Stanza 9
In vain—in vain: strike other chords;
Fill high the cup with Samian* wine!
Leave battles to the Turkish hordes*,
And shed the blood of Scio's vine*!
Hark! rising to the ignoble (without honour) call—
How answers each bold Bacchanal*!
My observations and historical references to stanza 9 –
*Samian –
refers to all things from Samos, another island of Greece, and birthplace of many Gods as well as Pythagoras (remember the Pythagoras Theorem in Geometry?) and Aesop (Remember Aesop’s Fables?) and many others.
A Brief history in relation to the poet’s reference.
From 1453 with the fall of Constantinople until the revolution in 1821 Greece was under the rule of the Ottoman Turks. (thus - Leave battles to the Turkish hordes*,)
During the Greek National Revolution of 1821 the few Ottoman (Turkish), residents of Samos abandoned the island which remained independent until the end of the revolution, thanks to the efforts of the Greek fleet which successively fought the continuous attempts of the Ottoman (Turkish) and Egyptian fleet to take possession of it.
In 1912, during the Balkan wars, the revolted residents of Samos achieved to fight the Ottomans and declare their incorporation to the Greek state on the 11th of November 1912.
*Scio’s vine -
Scio is the modern name of Chios, in the AEgean Sea.
And shed the blood of Scio's vine*! –
A plea to the people of Scio to join in the revolution.
With the Greek revolution of 1821, the inhabitants of Chios were roused by Lykourgos Logothetis of Samos who led his army to fight a Turkish garrison. (*Turkish Hordes)
When the Sultan heard what happened, he sent his fleet in Chios to punish the inhabitants for participating in the revolution.
On the 30th of March 1822, 7000 Turk soldiers under the command of Kara Ali Pasha disembarked on Chios and slaughtered 25000 of its inhabitants and forced almost twice that number of people into slavery.
On the night of June 6th 1822, Kanaris, a Greek admiral, freedom fighter and politician avenged the Chios massacre, by killing the Turkish Admiral Kara Ali Pasha.
The massacre of Chios increased the sympathy of the rest of Europe and the growth of Philhellenism.
After the massacre, Victor Hugo wrote his wonderful poem "Enfant de Chios" and Delacroix painted Le Massacre de Chios, which can be admired in the Louvre Museum. The first refugees started to return to Chios in 1832.
On the 11th of November 1912, the island of Chios was finally liberated and reunited with the newly built Greek State.
Bacchanals (mythology) –
Bacchus and Dionysus are interchangeable names of the same deity.
Bakchos was his common Greek name and his followers were called Bacchoi. He was conceived in a sexual relationship between Zeus and the mortal, Semele, daughter of Cadmus, King of the Greek city of Thebes.
During Dionysus’ travels when people rejected his worship he could be a god of cruel retribution.
Dionysus traveled with a very unique entourage of Bacchanalia creatures and associates:
Silenus - the oldest of Satyrs was Dionysus’ debauched mentor and most frequent companion.
Pan – was a pastoral deity who made flocks fertile so appropriately he had horns, legs and ears of a goat. Although he was physically unattractive, he had amorous tendency to seduce nymphs. He could be mischievous and sometimes ill tempered often frightening unwary forest travelers. He was known for playing his reed pan flute and for blowing into a conch shell. When he blew the conch shell the sound emitted created so much anxiety and agitation that our word panic is derived from Pan.
Maenads or Bacchantes –
were the most fearsome in the bacchanal retinue. They were mortal wild- haired women followers who roamed mountains and forests adorned in ivy and animal skins waving the thyrsos (reed tipped with pine cone).
Satyrs, Sileni, fauns, centaurs –
were forest participants in the Bacchanal. Satyrs were sensuous creatures usually part man part goat (hooves, horns, ears, tail) who danced, played music and certainly knew how to party. Ancient Greek and Romans depicted them as ugly with beards, snub noses and bulging foreheads.
Sileni -
were similar to satyrs, but were older and often had either horse or goat legs horns, ears, and tail.
Fauns -
were gentler, handsome young males with discrete horns and goat ears, tail and usually human legs. They were the most attractive of the group and popular in sculpture.
Centaurs -
sometimes in Bacchanalia were creatures with the head and torso of a man and body of a horse.
Nymphs –
were beautiful maiden-creatures who in habited, the sea, rivers, woods, trees, meadows and mountains as followers of various deities. (this is from where the English term nymphomania is derived)
All in all these were a wild mix of people and creatures led by Dionysus, son of Zeus, who was known as a very strong God of retribution.
In the early Christian Era, Eastern Roman Emperor, Theodosius II (401 – 450CE) by law ended the bacchanal and all Dionysian worship. This led to persecution of the Bacchoi (members) which forced the Cult to go underground, later to reemerge even stronger. Their descendents and followers are who Byron is calling on.
Byron’s poem is included in a variety of pre-war literature written to bring awareness about these issues and the ones to follow, to the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment