Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Metis



Metis. Hesiod, Theogony 886 ff : "Zeus, as king of the gods, took as his first wife Metis, and she knew more than all the gods or mortal people. But when she was about to be delivered of the goddess, gray-eyed Athene, then Zeus, deceiving her perception by treachery and by slippery speeches, put her away inside his own belly. This was by the advices of Gaia (Earth) and starry Ouranos (Sky), for so they counselled, in order that no other everlasting god, beside Zeus, should ever be given kingly position. For it had been arranged that, from her, children surpassing in wisdom should be born, first the gray-eyed girl, the Tritogeneia Athene . . . but then a son to be king over gods and mortals was to be born to her and his heart would be overmastering; but before this, Zeus put her away inside his own belly so that this goddess should think for him, for good and for evil."

8 comments:

  1. So Venus was a comet, is what you're saying...

    ReplyDelete
  2. "As Zeus's [Jupiter's] daughter [Venus] she'll be immortal and live in heaven with her brothers, Pollux and Castor, the heavenly twins, an extra star for ships to steer their courses by." -- Euripides, playwright, Orestes, 408 B.C.

    "Some of the Italians called Pythagoreans say that the comet is one of the planets [Venus]." -- Aristotle, philosopher, Meteorology, Book I, 350 B.C.

    "Democritus however, insists upon the truth of his view and affirms that certain stars [Venus] have been seen when comets dissolve." -- Aristotle, philosopher, Meteorology, Book I, 350 B.C.

    "Modern probes to Venus have documented attributes of the planet that could be consistent with a history as a comet. These include the discovery of hydroxyl ions, which are abundant in the atmosphere of comets but exceedingly rare in the atmospheres of planets, the existence of an ionotail, described by some astronomers as the planetary counterpart to a comet's tail, and evidence that the ionotail is driven by the Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability, the same effect that is thought to be responsible for a comet's tail." -- SmokeNMirrors

    ReplyDelete
  3. So Jupiter swallowed Metis and then immediately afterwards ejected Venus.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The first quote refers to Helen, not Venus.

    Second, Athene was born of Jupiter, not Aphrodite/Venus.

    Lastly, and most importantly, there is no physical method by which a planet can grow inside another, be ejected and circularize its orbit in the time period you are talking about.

    If you have a theory, or even a mechanism which provides predictions, please share. If all you have are poorly-chosen quotes from dead folks, please move along, folks should be using these electrons for actual science.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jeffrey,

    You think Helen became an extra star for ships to steer their courses by? What star did the Greeks call Helen?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Regarding Athena and Aphrodite: you have obviously never read Plato's Timaeus.

    Regarding your faith based belief that "there is no physical method by which" a planet can be ejected by another and then reach a circular orbit read the Augustine quote posted below.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Helen was not Zeus's daughter!

    Athene Nike is very well known to those of us familiar with the English copper pre-decimal penny. She is also known as Britannia! She resided in the Parthenon. Made a bit of an impression on the Greeks, ya think?

    ReplyDelete