Mount Lykaion Essay
An 11th century teenage skeleton found at Mount Lykaion in Greece is drawing up the perfect fantastic mystery novel, complete with Greek god Zeus, possible werewolves and a missing head suggesting sacrifice. The remains were discovered this summer, but recently announced August 10, at the site of a sanctuary dedicated to the King of Gods, Zeus, according to Live Science.
The supposed teenage skeleton was thought at first to be a sacrifice to the god, in the hopes, according to Herald Net, that he’d turn into a wolf. This odd wish is connected to a tale of a Greek named Lycaon as the Mount is named after, trying to trick Zeus into eating a sacrifice “tainted with human flesh” and as punishment being turned into a wolf. The werewolf myth began …show more content…
It’s not a cemetery.” Ioannis Mylonopoulos, Professor of Archaeology at Columbia University, added that the skeleton may be from a later period and was simply buried at the site.
While archeologists wrestle with the question of human sacrifice or not, because there are ancient literary sources claiming human sacrifices took place on the altar, Romano agrees, or even if the boy was buried there as a form of honor for his sacrifice, one thing is certain: sacrifices of animals in nature have taken place there and it is simply a matter of continuing excavation efforts to deduce whether or not more human sacrifices, bones or ash, will be found. As Romano makes clear, they have “a number of years” of excavation to undergo and 90 percent of the remains are unaccounted for.
Is it possible that through the massive burned offerings of sheep and goat and the treasures of cups and coins that the ashes of other humans will be found, or perhaps the missing part of the boy’s skull? Until more clues are dug up and more study is performed, Mylonopoulos admits that the skull may be missing due to a honorific practice historians are unfamiliar with, all we will have is bones with no
The supposed teenage skeleton was thought at first to be a sacrifice to the god, in the hopes, according to Herald Net, that he’d turn into a wolf. This odd wish is connected to a tale of a Greek named Lycaon as the Mount is named after, trying to trick Zeus into eating a sacrifice “tainted with human flesh” and as punishment being turned into a wolf. The werewolf myth began …show more content…
It’s not a cemetery.” Ioannis Mylonopoulos, Professor of Archaeology at Columbia University, added that the skeleton may be from a later period and was simply buried at the site.
While archeologists wrestle with the question of human sacrifice or not, because there are ancient literary sources claiming human sacrifices took place on the altar, Romano agrees, or even if the boy was buried there as a form of honor for his sacrifice, one thing is certain: sacrifices of animals in nature have taken place there and it is simply a matter of continuing excavation efforts to deduce whether or not more human sacrifices, bones or ash, will be found. As Romano makes clear, they have “a number of years” of excavation to undergo and 90 percent of the remains are unaccounted for.
Is it possible that through the massive burned offerings of sheep and goat and the treasures of cups and coins that the ashes of other humans will be found, or perhaps the missing part of the boy’s skull? Until more clues are dug up and more study is performed, Mylonopoulos admits that the skull may be missing due to a honorific practice historians are unfamiliar with, all we will have is bones with no