Sacred Triangles in Ancient Greece

With the Taurus New Moon (tomorrow) we find ourselves on the other side of the lighted arc spanning from the Taurus full moon and the higher yearly interlude to the new moon of Taurus which stands as the lower monthly interlude – a focal point between Wesak and the coming Festival of Christ and Goodwill, and \ World invocation Day. 

Taurus is an earth sign and in addition to its nature as the “Bull of the God” and the sign ruling the NGWS, it brings in light to earth -- our as yet non-sacred planet. 

Today we are going to have a brief look at another “triangles network” which might be called the “Sacred Triangles on Earth” or “The sacred triangles of Ancient Greece”.  

Only recently – in fact only a couple of decades ago –scientific researchers and scholars have come to understand that the ancient Greeks built their places of worship in order to form equilateral, isosceles as well as other types of triangles which followed the rule of the golden ratio of the number φ=1.618 and the use of  π=3.14. 

The ancient Greek unit of length was the stadium (ca. 600 feet) whereas today the standard of measurement has changed to 1 meter being equal to 0.0054054054054054 stadium. 

All the temples, monuments and sanctuaries of Ancient Greece were built with absolute symmetry and precision. Altar pieces, shrines, oracle temples, and even entire cities appeared to conform to perfect geometric relationships or mathematical formulas, echoing the celestial harmony of the spheres and the laws of the universe. 

The isosceles triangle formed by the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, the Temple of Aphaia Athena at Aegina-Island, and the Temple of Hephaestus at Thission of Athens, as well another one emanating from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, the Parthenon in Athens, and the Temple of Aphaia at Aegina, are the most famous and best-studied examples by contemporary scholars, yet the unexpected symmetry continues to puzzle researchers.

Triangles depicted on Google Earth and on the map of Greece

Yet the ancients always understood this: according to sources and references in the ancient scriptures of great philosophers, historians and geographers such as Herodotus (“the father of history”), Aristotle and Strabo. From their writings we learn that the location of the sanctuaries or temples was not coincidental or random but instead followed an internal regulation with its own esoteric methodology and there was no doubt that the geometrical correlations were carefully pre-planned and entirely intentional – based on ancient wisdom (from Egypt and India). Nevertheless, all of these great philosophers seemed reluctant to reveal the details of this divine analogy, so that the secrets until this day are well preserved. To unravel these codes, we are challenged to see them today anew, with an esoteric vision, using as much intuitive knowledge as possible.

Naturally, the amazing discovery of the precision with which these ancient temples were built has created many headaches to contemporary researchers, particularly as we live in a time of such advanced technological progress and GPSs—they ponder how this incredible precision was possible of achievement at 700 BCE or even 1000 BCE. Even more obscure for scientists today to understand is the underlying purpose behind these geometrical structures – which apparently extended far beyond the Hellenic territory, with triangular relationships being established between structure that included locations in the Middle East and Egypt, as well.

There are theories that these ancient sites reflect the movements of celestial bodies and their relationship to the Earth’s surface and that the holy places in Ancient Greece were built in a position to align these inhabited areas of the Earth with the planets in the sky. This might be true although reflecting only a tiny part of the whole and synthetic picture.

As mentioned in these webinars before, Geometry (Geometria in Gr.) means literally the measurement of the Earth. The word is derivingfrom two Greek words, namely γη/gē, which means earthand metron, meaning measure. [God is called the Great Geometrician – a second Ray quality]. 

The ancients used the “stadium” as their unit of measurement, as mentioned before, which means “metron” in Greek -from which our meter and kilometer are derived. They understood this unit as a quality, not a quantity or means of measurement. This explains the famous quote of Protagoras (as quoted in Plato's Theaetetus/Θεαίτητος152a) "Man [is] the measure(metron) [of all things]".

Ancient Greeks are known for their deep appreciation and devotion to sacred geometry and its rules. “Μηδείς αγεωμέτρητος εισίτω” ["Let no one untrained in geometry enter"] refers to an inscription cited to be on Plato's Academy of Athens which was a “Golden” rule in Antiquity.

