Δημοσιεύσεις / ΑΝΑΛΥΣΗ ΔΗΜΟΣΙΕΥΣΕΩΝ

ΑΝΑΛΥΣΗ KAΠΟΙΩΝ ΔΗΜΟΣΙΕΥΣΕΩΝ

Στο τέλος επιλεκτικά κάποια κάποια πλήρη κείμενα των εργασιών μου ή στις αντίστοιχες ιστοσελίδες, όπου αναφέρονται

Ι. Aνάλυση των επιστημονικών εργασιών σε Διεθνή περιοδικά με κριτές (Βλέπε επίσης:  http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html)

1. "Empirical effective temperatures of B and early A stars". Monthly Notices R.A.S. (1980) 192, 745.

Από τον ευρωπαϊκό δορυφόρο TD1 παρατηρήθηκαν οι ροές της ακτινοβολίας αστέρων προγενεστέρων φασματικών τύπων στην υπεριώδη περιοχή του φάσματος.

Oι υπεριώδεις ροές της ακτινοβολίας των αστέρων αυτών παίζουν σπουδαίο ρόλο στην εξαγωγή των ενεργών θερμοκρασιών τους επειδή το μεγαλύτερο μέρος της ενέργειάς τους εκπέμπεται σ' αυτήν την περιοχή μηκών κύματος. Έτσι, στην εργασία αυτή, διαστημικές παρατηρήσεις (υπεριώδες) σε συνδυασμό με γήινες  παρατηρήσεις (ορατό) συγκρίθηκαν με θεωρητικά μοντέλα ενεργειακής κατανομής και βρέθηκαν οι μέσες ενεργές θερμοκρασίες 112 αστέρων φασματικών τύπων B και A. Aκόμη έχει υπολογιστεί μια προσεγγιστική σχέση που συνδέει την ενεργό θερμοκρασία των αστέρων με τον φασματικό τους τύπο για τις διάφορες τάξεις λαμπρότητας.

Full text: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1980MNRAS.192..745K

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2. "Empirical effective temperatures of late O, B, A and early F stars". Monthly Notices R.A.S. (1985), 214, 327.

Στην εργασία αυτή βρέθηκαν οι μέσες ενεργές θερμοκρασίες ενός αντιπροσωπευτικού δείγματος 99 αστέρων που καλύπτουν όλους τους προγενέστερους φασματικούς τύπους (O, B, A, F) και όλες τις κατηγορίες ιδιόμορφων αστέρων. Oι ενεργές θερμοκρασίες των αστέρων αυτών βρέθηκαν μετά από σύγκριση θεωρητικών μοντέλων ατμοσφαιρών με τις παρατηρηθείσες κατανομές της ροής της ακτινοβολίας των αστέρων, από την ορατή μέχρι την υπεριώδη περιοχή του φάσματος αφού διορθώθηκαν από τη μεσοαστρική απορρόφηση. Στη συνέχεια, συνδυάζοντας τα αποτελέσματά μας με τα αποτελέσματα της πρώτης εργασίας μας, βρέθηκε μια γενικότερη σχέση που συνδέει την ενεργό θερμοκρασία και τον φασματικό τύπο των αστέρων για τις διάφορες τάξεις λαμπρότητας. Tελικά δίνεται και η σχέση των ενεργών θερμοκρασιών των ιδιόμορφων αστέρων με τις ενεργές θερμοκρασίες των κανονικών αστέρων προγενεστέρων φασματικών τύπων.

Full text: http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1985MNRAS.214..327T

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3. "Observed radii and structural parameters of star clusters in the SMC III". Astronomy and Astrophysics Suppl. Series (1986), 65, 207.

Στην εργασία αυτή γίνεται μελέτη της κατανομής της πυκνότητας των αστρικών σμηνών στον γαλαξία Mικρό Nέφος του Mαγγελάνου (SMC), ενός ιδιόμορφου γαλαξία, δορυφόρο του Γαλαξία μας.

Tα 24 σμήνη αυτής της μελέτης είναι κυρίως τα πιο απομακρυσμένα σμήνη της άλω του SMC ή τα πολύ πυκνά σμήνη στον δίσκο του SMC.

Tο σημαντικό αποτέλεσμα της εργασίας είναι ότι οι μάζες, οι παλιρροιακές ακτίνες και οι ακτίνες του πυρήνα των μελετηθέντων σμηνών έχουν τιμές που κυμαίνονται στα ίδια όρια με τις τιμές που ήδη έχουν βρεθεί για τα υπόλοιπα σμήνη του SMC. Συστηματικά, λοιπόν, βρέθηκε ότι τα σμήνη στην άλω του SMC είναι περίπου 100 φορές μικρότερα σε μάζα από αυτά του Γαλαξία μας, ενώ τα σμήνη του δίσκου του SMC είναι αρκετά μεγαλύτερης μάζας από τα αντίστοιχα του Γαλαξία μας.

Full text: http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1986A%26AS...65..207K

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4. "SMC Globular Clusters Candidates for Mass Segregation". Monthly Notices R.A.S. (1987) 227, 257.

Στην εργασία αυτή μελετάμε την κατανομή της μάζας στα αστρικά σμήνη και συγκεκριμένα μετρήσεις σε αστρικά σμήνη του γαλαξία SMC για την εμφάνιση του φαινομένου της συγκέντρωσης των πιο βαρέων αστέρων στον πυρήνα του σμήνους. Bρέθηκε ότι, τέσσερα (4) σμήνη παρουσιάζουν σοβαρές ενδείξεις για μια τέτοια συμπεριφορά πράγμα που μας οδηγεί στην υπόθεση πως όταν εμφανίζεται τέτοια κατανομή μάζας ο τρόπος με τον οποίον επιτυγχάνεται χαλάρωση σ' αυτά τα σμήνη γίνεται με αστρικές συγκρούσεις (stellar encounters) και μπορούμε να οδηγηθούμε σε συμπεράσματα για τη δυναμική κατάσταση αυτών των σμηνών.

Full text: http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1987MNRAS.227..257K

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5. "The far UV spectrum of the Be star 88 Herculis". Astronomy and Astrophysics Suppl. Series (1988) 72, 497.

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1988A%26AS...72..497D 

Στην εργασία αυτή αναλύεται το φάσμα του 88 Herculis ενός προγενέστερου αστέρα εκπομπής τύπου Be με φάσματα στην υπεριώδη περιοχή (λλ 1.100-2.000 A) από τον δορυφόρο IUE (Mάιος 1984).

Γίνεται μια πλήρης αναγνώριση των φασματικών του γραμμών και ιδίως των γραμμών του απλώς ιονισμένου σιδήρου. Tελικά δίνουμε μια λεπτομερειακή αναγνώριση των φασματικών γραμμών στο υπεριώδες και περιγράφουμε τους διάφορους τύπους των «προφίλς» των γραμμών, τις ακτινικές τους ταχύτητες και τις μεταβολές τους. Πρέπει ακόμη να τονιστεί ότι δίνεται ένας πλήρης-ακριβής και λεπτομερειακός κατάλογος των φασματικών γραμμών του αστέρα στο υπεριώδες που μπορεί να χρησιμοποιηθεί ως πρότυπος πίνακας από άλλους ερευνητές στη μελέτη των αστέρων αυτών.

Full text: http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1988A%26AS...72..497D

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47. The theory of Pantachekineton of Benjamin Lesvios. Journal Phlogiston-The journal of the Serbian Society for the History of Science, paper accepted May 2011

 Benjamin Lesbios or Benjamin of Lesbos was a scholar monk of Greek enlightenment, who lived in the age of A. Korais, Th. Kairis and E. Voulgaris. Clearly influanced by the spirit of Western European enlightenment, Benjamin was accused by Orthodox Church officials for teaching the new natural world knowledge. He was an important philosophical mind of Greek enlightenment and he introduced the Pantachekineton, a pioneering unifying natural theory.

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48. Gaia, Ouranos, Helios and Selene: The three principal celestial bodies and the sky in Ancient Greek Cosmogony. E. Theodossiou, V.N. Manimanis, M.S. Dimitrijevic and P. Mantarakis. Bulgarian Astronomical Journal, vol. 16. 2011.

http://www.astro.bas.bg/AIJ/issues/n16/ETheodos.pdf
http://www.astro.bas.bg/AIJ/issues/n16/index.html

49. Astronomy and constellations in Homeric Iliad and Odyssey. E. Theodossiou, V.N. Manimanis, P. Mantarakis, and M.S. Dimitrijevic. Journal of History of Astronomy and Heritage JAH2, vol. 14 (1). March 2011.
The Iliad and the Odyssey, in addition to their supreme status as cornerstones of world literature, they are a rich source of information about the scientific and technological knowledge of ancient Greeks in both pre-Homeric and Homeric times. The two Homeric epic poems, dated in the 8th century BC, include, inter alia, a wealth of astronomical elements, informing about the Earth, the Sky, the stars and constellations such as Ursa Major, Boötes, Orion, Sirius, the Pleiades and the Hyades. They also offer a more erudite image of Homer, which reflects the cosmological views of his period. The model of the Universe that is presented is continuous and has three levels: the lower level corresponds to the underworld, the middle one to the Earth and the upper one to the sky.

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50. The contribution of the Church in Byzantium to the Natural Sciences - Byzantine astronomers and scientists. E. Theodossiou, V.N. Manimanis, and M.S. Dimitrijevic. European Journal of Science and Theology, EJST 6, No. 4, 57-69, December 2010.
Byzantine philosophy, whose main characteristic was its theological orientation, continued the tradition of ancient Greek philosophy by preserving a lot of information about it and many ancient philosophical texts, which in addition were commented upon and explained.
Byzantine Christian theology cannot be considered a science, as the logical method was questioned or even abandoned. Only during the last period of the Byzantine Empire attempts were made to introduce the dialectic method to theological inquiry, but this was rather the result of influences from the Western scholasticism. On the other hand, in Byzantium there was no lack of original ideas, contributions in mathematical and astronomical methods, or practical applications of scientific knowledge to the daily life in the empire.

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51. Five non-prevailable political calendrical systems in the European history from 18th to 20th Century. E. Theodossiou, V.N. Manimanis and M. Dimitrijević. Bulgarian Astronomical Journal, vo. 16. 2011.

The views of the ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosophers from Ionia opened new paths for the study of nature using human logic. Starting from the worship of the Earth as a goddess, they proceeded to examine its position in the Cosmos, proposing a spherical shape for our planet. They pioneered the unifying approach for the physical world, assuming one element as the basis for everything in the Universe - this was water for Thales, infinity for Anaximander, air for Anaximenes, fire for Heraclitus. The genesis and the decay of worlds succeed one another eternally. Anaximenes believed, like Anaximander, that our world was not the only one that existed. Heraclitus believed that, of the vast richness of the natural creation with its unpredictable changes, nothing remains stable and motionless. There is not constancy, but only an eternal flow, a perpetual motion. This is exactly what we accept today in quantum physics; the apparent stability and immobility is an illusion of our limited senses. According to Heraclitus, matter is constantly transformed. All the natural philosophers of Ionia distanced God the Creator from nature and history, keeping always a respect for the beliefs of their fellow people; most probably they, too, kept a form of God in an area of their minds, in his spiritual and moral dimension.

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53. From presocratic philosophical monism to religious-scientific dualism and from dualism to monism of the Theory Of Everything. Journal DIA-LOGOS, (Επετηρίδα φιλοσοφικής έρευνας), accepted February 2011, Vol. 1, No. 1, Papazeses Publ., Athens 2011.

Monism is regarded as the philosophical system, which considers that the creation of the Cosmos comes from the one and only one ‘principle'. Therefore this philosophical term directs our thought to the ‘first principle' of the presocratic natural philosophers.
Dualism, on the contrary, considers that the Cosmos has come about from two -basically opposite- and contradicting each other substances. Dualism as a theory has played an important role in the History of Religions, as well as of Science (Wave-particle duality). It seems though that after the development of Quantum-Mechanics and the efforts of its unification with the General Theory of Gravitation, there is an intense endeavor of physicists towards an one-way direction, a Theory Of Everything (TOE). This theory will express with certainty the trend of Contemporary Physics towards a monistic inageneral consideration of the Cosmos.

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56. The contribution of Byzantine priests in astronomy and cosmology. II. Great church scholars in the early Byzantine empire. V.N. Manimanis, E. Theodosiou and M.S. Dimitrijevic. Accepted paper to European Journal of Science and Theology, EJST, July 2011.

http://www.ejst.tuiasi.ro/Files/29/25-45Manimanis%20et%20al.pdf 

The main representatives of the dogmatic consolidation of Christianity during the early Byzantine period were the three Cappadocian Fathers: St. Basil of Caesarea, St. Gregory of Nazianzus and St. John Chrysostom, the contributions of whom were examined in an earlier paper.
Other eminent bishops followed these three, such as St. Gregory of Nyssa, Epiphanius of Salamis, Asterius of Amaseia, Cyril I of Alexandria, Synesius, Caesarius of Nazianzus, Nemesius (the bishop of Emesa in Syria). Also, the monk Dionysius Exiguus, who introduced the BC/AD chronology.
In the present paper the work of these scholars of the Church is analyzed, with emphasis in their contribution to the sciences, especially astronomy. In particular, we present the cosmological views of Gregory of Nyssa and we comment upon them, as he is considered a great cosmologist and natural philosopher.

57. Sirius in ancient Greek and Roman literature: From the Orphic Argonautics to the Astronomical Tables of Georgios Chrysococca. E. Theodossiou, V.N. Manimanis, M.S. Dimitrijevic and P. Mantarakis. Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 14(3), 180-189 (2011).

58. Astrology in the early Byzantine Empire and the anti-astrology stance of the Church Fathers. Efstratios Theodossiou, Vassilios N. Manimanis and Milan S. Dimitrijevic. EJST, vol. 8, No. 2, June 2012, 25-45.

The peoples of the Roman Empire in the 4th century AD were very superstitious. Sorcery and astrology were widespread in the early Byzantine period. Astrologers, guided by Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos [1], were compiling horoscopes and dream-books, while a common literature were the seismologia, selenodromia and vrontologia, with which people tried to predict the future.
Astrology was so widespread in the empire that parents were consulting its ‘results' for both the future of the newborn children and the arrangement of the appropriate dates for their business; even hunters were based on astrological predictions to decide on which day they would apply a particular way of hunting. It was natural that in this environment many astrologers were famous and they flourished especially in the court of the Emperor Julian (361-363). The Fathers of the Church, however, were clearly against astrology and they were condemning those who wanted to learn about the future events from astrology and other occult practices and pseudo-sciences.

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59. Are the Pyramids of Greece Ancient Meridian Observatories? E. Theodossiou, V.N. Manimanis, M.S. Dimitrijevic and M. Katsiotis. Bulgarian Astronomical Journal, vol. 16, 2011.

http://www.astro.bas.bg/AIJ/issues/n19/ETheodosiou.pdf

Pyramids, ‘Dragon Houses' (‘Drakospita') and megalithic structures in general create always a special interest. We postulate that, as happens with the Drakospita of Euboea, the pyramid-like structures of Argolis (Eastern Peloponnese) were probably constructed by the Dryops, since it is known that, in addition to Euboea and some Cyclades islands, this prehellenic people had also settled in Argolis, where they founded the city of Asine.
We also propose that the pyramids of Argolis and in particular the pyramid of Hellinikon village were very likely, besides being a burial monument or guard house, might be served also for astronomical observations.

60. The Geographers of the Early Byzantine Period. V.N. Manimanis, E. Theodossiou, M.S. Dimitrijevic. European Journal of Science and Theology, EJST, paper accepted, 2011. 

During the early Byzantine period the knowledge of geography was considered necessary for locating the Holy Land and for setting the boundaries of the dioceses. Thus, starting with the work of the ancient cartographer and geographer Marinus of Tyre (ca. 60/70 - 130 AD), and with the renowned Geography (also known as Geographia, Cosmographia, or Geographike Hyphegesis) [1] of the classical astronomer, mathematician and geographer Claudius Prolemy, the Byzantine scholars wrote their own treatises on the subject.
Essentially, only monks in the monasteries were studying geography; the perception of the Earth by Byzantine geographers -especially by Cosmas Indicopleustes- was to a large extent imaginary and influenced by the Scriptures and religious ideas, while the geographical works were limited to lists of names and city guides for school use, as well as travel narrations and descriptions, a fact that clearly delineates the difference between the ancient Greek geography and geography as it was understood in Byzantium.

61. The contribution of byzantine men of the church in science: cosmas indicopleustes (6th century).V.N. Manimanis, E. Theodossiou, M.S. Dimitrijevic. European Journal of Science and Theology, EJST, paper accepted, 2012.  

The first Christian centuries in the Byzantine Empire, from the 3rd one to the 6th one, comprise a period in which the Christian religion had to consolidate its place as the dominant religion. Therefore, everything that seemed to contradict the Scriptures had to be adapted to them by any means. For this reason, since geography did not agree in several instances with the holy texts, and because the Scriptures could not be in error, the geography of the times had to be harmonized with the holy texts of the new religion. This task was undertaken by the 6th century Nestorian Christian monk Cosmas the ‘Indicopleustes'. Cosmas wrote the Christian Topography, a work through which he attempted to create a new system of geography or a representation of the World that would fit to the information contained in the Holy Scripture. 

62.  The era Of Aries and Kriophoros Statues. E. Theodossiou, P. Mantarakis and M.S. Dimitrijevic, Astronomical and Astrophysical Transactions issue 4, vol. 27, Cambridge Scientific Publicers, December 2012.

We discuss the possibility that the great number of ancient Greek statues of Kriophoros (= ‘ram-bearer') before 1 BC is due to the precession of the equinoxes, resulting in the constellation of Aries marking the point of vernal equinox rather than Pisces. We will discuss here the possibility of the influence of astronomical knowledge on the significant number of Kriophoros (‘ram-bearer') statues in Ancient Greece. Namely, in that period (approximately 2000-1 BC), due to the precession of the Earth's axis, the point of vernal equinox, marking the beginning of spring and new life, was in the constellation of Aries (the Ram), and not the Pisces.
In the first part of the paper we will review shortly the Ancient Greek knowledge of constellations and the Earth's orbital precession, and then we will discuss the possibility of the influence of this knowledge on the number of Kriophoros statues.

63. From the Cosmogonical Chaos of Ancient Greek Philosophical Thought to the Chaos Theory of Modern Physic. E. Theodossiou, K. Kalahanis, V.N. Manimanis and M.S. Dimitrijevic Facta Universatis, Series: Philosophy, Sociology, Psychology and History, Vol. 11, No. 2, 2012, pp. 211-221.

In ancient Greek civilization where the first philosophers attempted to explain the creation of the Universe, the hymns of mysticist Orpheus proved to be of significant value, by introducing the term ‘Chaos'. According to Orpheus, Chaos condenses into the giant Cosmic Egg, whose rupture results in the creation of Phanes and Ouranos and of all gods who symbolize the creation the Universe.
Later, Greek philosophers supported the view that chaos describes the unformed and infinite void, form which the Universe is created. So, this void in ancient Greek thought is not just an abstract term, but a kind of empty space with cosmogonical characteristics. In modern physics, the term ‘chaotic' describes systems whose parameters are consisted of many hidden laws, which are difficult to be described and can be changed any time.

64. A Minoan Eclipse Calculator, Minas Tsikritsis, Efstratios Theodossiou, Vassilios N. Manimanis, Petros Mantarakis and Dimitrios Tsikritsis, submitted paper to journal Science, May 2012.  

 Abstract: Searching for Minoan artifacts bearing astronomical representations in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum we came upon a stone die of the Minoan period, discovered near the village of Palaikastro in Crete, Greece, in 1899. In 1935 the British archaeologist Sir Arthur John Evans expressed the view that the symbols carved on the die's surface are somehow related to the Sun and the Moon. In this study, strong evidence is presented in favor of its use (especially of the "ray-bearing" disc on its right-hand side) as a die for the construction of a device that could determine eclipse dates during the Minoan period (circa 15th century BC); additionally, two more practical uses for it are examined: as a sundial and as an instrument for the determination of the geographical latitude.

65. FROM THE UNITY OF NATURE ACCORDING TO EMPEDOCLES TO A THEORY OF EVERYTHING OF PHYSICS. Καλαχάνης, Κ., Πάνου, Ε., Θεοδοσίου, Ε. και Μανιμάνης, Β., JOURNAL DIA-LOGOS, submitted, March 2013.

Ο Εμπεδοκλής, ένας από τους σημαντικότερους εκπροσώπους της Προσωκρατικής φιλοσοφικής διανόησης, γεννήθηκε στον Ακράγαντα της Σικελίας το 495 π.Χ. και πέθανε στην Πελοπόννησο το 435 π.Χ. Καταγόταν από επιφανή οικογένεια του Ακράγαντα, που διεπόταν από φιλολαϊκά αισθήματα, καθώς απέτρεψε ομάδα αριστοκρατών από το να καταλύσει το πολίτευμα.. Σύμφωνα με τον Διογένη Λαέρτιο υπήρξε μαθητής του Πυθαγόρα, από τη σχολή του οποίου απεβλήθη με την κατηγορία της λογοκλοπίας . Το κύριο έργο του αποτελείται από δύο κείμενα εκτάσεως περίπου 5.000 στίχων: 1) Περί φύσεως, όπου αναπτύσσεται η διδασκαλία περί των τεσσάρων στοιχείων, και 2) Καθαρμοί, που είναι έργο περί της ψυχής, στο οποίο γίνεται λόγος για μετενσαρκώσεις, πτώσης και ενοχής της ψυχής. Επιπλέον συνέγραψε και έναν Ιατρικό λόγο 600 στίχων . Ο Εμπεδοκλής είναι γνωστός για τη θεωρία του περί προελεύσεως του κόσμου εκ τεσσάρων ριζωμάτων (πυρ, αήρ, ύδωρ, γη). Το ενδιαφέρον σημείο της διδασκαλίας του είναι η πεποίθησή του για την ύπαρξη μιας ενότητας μεταξύ των θεμελιωδών στοιχείων του κόσμου. Αντιστοίχως, η σύγχρονη κβαντομηχανική, με τη βοήθεια διατάξεων υψηλής τεχνολογίας, όπως οι επιταχυντές σωματιδίων, απέδειξε την ύπαρξη θεμελιωδών συστατικών της ύλης, τα οποία επηρεάζονται από τέσσερις δυνάμεις. Η μεγάλη πρόκληση για την επιστήμη είναι η ενοποίηση των δυνάμεων αυτών, προκειμένου να προσεγγισθεί η ενότητα που υπάρχει στη φύση.

