More than 2,000 years ago, a Greek scientist created a death ray that could set enemy ships
on fire from a long distance.
But how did he do it using ancient technology?
When people need advice or predictions today you may consult a toy 8-ball.
In ancient Greece, one would trudge to the Oracle at Delphi where the priestess, called
the Pythia, gave strange predictions through utterances while in a trance.
Of all the mysteries of the mysterious Oracle, the most puzzling is how the Pythia entered
into this trance.
Over the centuries, several theories have been advanced and debunked.
One longtime theory, based on ancient writings, was that priestesses were subject to intoxicating
gases rising from fissures within the rock.
However, no such fissures have been found, and the theory was tossed as bunk with the
rest of the speculations.
In the early 21st century, though, the gas-theory gained new traction as the Journal of Toxicology
published research that found traces of ethylene at the site — a gas used in anesthesia.
Many attributes of ethylene match up with ancient descriptions of the Oracle's vapors.
"The best evidence is the gas's natural fragrance, corresponding with the ancient eyewitness
accounts."
This theory has been criticized, though, by other scholars.
One obvious flaw in the theory is that the supplicants never became affected by gas even
though they were in the presence of the Pythia.
For now, this remains a matter of debate.
In 1901, archaeologists were excavating the remains of a first century B.C.E.
Greek shipwreck near the island of Antikythera when they uncovered a most puzzling artifact.
Composed of gears and dials, it was roughly the size of the shoebox – and it was the
most complex mechanism ever discovered from the ancient world.
The symbols and devices on it made it clear it was used for astronomical purposes, but
it was unclear exactly how since only a third of it survived the tumults of history.
"We've had to rethink the history of technology completely as a result of this single object."
Even after major breakthroughs with examinations by x-ray in the early 21st century showed
that it was also used to predict eclipses, the Antikythera mechanism still has many mysteries
surrounding it that continue to fascinate.
Heck, some people even created a working LEGO version of the thing in an attempt to figure
it out.
Despite more than a century of research, we still don't know what it was used for, or
who built it.
Perhaps we never will.
In the late Bronze Age, from 1700 to 1100 B.C.E.
the Mycenaean civilization dominated Greece.
Featuring large cities and impressive artifacts, it had a direct influence on later Greek civilization.
Despite its power and its prosperity, though, this society started to collapse beginning
in about the year 1230 B.C.E. and had completely imploded by 1100 B.C.E.
But why?
Unfortunately, so far it's still a matter of speculation.
Some have proposed overpopulation, others disasters such as earthquakes, and still others
invasions.
Each of these theories can be as valid as the next, or maybe it is a combination of
all of the above.
In fact, the fall of the Mycenaeans coincided with the much wider destruction of many of
the great Bronze Age civilizations of the time.
The cause of the death of these civilizations is one of the great puzzles of history.
If the mystery of the Mycenaean collapse is puzzling, trying to figure out what happened
after is a complete enigma.
With the end of Mycenaean Golden Age, Greece entered a four-century period from 1200 to
800 B.C.E.
known as the Greek Dark Ages.
Not much is known about the time.
Writing was nil so everything that is known of the period is based on archaeological remains.
In fact, most historians can't agree on a start or end date for the Greek Dark Ages.
For the people who lived through this period it would be akin to living in a post-apocalyptic
world, surviving in the ruins of lost greatness.
At least this was the traditional view of many scholars in the past.
However, some authors take umbrage at the term "Dark Age" since it implies an age of
barbarity where little is known.
Still, all signs point to a period of societal collapse with depressed populations, lack
of urban centers, decentralized governments – and, sadly, a lack of historical records.
Ancient Greek religion was polytheistic — one aspect of which was the worship of individual
gods in different cult practices.
One of these was the Eleusinian Mysteries.
This cult consisted of secret religious rites in honor of the goddess Demeter and her relationship
to her daughter Persephone.
What is known about this mystery religion is what the public would see: Rituals were
conducted twice a year, participants drank a beverage that may have had a psychedelic
effect, then entered a building where a secret ritual took place.
Nobody knows what happened during the ritual.
Writings after the fact note how people were changed after them, meaning that there was
some sort of spiritual experience, but there is no detail about them.
Whether people went through a hazing ritual or experienced a spirit quest is completely
unknown.
Whatever the case, the Eleusinian Mysteries were very popular in ancient Greece with almost
every prominent writer, including Plato, taking part in them.
The shame is that none of these writers wrote any detail about the ritual itself.
This may be since participants were sworn to secrecy, and if they broke that vow, their
lives could be forfeit.
Homer is the name of the poet credited with writing the Greek epic poems, "The Iliad"
and "The Odyssey."
Among the Greeks, he was thought to be an old, blind man who created his works maybe
as far back as the seventh century B.C.E.
In fact, some ancient people held that they were the bard's descendants, calling themselves
the "children of Homer" and dedicating themselves to preserving his legacy.
Ancient Greek authors writing about Homer treated him as a real historical figure but
were always sort of hazy on the dates.
The problem is that there is no concrete historical evidence for a person named Homer even though
the ancient Greeks believed he existed.
This has led to a number of modern theories as to who or what Homer was.
