The Elements at Akrotiri

This implies that Aegean society had already acquired considerable experience pertaining to the properties of these elements. This paper attempts to seek the knowledge and experience of the inhabitants of Akrotiri, the city in which, thanks to the circumstances of its destruction, the maximum of information concerning the prehistoric society of the Aegean has been preserved. The relations - direct and indirect - between the inhabitants of Akrotiri and each of the Elements are examined.

INTRODUCTION

From the earliest times the Elements - Earth, Water, Air, Fire - have occupied human thought. In the 6th century BC the pre-Socratic philosophers of Ionia, in their attempted rationalistic interpretation of nature, regarded these elemenis as primal in the creation of the cosmos. Certainly the strictly critical thought of the Ionian philosophers was not born of a momentary coincidence of circumstances. There is nothing fortuitous in the fact that the cities which were their birthplace and where their thoughts were formed were long-established centres of commerce and seafaring. Indeed many of the philosophers were themselves well-travelled merchants. As Sambursky (1987, 3) has observed, early Greek science was not born in a vacuum. 'It inherited material, some of which had been worked upon and some not: the scientific myths and cosmogonies of Greece and the accumulated treasures of two thousand years of Babylonian and Egyptian science.' Thus the Ionian philosophers embarked on their struggle of 'logos' against 'mythos', with the aim of furnishing 'a rational interpretation to natural occurences which had previously been explained by a minimum of hypotheses.' (Sambursky 1987, 4).

Archaeological evidence to date confirms that for thousands of years the Aegean archipelago served as a bridge in the circulation of goods and ideas. It was the cross-roads, the meeting-place of the civilizations and cultural mentality of three continents. The Aegean merchant and mariner was at the very heart of this conflux, not unusually being its instigator. And so he was exposed to ideas which he assessed and compared, formulating his own opinion. Thus there is nothing strange in the view that reasoned thought had been cultivated many centuries before the appearance of the Ionian philosophers. They were simply, since writing had meanwhile evolved, able to record it for posterity.

Man's need to seek the beginning of being is as old as man himself. There is perhaps no mythology in the world which does not include a creation myth (Hawkes 1963, 6; Renfrew 1982, 1; Redfield 1965, 88). But the Ionian philosophers were the first, possibly in the world, to tackle the concept of creation, denuding it of its mythological content and proffering a logical, scientific explanation. According to Plato, these philosophers were of the opinion that the four Elements - Earth, Water, Air, Fire - exist in nature by chance. None of them is the result of any plan or providence. Out of these Elements the heavenly bodies were derived, from their activity the seasons were created (Farrington 1963, 42). But why did the Ionian philosopher seek the beginning of being in the Elements? What knowledge did they have of them? What was the Aegean islanders' experience of the Elements? It goes without saying that the answers to these questions are far from easy. Perhaps, however, a quest for these Elements in the settlements which flourished in the Aegean prior to the Ionian philosophers, and a study of the relations of the pre-Socratic societies of that region with these Elements, may help in addressing the issue.

In recent years the notion that facets of the way of thinking of past societies may be investigated through their material remains has gained considerable ground. C. Renfrew (1982, 26) declares that '... the material record of human experience in different parts of the world and at different times, does contain accessible information not only about human technology and economy and society but about human reasoning also,' because 'the exercise of mind involves not simply doing things, such as adopting a farming economy, but thinking about doing things - doing them consciously.' (Renfrew 1982, 16.) The role of labour in the evolution of human thought was first developed by Engels in his work 'The Part played by Labour in the Transition from Ape to Man' (The Dialectics of Nature), which has recently been analysed and documented with modern data by I.L. Andreyev (1985). Each of man's material creations is a record of his programmed and conscious action. Indeed some of his creations constitute direct records of higher intellectual processes. The use of mensural units, the depiction (mapping) of the world, the use of symbols for differentiating groups or individuals within society, the performance of standardized rituals, inter alia, may all be sought in the archaeological record (Renfrew 1982, 19 - 25).

Thus to attempt to seek out the steps made by Aegean thought before this was expressed by the pre-Socratic philosophers, is a legitimate aim. The four Elements, which occupied the minds of the Ionian philosophers, have been chosen because these may be relatively easily sought, directly or indirectly, in the archaeological record. On account of the excellent preservation of information on the prehistoric society of the Aegean, which distinguishes Akrotiri, this is a unique laboratory in which to inquire into the minds of its inhabitants. So, in the Socratic manner, we embark on our quest for the sources of pre-Socratic thought, examining each of the Elements in turn, as represented in the settlement at Akrotiri. Let us try to trace the possible experiences of the inhabitants of Akrotiri relating to the role each Element played in the prehistoric society of Thera and, by extension, the Aegean.

