One of the Brightest Places on Earth

Saturday, July 17th, 2010

Island of Delos and the Delian Problem

Today was spent visiting the island of Delos, one of the brightest spots in the world. Delos is home to the Temple of Apollo where the altar the Athenians were told to double is located. This is known as the Delian Problem. It wasn’t proven until the 19th century that doubling the cube using a compass and straight edge is impossible. So why then did the oracle at Delphi give this order? The legend says it was because the gods wanted the people to spend more time gaining wisdom and seeking knowledge. It was to keep their minds busy trying to solve the problem.

 Apollo's Altar

Delos is a very intriguing island. It is one of the brightest spots on earth and also shows no signs of earthquake activity even though it is surrounded by land that has had much quake activity. Oddly enough the Greek myths named Delos the birth place of Apollo – god of light. Apollo and Artemis were born from Leto, one of Zeus lovers. Hera, his wife, was not happy about Leto’s pregnancy and made it impossible for Leto to give birth on any land. One of the stories (there are several) is that Leto’s sister, Asteria, had been pursued by Zeus. In order to escape him, she threw herself from the sky into the ocean becoming a floating island known as Delos. Leto went to her and told her the land would become very useful if she would ignore Hera’s threats and allow Leto to give birth there. Asteria agreed. As soon as Leto arrived on the island, the seabed rose up and anchored the floating island.

So let's see..…..
According to a study done by the University of Athens, Delos is considered to be one of the brightest places on earth.  According to the ancient Greeks, Delos happens to be the birthplace of Apollo - god of light.

Delos shows no signs of earthquake activity yet it is surrounded by areas with activity.  According to mythology, Delos just happens to be anchored to the seabed by Leto’s sister Artemis

Is all this coincidence?……makes you wonder about those ancient Greeks and their ‘myths’……..