Beyond Socrates’ Dia-Logos. Luigi Giannachi

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СКАЧАТЬ along with two women of intriguing beauty, he kept explaining to them all they could have done in his city, all the places that he would like to show them, as if those years hadn’t elapsed.

      The master’s decision was firm: «we’ll let pass the storm before we resume sailing to Athens». The two girls seemed to comprehend the art of mariners and understand what the master was doing. The old Alcibiades, instead, regretted the master’s lack of courage in facing an upcoming storm. At the time, he had faced far more serious political storms than that simple whirl of wind. Everything went worse: as soon as it was possible, the anchor had been cast and the master arranged to evacuate the ship, fitting out the boats. The two women gave immediately order to their slaves to fit out a boat after requesting permission from the ship’s master. Once on the ground, Alcibiades continued to speak with the master under an improvised roof at the quayside, where the sailors had tied the boats together.

      We were landed in the island of Delos, where until four years earlier the treasury of the confederation between Athens and the allied islands was located, at least until Pericles had brought it to Athens.

      Of the two girls, one was standing next to Alcibiades ready to satisfy all his wishes, even those that might have seemed unattainable. The other one had fun to feel the wind coming into her clothes and the rain wetting her hair, unconcerned to get sick. I didn’t know her name, but talking to her was as sweet as fall in love with her. In an improvised dance move the veil had fallen, in which gathered her hair, that in a moment were released as skittish horses. I pleased to my curiosity, by giving her the veil back:

      Â«Are you travelling to Athens?»

      Â«Yes, my sister’s husband comes back to Athens after a 10-year exile. He’s so anxious to see his city again, that he’s really excited».

      Â«What will you do in Athens?»

      Â«It is the city where I have always dreamed of living, for its richness and for its politics, where art and architecture meet with poetry and philosophy, where love for the sea blends with the curiosity and knowledge. What could I have more? I’m 20, I want to live in the centre of the world and Athens is the centre of the world».

      Â«Where do you come from? Usually the girls who can boast a beauty like yours think about how to marry instead of seeking the centre of the world».

      Â«Not for me, stranger. My family is of ancient Pelasgic origin, the sea’s sailors. They are called Etruscan in the Tyrrhenian, Ionians in the Aegean. You’ll find the Ionian Sea wherever the Tyrrhenian seems to be interrupted and reappear as Aegean».

      Â«I’m from the Ionian Sea too, I’m from the Beautiful City, Kali-polis, but my name seems to be originating of the island of Crete».

      Â«What is your name?»

      Â«Ghìgnos Kairòn, there is in my name the imperative of ghígnomai...recognize!»

      Â«...And where are you headed?»

      Â«In search of truth».

      Â«It isn’t easy your research, I have to admit. Even Mileto, my hometown, seems to be originating of the island of Crete. Legend has it that Miletus, its founder, was born there by the god Apollo, but once he grew up, was exiled by King Minos (just like my brother-in-law Alcibiades), only that Miletus didn’t return on his island home again: first, he had arrived on Samos’ island, then founded the city that was named after him».

      Â«The story you told me resembles that of Ion. It is said that he too was born by god Apollo, but then was accepted by his father Xuthus, who became the progenitor of the Ionians».

      Â«You have read the Catalogue of Women of Hesiod. Perhaps you know from Euripides how much, for Ion, it wasn’t so important to know who his father was, all he cared about was if his mother, Creusa, was Athenian, because only then he would have been able to speak publicly in Athens. Anyway, Ionic Greek is the travellers’ dialect. In the period when the heroes of the mythical Troy War had returned to their islands and to their cities, it spread along the coasts of Asia Minor. Not always the heroes who had come home were welcome, they didn’t always acted like heroes on their return journey, in 10 years they had gotten used to acting as pirates and to realize that they had to provide for themselves without expecting great favours from gods».

      She spoke stroking her neck in a sensual manner, she seemed to lose herself in her thoughts, let speak and then hit target.

      I let myself go thinking about a dialogue with a friend some time before:

      Â«Actually, gods were picking on them because they had taken Troy without their permission, thanks to Ulysses’ guile. Did men now have the luxury of deciding their actions without waiting for the result of the sacrifices to offer to them? If the gods described by Hesiod and Homer have the worst defects of men, enough to deceive each other, steal and commit adultery, maybe they aren’t able to impart a true knowledge to men. Yet, despite being vindictive, they are the depositaries of an order in the world. My friend Herodotus has an idea of ​​the origin of the word “gods”: they are so called (theoi) because they establish (thentes) an order, give some rules that men must take as reference of their actions».

      Â«The reference you talk about is important, otherwise each of us risks getting lost in transit or in the sea or even in the sea of ​​feelings. In our city, we have at long last begun to draw geographic maps to which refer to during navigation. Both Hecataeus and Anaximander have located all known people and territories on a map. The ship’s master uses their maps: he’s from Mileto, I know him well. Our people make reference to the myth of Theseus, he’s like a god for us, so much that his name comes from the same word (Thes-) as the gods are called. Do you know his story?»

      Â«I know it only in part; he’s the hero who defeated the Minotaur in the labyrinth of Knossos, succeeding then in getting out of the labyrinth thanks to the thread of Ariadne and return to Athens becoming king of that city and ruler of the Aegean Sea».

      Â«So you don’t know that he was born and raised on the Island of Samos, he’s officially Ionian, though he was the son of an ancient king of Athens, named Aegean, who had buried a sandal and his sword under a huge rock, before returning to Athens. Once he became a strong and brave boy, Theseus moved the rock and recovered his father's sword, demonstrating that he was the son of Aegean. He had to follow a dangerous path, in order to reach Athens, in the world of the dead, where some subterranean deities, in the guise of thieves and bandits, unsuccessfully tried to kill him. Arrived in Athens and recognized by his father Aegean, he faced a monstrous bull in the Marathon's plain, succeeding in defeating it. He then convinced his father to get sent among the young men to sacrifice on the island of Crete, in order to kill the Minotaur».

      Â«Now I realize that I knew only a small part of his story: I can say now that I know everything about this hero».

      Â«You don’t know anything yet: during the Battle of Marathon, Theseus’ ghost appeared, as a warrior of prodigious stature, to the Greek soldiers led by Miltiades. The Greeks were fighting against the Persians and incited by him turned more ardently against the enemy, thus gaining the victory. This was the battle that revenged for us because the Persians had destroyed Mileto some years earlier».

      Her deep eyes seemed to take flight to heaven in saying these words. Then I remembered some of the things I had heard about Theseus’ ship, impossible to understand rationally, СКАЧАТЬ