Tityus unmasked- the reason behind Akhenaten’s worship of the Aten? Part One © Nicholas Costa 2025

The Myth of Tityus:

First phase: Zeus fell in love with Elara and hid her from his wife Hera. He placed Elara her deep beneath the Earth. Here she gave birth to Tityus. He was a giant who was brought up under the earth and grew to enormous size. It is further added that his mother Elara died in childbirth because of her baby’s enormous size.[ (Apollodorus, 1.4.2; Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.761 citing Pherecydes)

Second phase: Hyginus (in Fabulae 55) records that Zeus struck Tityus down with a lightning bolt for his hubris and his crime when, incited by Hera, he tried to assault Leto. Other versions ascribe his death to Artemis and Apollo (Scholia on Pindar, Pythian Odes 4.160 citing Pherecydes)

Metaphor for Natural Disaster

The story at its root is a metaphor for two linked natural disasters. The final part of the myth was located on the island of Euboea, and the city of Panopeaia in Phocis on the Greek mainland. These were areas which had close ties with Phocaea the ancient Ionian Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia.

Given the presence of Hera in the narrative whose centre of worship was the island of Samos, and to the narrative’s distinct volcanic allusions it should be evident that the focus of the initial stage of the narrative was originally none other than the Nisyros volcanic arc.

Mythological Word Chain presented as a family:

Mythology often presents a chain of words as if the were members of a family. This is a very useful mnemonic trick, now known as the method of loci. However many in subsequent generations have been seduced into thinking that they were all real people. It helps to explain why there were so many ‘errors’ and ‘incositencies’ in the names in an individual’s genealogy in the Greek myths.

Elara was depicted as the mother of Tityus.

Elara (butt of a spear shaft- metaphor for lightning bolt) daughter of Orchomenos (orchamos = first in rank +menos =power/ divine activation) son of Minyas (Menis=cosmic wrath) and Phanosyra (bright trailing robe- metaphor for an airburst or comet) the daughter of Paion (paiein, to strike, to hit) wife of Minyas.

(Note: the words Minyas and mênis (cosmic wrath) appear together in the mythological landscape of ancient Greece, although they are distinct in origin they are conceptually parallel.)

Volcanic eruption and lightning

In the myth Elara, seduced by Zeus, becomes the mother of Tityos. She dies giving birth to Tityos. Notably volcanic lightning is an electrical discharge caused by a volcanic eruption rather than from an ordinary thunderstorm.

The name Tityus: According to Robert Beekes the name is possibly related to Proto-Indo-European root *tewh?- ‘to swell, be strong’ (2010, Etymological Dictionary of Greek). He proposes a reduplicated Proto-Indo-European (PIE) form *ti-tuh?-o-, which aligns with the giant’s characterization as ‘mighty’ or physically vast. Tityus is a metaphor for a volcano.

Metaphors for an Airburst:

The myth focusing on his death was set in mainland Greece and centered upon a location known as Panopeius in Phocis.

Panopeus: is aname derived from the ancient Greek roots ‘pan’ meaning ‘all’ or‘every’ and ‘ops’ meaning either’voice’ or ‘sight/look’. Depending on the interpretation, the name can be understood in two ways: 

1. ‘all-seeing’ or ‘seen by all’: something manifestly visible.

2. ‘all-voice’ or ‘heard by all’: something manifestly heard, a loud noise.

Panopeus was celebrated as the location of the grave of Tityos. He was slain here by Apollo and Artemis, following his attempted rape of their mother Leto when she was on her way to Delphi. (Pausanias, Description of Greece x. 4. § 1-5.; Homer, Odyssey xi. 576).

The link to Artemis and Apollo would therefore place his death at the time of the air-burst above Ephesus c1327 BC. Whilst the early phase of the myth encompasing his birth was located by St Jerome in 1353 BC

Phlegyae: The first inhabitants of Panopeus were the Phlegyae. The name derives from the ancient Greek verb phlég?, meaning “to burn” or “to blaze”.

