tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-322555752024-03-10T11:56:41.254+02:00The Pagan FilesA blog concerning the religions, spiritual concepts, ideas and ways of life indigenous to Greece, Europe and the rest of the world.Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.comBlogger219125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-36244409799308382472009-05-22T18:36:00.003+03:002009-05-22T18:43:00.580+03:00"Agora"<p style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</p><p><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/u50zEun07b4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/u50zEun07b4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /></p><p>"Christianity gets a bad rap in <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alejandro_Amen%C3%A1bar">Alejandro Amenabar</a>'s '<a target="_blank" href="http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/10904243/year/2009.html">Agora</a>', a historical epic in which the early church is shown violently oppressing other faiths, science and women in its bid for political power," writes <a target="_blank" href="http://www.screendaily.com/reviews/cannes-reviews/agora/5001280.article">Mike Goodridge</a> in <i>Screen</i>. "An enormously ambitious attempt to recreate the conflicts of 4th century Alexandria, many of which are still raging today, 'Agora' ultimately fails to hang together narratively and does not engage on the same grand emotional level as the sword and sandal epics of old - '<a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quo_Vadis_%281951_film%29">Quo Vadis?</a>,' '<a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben-Hur_%281959_film%29">Ben-Hur</a>' et al - which it is clearly trying to reinvent."</p> <p>Introducing his interview with Amenabar for the <i>Los Angeles Times</i>, <a target="_blank" href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2009/05/from-cannes-agora-alejandro-amenabars-provocative-new-historical-thriller.html">Patrick Goldstein</a> tells us first how the director became interested in <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypatia_of_Alexandria">Hypatia</a>, "who lived in Alexandria during the 4th century AD, in the waning days of the Roman Empire. The daughter of <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theon_of_Alexandria">Theron</a>, the last director of the famed Library of Alexandria, she was not only a brilliant theorist in astronomy, but a mathematician and philosopher.... It's the story of Hypatia, who is played by <a target="_blank" href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001838/">Rachel Weisz</a>, that Amenabar tells in 'Agora'... It's a fascinating film, crammed with both stirring visual images and intellectual ideas. The film is at its most compelling when Amenabar shows the once-stable civilization of Alexandria being overwhelmed by fanaticism, perhaps because the bearded, black-robe clad Christian zealots who sack the library and take over the city bear an uncanny resemblance to the ayatollahs and Taliban of today."</p> <p>"Amenabar gets most of the epic staples out of the way relatively early: flatly acted scenes of textbook exposition, overly earnest extras, main characters who wander unscathed through hordes of butchery and, of course, frequently swelling music." <a target="_blank" href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ibd965fb07c29611161ed01e059225e21">Natasha Senjanovic</a> in the <i>Hollywood Reporter</i>: "The story then becomes a timely parable on religious intolerance, inexorable fundamentalist violence and the powerlessness of reason and personal freedom in the face of both."</p> <p>"Amenabar, the director of visually memorable features such as '<a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Others_%282001_film%29">The Others</a>' and '<a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sea_Inside">The Sea Inside</a>' clearly aimed to make an old school epic of <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_B._DeMille">Cecil B Demille</a> proportions, and ended up with a hollow reflection of one," writes <a target="_blank" href="http://www.indiewire.com/article/amenabars_agora_rings_hollow_despite_visual_shock_and_awe/">Eric Kohn</a> at <i>indieWIRE</i>. "It's worth noting that 'Agora' looks fantastic, with magnificent virtual camera movements that swoop down from space to a large scale replica of Alexandria, taking full advantage of the wide screen canvas. Frequent cutaways to the cosmos, which underscore Hypathia's lectures, would look great on IMAX. In the context of the movie, they overshadow the rest of the narrative." (...)