My work has also been published on Buzzfeed and most recently in Time magazine. ", Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. Cannibal tribes lived in its valleys and griffons guarded the high passes. The name Hecaerge signifies hitting at a distance; and it is not improbable that the story of the Hyperborean maiden may have arisen out of an attribute of Artemis, who bore the surname of Hecaerge.
When Perseus travelled to that country he found them to be fond of feasting and dancing in that god’s honor. Massive Stone Pyramids of Mesoamerica - ROBERT SEPEHR, Ancient Megalithic Pyramid Complex Located in Ecuador, The Dogon Legends of West Africa - ROBERT SEPEHR, History of the Mysterious Scythians - ROBERT SEPEHR, Megalithic Cyclopean Masonry - ROBERT SEPEHR. And they returned not home again, but a happy fate was theirs, and they shall never be without glorious. The nymphs presided over the varied skills of archery--aim (opsis), trajectory (loxos) and distancing (hekaergos). The Cerynitian Hind was described with features that are similar to those of a reindeer, an animal native to the tundras of the far north. Another noteworthy aspect of Hyperborea, and a possible clue to its location, was its wildlife. From this observation, without knowledge of the climatic changes of the prehistoric past, they concluded that the lands to the far north must be warm. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : Those cultures that could not be identified as Greek were considered barbarous, barely human in their strangeness. 27 (trans. The ancient Greek writer Theopompus in his work, The plan was said to have been abandoned because the invading soldiers realized that the Hyperboreans were too strong for them and the most blessed of people; this unusual tale, which some believe was myth, was preserved by Aelian (. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.) With endless spring and eternal light, Hyperborea was capable of producing two harvests of grain each year with less than half of the work required on a farm in the rocky lands of Greece. "Artemis shot him [the Giant Orion] as he was forcing his attention on Oupis (Upis), a virgin who had come from the Hyperboreoi (Hyperboreans). And from those rumors, they imagined a wondrous country. [1.3] OPIS, ARGE (Olen Frag, Herodotus 4.35.1)
Thus, the people of nearby places like Egypt and Turkey were seen as close relatives of the Greeks. 1 (trans. The Greeks tried to identity the Hyperboreans as their knowledge of the world expanded. The god of war had many love affairs, with one that specifically dominated his mythology, but... mythologies that contradicted those of the Greeks, The Nemean Lion: The First Labor of Heracles.
43. [1.5] OUPIS, HEKAERGE (Melanopus Frag, Pausanias 5.7.8), HECAERGE (Hekaergê), a daughter of Boreas, and one of the Hyperborean maidens, who were believed to have introduced the worship of Artemis in Delos. As their view of the world expanded, the Greeks came up with many seemingly plausible explanations for who the inhabitants of Hyperborea truly were. Others, like the Celtic tribes of Ireland, had their own mythologies that contradicted those of the Greeks. § 4; Herod. 7. While no known group seemed to perfectly fit the descriptions of the Hyperboreans and their lands, the Greeks and Romans continued to try to identify the legendary people of Boreas. Contained in what has come down to us of Greek literary tradition are texts that identify the Hyperboreans with the Celts, or Hyperborean lands with Celtic ones.
Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.)
The Celts themselves were divided on the identification.
(Callim. ", Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. A complete bibliography of the translations quoted on this page. The golden-horned deer that was sacred to Artemis fled north during the chase, leading Heracles far from Greece.
The Greeks eventually came to believe that Apollo spent his winters in Hyperborea, bringing light to that land while Greece endured the darkness of winter.
How did the people of Greece see the rest of the world, especially lands that could not be reached by ship? The Celts – Identifying the Rhypaean Mountains as the Alps, the people to the north were believed to be the Celts.
In the Greek view of the wider world, Hyperborea was a land that existed to the far north. : Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. He and Helios were associated with the far north. Along with Thule, Hyperborea was one of several. When Melanopos of Kyme composed an ode to Oupis (Upis) and Hekaerge (Hecaerge) declaring that these, even before Akhaeia, came to Delos from the Hyperboreoi. The god of light was an obvious deity to be worshipped in a land that knew neither the darkness of night nor that of winter.
In Greek mythology the Hyperboreans (Ancient Greek: Ὑπερβόρε(ι)οι; Latin: Hyperborei) were a mythical people who lived far to the north of Thrace. Hecateaus of Abdera also wrote that the Hyperboreans had a 'circular temple' on their island, and some scholars have tried to identify this with Stonehenge. Later, the country became a theocratic monarchy ruled by three priest-kings of Apollo descended from these first divine rulers. They live much further north.
John G. Bennett wrote a research paper entitled "The Hyperborean Origin of the Indo-European Culture" in which he claimed the Indo-European homeland was in the far north, which he considered the Hyperborea of classical antiquity. from the Hyperboreans] were Oupis (Upis) and Loxo and happy Hekaerge (Hecaerge), daughters of Boreas (the North-Wind), and those who then were the best of the young men. 27 ff (trans. The first kings of the Hyperboreans were said to have been three giant sons of the North Wind himself, Boreas. The Hyperboreans were described by some writers as looking similar to the mythical Arimaspi, who were usually said to have fair hair and light skin and eyes. I am the owner and chief researcher at this site. In other lands, however, it was more difficult to link foreign cultures to the Greek view of civilization.
In Greek mythology the Hyperborean people lived "beyond the North Wind". It was after they reached Franz Josef Land from Stockholm that the two decided to venture even further north where they believed they would find the land of the "Chosen". They not only had law, philosophy, the arts, and military techniques, but their gods were real and powerful. Other modern readers have taken their cues from Herodotus and placed Hyperborea just as far north, but much further west. Aelius Herodianus in the 3rd century wrote that the mythical Arimaspi were identical to the Hyperboreans in physical appearance (, Northern Europeans (Scandinavians), when confronted with the classical Greco-Roman culture of the Mediterranean, identified themselves with the Hyperboreans, often times neglecting the ancient and traditional aspect of a perpetually sunny land. In a land of eternal spring, they lived lives that were both much longer and much less marred by toil, illness, and war. One work compared them to another mythical race that had a single eye, although it’s unknown whether this attribute was believed to be common among the legendary Hyperboreans. [1.1] BOREAS (Callimachus, Hymn IV to Delos 292), [1.1] OUPIS, LOXO, HEKAERGE (Callimachus Hymn 4.292, Nonnus Dionysiaca 48.330) : Just as Plato had cited the Egyptian legend of the sunken island of Atlantis, the Greek historian Herodotus mentioned the Egyptian legend of the continent of Hyperborea in the far north. The swans associated with Cygnus were one of the animals associated with the legendary country, but another was even more magnificent. This groundbreaking book studies the texts that make or imply this identification, and provides reasons why some ancient Greek authors identified a mythical people with an actual one. Even barbarians, however, could be seen as distant relatives of lesser gods or disgraced men. 8 (trans. The ancient gods of Egypt, for example, were often seen as the deities of Greece with different names and iconography.
Far from the trade routes of the Mediterranean, the far north was uncharted territory. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.)
Their ancient kings were given Greek origin stories and their cultures were seen as civilised and respectable, if foreign. In Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans were a race of giants who lived “beyond the North Wind“. 292; Nonnus, Dionys. In Greek mythology the Hyperborean people lived "beyond the North Wind". iv.