Poised On the Threshold: Aramu Muru, Paratethys, and the Abano Pass
Forest of Distraction #11
I am not sorry to see February behind me this year. Like the Georgian shepherds leading their flocks over the Caucuses, this time of year is always fraught with tension, the dregs of winter vying with the promise of spring. Everything seems to slow down in February, and as the month goes on (and on and on and on), I find it harder and harder to hit my goals. OK, my seasonal mood swings aren’t really the same thing at all as a treacherous journey through snowbound mountain passes, but I’m looking forward to more sun and warmer weather on the far side, and the start of a the season of growth.
March is a threshold month, poised at the start of the ancient calendar. I’d like to tell you that’s what connects this week’s distractions, but really it was only that I thought each of these — the mystery of the Incan Gate of the Gods, the largest lake in the history of the Earth, and the Georgian shepherds’ annual journey to summer pastures — held interesting story potential. History, geography, anthropology — these fields are fascinating in their own right, but they are also an endless source of ideas for any fantasy writer, especially in those places where where what we know butts up against what we don’t know. That is the threshold of invention, when we must take an imaginative leap, and become the little gods of our own creations.
If that’s not a thought to chase away the gloom of winter, I don’t know what is!
Gate of the Gods
“The mythology commonly points to the doorway being a portal or “star gate”, used to travel to other worlds. Some also believe the door is used by the Gods as a way for them to visit and inspect their kingdoms.
“Despite being widely thought to predate the Inca, Aramu Muru gets its name from an Inca legend.
“It’s said that while evading the Spanish, an Inca priest named Aramu Muru took a golden solar disk known as "the key of the gods of seven rays" that was kept in Koricancha temple in Cusco. Taking it over 450 kilometers (280 miles) from the temple to the stone doorway, the priest placed the disk on the door. Acting as a portal, the doorway allegedly opened, and the priest passed through it and disappeared.
“While believing the legend may offer a source of comfort for some, the story of Aramu Muru also serves as a stark reminder of the desperation felt by a civilization ravaged by, and eventually lost to, invading forces.”
Read More: No One Knows What Peru’s Mysterious “Gate Of The Gods” Was For
Dire Straits
“In his doctoral dissertation, Dan Palcu showed the importance of sea straits to the many catastrophes—droughts, floods, and more—that befell the Paratethys realm: “Small changes in climate or in sea level can change the behavior of the straits and then lead to environmental change and even extinction events.”
“One example was a mega-flood that temporarily transformed the Mediterranean into a brackish lake, a scenario known to earth scientists as the Lago-Mare event. ‘We conclude that sea straits are one of the most sensitive parts of our planet’s plumbing, likely to disrupt the balance between seas and ocean and trigger environmental crises in the context of sea level and climate change,’ says Palcu.”
Read More: The Paratethys Sea Was the Largest Lake in Earth’s History
The Perilous Passage
“Days started early with the group easily covering more than 30 miles in a day. Food was basic, says Philippe. A quick lunch might consist of bread, a can of food, like stewed fish, and ‘lots of alcohol.’ Often the shepherds downed shots of chacha, a strong, Georgian liquor made from the leftovers of wine production. At night, they bundled up in their jackets and slept outside on the cold mountainside.
“Along the way, the group had to cross several raging, freezing rivers—Philippe sometimes opted to take off his shoes and carry them. Wet shoes were worse than freezing feet. But by far the riskiest stretch of the journey was the Abano Pass, says Philippe. The unpaved, 43-mile stretch of road weaves across the Caucasus Mountains at an elevation of almost 10,000 feet. The unpredictable spring weather can cause sudden snow storms, rock slides, and dense fog. Snowmelt from the mountains destroys portions of the pass every year. ‘All the journey was difficult but the pass was the worst,” says Philippe. “We could [have] died many times because of the state of the road, falling rocks.’
“Once the shepherds made it to the Tusheti mountain valleys, they settled back into familiar rhythms—milking and tending to the sheep by day and then gathering around the fire to share songs and stories by night. Tusheti villages, abandoned for most of the year, come back to life in summer as entire communities return to their mountain homes.”
Read More: The Stark Beauty of Tushetian Shepherds’ Journey Across Georgia’s Caucasus Mountains