</p><h5 class="lucy-byline"><br /></h5><h5 class="lucy-byline">By David Hudson </h5><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-9298236919389900122009-05-22T18:18:00.004+03:002009-05-22T18:27:04.881+03:00"Αgora", η Ταινία για τη Φιλόσοφο Υπατία<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;" class="bowsTitle"><br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.ifc.com/blogs/thedaily/agorapostercannes.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 270px; height: 387px;" src="http://www.ifc.com/blogs/thedaily/agorapostercannes.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;" class="bowsTitle"></span>Την Αλεξανδρινή φιλόσοφο της σχολής του Πλωτίνου (μαθηματικές και εμπειρικές σπουδές) Υπατία έκαναν γνωστή η Ρέητσελ Γουάιζ και ο Αλεχάνδρο Αμεναμπάρ στο κινηματογραφόφιλο κοινό την Κυριακή στο φεστιβάλ των Καννών.<p>Την Ελληνίδα λόγια (αστρονόμο/ μαθηματικό), που έζησε τον 4ο αιώνα μ.Χ και της οποίας ο θάνατος στα χέρια ενός χριστιανικού όχλου (διαμελίστηκε με όστρακα και στη συνέχεια κάηκε ζωντανή) θεωρείται από κάποιους πως σηματοδότησε το οριστικό τέλος της ελληνιστικής περιόδου (και του τρόπου σκέψης που αυτή πρέσβευε), ενσαρκώνει η βρετανίδα ηθοποιός Ρέητσελ Γουάιζ ( «Ο επίμονος κηπουρός», «The Fountain» ) στην ταινία «Αγορά» (Agora).</p><p>Ενώ η πτώση της ρωμαϊκής αυτοκρατορίας βρίσκεται προ των πυλών, στην Αλεξάνδρεια της Αιγύπτου η Υπατία προσπαθεί να διατηρήσει την επιστημονική γνώση της αρχαιότητας απέναντι στους όχλους των χριστιανών ζηλωτών - οι οποίοι, βλέποντας τους αριθμούς τους να αυξάνονται και το χριστιανισμό να κερδίζει συνέχεια έδαφος στην αυτοκρατορία, στρέφονται εναντίον των ειδωλολατρών και των Εβραίων. Ένα από τα θύματά τους είναι και η Αλεξανδρινή φιλόσοφος, η οποία χαρακτηρίζεται ως μάγισσα από τους ηγέτες των χριστιανών και οδηγείται σε ένα βίαιο θάνατο.</p><p>Κατά τη Γουάιζ, η ιστορία της Υπατίας είναι επίκαιρη ακόμα και σήμερα: «ουσιαστικά τίποτα δεν έχει αλλάξει από τότε. Έχουμε τεχνολογική και ιατρική πρόοδο, αλλά όσον αφορά τα φονικά στο όνομα ενός θεού, ο φονταμενταλισμός εξακολουθεί να βασιλεύει…ενώ δεν είναι λίγες οι κοινωνίες όπου οι γυναίκες θεωρούνται ακόμα πολίτες δεύτερης κατηγορίας και τους αρνείται το δικαίωμα στη μόρφωση».</p><p>Ο Αμεναμπάρ (που έχει επίσης σκηνοθετήσει το διάσημο θρίλερ «Οι Άλλοι», όπου πρωταγωνιστούσε η Νικόλ Κίντμαν) ανέφερε πως η ιδέα για την «Αγορά» του ήρθε αμέσως μετά την περάτωση του δράματος «Η Θάλασσα μέσα μου» (Mar adentro), το 2004, το οποίο και είχε τιμηθεί με βραβείο Όσκαρ Καλύτερης Ξενόγλωσσης Ταινίας. Κατά τα λεγόμενα του Χιλιανού σκηνοθέτη, ήθελε κάποιον αστρονόμο, αλλά όχι μια διάσημη φιγούρα όπως για παράδειγμα ο Γαλιλαίος - οπότε και οι έρευνές του τον οδήγησαν στην Υπατία.</p><p>«Διαπιστώσαμε πως εκείνη η περίοδος της αρχαιότητας είχε πολλά κοινά με το σήμερα. Τότε τα πράγματα έγιναν πολύ ενδιαφέροντα, καθώς καταλάβαμε πως είχαμε τη δυνατότητα να γυρίσουμε μια ταινία για το παρελθόν, ενώ στην πραγματικότητα γυρίζαμε μια ταινία για το παρόν» δήλωσε σχετικά.</p><p>Μιλώντας για το ιδιότυπο ερωτικό τρίγωνο που εμφανίζεται στην ταινία (ανάμεσα στην Υπατία, έναν αφοσιωμένο σκλάβο και έναν από τους μαθητές της- το οποίο δεν ευδοκιμεί, καθώς η φιλόσοφος αφιερώνεται στην επιστήμη), η Γουάιζ ανέφερε πως βρήκε έμπνευση στην ίδια την οικογένειά της, μέσω της 85χρονης θείας της- ερευνήτριας πάνω στον καρκίνο.</p><p>«Όταν τη ρώτησα γιατί δεν παντρεύτηκε ή δεν έκανε παιδιά, μου απάντησε πως 'ποτέ δεν πίστεψα πως θα υπήρχε άνδρας που θα μου επέτρεπε να εργαστώ όσο σκληρά επιθυμούσα... με το πέρασμα των χρόνων συνειδητοποίησα πως αγαπούσα τη δουλειά μου πιο πολύ από το καθετί, και δεν ήθελα κανέναν να μπει ανάμεσα σε εμένα και αυτήν».</p><p>Κατά τον Αμεναμπάρ, αν η Υπατία είναι ουσιαστικά μια ενσάρκωση της σύγχρονης γυναίκας, η ρωμαϊκή αυτοκρατορία εκείνης της περιόδου αποτελεί την ενσάρκωση μιας υπερδύναμης σε κομβικό σημείο: «πιστεύω πως αυτή τη στιγμή οι ΗΠΑ βρίσκονται στην ίδια θέση με τη ρωμαϊκή αυτοκρατορία, καθώς τώρα, περισσότερο από ποτέ άλλοτε, βρισκόμαστε εν μέσω μιας κρίσης, κοινωνικής και οικονομικής. Είναι ώρα για αλλαγή... ξέρουμε πως κινούμαστε προς κάποια διαφορετική κατεύθυνση, αλλά δεν ξέρουμε προς τα πού μας οδηγεί αυτή. Και καθώς είμαι αισιόδοξος εκ φύσεως, θέλω να πιστεύω πως δεν θα μπούμε πάλι σε μία περίοδο αντίστοιχη του Μεσαίωνα».</p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>www.kathimerini.gr</i></b></p><p><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /></p>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-32849443747132108302009-04-29T19:57:00.007+03:002009-04-29T20:30:39.422+03:00The Gods of the Bible<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://emmaline1138.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/king_james_bible7.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 316px; height: 315px;" src="http://emmaline1138.