The Greeks have a word for it: (7) thálassa, the sea

Blue skies and the blues of the sea at the beach in Platanes (Photograph: Patrikck Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

I spent much of the afternoon yesterday [3 July 2017] on the beach at Platanes, a little east of Rethymnon, looking out at the sea in all its shades of blue. The red flag was up, and the sea was too choppy even for the silliest of people to venture in and try to swim. But I sat there for some time, enjoying the changing colours and shades of blue in sea and sky.

The Greek word θᾰ́λᾰσσᾰ (thálassa) refers to the sea, but can also refer specifically to the Mediterranean Sea.

The word θᾰ́λᾰσσᾰ is used in at least 15 places throughout the New Testament (Matthew 4: 18; Matthew 15: 29; Mark 6: 48, 49; Luke 17: 2; John 6: 1; John 21: 1; Acts 4: 24; Acts 7: 36; Roman 9: 27; I Corinthians 10: 1; Hebrews 11: 29; Revelation 16: 3; Revelation 18: 17; Revelation 20: 8, 13; Revelation 21: 1). On the other hand, the word πέλαγος (pélagos), which refers to the deep sea or the high sea, is used only twice in the New Testament (Matthew 18: 6, where it is used in combination with θᾰ́λᾰσσᾰ, and Acts 27: 5).

Some common Greek words like thallasos for sea, and υάκινθος (hyákinthos) for hyacinth or bluebell, are survivors of early language that is now known to linguists as Eteocretan or Pelagian.

Eteocretan (Ἐτεόκρητες, Eteókrētes), meaning true Cretans, comes from the words ἐτεός (eteós, ‘true’) and Κρήτη (Kríti, Cretan), and is said to be the non-Greek language known by a few alphabetic inscriptions in ancient Crete.

About half a dozen of these inscriptions have been found in eastern Crete. Although they are written in Greek alphabets, they are clearly not Greek. These inscriptions date from the late seventh or early sixth century down to the third century BC. The language, which is not understood, is probably a survival of a language spoken on Crete before the arrival of Greeks.

Was it derived from the Minoan language preserved in the Linear A inscriptions of a millennium earlier? Who knows? Since that language remains untranslated, we do not know whether Eteocretan and Minoan are related.

The term Eteocretan is sometimes used for the Minoan language or languages written more than a millennium earlier in so-called Cretan hieroglyphics and in the Linear A script.
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When Odysseus returns home, he pretends to be a grandson of Minos, and tells his wife Penelope about his alleged homeland of Crete:

Κρήτη τις γαῖ᾽ ἔστι μέσῳ ἐνὶ οἴνοπι πόντῳ,
καλὴ καὶ πίειρα, περίρρυτος· ἐν δ᾿ ἄνθρωποι
πολλοί, ἀπειρέσιοι, καὶ ἐννήκοντα πόληες.
ἄλλη δ᾿ἄλλων γλῶσσα μεμιγμένη· ἐν μὲν Ἀχαιοί,
ἐν δ᾽ Ἐτεόκρητες μεγαλήτορες, ἐν δὲ Κύδωνες,
Δωριέες τε τριχάϊκες δῖοί τε Πελασγοί.

There is a land called Crete in the midst of the wine-blue sea,
a beautiful and fertile land, seagirt; in it are many
people, innumerable, and there are ninety cities.
Language with language is mingled together. There are Akhaians,
there are great-hearted Eteocretans, there are Kydones,
and Dorians in their three clans, and noble Pelasgians.

The wine-dark sea, or even the wine-red is often the traditional English translation of οἶνοψ πόντος (oinops pontos). A literal translation might be the ‘wine-face sea.’ The only other use of the word οἶνοψ (oinops) in the works of Homer is for oxen, where it seems to describe a reddish colour, which has given rise to various speculations about what it could mean about the blue seas.

The ancient Greeks classified colours by whether they were light or dark, rather than by their hue. The Greek word for dark blue, κυάνεος (kyáneos), could also mean dark green, violet, black or brown. The ancient Greek word for a light blue, γλαυκός (glafkós, also could mean light green, grey, or yellow.

The terms for blue and green have changed completely in the transition from ancient Greek to modern Greek. Ancient Greek had γλαυκός (glafkós) for clear light blue, contrasting with χλωρός (chlorós) for bright green. Kυανός, which became cyan in English, means either a dark blue substance or just blue. Modern Greek has πράσινο (prásino) for green and γαλάζιο (galázio) or θαλασσί (thalassí, sea coloured) for light blue or sea blue. The recent loan μπλε (ble, French bleu) is also used for blue.

In Modern Greek, there are additional names for light and dark blues and greens:

● τυρκουάζ (tyrkouáz) for turquoise;
● κυανό (kyanó) for azure;
● λαχανί (lachaní, cabbage coloured) for lime green;
● λαδί (ladí) for olive;
● χακί (chakí) for dark khaki;
● κυπαρισσί (kyparissí, cypress coloured) for brownish green.

