Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-25
Dotted With Villages.

Dotted With Villages.
The lower slopes and the coast line are
dotted with villages empowered in oak
chestnut, beech. walnut and hazel trees
and masses of lilac. rhododendrons, aza-
leas, nyrtles. orange groves and orchards
OF ounce and cherry trees. which are all
in blossom this time Of year and make a
charming picture.
The steamer stops usually from one
TO five hours. which is long enough to
see everything that is interesting and
that gives us very good idea of
northern Turkey. which. by the way, is
very different from what l expected in
many respects. Indeed it is necessary
his preconceived ideas of Turkish life
and character; but the way we have
to fight with the boatmen and the
hackmen. who refuse in almost every
case to accept the fare agreed upon be-
fore starting, shows that the successors
of Castor and Pollux, Theseus, Diana
and the other demigods who used to
live along here have degenerated from
the classic days.
Fairgrounds of the Gods.
II seems almost incredible that we
are actually visiting the Fairgrounds of
the gods. The imagination of the ancient
Greeks peopled all this beautiful coast
with supernatural beings. the heroes of
their fables and their songs, and there
was mixture of history in them ALL
Colchis. where the golden fleece was
found by the Argonauts, was near Ba-
tum, the Russian seaport of the eau
casus, where they tell u.s. that even now
the shepherds anchor fleeces of wool in
the mountain streams to catch the grains
of gold that float down in the water.
The tragedy Of Prometheus is also To-
Gated In the Caucasus, and Aeschylus, the
famous poet. represented that he was
chained to the peak Of kasbek, a noun
tain which Is still famous, because the
demi-god had stolen fire from Heaven
for the use of mankind. 1t occurred to
me that perhaps Aeschylus was antici-
pattng the operations of the oil COM
pantes at Baku. who drove out the fire
worShipers in order to manufacture kero-
sene.
The Argonauts, you will remember,
sailed from Thessaly to Coichis, under
command of Jason. to fetch golden
fleece, which was suspended from an oak
tree in a grove, guarded day and night
by ferocious dragon. Jason built a
ship Of fifty oars called the Argo, after
the name of the designer. who was guided
by the goddess Minerva.
Heroes on Jason's Staff.
Jason was accompanied upon this ex-
Of Greek fable, including Hercules, Cas-
tor and Pollok. Theseus and others, who
were called the Argonauts after the name
Of the ship. They met with surprising
adventures and when they arrived at
their destination the King Of Colchis
promised TO give up the golden fleece pro-
Vtded Jason would yoke together two
fre-breathing oxen and SOW the teeth of
the dragon which had not been used by
Cadmus at Thebes. Meantime Media, the
daughter Of the king, fell In love with
the captain Of the Argonauts and, when
he promised to marry her, showed him
how to put to sleep the dragon who
guarded the golden fleece and how TO
protect himself against the flames that
came from the nOstrils of those terrible
steers. Jason did the stunt, to use a
classic phrase, married the girl and sailed
away with the treasure. After wandering
about the coast of the Black sea and
threading the BOsphorus and the Darda-
and told the story of their adventures.
II is believed that the fable of the
Argonauts was founded upon a COM
mercial expedition which wealthy mer-
chants of Thessaly sent to explore the
coast of the Black sea twelve or fifteen
hundred years before the Christian era,
and the remains of the colonies they
founded may still be found along the
shores OF Asia Minor. This expedition
was followed by many Greeks from
Miletus and other places, who built a
fringe of cities and towns on every bay
and island along the coast. And their
fleets carried on a commerce quite as
important as that OF today.