CONNECTIONS OR WHY THEY NAMED IT ANATOLIA
FROM A NASA REPORT / OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: 100-Meter Dash - sol 70, Apr 06, 2004

Opportunity "dashed" away from the rim of its "Eagle Crater" landing-site on sol 70, which ended at 6:20 a.m. PST on April 5. The roughly 100-meter (about 328 feet) drive led the rover to a target area dubbed "Anatolia," along a sinuous crack in the plains of Meridiani Planum defined by deep impressions in the sand sprinkled with Eagle Crater-like rocks. In the coming sols Opportunity will further investigate the rocks in this "mini-outcrop."

Before leaving the vicinity of Eagle Crater, Opportunity performed a maneuver on "Bounce" rock lightheartedly called "crush and go" by the rover engineers. In order to gather further information about the rock's hardness, the intentional drive over Bounce was an attempt to fracture it. The science team is awaiting images from the rover's rear hazard avoidance camera to see the results.

Hurriyet gave the news as such: “Mars'ta Anadolu izleri

NASA'nın Mars'a gönderdiği iki robot aracından biri olan Opportunity'nin iniş yaptığı 'Kartal Krateri' yakınlarında bulduğu yüzey şekline Anadolu adı verildi.

ODTÜ Amatör Astronomi Topluluğu yetkililerinden alınan bilgiye göre, Amerikan Ulusal Havacılık ve Uzay Ajansı (NASA) Kartal Krateri yakınlarındaki yüzey şeklini, 'Anatolia' (Anadolu) olarak adlandırdı. Robot aracın Mars yüzeyindeki 72. gününde, NASA mühendislerinin, iniş bölgesi Meridiani Planum'da karşılaştıkları kıvrımlı bir yer çatlağının Kuzey Anadolu Fay Hattı'nı anımsatması nedeniyle, bu ismi seçtiği belirtiliyor.

However the connection between Mars and Anatolia runs deeper.

The name “Mars” is based on the word for 'boundary, border', and so on: Goth marka, OE maere, Lat margo, Skt maryada, Av maraza, Hitt mark, etc. Thus Mars could have been so-named because he was the guardian of the field boundaries. We fight wars due to boundaries.

In the old Roman calendar March was the first month of the year, and thus demarcated the calendar. boundaries of the fields and pastures, marked by his boundary stones just as the year was marked by his month. This protective role was later transferred to the boundaries of the state. Whether marching or riding, the boundaries were his to defend, whether against the elements, pests, invaders, or other threats to the welfare of the people.

We might also note that rivers have always made convenient boundaries. Thus mar in Thracian meant 'river', and various rivers with this root include the ancient Marsyas in Anatolia, the Margis or Margas in Moesia, the Marus in Dacia (now the March or Morana), the Maritsa in Bulgaria, and so on. These seem related to Latin margo, 'edge, border, margin, boundary, shore' (< PIE *mara, 'sea', and > Eng marsh?). We should also note in passing that another common word for 'boundary', PIE *gran-, was found in ancient Anatolia as the river Granicus (Biga Cayi in Modern Turkey).

Alexander's first battle took place at the River Granicus, 334 B.C. halfway between Abydus and Cyzicus. The Persians were devastatingly defeated. The victory at Granicus gave Alexander control of Asia Minor. Had he been stopped at Granicus we might never had heard of Alexander.

This is how the Great Middle East Plan was first initiated and it is still going on. Are we ready for another Alexandrine confrontation between the West and Persia?]

Received from Erju Ackman