School of Athens, fresco by Raphael                                    Detail of the painting

Another Greek word of the same root is geodesy(γεωδαισία) and it means literally, "division of Earth." Geodesy is defined as the study of the size and shape of the earth and the determination of alignments and coordinates upon on or above the earth's surface. It concerns a surveying technique that existed even before 3000 BC, known and understood by Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Greeks. (Pythagoras, in 450 BCE, proposed that earth is not a disk, which was the understanding of that time, but rather a sphere; Herodotus (484-425 BCE) devised a World map; and Eratosthenes made the map of the known world at ca. 194 BCE.)

Nevertheless, it’s through mythology that we can get some clue or wider understanding as to how these measurements were applied and these extraordinary yet very ordered triangular forms were build and shaped. 

According to Greek legends, a central geodetic point was obtained by releasing two birds of equal strength and measuring the mean of the time they employed in flight. This would allow for differences in wind current and other variables. By repeated flights even more accurate measurements could be obtained. 

In ancient literature and iconography, the flight of two doves is the standard symbol for the stretching of meridians and parallels. “From prehistoric times… carrier pigeons [were] used for establishing geographic distances”, according to Stecchini. Pairs of pigeons perched on, or on either side of, omphaloi or “navels” of the ancient world, are an indication of their function as the measurers of the geodetic absolute center.

Delphi, the famous oracle center, contains a tradition of geodesy in its origin myth, which says that it was located by Zeus who released two birds from the eastern and western ends of the earth, with the point where they flew past each other being considered the center of the world and therefore marked with an omphalos stone [depicting the flower of life].

Omphalos-stone of Delphi (left), Delos (center) and Thebes (Egypt) on the right

The oracle center at Delos– the island where Leto gave birth to Apollo and Artemis/Diana -also had an omphalos (with a serpent wrapped around it), and was located almost exactly one degree south of Delphi.

Dodona, in Epirus, was the oldest Hellenic oracle center according to the 5thcentury BCE historian Herodotus while Aristotle considered the region to have been the most ancient part of Greece, the area from which the Hellenes originated. Herodotus reported that: “… two black doves had come flying from Thebes in Egypt, one to Libya and one to Dodona; the latter settled on an oak tree, and there uttered human speech, declaring that a place of divination from Zeus must be erected there; the people of Dodona understood that the message was divine, and therefore established the oracular shrine …”

At this point it is worth mentioning that the priestesses of Dodona were called Peleiades, a word that in ancient Greek is equivalent to “the dove” or “flock of doves” – the sacred bird of Aphrodite/Venus. And, of course, there is a great affinity between this word “Peleiades” with our known cluster of the Pleiades constellation which is located on the head of the celestial Bull/Taurus.  This idea may be related to the manner by which the ancient Dodona priestesses interpreted the rustling of the oak (or beech) leaves when determining the correct actions to be taken with the “...sevenfold brooding Mother” – the Pleiades – “…the silver constellation, whose voice is as a tinkling bell, and whose feet pass lightly o'er the radiant path between our worlds and hers." (Cosmic Fire, p. 1258)

All these three oracle centers are aligned – including also the Acropolis of Athens – and their names start with “the Triangle, the Greek delta, which was the "vehicle of the unknown Deity" according to The Secret Doctrine Vol. II, p. 682.

“The true connection between the birds and the devas” and “the place that birds play in the mysteries” is not “accurately realized by the occult student” we read in the book A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, and “Herein lies for him the clue.”;  The Tibetan goes on to say that: “As H. P. B. has pointed out, birds and serpents are closely connected with wisdom, and therefore with the psychic nature of God, of men, and of devas. The study of mythology should reveal certain stages and relationships which will make this matter clearer.” (p. 896)

Sacrificial hammer. Bronze, 7th century BC. From Dodona in Epirus (Louvre)

The language of the birds has a venerable history dating back to the ancient Greek world.  Aesop was supposed to have understood it, as did the blind seer Tiresias. The figurehead of Jason’s ship, the Argo, carved of wood from a sacred grove of trees at the oracle site of Dodona, could speak with birds. The priestesses of Dodona received their prophecies from the rustling leaves of the oak.  Sacred trees and birds naturally share a long association…  Aristophanes is known for his satirical play The Birds, in which two men conspire with a hoopoe bird to try and overthrow Olympus.

- Christina Kosmadaki