Constructores griegos reviven el barco de Jasón y los argonautas
VOLOS, Grecia (Reuters) - Los armadores en un pequeño puerto griego están luchando con herramientas y métodos manuales usados hace miles de años para recrear el Argo, el legendario buque de Jasón y los argonautas.
La ausencia de recursos modernos como la electricidad y herramientas mecánicas lo convierte en una tarea agotadora, pero la autenticidad es una parte esencial del experimento de construcción naval antigua.
"Es un trabajo extremadamente laborioso", dice el constructor Stelios Kalafatidis. "No contamos con las grandes herramientas apropiadas y modernas, sólo nuestras manos, mazos de madera y cinceles".
En uno de los relatos más populares de la mitología griega, Jasón y su selecta tripulación de argonautas salió de Volos, llamada Iolcos en tiempos antiguos, en una búsqueda para recuperar el vellocino dorado de la antigua ciudad de Colchis en la actual Georgia.
Ayudado por héroes como Hércules y Orfeo, Jasón superó a monstruos y a reyes hostiles en su extensa misión para coger el vellocino del sagrado carnero dorado del dragón que lo custodiaba y huir con Medea, la hechicera e hija del rey de Colchis.
El instituto Naudomos, un grupo de constructores navales e historiadores que lideran el proyecto, está usando antiguas herramientas y técnicas griegas para construir el nuevo Argo y planea volver sobre el mítico viaje cuando el barco esté listo.
El equipo debió ignorar todo lo que sabía acerca de la construcción naval moderna y emplear la misma madera y herramientas de hierro usadas por los guerreros de Jasón hace más de 3.000 años.
INTERVENCIÓN DIVINA
En la mitología griega, 50 argonautas construyeron el Argo en tres meses con la ayuda de la diosa Atenea, quien colocó una pieza mágica de madera en la proa que era capaz de hablar y hacer profecías.
Los tres constructores actuales dicen que les vendría bien algo de ayuda divina en la recreación del navío del siglo XIV antes de Cristo. En quince meses de arduo trabajo, sólo han construido un cuarto del barco de 28 metros de eslora.
En tiempos antiguos, los espacios entre los tablones eran enmasillados con resina, pero los constructores modernos han mezclado la resina con cola para preservar el barco para las generaciones futuras cuando esté alojado en un museo después de su viaje.
Para diseñar el barco, los constructores actuales reunieron imágenes de antiguas pinturas en jarrones, de frescos y de las referencias a los barcos de alrededor del mismo período recolectadas de museos y bibliotecas de todo el mundo.
Una vez que el Argo esté terminado, los ciudadanos podrán ofrecerse para tripular el barco de 50 remos a lo largo del viaje de Jasón por el mar Egeo, pasando por el estrecho de Bósforo hasta el Mar Negro llegando a la costa de Georgia.
Ellos se enfrentarán a una prueba ardua, remar entre 10 a 15 horas al día, dijo Kourtis. "No tengo dudas acerca del barco. La pregunta es si los remeros serán capaces de encontrar la fuerza necesaria para completar la travesía", dijo el director del proyecto Apostolos Kourtis.
Fuente: Deborah Kyvrikosaios / © Reuters, 6 de mayo de 2006
Enlace: http://es.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=uri:2006-05-06T124413Z_01_CAR644681_RTRIDST_0_OESEN-CURISIDAD-GRECIA-JASON.XML&pageNumber=1&summit=
(2) Jasons Argo to be recreated in Greece
Mythical boat used in Argonauts quest for the Golden Fleece. The city of Volos released this artwork showing the mythical Argo.
VOLOS, Greece (Reuters) -- Shipbuilders in the small Greek port of Volos are struggling with handmade tools and methods used millennia ago to recreate the Argo, the legendary vessel of Jason and the Argonauts.
The absence of modern resources such as electricity and machine tools makes it an exhausting task, but authenticity is an essential part of this experiment in ancient shipbuilding.
