They finally reached the entrance and stepped inside the hall. Parthenis breathed in delight at the cooler temperature of the interior. A colossal statue of the goddess Athena (Promachos) stood impressively in the center. Built up through the years in beauty and majesty, the structural design met her eyes in fascination.
“The altar of Athena,” Mnesarchus whispered to her, directing her attention to the left. “She’s the goddess of Mind, Art and Sciences. Worshippers present her their sacrifices by burning cows and sheep.”
“I see,” Parthenis commented pensively then took a look over her shoulder at a large hallway where there reigned the shrine of…
“Zeus,” he explained, attentive to her every move. “This is the shrine of Zeus, king of the Greek gods.”
She turned to give it her full attention, and as she stepped forward, he took her hand to walk towards the shrine, with her brother at her other side. Their steps echoed in the colonnade, empty but for the presence of a lonely man in a white and blue tunic. His head slightly bowed on his thoughts, he paced the hall with his hands behind his back.
“Thales!” Pherecydes called out, recognizing his friend.
Thales halted, grinned and came forward to meet them. Introductions soon made, they all partook in a friendly conversation.
Parthenis listened to him with respectful attention. She restrained from asking a particular question that tantalized her mind. After a while, she grew restless and decided to put it forward.
“The Oracle of Delphi?” Thales repeated. “I did pay her a visit once and that in spite of my doubts. Call it curiosity,” he added with a witty smile. “The truth is that I refused to believe her at first, putting it all on account of her imagination. Yet, what she had foretold to me back then did occur later on and in such a precise way that I had to admit that she was not the fraud I had assumed.” He paused on a certain hidden thought of his, sighed then declared, “After that, I cannot but believe that all things are full of gods.”
“Do you mean to say that all things are full of divinity?”
His dark eyes brightened with a new respect at her sharp deduction and he advanced, “Yes, my Lady, this is exactly what I meant.”
His assertion created enough reason in her mind to yield her closer to the authenticity of the Priestess. She had to convince herself that a man of such wisdom and soberness like Thales could never claim anything more than the truth. She read the sparkle of relief in her husband’s eyes.
She nodded with a bright smile.
“I understand that you are finally okay with our visit to consult the Oracle.” It was more of a question than an affirmation.
“Yes dear, I am okay with it.”
Thales approved of her decision with a nod. “I advise you to visit on the seventh day of the Delphic month. It will be the birthday of the god Apollo thus the best timing for a consultation.”
“Three days from now,” Pherecydes noted.
“Oh!” She murmured, suddenly realizing how soon it would be.
“We should be on our way by tomorrow then,” Mnesarchus decided in a serious tone. “It will take us two days to reach it.”
Parthenis grabbed her brother’s arm and asked, “Would you come along, Pherecydes?” A note of imploration betrayed her.
He stared at her with an encouraging smile. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world, beloved sister!” He patted her hand then kept his on hers as if to infuse her with courage. He looked at Thales and said, “Would you join us, my friend?”
“I Sure will!” Thales accepted the invitation with patent enthusiasm.
Parthenis rejoiced at the thought of having the company of all three men in that important journey. Somehow, it made her feel more secure.
There existed only two options for those who marched to meet their destiny. To journey alone, or with those who might share the same fate.
And in this case, it concerned the revelation of the fate of a future Phoenician boy, and all of them were highly interested in heeding the prophecy.
Very early at dawn the next day, the carriage left the city still asleep in tranquility. The group reached the outskirts of the city of Thebes at the time the sun was edging the horizon.
“Our first stopover,” Pherecydes announced in relief. “Thebes, my friends, is one of the many Grecian cities founded by Kadmus, our notorious Phoenician!”
“Is it so?” Parthenis straightened up on her seat.
“True,” Thales confirmed with his deep, serene voice. “When the god Zeus kidnapped Europa from Phoenicia, Kadmus undertook, in secret, a long search for his sister. During those years he worked on colonizing several cities and civilizing the Greek nation to whom he introduced the phonetic Alphabet.”