Phlegyas: Notably in the Thebaid of Statius (late 1^st century AD), Phlegyas is depicted as being in the Underworld entombed in a rock and starved in front of an eternal feast, comparable to the torment of his contemporary in Anatolia, Tantalus.

Cleopheme: He is married to Cleopheme, which roughly translates to ‘great or loud voice’ She signifies the sound of an explosion or airburst.

Collectively the names work as a memory of an incoming flaming bolide in the vicinity.

Ixion and Gyrton: Phlegyas was depicted as the brother or father of Ixion and Gyrton. Ixion who was bound to a blazing, spinning wheel for lusting after Hera is undoubtedly a metaphor for a comet or meteorite, this is underlined by the presence of Gyrton whose name translates as ‘turning’ or ‘rotating.’

Chryse: Phlegyas’ mother was Chryse (the golden one) the daughter of Halmus/Almus. Alternatively Chryse was the daughter of Dotis (the giver) son of Asterius (the starry one).

Halmus/ Almus: The latter’s name evokes something ‘rounded’, it derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *welH-, meaning ‘to turn, wind,’ or ‘roll’. In his turn Halmus was the son of Sysiphus ( a metaphor for Halley’s Comet as explained in the relevant article),

Coronis and Ischys: the daughter of Phlegyas. Coronis name’s core meaning primarily means ‘curved’ or‘bent’. It indicates thereby the trajectory of an incoming bolide. In the myth Apollo (or his sister Artemis, at his request) killed Coronis with a barrage of arrows. Her lover Ischys was also killed, either by Apollo’s arrows or a thunderbolt from Zeus. The Greek Root of Ischys is derived from the word for ‘force’.

The Birth of Asclepius: According to the myth as Coronis lay on her funeral pyre, Apollo felt sudden remorse. He (or sometimes Hermes) performed a divine cesarean section, cutting the unborn child from her womb.

In reality in the aftermath of an airburst many would have needed nursing hence the myth of Asclepius’ birth. Notably a serpent became a symbol of healing when in reality such an image would have initially signified an incoming bolide.

1352 BC

In phase one Jerome distinctly places Tityus in 1352 BC and equates him with Tantalus:

“§ B1352 Tityus banqueted with Tantalus. Tityus lived at the time of Leto mother of Apollo, who with Hercules served Admetus. Those things that are said about Phrixus and Melicerta happened, in whose time the Isthmian games were celebrated. [1352 BCE]” Jerome Chronicon (Note Phrixus’ flying, golden-fleeced ram, and Melicertes who jumped into the sea.)

1327 BC

In phase two he is remembered as having been killed by either Apollo or Artemis or a thunderbolt from Zeus.

“Indeed Tityos (Tityus) by Artemis was hunted down with darts from her unconquerable quiver suddenly sped, so that a man may learn to touch only those loves that are within his power.” (Pindar, Pythian Ode 4 ep 4)

Elsewhere we learn that instigated by Hera (Hyginus. Fab. 55), he made an assault upon Leto or Artemis, when she passed through Panopaeus to Pytho, but was killed by the arrows of Artemis or Apollo, or, according to others, Zeus killed him with a flash of lightning. (Hygin. l.c. ; Schol. ad Apollon. i. 181; Paus. iii. 18. § 9 ; Pind. Pyth. iv. 160; Horat. Carm. iv. 6. § 2.)

The date of this would be 1327 BC and synchronise with the historical air-burst which destroyed Ephesus. The myths concerning his death would imply a second airburst above Panopeus in central Greece.

Ancient Egypt

Both dates are highly significant in terms of Egyptian chronology. The year 1352 BC is commonly ascribed to the period when Egypt entered the Amarna Period, marked by a radical religious and political shift initiated by Akhenaten (reigned c. 1352–1336 BC/ 1351-1334 BC). He replaced his father Amenhotep III, he moved the capital to Amarna, established monotheistic worship of the sun disk Aten, and neglected foreign diplomacy.

This sudden worship of the disc of the sun is surely indicative of a dust veil event which could have obscured the sun following an airburst or volcanic eruption. In sync with this is the outbreak of a plague, and a distinct and adverse climatic pattern.

To be continiued