Tree House Hotels of Olympos



via TurkeyHostels.com

The past couple of days got hijacked by industry related posts, but today we go back to our regularly scheduled programming. :)

In Turkey, boutique hotels, inns and small establishments like the pansiyon are a popular choice for travellers. I prefer them over large, impersonal hotels because you get much better immersion in local culture. The majority are independently owned, so standard of service varies.

I've found a great resource on chosing a good, affordable option is The Little Hotel Book by Nisanyan. The writers are small hotel owners, and they actually stay in each hotel at some point, so you know the ratings are honest. If nothing else, this bible of Turkish small hotels is an amazing armchair retreat. I've spent many hours daydreaming about my perfect itinerary with it. Online, there are many sites with ratings and recommendations, such as Hidden-Turkey.com.

We've been following the Cilician Pirate thread to Olympos and I thought we'd explore the tree house hotels there. Next week, we'll try cave hotels of Capadoccia and then maybe an amazing place in Datça I've wanted to visit....we'll see where it goes from there.

While a tree house is not the choice for someone who likes plush slippers and towel origami, it has a certain Swiss Family Robinson appeal. Tree house hotels could be part of a really cool family trip, or a nice romantic getaway. (Follower Tracy Darchini says she spent part of her honeymoon in a treehouse hotel and loved it. She also says you can catch a free ride to the chimaera flames with some hotels.) If you're trekking, the Olympos tree house hotels are legendary. Many hikers enjoying the Olympos National Park stay here because it is ridiculously affordable - like 11 Euros ridiculous - and breakfast is often included.

Note: Make sure you book what you expect, especially if you want a room with air conditioning. Also, some of the treehouse hotels are a known for their "no curfew" approach to life, which is awesome, IF you don't need a full night of sleep. But if you're a pirate (from the manuscript in my head), this is a deal you can't refuse!

Related articles

• Chimaera Flames - Olympos, Turkey (travelpod.com)
• Trekking in Turkey - Turkey (bootsnall.com)

Coracesium & Caves



via Wikipedia

Coracesium of the Cilician Pirates exists only in history books. The city is now known as Alanya and the castle is medieval. I'll come back to the castle for a later post, but I'm following the pirate thread a little further with a search for caves.

Mithraic temple caves would be the best, but they're hard to find, so let's visit some other ones we can tour.

Damlataş: Literally "dripping stone", which is very well illustrated in the picture on the right. It's located near Damlataş Beach and is the most accessible cave.


via Antalya24.com


Phosphorescent cave is supposedly quite beautiful, if you can get to it with a small boat. Then there's Pirate's Cave (left). You need a boat for this one too- and if you're a pirate, you might like to hide yours in there. :) However, nearby Lover's Cave is known as the place where pirates kept their loot.

Lots of boat tours follow the coastline, allowing people to swim in and out of the caves along the way. Pretty cool, but I just hope all the tourism doesn't wind up ruining the place.



via AboutAlanya.com



Secret Rites of Mithras

Image via WikipediaI'm up to my ears researching Cilician Pirates and any possible ways I can connect them to the Cilician djinn in my story. Last week, a footnote about Mithraism tickled my synapses and sent me off looking for info on that and... Violá! I was at a book swap, when out of only a handful of books what should appear? A hardbound copy of "A History of Pagan Europe" with a blurb on the back about Constantine. Thinking I might find some interesting tidbit about Vanadis or Byzantium, I tucked it under my arm and went on my merry way.

At home later, I randomly opened the book to an underlined passage on Mithraism! Uh...something is pointing me in that general direction.

So today we have: The Secret Rites of Mithras! Or what I can make sense of it. Remember when I connected the djinn to Zoroastrianism? Well, Mithraism is somehow connected to Zoroaster, and guess what - to the Cilician pirates too!

Here's where I started to make two columns -
What I Know and What I Need to Find Out (and a WTF column too, but nevermind that one.)

What I Know:

• Mithra was one of the deities of the syncretic Graeco-Iranian royal cult founded by Antiochus I, king of the small, but prosperous "buffer" state of Commagene, in the mid 1st century BC (wikipedia)




wikipedia


• The first Cilician pirate was supposedly Seleucid, which is right next door to Commagene.
• Indo-Persian Mithras was born from a rock. He struck water from stone with an arrow. He killed a sacred bull. His pal was the god Sol. He and Sol feasted on the bull. Then Mithras ascended to heaven in a chariot.
• Mithras was portayed as a young hero with a dagger and he wore a Phyrigian hat (something to do with liberty which I don't fully understand yet.)
• In the depiction of the feast, a follower points the caduceus (decidedly Platonic and yet related to Kundalini) at a flame near the base of the altar. (The flame is very significant to a djinn - so is Kundalini.)
• Mithraists worshipped in underground caves or rooms, usually near a spring or water source. There was usually a basin in the temple. Evidence points to a constellation mural on the ceiling.
• This guy on the right (a leontocephaline) had something to do with them and only them. (separate post next week - I hope!)
• There are lots of caves in the rock faces of Cilicia Trachea.

