Hyperborea: What Existed in the Far North According to Greek Legend
How did the people of Greece see the rest of the world, especially lands that could not be reached by ship? One example is that of Hyperborea, a semi-legendary land of the far north.
Hecate Greek Goddess of Witchcraft : The Complete Guide What Were the Hamadryads in Greek Mythology? The Hades and Persephone Story Was the Griffin a Bird from Greek Mythology? Greek Hyperborea: What Existed in the Far North According to Greek Legend Hyperborea: What Existed in the Far North According to Greek Legend How did the people of Greece see the rest of the world, especially lands that could not be reached by ship? One example is that of Hyperborea, a semi-legendary land of the far north. ByMike Greenberg, PhD Published on July 27, 2020 14SHARESShareTweet The early Greeks had little reason to think about the world beyond the Western Mediterranean. While trade and colonization put them in contact with nearby cultures like the Egyptians and the people of Asia Minor, much of the rest of the world remained a mystery to them. As trade routes and travel expanded, however, the Greeks came into contact with whole new cultures. Their instinct was to determine how these foreign people fit into their own view of the world. Most Greeks believed their culture to be inherently superior to others. They not only had law, philosophy, the arts, and military techniques, but their gods were real and powerful. Those cultures that could not be identified as Greek were considered barbarous, barely human in their strangeness. Even barbarians, however, could be seen as distant relatives of lesser gods or disgraced men. In some regions, the local gods were readily accepted as slight variations upon the accepted Greek pantheon. The ancient gods of Egypt, for example, were often seen as the deities of Greece with different names and iconography. Thus, the people of nearby places like Egypt and Turkey were seen as close relatives of the Greeks. Their ancient kings were given Greek origin stories and their cultures were seen as civilised and respectable, if foreign. In other lands, however, it was more difficult to link foreign cultures to the Greek view of civilization. These people were considered distant kin at best, and subhuman at worst. One example of this was the Greek view of India. In a late Greco-Roman myth Dionysus waged a war against the exotic Indians to bring the Greek pantheon and wine, an attempt to bring lands reached by Alexander into the established mythology. Although the Indian subcontinent had ancient and rich cultures, the Greeks considered them uncivilized until they had accepted Greek gods and at least some familiar customs. In the case of the Indian War of Dionysus, the aspect of Greek culture exported to this foreign land was wine. Sometimes these cultures were so far removed from Greece that they were little more than legend. A few reports and a tenuous mythological link sometimes led writers to think of exotic lands that defied imagination. One of these cultures was that of the Hyperboreans, residents of a distant northern land of eternal sunlight and spring. Whether Hyperborea was real of a myth, however, is open to interpretation. Hyperborea Beyond the North Wind Hyperborea literally translated to “the land beyond Boreas.” Boreas, the god of the North Wind, was thought to live in the northernmost part of Thrace, so the lands beyond him were generally understood to mean those north of that country. READ NEXT:Where Did Rhea Hide Zeus?Thrace was on the very edge of the Greek world. Its inhabitants were usually considered barbaric in that they practiced strange rituals, spoke a non-Greek language, and only worshiped a few gods recognized as part of the Greek pantheon. The lands beyond Thrace, therefore, were completely removed from anything that could be called Greek. Far from the trade routes of the Mediterranean, the far north was uncharted territory. A few writers described the long trade routes that brought goods like straw and lumber out of this unknown land. Greeks did not travel there themselves, though – the goods of the Hyperboreans passed through Scythia to the Adriatic Sea before making their way to more familiar territories. The lands beyond the mountains of Boreas, therefore, were known to the Greeks only from rumors. And from those rumors, they imagined a wondrous country. The Land of the Far North When we think of the far north of Europe today, we think of a cold land that is marked by long winters. The Greeks, however, imagined a place of eternal spring. Hyperborea was said to enjoy sunlight all the time, with the goddess Nyx never bringing darkness. Boreas, the North Wind, could not blow his brutal cold into the lands beyond his reach. Therefore, Hyperborea took on an almost utopian character. With endless spring and eternal light, Hyperborea was capable of producing two harvests of grain each year with less than half of the work required on a farm in the rocky lands of Greece. Most of the land was left wild, though, with dense forests and green meadows covering the nation. The Eridanos river flower lazily across the landscape, attracting white swans. Hyperborea was a land of plenty. I...