Since the letters are graphemes evoking different objects in different contexts, they may be used by different authors (poets) to evoke different things. The term Thasos may mean different things to Herodotus and Aristophanes. Herodotus has long been taken as a historian, but he was (also) an excellent mythographer (storyteller; wordmaker; poet). His style, frequently claiming to have witnessed things, was original at his time but has been repeatedly imitated in world literature ever since. For example, Saint John, the author of the Apocalypse (also known as The Book of Revelation), claims to have witnessed unbelievable events. Telephassa (seen from afar) may mean chimney for an author writing about pottery, a lighthouse for one writing about sea travels, or written word when writing about writing. Authors borrow words from one another but need to change the elements of their story if they are to tell a different story. The coal (Cadmus) used for writing may be the same material used for smithing or cooking. But coal may have different ‘mothers’ for different applications. Cadmus’ mother may be Telephassa (the chimney) for the pottery coal or Argiope (the idle word) for a writing coal-made ink.
Herodotus locates the ‘gold mines’ of
Thasos not to the eastern part of the island but ‘opposite to Samothrace’, an
island that is 60 kilometers away and hardly visible in the East horizon from
the seashore of Thasos[1].
Maybe he means something else! More precisely, he states, the Phoenician mines
were situated between the ‘places’ Αἰνύρων (Ainyrōn, which looks like
genitive of Ainyra; Aenyra) and Κοινύρων (Koinyrōn, genitive of Koinyra;
Coenyra). None of these toponyms exist as such today, except for a hamlet
called Kinyra, either by the corruption of the ancient name or by
coincidence. It is unlikely that the modern little hamlet represents the
remains of a Bronze Age city. Both stems, koin- and kin- are used
in words about stirring, agitation, movement, and mixing. For example, the
Homeric verbs κίνυμαι (kinymai) or κινέομαι (kineomai)
mean to go, move, stir, waver, sway backward and forwards; κίνυγμα (kinygma)
is anything moved about and κοίνωσις (koinōsis) is mingling,
i.e., mix or cause to mix together, blending; hence, κοινός (koinos),
common – of gold, impure, of inferior quality – κοινωνός (koinōnos),
companion, partner, fellow, and κοινωνία (koinōnia), communion,
association, partnership, society.
In contrast, the stem ain- means
separation, like in the simple verb αἵνω (‘ainō), to sift, winnow,
send-up, let go, loosen, unfasten, or αἴνυμαι (ainymai),
to take, take hold, seize. Besides, -ainō is a very
frequent verb ending morpheme. Very frequently, if not always, verbs ending
with -ainō imply some separation, removal, simplification,
either by retaining or by releasing something from a mixture. For example, ξαίνω
(xainō) means to scratch, comb; βαίνω (bainō), to
go away, depart, make to go; φαίνω (phainō), bring to light,
cause to appear, make known, reveal, disclose, make clear, appear; τιταίνω (titainō),
to stretch out, extend, strain or exert oneself; etc. The latter example is
made of the stem tit-, which in the archaic alphabet would be XIX, ><_><, +-+, or
T→T, point-to-point
(designating two connected points), and the morpheme -ainō, meaning
separation. In all, titainō literally means to separate two connected
points. The stem tit- is found in the term Titan, a mythological
creature which, I will argue, is not a deity as it is commonly believed, but a
valuable product of human effort.
The ‘Phoenician gold mines of Thasos,
opposite to Samothrace’ were, therefore, between separation (Ainyra) and
mixing (Koinyra). The phrase probably meant to Herodotus something like
the real value (gold mine) of the potter’s (Phoenician) heating jar (Thasos or
Thasus), placed above the burning coal (Samothrace), was in extracting (Ainyrōn)
and mixing (Koinyrōn). The term Σαμοθρᾴκη (Samothraikē;
Samothrace) is made of Σάμος (Samos) and Θρᾴκη (Thraikē;
Thrace). Today, it is generally believed that the name of the island was given
after some successive waves of migration from the nearby island of Samos and
from Thrace, though there is no archeological or historical evidence of such
migrations to my knowledge. My hypothesis is, instead, that Thraikē
was the burning material, the brazier, and Thasos, a mixing jar, a
vessel (see section Thrace and
Thasos).
According to Strabo, a Greek geographer,
philosopher, and historian who lived in Asia Minor between 64 or 63 BC and
circa 24 AD, samos was an old word signifying a height.
That samos is probably related to English summit, and French sommet
(peak), a diminutive of som (highest part, top of a hill), from Latin summum
(top). Samothraikē was, therefore, the height, the top of the
burning coal. Logically, and in coherence with the mytheme, the heating and
mixing pot Thasus (or Thasos) was placed on, or above, the
burning material (Thraikē; Thrace), just opposite to the top
of the burning coal, i.e. Samothraikē. In Doric, σᾶμα (sama)
is equivalent to Attic σῆμα (sēma), meaning indication,
sign, mark, token (hence, semiotics). A mark (sama)
could indicate the correct placement of the mixing pot for maximal heating
effect. There probably is a close semantic relation between a height, a summit,
samos, and a sign, mark (landmark), signal, sama,
or sēma since semaphores were always placed at summits.
The phrase ‘gold mine’ needs not be
taken literally. Even today, we may call a gold mine anything that can produce
value. It is not surprising that, despite Herodotus’ precise instructions,
scientific teams have found only microscopic traces of unexploitable gold stuck
on limonite ores, which often present as a clay (Phoenician material), from
Thasos
References
Nerantzis, Nerantzis, Yannis Bassiakos, and Stratis Papadopoulos. 2016. “Copper Metallurgy of the Early Bronze Age in Thassos, North Aegean.” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 7: 574–580.
[1] For an observer standing on the ground with h = 1.70 meters, the
horizon is at 4.7 kilometers. The mountain of
Samothrace (approximately 1600 meters high) is seen from sea level at a maximal
distance of 48 km.