THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
70 Falmouth Street      Portland, Maine 04103
(207) 780-4249      usm.maine.edu/planet
43.6667° N    70.2667° W  Altitude:  10 feet below sea level Founded
January 1970
2021-2022: CXLII
"My dreams were all my own; I accounted for them to nobody; they were my
refuge when annoyed -my dearest pleasure when free." -Mary Wollstonecraft

THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Thursday, June 23, 2033
A Knotty Trick

[image: Knot.png]

Poor Gordias.
Poor in terms of both material wealth and outlook on life. Day after tiring
day this peasant named Gordias eked out a meagre living from a patch of
desiccated soil in Macedonia. His persistent labors yielded only
subsistence, punctuated by periods of deprivation. Moreover, being both
single and childless, his was a desperately lonely existence. The constant
work and a deeply shy disposition also left him friendless. Many a night
did he pass in a state of complete exhaustion and isolation.

And, then, came the eagle.
Nobody knows why it arrived or how it was summoned. However, one day while
Gordias worked the soil with his ox-driven cart, an eagle arrived. It
landed on the cart and stared unwaveringly at the startled peasant. He at
once recognized the significance of the eagle's visitation. "Alas," he
said, "I have received a sign from the gods to finally seek out a better
life and greater destiny." He then promptly walked with his ox-cart toward
the oracle of the Zeus Sabazois, which paid homage to Zeus in equestrian
form. As this oracle was located in the kingdom of Phrygia, which was more
than a hundred miles away, Gordias needed many tiring days to reach it.
Despite the gnawing hunger, burning thirst and growing fatigue, he
persisted in his quest for he knew that he would need divine guidance to
understand the eagle's message. That eagle, incidentally, remained perched
on the oxcart during Gordias' trek.

During his journey, Gordias encountered a strange, but lovely woman, who
seemed to be expecting him. In fact, she approached Gordias and spoke
first. Had she not done so, they might never have connected, as Gordias'
natural diffidence would have prevented him from initiating an
acquaintance. She told him that she was a prophetess and therefore was
aware of his intentions to visit the oracle. "At the oracle, you must
sacrifice this ox to Zeus and then promptly visit the kingdom of Phrygia.
While I don't know what will occur, I know that you must do as I bid if you
wish to fulfill your destiny."

Gordias summoned enough courage to ask, "Will you accompany me?"
"Yes, I will."
He then summoned every last ounce of his remaining courage to then ask,
"Will you become my wife?"
"Yes," she said with a radiant smile, "I shall."

So, they traveled to the oracle together and once there, Gordias slew the
ox as an offering to Zeus. The attendant Sybil, on seeing the ox's cadaver,
simply said, "Go to Phrygia." The eagle then nodded and flew away.

As Gordias and his prophetic fiance left, the childless king of Phrygia
died. As he had no heir and did not appoint a successor, the people of the
kingdom were at a loss. A few of them consulted the same oracle Gordias had
just left -curiously, they didn't encounter each other- and were told that
the first person to enter the city gates while pushing an empty cart would
become their new king.

Well, we can well understand what transpired after that announcement. The
people hastened back to Phrygia and told the others about the oracular
pronouncement just as Gordias, the prophetess and the cart came through the
gates. At once, the Phrygians surrounded the peasant and hailed him as
their new sovereign, Despite his shock, Gordias greeted them warmly and
allowed himself to be led to the palace where he would end up spending the
rest of his life.
And, here, we are confronted by an all-too-rare happy ending. The
mythological universe doesn't offer us many of those. Gordias became king
and the beautiful prophetess became queen. They grew to love each other
deeply. She became both a wise counselor as well as an adoring wife. He, in
turn, became a devoted, almost uxorious, husband. He re-designed the
kingdom and it flourished as a trade center due to his renovations. He even
went so far as to rename the kingdom Gordium. His subjects so loved him
that they didn't object to that self-glorifying name change. After many
comfortable years of ruling Gordium, king Gordias and his queen died on the
same afternoon: one that felt eerily similar to the day on which they had
first arrived at the kingdom so long before.

To honour their late king, a rope was tied between the oxcart and a sturdy
dogwood tree and Gordias' ox-cart. It was fixed with the most intricate
knot that anyone had ever created. After the passage of many centuries,
that knot became famous throughout the world. It was said that anyone
capable of loosening the knot would one day rule all of Asia. Well, one can
well imagine that many people visited Gordium just to attempt the feat.
Naturally, all of them failed as the knot was tied into so many twists and
turns that it seemed impossible to undo it.

And, then came Alexander the Great
The real Alexander. The supremely self-confident, ferociously ambitious,
continent -conquering king of Macedonia. (You know, the bestriding the
narrow world like a colossus sort of fellow.) He heard of the Gordian Knot
and its related prophecy. He examined the knot for some time. He drew his
fingers along the twine and pulled here and there to determine if the knot
would yield to the pressure. It didn't. In fact, the knot's intricacies
confounded him.
And, then, he had an idea.
He withdrew his sword and sliced the knot clean through.
"The knot holds the cart no longer!" he proudly declared.
While some might have been a bit disgruntled at Alexander's action, nobody
dared to call him a "cheat." Instead, they applauded with deep appreciation
for his innovative solution to a knotty problem that had persisted for
centuries.

As we know, Alexander would go on to become one of world history's truly
gargantuan figures. The knot would go onto he placed in the sky as the
cluster of stars pressed into the center of Cancer the Crab.*

This tale offers a perfect example of how sometimes mythology and history
become as intricately intertwined as tricky knots. It also shows us that
some person's inspired innovation is another person's cheap trick.

It's all a matter of perspective.


*More commonly known as the Beehive Star Cluster.


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