Pytheas of Massilia:
On the Ocean
tr by Christina H. Roseman
Posted on 08/16/2007 4:15:14 AM PDT by Renfield
A devon archaeologist believes he has found the Lost City of Apollo.Dennis Price, who shot to prominence after finding a missing altar stone from Stonehenge, is the man behind what could be an amazing discovery.
Mr Price, a father-of-two who lives in Broadclyst, has undertaken years of research on the stone circle.
With the help of language experts from Exeter University, Mr Price has translated the early works of the Greek mariner Pytheas of Massilia, who was one of the earliest visitors to Britain, in around 325BC, and who wrote of the City of Apollo.
Now, after dedicated work, Mr Price believes he has solved the ancient mystery of just where it is.
He said: "Just a mile or so to the east of Stonehenge is a gigantic prehistoric earthwork called Vespasian's Camp, named in later years by William Camden after the same Vespasian who subjugated the south west of England during the Roman invasion of Britain in 43AD.
"It is invariably described as an Iron Age hillfort, yet excavations there have shown the existence of far earlier Neolithic pits, while there still exist the remains of early Bronze Age funeral barrows, showing that the site was in use while nearby Stonehenge was being constructed.
"Aside from possessing the name of a man who later went on to become an emperor, Vespasian's Camp lies at the bottom of a slope occupied further up by what is known as the King's Barrow Ridge, overlooking Stonehenge, while this is further divided into the New King Barrows and Old King Barrows.
"Vespasian's Camp cannot be seen from Stonehenge, but it lies to the east of the ruins, or in the direction of the rising sun.
"As Apollo had largely become thought of as a Sun god by the time Pytheas was writing, it is another fairly obvious connection, while Vespasian's Camp lies slightly to the south east, or the direction of the midwinter sunrise when viewed from Stonehenge, something else that may have had a bearing on matters as far as the consideration of a god who visited Britain during the winter months was concerned.
"Given the huge scale of the earthworks at Vespasian's Camp, it is not unthinkable that Pytheas may have thought of Troy, another city sacred to or beloved of Apollo, as some later versions of the stories of this place speak of Apollo building the walls there along with Poseidon.
"We cannot know precisely how Pytheas came to equate the sanctuary, the temple and the city with Apollo."
Alexander Fitzpatrick, of Wessex Archaeology which operates just a stones throw from Stoneghenge, said he knew Mr Price but had not heard of his findings.
"Vespasian's Camp is not something we know a great deal about but it does date from around the time of Pytheas' writings and he does refer to the Lost City of Apollo.
"What Dennis would have to do is establish a link between Pytheas and the camp.
"I don't know how he could be sure there's a link between those two camps as opposed to others, such as Hembury at Honiton.
"I know Dennis is very interested in Stonehenge."
GGG ping.
The same Boii had occupied classical Troy at the time of it's latest destruction and had moved on, in part to various places around the Mediterranean, as well as on the Adriatic.
They managed to smack the Romans pretty good a few times from their redoubt in Bologna. By the time Julius came along they were living in Bohemia and Switzerland. He rousted them out of there and sent them to Gaul.
My focus, however, is on the group that ended up in Ireland and then what is now England.
Obviously they needed a ceremonial center ~ and the Apollo reference (by Greeks) does make sense.
About a century and a half later they were allied with McWallace in Spain and Gaul against the Romans in the Punic Wars.
I would imagine the earlier Greek records might be all that's left of specific historical references to them by anyone who cared.
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Pytheas of Massilia:
On the Ocean
tr by Christina H. Roseman
That Apollo dude got around, didn’t he?
He even had a classical rock band around 1970.
I believe Apollo was also celebrated in curious practices called “Motown” in a theater venue in Harlem. Didn’t he also fight Rocky Balboa?
i’d swear i was in one of his movie theaters circa 1965.
He’s probably on Olympus *screening* his calls. [rimshot!]
I think I heard that through the grapevine.
Some interesting possibilities here: Apollo was the God associated with colonization and with the Sun. He dragged the Sun behind his chariot on its ride across the skies each day. So a city dedicated to Sun worship might well be called a city of Apollo by a Greek visitor.
Apollo was also the God of colonization and was consulted on any proposed colony via the oracles. Greek colonization dates from 750-550 B.C. and so when Pytheas reached Britain and found an old (deserted?)city dedicated to the Sun god, he might well have dubbed it a ‘lost’ city of Apollo.
On a slightly different subject about Apollo ( I don’t know where else to put this)
Apollo’s day job was to haul the Sun across the sky with his chariot drawn by two white horses. One day, his son, Phaeton, like many an unruly teenager, took the old man’s car without permission. He couldn’t handle the reins and so the chariot veered all over the place, creating global cooling and global warming.
IT IS A PROVEN FACT THAT GEORGE BUSH IS A DIRECT DESCENTDANT OF PHAETON AND THEREFORE RESPONSIBLE FOR CLIMATE CHANGE.
Are you saying that a burning Bush has created global warming?
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