How Ancient Greeks Chose Temple Locations ....post in GD (again! LOL)

[lildreamer316]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4961190

"...For example, Demeter, the goddess of grain and fertility, and Dionysos, the god of wine, both were venerated on fertile, well-structured soils called Xerolls, which are ideal for grain cultivation."

Again, really facinating stuff!!
This reminds me of the stuff in the Ringing Cedars Series.

[Dover]

1. Thanks for being our GD scout!

I knew that certain temples were located near natural springs, but hadn't heard about xeroll soils.

Thanks!

[lildreamer316]

2. My pleasure.

I just love this stuff. Everyday it seems we find more evidence to support the idea of the great year, and that our ancestors were not more primitive than us..just different-minded and imminently more in touch with spirit.

[Silver Gaia]

3. Thanks for the link, lildreamer...very interesting!

It cracks me up, though, how long it takes academia sometimes to figure out something so obvious. And simple.

I wondered what Retallack's discipline is, so I looked him up. He's a geologist, so of course his study focused on the soils. An anthropologist would have focused the study on the people/livelihood, etc. A mythologist perhaps on the aspect regarding comfort of the deities. And so on.

It helps to be multi-disciplinary, to be able to see the connections. At least Retallack was able to do that as well. The Greeks didn't care what type of soil it was. They were interested in honoring specific patron deities in specific locations for specific purposes. The soil type was incidental. The soil was just what he had to write about in particular for his study. But from it come interesting ideas that will affect other areas of study as well.

The funny part, to me, was that he couldn't figure it out "until he turned to the gods and goddesses." Well, if you're studying temple locations, wouldn't that be a logical place to start? Or at least something you'd want to include right from the beginning? Funny how specialization makes the brain work. I'm glad he did figure it out, though. It's an interesting contribution to the study of Hellenic culture.

And please don't mind my meandering ramble... thanks again for the link!