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Meropis
Meropis (Ancient Greek: ) is a fictional island mentioned by ancient Greek writer Theopompus of Chios in his work '' Philippica'', which is only fragmentarily maintained via Aelian. Background The story of Meropis is neither a utopia nor a political allegory; it is a parody of Plato's Atlantis, in a similar vein to the '' True History'' which parodied Homer's ''Odyssey''. Theopompos somewhat overstates many of Plato's aspects of the Atlantis myth. While it is an Egyptian priest who is telling Solon the story of Atlantis according to Plato's '' Timaeus'', it is an ipotane (a mythical half-man half-horse creature) who is telling the Meropis story to King Midas according to Theopompus's ''Philippica''. Although Atlantis was incredibly big by Plato's account, Theopompus describes Meropis as even bigger, to make it completely absurd. Also, while the invading Atlanteans were beaten by Athens due to its perfect society, the ''Méropes'' (Μέροπες)—attacking with an army of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlantis
Atlantis () is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'' as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world, making it the literary counter-image of the Achaemenid Empire. After an ill-fated attempt to conquer "Ancient Athens," Atlantis falls out of favor with the deities and submerges into the Atlantic Ocean. Since Plato describes Athens as resembling his ideal state in the ''Republic'', the Atlantis story is meant to bear witness to the superiority of his concept of a state. Despite its minor importance in Plato's work, the Atlantis story has had a considerable impact on literature. The allegorical aspect of Atlantis was taken up in utopian works of several Renaissance writers, such as Francis Bacon's ''New Atlantis'' and Thomas More's ''Utopia''. On the other hand, nineteenth-century amateur scholars misinterpreted Plato's narrative as histo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emil Forrer
Emil Orgetorix Gustav Forrer (also Emilio O. Forrer; ; 19 February 1894 – 10 January 1986) was a Swiss Assyriologist and pioneering Hittitologist. He was the first to point out the relevance of references to Wilusa in Hittite inscriptions to the accounts of the Trojan War in the epics of Homer. Forrer was born in Straßburg, Alsace-Lorraine. Emil Forrer developed a deviant interdisciplinary field of research (''Meropisforschung''), based on textual fragments of the Greek historian Theopompus of Chios, and dealing with assumed pre- or protohistoric contacts between the Old- and the New World.Emil Forrer, Homerisch und silenisch Amerika', San Salvador (author's edition) 1975 Antithetic to the prevailing academic school of thought, Forrer advocated the idea that Theopompos of Chios’s " Meropis" was not a fictional parody of Atlantis but an actual geographic entity. Forrer died in San Salvador. Works * Forrer, E. ''Neue Probleme zum Ursprung der indogermanichen Sprachen''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merops (mythology)
The name Merops (Ancient Greek: Μέροψ means "mankind, mortals" or "dividing the voice") refers to several figures from Greek mythology: * Merops, king of Ethiopia, husband of Clymene and adoptive father of Phaethon, his wife's son by Helios. * Merops, a resident of Miletus, husband of another Clymene and father of Pandareus. * Merops, king of Percote, father of two sons ( Amphius and Adrastus) killed by Diomedes in the Trojan War, and of two daughters, Cleite, wife of Cyzicus, and Arisbe, the first wife of Priam. He had prophetic abilities and foresaw the deaths of his sons, but they ignored his warnings. Merops also taught Aesacus to interpret dreams. * Merops, a son of Triopas, or an autochthon and a king of Cos (the island was thought to have been named after his daughter''Etymologicum Magnum'' 507.56). He was married to the nymph Ethemea (or, more correctly, Echemeia), who was shot by Artemis for having ceased to worship the goddess. As Merops was about to commit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hyperborea
In Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans (, ; ) were a mythical people who lived in the far northern part of the Ecumene, known world. Their name appears to derive from the Greek , "beyond Boreas (god), Boreas" (the God of the north wind). Some scholars prefer a derivation from (''hyperpherō'', "to carry over"). Despite their location in an otherwise frigid part of the world, the Hyperboreans were believed to inhabit a sunny, temperate, and divinely blessed land. In many versions of the story, they lived north of the Riphean Mountains, which shielded them from the effects of the cold north wind. The oldest myths portray them as the favorites of Apollo, and some ancient Greek writers regarded the Hyperboreans as the mythical founders of Apollo's shrines at Delos and Delphi. Later writers disagreed on the existence and location of the Hyperboreans, with some regarding them as purely mythological, and others connecting them to real-world peoples and places in northern Eurasia (e.g. Gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
True History
''A True Story'' (, ''Alēthē diēgēmata''; or ), also translated as ''True History'', is a long novella or short novel written in the second century AD by the Syrian author Lucian of Samosata. The novel is a satire of outlandish tales that had been reported in ancient sources, particularly those that presented fantastic or mythical events as if they were true. It is Lucian's best-known work. It is the earliest known work of fiction to include travel to outer space, alien lifeforms, and interplanetary warfare. It has been described as "the first known text that could be called science fiction". However, the work does not fit into typical literary genres: its multilayered plot and its characters have been interpreted as belonging to science fiction, fantasy, satire or parody, and have been the subjects of scholarly debate. Plot The novel begins with an explanation that the story is not at all "true", and that everything in it is a complete and utter lie. The narrative beg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theopompus
