This week that passed, I was completely fascinated by the living history that remains hidden in a football player's name.
Last week, for the European Conference League, my team Panathinaikos was facing Fiorentina of Italy. We lost 3 to 1 and were disqualified. The 1st goal of Fiorentina was scored by a player named Mandragora. His name is completely familiar to Greek people, because Mandragoras is called in Greek, an aromatic plant used for cooking. This has got my attention and following the leads, I reconstructed history that goes back almost up to 3400 years.
Nowadays Cristopher Nolan and his crue, is shooting in Greece a film named Odessey, which narrates the history of Odysseus (Ulysseas in English) in his 20 years journey returning home from the war in Troy, and the adventures he faced. The story of Mandragora goes back up to his era. The era of the Odyssey, was dated by the team of a Greek professor named Papamarinopoulos, which followed the leads in the epic poem Odyssey by Homer, and was able to do so specifically because of two leads. It was mentioned in the poem that the constellation of Boötes was above horizon and was seen by Odysseus in the sea, and a second lead that there was a total sun eclipse visible in Ithaca in the time that Odysseus was claiming back his kingdom from the candidate fiances of his wife Penelope. The constellation of Boötes was above horizon, because the earth's rotating axis makes a movement like a whirligig ending its rotation, and thus some constellations in a period of 22000 years this happens, go bellow the horizon in the geographic latitude of Greece. And if you wonder about the expression "the candidate fiances of his wife Penelope", Odysseus after 20 years was presumed dead and a lot of fiances have gathered in his palace to claim his wife (and wealth). This has happened in 1408 BC (the professor mentions the exact date but I do not remember it).
Let's go back to Mandragora's story and we will link this later. I searched for him in the web and found in Wikipedia that he originates from the city of Naples (Napoli in Italian). This is the link with Odysseus.
According to the Greek Mythology goddess Demetra had a daughter named Persefoni. At some time Persefoni was having fun with her friends, some girls, and the God of the underworld Hades had kidnapped her and took her with him in the underworld. According to one legend, Demetra punished Persefoni's friends because they did not help Persefoni and have let her been kidnapped, by transforming them to creatures named Sirenes, which had the body of a bird and from a point and above the body of a woman. She also cursed them to sing songs that seduce men, and when they would approach they would eat them, but if they failed to do so they were obliged to commit suicide. According to another legend she transformed them in these creatures in order to be able to fly and locate easier Hades to follow him and bring back Persefoni, and the curse occurred, when they failed to do so. One of these creatures was Parthenopi and when she failed to seduce Odysseus she commited suicide.
At some time before 1408 BC up to the date of full Greek collonization of Southern Italy (not a known date to me), merchants from the Greek collonials in southern Italy have decided, as I have mentioned in another message, to move to the middle of the Italian Peninsula to be able to access easier both Etruscan communities in the north of Italy as well as Greek communities in the south of Italy. These merchants have located the body of a young woman that has drowned in - what is now - the coast of Napoli and forced by the beliefs of the era they presumed it was Parthenopi and built a temple there to honor her. Next to the temple a small village was built named Parthenopia. Later a little far away from the village was built the Nea Poli (new town in Greek) which through the years became Neapolis > Napoli. Thus the fans of Napoli sing in the football stadiums "Siamo Partenopei" = "We are Parthenopians" and Mandragora of Fiorentina, orginating from Naples/Napoli has a totally comprehensible to a Greek name (maybe because one of his forefothers was a merchant selling Mandragoras).
Fun fact: An other one of the Sirenes that commited suicide due to Odysseus was Leucosia and her body was presumably located in southern Italy. The name of the town Licosa comes from her name.
Last week, for the European Conference League, my team Panathinaikos was facing Fiorentina of Italy. We lost 3 to 1 and were disqualified. The 1st goal of Fiorentina was scored by a player named Mandragora. His name is completely familiar to Greek people, because Mandragoras is called in Greek, an aromatic plant used for cooking. This has got my attention and following the leads, I reconstructed history that goes back almost up to 3400 years.
Nowadays Cristopher Nolan and his crue, is shooting in Greece a film named Odessey, which narrates the history of Odysseus (Ulysseas in English) in his 20 years journey returning home from the war in Troy, and the adventures he faced. The story of Mandragora goes back up to his era. The era of the Odyssey, was dated by the team of a Greek professor named Papamarinopoulos, which followed the leads in the epic poem Odyssey by Homer, and was able to do so specifically because of two leads. It was mentioned in the poem that the constellation of Boötes was above horizon and was seen by Odysseus in the sea, and a second lead that there was a total sun eclipse visible in Ithaca in the time that Odysseus was claiming back his kingdom from the candidate fiances of his wife Penelope. The constellation of Boötes was above horizon, because the earth's rotating axis makes a movement like a whirligig ending its rotation, and thus some constellations in a period of 22000 years this happens, go bellow the horizon in the geographic latitude of Greece. And if you wonder about the expression "the candidate fiances of his wife Penelope", Odysseus after 20 years was presumed dead and a lot of fiances have gathered in his palace to claim his wife (and wealth). This has happened in 1408 BC (the professor mentions the exact date but I do not remember it).
Let's go back to Mandragora's story and we will link this later. I searched for him in the web and found in Wikipedia that he originates from the city of Naples (Napoli in Italian). This is the link with Odysseus.
According to the Greek Mythology goddess Demetra had a daughter named Persefoni. At some time Persefoni was having fun with her friends, some girls, and the God of the underworld Hades had kidnapped her and took her with him in the underworld. According to one legend, Demetra punished Persefoni's friends because they did not help Persefoni and have let her been kidnapped, by transforming them to creatures named Sirenes, which had the body of a bird and from a point and above the body of a woman. She also cursed them to sing songs that seduce men, and when they would approach they would eat them, but if they failed to do so they were obliged to commit suicide. According to another legend she transformed them in these creatures in order to be able to fly and locate easier Hades to follow him and bring back Persefoni, and the curse occurred, when they failed to do so. One of these creatures was Parthenopi and when she failed to seduce Odysseus she commited suicide.
At some time before 1408 BC up to the date of full Greek collonization of Southern Italy (not a known date to me), merchants from the Greek collonials in southern Italy have decided, as I have mentioned in another message, to move to the middle of the Italian Peninsula to be able to access easier both Etruscan communities in the north of Italy as well as Greek communities in the south of Italy. These merchants have located the body of a young woman that has drowned in - what is now - the coast of Napoli and forced by the beliefs of the era they presumed it was Parthenopi and built a temple there to honor her. Next to the temple a small village was built named Parthenopia. Later a little far away from the village was built the Nea Poli (new town in Greek) which through the years became Neapolis > Napoli. Thus the fans of Napoli sing in the football stadiums "Siamo Partenopei" = "We are Parthenopians" and Mandragora of Fiorentina, orginating from Naples/Napoli has a totally comprehensible to a Greek name (maybe because one of his forefothers was a merchant selling Mandragoras).
Fun fact: An other one of the Sirenes that commited suicide due to Odysseus was Leucosia and her body was presumably located in southern Italy. The name of the town Licosa comes from her name.
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