Each conjecture is seemingly as valid as the next.
For example, some have thought Homer was really a woman.
Others have suggested it might have been an order of poets rather than a single person.
Some of the content of the poems seems to show they may have been the folklore of an
earlier age, from before the Mycenaean collapse.
Perhaps Homer was merely the editor of a long tradition of ancient epic poetry.
So far, the truth remains a mystery.
One of the greatest mysteries of ancient Greece is the historical reality of the Homeric epics.
"The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" are tales of gods and heroes during and after the Trojan
War.
While obviously there are mythological elements to the stories, is there any historic reality?
Did the Greeks truly fight an epic war against the city of Troy?
This subject has been debated for centuries.
The prevailing wisdom until the 19th century was that these tales were purely fantastical
myths.
That was the case until an amateur German archaeologist discovered the ruins of Troy
on the coast of Turkey in the 1870s.
This discovery and subsequent archeological research has shown that there might have been
a war in the late Bronze Age between the Mycenaeans and the Hittites.
However, it is impossible to know what level of detail from the narrative may or may not
have occurred.
Some of the greatest works of Greek art and architecture were created by the renowned
Phidias.
Many tourists today go to see the remains of his work on Athens's acropolis, including
the famed Parthenon.
What were considered his greatest works were the statue of Athena that sat in the center
of the Parthenon and the colossal statue of Zeus at Olympia.
This latter work became known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World in antiquity and
became iconic, being featured in art and upon coinage.
Sadly, at some point within history both of these monumental statues disappeared, though
copies and descriptions tell us what they looked like.
The statue of Zeus was relocated from Olympus to Constantinople in 395 C.E..
It disappeared in the fifth century CE.
The statue of Athena also vanished, supposedly hauled off to Constantinople as well.
What truly became of the two statues, though, remains a puzzle.
One of the great mysteries of the ancient Greek world is the death of Alexander the
Great in 323 B.C.E.
At just age 32, the warrior king dropped dead after conquering a massive empire.
The big mystery is how he died, and scholars have been speculating on it for millennia.
There are many different theories, with scholars trying to match his known symptoms with possible
causes of death.
Some have blamed various diseases, while others think tainted water killed him, and still
others believe it was chronic alcoholism.
The grim list goes on and on, but barring the discovery of some new historical records,
the true cause of death will likely remain a topic of hot debate among historians.
"When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain he wept, for there were no more worlds to
conquer."
The Greek philosopher Socrates almost single-handedly established the basis of Western thought.
However, he never wrote anything, and nothing about Socrates the person has survived through
history.
Instead, all we know of him comes from the writings of his student, Plato, and other
scholars.
The "Socratic Problem," as it is called, is this: because those written accounts vary
significantly in their depictions of Socrates, it's very difficult to actually be sure who
Socrates was and what he actually believed.
Considering his ideas are so important to modern Western thought, the fact that we don't
truly know what his ideas actually were is a pretty big problem!
Archimedes is considered by some to be the greatest genius in human history.
In 214 B.C.E., Rome launched a campaign against his home city of Syracuse, and Archimedes
began devising a number of ingenious and incredible defensive war machines to protect his people.
But how any of these worked – indeed, how they could have existed at all – is still
a major question for modern scholars.
For example, Archimedes deployed some sort of crane/claw mechanisms, which picked up
and smashed Roman ships.
That sounds fantastic, but not as much as his most famous invention: a heat beam death
ray that sounds like something out of "Star Wars."
"I felt a great disturbance in the force, as though millions of voices suddenly cried
out in terror, and were suddenly silenced."
This fantastic weapon, which is described in ancient writings, apparently sent a beam
of heat against ships, setting their sails aflame.
Ancient writers described "burning-glasses," while slightly later scholars asserted that
it was done through mirrors.
The book, "Beam Weapons," notes how modern scholars have debated the weapon's existence.
One team in the 1970s used mirrors to try to replicate the weapon.
During the experiment, 60 people held 3-by-5-foot mirrors.
While they were successfully able to set ablaze a ship at a 160-foot distance, their result
was dismissed by others who couldn't imagine the Greeks would have so many immense mirrors.
Still, they proved it possible, adding another layer to a debate that has been raging for
over two millennia.
The Peloponnesian War was fought in the fifth century B.C.E.
between the city states of Athens and Sparta.
In an epic war spanning decades, these opponents saw many ups and downs.
One of the most severe downs for Athens, which helped lead to its eventual defeat, was a
plague that broke out in 430 B.C.E.
But what caused it?
One article in the journal Infectious Disease Clinics of North America looks at the various
pathogens that drove the plagues of Athens.
Some of the candidates include measles, typhus, bubonic plague, influenza, and typhoid.
Scholars and scientists have tried to match the symptoms with known diseases, but there
has been no consensus on the cause.
Historical descriptions from Ancient Greece describe "heats in the head" as well as "fetid
breath" coughing, hoarseness, and inflammation.
Despite this detailed description of the symptoms, though, modern scientists haven't been able
to agree on a cause, especially since it could have been a disease unknown to modern science.
For now, like all these other questions, the true answer remains a mystery.