4.3.
^ Fridtjof Nansen. In Northern Mists: Arctic Exploration in Early Times. Frederick A. Stokes co., 1911. Page 188.
^ Gregg Easterbrook refers to the Minnesota Vikings football team (NFL) as the "Hyperboreans" in his "Tuesday Morning Quarterback" articles on ESPN's website.
Never the Muse is absent
from their ways: lyres clash and flutes cry
and everywhere maiden choruses whirling.
Neither disease nor bitter old age is mixed
in their sacred blood; far from labor and battle they live.
(Pindar, Tenth Pythian Ode, Richmond Lattimore, translator).
from their ways: lyres clash and flutes cry
and everywhere maiden choruses whirling.
Neither disease nor bitter old age is mixed
in their sacred blood; far from labor and battle they live.
(Pindar, Tenth Pythian Ode, Richmond Lattimore, translator).
Reaching such exotic lands is never easy:
Never on land or by sea will you find
the marvelous road to the feast of the Hyperborea.
Pindar cautioned. The Greeks thought that Boreas, the North Wind, lived in Thrace, and that therefore Hyperborea was an unspecified nation in the northern lands beyond Scythia.
the marvelous road to the feast of the Hyperborea.
Pindar cautioned. The Greeks thought that Boreas, the North Wind, lived in Thrace, and that therefore Hyperborea was an unspecified nation in the northern lands beyond Scythia.
Legends
Alone among the Twelve Olympians, Apollo was venerated among the Hyperboreans: he spent his winter amongst them.[1] For their part the Hyperboreans sent mysterious gifts, packed in straw that came first to Dodona and then were passed from people to people until they came to Apollo's temple on Delos (Pausanias). Abaris, Hyperborean priest of Apollo, was a legendary wandering healer and seer. Theseus and Perseus also visited the Hyperboreans.
Along with Thule, Hyperborea was one of several terrae incognitae to the Greeks and Romans, where Pliny and Herodotus, as well as Virgil and Cicero, reported that people lived to the age of one thousand and enjoyed lives of complete happiness. According to Herodotus (4.13) the Hyperboreans lived beyond the Arimaspians and were visited by Aristeas, who is said to have written a hexameter poem (now lost) dealing with them. Hesiod mentioned the Hyperboreans, Herodotus reported, "and Homer also in the Epigoni, if that be really a work of his". Also, the sun was supposed to rise and set only once a year in Hyperborea. Large quantities of gold were here, guarded by griffins.
Maps based on reference points and descriptions description given by Strabo[2] Hyperborea, shown variously as a peninsula or island, is located beyond France and has a greater latitudinal than longitudinal extent.[3] Other descriptions put it in the general area of the Ural Mountains.
Modern interpretations
As with other legends of this sort, selected details can be reconciled with modern knowledge. Above the Arctic Circle, from the time of the vernal equinox to the time of the autumnal equinox, the sun can shine for twenty-four hours a day; it rises and sets only once a year, possibly leading to the erroneous conclusion that a "day" for such persons is a year long, and therefore that living a thousand days would be the same as living a thousand years.
The term "Hyperborean" sees some self-consciously jocular contemporary use to refer to any who live in a cold climate.[4] Under the Library of Congress classification system, the letter subclass PM includes "Hyperborean Languages", a catch-all category that refers to all the linguistically unrelated languages of peoples living in Arctic regions, such as the Inuit.
Since Herodotus places the Hyperboreans beyond the Massagetae and Issedones, both Central Asian peoples, it appears that his Hyperboreans live in Central or Eastern Asia; while Hecataeus of Abdera clearly places the Hyperboreans in the British Isles.
Notes
^ J. Rendel Harris, 1925. "Apollo at the Back of the North Wind", Journal of Hellenic Studies 45.2 pp. 229-242.
^ Strabo, 11.4.3.
^ Fridtjof Nansen. In Northern Mists: Arctic Exploration in Early Times. Frederick A. Stokes co., 1911. Page 188.
^ Gregg Easterbrook refers to the Minnesota Vikings football team (NFL) as the "Hyperboreans" in his "Tuesday Morning Quarterback" articles on ESPN's website.