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/king_james_bible7.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><br />Some of the Gods mentioned in the Bible:<br /><br /><pre><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Adrammelech</span> II Kings 17:31 Sepharvite God.<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Anammelech </span> II Kings 17:31 Sepharvite God.<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Ashima</span> II Kings 17:30 Samaritan Moon Goddess.<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Ashtoreth </span>I Kings 11:05 Canaanite Goddess.<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Baal </span> I Kings 18:19 Canaanite God ("Lord") of<br /> fertility, vegitation, and storms.<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Baal-berith </span>Judges 8:33 A regional variation/aspect of Baal.<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Baal-peor </span> Numbers 25:03 Moabite regional variation/aspect of<br /> Baal.<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Baal-zebub</span> Luke 11:19 Philistine/Ekronian regional<br /> variation/aspect of Baal.<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Baalim </span>I Kings 18:18 Canaanite Gods ("Lords"), a<br /> collective of the different<br /> aspects of Baa.<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Bel </span> Isiah 46:01 Assyrian/Babylonian/Sumerian God<br /> ("Lord").<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Chemosh </span> I Kings 11:07 Moabite war God.<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Dagon </span> I Samuel 05:02 Philistine/Ekronian/Babylonian God<br /> of agriculture.<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Diana of the<br />Ephesians </span> Acts 19:35 Ephesian moon and nature Goddess,<br /> ("Divine/Brilliant").<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Jehovah </span> Exodus 6:03 Hebrew God<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Jupiter</span> Acts 14:12 Roman God (possibly derived from<br /> 'Zeus-pater', Father Zeus).<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Lucifer </span>Isiah 14:12 ("Light-Bearer")<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Mercurius </span> Acts 14:12 Otherwise known as the Roman God<br /> Mercury, God of communication and<br /> travel, and messenger of the<br /> Gods...which is probably why Paul<br /> was called this at Lystra.<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Milcom </span> I Kings 11:05 Ammonite God<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Molech</span> I Kings 11:07 Ammonite God, also called Moloch,<br /> most probably Baal-Hammon of<br /> Carthage.<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Nebo</span> Isiah 46:01 Assyrian/Babylonian/Chaldean God of<br /> wisdom and writing, also called<br /> Nabu.<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Nergal </span> II Kings 17:30 Cuth/Assyrian/Babylonian war and<br /> underworld God, also called<br /> Meshlamthea.<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Nibhaz</span> II Kings 17:31 Avites God<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Nisroch </span> II Kings 19:37 Assyrian God<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Rimmon </span> II Kings 05:18 Babylonian/Syrian storm God<br /> involved (as Ramman) with the<br /> Deluge, according to Hebrew texts;<br /> also known as Ramman/Rammon.<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Succoth-benoth</span> II Kings 17:30 Babylonian fertility Goddess ("She<br /> Who Produces Seed"), also known as<br /> Zarpanitu/Zerpanitum.<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Tammuz </span> Ezekial 8:14 Assyrian/Babylonian God<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Tartak </span>II Kings 17:31 Avites God<br /></span><br /></pre> Please note that I'm not referring to any Deities not mentioned by name (for instance, the golden calf is not here).<br /><br /><br /><b>By Norbert Sykes<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /></b>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-5069853099395033282009-04-03T12:02:00.002+03:002009-04-03T12:06:46.947+03:00Italian dig uncovers "oldest" temple in Cyprus<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://repromedinternational.com/ancient_map_cyprus0.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 430px; height: 305px;" src="http://repromedinternational.com/ancient_map_cyprus0.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />An Italian archaeologist says she has discovered what is believed to be the oldest site of religious worship in Cyprus, a temple which is about 4,000 years old. <p>The find at the Pyrgos-Mavroraki site close to the southern city of Limassol predates any other discoveries in Cyprus by about 1,000 years, Italian archaeologist Maria Rosaria Belgiorno said.