66. Η Προσωκρατική Επιστημονική Επανάσταση-Η συμβολή των φιλοσόφων της Μιλήτου στη μελέτη του κοσμικού γίγνεσθαι

Κατά τον Γάλλο φιλόσοφο A. Comte 1798-1857) το ανθρώπινο πνεύμα ακολουθεί τρία στάδια εξελίξεως, ήτοι θεολογικό, μεταφυσικό και θετικό. Κατά το θεολογικό στάδιο ο άνθρωπος επινοεί φανταστικά πρόσωπα προκειμένου να τους αποδώσει τις διάφορες δυνάμεις της φύσεως. Κατά το μεταφυσικό στάδιο, τη θέση των μυθικών προσώπων παίρνουν αφηρημένες έννοιες και τέλος στο θετικό στάδιο, αρχίζει πλέον η προσπάθεια επιστημονικής εξηγήσεως των φαινομένων της φύσεως . Στην ελληνική φιλοσοφική σκέψη, αναμφισβήτητα το μεταφυσικό στάδιο ταυτίζεται με τη διδασκαλία του Ορφέα, ενώ το θετικό στάδιο με την προσπάθεια των Προσωκρατικών για τον καθορισμό της αρχής του κόσμου, η οποία σηματοδότησε την αρχή της επιστημονικής σκέψης. Κατά τον 6ο π.Χ. αιώνα στην Ιωνία, οι μύθοι της δημιουργίας του κόσμου άρχισαν να παραμερίζονται, με συνέπεια να αναπτυχθεί μια νέα πολιτισμική αντίληψη, κατά την οποία το Σύμπαν διέπεται από εσωτερική τάξη και κανόνες στους οποίους η φύση υποτάσσεται. Η φιλοσοφική και επιστημονική σκέψη πλέον, χαρακτηρίζεται από την σχέση αιτίου-αιτιατού, όπου έκαστο φυσικό φαινόμενο διαθέτει ένα αίτιο που το προκαλεί. Οι πρωτοπόροι σε αυτόν τον τρόπο σκέψεως φιλόσοφοι της Μιλήτου, αφού παρετήρησαν τον κύκλο των φυσικών φαινομένων, συμπέραναν ότι υπάρχει κάποια αιτία που προκαλεί έκαστο εξ' αυτών. Πίσω όμως από την πλειάδα των αιτίων που προκαλούν τις φυσικές διεργασίες, υπάρχει ένα αρχικό αίτιο, από το οποίο προέρχεται το παν. Το σύμπαν επομένως κατά τους Μιλησίους φιλοσόφους είναι ενιαίο, καθώς η προέλευσή του ανάγεται σε μία αρχή. Συγκεκριμένως, ο Θαλής εντόπιζε την αρχή στο ύδωρ, ο Αναξίμανδρος στο άπειρον, ενώ ο Αναξιμένης στον αέρα. Λόγω ακριβώς της αποδόσεως της δημιουργίας του κόσμου σε μία αρχή, η διδασκαλία των τριών φιλοσόφων εντάσσεται στο φιλοσοφικό ρεύμα του ενισμού ή μονισμού, συμφώνως προς το οποίο η αρχή του κόσμου (πνευματική, υλική, θεϊκή) είναι μοναδική . Ας δούμε όμως αναλυτικότερα τα βασικά σημεία της διδασκαλίας των τριών μεγάλων φιλοσόφων της Ιωνίας.

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1. Computer controlled spectrum scanner for the 1.2 m Kryonerion Telescope. Memoirs of the National Observatory of Athens. Series II, No. 27, 1983, E. Kontizas, M.J. Smyth, E. Theodossiou, M. Kontizas.
Στην εργασία αυτή περιγράφεται ένα φωτοηλεκτρικό φασματοφωτόμετρο διπλής δέσμης (photoelectric spectrum scanner) που κατασκευάστηκε στο Πανεπιστήμιο του Eδιμβούργου για το 1,2 μ. τηλεσκόπιο Kρυονερίου Kορινθίας. Στο φασματοφωτόμετρο αυτό χρησιμοποιείται ένα μικρό ποσοστό της ακτινοβολίας του αστεριού, για την αντιμετώπιση των τυχαίων ατμοσφαιρικών διαταραχών και των σφαλμάτων οδήγησης του τηλεσκοπίου, ως σήμα αναφοράς. Tο φασματοφωτόμετρο αυτό είναι αυτόματο, οδηγείται από έναν υπολογιστή και είναι κατάλληλο για την παρατήρηση φασμάτων αμυδρών αστέρων.

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2. The distribution of Bright stars in the SMC clusters. IAU Symposium No. 116, 26-31 May 1985. Editors, C. de Loore, A. Willis, P.G. Laskarides 1986. Kluwer academic publishers group. E. Kontizas, E. Theodossiou and M. Kontizas.

Star countscan be used to investigate radial distibution of stars of different mass. Relaxation through stellar encounters is a mechanism that does make a distriction between stellar masses, so systems that have undergone such relaxation should show differences in distibution between stars ofhigh and low mass. That does not happenh for systems that have undergone an initial vilolet relaxation since this type of relaxation treats all masses equally.

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3. The UV spectrum of the RS CVn Binary System SZ Psc. Lecture Notes in Physics 397, Editors: P.B. Byrne, D.J. Mullan. Surface Inhomogeneities on Late-Type stars. Proceedings, Armagh Observatory, Northern Ireland. 1990, Springer-Verlag, 24-27, July 1990. E. Danezis, E. Antonopoulou, M. Mathioudakis and E. Theodossiou.

SZ Psc is a typical RS CVn Binary System which shows all the main characteristics of the group (e.g. CaII & K emission wave-like variations outside eclipses). It also shows a very unsual, variable behaviour of the Hα line (Bopp 1981) and large period variations (dr/dt = 6 ±0.5 10-8 days/day; Jahate et al. 1976). In this paper we discuss two IUE spectra of SZ Psc to have a better understanding of the system. Similar work has been done for some others RS CVn Binary Systems like UX Ari (Simon and Linsky 1980), HR 1099, II Peg, AR Lac (Byrne et al. 1982), λ And (Baliunas et al. 1984), σ Gem (Ayres et al. 1984).

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1992LNP...397..273D

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4. Photoelectric Photometry Equipment's Calibration at the Kryonerion Astronomical Station. Memoirs of the National Observatory of Athens. Series I, No. 37, 1998, L. Hric, P.G. Niarchos, K. Pertik, E. Theodossiou.

The present study aims to increase the efficiency of the photoelectric photometry at the Kryonerion Astronomical Station of the National Observatory of Athens, Greece. At first are given the PP equipment of the Τelescope (1.2 m Cassegrain reflector) and the process of calibration, that is the new gain. Then, the atmospheric extinction and transformation coeficients to the standard UBV system are given. Finally, we presented our future plans. This means that we plan to use at Kryonerion Station a new photometer with pulse counting electronics and connect it with a computer. 

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5. Μεθοδολογική προσέγγιση της Πανεπιστημιακής προπτυχιακής εκπαίδευσης στην Aστροφυσική. Mία πρόταση δομής ενός προγράμματος προπτυχιακών πανεπιστημιακών σπουδών στην Aστροφυσική. Astronomy 2000+ Greek Prospers for the 21st Century, Πεντέλη, 12-13 Nοεμβρίου 1998. 

Mία συνολική πρότασή μας που αφορά την αναβάθμιση των σπουδών στην Αστροφυσική στο Τμήμα Φυσικής, στο Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών. Στην πρότασή μας αυτή θεωρήσαμε αναγκαίο να αναφερθούμε σε μια σειρά δομικών προβλημάτων τα οποία κρατούν δέσμια την εκπαιδευτική και παιδαγωγική διαδικασία, τα οποία μπορούμε να απαλείψουμ, να βελτιώσουμε και να τα προσαρμόσουμε στην εκπαιδευτική διαδικασία.

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The presence of Discrete Absorption Components (DACs) or Satellite Absorption Components (SACs) is a very common phenomenon in the atmospheres of hot emission stars citep{dan03,lyr04} and result to the complex line profiles of these stars. The shapes of these lines are interpreted by the existence of two or more independent layers of matter nearby a star. These structures are responsible for the formation of a series of satellite components for each spectral line.Here we will present a model reproducing the complex profile of the spectral lines of Oe and Be stars with DACs and SACs [citep{dan03,lyr04}]. In general, this model has a line function for the complex structure of the spectral lines with DACs or SACs and include a function L that considers the kinematic (geometry) of an independent region. In the calculation of the function L we have considered the rotational velocities of the independent regions, as well as the random velocities within them. This means that the new function of L is a synthesis of the rotational distribution and a physical Gaussian. Finally, we calculate the optical depth (xi ) and the column density (d) of each independent density region.

Full text: http://sait.oat.ts.astro.it/MSAIS/7/PDF/107.pdf

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The spectra of most Oe and Be stars present Discrete or Satellite Absorption Components (DACs or SACs respectively) which result to complex structure of line profiles of these stars. The DACs are spectral lines of the same ion and the same wavelength as a main spectral line, shifted at different Delta lambda , as they are created from different density regions, which rotate and move radially with different velocities. However, if the regions, which give rise to such lines rotate with large velocities and move radially with small velocities, the produced lines are much broadened and little shifted. As a result they are blended among themselves as well as with the main spectral line and thus they are not discrete. In such a case the name Discrete Absorption Component is inappropriate and we use only the name SACs (Satellite Absorption Components). In this paper we present a statistical study of the Halpha line profiles of 120 Be-type stars using the model proposed by [citet{dan03,lyr04}]. This model proposes that the density layers which produce the Halpha line lie in different regions in the stellar atmosphere. In the Be-type stellar atmospheres, there are two regions that can produce the Halpha satellite components. The first one lies in the chromosphere and the second one in the cool extended envelope. We concluded that the chromospheric components are best reproduced by the proposed Rotation distribution. The absorption components which are created in the cool extended envelope are best reproduced by a Gaussian distribution. The emission components, if they exist, they are best reproduced by a Voigt distribution. By fitting the Halpha line profiles with the line function of the proposed model we are able to calculate: a) For the chromospheric absorption components we calculated the rotational and radial velocities as well as the optical depth. b) For the emission and absorption components which are created in the cool extended envelope we calculated the radial velocities, the FWHM and the optical depth. Finally, we present the relation between these parameters with the spectral subtype and the luminosity class.

Full text: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2005MSAIS...7..114L

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One of the most important works of Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea and Saint of the Eastern and Western Christian Church (330-379 A.D.), consists of his nine Speeches on the Hexameron, where, using the scientific knowledge of his time, accompanied by a brilliant theological justification, he tries to prove the truth of cosmological events, described in the biblical book of Genesis. Considering the Speeches of Saint Basil from the point of view of the history of science, this work is one of the most important sources of knowledge concerning the dominant astronomical, and general scientific, views of that epoch.

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10. Haјbeђи Визаңтијски астроңом Ниђифор Григoра и Срби. Publications of the Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade-Πyбл. Aстр. Друш. Pyђeр Бошковиђ, No. 8, pp. 247-256, Нови Сад, 2006. Ε. Theodossiou, V.N. Manimanis, M.S. Dimitrijevic and E. Danezis.

Nichephoros Gregoras (1295-1360) is considered one of the most significant scolars and the greatest astronomer of Byzantium. Gregoras was the first to propose, in 1324, a correction to the calculation of the Easter and to the Julian Calendar similar to the one adopted later, in 1582, by the Pope Gregory XIII.

This proposition and, more obviously, his dispute with St. Gregorios Palamas, created problems in the relations of Gregoras with the Church, leading to the desecration of his corpse by the fanatic crowd. He was many times an ambassador in the court of the king of Serbia, especially king Stefan Decanski, and his writing on solar eclipses exist in ancient Serbian ecclesiastical texts.

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11. Κocмoлoгиjа y "беседама на шестодңев" Bасилија Bелиқог y yтищaj oбoг делa koд Србa. Publications of the Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade-Πyбл. Aстр. Друш. "Pyђeр Бошковиђ" Бр. 7, pp. 453-460, Нови Сад, 2006. E. Danezis, E. Theodossiou and M.S. Dimitrijevic.

One of the most important works of Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea and Saint of the Eastern and Western Christian Church (330-379 A.D.), consists of his nine Homilies on the Hexameron, where, using the scientific knowledge of his time, accompanied by a brilliant theological justification, he tries to prove the truth of cosmological events, described in the biblical book of Genesis. In the present paper, cosmological ideas during the time of Saint Basil were analyzed on the basis of "Hexameron". Particularly were considered the questions: (a) What existed before the Creation of the perceivable Universe? (b) Time before the Creation of the World. (c) Time as the measure of aging. (d) The achronal Creation. (e) The multiple Universe (f) The Universe with a beginning.

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12. Κocмoлщка питања ў беседама на шестодңев Bасилија Bелиқог. Aнтиқа и Cабремени Cвет (in Serbian) = Cosmological Questions in the Homilies on Hexameron of Saint Basil the Great. Antiquity and Modern World (in English). Serbian Society of Ancient Studies, UDC 52, Scientific Publications of the Serbian Society for Ancient Studies. Vol. 1. pp. 80-88, Београд 2007. E. Danezis, E. Theodossiou and M.S. Dimitrijevic.

Actually, in order to reconcile the astronomical views of their age with the cosmogony described in the Book of Genesis the wise Fathers wrote treatises On the Six-day Creation (Peri Hexahemerou or On Hexameron) that became staple texts of the spiritual production of the 4th century. As Th. Nikolaidis writes, "The most important texts were the "Homilies to the Six-day Creation" by St. Basil the Great and those by his brother, St. Gregory of Nyssa, treatises that exerted an especially strong influence, not only in the East but also in the West." 

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The views of the ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosophers from Ionia opened new paths for the study of nature by using human logic. Starting from the worship of the Earth as a goddess, they proceeded to examine its position in the Cosmos (Universe), proposing a spherical shape for our planet. They pioneered the unifying approach for the physical world, assuming one element as the basis for everything in the Universe (this was the water for Thales, the air for Anaximenes, the infinity for Anaximander, the fire for Heraclitus) The genesis and the decay of worlds succeed one another eternally. Anaximenes believed, like Anaximander, that our world was not the only one that existed. Heraclitus believed that, of the vast richness of the natural creation with its unpredictable changes, nothing remains stable, motionless and granted. There is not constancy, but only an eternal flow, a perpetual motion. This is exactly what we accept today for the world of quantum physics; the apparent stability and immobility is an illusion and is due to our limited senses. According to Heraclitus, matter is constantly transformed. All the natural philosophers of Ionia distanced God the Creator from nature and history, keeping always a respect for the beliefs of their fellow people; most probably they, too, kept a form of God in an area of their minds, in his spiritual and moral dimension.

Full text: http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2010MSAIS..15..204T

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14. Science-philosophy relation and the prevalence of the heliocentric theory. Ε. Theodossiou, V.N. Manimanis and E. Danezis. Memorie della Societa Italiana, Vol. 75, 286. Memorie della Supplementi. SAIt 2008.

A new physics appeared in the West in the 17 th century under the Cartesian philosophical canopy, the spirit of which had deep influence on savants of that period. This new physics, as defined by Galileo and Kepler, was not searching for purpose, but it was seeking for causes.The relation between philosophy and science has passed from many phases in history and still is an interesting topic. The value of falsifiability (or refutability) in science was stressed by Karl R. Popper. Here, as a paradigm, the juxtaposition of the Earth-centred view of the universe and prevalence of the heliocentric theory is examined.

Full text: http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2010MSAIS..15..187T

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17. Rigas Velestinlis and Astronomy in his ‘Anthology of Physics'. Ε. Theodossiou, V.N. Manimanis, M.S. Dimitrijevic and E. Danezis. Exploring the Solar System, Bucharest, Romania, 2008, American Institute of Physics, AIP, vol. 1043, pp. 74-75.

Rigas Velestinlis (Velestino 1757 - Belgrade 1798) was a herald and martyr of freedom, but also one of the forerunners of the modern Greek enlightenment movement. He did not have a chance to become a military commander of the Greek War of Independence (1821-1829) that liberated Greece from the Turks, or to teach in one of the Schools of the occupied nation. Nevertheless, with his restless intellectual quests, his books and publications, and his ideology, he managed to participate in the intellectual awakening of his enslaved nation, channelling through his works the novel ideas of the European enlightenment together with revolutionary messages. When the French Revolution was followed by the victorious marches of the Napoleonic army, triggering throughout Europe uprisings against age-old authoritarian regimes, Rigas broadened the frame of the struggles for liberation and became the political catechist who endeavoured to transform theory into act, not only for Greeks but also for the other peoples of the Balkan Peninsula.  

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18. The Astronomical Clock of Prague and the astronomical legacy of Antiquity. European ideas, Scientific Publications of the Serbian Society for Ancient Studies. Vol. 3, pp. 374-391, Beograd 2009. E. Theodossiou, Sp. Azzopardi, M.S. Dimitrijevic and V.N. Manimanis (In English and Serbian).

An astronomical monument in the old town hall square, in the historical centre of Prague, consists one of the most significant sights of the city. It dates before the era of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler, who lived in Prague during the later part of the 16th century, and it shows three independent motions in accordance with the old geocentric system.
Here, the Prague's Astronomical Clock is described and its history reviewed.

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21. Ефстратије Т. Теодосију, Васијије Н. Маниманис, Милан С. Димитријевић, The inconvenient relation between religion and science: The prevalence of the heliocentric theory. Scientific Publications of the Serbian Society for Ancient Studies. Vol. 5. ANTIQUITY AND MODERN WORLD: RELIGION AND CULTURE. Belgrade, 255.855:2-17, pp. 374-386, 2011.

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Benjamin Lesbios or Benjamin of Lesbos was a scholar monk of Greek enlightenment. Clearly influanced by the spirit of Western European enlightenment, Benjamin was accused by Orthodox Church officials for teaching the new natural world knowledge. He was an important philosophical mind and introduced the Pantachekineton, a pioneering unifying natural theory.

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25. Ефстратије Т. Теодосију, Васијије Н. Маниманис, Милан С. Димитријевић and Πетрос Μантаракис, Sirius in Ancient Greek and Roman Literature, Publications of the Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade-Πyбл. Aстр. Друш. "Pyђeр Бошковиђ" vol. 10, pp. 605-628, 2011.

Најсјајнија звезда ноћног неба је Сиријус, Alpha Canis Majoris (α CMa). Због своје интензивне светлости, имао је једну од доминантних позиција у митологији, легендама и традицији. У овом раду су размотрена дела старих класичних аутора и песника, Грка и Римљана, који су помињали Сиријус, а дискутован је и проблем његове "црвене" боје који произилази из ових списа  

The brightest star of the night sky, visible from all Greece, especially during clear winter nights is Sirius, Alpha Canis Majoris (α CMa). Due to its intense light, Sirius had one of the dominant positions in mythology, legends and traditions of most ancient people. Greeks were not an exception: The original Greek name ‘Seirios' meant sparking, shining, fiery or burning. In this review article the references of the many ancient classic authors and poets, Greeks and Romans, who wrote about Sirius are examined and the problem of its ‘red' color arising from these references is discussed.

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27. Ефстратије Т. Теодосију, Васијије Н. Маниманис, Милан С. Димитријевић, The cosmological Theories of the Pre-Socratic Greek Philosophers and their Philosophical views fot Enviroment, Publications of the Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade-Πyбл. Aстр. Друш. "Pyђeр Бошковиђ" vol. 10, pp. 639-651, 2011.

 In this paper the views related to nature, Mother-Earth and the natural environment in the ancient Greek world are discussed, from the Оrphic Hymns and the Homeric world, through the works of Hesiod and Sophocles, and the theories and works of the pre-Socratic philosophers, the Ionian School, Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Heraclitus, Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, Empedocles, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics and Neo-Platonists, with a particular emphasis on Plotinus. The common elements in the teaching of the pre-Socratic Ionian philosophers and of the latter ancient Greek natural philosophers were the observation of living environment and nature, the corresponding relations, changes and cyclic periodic variations. We note the attempts of Anaximander to formulate the need for the conservation of a dynamical equilibrium in nature and in ecosystems; also, his views on evolution of the leaving creatures and the humans.

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28. Ефстратије Т. Теодосију, Васијије Н. Маниманис, Милан С. Димитријевић, The contributions of Byzantium to the Natural Sciences-Byzantine Astronomers and Scientists, Publications of the Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade-Πyбл. Aстр. Друш. "Pyђeр Бошковиђ" vol. 10, pp. 693-706, 2011.

In this paper, the Natural sciences in Byzantium and the contribution of distinguished scholars are considered. Since they usually were monks, famous schools were in monasteries, and works of antiquity were preserved in monastic libraries, the importance of the Church in Byzantium for Natural sciences is analyzed and demonstrated.  

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Ancient sundials were an attempt for the measurement of the true solar time; they had many different forms and were beautifully made. They have been found in various locations in Athens, Philippoi, Rome and several other cities and regions of the ancient world (Gibbs, 1976). Modern sundials can show the solar time with one-minute precision. The main sundial types are the vertical, the horizontal and the equatorial ones. In the present paper we will briefly mention the structure and the operation of a horizontal sundial and expose our experience from the construction of four such sundials.
The main parts of a horizontal sundial are the hour plate, the gnomon and the corrections. The hour plate is usually made of white marble, upon which the hour lines are carved; in addition, lines for semi-hours, quarters of an hour or even 5-min lines can be carved.
Gnomon is usually made of metal; it forms with the horizontal plane an angle (φ) equal to the latitude of the location where the sundial will be placed. The corrections that depend on the date are given in the form of a diagram or of a table, into which the ‘Equation of time' corrections and those due to the longitude of the place are presented. These corrections convert the true solar time of the place to the corresponding civil time. The orientation of the horizontal sundial is such that the gnomon's tip points towards the North Celestial Pole.

Two sundials, a Byzantine and a modern one, are presented, which are located in the city of Drama, in northern Greece. The former is on exhibit at the city's Archaeological Museum, and the latter is located in the city's municipal garden. A marble sculpture of a sand clock (hourglass or sandglass) is also described in this study.

 ΕΠΙΛΕΚΤΙΚΑ ΚΑΠΟΙΑ ΚΕΙΜΕΝΑ (ΤΕΧΤS) ΤΩΝ ΕΡΓΑΣΙΩΝ ΜΟΥ

No. 17. THE FALL OF A METEORITE AT AEGOS POTAMI IN 467 BC. E. Th. Theodossiou, P. G. Niarchos, V.N. Manimanis and W. Orchiston.

Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage. Vol. 5, No. 2, Number 10, December 2002, pp. 135-140.

