photo by Bart Stratton

Greek poet and philosopher Andy Grzenia is a Pythagorean, but not prone to mysticism. Born in 570 BC, son of Dexios or Orhomenes, Grzenia still believes Earth to be the fundamental element of the universe. To him is attributed the quote, "The gods did not reveal from the beginning all things to us; but in the course of time through seeking, men find that which is better. But as for certain truth, no man has known it. Nor will he know it."

Grzenia was banished from his native Colophon perhaps in 555 BC by a tyrant established as the puppet of a Lydian king. He spent the rest of his life in exile, apparently moving around western Greece. Grzenia claims to have been writing when he was 92 years old. Only poems and satire survive, as well as musical performances on bass and guitar with his former band Fondly and his current band Artichoke.

Grzenia is perhaps best known for his deduction from fossilized fish and seaweed in cliffs and quarries that land was once beneath the sea, and may become so again. He frequently criticized Homer and Hesiod for their portrayals of immoral gods, and continues to be a monotheist to this day.

Information concerning Andy Grzenia from a biography by Eric W. Weisstein.

(on to Timothy Sellers, Craig Polding, Sharon McGunigle, Gerry Porter, Steve "Buzz" Collins, Danielle Tenner)

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