Erasmus+ KA229: “From MYTHOS to LOGOS” – “The stars, the sky and the earth” «The Pleiades» Page 1 Erasmus+ KA229: “From MYTHOS to LOGOS” – “The stars, the sky and the earth” Educational Interdisciplinary Approaches based on the Myth of Pleiades Page 2 Erasmus+ KA229: “From MYTHOS to LOGOS” – “The stars, the sky and the earth” Ancient Greek Language (Οdyssey) & Physics (Astronomy) «Ulysses’ journey guided by the stars» Authors: Tastani Elpiniki, Apostolidou Anthi Duration: 3h Part I: Odyssey Ulysses’ Adventure Map Page 3 Erasmus+ KA229: “From MYTHOS to LOGOS” – “The stars, the sky and the earth” Calypso’s Island: Calypso (the name means she who hides) was an immortal beautiful woman. She was the daughter of Atlas and lived on the island of Ogygia. This is an imaginary island, but there are three existing islands, where it is believed that Ogygia really was. These islands are: 1. Ceuta Island: It lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea (by the Strait of Gibraltar) and the Atlantic Ocean and between Europe and Africa. 2. Gozo Island: It is part of Malta, lies in the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. 3. Gavdos Island: is the southernmost Greek island, located to the south of its much larger neighbour, Crete. Where was Ithaca located? The specific location of the island as it was described in Homer’s Odyssey, is a matter of debate. According to a study of the British archaeologist Robert Bittlestone, (1998) who used a NASA’s 3D-monitor, he found out that the west part of Kefalonia island maybe, sometime in the past, it was cut out of the main island and they reunited due to earthquakes that had happened in the area of the Ionian Sea. When Homer describes Ithaca, he speaks about The Forkys Gulf in the meedle of the island and the two mountains on the North and the South (Niriton and Niion). As a result, maybe Ulysses’ Ithaca was Kefalonia! StarWars: The Trojan war to be continued… The Jupiter trojans, commonly called Trojan asteroids or simply Trojans, are a large group of asteroids that share the planet Jupiter's orbit around the Sun. The first Jupiter trojan discovered, 588 Achilles, was spotted in 1906 by German astronomer Max Wolf. A total of 7040 Jupiter Page 4 Erasmus+ KA229: “From MYTHOS to LOGOS” – “The stars, the sky and the earth” trojans have been found as of October 2018. By convention, they are each named from Greek mythology after a figure of the Trojan War, hence the name "Trojan". The total number of Jupiter trojans larger than 1 km in diameter is believed to be about 1 million, approximately equal to the number of asteroids larger than 1 km in the asteroid belt. Like main-belt asteroids, Jupiter Trojans form families. The two groups are opposite each other with planet Jupiter in the middle to divide them so that they will not collide with each other. On the side of the Achaeans are the asteroids Achilles, Nestor, Agamemnon, Ulysses, Diomedes, Sthenelos, Menelaus, Thersitis, Stendor, Idomen, Telamon (Ajax), Khalchas, etc. On the side of the Trojans there are the asteroids Priam, Aeneas, Glaucous, Elenos, Antinor, Sarpidon, Pandaros, Laokon, Paris, Dolon, Simoesios, Astyanaktas, etc. The only “dissonance” in the uranography of the Trojan War is the position of the asteroids Patroclus and Hector, which were given their names before the separation of the Achaeans and the Trojans into camps. These two constellations are in the “wrong” camp; Patroclus is in the Trojans and Hector is in the Achaeans. Page 5 Erasmus+ KA229: “From MYTHOS to LOGOS” – “The stars, the sky and the earth” Part II: Physics (Astronomy) Star Constellations in Odyssey Bootes: One of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, Boötes is now one of the 88 modern constellations. It contains the fourth-brightest star in the night sky, the orange giant Arcturus. Epsilon Bootis, or Izar, is a colourful multiple star popular with amateur astronomers. Boötes is home to many other bright stars, including eight above the fourth magnitude and an additional 21 above the fifth magnitude, making a total of 29 stars easily visible to the naked eye. Boötes is a constellation bordered by Virgo to the south, Coma Berenices and Canes Venatici to the west, Ursa Major to the northwest, Draco to the northeast,and Hercules, Corona Borealis and Serpens Caput to the east. Arcturus, also designated Alpha Boötis (α Boötis, abbreviated Alpha Boo, α Boo), is the brightest star in the constellation of Boötes, the fourth- brightest in the night sky, and the brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere. Arcturus is a red giant —an ageing star around 7.1 billion years old that has used up its core hydrogen and moved off the main sequence. It is 1.08±0.06 times as massive as the Sun, but has expanded to 25.4±0.2 times its diameter and is around 170 times as luminous.With an apparent visual magnitude of −0.05, Arcturus is the brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere and Page 6 Erasmus+ KA229: “From MYTHOS to LOGOS” – “The stars, the sky and the earth” the fourth-brightest star in the night sky, after Sirius (−1.46 apparent magnitude), Canopus (−0.72) and Alpha Centauri (−0.27). Arcturus is visible from both Earth's hemispheres. Ursa Major (Great Bear): It is a constellation in the northern sky, one of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, Ursa Major is now one of the 88 modern constellations. Ursa Major is visible throughout the year from most of the northern hemisphere, and appears circumpolar above the mid- northern latitudes. From southern temperate latitudes, the main asterism is invisible, but the southern parts of the constellation can still be viewed. The neighboring constellations are Boötes, Camelopardalis, Canes Venatici, Coma Berenices, Draco, Leo, Leo Minor and Lynx. Orion: Orion is a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world. It is one of the most conspicuousand recognizable constellations in the night sky. Its brightest stars are Rigel (Beta Orionis) and Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis), a blue-white and a red supergiant, respectively. Orion is bordered by Taurus to the northwest, Eridanus to the southwest, Lepus to the south, Monoceros to the east, and Gemini to the northeast. Covering 594 square degrees, Orion ranks twenty- sixth of the 88 constellations in size.Orion is most visible in the evening sky from January to March, winter in the Northern Hemisphere, and summer in the Southern Hemisphere.Orion's seven brightest stars form a distinctive Page 7 Erasmus+ KA229: “From MYTHOS to LOGOS” – “The stars, the sky and the earth” hourglass-shaped asterism, or pattern, in the night sky. Four stars— Rigel, Betelgeuse, Bellatrix and Saiph—form a large roughly rectangular shape, in the centre of which lie the three stars of Orion's Belt—Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka. Descending from the 'belt' is a smaller line of three stars, Orion's Sword (the middle of which is in fact not a star but the Orion Nebula), also known as the hunter's sword. Many of the stars are luminous hot blue supergiants, with the stars of the belt and sword forming the Orion OB1 Association. Standing out by its red hue, Betelgeuse may nevertheless be a runaway member of the same group. The Secrets of Ulysses’ Adventure… The Pleiades constellation is visible from May to November and the Bootes constellation goes down in the latitude of Greece in the beginning of November. This means that Ulysses probably travelled during the summer. The Ocean was considered the biggest river surrounding the Earth. The Earth was believed to have the shape of a flat plate. The celestial bodies rose from and set into the Ocean, apart from the Bear which never set. During Ulysses’ journey the Bear (i.e. the North) was on his left hand. It is therefore believed that he travelled from the West to the East. Page 8 Erasmus+ KA229: “From MYTHOS to LOGOS” – “The stars, the sky and the earth” Defining the time of Ulysses’ journey… They examined fully the solar eclipses’ occurrence (partial, annular, total) based on NASA catalog; within the time span 1400-1130 yr B.C. We did not find another pair of solar eclipses, separated byten years, which would be visible in Troy and in the Ionian Islands respectively satisfying fully all theHomeric descriptions, both in the Ionian Islands in the autumn (with Venus observable at eastward sky) and Troy’s environments within the spring and summer respectively. Consequently, we can say that the Iliad’s events happened at the beginning of the 10thyear,in the spring and summer of 1218 yr B.C. Taking into account, all these analyses, we reached a new date for the Trojan War’s end based on the solar eclipse of the 6thJune of 1218 yr B.C. visible in Troy. We also took into account the battles’ specific warm conditions in the Iliad and the autumn conditions inOdysseus’ return,respectively, as described by Homer analytically. Within both those corresponding, conditions mentioned above, the planet Venus was in the east sky before sunrise a) five days before Odysseus’ arrival and b) three days after Patroclus death’s day.We found only one pair of two solar eclipses which satisfies fully the Homeric text: a) the annular solar eclipse on the 6thof June 1218 yr B.C. for the Trojan War’s end and b) the annular solar eclipse on the 30thof October 1207 yr B.C. for Odysseus’ return, observed as partial solar eclipses in Troy and the Ionian Islands respectively, with almost the same significant obscuration of 75% Page 9 Erasmus+ KA229: “From MYTHOS to LOGOS” – “The stars, the sky and the earth” Ancient Greek Language (Iliad) «Stars in Ancient Greek Poetry» Author: Tastani Elpiniki Class Β΄,Duration: 3h The Shield of Achilles is the shield that Achilles uses in his fight with Hector, famously described in a passage in Book 18, lines 478– 608 of Homer's Iliad.