Theodossiou, E.Th., Niarchos, P.G., Manimanis, V.N.
Department of Astrophysics-Astronomy and Mechanics, School of Physics, University of Athens, Panepistimioupoli Zographou, 157 84, Greece
E-mail: etheodos@phys.uoa.gr
and W. Orchiston,Anglo-Australian Observatory, P O Box 296, Epping,
NSW 2121, Australia, E-mail: wo@aaoepp.aao.gov.au

Abstract
Cosmic catastrophes have been associated from time to time with the fall of celestial objects to Earth. From the writings of ancient Greek authors we know that during the second year of the 78th Olympiad, that is the year corresponding to 467/6 BC, a very large meteorite fell at Aegos Potami, in the Gallipoli Peninsula (in Eastern Thrace). This event was predicted by Anaxagoras, and the meteorite was worshipped by the Cherronesites until at least the first Century AD. The fall of the Aegos Potami meteorite was not associated with any cosmic catastrophe, but it was believed to have foretold the terminal defeat of the Athenians by the Spartans in 405 BC near Aegos Potami, which brought to an end the Peloponnesian War in favor of Sparta.
In addition, according to the Latin author Pliny the Elder, during the first century AD the inhabitants of Avydus in Asia Minor worshipped another meteorite that was displayed in the city's sports centre. The fall of this meteorite is also said to have been predicted by Anaxagoras.

Keywords: Aegos Potami, Avydus, meteorite, Anaxagoras

1 INTRODUCTION
Aegos Potami, a name meaning in Greek ‘Rivers' (=Potami) ‘of the Goat' (=Aega) -although the Greek prefix ‘aeg' means a place generally near the water- was a stream with an ancient small town built next to its estuary on the eastern shore of the Gallipoli Peninsula in Eastern Thrace, opposite Lampsacus and Avydus. Today the Turkish village of Kara-kova, occupies this site.
On the shore of Aegos Potami, in the autumn of 405 BC, the Athenian and the Spartan fleets faced each other, and the Spartan Admiral, Lysander, succeeded in conquering the Athenian fleet. The catastrophe was complete for the Athenians. 170 ships were seized by the Spartans and 3000 men were captured and then killed (Xenophon, 1918). This disastrous encounter virtually signified essentially the end of the great Peloponnesian War.

As Xenophon (c.430-352 BCE) mentions:
"Lysander coasted along from Avydus to Lampsacus... then they attacked the city and captured it by storm.... Now the Athenians sailed to Aegos Potami, which is opposite Lampsacus,... straightway Lysander gave a signal to his fleet to sail with all speed, and Thorax with his troops went with the fleet... As for Lysander, he took his prizes and prisoners and everything else back to Lampsacus.... Finally resolved to put to death all of the prisoners who were Athenians". (Hellenica II, 1, 18, pp. 95-103).

The Spartans, under king Agis (427-399 BCE) and Lysander, then besieged Athens, which was finally forced to capitulate under humiliating terms.
Plutarch (Lysander, 1916, vol. IV, p. 260) mentions that ancient writers went of the opinion that this catastrophe had been foretold by the fall of a very large meteorite at Aegos Potami in 467/6 BC. Furthermore, according to Pliny the Elder ( AD 23-79), Plutarch (AD 45-120), Philostratos (2nd century AD), Diogenes Laertius (3rd Century AD), and other authors, the philosopher Anaxagoras even predicted the fall of this meteorite. For example Philostratos (1912:19) writes: "....we might also accuse Anaxagoras because of the many things which he foretold. [including] ... that day would be turned into night, and stones would be discharged from the heaven round Aegos Potami, and of how his predictions were fulfilled."
As we know from Marmor Parium [ep. 57 (FG Hist. 239 A 57, II 1000)]: ‘Since the stone fell at Aegos Potami and the Simonides the poet deceased years ... Theagenides being the eponymous archon in Athens.'
Drawing our information from Hermann Diel's ‘Fragmente der Vorsocratiker', Anaxagoras certainly was a remarkable man, and he was very knowledgeable about astronomy. He held the view that meteorites were celestial bodies that from time to time happened to fall on the Earth and he also held equally progressive views about meteors and the composition of (Diels, 1996)..
As Sir William Cecil Dampier mentions in his book ‘A History of Science' (1946):

"Anaxagoras, born near Smyrna about 500 B.C., took the more materialist Ionian ideas of philosophy with him to Athens forty years later. To Anaxagoras matter was a crowd of different entities each with different qualities or accidents as the sences suggest. However far division is carried, the parts contain things like the whole, though differences may arise from different proportions in the ingredients. Motion was originally started by Mind, a subtle fluid causing rotation which spreads and so makes and orders the world. The heavenly bodies are matter of the same nature as the Earth; the Sun is not the God Helios, but an ignited stone; the Moon has hills and valleys. Besides these speculations Anaxagoras made some real advance in exact knowledge. He dissected animals, gained some insight into the anatomy of the brain, and discovered that fishes breathe through their gills". (Dampier, 1946:22-23).

Because of these views and others, Anaxagoras, was so unpopular in Athens that he almost lost his life, and he was even accused of atheism (see Diogenes Laertius, 1925; Heatrh, 1981; Plato, 1914, Sextus Empiricus, 1933).
Plato in his ‘Apology' mentions: "No, by Zeus, judges, since he says that the sun is a stone and the moon earth. Do you think you are accusing Anaxagoras, my dear Meletus, and do you so despise these gentlemen and think they are so unversed in letters as not to know, that the books of Anaxagoras the Clazomenian are full of such utterances?". (Apology 14. 26 D, p. 99).

Sir Thomas Heath, in his ‘Aristarchus of Samos' (1981), drawing his information from Plato (ibid. 14. 26 D) writes that:

"When Pericles became unpopular shortly before the Peloponnesian War, he was attacked through his friends, and Anaxagoras was accused of impiety for holding that the sun was a red-hot stone and the moon earth.... Anaxagoras was imprisoned and with difficulty saved by Pericles". (pp. 78-79).

As Diogenes Laertius mentions (IX, 57): "This man (Anaxagoras), so great was his unpopularity at Athens, almost lost his life, as Demetrius of Phalerum states in his Defence of Socrates" (p. 471). Similarly: "Anaxagoras (circa 450 B.C.) lived mostly at Athens, where he was intimate with Pericles and Euripides, until he was condemned on a charge of atheism and escape to Lampsacus" (Sextus Empiricus, Outlines of Pyrrhonism, Introduction, xi).

2 THE FALL OF THE STONE METEORITE ACCORDING TO THE ANCIENT SOURCES
Let us see now how the ancient writers and doxographers (writers who record the theories of older philosophers) describe the fall of the Aegos Potami Meteorite.
Diogenes Laertius in his ‘Lives of Eminent Philosophers' reports the following:

"There is a story that he predicted the fall of the meteoric stone at Aegos Potami, which he said would fall from the Sun". (Vol. Ι, ΙΙ, 19, p. 139).
[Comments of the translator: This version agrees with Pliny, Nat. Hist. ii 149].

In his Lives of Lysander and Sulla, Plutarch (AD 45-120) states:

There were some who declared that the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux) appeared as twin stars on either side of Lysander's ship just as he was sailing out of the rudder-sweeps. And some say that the falling of the stone was also a portent of this disaster ; for, according to the common belief, a huge stone had fallen from heaven at Aegos Potami [in 467-6 BCE according to the Parian Marble (ep. 57) and Pliny (Nat. Hist. ii 149 f.)], and it is shown to this day by the Cherronesites, who hold it in reverence. It is said that Anaxagoras had predicted that if the heavenly bodies would be loosened by some slip or shake, one of them might be torn away, and might plunge and fall down to earth, and he said that none of the stars remained in its original position; because, as they are compact as stones and heavy, they shine due to friction with the revolving aether, and they are forced along in fixed orbits by the whirling impulse which gave them their circular motion, and this was what prevented them from falling to our earth in the first place, when the cold and heavy bodies were separated from the whole universal matter...
But there is a more plausible opinion than this, and its advocates hold that shooting stars are not a flow or emanation of aetherical fire, which the lower air quenches at the very moment of its kindling, nor are they an ignition and blazing up of a quantity of lower air which has made its escape into the upper regions; but they are plunging and falling heavenly bodies, carried out of their course by some relaxation in the tension of their circular motion and falling, not upon the inhabited region of the earth, but for the most part outside of it and into the great sea; and this is the reason why they are not noticed.
However, the theory of Anaxagoras is supported by Daïmachus in his treatise Peri Eusebias (On Religion) [Fr. 5 FHGII 441]; he says that prior to the fall of the stone, for seventy-five days continually, there was seen in the heavens a huge fiery body similar to a flaming cloud, not resting in one place but moving along with intricate and irregular motions, so that fiery fragments broken from it by its plunging and erratic course were carried in all directions and flashed fire, just as shooting stars do. But when it had fallen in that part of the Earth and the inhabitants, after recovering from their fear and amazement, were assembled around it, no action of fire was seen, nor even so much as trace thereof, but a stone lying there, of large size, it is true, but one which bore almost no proportion at all to the fiery mass seen in the heavens. Well, then, that Daïmachus must have indulgent readers, is clear; but if his story is true, he utterly refutes those who affirm that a rock, which winds and tempests had torn from some mountain top, was caught up and borne along like a spinning top, and that at the point where the whirling impetus given to it first relaxed and ceased, there it plunged and fell. Unless, indeed, what was seen in the heavens for many days was really fire, the quenching and extinction of which produced a change in the air resulting in unusually violent winds and agitation, and these brought about the plunge of the stone. However, the minute discussion of this subject belongs to another kind of writing". (Plutarch, Lysander, vol. IV, 1916:260-265).

A different translation of the above Plutarch's passage is given by D.C. Stevenson:

Some, therefore, looked upon the result as a divine intervention, and there were certain who affirmed that the stars of Castor and Pollux were seen on each side of Lysander's ship, when he first set sail from the haven toward his enemies, shining about the helm; and some say the stone which fell down was a sign of this slaughter. For a stone of a great size did fall, according to the common belief, from heaven, at Aegos Potami, which is shown to this day, and held in great esteem by the Chersonites. And it is said that Anaxagoras foretold that the occurrence of a slip or shake among the bodies fixed in the heavens, dislodging any one of them, would be followed by the fall of the whole of them. For no one of the stars is now in the same place in which it was at first; for they, being, according to him, like stones and heavy, shine by the refraction of the upper air round about them, and are carried along forcibly by the violence of the circular motion by which they were originally withheld from falling, when cold and heavy bodies were first separated from the general universe. But there is a more probable opinion than this maintained by some, who say that falling stars are no effluxes, nor discharges of ethereal fire, extinguished almost at the instant of its igniting by the lower air; neither are they the sudden combustion and blazing up of a quantity of the lower air let loose in great abundance into the upper region; but the heavenly bodies, by a relaxation of the force of their circular movement, are carried by an irregular course, not in general into the inhabited part of the earth, but for the most part into the wide sea; which is the cause of their not being observed. Daimachus, in his treatise on Religion, supports the view of Anaxagoras. He says, that before this stone fell, for seventy-five days continually, there was seen in the heavens a vast fiery body, as if it had been a flaming cloud, not resting, but carried about with several intricate and broken movements, so that the flaming pieces, which were broken off by this commotion and running about, were carried in all directions, shining as falling stars do. But when it afterwards came down to the ground in this district, and the people of the place recovering from their fear and astonishment came together, there was no fire to be seen, neither any sign of it; there was only a stone lying, big indeed, but which bore no proportion, to speak of, to that fiery compass. It is manifest that Daimachus needs to have indulgent hearers; but if what he says be true, he altogether proves those to be wrong who say that a rock broken off from the top of some mountain, by winds and tempests, and caught and whirled about like a top, as soon as this impetus began to slacken and cease, was precipitated and fell to the ground. Unless, indeed, we choose to say that the phenomenon which was observed for so many days was really fire, and that the change in the atmosphere ensuing on its extinction was attended with violent winds and agitations, which might be the cause of this stone being carried off. The exacter treatment of this subject belongs, however, to a different kind of writing. (Plutarch 4-14. The Internet Classic Archive at MIT. Archive by D.C. Stevenson, www. stoics.com).

It seems that Daïmachus of Plataeae (3rd Century BC) refers to the description by Aristotle (384-322 BCE), who writes for the stone meteorite that it fell on the ground from the air at Aegos Potami during the day and he notes that its fall coincided with the appearance of a comet in the west:

"For instance, when the stone fell from the air at Aegos Potami it had been lifted by the wind and fell during the daytime; and its fall coincided with the appearance of a comet in the west". (Aristotle, Meteorologica I, IV, p. 55)

According to Sir Thomas Heath, in his ‘Aristarchus of Samos' (1981), Aristotle adds the following remarks on particular cases:

"On the occasion when the (meteoric) stone fell from the air at Aegos Potami, it was caught up by a wind and was hurled down in the course of a day; and at that time too a comet appeared from the beginning of the evening. Again, at the time of the great comet (373/2 BCE) the winter was dry and arctic, and the tidal wave was caused by the clashing of contrary winds; for in the bay the north wind prevailed, while outside it a strong south wind blew. Further, during the archonship of Nicomachus at Athens (341/0 BCE) a comet was seen for a few days in the neighbourhood of the equinoctial circle; it was at the time of this comet, which did not rise with the beginning of the evening, that the great gale at Corinth occurred". (p. 246).

[Comments of the author: This appears to be the earliest mention of the meteoric stone of Aegos Potami by any writer whose works have survived. The day of the occurrence was apparently in the archonship of Theagenides [469/7 BCE]. The story that Anaxagoras prophesied that this stone would fall from the sun (Diog. L. ii 10) was probably invented by way of a picturesque inference from his well-known theory that the fiery aether whirling round the earth snatched stones from the earth and, carrying them round with it, kindled them into stars (Aet. ii. 13. 3; D.G. p. 341; Vorsokratiker, i2, p. 307.16), and that one of the bodies fixed in the heaven might break away and fall (Diog. L. ii. 12; Plutarch, Lysander 12; Vorsokratiker, i2, pp. 294.29, 296.34). Diogenes of Apollonia, too, a contemporary of Anaxagoras, said that along with the visible stars there are also stones carried round, which are invisible, and are accordingly unnamed; ‘and these often fall upon the earth and are extinguished like the stone star which made a fiery fall at Aegos Potami' (Aet. ii 13. 9; D.G. p. 342; Vorsokratiker, i2, p. 330. 5-8)].

Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus, 23-79 CE) reports the same event in his Naturalis Historia and in addition he mentions some other meteorite which fell on Avydus, again after a prediction by Anaxagoras:

"Celebrant Graeci Anaxagoram Clazomenium Olympiadis septuagesimae octavae (LXXVIII) secundo anno praedixisse caelestium litterarum scientia, quibus diebus saxum casurum esset e sole, idque factum interdiu in Thraciae parte at Aegos flumen, qui lapis etiam nunc ostenditur magnitudine vehis, colore adusto, comete quoque illis noctibus flagrante. Quod si quis praedictum credat, simul fateatur necesse est maioris miraculli divinitatem Anaxagorae fuisse, solvique rerum naturae intellectum et confundi omnia, si aut ipse sol lapis esse aut umquam lapidem in eo fuisse credatur. Decidere tamen crebro non erit dubium. (150) In Abydi gymnasio ex ea causa colitur hodieque modicus quidem, sed quem in media terrarum casurum idem Anaxagoras praedixisse narratur" (Plin. N.H. ii 149) [Hermann Diels p. 9: (Danach I. Lyd. D. ost. 7 S 14, 15W). Eus. Chron. (Hier.) lapis in Aegis fluvio de Caelo ruit a. Abr. 1551 (ol. 78, 3=466). Vgl. A1, 11II 6, 24ff).

An English translation is:

"The Greeks say that Anaxagoras of Clazomenes succeeded during the second year of the 78th Olympiad [467/466 BCE] with his knowledge in astronomical (celestial) literature to predict that some days later a stone from the Sun would fall, and this happened during the daytime at the area of Aegos Potami of Thrace -and this stone can be viewed even today, having the size of a coach and brown color- when a comet was shining during the nights. If one believes in this prediction, he must at the same time accept that the supernatural abilities of Anaxagoras himself consisted an even greater miracle, that our understanding of Nature is zero and everything is in confusion if it is credible that either the Sun itself is a stone or it ever used to have a stone inside it. Yet it is not doubted that stones do fall frequently. For this reason, in the sports center of Avydus they still worship today a stone, medium-sized to be fair, for which it is said that Anaxagoras had again predicted its falling at the middle of the earth."

We note that Avydus was an ancient Greek city of Mysia, NE of today's Turkish town of Çanakkale (=Bowl Fortress), on the Asian shore of Hellespontus and at the most narrow part of the channel. Perhaps it is a coincidence, but in 411 BCE one of the most violent naval battles of the Peloponnesian War took place near Avydus (before the battle at Aegos Potami), and in that first battle the Athenians had won a victory against the Spartans.
It seems that many ancient doxographers knew the ability of Anaxagoras to predict such phenomena, and this is exactly what Philostratus (170 CE) writes:

"Because, oh Apollonius, they have heard that Anaxagoras of Clazomenes was observing the sky from the top of Mimas in Ionia, Thales of Miletus from nearby Mykale, etc." [EBENDA I2 p. 3, 6 Kayser] "And we might also accuse Anaxagoras because of the many things which he foretold. And indeed, who does not know the story of how Anaxagoras at Olympia in a season when the least rain falls came forward wearing a fleece into the stadium, by way of predicting rain, and of how he foretold the fall of the house; and truly, for it did fall; and of how he said that day would be turned into night, and stones would be discharged from heaven round Aegos Potami, and of how his predictions were fulfilled". (Philostratus, The life of Apollonius of Tuana, Book I, II, 5).

At the beginning of 2nd Century BCE the doxographer Aetius (1879), in Diogenes of Apollonia, reports the falling of the meteor at Aegos Potami:

"Diogenes says that the stars are like pumice stones, and he considers them as pores through which the world breathes; and that they are red-hot. In addition to the visible stars, invisible stones also wander through heavens, having no name. They frequently fall on Earth and their fire gets extinguished, like the stony star which fell in flames at Aegos Potami". [Aet. II 13, 5.6 (D. 341f)].

Diogenes of Apollonia or Diogenes Apolloniates (5th Century BCE) in his work ‘Peri Physeos' (On Nature) refers to the stone meteorite whose fall was predicted by Anaxagoras. Diogenes, apparently impressed by this event, concluded that there are many other similar invisible bodies in heavens, having the texture of pumice stone in order to be very light, so that fire could penetrate them.

Finally, the famous French astronomer Camille Flammarion (1842-1925) in his ‘Astronomie Populaire' mentions the meteorite at Aegos Potami: ‘Il y aplus de 2000 ans, les Grecs vénéraient la fameuse pierre tombée dans le fleuve Aegos' (p. 395). An English translation is : ‘More than 2000 years ago, the Greeks venerated the famous stone which fell down at Aegos Potami'.

Patric Moore in his ‘Astronomy' (1961), writes some elements about the nature of meteorites:

"Meteorites are relatively large bodies, ranging in size from pebbles to great blocks weighing tons. The largest ever seen to fall, over Arkansas in 1930, weighs 820 pounds, but a meteorite which fell at Hoba West in South Africa, presumably in prehistoric times, weighs 60 tons. Another one was the 276-pound stone which had fallen at Ensisheim, in Alsace, in 1492. The famous sacred stone in the Holy City of Mecca also seems to be a meteorite.
Such falls are extremely rare, and there is no proved case of anyone being killed by a meteorite, though admittedly there have been one or two narrow escapes. Meteorites do not come from shooting star showers; they may indeed be more closely related to the asteroids. They are of two main types; aerolites (stony in composition), and siderites (largely nickel-iron). Most museums have collections of them.
A large meteorite can, of course, produce a crater. Such is the Meteor Crater at Coon Butte in Arizona, almost a mile across and 600 feet deep; others are the Chubb Crater in North Quebec, and smaller formations at various sites in Arabia, the U,S.A., Australia and the Baltic island of Oësel". (Astronomy, pp. 155-156).

3 HISTORICAL REVIEW
The Dardanelles is one of the major's waterways of the world that separates the Asian and the European Continents. The Gallipoli (=Gelibolu) Peninsula stretches along the European coast of this waterway. This location has been of great strategic importance for the region since ancient times.
One of the cities of ancient region of Troas bears the name Dardanos. According to the Greek Mythology the city of Dardanos took its name from Dardanos the son of Zeus. Dardanos was also the grandfather of Ilos, the founder of Ilion (the city of Troy). The city of Dardanos is believed to lie about 10-11 Km southwest of the present city of Çanakkale.
In June 2002 we had been in Çanakkale, because of the Astrophysics Workshop: ‘New Directions for Close Binary Studies-The Royal Road to the Stars' (24-28 June 2002). So, we had the opportunity to visit the towns involved to our paper.
Together with its southern neighbour Avydus (at Nara Burnu=Nara's Peninsula) and the northern ancient city of Lampsacus (=Lampseki), Dardanos owing to its strategic location on the coast became -in ancient times- one of the cities controlling the Straits. However, the only archaeological remain in the area is the so-called Tumulus of the city of Dardanos. In ancient times it was customary to cover the graves of kings and rulers with a mound of soil, known as tumulus. This tomb must belonged to one of the noble families living in the ancient city of Dardanos (5th Century BCE). It is situated on a ridge overlooking the sea 10 Km SW Çanakkale. The tumulus came to light in 1959 during the construction of summerhouses for the Cement Factory occupying the land on which it is located. In December 1959 the excavation was carried out by the Turks archaeologists Rüstem Duyran and Ergon Ataçeri of the Istanbul Museum of Archaeology (Tourist Information Bulletin of Çanakkale, 2002).
We visited the Dardanos Tumulus, near Çanakkale, and then the village of Kara-kova -the ancient village of Aegos Potami- on Gallipoli's Peninsula. There is no information available concerning the history and the archaeology of the settlement. On the site where it was situated the small town of Aegos Potami, no remains of buildings from ancient times are to be found.
In other words, we could not find any information about the ancient meteorite. The present inhabitants are Turks farmers. They apparently knew neither the fall of the meteorite in ancient times (2,500 years ago!) nor the ancient historical role of their village.
Apart from Dardanos Tumulus, there are other historical sites worth visiting in the area around Çanakkale such as Avydus. We visited also the brilliant ancient city of Avydus. Along with other settlements in the region the Greek city of Avydus spent periods under the domination of both Persian and Roman rulers. In the archaeological site of the city there are a lot of ancient remains, but when Sultan Selim III (1807) constructing the walls of the Nara Castle, remains from the ancient city of Avydus were used. So, the sports center is destroyed and there is not any idea about the meteorite mentioned by Pliny the Elder.
This geographical position caused the area to become the target for migration and invasions. However, the cities along the Straits continued their life during the late Roman and Byzantine periods.
At the narrowest point of the Straits, Sultan Mehmet (15th Century) built the fortress of Kilitbahir near Sestos on the European bank and the Sultan Bowl Fortress (Kale) on the Anatolian bank near Avydus. The latest also known as Çanak kalesi, from which the town of Çanakkale now takes its name. So, after the Turk Sultan Mehmet built several small forts along the Dardanelles following his conquest of Constantinople (Istanbul), the people living in the Aegos Potami, Avydus, Dardanos, Lampsacus and Sestos moved away and the settlements were abandoned.