EARTH

According to Plato and Aristotle the first philosopher and teacher on the unity of the cosmos, the founder of the Eleatic School, Xenophanes of Kolophon (570 - 480 BC), maintained that the provenance of all things was Earth and Water and that it was to Earth that all things returned (Theodorakopoulos 1971, 428). Similarly, for the Acragantine Empedokles, one of the 'root stocks of all things', as he dubbed the four Elements, is Earth (Guthrie 1987, 57).

A thousand years before Xenophanes, Earth appeared before the inhabitants of Thera in many spheres of everyday life. After death every living organism returns to Earth, is absorbed, becomes one with it: an experience acquired by man from the moment he first appeared on the planet. Another age-old experience is that Earth, as soil, constitutes a basic factor in ensuring food. The agricultural economy of prehistoric Thera, remnants of which abound at Akrotiri, confirms this experience: Earth, the soil, is a factor of life. For the inhabitant of Akrotiri Earth was also a basic component in constructing his dwelling. The stones of varied sizes and shapes used in the buildings would have been reduced to amorphous mounds if Earth, as mud, had not been used to mortar them. Without this basic cohesive substance, the construction of buildings, and indeed two and three storeys high, would not have been possible. It was with Earth, beaten, that the houses were roofed (Doumas 1983, 50ff.). Thus Earth provided protection and warmth, kept the cold, the rain, the wind, the intense heat at bay.

As pottery clay, Earth assumed many forms and covered a wide spectrum of the needs of Theran society. Domestic vessels for everyday use, the storage and consumption of food, containers for the transport and distribution of goods, even objects or vessels associated with entertaimnent ('magical' or trick vases, dolls, pawns etc.) or ideology (cult or ritual vessels) are fashioned from clay, from Earth (Doumas 1983, 180ff.).

Earth again, in the form of stones, ores, minerals, furnished the means for covering a host of other needs: stones as building material or for the fashioning of vessels, utilitarian and decorative, the various metal ores, the minerals used extensively as pigments in the art of Akrotiri are just a few of the forms in which Earth was known to the prehistoric Therans.

The wide diversity of guises Earth could assume and the breadth of needs it could cover, in general its role in the prehistoric society at Akrotiri, and by extension of the Aegean, surely vested it with supernatural attributes. We should not forget Earth's place in the cosmogonic myths of this region, elaborated long before the Ionian philosophers: it was from Gaia (Mother Earth), who emerged from Chaos, that creation began (Graves 1960, 3a).

WATER 

We are told by Aristotle that Thales (624 - 546 BC) proposed Water as the first principle of all being, for he observed that 'the food and sperm of all organic beings is liquid and that heat comes from liquid and that the beginning of liquid is water.' For this sage from Miletus, founding-father of the philosophy of nature, Water was the 'steady basis through all the changes of phenomena and beings', while at the same time the limitless sea surrounded the land (Theodorakopoulos 1971, 423).

Even before Thales, Water had acquired theogonic attributes, expressed in the form of Oceanus, Pontus, Proteus and Triton. Homer speaks of Oceanus as the forebear of them all (Iliad XIV., 246). For Thales it was the sea which buoyed the earth: Earth rested on the Water and floated on its surface, rather like wood. We learn from Seneca that the much-travelled merchant, Thales, likened the earth to a ship moving upon the sea. 'It is because of the movement of the water that the earth moves in what is called an earthquake.' (Nat. Quaest. III, 14.) If the Roman philosopher has correctly rendered the thought of his fellow sage from Miletus, we see that it is to the sea and its motion that earthquakes, an ever-present threat in the Aegean world, are attributed. Herakleitos from Ephesos (544 - 484 BC), who came after Thales, claims that sea water is both 'most clean and very dirty, for fish potable and salvationary, for men undrinkable and disastrous.' (Diels 1903, fragm. 61.) Thus for the Ionian philosophers Water had a dual aspect: benevolent as a bearer of life and prosperity, yet capable of causing death and disaster.

For the urban society at Akrotiri Water must certainly have played an important role. The concept that the island of Thera floated upon the sea is echoed in the myth attributing its creation to one of the Argonauts. This relates that Euphemos, following instructions received in a dream, cast into the sea a clod of earth from Libya, which had been given to the Argonauts by the god Triton. Out of this earth Kalliste was created, the island later named Thera. Perhaps we could even asssociate with Thera, an island with an active volcano and marked seismic activity, the concept that it shook, that is suffered earthquakes, because it was floating. Consequently, for the prehistoric inhabitants of the island, Water, the sea was responsible not only for its very existence, but also for its innate behaviour.

