Basileus blade – machaira!

September 26, 2009 on 11:50 pm | By admin | In Sports | No Comments

In ancient times, the man who claimed to take power over a region should prove his abilities in battle with the bearer of this divine power. Thus, to become a warrior-king the man had to defeat an elk; to become a voivode the man had to prostrate a bear; to become a vizier or a councilor the man should catch a leopard. To get the title of Basileus, the claimer should have killed a lion with a certain sacerdotal weapon.

Roman historians mentioned that in antiquity the word “basileus” had the meaning ‘king’. But in Hellenic period Basileus was first of all a hero: the one who by his example showed the right path – path of lion! The man who defeated the lion received the power, force and courage of the king of beasts.