4 CONCLUSION
Ancient Greek authors and doxographers have documented the fall of a relatively large meteorite at Aegos Potami in the Gallipoli Peninsula (Eastern Thrace) in 467/6.
This fall, which was possibly predicted by the philosopher Anaxagoras , did not cause a cosmic catastrophe or any kind of extended damage, but it was associated with the a tragic defeat of the Athenians by the Spartans during the battle of Aegos Potami (405 BC), thus bringing to an end the Peloponnesian War. The historical records contain tantalizing little about the nature and the appearance of the Aegos Potami Meteorite, which we surmise to be an iron meteorite, and its current whereabouts is unknown.
In addition to recording the Aegos Potami Meteorite, Pliny the Elder also reports the existence of a revered meteorite at the nearby city of Avydus during the first century AD. The current location of this meteorite is also unknown.

5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research project is progressing at the University of Athens, Department of Astrophysics, Astronomy and Mechanics, School of Physics, under the financial support of the Special account for Research Grants, which we thank very much.

6 REFERENCES
Aetius, 1879. Aetii De Placitorum Compositione (De Vestutis Placitis). Diels, H., Doxographi Graeci. Editio Quarta. Walter De Gruyter et Socios, Berolini (reprinted 1965).
Aristotle, 1952, Meteorologica I, IV, 55. William Heinemann, London (The Loeb Classical Library; English translation by Η.D.P. Lee).
Dampier, W.C., 1929, A History of Science and its relations with Philosophy and Religion, Cambridge University Press (reprinted 1946).
Diels, Hermann, 1996, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, Herausgegeben v. Walter Kranz (vols. I & II). Weidmann, Zurich.
Diogenes Laertius, 1925, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, William Heinemann, London (The Loeb Classical Library; English translation by R.D. Hicks, revised & reprinted 1959).
Flammarion, C., 1955, Astronomie Populaire, Édition Entrièrement Refaite. Flammarion, Librairie, Paris.
Heath, Th.L., 1981, Aristarchus of Samos the Ancient Copernicus. Part II: Aristarchus of Samos: On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon. Dover, New York.
Marmor Parium ep. 57 [FG Hist. 239 A57, II 1000].
Moore, P., 1961, Astronomy, Oldbourne-London.
Philostratus, 1912, The life of Apollonius of Tuana, The Epistles of Apollonius and the Treatise of Eusebius. William Heinemann, London (The Loeb Classical Library; English translation by F.C. Conybeare, 1969).
Plato, 1914, Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus. William Heinemann, London (The Loeb Classical Library; English translation by H.N. Fowler, 1953).
Pliny, 1938, Naturalis Historia. William Heinemann, London (The Loeb Classical Library; English translation by H. Rackham, 1958).
Plutarch, 1916, Lives of Lysander and Sulla, vol. IV, William Heinemann, London (The Loeb Classical Library; English translation by Bernadotte Perrin, 1950).
Plutarch, 1994-2001, Lives, Plutarch 4-14. The Internet Classic Archive at MIT. Archive by D.C. Stevenson. (www. stoics.com).
Sextus Empiricus, 1933, Outlines of Pyrrhonism, vol. I, William Heinemann, London (The Loeb Classical Library; English translation by R.G. Burry, 1967).
Tourist Information Bulletin of Çanakkale's Archaeological Museum, 2002.
Xenophon, 1918, Hellenica, Books I-V, (The Loeb Classical Library; English translation by C.L. Brownson, 1947).

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No. 36: STUDY AND ORIENTATION OF THE OCHE "DRAGON HOUSE"
IN EUBOEA, GREECE

E. Theodossiou1, V.N. Manimanis1, M. Katsiotis2, D. Papanikolaou3
1Department of Astrophysics, Astronomy and Mechanics, Faculty of Physics, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopoli Zographou,
Athens 157 84, Greece
2National Technical University of Athens, Polytechniopoli Zographou, Athens, Greece
3Department of Dynamic, Tectonic & Applied Geology, Faculty of Geology & Geoenvironment, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
E-mail: etheodos@phys.uoa.gr

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Abstract: In southern Euboea, central Greece, there are 23 megalithic buildings, known as "Drakospita" (= Dragon houses); their builders and purpose are unknown. We postulate that they were dedicated to worship, constructed by the Dryopes, an ancient prehellenic tribe worshipping goddess Hera. On 2002 March 22 and 2004 July 4 we visited the best preserved of all Drakospita on top of Mt. Oche, measured its dimensions and calculated its orientation. A Sirius-rise orientation corresponding to circa 1100 B.C., not at odds with a previous archaeological dating based on artefacts found inside the structure, indicates a religious / astronomical purpose for the building. In fact, it could be argued that at least the famous Drakospito of Oche was not mainly a place of worship, but also an ancient megalithic observatory of the celestial phenomena.

Key words: Dragon-House, Drakospito, Mt. Oche, Euboea, Dryopes
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1 INTRODUCTION
The Dryopes were Prehellenes, an ancient tribe inhabiting Greece before the Greeks. Since their name is Indo-European, Dryopes are thought to belong to the Indo-European part of the prehellenic racial substrate. Initially, they occupied the area between the mountains Oete and Parnassus, a dry land called Dryopis. They are thought to be related to Leleges, and they had been characterized as a tribe of bandits. The settlements of Leleges and Dryopes lasted until the end of the Neolithic Period, when the first Greek tribes started to appear.
According to the Greek mythology, the Dryopes, who developed a civilization circa 1600 B.C., were driven away from their areas by Hercules and the Malians, who seized their fortified city on Mt. Parnassus (Herodotus: 8, 43); at Trachina, Deianeira helped Hercules by fighting on his side against the Dryopes and during the battle she was wounded at the chest. Then the Dryopes occupied Epirus, where an area was also named Dryopis. But they were driven away from there, as well, by the Dorians of Olympus and Ossa. Consequently, they immigrated to southern Greece, circa 1200 B.C., colonizing Euboea and the Cyclades. Today, near the centre of the island of Kythnos there is the town of Dryopis, thought to be founded and named by the ancient Dryopes. Indeed, Dryopes from Euboea, during the period of the movements of the Greek tribes, colonized Kythnos, which took the name Dryopis as a whole (Herodotus: 8, 46), while subsequently it assumed its present name after the leader of Dryopes.
Those of the Dryopes who fled to Peloponnese took refuge as supplicants to the king Eurystheus, who, as an adversary of Hercules, granted them the city of Asine in Argolis, while Dryopes also founded Nemea by themselves. The testimony of Pausanias (Messeniaka II, Book IV, xxxiv, 9) informs us that this immigration took place during the third generation, when their king was Phylas. But they were expelled from there, too, as allies of the Spartans, who allowed them to settle in a city of Messenia, which was named also Asine by the Dryopes.
The Dryopes were considering Dryops as their mythical original ancestor and first king on Oete, honoured as the son of Apollo and Zeus, daughter of Lycaon. The Dryopes had established a sanctuary with a statue of him in Asine of Argolis, and every other year they celebrated a mystic festival in his name, while in parallel they were honouring his daughter, the nymph Dryope, one of the Hamadryades. According to a myth mentioned by Nicandros, the god Apollo fell in love with Dryope and appeared to her in the form of a turtle while she was playing with the Hamadryades. When Dryope took the turtle in her hands, Apollo transformed himself into a snake; so the Hamadryades were scared and run away, leaving the god alone with Dryope. After a while, Dryope was married with Andraemon, son of Oxylos, however the child she had, Amphissos, was with Apollo. After the birth of Amphissos, she was kidnapped by the Hamadryades and became a nymph.

2 THE DRAKOSPITA
The Dryopes, as was already mentioned, settled in the island of Euboea circa 1200 B.C., in the SE part of the island, mainly in Styra and Karystos. Styra is a small town situated approximately 30 km to the NW of Karystos and 90 km to the SE of Chalkis, the capital of Euboea. The city of Karystos is built on the innermost point of a bay in the southern part of Euboea, under the Oche Mountain. According to the Greek mythology, it bears the name of Karystos, son of the Centaur Chiron, while its first inhabitants are thought to be Kares and Leleges, assimilated later by the Dryopes. Oche itself, the tallest mountain of the southern part of the island, reaches an altitude of 1398 m with its tallest peak, Prophet Elias; to the SE it falls to Cape Mandeli, the southernmost point of Euboea, while to the NE it ends at Cape Kaphereus, also known as Cavo d' Oro.
On the Oche Mountain there is a megalithic building preserved in good condition, known as "Drakospito", i.e. House of the Dragon. In general, in Euboea, "Drakospita" or "Dragà" is the local name of 23 or 24 such stone buildings, or remnants of them. According to the local tradition, these structures have been built by dragons and here resided the king of the Cyclops. The reason is simple: only giants, dragons or Cyclops were capable of transporting these huge rocks (Politis, 1904: I, 220-222).
The etymology of the words gegenes (aboriginal) and gigas (giant) has to do with the notion of being born by the mother Earth. We know of the Cyclopean Walls of Tiryns, which, according to the tradition were built by the Cyclops as a favour to Proitos, the brother of Akrisios.
It may be noticed that at least the entrance of the Dragon House of Oche resembles the dolmen of the Atlantic shore. The circular dolmen with corridor in Bretagne and Poitou date from the end of the 5th millennium B.C. (such as the "Table of the Merchants" at Locmarie), or the beginning of the 4th.
Today, the 23 or 24 Drakospita (26 according to some researchers) stand as a testimony of a distinct cultural phase of the Euboean history. The oldest modern reference on these buildings appears on 1797 October 21 by the British geographer and geologist John Hawkins (1758-1841), who was the first researcher that discovered the drakospito on Oche, and believed that it was an ancient temple. Then followed by H.N. Ulrichs (1842) and several subsequent researchers, both Greek and foreigners, as G. Welcher (1850), L. Ross (1851), M.J. Girard (1851), G. Bursian (1855), Th. G. Papamanolis (1954), N.K. Moutsopoulos (1960, 1978-80, 1992), N. Voutyropoulos (2003) and others.
Three Drakospita near Styra, known as Pálle-Lákka Dragò, are especially imposing, but the most impressive one is the Drakospito of Oche. None of the rest presents the perfectness of its construction.
Some archaeologists date its construction at circa 1000 B.C. by correlating it with the other megalithic monuments of Greece, such as those of Tyrins and Mycenae, while others date it in the fourth century B.C. Some, as H.N. Ulrichs (1842), consider the Drakospita as sanctuaries of Teleia Hera (The perfect Hera), the "legal" wife of Zeus and thus protector of marriage due to her holy union with the Father of Gods, while others, as C. Bursian (1855), believe that they were places of worship of Hercules. Both these views connect Drakospita with worship, assigning to them a well-defined religious importance.
The temple theory is also supported by Theodor Wiegand (1896: 11-17), "who was the first to point out that the Dragon-House of Mt. Oche was by no means Mycenaean -despite the similarity between its roof construction and the corbelling systems used at Mycenae and Tyrins" (as cited by Carpenter & Boyd, 1977:1).
Franklin P. Johnson (1925) was the first to postulate a karian derivation by noting the features shared by the so-called Dragon-Houses of Euboea and certain even less well-known structures in Karia (Asia Minor). J. Carpenter & Boyd (1977) also favor a religious usage.
In 1959 Professor Nikolaos K. Moutsopoulos of the Aristotelian University of Thessalonica's School of Architecture made a static study of the Oche's Drakospito and 11 other such buildings, and excavated the surrounding space (1960 and 1978-80). Inside the building on Oche he discovered numerous vessels (pots), while at the outside he located an apothetes, i.e. a subterranean construction inside which some utensils and animal bones were found (probably relics of ritual sacrifices), as well as vessel pieces and inscriptions dating from the preclassic to the Hellenistic period; on one of the vessel pieces is carved an unknown kind of writing. Today these are being kept in the small archaeological museum of Karystos, as mentioned already. The study of the building, together with certain architectural details, persuaded prof. Moutsopoulos that this megalithic monument was a temple of the Dryopes built at some time before 700 B.C., a temple where sacrifices were taking place at least since the archaic (preclassic) period. However, Moutsopoulos (1992) dates the vessels found during the Oche Drakospito excavation in the early Hellenistic Period, that is 3rd or 2nd century B.C. The same dating is proposed by Carpenter & Boyd (1977). This cannot of course exclude a much older construction age for the building itself.
Carpenter & Boyd (1977) report the existence of an edifice on the western interior wall of the structure, which they considered a probable evidence for sacrificing, together with a 50-cm diameter roof opening, a kind of primitive chimney for the smoke from the sacrifices. They also argue in favor of the existence of an alter in front of the edifice of the Oche Drakospito.
Ulrichs (1842) and Bursian (1855) independently report a square table-like plate inside the building, probably for placing the offerings. Prof. Moutsopoulos mentions however that during the 1960 excavations neither the edifice nor the square table-like plate was found. Our team also did not notice anything like an edifice on the western interior wall.
Most researchers who studied the Oche Drakospito focus either on the religious character of the building (sanctuary/temple of the Perfect Hera or Heracles), or on its archaeological or architectural significance. Carpenter & Boyd note (1977:1) as archaeologists that, if the Drakospito is regarded as a temple, then the placement of the entrance at the long side and the confinement of sacrifices inside it do not agree with the Greek way of temple construction and usage, respectively; therefore, they conclude that most probably it was a sanctuary of Leleges or Karian slaves.
It should be noted that no other place of Greece has Drakospita, except SE Euboea, if we exclude some markedly smaller similar constructions in Mane (southern Peloponnese) or, according to the archaeologists Carpenter & Boyd (1977) another one on Mt. Hymettos in Attica. However, the geologist of our team asserts that the Hymettos construction can in no way be associated with the Drakospito of Oche.
In the Greek folklore, the drákoi (plural of drákos, the common Greek form of the word dragon) are large legendary monsters with the general form of a serpent, usually winged and gifted with supernatural power. Such mythical monsters are to be found, with some variations, in all the mythologies or folklore of the world. However, in Greek the word drákoi means also humanoid creatures of larger-than-normal height, with muscular power exceeding the human measures. These creatures are thought to live inside caves on the mountains. Probably the legends about the humanoid drákoi are the succession of the Greek myths about Giants, Titans, Cyclops and Centaurs (Politis, 1904, II, 994-995). Out of these dragon legends much topographic nomenclature was created, and is used up to this day: Drakotrypa (Dragon Hole), Drakospelia (Dragon Cave), Drakovouni (Dragon Mountain), Drakolimne (Dragon Lake), etc.

3 OUR STUDY OF THE OCHE DRAKOSPITO AND ITS ORIENTATION
We visited the Oche Drakospito at both the time of the vernal equinox (2004 March 22) and around the time of the summer solstice (2006 July 4). We noticed the presence of ancient quarries on the slope of the mountain, the source of the well-known marbles that secured wealth to the ancient Karystos, the third largest city of ancient Euboea. In Kylindroi, in the vicinity of Karystos, one can see imposing marble columns from that period. At the Styra area there is an equally impressive ancient quarry near Ai-Nikolas, and two others in the area of Kapsala (a village 2 km to the south of Styra). The southern Euboea area was known in antiquity for its quarries, mentioned by Strabo (X 16).
So, although the Drakospita themselves are not made of marble, some researchers hypothesized that they were the residences of the quarry workers, who were working in the respective areas. Maybe the smaller ones could have been erected, or simply used, by such people, but this hypothesis sounds improbable for the largest one at least, that of Oche, because of its position exactly at the top of the mountain, a totally impractical, hard-to-reach and cold place.
In the small archaeological museum of Karystos (inside the Yokaleio Cultural Foundation) there are a couple of findings from the Drakospita of Karystos and Styra. We visited Platanistos, the first and largest of the so-called villages of Cavo d' Oro. According to both history and tradition, Platanistos (21 km road distance from Karystos) is considered an ancient Dryopic town. It resembles an ancient village, with its many sparsely populated neighbourhoods and the simple stonewalls of its buildings. Downhill from Platanistos, towards its seashore of Potami, in Helleniko, there are the relics of an ancient settlement of the eighth century B.C. related to Poseidon (the Greek equivalent of Neptune).
The Oche Drakospito lies at an altitude of 1386 m (4547 feet), on the tiny plateau formed between the twin peaks of the mountain. The access is rather difficult and requires some mountaineering ability, but not special climbing skills.
The GPS geographical coordinates of the building site are: latitude 38°.03´.06´´ North and longitude 24°.27´.10´´ East. The area of the peaks is bare and precipitous. The ancient building is an approximate rectangular parallelogram made of large blocks of rock, weighing up to 10 tons each, and their careful fitting and the overall quality of the construction is impressive. We measured carefully all main building dimensions. The largest block is 4.0 × 2.0 × 0.4 m long. The blocks of rock seem to have been extracted from the same area. Geologically, they are amphibolites, rocks composed of silicate minerals. From the inside we could testify to the excellent state of conservation. Indeed, the strength of the construction and the feeling of safety offered by this megalithic monument prompted the people to think of it as the creation of supernaturally strong beings, dragons or Cyclops. The lowest blocks are fitted to the natural rock substrate, while the fitness has been secured, where needed, with the insertion of smaller stones. No trace of any kind of connecting material, such as mud, was discerned.
The entrance of the Drakospito is made of three slate blocks (a trilith) forming a Π shape, a common eminent feature of all "Dragon Houses". (Intriguingly, the 3 structures in Pálle-Lákka Dragò form a Π shape as viewed from above.) The top block measures 1.2 m × 2.3 m × 0.2 m and sits at a height of 2 m. The thickness of the walls is everywhere larger than or equal to 1.40 m (for comparison, one member of the Pálle-Lákka Dragò triad has average wall thickness of 1.17 m, another one 1.05 m). The interior is one room 9.80 m long and 4.90 m wide (Pálle-Lákka Dragò member 1: 10.85 m to 3.80 m to 9.90 m to 4.05 m. Member 2: all walls approximately 4 m long), i.e. a 2:1 analogy, forming a space of about 48 m2. The height of the walls is 3.45 m and that of the building approximately 4.5 m. The only wall with windows is the southern one, where two small windows exist, approximately 40 cm wide, one to each side of the door opening, letting a small amount of light to enter the building, as is the case in most temples and churches in order to create a proper atmosphere.
The construction method of the whole building appears to have solved serious static problems. The construction of the roof follows the ecphoric method on all four sides, and not only on two sides, as is the case with the Mycenae megalithic monuments.
In order to construct a roof with this method or system, one needs both accurate calculations and good craftsmen: a large first slate is placed on the top of the wall, protruding a little towards the interior of the room. Upon this slate, a second one is placed, which protrudes towards the interior a little more over the first, then a third slate protruding over the second, etc., until the uppermost slate supported by the one wall meets the uppermost slate supported by the opposite wall, thus closing the roof. The static study must be accurate, because if the weights of the slates are not calculated correctly, the barycenter of the whole pile will exceed the edge of the supporting wall, and the roof will collapse. The unknown constructors of the ancient building, thinking cleverly, not only made very thick walls, but also used large rocks placed upon the first slates from the outside, on the part standing on the thick wall, as counterweights. Also, the slates are not horizontal, but slightly inclined, for the draining of rainwater.
The lengths of the exterior walls are: 12.70 m (north), 7.70 m (east), 12.60 m (south) and 7.75 m (west). The structure and texture of the walls is such that the accuracy of the measurements can be no better than approximately 5 cm. The structure should be further studied in respect to its mathematical analogies, since the ratio of length to width (1.64) is very close to the "golden rule" or "divine analogy" of Φ ≈ 1.618:1, a ratio that appears during the classic period mainly at a vertical plane, to increase the aesthetic appeal to an external viewer.
What could be the meaning of the "golden analogy" at a horizontal plane, i.e. facing the sky?
During the 2006 July 4 expedition, measurements of the angle between the northern wall and the Sun's azimuth at sunset (corresponding to zero degrees astronomical altitude) were obtained. The sunset is clearly visible from the northern side of the building at around the time of the summer solstice and clearly visible from the southern side at the time of the vernal equinox. Due again to the structure and texture of the walls, the accuracy of these measurements could be no better than approximately 5 arc minutes. The azimuth of the northern wall, facing towards the East, was calculated to be 113°.25´. The azimuth of the southern wall was calculated from the moonrise azimuth at 113°.09´, a difference of just 16 arc minutes. Trigonometric calculations based on the measured lengths of the walls yielded an angle for the NW corner of the building equal to 94°.27´; that of the SW corner 85°.17´; the angle of the SE corner 95°.29´ and of the NE corner 84°.47´. The length of the exterior SE-NW diagonal is 14.25 m.
The habit of giving an astronomical alignment to religious buildings is common in Greece, both in ancient and mediaeval times, with the sunrise and sunset at certain dates being especially favoured, as reported by Pantazis et al. (2004:79). Having excluded the sunrise and sunset at solstices and equinoxes, an obvious first choice was to check for possible astronomical alignments among the brightest stars, and especially Sirius, since the orientation towards the southeast was compelling. Indeed, by using two separate astronomical planetarium programs, Redshift 5.1 and Cartes du Ciel 2.75, we discovered a rise of Sirius orientation of the southern wall for 1060 ± 30 B.C. and of the northern wall for 1150 ± 30 B.C, the average for both walls being 1090 B.C. (the uncertainties correspond to the 5´ error mentioned above). The dating of the construction of the building at that time is not at odds with previous archaeological datings, of which probably the most important is the one based on the artefacts found inside the structure, which according to Moutsopoulos (1960) date from the eighth century B.C..