Although just how the residents at Akrotiri coped with the problem of scarcity or lack of fresh water, which plagues the island even today, still eludes us, we do know that this Element was essential to the efficient functioning of the drainage system of the town, thus ensuring healthier living conditions there (Doumas 1983, 50). During the relentless heat of the summer the prehistoric Therans must have experienced the phenomenon of the conversion of Water to air, or of sea water to salt through evaporation. Salt thus obtained was particularly valuable for food preservation. The watery element which surrounded the island society of Thera was not merely the geographical boundary within the limits of which it could develop. It was at the same time an inexhaustible source of food. The wall-paintings of the Fishermen from the West House are an eloquent testimony of this, a testimony which the host of fish remains and variety of sea molluscs recovered from the ruins at Akrotiri confirm (Doumas 1983, 118).

But it was this watery element which contributed much to the island's wealth and advancement. For it was not only a protective shield against unwelcome invasions or infiltrations, it was also a route along which the populace could develop and expand its activities. Shipping and trade seem to be the main causative factors of the prosperity so markedly reflected in the ruins at Akrotiri (Doumas 1983, 119).

However, the Therans' experience of the watery element was not confined to its benign qualities. First and foremost its scarcity or lack on the island was undoubtedly a serious problem. Floods and violent downpours could create torrents, undermine houses, claim lives by drowning men and animals. The arrangement of the houses strung out along winding streets, frequently cobbled, was designed to meet such dangers from the watery element: thus the force of water flow is checked and the cobbled streets prevent undermining of the house foundations (Doumas 1983, 50). Even the sea, so important for the wealth of Akrotiri, could prove disastrous some times, its angry waves destroying coastal structures and installations, engulfing ships and sailors. The Miniature Fresco of the drowned men from the West House is convincing evidence of the bitter experiences of Theran mariners. Surely it was experiences such as these which prompted the prehistoric Aegean islanders to organize their defence accordingly: choice of locations for creating harbours (Doumas 1983, 55; Gottmann 1985, 11), the continual improvement of the shipwright's art and means of navigation (Doumas 1983, 118 - 119), as well as certain scientific observations. Navigation, aided by the stars, undoubtedly served as a pretext for astronomical observations (Ovenden 1965). Hesiod's guidelines on periods suitable for navigation certainly drew on the cumulative experience of centuries, derived from the observation of meteorological phenomena (Works and Days, 663 - 667). It could even be maintained that the adventures of seafarers in their struggle with the watery element led to yet another activity, cartography. If we regard the miniature wall-painting of the fleet as a primitive map, then we may propose that the watery element played its part in the development of map-making at Akrotiri (Doumas 1983, 55; Gottmann 1984, 5 - 6).

Water was also essential for a series of other activities, such as metallurgy, pottery, spinning and weaving, dyeing and laundering clothes, painting, cooking etc., all of which are known to have taken place at Akrotiri.

Thus Water, as the archaeological data from prehistoric Thera testify, was not only a vital factor but also a motive force for more advanced thinking and scientific discoveries for the inhabitants of the prehistoric Aegean.

AIR

According to Anaximander's pupil, Anaximenes from Miletus (585 - 528 BC), 'that perceived by the senses, things, are ways of concentration and diffusion of air', and consequently Air is the primal element of matter (Theodorakopoulos 1971, 426). It was probably the chaotic nature of Air and its mobility which prompted this line of thought in Anaximenes. For the philosopher, Air is both matter and energy. Hot, cold, wet and dry are states of Air, and depending on its concentration we have: fire from diffused Air, wind from compressed Air. From compressed wind we have cloud, from cloud Water, and from Water, Earth. The Earth, Anaximenes claims, is flat and wide, and because of its enormous width it remains pendant within the airy mass. It does not cut but traps the Air, plugging it from below (Roussos 1983, 246). Sambursky suggests that Anaximenes 'probably arrived at this opinion from observing that the resistance of air to falling bodies increases appreciably with their surface.' (Sambursky 1987, 12.)

Though it is well-nigh impossible to seek out Air in the archaeological record, it is nevertheless legitimate for one to try and elicit the prehistoric Therans' conception of this Element. A fundamental human experience is that without air and breath there is no life. Moving air, that is the wind, is for the Aegean islander an Element of which he has countless experiences, both pleasant and unpleasant. The Aegean is the windiest region of Greece. Wind disperses the mist which frequently shrouds the open sea, hiding the horizon from the sailors. As the winds blow they regulate the temperature. Thanks to the etesian winds man can live on the sun-scorched rocks of the Aegean during the summer months. Were it not for them islands would have turned to desert (Mariolopoulos 1960, 45 - 51). Such is the force and ferocity of the winds in the Aegean that even today they frequently affect shipping. Winds also affect cultivation, often creating major problems in the agricultural economy.