Parthenis knew that famous story of her great Ancestor, but to come to see one of his achievements was something overwhelming. They soon reached an inn, west of Thebes, and stopped for their breakfast. They decided to extend their stay to allow Parthenis to visit the city.
During their lunch time, she engaged in conversation with Tales and her brother. With grace and sincerity, she expressed her pride at their improvement endeavors. She openly spoke of her emotion at witnessing the historical social and economic reform they had proclaimed a few days earlier.
By the evening, exhaustion took the best of her. Her silence betrayed her at the dinner table, so did her reluctance to stand up and continue the journey. She gratefully welcomed her companion’s sudden decision, claiming, all at once, that the wooden cottage was too beautiful and much too appealing not to reside there for the night.
Early in the afternoon of the following day, the group reached some stately fields that stretched wide beneath Mt. Parnassus. On one of its many superposing slopes, stood the Temple overlooking, with all its beauty, the valley of the Plistus River. Considered as the most holy place in Greece, the temple of Mt. Parnassus was known as the navel of the world.
The group stepped out of the stagecoach at the outskirts of the Temple. Parthenis wished her physical status would allow her to stretch out her back like her companions did. She instead contented herself in bracing in deeply the fresh air that enlivened her. Her fatigue waned gradually. Her eyes relaxed at the amazing view below the mountain and she felt a delicious sense of peace. Only then, did she decide to proceed with her visit. From the carriage, she retrieved a package containing her offerings, brought from Lebanon, especially for this visit. This one contained a ritual cake and Cedar incense for the God Apollo, the Sun.
They entered the Temple from the East side in deferential silence and halted at the altar for Parthenis to present the Priests with her parcel. Thales came forward and offered to stand as the sole sponsor of the consultation. The Priests agreed and scheduled their session for the early morning of the next day. They invited the group to stay overnight in the dormitory of the pilgrims near the Temple.
At dinner time, Parthenis met Pythia, the Priestess-Medium. Now in her fifties, Pythia assumed, among other tasks, the role of attending to the female visitors. The presentation was done and the Priestess off to her duties elsewhere.
“Pythia was a young virgin chosen from among the poorest families in the region, as is the tradition here, to serve the Temple,” Thales addressed Parthenis in a low voice. “Living a life of asceticism since then, she resides in an annexed secluded room. She is not much of a talkative person, Parthenis, so please don’t take it personally when she attends to you tomorrow morning,” he added with a hint of a smile.
And so it happened. Pythia woke her up at sunrise and attended to her ritual bathing in the Castalian spring. Afterwards, she escorted her to the Cassotis sacred spring to drink from the pure water of its source.
When the ritual ended, she escorted her to the main entrance of the Temple. On a golden plate above the entrance, words written in different ancient languages intrigued Parthenis who stopped to read “Man know thyself...”
Once inside, she followed Pythia a few strides to the right and down into
a small, low ceilinged cell built in the rock. The cold engulfed her. With fascination and dread, she watched the Priestess-Medium performing some formal procedure. All too slowly, she mounted a brass tripod angled into certain mystical mathematical degrees. Parthenis deemed the tripod to hold some sacred meanings. Pythia had already placed it over a crevice in the ground through which emanated prophetic vapors. She then went on chewing some shrub leaves from the sacred Laurel tree of Apollo.
There in complete silence and dim light, an intense fog of fumes engulfed her to throw her at once into a trance. She appeared moving into another dimension that could be spiritual. Smoothly and easily, she appeared to grasp that other arcane world as if gifted for such a strange exploit. Thales appeared behind Parthenis and, as he had previously promised to be her sole sponsor, he stood there silent, watching…
A priest of the Temple came forward and interpreted to her ears the unfurling scene.
“Pythia is communicating with the god Apollo. She will now speak with the mouth of Python; the Serpent of Wisdom.”
Parthenis felt spellbound by the incoherent words that spurred out of the odd woman. She felt grateful to that priest when he explained the strange verses to her.
“You will have a son, Parthenis…. A great man he shall be… He shall play a major role… in the evolution of the Human race….”
In a motherly instinct of protection, Parthenis covered her belly with trembling hands.
Her own son… a great man who will affect the entire Human race?!
That was a lot for her to absorb at once. She remained still though as the revelation continued from the mouth of Pythia and interpreted at once by the baldheaded yet bearded, tall priest.
“Your son, Parthenis, will be born in Saydoun. At the age of one, you must take him to Gebel… to be baptized by the Priests of AL… there in the Adonis River….”
Parthenis shivered with emotion. Such a prophecy could not have been uttered but by the foremost spirit of Al-Elyon; the God-Light, the Most High. Overwhelmed, she fought back her tears.
Pythia slouched to the floor and went silently subdued. Parthenis stared down at her motionless body with anxiety then assumed that the vision had ended at that. She turned to the priest. He remained silent. Confused, not knowing what to do, she then turned to Thales for reassurance, and at his nod, her concern faded away. He smiled with what seemed to her an expression of satisfaction and divine hope. Her heart beat faster. She drew her shivering hand to her mouth to abstain from screaming out her elation. Then, without further ado, she veered on her heels and rushed out.
As she crossed the threshold of the exit door from the West side, she came to a quick halt, went back on her steps, looked up at the inscription above the door and read the golden sign. “…You will know the secrets of the Universe and the gods”.
She frowned in concentration for a while. Her intuition told her of the importance of solving this puzzle. She recalled what she had read on her way in from the Eastern side. She grinned. Composing both sentences into one, she said out loud: “Man know thyself... You will know the secrets of the Universe and the gods”.
The moment she pronounced the mystical message, her baby-boy moved in a circular motion inside her womb.
.2.
Birth[8]: On the Path to Greatness.
Athens rejoiced in a festive mood. Locals and visitors alike anticipated with excitement the evening presentation of the theatre[9] show; so did Parthenis! From her window, she watched in fascination as the artists and their assistants bustled all day with their preparations. Setting up a stage was not as easy as she had assumed, and the dedication of these people to every single detail amazed her. She welcomed the distraction. A dreamy state of mind had subdued her into an atypical quietness since her visit to the Oracle of Delphi two days ago. Back in Athens now, and with all these vibes of exhilaration in the air, she finally woke up to her usual self.
At the fall of evening, the square ignited with hundreds of colorful lights that took her breath away. A vibrant music drifted all around the square, and people started to fill the area, not only with their presence, but with their laughter and chats. Parthenis grew restless. She paced the room back and forth. She halted to look from the window for a while, then back to her pacing.
“Take it easy, dear,” Mnesarchus admonished her kindly then engrossed again in the reading of some documents.
“Come on, Mnesarchus! Pherecydes and Thales should have been here already! What is keeping them?”
“We still have some time before the show starts, Parthenis. Don’t work yourself up now. It is neither good for you nor healthy for the baby.”
She sighed in loud complaint and went to the window. She noticed that the theater team had already disappeared behind the installation. “Oh! They are about to start! We are going to miss it, Mnesarchus!”
“We won’t dear, I promise.”
It was then that she heard the knock on their door. She pivoted on herself and dashed to open it revealing Thales and Pherecydes. Her husband chuckled in amusement.
“Let’s go, let’s go!” She rushed them out excitedly.
Thales and Pherecydes stared at her for a moment then, as they seemed to understand her impatience, they laughed and followed her quick steps out of the inn and past the road to the square.
The moment they reached their table, Captain Hamelkon stood up to greet them with his distinctive cordiality and they all sat to enjoy their evening. The play absorbed them all at once. Three talented actors presented a series of dramatic and tragic scenes which themes tackled the social life of the Athenians as well as the political and military ones.