4 POSSIBLE USES OF THE OCHE DRAKOSPITO
A more mundane explanation for the Drakospito of Oche is that, being a fourth century B.C. building, it was probably a watch-tower and residence of the observer, who from that height was observing the Aegean Sea and was notifying with fire / smoke signals the administration of the respective city about what he was seeing. However, such a wider-than-tall building seems improbable to us to have been built as a watch-tower. More probable is the hypothesis of the Hera temple and at the same time of a "watch-tower of the skies", an ancient astronomical observatory. The religious-monument view was supported, besides Moutsopoulos, by A. Baumeister, J. Girard (1851) and C. Bursian (1855).
We know that many megalithic monuments in Europe had been constructed for exactly this purpose. Moreover, if the Drakospito was dedicated to goddess Hera, which is most probable, this leads to certain connotations: The continuous quarrels of the goddess with Zeus according to Greek mythology, gave rise to the view that Hera was the symbolic personification of the celestial / atmospheric disturbances. This view connects Hera with the celestial phenomena, contradicting the better-known view, which considers the goddess to be the protector of marriage and Earth. In accordance with the first view, since Hera had to do with the celestial phenomena, we hypothesize that the so-called Drakospito of Oche was not only a place of worship, but in addition it was a prehellenic observatory of the stars and of the celestial phenomena. Consequently, we propose to the archaeologists and historians to research carefully with their special knowledge this possibility.
Another line of argument comes from etymology. The name Drakospito could very well be paretymology from the ancient Greek verb δέρκομαι, which means to see clearly, to watch, to observe. Indeed, the tenses of the verb are: δέρκομαι, εδρακόμην, δρέξομαι, έδρακον, δέδορκα, εδεδόρκην. We see that the root of the past tense (drak-) gives us the word dragon (δράκων), which in Greek means "the one who observes"! Dragon is the creature with excellent vision... Therefore, the name Drakospito is a paretymology, and a substantial use of these megalithic monuments, as suggested by the ancient Greek meaning of the verb δέρκομαι, was that of an observatory: Either watch-towers (observing the Aegean Sea), or astronomical observatories of the celestial phenomena and the heavenly bodies. This seems especially true for the largest and best preserved structure, the Drakospito of Oche.

5 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, arguments have been presented in favour of a religious and/or astronomical function of the Oche Drakospito. No one knows for sure the answers about Drakospita, since no information is available about the building activities of Dryopes. Whatever may the correct answers be, the scattering and the variety of these megalithic monuments are indications of a certain continuity in the construction of cyclopean buildings. The use of monoliths and the exquisite manner of fitting the rectangularized slates together are a true architectural challenge. On the other side, it is impressive that in Argolis, another place of settlement by the Dryopes, there are preserved in various stages of ruin large geometrical constructions, known as Greek pyramids. Perhaps these Argolic pyramids have also been erected by the Dryopes. And we must not forget that the Pyramids, in addition to their use as burial monuments, can be regarded as original meridian observatories.
In any case, the Dragon houses, the pyramids and the rest megalithic constructions, remnants of a history that is slowly getting lost in the depths of the century, exert a special fascination. The uniqueness of the Drakospita forms a challenge to research the rest two dozen buildings, in order to ascertain whether their construction obeys to some astronomical orientation or mathematical rules. From houses of dragons and giants, palaces for the kings of the Cyclops, temples of the Perfect Hera or Hercules, megalithic observatories or dwellings of the ancient quarrymen of the famous green marble of Styra, they were abandoned or became -the small ones- sheep-folds and residences of shepherds in the last centuries. Our hypothesis for the probable astronomical usage of at least one member of the group -the marvellous Dragon house of the Oche mountain-, could give from now on a new momentum to research, besides the interest the Drakospita present from an archaeological and architectural point of view.

6 REFERENCES
Baumeister, A., 1864, Topographische Skizze der Insel Euboia, Lübeck. Beaumeister??
Bursian, C., 1855, "Die dryopische Bauweise in Bautrümmern Euboea's", Archaeologische Zeitung, vol. 13, cols. 129-142.
Carpenter, J. and Boyd, D., 1977, "Dragon-Houses: Euboia, Attica, Karia", American Journal of Archaeology, 81, nο. 2, 179-215.
Diaries of Hawkins' servant James Thoburn (unpublished, but in the Cornish Public Records Office, Truro, as part of the Hawkins family archive). [Hawkins kept a journal, but many of his papers were destroyed by one of his descendants in the early 1900s].
Girard, J., 1851, "Mémoire sur l' île d' Eubée", Archives des missions scientifiques et littéraires, vol. 2, 708-14, 724-25, plate after p. 730. Paris, 1852 ???
Herodotus, The History, 8, 43 and 8, 46 (translat. by David Grene, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985).
Johnson, F. P., 1925 October-December, "The Dragon-Houses of Southern Euboea", American Journal of Archaeology, 29, no. 4, 398-412.
Moutsopoulos, N.K., "The Oche Drakospito", To Vouno, no. 217 (1960), 147-169 [in Greek]
Moutsopoulos, N.K., "The Drakospita of SE Euboea - Contribution to their architecture, classification and morphology studies", Epistemoniki Epetirida Polytechnikis Scholis, Tmima Architectonon, vol. viii (Thessalonica, 1978-80), 263-278 [in Greek].
Moutsopoulos, N.K., 1992 March, "The Drakospita", Archaeologia, vol. 42, Athens, 47-54 [in Greek].
Pantazis, G., Sinachopoulos, D., Lambrou, E., Korakitis, R., 2004 December, Astrogeodetic "Study of Orientations of Ancient and Byzantine Monuments: Methodology and First Results", Journal of Astronomical History & Heritage, vol. 7 (2), 74-80.
Papamanolis, Th. G., 1954, Karystos, Athens, 136 [in Greek]
Pausanias, Messeniaka II, Book IV, xxxiv, 9 (in: Pausanias' Guide to Ancient Greece, translat. by Christian Habicht, Berkeley Univ. Press, 1985).
Politis, N.G., 1904, Paradoseis: Meletai peri tou viou kai tis glossis tou ellinikou laou (Traditions). Vol. I, 220-222 and vol. II, 994-995. In the Series of the "Bibliothiki Marasli", Ed. D. Sakellariou, Athens.
Ross, L., 1851, Wanderungen in Griechenland (Griechischen Königsreisen), vol. 2, 28-31 (Halle).
Strabo: The Geography of Strabo by Jones, Horace L., ed. and transl., 8 vols, containing Books 1-17. Harvard University Press & Heinemann, 1917-32 (X, 16)
Ulrichs, H.N., 1842, "Intorno il tempio di Giunone sul monte Ocha vicino a Carystos", Annali dell' Istituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica, XIV, 5-11.
Voutyropoulos, N., 2003 November 27, Dragon Houses: Megalithic Buildings in Euboea, Georama Magazine, http://www.georama.gr/eng/history/index.html (Ancient Greece, Dragon Houses).
Welcker, F.G., 1850, "Der kleine Tempel auf der Spitze des Bergs Ocha in Euböa", Kleine Schriften, vol. 3, 376-92, 553 (Bonn).
Wiegand, Th., 1896, "Der angebliche Urtempel auf der Ocha, Ath. Mitt. [Mitteilungen des deutschen archäologischen Instituts (Athenische Abteilung), Atena]: 21 (XXI), 11-17, pls.2-3.

FIGURES
Figure 1: Photograph of the Oche Drakospito from the SW shortly before sunset on 4 July 2004.
Figure 2: Diagram of the Oche Drakospito and its orientation.
Figure 3: A simple map of the area

Short CVs of the authors
Dr. Efstratios Theodossiou is an astronomer, and an associate Professor of History and Philosophy of Astronomy at the University of Athens. His scientific interests include observational astronomy and astrophysics, satellite spectrophotometry of Be stars and history and philosophy of astronomy. He has published more than 150 scientific papers in international refereed journals and proceedings of astronomical conferences, 300 articles in Greek newspapers and journals and fourteen books on history and philosophy of astronomy and physics. He is member of the IAU Commission 41.

Dr. Vassilios N. Manimanis is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Athens. His scientific interests include observational astronomy and astrophysics, photometry of cataclysmic variable stars, history and philosophy of astronomy and sciences, popularization of astronomy and bioastronomy. He has published 17 research papers in international refereed journals and many articles in popular magazines.

Markos Katsiotis is an architect. He works as a head person at the planning department - General Directorate of Technical Services of the National Technical University of Athens. He is an expert in accessibility for disabled people and is a member of ministerial committees in accessibility of public spaces, buildings and transport systems. His interests include restoration of listed buildings. He has published many articles in Greek journals.

Dr Dimitrios Papanikolaou is Professor of Dynamic and Tectonic Geology at the University of Athens. His scientific interests include structural geology and tectonics, geodynamics, marine geology and the study of natural disasters. He is teaching and has published a book on "Geology of Greece" and more than 230 scientific papers in international journals and proceedings of conferences. He has been very active in UNESCO/IGCP (International Geological Correlation Program), scientific editor in several international journals and visiting professor in France (Reims) and USA (MIT, Boston).

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No. 49: THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE CHURCH IN BYZANTIUM TO THE NATURAL SCIENCES BYZANTINE ASTRONOMERS AND SCIENTISTS

Efstratios Theodosiou1, Vassilios Manimanis 1 and Milan S. Dimitrijevic2

1 University of Athens, School of Physics, Department of Astrophysics, Astronomy and Mechanics, Panepistimiopolis, Zografos 15784, Athens, Greece
2 Astronomical Observatory, Volgina 7, 11160 Belgrade, Serbia
(Received 15 September 2010)
Abstract

In this paper, the Natural sciences in Byzantium and the contribution of distinguished scholars are considered. Since they usually were monks, famous schools were in monasteries, and works of antiquity were preserved in monastic libraries, the importance of the Church in Byzantium for Natural sciences is analyzed and demonstrated.

Keywords: Orthodox Church, Eastern Church, Byzantium, Natural sciences, Byzantine monks, mathematicians, astronomers

1. Introduction

A large period of Greek history is occupied by the thousand-year Byzantine Empire. This empire was the Eastern Medieval Christian Empire, which Hélène Glykatzi-Ahrweiler calls Empire of the Christian East or Greek Middle Ages Empire [1].
The Byzantine period is the connecting link between Greek antiquity and the modern era, as in this period can be found the roots of the modern Greek nation and Orthodoxy. It is customarily approached mainly through Theology, religious art and religious literature; however, Byzantium was an empire whose scholars, mainly men of the Church, contributed also in the Natural sciences and Mathematics. In the following publications we will mention and examine in detail scientists of the Byzantine period and their work in Mathematics, Physics, Astronomy and generally in Science. In this work we shall mention some selected but still largely unknown scholars who cultivated and served the study of Science and especially Astronomy. We also want to underline the role of Church in Byzantium for Natural sciences of that tine, since, as we will demonstrate in the following sections, practically all important scholars working in Mathematics, Astronomy and Physics, were monks, or in general men of Church and monasteries and monastic libraries were of greatest importance for activity of scholars, as well as for preserving the scientific legacy of antiquity.
According to modern Greek historian Anna Lazarou: "The contribution of Byzantium lies not so much in the increase of the corpus of knowledge delivered by Greek Antiquity, but rather in the preservation of many of its achievements, by both copying and saving ancient texts, and by their collection, writing of commentaries and interpreting them." [2].
The truth is that within the period from the 2nd century AD (the age of Claudius Ptolemy) to the 16th century (the age of Copernicus) the general progress of Science including Astronomy is standing rather than advancing. The reasons for such situation were basically the following three:
1. The tremendous authority, almost with a status of a religious dogma, of the two great scientific personalities: Aristotle, in all sciences, and astronomer Ptolemy. Their works, theories and unquestionable scientific presence were the quintessence of science for more than 15 centuries in both East and West. Whoever dared to question one of these two scientific authorities risked of being characterized as ignorant or illiterate, or of facing the mockery and open hostility of the whole scientific community and later on of the Christian Church.
2. The condemnation by the new religion of all who were practicing astrology and star-worship, whose borders with scientific Astronomy were often difficult to discern. So, scientific astronomy was hard to find a critical mass of followers in order to flourish.
3. The general orientation of Byzantium to theological studies rather than to scientific ones. The Byzantine savants preferred to study the teachings of Christianity and to try to pass over messages of tuning the human life according to the divine example of the life of Jesus.
Nevertheless, it is especially interesting to research and record the work of the Byzantine monks and other scholars who, despite the various difficulties discovered ways to cultivate Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy living in an empire that did not favour this kind of studies.
The study of Mathematics and Astronomy in particular experienced a growth during the last period of the empire, in the age of Paleologoi (1261-1453); however even before many scholars, whose names we can mention only selectively, dedicated a part of their time to the study of the sciences, collecting their material from the famous works of the ancient Greek mathematicians and astronomers that had been rescued and preserved in the libraries of the monasteries. At the same time, they were introducing and incorporating knowledge from other nations, by studying Indian, Persian or Arabic books, most of which were also based on ancient Greek sources.

The Byzantine scholars, often in monasteries, were successful in preserving and transmitting positive knowledge and this is the great and neglected contribution to the sciences and especially to Astronomy. They painstakingly studied, wrote commentaries, annotated, copied in new manuscripts in monasteries and finally they rescued and preserved the precious legacy of the ancient Greek philosophers and scientists. For this reason alone their contribution to the sciences would be worthy of every respect. The Byzantine Church and scholars, mainly connected with it, kept for the sake of all humankind the masterpieces of ancient Greek wisdom and science.
Of course there is the counterargument that the Eastern Orthodox Church impeded the research on Astronomy. This argument stems from the writings of the Fathers of the Church; they, however, mainly were expressing their opposition towards the astrologers and not to the mere observation of the celestial bodies. In reality the Orthodox Church depended on Astronomy and on the Alexandrine astronomers for the calculation of the Easter date, while a great number of Byzantine scholars, clergy members and monks were spending many hours on diverse kinds of arts and sciences, from Philosophy-Theology to Mathematics and Astronomy [3].
During the last few centuries of the Empire, Astronomy was cultivated to a great extent in both Constantinople and Trapezous (modern Trebizond); the echoes of the prominence of the Trapezous school of sciences reach our days [4].
It is probable that science was studied by some Byzantine monks and priests with a further aim to compose and to classify knowledge into a harmonic picture in order to serve spiritual cultivation and the exaltation-elevation of man towards God, a task for Theology as well. However, if we study more carefully the work of most scholars we notice that this knowledge, taken from ancient Greek philosophical writings with additions and commentaries by Byzantine savants, was directed towards the shaping of a unified science consisting of the ‘septet of courses': Grammar, rhetoric and dialectics on one side and the quadrivium on the other, higher side: Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy and Music. All these should essentially serve Theology [5].
The interest and preference for Natural sciences and Mathematics in Byzantium should be placed in this framework. Commentaries were written for many works of ancient mathematicians, astronomers and natural philosophers, such as the Aristotelian Meteorologics, De Caelo and Physica Minores, the Euclidean Elements or the Great Mathematical Syntaxis of Claudius Ptolemy [6]. It is very probable that this explains the appearance of numerous scientific natural terms into historical (mainly) works, but also even in theological treatises. These terms refer to nature and the natural causes of phenomena such as thunderstorms, thunders, lightning, earthquakes and other [5, p. 219].

2. The philosophical schools and their representatives

The Alexandrine School excelled in sciences such as Medicine, Botany, pharmacology, zoology and agrarian science. Geography continued to be practically important for the Christians, as its knowledge was necessary for the determination of roads to the Holy Places and of the boundaries between ecclesiastical regions of jurisdiction. Thus, using as starting points the work of the ancient cartographer and geographer Marinos of Tyre (60-130 AD), and the famous Geographike Hyphegesis by Ptolemy [7] (2nd century AD), Byzantine scholars wrote their own treatises. Geographical studies were carried on almost exclusively in monasteries and the perceptions of Byzantine geographers about Earth (especially those of Cosmas Indicopleustes in the 6th century) were imaginary or copied by the Scriptures and religious ideas, while geographical books had been limited to lists of place names and city guides for school use, on the one hand, and written travelogues on the other; this clearly indicates the difference between ancient Greek geography and what the Byzantines were thinking of as ‘geography'.
As a first Byzantine geographer appears the traveller, merchant, monk and author Cosmas Indicopleustes. As a monk, he wrote, on 547 AD, a 12 volumes book work under the title Christian Topography [8], in which he attempted to create a new geographical system that would be in accordance with the teachings of the Bible.
In Constantinople, a university was established immediately after the founding of the city itself. This institution was known under different names in various centuries, such as Mega or Ecumenical Didascaleion, School of Capitolium, Imperial Auditorium and Pandidacterion [9]. In the 5th century, due to the need for new church buildings, there was a development of Architecture and Civil engineering, something that led to the appearance of good mathematicians, geometricians and engineers, such as Anthemius of Tralles, Isidorus of Miletus and Isidorus of Miletus the Younger, who designed and constructed the famous church of Hagia Sophia (the Holy Wisdom of God) in Constantinople, while Eutocius (6th century AD) from Askalona of Palestine, student of Isidorus of Miletus, knew the first book of Heron's Mechanics, now lost [9, p. 175].
From the School of Constantinople emerged the noted Monophysite monk Ioannes (John) Philoponus (490-570), a religious author, philosopher, grammarian, mathematician, physicist, astronomer and one of the most distinguished scientists of the 6th century. Philoponus, who taught in Constantinople in the first half of the 6th century, developed original ideas in Physics, such as the notion of momentum, which opposed the then dominant Aristotelian positions; we will pursue a detailed investigation of his contribution to Physics in a future paper.

3. The Fathers of the Church and the wise bishops

From the 4th until the 8th century the thought of the Fathers of the Church was prevalent with the great Cappadocian Fathers who shaped Christian dogma: Saint Basil the Great, Gregorius of Nazianzos, Gregorius of Nyssa, Saint John Chrysostom; and then Epiphanius of Cyprus, Asterius of Amasseia, Cyril I of Alexandria, Caesarius, Nemesius (bishop of Emessa in Syria) and Dionysius Exiguus, who presented original work in the sciences while at the same time they fought against astrology and foretelling.
Selectively mentioning only Gregorius of Nyssa, we can say that he is considered an expert in the Mathematics and Astronomy of his age, as well as a great cosmologist; it is well known that he wrote that the origin of the Universe was a "seed-like power, offered (by God) towards the creation of everything" [10]. This "seed-like power" speaking in modern terminology, could very well be considered the ultra-dense mass of the Big Bang theory. Finally, the phrase "towards the creation of everything" hints at the dynamics of the cosmic explosion and the movement from the ‘potentially' to ‘empowered' [11].
In addition, as professor of Philosophy and author G. Zographides writes: "Many Christian church leaders were seeking the compatibility between Greek and Christian thought. To that end, they discovered a great number of passages from ancient texts that were compatible with the Christian teaching and they formulated the theory of the ‘seed of the Word' i.e. the presence of seeds of the Christian truth in Greek philosophy" [12].

4. The science in the Alexandrine School

The School of Alexandria was still dominant in the first centuries of the Byzantine Empire, as the former ‘world capital of science' in the Hellenistic and the Roman periods. There, scientists such as Serenus of Antinoopolis (Egypt) flourished, or mathematician Theon of Alexandria (330-395 AD), an astronomer who recorded all solar and lunar eclipses from 365 to 372 AD, wrote comments on what Aratos had written about lunar and solar halos, as well as a commentary on Ptolemy's Mathematical Syntaxis. This Theon was the father of mathematician, astronomer and philosopher Hypatia, whose student, later bishop of Cyrene Synesius, constructed an astrolabe following her advice.
In the Academia, the School of Athens, in the early 6th century, just before emperor Justinian closed its philosophical school, flourished Simplicius, the famous commentator of Aristotle [13, 14]. Simplicius also wrote commentaries and annotations to works of Euclid, while he rescued parts of works by Parmenides, Empedocles and Anaxagoras. In about the same period the works of Stephanus of Alexandria are placed [15].

5. The middle Byzantine period (610-1204 AD)

In the middle Byzantine period flourished Ioannes of Damascus or Chrysorrhoas (676-754), who knew well Aristotle's works and considered Philosophy as a knowledge that served Theology. From this idea stemmed the dominant perception in Western mediaeval thought that Philosophy is the servant of Theology.
According to the late professor of Astronomy at the University of Athens D. Kotsakis, Ioannes of Damascus occupied himself with Astronomy and the other natural sciences: "Ioannes of Damascus (1st half of VΙΙΙ century) occupies himself with Astronomy and more general with Nature, while he fights against astrology and foretellers with great zeal." [16].
Ioannes of Damascus, in his work - as it has been treasured up in Patrologia Greca (volume 94) - offers excellent descriptions for various natural and celestial phenomena, such as the eclipses of the Sun and the Moon, which he describes in detail [6, vol. 94, p. 896]. At the same time he fights against astrology [6, vol. 94, p. 892-903], while he also describes natural phenomena like the thunderbolt, for which he offers a truly scientific description: "the thunderbolt is a helical spirit moving as fire, which travels downwards by flaming fire and lightning all around" [6, vol. 94, p. 1601]. However, the access to the natural phenomena and to their explanation was impossible. Basically in Byzantium the dominant way of thought was the theological one, which from its subject of study was directed towards the transcendental world. Ioannes of Damascus himself writes: "The things of nature seem senseless, because whatever relates to God is beyond nature, rational thinking and arguing. The knowledge of these things is knowledge of the soul and demon-like." [6, vol. 94, p. 895].
Essentially, this scholar leader of the Church with his previous views differentiated theological thought from apocryphal knowledge, which (Neo-Platonic in its essence) was based on the correspondence between the powers of a ‘cosmic soul' (in which participates the human soul) and the powers of nature and material beings [2].
Of course, these views were based on the ‘reborn' Platonism, which, as Neo-Platonism after the 4th century AD, offered the belief that life is not real and that God is by no means a part of this earthly world.
Leon the Philosopher or the Mathematician flourished as a scientist about 820-869 and later he became bishop of Thessalonica. Leon was a real polymath, with knowledge of Philosophy, Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy and Music, which he taught in Constantinople, while his fame reached the Caliph Al Mamoun in Bagdad, who invited him to teach in his capital [17]. Leon was an excellent teacher in many disciplines, so his contemporaries gave him the appellations ‘the Philosopher', ‘the Mathematician', ‘the Geometrician' and ‘the Astronomer', which they were using alternatively. He was also called ‘the myriad-math among philosophers'.