Perhaps the street-plan of prehistoric Akrotiri developed in part in response to the gusty winds: one reason for the winding streets may have been to check their force. Perhaps also it was because of the winds that the houses had flat rather than pitched roofs and that these were of heavy materials. Roofs of this kind have prevailed in the islands from at least the Early Bronze Age (Doumas 1977, 31; 1983, 53) until the present, when cement has replaced the traditional building materials.

The Aegean seafarers' experience of the propulsive force of Air-wind certainly goes back thousands of years before the founding of Akrotiri. They would surely have been swept off course to places unknown countless times. Though it is not known exactly when exploitation of wind power as a propulsive force for shipping began, by the 16th century BC the technology of sailing was evidently advanced, judging from the depictions of ships on the Miniature Frieze from the West House. With ships as large and well-equipped as these sailing vessels, possibilities of voyages across the seas were unlimited. So, the relationship between the resistance of Air and the area of the surface on which it falls was not merely an observation of Anaximenes, it was a phenomenon which had been experienced by seafarers of the prehistoric Aegean as they ploughed the deep in their sailing ships. It should be noted here that the development of seafaring and its related technology involved two of the primal elements: Water and Air.

Air also played a significant role in ceramic technology, for it was through controlling the atmosphere inside the kiln, the input of Air during firing, that the prehistoric inhabitants or the Aegean were able to produce their elegant yet durable pottery creations.

The inhabitants of Akrotiri were not only well aware of the attributes of Air, they had actually managed to 'tame' this Element and manipulate it to their own ends.

FIRE

For the philosopher Herakleitos from Ephesos 'the order of the world, which is the same for all beings, was laid down by neither god nor man, but ever was and ever shall be an eternal living fire, ignited according to certain measures and extinguished according to certain measures.' (Theodorakopoulos 1971, 432.) Fire is 'primal matter which is transformed in infinite situations and so from these the variety of being derives. Fire is converted first into sea, and of the sea half to earth and the other half to currents.' As a consequence of these metamorphoses Fire presents perpetual motion, encapsulated in the philosopher's epigrammatic phrase 'you cannot enter the same river twice.'  (Theodorakopoulos 1971, 434.) The universe is nothing more than a conjunction of opposing forces: night-day, winter-summer, war-peace, glut-famine (Roussos 1985, 40). Of the two opposing forces of tension, one moves things upwards, towards Fire, and the other moves things downwards, towards Earth (Farrington 1963, 40).

Though traces of conflagration have not been found at Akrotiri, it is most unlikely that its inhabitants had not experienced the destructive properties of Fire. Inside the houses of the prehistoric settlement, a large vessel (pithos or bath-tub) for storing water is always found next to the hearth installation, a precaution indicative of experience of Fire. Moreover, the inhabitants of a volcanic island, indeed an active one, were surely more than familiar with the catastrophic potential of Fire.

However, as with the other Elements, their experiences were not confined to the negative aspects of Fire. A basic factor of everyday life, this Element was essential for the prepararion of food, as attested by the hearth installations and host of cooking vessels. Fire-boxes too are frequent finds, probably used for carrying fire from place to place, and perhaps as a source of warmth in winter. Other smaller vessels have been interpreted as incense burners, used presumably for either perfuming living quarters or in special rituals. Lastly, one cannot but remark on the large variety of lamps - clay, stone or metal - in which oil or fat was burned to give light. So, basic functions of everyday life, such as cooking, heating, perfuming of closed rooms, lighting, could not be performed without the use of Fire.

However, this fearsome Element was also essential to several sectors of technology. The transformation of clay, for example, into pottery was impossible without Fire. Even though no actual kilns have been found at Akrotiri, in all probability these would have been located on the periphery of the settlement. The discovery of levigated clay stored in the settlement bears witness to the fact that it was worked in situ, which fact is confirmed by pottery analyses (Maniatis and Tite 1978, 487ff.). Likewise, without Fire, combined with Air, the development of metallurgy would not have been possible, products of which have been found in the settlement: bronze tools and vessels, lead weights, even objects of silver and gold, needles, nails, wire etc. All bespeak familiarity with the respective metals and the process of working them, even if this did not necessarily take place on Thera. Even in the craft of shipbuilding Fire was essential, for from the representations of sophisticated types of vessels it must have been used for bending the timbers used in their construction.

