Ancient Reports of a Time Before the Moon
Aristotle, Plutarch and Apollonius report on the Arcadians - a people who claimed to have lived before the Moon existed.
In the archives of antiquity there is a curious tradition - consistent over 500 years, from five different authors:
| Author | Lifespan | Work | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aristotle | 384-322 BCE | Fragment from Politeia | "The Arcadians... who inhabited the land before there was a Moon" |
| Apollonius of Rhodes | 3rd Cent. BCE | Argonautica IV, 264 | "...those who lived before the Moon, the Arcadians who ate acorns" |
| Plutarch | 46-120 CE | Moralia, Quaest. Rom. 76 | "The Arcadians... of whom it is said that they inhabited the land before the Moon was in the sky" |
| Ovid | 43 BCE - 17 CE | Fasti II, 290 | "The Arcadians are said to have possessed their land before Jupiter was born, and their people is older than the Moon" |
| Hippolytus of Rome | 170-235 CE | Refutatio V, 7 | "Proselenes are those who lived before the Moon" |
[Aristotle Fragment] All these passages exist. They are philologically verified, translated, commented. The question is not whether they exist - but what they mean.
The fragment we have from Aristotle does not come from his surviving works. It was quoted by later authors - a piece of lost wisdom that survives only through citation.
[Aristotle] What we know:
The people to whom this memory is attributed were no obscure marginal group. They were one of the most well-known peoples of Greece.
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Location | Central Peloponnese, Southern Greece |
| Terrain | Mountainous, isolated, difficult to access |
| Status | Considered one of the oldest Greek peoples |
| Self-Designation | "Autochthon" - emerged from the earth itself |
| Mythical King | Arkas, son of Zeus and the nymph Callisto |
| Lifestyle | Shepherds, hunters, gatherers |
The Greeks themselves considered the Arcadians as aboriginal inhabitants. They had not immigrated like other tribes. They were "always there".
[Apollonius] In his epic about the Argonauts - those heroes who sought the Golden Fleece - Apollonius of Rhodes writes:
"...those who lived before the Moon, the Arcadians who ate acorns."
The mention of acorns is significant. It points to a very early, pre-agricultural time - when people still didn't live on grain, but on what nature provided.
For Apollonius, the "pre-Moon people" were not just old. They were so old that they lived before the invention of agriculture.
[Plutarch] In his Quaestiones Romanae Plutarch asks:
"The Arcadians, of whom it is said that they inhabited the land before the Moon was in the sky, are called 'Proselenes'."
He uses the Greek word Προσελήνοι (Proselēnoi) - literally: "those before Selene (the Moon)".
The word itself is revealing:
| Component | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pro- | Before, Prior |
| Selene | Moon (also the Moon goddess) |
| -es | Plural ending (people) |
Proselenes = "The Pre-Moon People"
It is not a general word for "very old". It is a specific term for people who lived before the Moon.
No other Greek source uses a similar construct for other peoples. Only the Arcadians are called this.
[Ovid] The Roman poet Ovid writes in his calendar work "Fasti":
"The Arcadians are said to have possessed their land before Jupiter was born, and their people is older than the Moon."
Interesting is the connection to Jupiter (Zeus). In mythology, Zeus is the father of Arkas, the founder of the Arcadians. But Ovid says the Arcadians are even older than Zeus himself.
This is mythologically paradoxical - and perhaps intentionally so.
[Hippolytus] The early Christian author Hippolytus of Rome defines in his work against the heresies:
"Proselenes are those who lived before the Moon."
He writes in the 3rd century CE - almost 600 years after Aristotle. And he still knows the term.
The tradition thus lasted over half a millennium.
We have:
But what does it mean?
| Interpretation | Argument For | Argument Against |
|---|---|---|
| Poetic Exaggeration | "Very old" as hyperbole | Why then so specifically "before the Moon"? |
| Calendar Metaphor | Before adoption of lunar calendar | Other peoples would have similar traditions |
| Cultural Memory | Time without Moon observation | Why only among Arcadians? |
| Literal Interpretation | Explains consistency | Contradicts astronomy |
None of these explanations is completely satisfying.
The next subsection examines what the Moon does for the Earth - and what would happen without it.
Five ancient authors, 500 years of history, one tradition: There was a time before the Moon. But how could that be?
Five ancient authors, 500 years of history, one tradition: There was a time before the Moon. But how could that be?