The Gospel of Hellas - Research Institute for Waldorf Education

0 the gospel of hellas
narrowmindedness, prosiness and sobriety. The capital of the Aeolian tribe was
Thebes. In Aeolia the government was similar to that of Sparta. No changes of
constitution developed.
Sparta unfolded the activity of the will (the Greek word thymos, related
to epithymia, emphasized the attributes of their souls). Thebes developed the
faculties of the mind (phren, memory). In Sparta lived the lawgivers Lycurgus
and Dracon, and poets of the heroic world, like Tyrtaeus and Alcman. In Aeolia
appeared Hesiod, the bringer of mythology and theogony, and the Theban
Pindar, mournful singer of odes and hymns recalling the glory of the past.
Thebes and Sparta were, like nous and thymos, reflections of the thoughts
and impulses of the will. Harmony and balance would not be possible without
a third quality which appeared as the bridge between reasoning and will,
prosiness and discipline, reflection and energy. This contribution was made by
Ionia.
The tribes of the Ionians lived in the center of Hellas as the heart lives
between head and limbs. The colonization of the Ionians in Attica reached in
its furthest extent to the islands of the Aegean, the shores of Asia Minor, Sicily
and southern Italy. All the various cities of Ionia held their torches aloft to the
queen of the poleis of Hellas, namely Athens.
There were four Ionian tribes—the Geleontes, Argadeis, Aigicoreis and
Hopletas—each having three brotherhoods. These twelve phratries were united
in the cult of Zeus Phratrios, Athena Phratria and Apollo Patroos, from whom
all Athenians claimed descent. We are reminded of the twelve tribes of Israel
which were ruled after “the order of the stars,” meaning after the twelve signs
of the zodiac. The twelve brotherhoods of the Ionian tribes in Attica were
the most central and undoubtedly the most important among all the Hellenic
phratries.
The Ionian tribe was endowed in the greatest measure with harmony and
universality of mind. Athens was the place where nous and thymos, phren and
etor, mind and will, could intermingle one with the other to produce the balance
between these forces and build the climax of the achievement of Hellas.
The Dorians were inclined to subdue the individual to uniformity. The
Aeolians revived the memories of the Heroic age. Sparta indulged in continuous