Strange as it may seem, Fire played an important role in the development of art at Akrotiri. Analyses made to date have shown that the stucco of the wall-paintings was a lime-plaster and, as we know, lime is produced in special kilns (Noll et al. 1975, 91 - 92; Asimenos 1978, 573). So, daily life, technology and art were all significantly influenced by, if not directly dependent on Fire, over which, as with the other Elements, the inhabitants of Akrotiri had complete control.

In almost all the instances referred to so far, it is apparent that more than one Element was involved in effecting the transformation or serving the diverse needs. Of the pre-Socratic philosophers, only Empedokles from Acragas (494 - 434 BC) regarded all four Elements concurrently as primal to the creation of the universe. All four are immutable 'root stock' (rhizomata), through the mixing and transformation of which the philosopher interpreted the natural genesis and deterioration of beings, not as phenomenal but as actual interaction (Roussos 1985a, 341). These 'always remain and do not come to be, except that they come to be more or fewer, being aggregated into one and segregated out of one.' (Aristotle, Metaphysics 984a.) In other words, 'the four elements combine and separate, and it is these combinations and separations that constitute the process of the physical world.' (Sambursky 1987, 17.)

In the society of the Ionian cities, where technology was advanced in many spheres, 'the conception of matter as something which changes its form, a conception known in a fashion to every metal-smelter, potter or cook, must have been made more explicit.' (Burn 1960, 33.) This concept of matter must also have obtained for the inhabitants of Akrotiri, where similar technologies had been developed.

The Ionian philosophers 'were the progeny of an age and a society in which the conditions which permitted man to make a courageous start at looking at the world with clearer eyes had ripened.' The voyages of Ionian merchants demanded a level of security which could be achieved 'only through acquiring geographical, nautical, meteorological, even astronomical knowledge.' In order to increase the amounts of transactable produce they needed to 'cultivate mathematics and geometry to protect the plain of the lower reaches of the Maiandros from the floods which inundated it. To protect the estuary of the river, the harbour of Miletus, from the alluvium which threatened to silt it up.' Consequently, 'the development of production of material goods and their exchange and their ensuing consequences in changes in relationships of production' led to the development of science and philosophy (Karydi 1987, 16 - 18; Vernant 1962, 66).

Although the Therans of the 16th century BC were not faced with the problem of flooding rivers, they nevertheless confronted all other problems which had beset the Ionians since the inception of their cities, including safe passage for their vessels in pursuit of trade and transactions, seeking out raw materials, processing and manufacturing etc. (Doumas 1983, 122; Schachermeyr 1978, 423ff). In both societies division of labour had passed the simple stage, reaching the level characterized by Durkheim as 'a compound division of labour, or specialization proper.' (Biersted 1969, 49.) The metalworkers, potters, painters, shipwrights, merchants and mariners belonged to this category of specialization. But this division of labour is not 'merely an economic phenomenon and its ramifications extend far beyond the economic sphere.' (Biersted 1969, 49.) It also contributes to the organic cohesiveness of the society in which 'the labour of one fits into the labour of the other.' (Biersted 1969, 50.)

Knowledge of the Elements in both societies - Ionian and Theran - had reached the point where these had been 'tamed' and placed at the service of man; indeed these societies may be characterized as 'protoscientific'. Their unity did not derive solely from the intimate contacts of communal personal association and participation in common values, the Gemeinschaft of F. Tonnies or 'social segment' of Durkheim, in which cohesion is mechanical and determined by the 'sacred'. Rather they may be described as belonging to Tonnies's category of Gesellschaft, in which relations are impersonal, and individual will deliberate and rational. That is, they correspond to Durkheim's 'social organ', which does not rely on common conscience and moral consensus for its integration, and is defined as 'secular'. Only in such societies could that which Vernant says of the Ionian philosophers occur: 'De l'origine du monde, de sa composition, de son ordonnance, des phénomènes météorologiques, ils proposent des explications débarrassées de toute l'imagerie dramatique des théogonies et cosmogonies anciennes.' (1962, 96.) By becoming part of nature 'les éléments ont depouillé l'aspect des dieux individualisés; mais ils restent des puissances actives et animées encore sentis comme divines.' (Vernant 1962, 99.) With these divine powers the prehistoric inhabitants of Thera, like the later Ionians, tried to confront their problems and perhaps they, in their cosmology, 'ont utilisé les notions que la pensée morale et politique avait élaborées, ils ont projeté sur le monde de la nature cette conception de l'ordre et de la loi qui, triomphant dans la cité, avait fait du monde humain un cosmos.' (Vernant 1962, 102.).

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