First I want to thank Jacey Duprie and Grant Leavitt for making this blog possible...
Grant came up with "Anything ÆSOP" and Jacey created the design and functionality of the blog...
Thank you!
Let's start at the beginning...
It was in September 2008 that we sailed to the island of Samos, Greece aboard Chase Leavitt's Oyster 72...
As we approached from the south and Samos came into view, I perched myself in the bow pulpit like Leonardo DiCaprio in "Titanic"...I felt a strong sense of homecoming...I had been studying all known sources of information about ÆSOP since 1979 and had created several forms of telling the story that came to me over these years...now I was about to walk where he walked...see the landscape he saw...
Samos is among the most lush and verdant islands in all of Greece, boasting two prominent mountains, Kerkis and Ampelos with the latter bisecting the island from east to west as you can see in the NASA picture to your left...
On this island Pythagoras was born around 600 B.C.E...this was an extraordinary time in history as superstition began to give way to methods proven by their ability to repeat the outcome of the feat in question...take Thales for instance...at this time, he placed a stick in the ground and by measuring the speed at which the shadow caused by the sunlight moved around it...Thales calculated the speed at which the earth revolves around the sun...(much later, the Vatican's book of history must have had pages stuck together around this subject...see Galileo)...so they called Thales the "Father of Time"...btw...Thales, also a renowned philosopher and one of the 'Seven Sages of Greece', created the quote: "Know Thyself"...so revered that it found itself on the front façade of Apollos Temple in Delphi...
Find these tidbits interesting? They are all integrated into my novel of ÆSOP's life entitled:
"Anything Is Possible"
Find these tidbits interesting? They are all integrated into my novel of ÆSOP's life entitled:
"Anything Is Possible"
While my story of the life of ÆSOP is re-imagined, so was the first of these books which was written in 400 B.C.E. The writer remains anonymous...(coward)...I'm admitting to it...:)
Legend has it that ÆSOP was born on the island of Samos as well...other areas such as Thrace, Phrygia and Lydia claim him too...I chose Samos...
Back to our first time in Samos...when we arrived at the marina in Pythagoria Harbor, our captain Will had arranged for someone to show us the sites as we had but two days scheduled there...Irene Haralambakis became our guide...
When we told her about my long attention to ÆSOP and his history, Irene engaged us with interest...
Irene was a superb guide and is an authority in many facets of interest on the island for, besides being a top notch guide, Irene is also an archeologist!
Lucky us...
Over time, Irene has become my contact in Samos and has arranged for an apartment for me to use as my base as I now return for an extended research trip for my next book.
I'll begin my research in Samos with the first aqueduct, the Eupalinos Tunnel...constructed in 600 B.C.E...(see how many cool things were going on in 600 B.C.?)
For more information on this aqueduct, click here
The Eupalinos Tunnel was constructed with the aid Pythagoras Theorem...and dug out of limestone over a period of 10 years using hand tools!
It dig was simultaneously begun from two points as illustrated in the sketch below...
for more information, click here
It was a feat that Herodotus proclaimed as one of the greatest achievements of mankind...
This tunnel will play an important role in my new book...it was built by prisoners from the island of Naxos, known then as the 'prisoners island'...any prisoner alive at the completion of the tunnel would be set free...interesting concept... San Quentin...are you listening?
Also on the island of Samos is the Heraion...believed to be the birthplace of the Goddess Hera, wife to Zeus...yup...right there to your right under that tree...well...a tree...probably not that one because the legend says that it was a willow...
The temple of Hera (the Herarion) was first constructed in 800 B.C.E, it was a wonder of achievement.
158 columns, each 20 meters tall (that's over 60 feet!) created the greatest tribute to the Goddess...(See overhead sketch below)
This temple also plays a key role in my new book...I am enthused about spending time in and around this ancient ground...to see what my characters saw...to experience the elements that do not change significantly over time...
From Samos I'll venture to Sardis, the capitol of ancient Lydia, where King Crœsus ruled, who is, by the way, one of the principal characters in my first book of ÆSOP entitled, you guessed it...
"Anything Is Possible"...
Do you remember the phrase "Rich as Crœsus"...?
I grew up hearing it every so often and wondered what it meant...here's the 'Tom Notes' (Cliff is so last year) about him...
Crœsus became the richest and most powerful kingdom in the world through the gold gathered and mined in an around Mount Tmolus which you can see in the background of the picture on your left.
I am eager to walk this land as my characters did...I want to gaze up at mount Tmolus' majesty then walk on the banks of the River Pactolus, kneel to savor the cool waters of that body that transported so much of the gold that built the Lydian empire...
For more information about this river, click here
ÆSOP, after a long life of slavery, became, as a free man, ambassador to King Crœsus. (Do you see what drew me to him?) He then lived in Sardis, representing the King Crœsus, traveling over the known world on his behalf...sometimes things went according to plan...other times...well that's what's fun to read about...isn't it?
This river also plays a key role in my books...
From Samos, then Sardis, our next research destination will be in Sais, Egypt, where Amasis II reigned...
I am eager to walk that land and see what Amasis saw...
Point of interest...there is little left, in terms of ruins in Sais, now called Sa el Hager...(wow...Sammy Hagar has a city named after him!) due to water damage over the centuries as well as the pillage of stonework taken south to Rosetta...and yes, the Rosetta Stone came from Sais...
These are the places I'll research on my journey...
I am excited to experience the energy of these historic cities that play such an important role in my books about ÆSOP and the people that were in his life.
I invite you to join me on my journey as I shall be posting weekly with pictures and videos...
and here's the first of my 'Fable of the Week' series which will be included at the end of each blog...
Thank you and welcome my friends...
Thomas
Fable of the Week:
"There was a man, near the end of his life, who sold everything he had and bought an ingot of gold.
He buried the gold in his yard. Every day he would dig it up and look at it.
Then he covered it back up and went into his house.
A worker noticed this daily ritual and one day, after the man had retreated to his house,
dug up the gold and absconded with it.
When the man discovered his gold was gone, he cried out in anguish.
His neighbor came by and offered this advice:
'Instead of grieving, go find a stone, place it where the gold was and imagine it is gold.
It will serve you just as well, for when it was gold, you made absolutely no use of it'."