Theopompus (, ''Theópompos''; 380 BC 315 BC) was an ancient Greek historian and rhetorician who was a student of Isocrates. Biography Early life and education Theopompus was born on the Aegean island of Chios in 378 or 377 BCE. In his early youth, he seems to have spent some time at Athens, with his father Damasistratus, who had been exiled for his Laconian sympathies. In Athens, he became a pupil of Isocrates, and rapidly made progress in rhetoric; we are told that Isocrates used to say that Ephorus required the spur but Theopompus the bit. At first he appears to have composed epideictic speeches, in which he attained to such proficiency that in 352–351 BC he gained the prize of oratory given by Artemisia II of Caria in honour of her husband, although Isocrates was himself among the competitors. It is said to have been the advice of his teacher that finally determined his career as an historian—a career for which he was peculiarly qualified owing to his abundan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solon
Solon (; ; BC) was an Archaic Greece#Athens, archaic History of Athens, Athenian statesman, lawmaker, political philosopher, and poet. He is one of the Seven Sages of Greece and credited with laying the foundations for Athenian democracy.Stanton, G. R. ''Athenian Politics c. 800–500 BC: A Sourcebook'', Routledge, London (1990), p. 76.E. Harris, "A New Solution to the Riddle of the Seisachtheia", in ''The Development of the Polis in Archaic Greece'', eds. L. Mitchell and P. Rhodes (Routledge 1997) 103 Solon's efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral declineAristotle, ''Politics'', 1273b 35–1274a 21 resulted in his Solonian Constitution, constitutional reform overturning most of Draco (lawgiver), Draco's Draconian constitution, laws. Solon's reforms included debt relief later known and celebrated among Athenians as the (shaking off of burdens). He is described by Aristotle in the ''Constitution of the Athenians (Aristotle), Athenian Constitution'' as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fictional Continents
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with fact, history, or plausibility. In a traditional narrow sense, fiction refers to written narratives in prose often specifically novels, novellas, and short stories. More broadly, however, fiction encompasses imaginary narratives expressed in any medium, including not just writings but also live theatrical performances, films, television programs, radio dramas, comics, role-playing games, and video games. Definition and theory Typically, the fictionality of a work is publicly expressed, so the audience expects a work of fiction to deviate to a greater or lesser degree from the real world, rather than presenting for instance only factually accurate portrayals or characters who are actual people. Because fiction is generally understood as not adhering to the real world, the them ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oceanus
In Greek mythology, Oceanus ( ; , also , , or ) was a Titans, Titan son of Uranus (mythology), Uranus and Gaia, the husband of his sister the Titan Tethys (mythology), Tethys, and the father of the River gods (Greek mythology), river gods and the Oceanids, as well as being the great river which encircled the entire world. Etymology According to M. L. West, the etymology of Oceanus is "obscure" and "cannot be explained from Greek". The use by Pherecydes of Syros of the form () for the name lends support for the name being a loanword. However, according to West, no "very convincing" foreign models have been found. A Semitic derivation has been suggested by several scholars, while R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a loanword from the Aegean Pre-Greek non-Indo-European Stratum (linguistics), substrate. Nevertheless, Michael Janda sees possible Indo-European connections. Genealogy Oceanus was the eldest of the Titan offspring of Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). Hesiod lists his T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip II Of Macedon
Philip II of Macedon (; 382 BC – October 336 BC) was the king (''basileus'') of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedonia from 359 BC until his death in 336 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty, founders of the ancient kingdom, and the father of Alexander the Great. The Expansion of Macedonia under Philip II, rise of Macedon, including its conquest and political consolidation of most of Classical Greece during his reign, was achieved by his reformation of the Ancient Macedonian army, army (the establishment of the Macedonian phalanx that proved critical in securing victories on the battlefield), his extensive use of siege engines, and his use of effective diplomacy and marriage alliances. After defeating the Polis, Greek city-states of Classical Athens, Athens and Thebes, Greece, Thebes at the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC), Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC, Philip II led the effort to establish a federation of Greek states known as the League of Cor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midas
Midas (; ) was a king of Phrygia with whom many myths became associated, as well as two later members of the Phrygian royal house. His father was Gordias, and his mother was Cybele. The most famous King Midas is popularly remembered in Greek mythology for his ability to turn everything he touched into pure gold and this came to be called the ''golden touch'', or the ''Midas touch''. The legends told about this Midas and his adopted father Gordias, credited with founding the Phrygian capital city Gordium and tying the Gordian Knot, indicate that they were believed to have lived sometime in the 2nd millennium BC, well before the Trojan War. However, Homer does not mention Midas or Gordias, while instead mentioning two other Phrygian kings, Mygdon of Phrygia, Mygdon and Otreus. Midaeum was presumably named after him, and this is probably also the Midas that according to Pausanias (geographer), Pausanias founded Ancyra (today known as Ankara). Another King Midas ruled Phrygia in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ipotane
Ipotanes or hippotaynes are mythical creatures. They are usually depicted as being half-human half-horse creatures much different from the centaurs. Although sometimes attributed to Greek mythology, the term appears to have originated at a much later date, and without a definite description; they are first mentioned in John de Mandeville's fourteenth-century ''Travels''. Ipotanes appear in modern works of the fantasy genre. John de Mandeville In his 1356 travelogue, ''The Travels of Sir John Mandeville'', the author reports the existence of a violent race of ''ipotanes'', found in Bacharie (Bactria). More recent editions of Mandeville's work use various spellings; ''hippotaynes'' (Macmillan, 1900), ''hippopotami'' (Penguin, 1983). Description The word "ipotane" appears to be derived from the Greek (), "a knight", which itself is derived from (), "a horse". Mandeville's description is not clearly distinguishable from that of a centaur, and some depictions use the term synonym ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