What I Don't Know:

• Was Mithraism founded by Zoroaster? Lots of clues point to him, but there isn't a smoking gun.
• Was there something to do with equinox and a shift in the way people perceived astronomy? Did someone create a new religion? OK...but why use an avestan (persian, for lack of a better explanation) name?
• Is Mithras another name for Perseus? Perseus is above Taurus in the stars and the stories share ideas.
• What does Mithraism have in common with summer solstice? Records indicate a celebration then, which would make sense if Sol was important. Aside - December 25th is an important day for Mithras - his birthday. World religion and spirituality is so intertwined it's hard to find the thread I need.
• How can I tie in to the djinn world better? Notice there are lots of links to past posts today, so it shouldn't be that difficult, and yet...there's sooo much info I'm in a quagmire. Which is how I felt with Sybil last time I was plotting, so it can only be a good thing...right?

And lastly...Why do I always find the MOST obscure things to research?? I used to think this stuff was so awesome when I was in college....Sigh.

Rudyard Kipling:

MITHRAS, God of the Morning, our trumpets waken the Wall!
' Rome is above the Nations, but Thou art over all!'
Now as the names are answered, and the guards are marched away,
Mithras, also a soldier, give us strength for the day!

Mithras, God of the Noontide, the heather swims in the heat,
Our helmets scorch our foreheads ; our sandals burn our feet.
Now in the ungirt hour; now ere we blink and drowse,
Mithras, also a soldier, keep us true to our vows !

Mithras, God of the Sunset, low on the Western main,
Thou descending immortal, immortal to rise again !
Now when the watch is ended, now when the wine is drawn,
Mithras, also a soldier, keep us pure till the dawn!

Mithras, God of the Midnight, here where the great bull dies,
Look on Thy children in darkness. Oh take our sacrifice !
Many roads Thou hast fashioned: all of them lead to the Light,
Mithras, also a soldier, teach us to die aright!


Related articles

• The Pagan Origins of Modern Christianity (aleksandreia.wordpress.com)

• Mithraic temple open to visitors (Todays Zaman)

Cilician Pirates

Image via Wikipedia

This here is a partial map of the coast near Alanya, drawn by Ottoman cartographer, Piri Reis, sometime between 1465 and 1555. As you can see, besides the two castles at the points, there is little in between. It's still pretty much the same today, and if we go back to the first century BC, the only major difference is that the castles were smaller. An extremely craggy coastline is apparently deterent to urban sprawl. (Yay for that!) 

The Taurus mountains (pictured on the right edge) cut the area off from Anatolia on the one side and come sprawling down to the sea on the other. Spectacular coves and views result, but as I learned, the zigzag on the map means the distance from A to B is increased exponentially.

(Please don't ask me about the hours I spent, white-knuckled, on a two lane road which barely hugged the mountain, watching the locals zip past at light speed before they whipped around the hairpin turns in a scene reminscent of a mad rally car race. Just don't.)

Anyway, back to the purpose of the post - Roman era PIRATES!

via LycianTurkey.com

Take a look at Cilicia Trachea (rocky Cilicia) in the photo on the left. Gorgeous, isn't it? I'm not the only one who saw possibilities here.


Coves for hideouts + plentiful supplies for ship building = heaven for rogue Seleucid, Diodotus Tryphon, and lots of his pals. (Strabo called him the first Cilician pirate.)
 
 
 

Back to the map...

1. Point A :Coracesium (modern Alanya), the big castle and the impenetrable main fortress of the pirates. (Separate post, I promise.)
2. Smooth curve (which we know is actually quite jagged. Piri Reis probably didn't want to get snagged by the rocks, hence no detail.) 
3. Point B:Mamure castle, (the whimpy one at the bottom), built by the Romans to fight them.

No wonder the Romans weren't very successful, but then their heart wasn't in it either. Pirates were useful to the Roman slave trade, even if they did screw up the grain markets with their continuous pilfering. Cilician pirates especially were living the high life. They mocked Rome, offering protection and seeking welcome in every port of call as they inched toward the Apennine peninsula.
 
This via wikipedia: Plutarch recounts a particular custom of the Cilician pirates. When a prisoner of theirs called out he was Roman, the pirates would pretend to be scared and beg for mercy. If the prisoner took the pirate's mockery in earnest, they would dress him in Greek athletic shoes and a toga, that they might not repeat the mistake. After they were satisfied mocking him, they would lower a ladder into the sea, and, wishing him a fortuitous journey, invite him to step off. If the man wouldn't go of his own accord, they would push him overboard.

However, some (stupid) pirates got a little ambitious when they kidnapped Julius Caesar - twice.
 
The first time the pirates ransomed him for 500 kilos of silver, the second time they got a thousand. Julius Caeser didn't like the pattern he was seeing. He hopped on a war ship, defeated the responsible parties and crucified them. (We're probably being literal with that term.) Eventually, the Cilician menace pissed off enough Romans to warrant a true fight. The pirates tried not to engage, but they were disbanded and shipped off to farm the lands of inner Anatolia, as far from their beloved sea as possible. 
 
Ahhhh....hubris!

So...why am I interested in this right now? Alanya/Mamure/and the Cilician coast, are my next story stop. Guess who I need to work in? The character is already coming together in my head - if I just give him a name, I'm sure he'll show himself. I think I'm really going to like him. :)

Any ideas on a good modern name for Tryphon?