|
|
 |
|
 |
Mythology tells us that the gods of the most ancient religions of the Greek people were the giants also known as Titans, the sons of heaven and earth. These Titans were challenged by the Olympian gods, led by Zeus, and were eventually defeated by them. After the great battle, the Titan Polivotis fled to safety and found refuge on the island of Kos.
 The god of the sea, Poseidon, (Neptune in Latin) had a particular hatred for Polivotis and tracked him down to Kos. When Polivotis realised he had been discovered he tried to flee but Poseidon broke off a portion of Kos and hurled it at the Titan who was killed instantly. The big chunk of Kos that was ripped off the island is what is now Nisyros. These mythological events refer to an actual earthquake that followed a volcanic eruption which occurred in an unknown era and was the true creator of Nisyros.
Other Titans like Phoebus Kios and Kinnos also fled to Kos at various times and it was Kinnos who named the island after himself, giving it its mythological name "Kinnis".
Probably the most extensive myth linked to Kos is the one of the demi-god Herakles, (Hercules in Latin). Herakles was the illegitimate son of Zeus (Jupiter in Latin) and a mortal woman named Alcmene who was deceived by Zeus when he transformed himself into the likeness of her husband Amphitryon. (Zeus was notorious for deceiving mortal women he liked so that he could get his way which often drove Hera, his legitimate wife and goddess into fits of jealousy and it was always the mortal women and their children that bore the brunt of her wrath since Zeus was way too powerful for Hera to be able to do anything to him.) Since Herakles was the son of a god he possessed god like abilities such as strong mental powers and superhuman strength but he was also cursed with human weaknesses which as it turned out became a volatile combination.
Now when Herakles was a baby, Zeus forced his legitimate wife Hera to breast feed the child and that together with the fact that Zeus named his illegitimate son Herakles, which in ancient Greek means "glorious gift of Hera" angered her and she bred a hatred against Herakles which followed him till the day he died.  At one time she sent poisonous snakes to his crib to kill him but the child took each snake into his little hands and strangled them. When Herakles had grown up she soon got another chance to hurt him in the worst possible way by driving him temporarily insane and in his fit, he murdered his wife Megara and their children.
Looking for some form of penance, Herakles asked the oracle at Delphi what the gods required him to do for forgiveness and he was told to serve his cousin Eurystheus, the king of Tyrins who unbeknownst to Herakles had plotted with Hera to kill him by asking him to perform twelve perilous tasks (the 12 labours of Herakles) which included the slaying of the Lion of Nemea, killing the Lernaia Hydra with it's nine heads and even capturing the terrible guardian of the underworld Cerberus.
Having accomplished his twelve labours Herakles was forced to undertake others of lesser importance one of which was to kill the monster which was terrorising the kingdom of Troy and which demanded Hesione, the daughter of King Laomedon to become its bride, in other words, the monster wanted to devour her. The king promised Herakles that if he was able to rescue his daughter and rid the people of this terrible affliction, he would give Herakles his horses which had been given to the king by Zeus. The king, however, did not keep his promise which made Herakles wage war against him and he managed to eventually kill king Laomedon and he plundered his kingdom.
 Herakles loaded six ships with spoils from Troy and headed back to his homeland with his friends but Hera sent a storm to kill Herakles. Five of the six ships were sunk but Herakles and some of his comrades in arms managed to land at Cape Kakitir, (modern day Cape Gourniatis) in Kos in Antimacheides territory. He met a rather muscular young shepherd named Antagoras watching over his flock and asked him for food for him and his companions. When Antagoras refused, Herakles pounced on him in anger and attacked him. Antagoras turned out to be a worthy opponent and the fight lasted for a very long time with neither one being able to gain the upper hand. Eventually the fellow citizens of Antagoras came to his aid which made Herakles's comrades join and a wild battle ensued. Meanwhile, the now weary Herakles sought refuge and managed to escape to a house owned by a Thracian women who disguised him and he fled into the mountains. His companions soon followed and they eventually arrived at the town of Phixioton (present day Pyli).
The people of Phixioton welcomed them and were horrified that visitors on their island had been so badly treated. They insulted the Antimacheides by labeling them as "un hospitable". (A truly great insult in ancient Greece. The denial of hospitality was regarded as an act to anger the gods. The trait of hospitality is something that has survived through to this day in Greek culture and is embedded in Orthodox Christian beliefs. It is not that many years gone by, when times were "safer" that Greeks would not lock their doors incase a visitor came by to ask for hospitality and they unknowingly refused by not hearing the knocking of the door.) To right the great wrong that the Antimacheides had done to Herakles, the people of Phixioton proclaimed him their king and declared war on the Antimacheides.
In a certain battle, Halkonas, the son of king Eurypylus of the Antimacheides managed to wound Herakles. The demi-god continued to fight even though wounded and managed to slay king Eurypylus. Halkonas was immediately recognised as their new king by the Antimacheides. Halkonas decided that the war had gone on long enough and gave Halkiopi, his sister's hand in marriage to Herakles and she bore him a son, Thessalos who eventually became king of Kos and Nisyros.
The above adventure is described by Homer in the Iliad where he expresses the way Zeus accused Hera by saying, "You have pushed him into the infinite sea and thrown him onto the coast of heavily populated Kos and you have made arrangements for his total loss but I have brought him from his exile and back to Argos."
This myth may have been the result of the imagination of the people of the time to describe the strife and effort of the Dorians to predominate the inhabitants. Another interpretation is the struggle of humans to be pure and to restore moral equilibrium which in this myth was realised by the death of Eurypylus and the succession of Halkonas to his father's throne, who in his wisdom found a way to end the war. |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dry -
mostly cloudy
- thunder; Cumulonimbus clouds observed |
| Temp.:
15.0°C | 59.0 °F
Hourly
Fluctuation (0.0 °C/hr)
Humidity: 76 %
Wind: 2 bft - SSW
|
02:45 AM
(GMT+2) -
03/12/09 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
