Less than three days walk to the north and west where the Karadere river falls down from a plateau in a brilliant falls lies a blasted plain, under which is an ancient sanctuary dedicated to Ares.
The plain itself is the site of an ancient war, one of the greatest between Mithradates VI Eupator and the Roman general Lucius Licinius Murena during the Second Mitrhaditic War, a battle which the Roman general lost badly. Today it is inhabited by little more than vultures. These vultures represent a power associated with death and corruption, there is obviously something of heavier magic might behind them. The vultures themselves have magic might's of 5 for every 3 of them present. Their corpses can be harvested for 1 pawn of vis each (the gizzard).
The cinereous vulture, sometimes also called black vulture (Aegypius monachus), one of the biggest and heaviest of living birds of flight, is about 100 cm (39 inches) long and 12.5 kg (27.5 pounds) in weight, with a wingspread of about 2.7 m (9 feet). This vulture is all black with very broad wings and a short, slightly wedge-shaped tail. |
A sanctuary of "the greatest god Ares." Though in truth this sanctuary is to an older, native deity, who was syncretized with Ares. The distinction between the native deity and the Roman or Greek war god was doubtless blurred. One relief more than any other emphasizes the military character of the native Ares: with the dedication, it shows a corn stalk and a bunch of grapes, next to it is a bull's head; to the left is a wreath, but to the right there is a splendid panoply with full length cuirass, crested helmet in the shape of a griffin's head, a short broad-bladed sword with an eagle's head forming the pommel, and a belt lying across a round shield and two spears. The image, alongside the tokens of agricultural prosperity, is a striking and disturbing one to find in the full flowering of the Roman peace. The god is often shown as a broad-shouldered bearded figure, a grizzled veteran of war.
There is an opening to the tomb underneath the falling river of the Karadere. This large grotto has twelve colonnaded openings, between each is a large bas relief. In the center of this chamber is a large stone bed upon which rests a giant man of stone adorned in ancient armor. His shield, sword and spear at his feet. During the new moon of Aries he rolls in bed, and a rain of dust falls around him. This dust is worth 10 pawns of Rego vis.
Most of the depictions here involve the slaying of various hideous beasts. There is clear solar imagery involved in most of the depictions.
Each of these openings lead to tunnels of various lengths that form a lattice beneath the plain. There are twelve chambers, each filled with similar imagery of protection, warding off of evil, and combat against great evils. There are several underworld motifs involved. One of the side chambers has the entity titled Invictus.
Ares and Athena(an overview of the Powers of War in Greek Mythology) Ares and Athena are the two divine powers in Greece who have the monopoly on matters of war (Iliad, 5.430). Their positions are rigorously antithetical. Ares, the male power, is the son of Hera alone, who conceived him without recourse to the male seed. Athena, the female power, is the daughter of Zeus alone, who, after swallowing Metis, and without recourse to any womb, conceived the infant in his head, from which she sprang forth fully armed after a blow from the liberating ax of Hephaestus. Athena is the supreme virgin goddess, the Parthenos. Ares rapes and impregnates, is credited in mythology with numerous amorous adventures (with Erinys, Chryse, Althaea) and, notably, with an adulterous union with Aphrodite, the ultimate power of romantic seduction. Athena is abundantly endowed with metis; Ares, of all the gods, is the most lacking in it, incapable even, in the murderous folly of combat, of distinguishing between the two camps (Il., 5.761 and 831-834). Ares is hated by all the gods, Athena respected universally. The antinomy is symbolized explicitly, at the mythic level, by the physical con-frontation between the two gods at the heart of the Trojan melee; Ares always loses: Athena wins and imposes her will each time (Il., 5.765 and 824-864; 15.121-142; 21.391-415). Ares is the god of warrior fury that runs riot. The forces in his retinue are Phobus (Fear), Deimos (Rout), Eris (Discord); his children, among others, number Diomedes, the barbarian king of Thrace with his man-eating horses; the brigand Cycnus; the impious Phiegyas; Oenomaus and Evenus, fathers who murdered their daughters' suitors; Mobs (Combat); the hunter Meleager, himself related to Tydeus, the terrible warrior of the war of Thebes (Aeschylus, Six against Thebes, 377-397, and Euripides, Phoenician Women, 134). Ares is excess and lack of control; dedicated to the warrior function, he is the dominant force of the Bronze race (Hesiod, Works and Days, 144-146); and all that comes from him bears the exclusive mark of war. In Colchis, the Gegeneis were born in Ares' fallow field, from the teeth of Ares' dragon which Jason had sown there; the Spartans, heroes of the warrior function, were born near Ares' fountain in Thebes; and the Amazons, monstrous women who were murderers, warriors, and enemies of men and marriage, were his daughters. The furious force that Ares incarnates is necessary to the city for it to survive and conquer, but it contains elements that can shatter the city if not controlled by a higher order of measure and reason. Thus, myth establishes the submission of Ares, the raw force of war, to a divinity closely associated with the function of sovereignty. This divinity of course is Athena, great goddess of the polis, both political and industrious, who masters Ares, substituting the ordered combat of hoplites for the wild melees of heroes. She rules over war to the extent that war is a function of the city as a whole. She puts the technical skill of blacksmiths at the disposal of the hoplitic war: Athena Promachos is clothed from head to foot in hoplitic gear (helmet, cuirass, shield, lance). As befits a ruling power, however, she draws her major strength from a magical object, the Aegis, which is the very symbol of her mastery over excessive natural forces. At the center of this shield, which is a weapon both defensive and offensive, the hideous head of the dead Gorgon will petrify for all |
One of the side chambers has imagery associated with the legend of the Seven Against Thebes. Due to the heavy iconography it would seem that the images here instruct in som non-hermetic ritual. Most likely associated with war.
Seven Against ThebesIn Greek mythology, the seven champions who were killed fighting against Thebes after the fall of Oedipus, the king of that city. The twins Eteocles and Polyneices, who had been cursed by their father, Oedipus, failed to agree on which of them was to succeed to the Theban throne and decided to rule in alternate years. As Eteocles' turn came first, Polyneices withdrew to Argos, where he married Argeia, daughter of King Adrastus. Another daughter, Deipyle, married Tydeus, son of the exiled king Oeneus of Calydon. At the end of the year, Polyneices' turn came to rule Thebes. When Eteocles refused to give up the throne, Adrastus mobilized an army, whose chieftains, in Aeschylus' tragedy about the Seven, were Tydeus, Capaneus, Eteoclus, Hippomedon, Parthenopaeus, Amphiaraus, and Polyneices. Other authors count Adrastus as one of the Seven and omit Hippomedon or Polyneices. Polyneices and Eteocles killed each other, fulfilling Oedipus' curse. When the sons of the dead Seven, the Epigoni, or second generation, had grown to manhood, Adrastus again attacked the city and occupied it after the Thebans had evacuated it by night. He died at Megara on the homeward journey. The story of the Seven was a great favorite in antiquity. It is the subject not only of Aeschylus' tragedy Seven Against Thebes but also of Euripides' play Phoenician Women. |
Last modified: Mon Mar 8, 1999 / Jeremiah Genest