(ca 2000 or ca 1400?)


The first glorious, audacious and common deed of Hellenes was the Argonautic Expedition which took place around 1400 BC or much earlier (2000 BC) according to some others.

As a matter of fact it is too difficult if not impossible to be precise when dating prehistoric events. However, it is worth mentioning here that the dating of the Orphic Hymns through astronomical methods by the Greek astronomer C.S.Chassapis, proves that these, regardless of the time of their gathering and registration (during the 6th c BC), were formulated much earlier and were communicated from generation to generation by the initiated of Orphism. Herman Diels in Fragmenta der Vorsokratiker says that the very ancient Hellenes wrote their opinions and their observations on very thin boards.And he was justified by the latest find in Castoria (North-West of Hellas). The date of the inscribed board discovered in Dispilio in Castoria, derived from radiocarbon(C14) analyses, goes back to ca 5000 BC. The Orphic hymns were the genuine product of Hellenes who lived in the country in the depths of the 2nd Millenium BC (Orphica - I.Passas). If this date is true then the Argonautic Expedition, where Orpheas took part, could not have taken place in 1400 BC but much earlier.


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Last updated: 21 March 1996 23:42:30