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Myths
According to Greek mythology, Prometheus gave people everything - life, soul, trade and fire. It was because of the theft of fire from Olympus to give to man that he suffered. Zeus ordered to chain him to the Caucasus, a desert cliff at the back of beyond, in Scythia. It is very likely that this " first Golgotha" is Mount Fischt near Sochi. There is Caucasian Mountain bordering on the Phasis, once called Boreas' Couch (Boreas is the Greek god of the north wind). After the fight of the Titans, Cronus who was trying to escape Zeus' threats, hid himself on the top of Boreas' Couch, turning himself into a crocodile. When Zeus came there he tied his father down with a woollen thread and precipitated him into Tartarus, and then he... renamed the mountain to the Caucasus, chained Prometheus to the rock and made him suffer from an eagle which tore his liver to pieces'. (Plutarch, 1st century AD).
Even the Argonauts came on vacation to our land. During the 13th century, before the Trojan War and long before Odysseus' voyage, the Argonauts started on a dangerous trip across the Ungracious Sea to get the Golden Fleece. The 'northern' route of their sailing seems to the mythologists to be the most logical one because it corresponds to the spreading of Greek settlements on the Black Sea coast. It is known that Greeks witnessed a severe earthquake which took place in the North Caucasus at the time. That day led Hercules unexpectedly to the place that changed the fate of the Titan. And rocking the brutal fetters in different ways with great efforts... he grabbed them with his hands and tore them out of the foot of the rock. The Great Caucasus thundered and following the peak of the mountains logs fell into the sea and rivers were drawn aside of it... At a closer distance one could hear a moaning sound, a hollow roar from the mountain as the rocks were being torn down. And the great moans of the Titan when his members chained to the cliffs were being detached... The Argonauts sailing on the sea were in awe as the broken shores were covered with snow and rocks were smashed. (Gaius Valery Flakk, 1st Century AD). For a long time it has been thought that this catastrophe took place on the mountain Elbrus. It is conjectured that when speaking of gods Greeks could place the scene only on the highest mountain of the Caucasus. Also, in a tragedy by Aischylos (the first recording of the Titan, 5th Century BC) Prometheus, already being chained to the rock, tells the daughter of a river god the way to Elbrus: "Now you turn to the east... and go straight on... until you come to the Caucasus, the greatest of the mountains..." This is indeed the way to Elbrus - eastward from Fischt. Some mythologists believe that Odysseus met the one-eyed Cyclop on the Caucasus' Black Sea coast. And the most appropriate place for this is the Akhshtyrskaya Cave in Sochi because of its closeness to the sea, the landscape and vegetation, and the aborigines customs. According to the Aristotle's "Achaeans and Heniokhs" the first tribes known to live here were in the habit of eating travellers from Greece (It must have been those Greek spices). Hence the Black Sea's ancient name of Ungracious Sea (Pontos Axeinos). |
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Plutarch goes on to tell that the Phasis is a river in Scythia... It was formerly called the Arctur because of the cold surrounding area. Archeaologists believe that at the time when myth about Argonauts was being composed the river Phasis was considered to be in the north and was identified with the Don. The most dominating peak nearest to the Phasis is Fischt. Ancient Greeks thought it was situated in Scythia. And looking at a photo from Sochi the mountain appears to be a crocodile. But the most important trait is a huge red blot that appears on the southern slope after an ancient landslide (the myth says that Prometheus blood soaked into the rocks). And severe snowstorms occur here even at the height of summer. Greeks apparently knew the famous Novorossiysk 'bore'.
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