</p><span id="midArticle_1"></span> <p>"This is the first evidence of religion in Cyprus at the beginning of the second millennium BC," she was quoted as telling the Cyprus Weekly newspaper from Rome.</p><span id="midArticle_2"></span> <p>The Cyprus Antiquities Department said further examination would be required before the find could be verified. "We cannot dismiss the claim but we cannot verify it either," Antiquities Department official Maria Hadjicosti told Reuters.</p><span id="midArticle_3"></span> <p>Belgiorno said she had found the outline of a triangular-shaped temple, comprised of two rooms, on the site. There was a sacrificial altar flanked by a channel on two sides.</p><span id="midArticle_4"></span> <p>"We found no statues, but there is evidence that it is a monotheistic temple," she said. It was probably destroyed in an earthquake and abandoned in 1800 BC.</p><span id="midArticle_5"></span> <p>In ancient religions, triangles typified spiritual gateways or embodied three separate deities.</p><span id="midArticle_6"></span> <p>In the past, the Pyrgos-Mavroraki site has also yielded finds ranging from an ancient perfumery to one of the earliest records of how olive oil was used to fire furnaces.</p><p><br /></p><p>NICOSIA<span style="font-weight: bold;"> (Reuters)</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /></span></p>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-45686456170510566492009-01-07T01:50:00.005+02:002009-01-07T01:59:31.143+02:00The Khanty People<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Ostyak.jpg/300px-Ostyak.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 225px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Ostyak.jpg/300px-Ostyak.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">Khanty</b><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;"> / Hanti (obsolete: </span><b style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">Ostyaks</b><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">) are an endangered </span><a style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_people" title="Indigenous people" class="mw-redirect">indigenous people</a><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;"> calling themselves </span><i style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">Khanti, Khande, Kantek</i><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;"> (Khanty), living in </span><a style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khanty-Mansi_Autonomous_Okrug" title="Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug">Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug</a><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">, a region historically known as "</span><a style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugra" title="Yugra">Yugra</a><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">" in </span><a style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia" title="Russia">Russia</a><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">, together with </span><a style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansi" title="Mansi">Mansi peoples</a><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">. In the </span><a style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_okrug" title="Autonomous okrug" class="mw-redirect">autonomous okrug</a><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">, the </span><a style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khanty_language" title="Khanty language">Khanty</a><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;"> and </span><a style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansi_language" title="Mansi language">Mansi languages</a><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;"> are given co-official status with Russian. In the 2002 </span><a style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Census" title="Russian Census">Census</a><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">, 28,678 persons identified themselves as Khanty. Of those, 26,694 were resident in </span><a style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyumen_Oblast" title="Tyumen Oblast">Tyumen Oblast</a><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">, of which 17,128 were living in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and 8,760—in </span><a style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamalo-Nenets_Autonomous_Okrug" title="Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug">Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug</a><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">. 