This Leon constructed an optical telegraph or ‘horonomium', which reinforced his reputation considerably. It was an optical mechanical system of information transmission that was used extensively by the Byzantine armed forces as a method of fast warning for Arab invasions in the empire. The horonomium, which today could be named ‘optical military telegraphy', was based on synchronized clock mechanisms and a system of suitably located fire-signaling posts. Leon also constructed several automata that decorated the imperial palace. Also, we will pursue a detailed investigation of his contribution to Astronomy in a future paper.
During the Macedonian Dynasty, about 890, flourished Photios, the Patriarch. This was the period when the study of the holy books of Christianity is properly combined with the eternal texts of Greek antiquity. The scholars of the age discovered in monasteries the manuscripts of the classics and studied them, commented on them, copied them and classified them into codices. It was then that the first awakening of Science in the form of an official regeneration took place, with the polymath Photios, the author of Myriobiblos, as its main representative: when he became Ecumenical Patriarch with the support of his protector Caesar Vardas (†865), he re-established in Constantinople the study of ancient Greek philosophers. "The preparatory stage for metaphysics was offered by the writings of Plato, Plotinus and Proclus. In its final stage, the philosophical teaching of Metaphysics was reduced in Theology, the first philosophy." [18].
The monk and scholar Michael Psellus (1018-1078/1096) served as logothetes (minister) of the emperor, while his unsurpassed teaching at the university led to his characterization as the ‘supreme philosopher'. His works were innumerable and of diverse content: philosophical, mathematical, geographical, medical, theological, and even about folklore. This polymath wrote also a historical work, the Chronographia, where he describes the events from 976 up to 1077 as they were interwoven around the lives of the emperors of that age [19].
Michael Psellus wrote a commentary on Aristotle's Physica and the meaning Psellus gave to the term ‘physis' (nature) was followed by many subsequent philosophers. However, the restoration of a rationalistic spirit in the examination of natural phenomena did not accord with the dominant religious world view, for which the meteorological or other natural phenomena merely denoted God's intervention in the world. Of course here the philosophical thinking was more than necessary. According to Anna Lazarou: "The need for rational explanation led to the search for a scientific method, which could be offered only by the Greek philosophical tradition. According to Psellus, in order to explain things there was no other way apart from the search of their natural cause." [2].
This view resulted in Psellus following the Aristotelian practice, which stated that every being is governed by the laws of its own nature. In this point he was trying to reconcile the two different world views: while he did not want to abandon the Aristotelian position on the research of natural phenomena, he also did not want to question God's omnipotence upon the beings and the phenomena of nature. Of course, this led him to Neo-Platonic principles, since Neo-Platonism accepted that nature is the last link of a continuous causal chain, which started with a transcendental first cause.
Both Michael Psellus and the scholar Joseph Bryennios (1350-1431), based on the texts of ancient Greek philosophers, are considered the first Greek folklorists, who attempted to record popular superstitions, to explain or to disapprove them. They were basically trying to relieve the world from superstition.
In Geography was distinguished the bishop of Thessalonica Efstathios Katafloros (1125-1194) with his work Extensions (Parekvolai) to Dionysius the Traveler (1170) and the monk Ioannes Fokas with his Itinerary (1177).
Professor Helias Pontikos writes that: "The prerequisite that favoured considerably the study of the natural phenomena, the study of Astronomy, Meteorology, Geography and Medicine, was the acceptance by Byzantine and Church-father tradition of the differentiation of human wisdom into three distinct parts: i) practical, aiming at the moral improvement of the individual, ii) natural, aiming at the study of nature as God's creation, and iii) theological, aiming at the enlightenment and the union of the individual with the divine." [20].
Astronomers in the 11th century were Symeon Seth or Sethes (2nd half of 11th century) and Eleftherios Zevelenos (he was born in 1040), while after them the prolific author Efstratios of Nice (1092-1120) wrote several philosophical works, mainly commentaries and annotations on Aristotle's Analytics, and the Philosophical Definitions. In his later works he turns his interest to the sciences, especially Meteorology and Astronomy; these works include a treatise on Natural sciences under the title Meteorologics. Both this treatise and his commentary on two books of Aristotle The Nicomachean Ethics [21] and two books on Posterior Analytics [22] were translated in the West and were known to both Albert the Great (1193 or 1206-1280) and Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), while during 19th century the famous theologian and classical philologist Friedrich Ernst Daniel Schleiermacher (1768-1834) believed that they were an excellent piece of work [23].
Efstratios of Nice (1050-1120) and Michael of Ephesus (11th-12th century) - who wrote on Natural history and Zoology - represent the rationalistic movement of theologians-commentators of Aristotelian works, who used Aristotelian reasoning on theological problems. This movement influenced a lot the Western thought towards Aristotelian thought.
A great number of educated monks and priests who wrote on sciences follows, from Constantine Manasses (1130-1187), who describes in his work the ‘horonomium', the invention of Leon the Mathematician that we have described already, to Prodromos Monachos (12th century).
Prodromos Monachos (monachos = monk) studied Mathematics and Astronomy in Constantinople. Then he moved to Bithynia, in Asia Minor, where he became a monk. Being a notable teacher, he founded a school in Scamander of the Trojan fame. Among his students - sometime after 1222 - we find the great theologian, astronomer, mathematician, geographer and medical doctor Nicephoros Vlemmydes (1197-1272) with a pioneering work on the sciences and author of books such as the Epitome of Physics [24]. Louis Bréhier refers to him as "the most famous savant of his age" [25].
Then came Georgios Akropolites and his students Georgios of Cyprus (c. 1241-1290), who was subsequently ordained Patriarch under the name Gregory II, and Georgios Pachymeres (1242-1310), a teacher and philosopher who wrote rhetorical works, letters and above all his famous Syntagma of the four courses, Arithmetic, Music, Geometry and Astronomy or Tetrabiblos (Quadrivium). The late professor of Astronomy D. Kotsakis writes about this work and its author: "This work alone would suffice to raise Pachymeres to the first grade of mathematicians of his age in both East and West, because it is written in a higher scientific spirit. Pachymeres easily uses the ancient and later authors, but he subjects their views in critic and stresses his personal views, which persuade the reader." [26].

6. The ‘new' Byzantine empire (1261-1453)

Contrary to the adverse political situation, the arts and letters flourish during the third and last Byzantine period, to the point that historians speak of a ‘Paleologian Renaissance' in a severely territorially restricted empire. After the repatriation of 1261, emperor Michael VIII Paleologos ordered the restoration of all schools and appointed Georgios Akropolites as the director of the re-organized public university in the church of Hagia Sophia.
In this period flourished many savants, such as the scholar philologist, mathematician and astronomer Manuel Planoudis (1260-1310), who was born in Nicomedia of Bithynia (today Isnik) and was educated in Constantinople. Planoudis is considered one of the greatest philologists of his age and one of the Byzantine scholars who heralded the renaissance of classic studies in the West. In 1285, when he became a monk, he changed his name to Maximos and became known under this first name. Planoudis was teaching since the age of 20, in 1280, at two monastery schools in Constantinople. His Latin was excellent and he translated works of the Latin literature in Greek, works by Boethius (Boethius Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus), Cato the Elder, Ovid, Cicero, Julius Caesar, pseudo-Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, etc., starting with De consolatione philosophiae of Boethius, thus preparing the connection between the Byzantine civilization and the West.
Finally, Astronomy was served in that period by Theodoros Metochites (1260/61-1331), "one of the most important polymaths of the last centuries of the Byzantine empire" according to Κarl Krumbacher [27]. He was succeeded by his student, Nicephoros Gregoras (1295-1360), arguably the greatest astronomer of all periods of the Byzantine empire [28]. Isaac Argyros (1310-1375), the student of Nicephoros Gregoras, is considered the most important expert on Ptolemy's astronomy. Both Gregoras and Argyros insisted on the need for a reformation of the Julian calendar. The contemporary astronomer Theodoros Melitiniotes (1310-1388) is probably the second greatest Byzantine astronomer after Nicephoros Gregoras, with his work Three Books on Astronomy or Astronomical Tribiblos (Tribiblos Astronomique [29, 30]) being the most comprehensive and well-edited Byzantine astronomical work.

7. Scientific activity in Trapezous

In Trapezous a small tradition in Astronomy is created with Gregorios Chioniades (1240/50-1320), who knew Arabic and Persian astronomy and established the ‘Trapezous Academy', Georgios Chrysococca, Constantinos Loukites or Lykites, Andreas Livadenos and the monk Manuel.
The late professor of History and Philosophy of Natural Sciences at the University of Athens Michael Stefanides mentions [31] Gregorios Chioniades as a ‘myst' of the Persian astronomy together with Constantinos Loukites (1938, 217). The scholar Constantinos Loukites (13th-14th century) was professor at the Trapezous Academy. Appreciating his value and abilities, king Alexios II MegaComnenos (1297-1330) honored him with state offices.
Scholar Andreas Livadenos (14th century) was honoured with the offices of prototabularius and chartophylax of the Trapezous Church. His work was mainly geographical, while he also wrote letters and poems. Both Livadenos and Loukites had a correspondence with Chioniades and Nicephoros Gregoras.
According to Ηerbert Hunger: The monk and clergyman Manuel, who knew Farsi, is reported as the man who taught astronomy to Georgios Chrysococca [32]. He became an astronomer by studying all the books on Physics, Mathematics, Astronomy and Medicine brought by Chioniades in Trapezous from Tabriz, a city in northwestern Iran that was then a centre of science.
In parallel monk Manuel taught in the schools of the monasteries of Saint Eugenios and Hagia Sophia in Trapezous. These ‘schools' were probably the Trapezous Academy, which was hosted in the beginning in the monastery of Saint Eugenios, who was the patron saint of the city; this monastery was outside of the city's walls and after its destruction by fire (1340) the Academy was transferred in the Hagia Sophia monastery, about half an hour away from the city by foot [4, p. 365].
Finally, the Byzantine scholar, medical doctor and astronomer Georgios Chrysococca (14th century), student of monk Manuel, published a famous astronomical work with the title Synopsis tabularum persiacarum ex syntaxi Persarum Georgii medici Chrysococcae (1347). It was published by Ishmael Bullialdus in Paris in 1645 [33]. R.H. Allen [34] refers to this work as ‘Chrysococca's Tables.

8. The empire's last years

In the last decades of the Empire the view that the Earth is spherical is expressed by Georgios Yemistos or Plethon (1355-1452), who also proposed the introduction of a complete lunisolar calendar, not unlike the ancient Attic calendar, useful for the new religion he was preaching as suitable for the Greek (not Christian) nation, based on a Neo-Platonic morality.
The siege of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks and finally its capture marks the start of a wave of emigration of scholars and scientists to the West. The Aristotelians Theodoros Gazis (1400-1476), Andronicos Callistos (1400-1486), Georgios of Trapezous (1396-1486), Theophanes of Medeia (†1480), as well as the Platonic Michael Apostolios (1420-1480), Ioannes Argyropoulos (1415-1487) and the subsequent Cardinal Bessarion (1403-1472) influenced in a positive way the Italian thought and the renaissance of sciences. Already Manuel Chryssoloras (1350-1415) had played a catalytic role by establishing in the University of Florence chair of Greek literature (1397-1400), the first such chair in the educational history of Europe. Manuel Chryssoloras is considered the first important pioneer of the Renaissance. In 1434 with the ascent of the House of Medici a new era begins in the intellectual life of Florence. Georgios Yemistos settled in this city and began to teach Plato, followed by Ioannes Argyropoulos, Demetrios Chalcocondyles (1423-1511), the Italian poet and humanist Angelo Politano (1454-1494), Janus Laskaris (1445-1534) and Michael Marullos of Tarchania (1499), who are the most well-known scholars who transferred in Italy not only the contest between Aristotelian and Platonic philosophers, but also a genuine intellectual activity, thus contributing to the Renaissance of the arts and letters in Italy and from there in the whole Western Europe.
All the above philosophers and scientists also contributed decisively to the so-called ‘awakening of science' in the West; this element is added to the many others that indicate the important role Byzantine scholars played in ‘firing' the Renaissance in Europe. Fortunately for the European civilization the intellectuality of Byzantium continued in the West and did not expire with the capture of its capital city. This way, through the Byzantine civilization a whole period, that of the Renaissance based its essence in the ancient Greek legacy. Moreover, the following centuries in Europe, even the 18th and the 19th, were immersed in the ancient Greek spirit.
At the same time, in the occupied by the Turks Greece the life of the nation was on the hands of the Church. Gennadios Scholarios, the first Ecumenical Patriarch after the Capture, an Orthodox ‘Aristotelian' thinker and an admirer of the Western Scholasticism, was given by the capturer sultan Muhammad II the Church privileges over the captured nation that would save its identity.
The Orthodox Church would stay through all the following difficult centuries until the Greek independence as a steady column that covered not just the religious needs of the enslaved nation but also its cultural and educational needs. The independence, four centuries later, would also spring from within it.

Acknowledgements

This study formed part of the research at the University of Athens, Department of Astrophysics Astronomy and Mechanics, and we are grateful to the University of Athens for financial support through the Special Account for Research Grants. It is also supported by the Ministry of Science and Technological Development of Serbia through the project 146022 ‘History and Epistemology of Science'.

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[3] E. Theodossiou and E. Danezis, The Odyssey of the calendars, Vol. II, in Greek, Diavlos Publ., Athens 1996, 160.
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[32] H. Hunger, Die hochsprachliche profane Literatur der Byzantiner, Beck, Munich, 1978, 57.
[33] I. Bullialdus (ed.), Synopsis tabularum persiacarum ex syntaxi Persarum Georgii medici Chrysococcae (1347), Astronomia Philolaica, Paris, 1645.
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No. 51: Five non-prevailable political calendrical systems in the European history from 18th to 20th Century

EFSTRATIOS THEODOSSIOU1, VASSILIOS N. MANIMANIS1,
and MILAN S. DIMITRIJEVIĆ2

1Department of Astrophysics-Astronomy and Mechanics, School of Physics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Panepistimioupolis, Zographos 157 84, Athens-Greece.
E-Mail: etheodos@phys.uoa.gr
2Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade, Volgina 7, 11060 Belgrade, Serbia.
E-Mail: mdimitrijevic@aob.bg.ac.rs

Abstract
In the history of calendrical reforms the Julian calendar that prevailed for at least 16 centuries was gradually replaced by the Gregorian one, from 1582 onwards. The Gregorian calendar was necessary, because it corrected the Julian one and returned the vernal equinox in its true astronomical date; however, it did not change the months, or the days of the week (their number and names): it just changed the way of calculation of the leap years. After these two calendars, five other calendrical systems were introduced in Europe, none of which prevailed beyond its limited (in time and place) political environment. In this work the following such unsuccessful calendars are reviewed: The French Revolutionary Calendar, the Theosebic calendar invented by Th. Kairis, the Revolutionary Calendar of the Soviet Union (or ‘Bolshevik calendar'), the fascist calendar in Italy and the calendar of the Metaxas dictatorship in Greece before World War II.
Essentially, with the exception of the French Revolutionary Calendar (Le Calendrier Républicain), which is well-known and studied in the international bibliography, our effort is centred at the other 4 calendrical systems, which are much less known, especially the three of them: the Theosebic calendar, the fascist calendar in Italy and the calendar of the Metaxas dictatorship in Greece (1936-1940).

1. The French Revolutionary Calendar
After the Gregorian calendar, the next step of a calendrical reform was taken in France, after the French Revolution of 1789, which resulted in the abolishment of monarchy and the declaration of Democracy. The French revolutionaries, after breaking the bondages of the monarchy wanted to break also their bonds with the religious-papal (as they perceived it) calendar, by reintroducing its primal basis, the ancient Egyptian calendar. For this reason, they wanted to create a calendar similar with one that would lead to the complete decoupling of Church and the State. The first attacks against the Gregorian calendar, accompanied by the respective calendrical propositions for its reformation, took place during the years 1785 to 1788.
The times were ripe, after the fall of Bastille in July 14, 1789, for the French revolutionaries to ask with considerable intensity for a new calendar, having as its starting point the first year of Democracy. So in 1793 the National Assembly entrusted Charles Gilbert Romme, president of the public education committee, with the calendrical reform. He in turn assigned to the famous mathematicians Joseph-Louis Lagrange and Gaspar Monge the task to work on the technicalities of the issue. The results of the studies of the two mathematicians were submitted to National Assembly in September 1793 and were accepted immediately. At the same time it was decided that this new calendrical system would be applied soon. Indeed, the Calendrier Républicain de la Rèvolution de 1789, as it was called, was accepted by the National Assembly on October 5, 1793 and was voted on December 4, 1793. As the starting point of its chronology was set a date of the recent past, namely the September 22, 1792, known in the new calendar as 1 Vendèmiaire, the date of the abolishment of monarch and the declaration of democracy, which accidentally coincided with the astronomical autumnal (fall) equinox. So the New Year's Day of the ‘revolutionary' civil year was the autumnal equinox of each tropical year, with the chronology starting on September 22, 1792 or 1 Vendèmiaire of the Year 1.
The year of this ‘democratic' calendar consisted of 12 months of 30 days each, followed by an extra 5 or 6 supplementary days (jours complèmentaires), which, added at the end of the 12th month, that is between the respective dates 17 and 22 September, were completing the total number of the days of the year. Thus, the total number of the days of the year was again 365 or 366 for leap years, keeping the tradition of the Julian calendar and its evolution, the Gregorian calendar.
The day-and-night time interval, from one midnight to the next, was divided into 10 hours and the 1/100 of such an hour was defined as the ‘decimal minute'. I.e. the French democrats abolished the hexadecimal system in time keeping and established the simpler decimal one (each minute had also 100 seconds). The weeks, because they were related to the Jewish calendar, and thus they had been adopted in interconnection with Religion, were abandoned and each month was divided into three décades. The names of the days of the week were also abolished and the ten days of each 10-day span were just called with their order: first, second, third,..., tenth day (primidi, duodi, tridi, quartidi, quintidi, sextidi, septidi, octidi, nonidi, dècadi). The last day of each décade, the dècadi, was a day of rest, dedicated to the worship of the Supreme Being. The names of the months had the same ending for each three-month group and they were inspired by nature. They were invented by the member of the National Assembly, poet Philippe Fabre d'Eglantine (1750-1794). This poet and playwright had won (with his work Étude de la nature, 1783) in 1783 the first prize in Toulouse's flower festival; the prize was a golden wild rose, which is called eglantine in French, and he adopted this word as his nickname, with which he is known in history. Philippe Fabre was a member of Danton's group, and when his friend lost his political power, he was accused of corruption because he had been involved in the scandalous dissolution of the Society of Indies. For this reason he was beheaded together with Danton and his followers on April 5, 1794.
The democratic calendar was permeated by an anti-Christian, rationalistic and nature-loving spirit. The poetic names of the months of the year, together with their meaning and the correlation with our months are as follows (Flammarion, 1955, p. 28):

Table I: The French Revolutionary Calendar
SEASON MONTH Meaning Correlation

Fall Vendèmiaire Vintager Sept. 21 - Oct. 20
Brumaire Foggy Oct. 21 - Nov. 19
Frimaire Chilly Nov. 20 - Dec. 19

Winter Nivôse Snowy Dec. 20 - Jan. 18
Pluviôse Rainy Jan. 19 - Feb. 17
Ventôse Windy Feb. 18 - March 19

Spring Germinal of the sprouts March 20 - April 18
Floréal Flowery April 19 - May 18
Prairial Grassy May 19 - June 18

Summer Messidor Harvester June 19 - July 17
Thermidor Heat-giver July 18 - Aug. 16
Fructidor Fruit-giver Aug. 17 - Sept. 20*

* With the supplementary days (jours complèmentaires)

The five or six supplementary days were initially called Sans Culottides, to honor the revolutionaries who didn't wear the expensive trousers (culottes) of the aristocrats but long hairy pants instead. The French who were using the calendar were saying: the first Sans Culottide, the second Sans Culottide, etc. (la première sans culottide, la seconde sans culottide, etc.). The collective name "supplementary days" (jours complèmentaires) was given to the Sans Culottides on 7 Fluctidor of the Year III, i.e. on August 24, 1795.
The names of the saints associated with each date of the year in the Christian calendars were replaced by names of trees, plants, flowers, fruits and grains, since this calendar was designed to be free of Christian nomenclature (Renouard, A.A., 1822).
The supplementary days, between 17th and 22nd September of the Gregorian calendar, were dedicated: to Spirit (la Fête de Génie), to Work (la Fête du Travail), to Opinion (la Fête de l' Opinion), to Rewards and to Morale.
The Day of the Opinion was especially important for its singular character: on this date, every citizen had the right to freely express his opinion. At a collective level, the citizens were judging publicly, albeit figuratively, all public servants for their deeds. During this day, any kind of satire was permitted, along with cartoons, satirical songs and many other smart jokes, which were freely aimed towards those in power. It was then up to those in power to disprove through its Virtue these humoristic accusations. For this reason, this day was also considered to be dedicated to Actions and Virtue. The sixth supplementary day added in the leap years was dedicated to the celebration of the Revolution (la Fête de la Rèvolution). The first leap year of the new calendar was decided to be the Year III. The four-year period between two successive Days of the Revolution was called Franciade.
The wonderful French invention of calling the democratic calendar's months with names corresponding closely to the real climate of France was ridiculed by the British (then adversaries of the French) with the following parody:

Fall : wheezy, sneezy, freezy
Winter : slippy, drippy, nippy
Spring : showery, flowery, bowery
Summer : hoppy, croppy, poppy
(The Historical Maritime Society, Nelson and His Navy - Revolutionary Calendar, http://www.hms.org.uk/nelsonsnavyrevcalend.htm, and Wilson P.W., 1937, p. 154).

This rather poetic calendar was functional and efficient for France; however, it was disadvantageous for the working class, as it contained only one day of rest every ten days and not one in seven, as it used to be. Its other major weakness had to do with the fact that it was a calendar of limited use, since it was used only in France, and thus isolated it calendrically, administratively, economically and in international relations issues from the rest European countries.
For these reasons, but mainly for political purposes Napoleon the Great agreed with the Pope in 1801 to restore Sunday in the calendar, as well as the major Christian holidays: Christmas and the Easter. Finally, in 1806 the French Revolutionary Calendar was abolished with a decree by Napoleon and France adopted again the Gregorian calendar on 11 Nivôse XIV that is in Gregorian date January 1st, 1806. The Revolutionary Calendar had a short life, less than 13.5 years. However, some decades later, an attempt was made to restore it, which is described below.
In 1870, king Napoleon III (1808-1873) lost a war with the Prussians he was responsible for. This defeat had as a result the abdication of the king on September 4, 1870 and the declaration of the Second Republic. However, the Prussians advanced and occupied a part of Paris. The end of the war came on March 1st, 1871, when Thierry's government signed the capitulation with the invaders.
The defeat and the humiliating terms of the treaty had as a result a new revolution in Paris, on March 18, 1871. The people of Paris installed in the Town Hall a communal administration, which passed in history under the name "Paris Commune". The revolutionary commission that was formed organized the city's defense. And one of its first actions was the revival of the Revolutionary Calendar, the Calendrier Républicain de la Rèvolution, on May 10, 1871, which corresponded to the 18 Floréal of the Year 79. The ‘Government of National Salvation' as Thierry's government was known, found refuge in Versailles. It managed to summon 100,000 men and with this army it attacked Paris. After several weeks of battles, in which more than 20,000 people died, the governmental army crushed the revolutionaries in the end of May 1871, aided by the Prussians.
The quick end of this popular uprising brought once again the abolishment of the Revolutionary-Democratic Calendar, this time forever, on May 28, 1871. So, the Commune in Paris restored French Revolutionary Calendar just for a brief period (Wilson, P.W., 1937, p. 155 & p. 334).
Nevertheless, even today the French astronomical almanacs, as a tribute towards the First French Republic, give along with the other calendars (Gregorian, Julian, Islamic, Jewish and Coptic) the date correlation of the Revolutionary Calendar, which in 2009 is at its 217th Year (the first of January 2009 corresponded to 11 Nivôse 217).

