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
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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