873 were residents of neighbouring </span><a style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomsk_Oblast" title="Tomsk Oblast">Tomsk Oblast</a><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">, and 88 lived in the </span><a style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komi_Republic" title="Komi Republic">Komi Republic</a><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">(Wikipedia)</span><br /><br /><br /><div style="font-family: arial;" class="article_container"> <p><b>Religious Beliefs.</b> The ecology movement illustrates ideological changes for new generations of Khanty struggling to reconcile or adapt ancient beliefs without entirely rejecting their traditions as "primitive." Khanty religion traditionally included reverence for spirit masters of animals, forests, and rivers. The chief intermediaries with such spirits, and with an elaborate hierarchy of gods, were shamans, religious and medical practitioners who often served as sensitive community leaders. Other Khanty could also communicate with the spirits by making appropriate reindeer or horse sacrifices. Sacrifices were performed in sacred groves that served as ecological preserves where no animals could be hunted. Kin groups, whose identities were linked with specific trees, presided over these groves. The groves featured ancestral male and female spirit images, called "idols" by Russians who held them in contempt. One of these grove-based groups was disbanded in the 1960s by Communist party leaders (who had previously thought such groups extinct).</p> <p>The cosmology of the spirit world was multilayered, including eastern sky gods, earth spirits, and an underworld sometimes associated with the North. Some of the earth spirits were believed to be deceased ancestors, especially shamans. Kin identity was mirrored in spirit organization: each lineage and phratry had "totemic" animal associations. Thus the Por people, linked with the sacred bear, were forbidden to hunt or eat bear except at Por ceremonies. Most people held hares sacred. The binding of kinship with ancestors meant that spirits as well as elders became enforcers of morality and taboos. This idea, plus a belief in reincarnation, is maintained by some Khanty. Aspects of Russian Orthodoxy (Christ as the main sky god, Numi-Torm) are also merged with ancient Turkic concepts (eastern sky gods).</p><br /><p><b>Ceremonies.</b> The translation of beliefs into action became problematic in the Soviet period, when the major ritual leaders—shamans—were persecuted and all religion was discouraged as superstition; a "last" bear ceremony to serve as an initiation was recorded in the 1930s. Secularization of traditional bear ceremonies was reflected in rituals filmed in the 1970s, although many Khanty still consider the bear sacred, with all-seeing powers. In addition to the feasting and dancing that accompany appeals to the bear spirit, there were satirical plays and buffoonery, sometimes mocking Russians. Bear festivals can therefore be seen as "rituals of reversal," and are enjoying a dramatic revival. Sacrificial rituals are performed in sacred groves, but more common are small tokens of respect for spirits, such as coins, flowers, and cloth, left in the groves. Some of the groves are sites for women's worship of female fire and fertility deities. Rituals for major events in the life cycle, such as births and weddings, have declined and sometimes have been supplanted by secular rituals. Yet divination to discover a child's identity as a reincarnated ancestor is still performed very frequently. A major Ob River holiday is the midsummer Day of Fisherman, a time for drinking and carousing.</p> <p><b>Arts,</b> Historically, the greatest performances were part of phratry ceremonies, including dramatic masked dancers emerging from the forest and transvestite men imitating bride-capture. Shamanic séances held participants enthralled with drumming, zither playing, dancing, ventriloquism, and sleight-of-hand stunts. Folktale and legend chanting took up many winter nights; some elders still know the chants. Owned lineage songs include geographical and kinship lore that were once part of the education of young men. Women's crafts include intricate appliqué fur designs symbolizing animals and kin affiliations, on clothing and bags. Men's wood and ivory carving is both commercial and religious.</p> <p><b>Medicine.