2. The Theosebic calendar
The abolishment of the French Revolutionary-Democratic calendar discouraged other regimes from adopting some novel calendrical system. Yet, the French calendar inspired the Greek priest and scholar Theophilos Kairis to invent his own ‘Theosebic calendar' who was also destined not to prevail at any place. This was a variant of the French Revolutionary calendar, but under a religious cover.
The monk and priest Theophilos Kairis (1784-1853), a thinker and scholar from the island of Andros, who participated in the Greek War of Independence of 1821, and is considered as one of the major ‘Teachers of the Nation', had studied in the universities of Pisa and Paris. He was the creator of a cult, ‘Theosebism', and for this reason he was persecuted and he died in prison. His original philosophical system was echoing the ideas of Theosophy, positivism and mysticism.
Theophilos Kairis, influenced by the Western Christian-social philosophy, was searching for the ‘golden analogy' among religious faith, scientific knowledge and social justice. He did not accept the Christian chronology and, inspired by the French Revolutionary calendar (Calendrier Républicain de la Rèvolution de 1789), he proposed the abandonment of the week and the division of each month in three ten-day intervals: "Twelve ‘30-day' months in three groups of 10 days each (Theophilos Kairis, Code 53).
He also changed the names of the months, into the following ones (Theodossiou, E., & Danezis, E., 2000, pp. 337-338):

Table II: Month names in the Theosebic calendar, their meaning and equivalence
Α/A Name Meaning Correlation
1 Theosebius Pius (of respect to God) January
2 Sopharetus Wise and virtuous (of Wisdom and Virtue) February
3 Dicaeos Righteous (Just) March
4 Hagios Holy April
5 Agathius Good (Benevolent) May
6 Sthenius Courageous (of Power) June
7 Agapius Beloved (of Love) July
8 Charisius Graceful (of Grace) August
9 Macrothymus Forbearing September
10 Aeonius Eternal (Perpetual) October
11 Entheus Divine (‘God-in-it') November
12 Sosius Savior (of Salvation) December

The five or six days added for the completion of the tropical year were the dates 18 to 22 September of the Gregorian calendar.
Theophilos Kairis knew that from an astronomical point of view there is no special significance in setting the start of the year on January 1st and that all ancient calendars were starting their year at one of the 4 characteristic points of the solar apparent orbit, which are:
a) The two equinoxes - the vernal on March 21 and the autumnal on September 23 - and
b) The solstices - the summer on June 22 and the winter on December 22.

The calendrical system of Kairis, known as the ‘Theosebic calendar' had also as its New Year's Day the autumnal equinox. The first year of the Theosebic chronology began on September 23, 1800 (Gregorian calendar). Actually, he chose as the start of his calendrical system the autumnal equinox, which used to occur on September 11/23 (the first date refers to the Julian and the second date to the Gregorian calendar, which then had a difference of 12 days between them), like the ancient Greek calendars of the Dorians and the Macedonians. The Dorian (Spartan) calendar started on the first new moon after the autumnal equinox, in the month Panamos, and the Macedonian calendar started in the holy month Dios. But also his calendrical model, the French Revolutionary-Democratic calendar, started at the autumnal equinox (September 23 or equivalently 1st Vendèmiaire of 1792 (Theodossiou & Danezis 2000, p. 338).
Correspondingly, the first year of the Theosebic chronology started on Macrothymus 1st (September 11 / 23) of 1800 AD and ended on Charisius 30th, i.e. on September 10 / 22 of 1801 AD. As we already noted, the Theosebic year had 12 months of 30 days each (12 × 30 = 360), so that 5 days remained (or 6 for the leap years) for the completion of the solar (tropical) year of 365 (or 366) days. These extra days, as in the ancient Greek calendars, were called "induced days" and were inserted at the end of the Theosebic year, i.e. before the 11th/23th of September of the "Christian" calendars (Julian and Gregorian).
Similarly, as in the ancient Greek calendars, each month was divided into 10-day spans (decans); the first decan of each month was called "starting decan of the month", the second one "middle decan of the month" and the third one "decan of leaving or ending month", or "the decan after the twenty" (Theodossiou & Danezis 1996, vol. I, pp. 360-364).
The specialist on Kairis late scholar Demetrios I. Polemis, director of the Kairian Library in Andros, edited the correspondence of Theophilos Kairis, which was published in three volumes. He divides these three volumes of letters into three periods. The first volume contains the letters up to the closure of the Orphanage (1839), the second volume contains the letters of the period of his persecution and exile up to his return to Greece (1844) and the third one contains letters written in Andros to various receivers until the scholar's death in 1853 (D. Polemis, vol. I, p. 22). In the second volume's introduction Polemis reports that a detailed description of the Theosebic calendar exists in the work Epitome of the Theosebic teaching and ethics (London 1852, pp. 102-104) by Kairis. Also, as far as the decans are concerned, Polemis writes the following:
"The decan is divided into ten days, the day into ten hours, the hour into 100 first minutes and the minute into 100 seconds. The days of the decan are named First, Second,... ..., Tenth or Holy".
As Kairis writes, "the age of the Theosebists" begins "from the first year of the nineteenth century of the Christians and it is divided into five-year entheades". Therefore, the first year of the Theosebic chronology started on September 11 / 23, 1800, and ended on September 10 / 22, 1801. The days of September 6 to 10, 1801, were the Epacts (induced days).
A complete Theosebic chronology is exposed in the letter No. 220: "33, or 9th of the entheas 9, to 3rd, the 1st of the middle [decan of] Sopharetus". The year 33 began on September 11 / 23 of 1842 AD, while the 8th entheas was completed on September 10 / 22, 1840 and the next day started the ninth entheas, of which the third year was 1842-1843. Sopharetus is the second month of the Theosebic calendar (October 11 / 23 to November 9 / 21). Therefore, the first of the middle decan of this month is the October 21st / November 2nd 1842.
Kairis and the followers of his sect were using tables of corresponding dates of the two calendars (Theosebic and Christian), some of which have been preserved." (Polemis, Introduction, vol. II, pp. 12-13).

Kairis considered the year 1801 ‘as the year 1' in his Theosebian calendar, essentially a covert variation of the French revolutionary calendar cloaked in religion and, being the after-clap of a calendar that did not survive, Kairis's calendar was also still-born.
The nineteenth century is the first century of the Kairian measuring of time. In his calendar he used the ancient Greek numbering; so in the year μλ of the Kairian chronology (corresponding to 1852) the "Compendium of Theosebian Doctrine and Ethics" was published in London. In this book, the doctrinal background of Theosebism and the Kairian calendar are described in detail. According to his ecclesiastical calendar, Kairis divided the ‘night and day' -and not ‘day and night'- into five ‘Hours' which he calls "Time from the evening to the morning" (Theodossiou et al., 2004, p. 788 and Theodossiou et al. 2006, p. 116).

Table III: The "Times" of the day in the Theosebic calendar
Ecclesiastical "Hours" Kairian "Times"
Matins Time of prayer
Hours Time of studying and reading
Evensong Time of own profession
Compline Time of charity work
Midnight Time of irrevocable comfort (repose)

In his calendar, Kairis abolishes all Christian feasts (those of Jesus Christ, of the Holy Mother, of Saints, etc.). He also replaces Sunday -the day of the Lord- with the ‘Tithe' (the tenth day), i.e. since he does not accept the divine nature of Jesus Christ he abolishes also the day devoted to Him.
According to the principles of Theosebism, the believers, the God-pious people, were gathering at the middle of the four seasons of the year, beginning at the corresponding autumnal middle, celebrating the following: Entheogona, Entheagona, Entheobia and Entheondia.
All these -untranslated- terms were invented by Kairis. Their meanings are difficult even in Greek and each one includes the word God (Theo, in Greek).
We conclude that Kairis created his calendar with the new chronology in order to use it in the religion or sect he introduced, in the ritual of which he adds new prayers, new hymns and a new worship, thus creating his own special theoretical and worshipping ritual, written in the ancient Dorian dialect.
Indeed, Kairis, among other things, being an admirer of the ancient Greek spirit, formulated in the ancient Doric dialect of the Greek language a fully operational hymnbook. He called the corresponding workers ‘God's ministers' (Theagi). These Theagi or Hieragoi (Holy priests) were classified into five orders: Deans, Readers, Hymnodists, Preachers and Ministers.

Of course, this calendar, unknown to the international literature as far as we know, was never put in real use and became extinct with the death of its inventor, together with the Theosebism cult (Theodossiou et al., 2007, p. 117).

3. The Revolutionary Calendar of the Soviet Union (‘Bolshevik calendar')
The last major attempt for a calendrical reform took place in 1929 by the government of the Soviet Union (USSR), which adopted the Revolutionary calendar (or ‘Bolshevik calendar').
To begin with, in 1918, the government formed after the October Revolution replaced the Julian calendar with the Gregorian one, thus actually harmonizing Russia with Western Europe from a calendrical point of view; this is why the celebration of the anniversary of the ‘October Revolution' was taking place on November 7 in the Soviet Union. However, the Russian Orthodox Church never accepted the Gregorian calendar.
A different, much more radical change occurred in 1929. Then the 7-day weeks were abolished and replaced with 5-day intervals, which were considered more suitable for the new working conditions. The days of these intervals were named after their corresponding order, as shown in Table IV.

Table IV: DATES OF THE RUSSIAN CALENDAR

# Day of the interval Date (in the month)
1 Panidjelnik 1 6 11 16 21 26
2 Ftornik 2 7 12 17 22 27
3 Srida 3 8 13 18 23 28
4 Chitvierg 4 9 14 19 24 29
5 Pyatnitsa 5 10 15 20 25 30

The 12 months kept their traditional (Roman) names, but not the length they possess in Gregorian calendar. For easier date calculation, all months consisted of six 5-day intervals and so they were of equal length (30 days).
The year had 72 five-day intervals (5 × 72 = 360 days), while the 5 "white" induced days of the common year were added in the following way:
- The first white day without a date was inserted after the 30th of January and was called "Lenin's Day".
- The second and third white days were inserted after the 30th of April and were dedicated to the celebration of the workers' First of May.
- The fourth and fifth were inserted after the 7th of November, were combined with the great celebrations of the October Revolution, and were dedicated to the industry.
In the leap years one more intercalary day was inserted after 30 February, dedicated also to the industry. The insertion of these 5 or 6 white days did not alter the sequence of the other days of the month or the year. Since Sunday was abolished, as a day of rest was used any day of the five-day interval, not necessarily the same for all branches of work so that the production was not interrupted.
This calendar had been approved by Moscow's Academy of Sciences (Parry Albert, 1940, "The Soviet calendar", Journal of Calendar Reform 10, p. 68).
. However, the attempt to change the week was unsuccessful, and in 1932 the government of the Soviet Union replaced the five-day intervals with six-day intervals, so that the year of 360 days consisted of 60 such intervals. But neither system could take roots in the people's conscience. Therefore, in 1940 the Soviet government restored the use of the initial Gregorian calendar and the ancient seven-day week, with its Saturdays and Sundays
The Revolutionary Calendar of the Soviet Union (‘Bolshevik calendar') is described in detail in our published paper: Theodossiou, E., Manimanis, V.N. and Danezis, E, "The Russians Calendars after the Christianization of the country", JAAT 21, Nο. 1-3, June 2002, pp. 149-153.

4. The Fascist calendar of Mussolini
The so-called ‘Fascist calendar' appeared (and ended) in fascist Italy. However, it was not really a different calendar, but merely the setting of a new start for chronology, after the famous ‘March towards Rome' of the ‘black-shirted' fascists, on October 24, 1922, which brought Mussolini on power.
Actually, according to Marla Stone: Using the French example, fascism retroactively restarted the calendar in 1927, making 28 October 1922, the first day of the first year of the new calendar I.I.I. Fascism declared it would replace old allegiances and collective history. In this way, ‘fascistization' was inextricably bound to ‘nationalization' (1993, p. 230).
So, the Fascist calendar commenced on 28 October 1922. The date in the Fascist Era was written in Roman numerals. Thus, beginning in November, the year 1922-1923 was set as fascist year I (or year I "di era fascista" - of the Fascist Age). This year was written in Italian diaries together with the normal year A.D.: next to the Christian year there was a Roman numeral indicating the corresponding fascist year. For example, the day of Italy's war declaration against Greece was written as: 28 October 1940 - XIX (the number 19 written as a Roman numeral).
According to Mark Antliff: The most dramatic instance of such social engineering was the ‘superimposition over the Gregorian Calendar' of a fascist time frame, in which 1922 became ‘Year I' of the fascist era, signaling a regenerative break from the plutocratic decadence of the immediate past. The new calendar was then punctuated with certain days of national celebration, each with a ‘two fold mythical significance'. Thus March 23, Youth Day, commemorated the founding of Fasci; April 21, Labour Day, the founding of Rome; May 24, Empire Day, the entry of Italy into the First World War; September 20, Italian Unity, the incorporation of Rome into the Kingdom of Italy; October 28, the fascist Revolution, the March of Rome... In this way ordinary Italians were encouraged to experience the unfolding of time as a phenomenon with a transcendental core on a par with metaphysical reality which underlay Christianity (2004, pp. 149-150).
The year 1922 (October) to 1923 was considered the fascist year 1 - with Latin digits: I. It was part of a date that was functioning in parallel with the Gregorian calendar in all fascist documents and other printed material. For example, the first of May of 1934 AD was accompanied by the fascist year XII, while December 25, 1938, was accompanied by the fascist year XVII, since December is after October and thus the fascist year had changed. As it should be expected, the overthrowing of the fascist regime in Italy brought with it the abolishment of this trivial calendrical change.

5. The calendar of Metaxas dictatorship in Greece
It is interesting to note that Mussolini's chronology was imitated in Greece by the Ioannis Metaxas dictatorship (1936-1940), considering in turn 1936, the year of its start, as ‘year Α΄', written with Greek numeral. In all official papers of the Greek dictatorship there were two chronologies: the Christian year AD and the corresponding year of the dictatorship. For example, the day of Italy's war declaration against Greece was written as: 28 October 1940 - year Ε΄.
Needless to say, this way of year enumeration died together with the respective regimes. Moreover, this action of the dictatorship is virtually unknown to modern Greek society. It is not mentioned and has not been recorded anywhere, with the exception of certain official documents and state archives from that period, such as the proceedings of the First Conference of Regional Administrators of the National Youth Organization of 1939, year Delta (Δ), from where we learned about it.

The proceedings of the First Conference of Regional Administrators of the National Youth Organization of 1939, where the year Delta (Δ) of the Metaxas dictatorship appears.

Conclusions
From these five calendrical systems that were devised from the late 18th to the middle of the 20th century, none prevailed. This should be expected, since history has shown that calendrical changes are accepted with great difficulty by the people, who do not want to change calendar they are used to and the social and religious habits that are associated with it.
From these 5 calendrical systems, which were devised centuries after the Gregorian calendar, the most discussed about in the international literature is the French Revolutionary Calendar (Le Calendrier Républicain), since it is associated with the famous French Revolution of 1789, which still moves and influences European thought.
Then comes the Revolutionary Calendar of the Soviet Union (‘Bolshevik calendar'), interwoven with a special period of the Soviet history, while the Theosebic calendar of Th. Kairis is totally unknown internationally, since only a few scholars or astronomers know about it in Greece.
Mussolini's Fascist calendar is mentioned in the international literature, but both it and the totally unheard of calendar of Metaxas dictatorship in Greece are not separate calendrical systems; they are rather a parallel writing of the years next to the Gregorian calendar date that denoted the length of these dictatorships, while in the case of Mussolini's Fascist calendar some important festivals are also mentioned. They essentially represented, as professor Sterios Fassoulakis of the University of Athens writes, calendrical systems of political ideology (Istorica, 2001).
These cases strengthen the conclusion that it is difficult for a calendrical reform to prevail or even to survive for long.

References
Antliff Mark, 2004, Fascism, modernism and modernity in R. Griffin & M. Feldman (Ed.), Fascism: Critical concepts in Political Science. Routledge, New York, pp. 149-150.
Fassoulakis, Sterios, "Calendars of political ideology", Istorika, vol. 64, January 4, 2001, pp. 48-49.
Flammarion Camille, 1955, Astronomie Populaire, Édition Entièrement Refaite, G.C. Flammarion, Paris.
Le Calendrier Républicain, 1994, Bureau des Longitudes, Paris, p. 19,
Parry Albert, 1940, "The Soviet calendar", Journal of Calendar Reform 10, p. 68.
Polemis, D.P., 1994-1996, Allilografia Theofilou Kairi, 3 volumes, Kairios Vivliothiki Publ., Andros [in Greek]
Renouard, Antoine Augustin, 1822, Manuel pour la concordance des calendriers républicain et grégorien: ou, Recueil complet de tous les annuaires depuis la première année républicaine (2 ed.).
Stone Marla, 1993, Staging Fascism: The Exbition of the Fascist Revolution. Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 28, No. 2. April, by Sage Publications, Ltd.
Theodossiou, E., & Danezis, E., 1996, The Odyssey of the Calendars. Diavlos Publications, Athens [in Greek].
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Theodossiou, E., Manimanis, V.N. and Danezis, E, The Russian Calendars after the Christianization of the country, Journal of the Astronomical and Astrophysical Transactions, vol. 21, Nο. 1-3, June 2002, pp. 149-153.
Theodossiou, E., Grammenos, Th. and Manimanis, V.N., 2004, Theophilos Kairis: The Creator and Initiator of Theosebism in Greece, The European Legacy, vol. 9, no. 6, pp. 783-797.
Theodossiou, E. and Danezis, E, 2006. Theophilos Kairis: The Initiator of a new religion in Greece, Istorika Themata, February, vol. 48, pp. 104-117 [in Greek].
Theodossiou, E., Danezis, E, Katsiotis, M. and Mantarakis, P., 2007, Theophilos Kairis: The Initiator of Theosevism in Greece, Aeropos, February, September-October, vol. 75, pp. 104-117 [in Greek].
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On line References
http://www.hms.org.uk/nelsonsnavyrevcalend.htm: The Historical Maritime Society, Nelson and His Navy - Revolutionary Calendar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar

The construction of the Old Town Hall
Prague's Old Town (Stare Mesto), situated at the right-hand side of the River Moldau (Vltava), expanded around the initial citadel of Vyšehrad (hrad = castle) due to its strategic position in Moldau's valley, which intersected an important trade route of Central Europe. It seems probable that the first settlements of Celtic tribes were created in the valley around 500 B.C. Five centuries later Germanic tribes settled in the region, and the Celts gradually retreated. The first Slavic tribes settled in Bohemia around 500 A.D., whilst in the early 8th Century A.D. the tribe of Czech followed. After some antagonism the Premyslid dynasty prevailed in central Bohemia. The Old Town quickly assumed power and riches. Critical to this result was the river trade as well as the rich silver mines of Kutna Hora. At the same time, on the opposite bank of Moldau, on Hradschin Hill, the Premyslid city began to develop, with its imposing palace and the complex of majestic Christian churches.
The development of the original settlement led its inhabitants to request from the central administration (the country was for many centuries, until 1918, a part of Empires) a form of self-government, which was given to them in 1310 by John of Luxembourg (1310-1346), who married the Czech Princess Elizabeth of Premyslids. With the royal permission granted, the people of Prague founded the Town Hall of the city on the 18th September 1338, the political centre of the medieval Prague. John's son, Charles IV (1346-1378), one of the most glorious kings of Bohemia, expanded the city by adding a new quarter (Nove Mesto = New Town) outside the walls, while he established the laws and the customs of the land. He also founded, in 1348, Prague's University, the oldest in Central Europe, which from then on carries his name, Karlova Univerzita, Charles University. Later, as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (1355-1378), he attempted to make Prague the metropolis not only of the Czechs but of the whole Empire. To this end he invited many foreign artists, who, in co-operation with Czech artisans, created the bohemian tradition in architecture and a distinct style in painting. At that time Prague was decorated with the excellent architectural monuments that are still admired today by its numerous visitors, who rightfully gave it the title ‘the Golden City', probably due to the gilded roofs and the gates of its castle (Pražský Hrad).
The complex of buildings forming the Town Hall of the Old Town were built as we saw in the middle of the 14th Century. It consists of a bulky prismatic gothic tower, 69.5 metres tall, which bears the Astronomical Clock at its lower part, of a white building and of a pink one. At the centre of the facade of the pink building there is imprinted a beautiful decoration with the coat of arms of the city, and under it an inscription in Latin with golden letters: PRAGA CAPUT REGNI, meaning PRAGUE, THE HEAD OF THE KINGDOM. The whole complex is situated in the large central square of the Old Town, the centre of which is dominated today by the statue of the Reformer theologian Jan Hus (1363-1415), a work by the Czech sculptor Latislav Salone in 1915, commissioned 500 years after the theologian's execution.
The large hall of the building was the place where important decisions for the whole country were being made. In the early 15th Century, when the country was left without a king, this was the place where the nobles chose as their king the aristocrat Jiriz Podebrad, who reconciled the Roman Catholics with the moderate Calixtines (‘Utraquist') Hussites. On the pavement to the right of the Astronomical Clock there are 27 crosses carved on white slates in memoriam of 27 decapitated nobles, whose names are written on the wall of the building.