As a rule, the first two words of the list are accepted as shades of blue, and the rest as shades of green. Also there is βιολέ (violé) or βιολετί (violetí) for violet blue, which in Greece is, however, usually considered as a shade of purple, rather than blue.

Sitting under the blue skies and watching the blue waters of Crete yesterday afternoon it was interesting to muse that a language that today has at least four words for blue has to borrow from English the words for grey (γκρί) and brown (καφέ) brown.

A sea of blue by the beach in Platanes near Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Finding one of the oldest basilicas in Crete on a hot Sunday afternoon

The harbour in Panormos during the heatwave in Crete that continued on Sunday (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

There has been a long heatwave here in Crete, but everyone says it is coming to an end this week. On Sunday afternoon, two of us caught a bus from Rethymnon out to Panormos to enjoy the summer sunshine and to take advantage of the end of the heatwave – knowing we are probably not going to have an opportunity like this in Ireland for the rest of this summer.

Panormos is a small coastal village with about 400 residents, and about 25 km east of Rethymnon, just off the national road. The village has developed into a tourist resort in recent years, with hotels, apartments, restaurants, tavernas, coffee shops and tourist shops.

But Panormos has kept its atmosphere as small harbour, serving local fishing crews. After lunch in the Agkyra, overlooking the harbour, we sat on the terrace in the shade for what seemed like hours of uninterrupted bliss, sipping coffee, reading books and watching life in the harbour below.

Inside Saint George’s Church in Panormos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Agkyra (Αγκυρα, Ancyra) means anchor in Greek, and the large anchor that gives this restaurant its name rests on one of the harbour walls, beneath a Greek flag that was sadly frayed but determinedly fluttering in the sea breeze, almost like the present state of the frayed Greek economy and society that is frayed and fluttering but still determined to live life to its fullness.

Below us in the harbour, in the small sandy horseshoe bay, people were swimming in the clear water, and a few boats were aimlessly enjoying the day. On the other side of the harbour wall, there was a smaller and quieter pebble beach.

It was as though we had dropped anchor on the terrace at Agkyra for the afternoon.

Later, as the afternoon temperatures began to ease just a little, we visited Saint George’s Church above the harbour, and I then set out to find the site of Aghia Sophia, which was once one of the largest basilicas in Crete.

Panormos may date back to at least the first century BC, but the basilica is the main site of archaeological interest in the village, and is a short climb away, reached by passing under the bridge that carries the main road and continuing along a side road for another two or three minutes. The site is fenced off and there are few signs indicating its importance.

In the west, the word basilica is associated with a church that has received a specific papal recognition. But in the Orthodox Church, the word basilica is an architectural description used for churches built in an ancient style, and it makes no claims about the importance of a church or the priests associated with it.

Greek basilicas may be single-naved, or have the nave flanked by one or two pairs of lower aisles. If a basilica has a dome in the centre it is called a domed basilica. Indeed, in Romanian the word for a church – both as a building and as an institution – is biserică, derived from the word basilica.

The site of the Basilica of Aghia Sofia is a five-minute walk from the village of Panormos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

The Basilica of Aghia Sofia, just five minutes south-west of the village of Panormos, was uncovered following research by the theologian Konstantinos Kalokiris. The site was excavated in 1948-1955 by the archaeologist Professor N. Platonas.

According to the archaeologists, this was the seat of the Diocese of Eleftherna, which transferred there after the destruction of the ancient city of Panormos. In time, the name Aghia Sophia was given to the entire area around the basilica.

Like most coastal basilicas of that era, this basilica was built in the fifth and sixth centuries, and was once one of the largest in Crete, measuring 54 metres in length and 23 metres in width, with a wooden roof.

This was a basilica with a nave, two aisles, a simple apse and a transept that gave it the shape of an archaic cross (†). The large dimensions are evidence that Panormos was once a powerful city. This may have been the seat of the Diocese of Avlopotamos, although it is likely to have been the Diocese of Eleftherna, which was moved here after the destruction of the city.

The aisles were separated by tall base blocks that supported four Corinthian and Ionic columns. The basilica had pebble and slab floors, and a small container filled with bones found under the chancel floor may have been a foundation deposit.

In front of the church, at right angles to the aisles, there is a narthex and an atrium that had a Corinthian colonnade around a cistern and that may have been a baptistery.

The findings during the excavation included marble and limestone parts of the building, including Ionian and Corinthian columns, capitals and parapets, embossed ivy and fig tree leaves, and parts of a marble iconostasis. The discoveries also included coins, pottery and a large amount of glass pieces.

Aghia Sophia was violently destroyed during a Saracen raid in the seventh century. However, there is evidence that it continued to be used until the ninth century, according to coins from the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise (886-912) found on the site and minuscule inscriptions on pillars and slabs in the church.

In the 13th century, the Genoese pirate Enrico Pescatore built a castle at Panoromos before Crete was captured by the Venetians. The castle was maintained by the Venetians until the early 17th century, but no nothing remains at the site at the eastern end of the town.

A quiet summer Sunday afternoon in the backstreets of Panormos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)