"Its extremely laborious work," said builder Stelios Kalafatidis. "We dont have large, proper, modern tools, only our hands and wooden mallets and chisels."
In one of the most popular tales of Greek mythology, Jason and his handpicked crew of Argonauts sailed from Volos, named Iolcos in ancient times, on a quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece from the ancient city of Colchis in modern Georgia.
Aided by heroes such as Hercules and Orpheus, Jason overcame monsters and hostile kings on his lengthy mission to snatch the fleece of the sacred golden ram from the dragon guarding it and run off with Medea, the sorceress and daughter of Colchis king.
The Naudomos Institute, a group of shipbuilders and historians heading the project, is using ancient Greek tools and techniques to build the new Argo, and plans to retrace the mythical journey when the ship is ready.
The team had to ignore everything they knew about modern boatbuilding and employ the same wood and iron tools used by Jasons warriors more than 3,000 years ago.
Divine intervention
In Greek myth, 50 Argonauts built the Argo in three months with the aid of the goddess Athena, who placed a magical piece of timber in the prow that could speak and prophesy.
The three modern-day builders say they could use some divine help in recreating the 14th century BC vessel. In 15 months hard work, they have built only one quarter of the 28-meter (92-foot) ship.
Wooden pegs and wedges hold together the ships frame and planks. In ancient times, the gaps between the planks were caulked with resin, but the modern builders have mixed the resin with glue to preserve the ship for future generations when it is housed in a museum after its journey.
Whole trees were placed in the hull, said project director Apostolos Kourtis, who searched for days in the same forests as Jasons men to find long, straight trees for the purpose.
"They used whole trees that were bent into shape. We dont do that today," Kourtis said. "Ships were without frames, there was no metal."
Veteran shipbuilder Yannis Perros, one of the team, said he had doubts when he first saw the plans.
"We were saying how are we going to build it with entire trees?" he said. "But its a durable structure, it will float and travel miles."
In recreating the myth, there were few facts to go on. The story was first written down by Apollonius Rhodius about 11 centuries after the voyage is thought to have taken place.
Picturing the Argo
To design the ship, the modern shipbuilders pieced together images from ancient vase paintings, wall frescoes and references to ships from around the same period, gathered from museums and libraries around the world.
Kourtis said the appearance of the ship was easier to determine than how it was built -- although it helped that shipbuilding methods changed little in ancient times.
"This is experimental archaeology, an investigation, in order to come as close to the original version as possible and say, this is how it most likely was," he said.
The idea of copying ancient ships is not new. A 4th century BC Athenian trireme was replicated by a British scholar in the 1980s, as was the Greek merchant ship Kyrenia, from the same period, by Greek professors.
But their task was easier because the original Kyrenia, very well preserved, was raised from the seabed off northern Cyprus, and ample descriptions of the trireme existed in the literature of the time.
The Naudomos Institute first experimented with ancient shipbuilding in 2004 by completing a smaller Bronze age Minoan transport ship.
Once the Argo is complete, citizens can volunteer to crew the 50-oar ship on Jasons journey across the Aegean, through the Bosphorus to the Black Sea and on to the coast of Georgia.
They face an arduous test, rowing for 10 to 15 hours a day, Kourtis said. "I have no doubt about the ship. The question is whether the rowers will be able to find the strength needed to complete the journey," he said.
Fuente: The Associated Press, 23 de abril de 2006
Enlace: http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/04/23/
greece.argo.ap/index.html
4 comentarios
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carlos giomar -
Angel Gomez-Moran -
Si deseas comprender un poco mas el ciclo mitologico del Vellocino de Oro, su significado historico y su relacion con otros ciclos similares; me atrevo a recomendarte que consultes (entre otras) una breve publicacion que he realizado editada por la Fundacion Joaquin Diaz, 2005. El libro se titula: Juego de Oca y es de VVAA, y el capitulo I realizado por mi, trata este tema y su explicacion historica.
Angel Gomez-Moran
Suetonius -