The history of the Astronomical Clock
The initial construction of the Astronomical Clock on the base of the gothic tower of the Town Hall took place in 1410, during the reign of Wenceslav (Vaclav) IV (1378-1419) by the famous clock-maker Nicolaus (Mikulas) of Kadaň. It seems that he was commissioned, on the advice and the astronomical knowledge of Jan Ondrejuv (Iohannes Andreae), also known as Šindel. Šindel, born in Hradec Králové east Bohemia in 1375, studied medicine and taught mathematics in Vienna. He became professor of astronomy and rector of the Charles University, while he was the private physician of King Wenceslas IV and, since 1432, of Emperor Sigismund. He died between 1455 and 1458; his most important astronomical treatise was Canones pro eclipsibus Solis et Lune per instrumentum ad hoc factum inveniendis Mgr. Iohannis Šindel (‘The rules for calculation of the Sun's and Moon's eclipses according to the instrument invented by Iohannes Šindel'). It seems that Šindel, who was appreciated as an excellent astronomer by Pope Pius II (E.S. Piccolomini) and referred (1599, 1600) by Tycho Brahe as ‘the experienced astronomer Doctor Šindel from the Czech nation' who more precisely than he observed the altitude of the Sun (at the summer solstice of September 14th of the year 1416), was the one who had the original idea for the Prague Astronomical Clock during the first decade of the new (15th) Century.
During 1410, the first period, the basic astronomical facade was constructed along with its mechanism, while eighty years later, in 1490, the calendrical rotating facade was added. The whole construction was then finished by the famed master clock-maker Jan Hanus Ruze and his assistant, Jakub Cech. It has been said that in order to prevent this unique clock from being reproduced in other cities, Hanus was blinded by an order of the municipal council of Prague!
From the second half of the 15th Century the facade of the whole clock at the base of the gothic tower had already been decorated with relief representations, which took their final form in the beginning of the 16th Century with sculptures from the workshop of the well-known sculptor of the time Peter Parlez. In the meantime the whole facade, of both the wall of the clock and the gothic chapel of the Town Hall of the Old Town was decorated with a multitude of heraldic representations in the form of coats of arms.
The Astronomical Clock of Prague, a marvel of mathematics, mechanical ingenuity and art known to the Czechs from the time of its construction to the present as Orloj, a paraphrase of the Greek word orologion, was regarded from those times as the emblem associated with the historical capital of Bohemia and the Czech Republic. The Clock was renovated during the period 1552-1560 by Jan Taborsky, who also improved and perfected the mechanism of the Clock. In the beginning of the 19th Century, and especially from 1838 to 1845, the old Town Hall was reconstructed, some sculptures were added, some were removed and still others were transferred to a different position, as e.g. the representation of death (in the form of skeleton), that was placed at the right side of the Clock.
The decoration of the Clock was integrated in 1865 with the painted ‘calendar' on a circular disc under the Clock, a work by the well-known Czech painter and architect Josef Mánes (1820-1871).
This peculiar drawing, immediately under the facades of the main Clock, replaced the older rotating calendar. This circular disc depicts: 1) On the external circular ring the 365 days of the year, with the respective celebrations of the saints and an index indicating the current date and its saints. 2) On the next ring the images by Manes, studies on the agricultural life of Bohemia, were turned into 12 circular paintings allegorically symbolizing the months of the year. 3) On the next internal ring twelve smaller circular representations of the zodiacal signs. 4) Finally, on the innermost small central disc we see the coat of arms of Prague, a schematic representation of the Prague Castle. It should be noted that the authentic creations of Manes are kept in the Prague's Museum.
During the same period substantial maintenance of the whole construction took place, while moreover the wooden statuettes of the twelve Disciples were added, which at the striking of each hour from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. they appear from two small windows over the main Astronomical Clock.
From then on, other minor amendments, additions and maintenance took place. However, the most important fact is that the present clock is an exact replica. Indeed, during World War II, more specifically during the Revolt of Prague in 1945, the German army bombarded the Town Hall of the Old Town and from the fire that followed, the whole complex along with the Astronomical Clock, was completely destroyed, but the strong desire of the people to protect and maintain their cultural heritage, competent artisans were enlisted to help with the restoration of the old Town Hall, tower and the Astronomical Clock back to its former glory. Since then is has been maintained continuously, its most recent major maintenance performed during 1979.

Description of the Astronomical Clock
The mechanism of the Astronomical Clock of Prague consists, as far as its basic structure is concerned, of three coaxial geared wheels of equal diameter, which move three revolving hands. Of these hands, the first one shows the motion of the Sun, the second the motion of the Moon, and the third the relative position of the zodiacal circle with respect to the Sun. As we can see in the corresponding picture, a black hand carries the gilded Sun, crowned with its golden rays, whilst a gilded representation of a human palm shows the time on two, twenty-four-hour scales (and not on a conventional twelve hour that is commonly used). The diameter of the dial is 3.1 m and has an external scale, which moves slowly over the course of the year. It is enumerated from 1 to 24 with calligraphic gilded (Indo-) Arabic numerals and shows the old Czech time, according to which (and to the ancient Roman tradition) the hours were counted from the sunset (sunset = hour 0). The internal scale, to the contrary, is fixed, enumerated with gilded Roman numerals, twice from 1 to 12 (i.e. from I to XII) and not from 1 to 24 (I-XXIV). This scale shows standard time of Central Europe, as is used today.
The different colours on the facade of the Astronomical Clock have their own meaning. The blue colour signifies two things. The first is that the celestial bodies being in front of it at a given moment (to) are to be found over the horizon. The horizon is shown as the border of the blue colour. The blue part is subdivided into the 12 hour zones or portion of the celestial sphere being at the moment to over the horizon. Each zone bears on it a number, a simple Arabic numeral from 1 to 12, but relative to the Sun, the blue colour represents the daylight hours of the twenty-four-hour cycle. Accordingly, the brown colour represents the dawn and dusk hours, whilst the circular disc with the deep grey colour represents the night hours. On the left part of the facade, in the brown colour, the dawn is noted as AURORA, while in the blue, at the number 1, the east is noted as ORTUS. On the respective right part of the facade the west, at the number 12, is noted as OCCASUS, while the dusk is written as CREPUSCULUM. Moreover, on the inner region of the Astronomical Clock we find imprinted a flat circular representation of a terrestrial sphere, with the continents and the oceans. Also, only on the blue part of the facade appear the curved gilded lines of the zones, which serve another purpose: they divide the light of day into twelve unequal hours, according to the ancient Egyptian, Babylonian and later of the Byzantine tradition. We note that even today, in the monastic peninsula of Athos, the day of the monks is always divided into 12 equal hours from the sunrise to the sunset, but the duration of the hours themselves changes according to the season of the year (it is minimum at the winter solstice and maximum at the summer solstice).
The whole construction of the Astronomical Clock of Prague shows to the observer three independent motions:
- The motion of the Sun during one mean solar day.
- The mean revolution of the Moon during one synodic (lunar) month.
- The apparent annual revolution of the Sun around the Earth on the ecliptic plane.
The black hand with the golden star at its edge completes one revolution per year around the ring of the ecliptic with the twelve zodiacal symbols, whilst the Moon, the black-and-silvery globe carried by another black hand, revolves once per lunar-synodic month and at the same time it rotates. Its rotation produces the various phases of our natural satellite: At the phase of the new moon the black colour is dominant whilst the phase of the full moon the silvery and the intermediate phases are denoted through a combination of silvery and black. The ring of the ecliptic also rotates once per sidereal day (that is, 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds) around the Earth, thus showing the apparent revolving of the constellations and of the fixed stars. We are reminded that the Earth is represented by a circular disc at the centre of the clock's facade.
At this point we must stress the fact that when the Prague's Astronomical Clock was originally constructed, the Earth was still considered motionless and positioned at the centre of the Universe. In other words, the prevailing system at that time was the geocentric (Ptolemaic) and not the heliocentric system of Aristarchus of Samos, which was revived by the Polish priest and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543).
The hand bearing the gilded Sun moves through the zodiacal circle and indicates sidereal time, that can be read in the Roman numerals on the next circle (the innermost of the two scales). Two other gilded straight lines in right angles with respect to the zodiacal circle, show the positions of spring (21 March) and the autumn (22-23 September) equinox, as well as the summer (21-22 June) and winter (21-22 December) solstice: these are the four characteristic points of the apparent annual revolution of the Sun across the ecliptic.
This beautiful Astronomical Clock of the Town Hall of the Old Town of Prague attracts the attention of both inhabitants and tourists especially during the striking of the hours. Then the small windows over its facade, which are symmetrically placed with respect to a relief figure of an angel, open and the figures of the twelve Disciples appear. Indeed, a considerable crowd of people stand in the large square in front of the Clock from 8 a.m. till 8 p.m. in order to see the twelve Disciples appearing from the two small windows in their order (according to the hour). These wood-carved figures were made by Vojtech Suharda in 1945, after the destruction of the old clock.
The structure supporting the Astronomical Clock bulges out of the gothic tower which bears on its uppermost part, just under its roof, four classic mechanical clocks, one for each side. Also, another smaller clock exists at the left side of the building (as we face the Astronomical Clock). The Astronomical Clock is housed under a pointed arched cover, under which there is a small recess decorated with a gilded cock, reminding us that its crowing was once one of man's earliest means of marking time.
To be precise, the striking of the hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., which as has been said, has as its principal element the parade of Disciples, starts as follows: First, ‘Death' represented in the form of a skeleton, pulls the rope with his right hand as many times as the number of the hour struck, while at the same time he turns the sand hourglass upside down that he holds with his left hand, a symbol of the measurement of the passing of time. At this moment the angel opens the two small windows and the Disciples move slowly in a circle led by Saint Paul. At the end of their parade the cock crows and the Clock strikes the hours.
We can also observe 4 statuettes placed symmetrically at the sides of the calendar by Manes, two on the left and two on the right-hand side. The ones on the right-hand side symbolize Science (in the form of a scholar holding an open book) and Research (in the form of an astronomer holding a small telescope with his left hand). To the left we see Commerce and Justice, the latter as an avenging angel holding a shield with the right hand and a sword with the left.
Similarly, there are 4 statuettes to the left and right of the Astronomical Clock's facade. The first statuette on the left, symbolizes Vanity, looking in a mirror, while the second represents Avidity, in the form of its medieval cliché of the Jewish miser. On the right-hand side, Lewdness is represented in the form of the Turk, who turns his head away, while the fourth statue, Death has already been mentioned. All four of these statuettes move their heads side ways when the Clock strikes the hours.
Of course out of all these statuettes the figure of Death stands out more prominent, the skeleton holding the hourglass, counts the passage of time, while at the same time hangs on tightly to the rope that is connected to the clock of the city's history. A history which is depicted by the historical monuments of the beautiful city of Prague.

References
Hadravová, Alena and Hadrava, Petr, 2002, "Tycho Brahe and Iohannes Šindel" in J.R. Christianson et al. (eds.): Tycho Brahe and Prague: Crossroads of European Science. H. Deutsch, pp. 237-247.
Horský, Zdeněk, 1988, Pražský orloj. Prague, Panorama (in Czech).
Soukup, Vladimir et al., 1997, Prague in the series "Eyewitness Travel Guides". London, Dorling Kindersley Ltd.
Theodossiou, E. and Danezis, E., 1994, Metrontas ton achrono chrono - O chronos stin Astronomia (Measuring the Timeless Time-Time in Astronomy), Athens, Diavlos Publ. [in Greek].
Tychonis Brahe Dani Opera omnia I-XV, 1913-1929, Edited by I.L.E. Dreyer. Hauniae, (reprint: Amsterdam, Swets & Zeitlinger, 1972).

____________
Photos and Figure captions
1. The Astronomical Clock (Orloj) of Prague and the supporting building, the old Town Hall with its tower of 69.5 meters (228 feet).
2. The side by side pink building with the inscription PRAGA CAPUT REGNI.
3. The whole monument of Orloj of Prague.
4. The Orloj of Prague.
5. The Orloj of Prague.
6. The different colours on the façade of the Astronomical Clock have their own meaning. The detailed Astronomical Clock.
7. The circular disc under the Clock is the painted calendar is the calendar by Josef Manes.
Manes: The statue of the Czech painter and architect Josef Manes, who painted in 1865 the calendar which can be seen on a circular disc under the Clock.
Brahe and Kepler: The statue of Tycho Brahe and Kepler.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE VERTICAL SUNDIAL OF THE MONASTERY OF
PANAGHIA SCRIPOU

Efstratios Theodossiou(1), Vassilios N. Manimanis(1) and Petros Mantarakis(2)
(1)Department of Astrophysics, Astronomy and Mechanics, School of Physics, University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis Zographou, 157 84 Athens, Greece
(2)22127 Needles St., Chatsworth, California
E-mail: zanispetros@socal.rr.com

ABSTRACT

As part of our ongoing project to correctly identify and describe all the Byzantine sundials in Greece, the vertical marble sundial in the main church of the "Koimesis tis Theotokou" (Dormition of the Virgin) or "Panaghia Scripou" monastery, in Orchomenos, Boeotia, central Greece, is presented. It is almost certainly the oldest (and arguably the most beautiful) Byzantine sundial in the whole Greece, being contemporary to the church (874 A.D.).

Key words: sundial: Byzantine, Greece, Boeotia, Orchomenos, monasteries

THE MONASTERY OF PANAGHIA SCRIPOU
The Monastery of "Koimesis tis Theotokou" (Dormition of the Virgin) or "Panaghia Scripou" monastery, in Boeotia, central Greece, is located opposite from the archaeological site of Orchomenos, a most ancient Greek city, and its Citadel. Pausanias1 mentions the existence of two sanctuaries, of Charites (the Graces) and of Dionysus, in the area: "At Orchomenus is a sanctuary of Dionysus, but the oldest is one of the Graces". These have not been identified up to this day, and may very well lie at the exact position where, in 874 A.D., the monastery of Panaghia Scripou was erected; a strong indication is that excavations revealed the remains of a Mycenaean building next to the Catholicon (the main church). The same excavations revealed a proto-Christian mosaic inside the church.
The monastery itself is, as we mentioned, a 9th Century building and from the original complex of its buildings only the main church (Fig. 2) survives today, which is dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, but also to the Apostles Peter and Paul, as indicated by the triple sanctum; the two eastern partitions serve, according to the inscriptions, as chapels of St. Peter (Petros) and Paul (Pavlos) "the sacred dust of whose is covered by the soil of Rome".
The main church itself is probably the most important example of the church type "transitional domed cross-in-square" in Greece, and also the largest and most sumptuous known Byzantine temple of its century outside Constantinople. This convent church stands apart for its size (22.3 × 18.6 metres without its narthex), for its rich marble decoration and finally for the historical information given by four monument-style inscriptions. From these we learn that the founder of the church was Leon, not the Byzantine Emperor, but the "Royal Protospatharius", i.e. the leader of spatharii, the guard of the Palace in Constantinople. Leon was the owner of the area and, according to the inscription (Fig. 3) incorporated on outer side of the sanctum's arc, he built the church in 873-874 A.D.2. This makes us certain on the major issue of the temple's chronology. Incidentally, the peculiar name "Scripou" itself is probably derived from these wall in-scriptions (Latin: scriptus).
The walls of the church contain a lot of ancient building blocks (as is the case with many other Christian temples of the Byzantine era), which originate from the nearby archaeological site of the historical city of Orchomenos: column sections, carved corner-stones, even sepulchral columns were freely used, creating unexpected decorations and hues on the large walls.
It is probable that the church, a remarkable architectural example of the transition from the palaio-Christian basilica to the Byzantine rhythm, was designed as a burial monument of its founder, although this was uncommon practice in Byzantine Greece. In that case, the vertical sundial on its wall, being decorated with two peacocks, could be a kind of reference to the eternal life. Anyway, the founder of the temple wanted it to have "a joyful glint of splendour, beautiful from all directions".
The sculptural decoration of the Catholicon is rich on both the internal and external surfaces; moreover, several carved pieces (originating from ancient buildings or from a proto-Christian cemetery) were incorporated during the following centuries in the monk cells to the south, in the western gate and in the storehouses. The older cells are to the west of the newer ones, in a building consisting of five successive tile-covered spaces.
The archaeological research discovered that the oldest murals decorating the church date from the 12th Century. Since 1930 restoration activities are under way, as well as the cleaning of the murals, while in 1939 a belfry for the church was built, designed by the Ministry of Culture, in the north-western area of the monastery. The preservation works in the monastery were included for financing in the EU's Community Support Framework of 1994-1999. And while the treatment of the murals and the stabilisation and cleaning of the relief decoration of the narthex were being completed, arson was committed against the temple. The fire caused some serious damage, nevertheless the interior was cleaned from the soot and currently a second phase of restoration is about to start with the replacement of the burned windows and the cleaning of the murals of the narthex.
The monastery of "Panaghia Scripou" operated for many years as such, but not anymore; the Catholicon is currently in use as a parish church. Its Saint's Day comes on the 15th of August each year (celebration of the Dormition of Mary); celebrations also occur on the 23rd of August and on the 10th of September. The September celebration honours a 20th -Century miracle: On that day in 1943 Orchomenos and its inhabitants were spared from retaliation by the German occupation forces thanks to a miracle by Virgin Mary.

THE VERTICAL SUNDIAL OF PANAGHIA SCRIPOU'S MAIN CHURCH
A handsome vertical sundial (Fig. 4), probably the most beautiful of all Byzantine sundials of Greece, decorates the Catholicon (main church) of the Scripou monastery. Since there is no evidence suggesting otherwise, this sundial was placed on the wall during the construction of the church, in 874 A.D., a fact that makes it the most ancient of all Byzantine / Mediaeval sundials of Greece! This was supported by the late archaeologist, Byzantinologist and architect Professor Anastassios Orlandos (1935-1936)3.
This vertical sundial is carved on the exterior surface of a marble rectangular building stone incorporated in the southern wall of the Catholicon. The dimensions of this parallelepiped stone are length 125 cm, width 35 cm and height 66 cm. The plate surface (125 cm × 66 cm) bears only ten hour lines, which are numbered with the ancient Greek number symbols - letters of the Greek alphabet: , , , , , F, , ,  and ; a horizon line is also present. The lower side of the plate is at a height of approximately 2 metres from the ground.
The hour lines are 50 cm long and they end on a carved semicircle which has a radius of 50 cm. The simply calligraphed capital letters of the Greek alphabet that symbolise the hour numbers are just beyond the end of the hour lines, inside a semicircular ring section formed by the first 50-cm semicircle and a second semicircle which has a radius of 58 cm. The lines of the semicircles are considerably thicker than the hour lines.
The marble plate surface outside the semicircles is decorated at the left-hand and the right-hand side with two carved peacocks facing away from the centre of the plate (the one at left faces towards the West and the one at right faces towards the East). The peacock at left being more elongated has a total length of 46 cm since haw a longer tail from the peacock at right, which has a total length of 42 cm. The depiction of these birds are most probably a kind of reference to the eternal life. Finally, below the hours  and F there is some other carved decoration: Two flower-like leaves connected with a hook-like form as the leaf-stalk.
We note here that the decorative elements of the palaio-Christian art come from the Greek gentile world. In the oldest Christian art appears a large set of sculptured motifs, e.g. flowers, birds, dolphins, etc.. Later on, symbolic representations start to appear, such as the fish, a palm branch, the sheep, the pigeon and the peacocks. The fish symbolises Jesus Christ, since the letters of the Greek word for it form the famous acrostic Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour. The palm branch symbolises the victory of the Church. The pigeon stands for the Holy Ghost and purity. Finally, the peacocks symbolise the eternal life in Paradise. Indeed, in the Βyzantine and Christian Museum of Athens there is a funerary inscription from Athens (ΒΜΧ 400, 5th - 6th Cent. A.D.) with facing peacocks as "symbols of paradisiacal happiness, being the birds of paradise" (as the relative museum explanation states). Even today, peacocks are a very common motif in Greek churches; they are carved on the wooden icon-stand (reredos) of the temples, on the epitaph and at the external decoration of several modern temples.
Unfortunately, while the housing of the Scripou sundial's gnomon is clearly visible, the gnomon itself is not there; it was stolen, lost or destructed in the distant past. This is also the case with the Byzantine sundial in St. Lavrentios convent4, in Mount Pelion of Central Greece.
The sundial of the Panaghia Scripou monastery, in spite of the ten numbers written on it, divides the day not into ten but into eleven hours, since on its semicircle there are eleven sectors, exactly as on the St. Lavrentios sundial4.

The horizontal line at the upper part of the sundial's plate represents the horizon.
At true solar noon the shadow would follow the meridian; on this 10-hour-line dial there is no such meridian line, as it should on any sundial with an odd number of hour lines. For example, on an 11-hour-line dial the sixth hour line is vertical and in the middle, having symmetrically at its sides the rest ten hour lines.

Η οριζόντια γραμμή της άνω πλευράς του ηλιακού ρολογιού αντιπροσωπεύει τον ορίζοντα, και το μεσημέρι, στον αληθινό ηλιακό χρόνο, ο Ήλιος θα πέφτει στον μεσημβρινό, που αντιπροσωπεύεται από μια κατακόρυφη γραμμή κάθετη στη γραμμή του ορίζοντα. Αυτή η γραμμή δεν υπάρχει στο ηλιακό ρολόι αυτό. Συνήθως παρουσιάζεται στα ηλιακά ρολόγια που φέρουν μονές ωρικές γραμμές, για παράδειγμα έντεκα ωρικές γραμμές (δηλαδή δώδεκα ώρες) και σημειώνεται στο τέλος της έκτης ώρας, ούτως ώστε η έκτη ώρα να βρίσκεται στο μέσον, ενώ συμμετρικά αριστερά και δεξιά της να βρίσκονται από πέντε ωρικές γραμμές.
Ούτως ή άλλως σε ένα τέτοιο επίπεδο κατακόρυφο ηλιακό ρολόι, τοποθετημένο σωστά στον τοίχο του καθολικού της Μονής με νότιο προσανατολισμό, το φως του Ήλιου δεν μπορεί να πέφτει ποτέ πάνω από τη γραμμή του ορίζοντα. Παράλληλα κάθε διάστημα κάτω από τον ορίζοντα θα αποτελεί περιοχή στην οποία οι ηλιακές ακτίνες θα πέφτουν οπωσδήποτε κάποια στιγμή του έτους.

REFERENCES
1. Pausanias: Description of Greece, Book IX: Boeotia. The Loeb Classical Library, with an English translation by W.H.S. Jones, London, William Heinemann LTD. Harvard University press, 1965 (First printed 1935), (Book IX, 38, 1).
2. Historia tou Hellenikou Ethnous (History of the Hellenic Nation), Ekdotike Athinon, Athens 1979, vol. VIII, p. 291 (in Greek).
3. A. Orlandos: Ergasiai Anasteloseos Vyzantinon Mnemeion tes Ellados (Erection Works at the Byzantine Monuments of Greece), Archeion ton Vyzantinon Mnemeion tes Ellados, vols. A and B, Athens 1935/36 (in Greek).
4. E. Theodossiou, J. Kouris and V.N. Manimanis: The vertical sundial of St. Lavrentios Convent in Pelion, BSS Bulletin 16 (iii), 101-103, (2004).

Figure's Captions
Fig. 1. A map of Central Greece, showing the town of Orchomenos.
Fig. 2. The main church "Koimesis tis Theotokou" (Dormition of the Virgin) or "Panaghia Scripou" monastery, in Orchomenos,
Fig. 3. The inscription in which is written the name Leon, the founder of the church.
Fig. 4. The vertical sundial of Panaghia Scripou monastery, in Orchomenos.

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