</b> Various shamans ministered to ill Khanty, depending on the nature of the illness and the shaman's reputation. Powerful shamans believed capable of trance during séances (<i>elta</i>) to recover lost souls were <i>isyl'ta-ku</i> (men) or <i>isyl'ta-ni</i> (women). Shamans specializing in dream interpretation to diagnose illness, <i>ulom-verta-ni,</i> were often women, whereas "legend-singers," <i>arekhta-ku,</i> were men. Séances featured journeys by shamans or helper spirits to upper and lower cosmological worlds. Helpers ranged from mosquitoes to sacred bears or even Saint Nicholas. Once intense group-oriented cathartic performances of astonishing virtuosity, shamanic séances became private and covert. Western medicine, administered in clinics and hospitals, is chosen for many illness and births. A few shamans are revered and feared by those who believe in the dangers of soul loss and offending ancestral spirits.</p> <p><b>Death and Afterlife.</b> Belief in multiple souls (as many as four for women and five for men) means that special precautions must be taken for their well-being during burials and memorial feasts. Whereas one of the souls, <i>lil,</i> can reside in ancestral images and eventually be reincarnated, others may travel skyward or become birds and evil soul-stealing spirits. The Khanty concept of heaven, adapted from Russian Orthodoxy, envisions Khanty spirits living a normal reindeer-breeding existence in one area, with Russians living in another.</p> </div><br /><br /><br /><br /><a style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;" href="http://www.everyculture.com/index.html">World Culture Encyclopedia</a><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-83161607246720968592008-11-16T05:36:00.004+02:002008-11-16T05:40:22.629+02:00The Spriggans<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1b/Spriggan.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1b/Spriggan.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><p>Spriggans is the name given to a family of fairies in Cornish folklore, they are the closely related to the Piskies, but were generally believed to be darker and more dangerous than their mischievous cousins. Whereas Piskies are generally described as being cheerful and fun loving, Spriggans are more spiteful and full of malice, directed at humans in the form of evil tricks.</p> <p> It was believed that the Spriggans haunted the lonely places such as castle ruins, barrows, certain standing stones and windswept crags. Spriggans were thought to be the source of such misfortunes as blighted crops, bad weather and illness, especially in a time when the mechanics of such things were not fully understood. They were also want to steal small children and replace them with their own kind, a common trait in many of the fairy races of folklore. </p> <p>In appearance the Spriggans are described as grotesquely ugly with wizened features and crooked skinny bodies. They form part of the fairy bodyguard as described by Bottrell and Hunt, ready to dish out summary justice to those who would harm their otherworldly cousins.<br /></p><p>In this defensive respect they could expand from their diminutive stature to giant sized proportions. Some people even believed them to be the ghosts of giants, which were once thought to have roamed Cornwall in the time before time (see Bolster, and Cormoran). </p><p>One of their common traits was to lead lonely travellers into swamps or near to dangerous and crumbling cliffs, a factor they share in common with the Will o' the Wisp and the Piskies. Although the Piskies would not lead people to dangerous places.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span class="inline inline-left"><span class="caption" style="width: 178px;"><strong> </strong>by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Daniel Parkinson</span></span></span></p><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-47863144881073828582008-10-12T19:55:00.002+03:002008-10-12T20:00:02.531+03:00Cremation now allowed in Greece - Approval gathers pace<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://z.about.com/d/atheism/1/0/o/T/FuneralHektor-l.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://z.about.com/d/atheism/1/0/o/T/FuneralHektor-l.