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In reading the ancient lore, such as Home's epic work, one often comes across references to how the generations of men even earlier on were much bigger and grander, as though the world has been declining. In reading Fox's ancient historical survey, this is the first time I have come across the suggestion that such notions were based on the uncovering of the bones of the extinct dinosaurs.
This came up in the discussion of how the Spartans were boosted in the belief that they had the bones of Orestes, the son of Agamemnon with them:
(Source: "The Classical World: An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian" by Robin Lane Fox)
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In reading the ancient lore, such as Home's epic work, one often comes across references to how the generations of men even earlier on were much bigger and grander, as though the world has been declining. In reading Fox's ancient historical survey, this is the first time I have come across the suggestion that such notions were based on the uncovering of the bones of the extinct dinosaurs.
This came up in the discussion of how the Spartans were boosted in the belief that they had the bones of Orestes, the son of Agamemnon with them:
In battle, the trained Spartan soldiers had been heartened by the presence among them of the great mythical hero Orestes, son of Agamemnon. In the 560s BC his enormous bones were believed to have been discovered in Arcadia by a very prestigious Spartan who transferred them to Sparta, bringing the hero's power with them. The hero's bones were probably the bones of a big prehistoric animal which the Spartans, like other Greeks, misunderstood as the remains of one of their race of superhuman heroes ('Orestesaurus Rex').Much bigger and grander indeed! Heh. No wonder they could lift a boulder that ten men of today cannot lift.
(Source: "The Classical World: An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian" by Robin Lane Fox)
