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Hey all!

Here is something new: I read recently something that intrigued me and I thought that it would be nice of you to know of it as well. It is all about an archaeological artifact.

There is a small ancient town called Leibethra (I never heaed of it as well).

The city, on the east slopes of Mt. Olympus, is, according to the literary sources, the hometown of Orpheus. His tomb, sanctuary and hall of Dionysiac mysteries were probably located on the acropolis, which was deserted for ever during the late Hellenistic period.

In the year 2000 excavations unravelled a bead made from black agate with white lines decoration (length 40cm and 12mm diameter). That bead is dzi from the Himalaya mountains, Tibet, as well as in Butan, Ladac and Sicim (i do not know the actual spelling for these places so sorry for the errors i may have made). Their production is local and is surrounded by ritualistic and religious affairs. The researches believe that the most ancient of them are dated back to 1500 BC to 500 BC and are a branch of the Sumerian bead production. Yet their methods of creation is met in beads dated back to 3000 BC.

However, their actual measurement of their era of creation are difficult to acertain. Archaeological digs do not take place in Tibet since it is against the religious traditions that consider the spirits to be angered in case the earth is tampered with. Thus no beads have been found in official digs. The farmers and the shepherds collect them from their fields. The same religious traditions are the same that do not allow the exploitation of Tibet's mineral resources. According to the Buddist principles the quarring would unbalance the ecological system. Thus the majority of the semi- valuable stones is being imported from other countries.

Many are the legends that follow the dzi beads and it is believed that they are the jewlery of the Gods and Demi Gods who discarded them in the event of them being damaged or flawed by time even in the slightest manner. According to another legend the beads were given by the Gods to mortals who had offered a service to them. Another one says that the beads were once worms that were turned to stones when someone poured sand on them. The people of Tibet respect the dzi beads and do not part from them, not even by being offered huge ammounts of money in order to do so. There are legends of some of them being sold and their previous owners meeting their deaths. It is believed that they protect their owners from car or airplane accidents. In today's "westernized" societies of South Asia the dzi beads are used as a currency of high value.

The proccess of the decoration of those beads are completely unknown to the ancient hellenic and roman world. It is a very complex kind of bunring proccess (I am not about to analyze the proccess itself as it is far too complex). Here we must say that the dzi beads value is estimated according to the traditional system of value estimate between pure ones and those of lesser importance. For a dzi bead to be considered pure it must
a) be original agate with smooth and shinny surface
b) be in perfect condition with no flaws whatosever and the agate must not have vein patterns
c) its colors must be bright either black or brown
d) it must not be transparent even when hit directly by sunlight
e) its shape must be the one of absolute circle
f) it must be decorated with circles (eyes)

The mysterious decorative dzi patterns show relations to shamanism and magic of the animistic, pre buddist religion of Tibet. The Lebiethra bead is a pure dzi that carries the eye decoration. As mentioned before, it was found with other small votives that make us believe that there was a nearby temple of Orpheus. Because of the fact that Greece (Hellas) and Tibet had never commerce relations to Tibet the only way of a dzi bead being found at Lebeithra would be its transportation by a person who must have acquired it back in Asia. It is possible that one of the veterans that followed Alexander in his campaign to have brought it back to his country, having learnt that it was a talisman and finally placing it as votive to the temple. Then on the other hand it may have been an asian wife of a Macedonian who came to Macedonia and placed (Roxane herself came to Macedonia and there may have been foreign wifes of Macedonian officials in her personal guard).

This dzi bead can very well be the memento of a very moving gesture: The Asian wife giving to a foreign temple a very dear talisman of hers, a memento of her lost home, hoping for the Gods good graces.


My sources are: D. Ignatiadou "Κερμάτια Φιλίας" pages 591- 599

This is my second attempt at this post, my dog knocked over my computer and I lost the first.

I think this is fascinating. I can't begin to imagine how it got there from high up in Tibet to that isolated location in Greece. Perhaps one of Alexander's soliders did bring it back from one of the campagins and it was given as an offering at the shrine there.

To me such things are living history, they have a story to tell, even though it may as yet be unknown. It stimulates my creative mind. I have found through my long years of reading and studying that the cultures in the ancient world may not have been so isolated from one another as we have previously been taught.

I have found from my reading and some programs I watch on archeology, etc. that sometimes it's the small, seemingly insignificant things that can lead us to a greater understanding of what took place at that time or give us a better view of that world, one that had up to then previously been seen in only a particular way which in turn changes our world as all things are connected. I have at times thought that we have not really scratched deeply enough to touch the real extent of Alexander and his campaigns upon the world. Yes, from the Western persective we understand what he did and saw and how he did it, but I think there may still be many, many untold stories out there just waiting to be discovered. Perhaps that little bead it part of such a story.

Thank you for sharing, it's wonderfully fascinating. I love archeology, and studied it for about two years, so I just go nuts over these things.

Lysis

lysis56 wrote:This is my second attempt at this post, my dog knocked over my computer and I lost the first.

I think this is fascinating. I can't begin to imagine how it got there from high up in Tibet to that isolated location in Greece. Perhaps one of Alexander's soliders did bring it back from one of the campagins and it was given as an offering at the shrine there.

To me such things are living history, they have a story to tell, even though it may as yet be unknown. It stimulates my creative mind. I have found through my long years of reading and studying that the cultures in the ancient world may not have been so isolated from one another as we have previously been taught.

I have found from my reading and some programs I watch on archeology, etc. that sometimes it's the small, seemingly insignificant things that can lead us to a greater understanding of what took place at that time or give us a better view of that world, one that had up to then previously been seen in only a particular way which in turn changes our world as all things are connected. I have at times thought that we have not really scratched deeply enough to touch the real extent of Alexander and his campaigns upon the world. Yes, from the Western persective we understand what he did and saw and how he did it, but I think there may still be many, many untold stories out there just waiting to be discovered. Perhaps that little bead it part of such a story.

Thank you for sharing, it's wonderfully fascinating. I love archeology, and studied it for about two years, so I just go nuts over these things.

Lysis

Yes i agree it is fascinating ... The distance between the two countries is really enormous so the case of a veteran and his asian wife being in Macedonia has some value...


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