Their richly colored costumes of extravagant patterns brightened the stage. Their cloaks opened up on their adorned robes that topped some festooned boots. They used genuine human hair for a more realistic impression. Their masks portrayed different facial expressions at each scene. Accordingly, they succeeded in representing several characters of gods, legendary figures, famous people, women, and animals.
Captivated, as was the large audience, Parthenis forgot all about her dinner on the table. She would dry a tear or two at a dramatic act, and clap her hands in appreciation at the end of each scene. Mnesarchus drew her attention to her meal at every entr’acte. It was then that she noticed that some affable waiters constantly passed by their table to pour more wine in the goblets of the men.
During one of these entr’actes, she made it a point to converse with Thales and Pherecydes. “I couldn’t help noticing your major influence on the Wise Man of Greece. I am sure he relies much on your advice and contribution of thoughts and wisdom.”
Thales blushed and abstained from answering; probably out of modesty, she thought.
Of a more extroverted personality, her brother prompted, “Thanks for the praises, fair sister. Truth be told, we are both honored to be his advisors!”
“Sure, sure, my dear brother,” she teased him. “We are all honored indeed, but still, modesty on the side, you are doing really great!”
Pherecydes abstained to answer. Something in the conversation of Thales and Captain Hamelkon had grabbed his attention. He leaned forward on the table to listen to them. Parthenis imitated him, guessing from his focused features that this might be quite an interesting discussion. They debated over Astronomy. Both Thales and the Captain proved to benefit from a wide knowledge of the sky and its heavenly bodies.
“Thales is a notorious scientist himself,” Mnesarchus murmured close to her ear. “Fifteen years ago, or so, he predicted, rightly, a solar eclipse.”
Impressed, she examined the wise man as if seeing him for the first time.
His voice drifted deep and even. “I strongly advise you, dear Captain, to take into serious consideration the Stars of the Chariot in your navigation. Follow the Ursa Minor, or the so called Little Bear, rather than the Ursa Major, or what we call the Great Bear.”
At these words, Parthenis felt a sudden kick inside her. She instinctively
placed the palm of her hand on her tummy.
“Are you okay?” Mnesarchus hurriedly asked; his eyes dark with concern. His arm wrapped around her shoulders.
“Yes dear!” She smiled broadly. “It’s just the baby kicking.”
Pherecydes chuckled then, his eyes bright with emotion. “Tell me, sister. How is it going with your preparations for the birth of our new family member?”
The question redirected the general conversation to the main subject of her presence in Athens. The men offered her suggestions of all kinds, based on what they knew from their families or what they had heard. They all acted as concerned as the father of her unborn child. She ended laughing with hilarity.
Their happy chitchat continued all the way back to the inn where the group halted under a pine tree to admire the stars in silence.
Captain Hamelkon coughed discreetly to break the silence. “We should sail back home in a couple of days Sir,” he addressed Mnesarchus. “I thought to remind you in case you still have any unfinished business in town.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Mnesarchus replied calmly. “We are done with what we came here to do, and we are very much looking forward to our return home.”
The Captain lifted his eyebrows in surprise. “No regret whatsoever to leave the Great City? I had the impression that you were enjoying your stay.”
“Oh but we are!” Parthenis exclaimed. “It is that… well,” she hesitated.
“A great event awaits them in Saydoun,” her brother came at her rescue with a merry mood.
“They have a lot to prepare,” Thales dashed out.
“You mean the baby,” the Captain uttered.
“Not just the baby!” Mnesarchus insinuated jovially. “Is it darling?”
Parthenis grabbed his forearm with both hands and lifted a bright smile at him. She then leaned her head on his shoulder. She met the happy faces of Thales and Pherecydes, yet they all abstained to discuss the prophecy in front of the Captain.
Pythagoras the Mathemagician Page 5