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><h4>The approval of the law allowing cremation in Greece paves the way for the first incineration facilities to be built within two years </h4><br /><p> THEY<b> </b>may need to hold their breath for another couple of years before the first facilities are built, but many wanting to be cremated upon death will at last be able to have their final wish carried out in this country after the Council of State approved a bill allowing cremation for those whose religion permits it. </p><p> After a long campaign by community groups (mostly Muslim, Buddhist and Protestant) and humanitarian activists, the legislation allowing cremation in Greece was passed in March 2006. As a presidential decree, though, it required the approval of the country's highest administrative court to become law. </p><p> That approval came on September 25 of this year. However, as explained by Antonis Alakiotis, the president of the Committee for the Right for Cremation in Greece (CRCG), a common ministerial decision now needs to be drafted by the interior, health and environment ministries before the first incineration facilities can be built - something that he expects will take up to a year-and-a-half. </p><p> For all that, though, Alakiotis treats the Council of State's recent decision as a significant step forward in the decade-long fight. </p><p> "Most importantly, they accepted it," he told this newspaper. "Of course, we wish that it had all happened more quickly, but we have to remember where we live." </p><p> He added that this does not change the Greek Church's position of forbidding cremation for its followers. </p><p> According to the law (3448/2006), families will be able to obtain a municipal permit to cremate their dead 60 hours after the death of their relative, as long as their religion allows it. </p><p> Unless written instructions requesting cremation have been left, the relatives (up to the fourth degree) can apply for the permit. In instances where there is a difference of opinion between relatives, a local magistrate will be asked to decide. </p><p> In addition to this, the Council of State requested that the common ministerial decision make provision for others to intervene when relatives seek a traditional burial despite there being proof that the deceased had requested cremation. </p><p> It also said that it should be illegal for the urn containing the ashes to be traded, avoiding the possibility of famous people's ashes being sold. </p><p> According to Alakiotis, the ministerial decision will now specify where and how such facilities will be built. Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis has already identified the city's First Cemetery as the likely location of the country's crematorium. </p><p> Commenting on the approval of the presidential decree, Thanasis Kafezas, of the municipality's Cemeteries Department, said: "We find ourselves one step away from the establishment of cremation facilities. In around one-and-a-half years, after the environment and public works ministry has determined the last laws, the City of Athens will have its first crematorium." </p><p> <b>Vote for rites </b> </p><p> Cremation is becoming increasingly accepted within this country, with up to 500 Greek Orthodox Christians opting for the practice despite the psychological trauma and costs associated with travelling abroad, mostly to Bulgaria and Germany. </p><p> Famously, Maria Callas was cremated in Paris and had her ashes scattered in the Aegean and, last year, renowned winemaker Yiannis Boutaris carried out his wife Athina's last wish to be cremated - an experience which, he said, left him feeling that the Church had treated his wife as if she had committed suicide. </p><p> After taking his wife's body to Bulgaria for the cremation, Boutaris struggled to find a Greek priest to carry out Orthodox burial rites and a blessing in this country, eventually finding one in Nymphaio (a village in northern Greece) who would "take the risk". </p><p> The hope for many Greeks is that the existence of a crematorium will soften the Church's to now staunch position against the practice for its followers. </p><p> Cremation is common in all other predominantly Orthodox countries. </p><p> "I am positive," Alakiotis said. "The position of the late archbishop [of Athens and all Greece] Christodoulos and the current Archbishop Ieronymos is encouraging. It is, however, a matter for the Holy Synod [the Church's executive committee]." </p><p> Commenting on the recently approved law, Ieronymos said: "It is respected, as are all legal decisions." </p><p> "The Holy Synod knows that its churches abroad have for some time offered burial rites for those who opt for cremation," Alakiotis said. "Furthermore, it is becoming more and more common for families to stop payments for the boxes in which bones from exhumed bodies [as is traditional in this country after three years of burial] are kept. Instead, the bones are often put in a big hole and turned into ash in a chemical way. What is the difference between this and cremation?" </p> Cremation, he added, is the only realistic way to overcome the problem of overcrowded cemeteries. <span style=""><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Thrasy Petropoulos, for <span style="font-style: italic;">Athens News</span>.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /></span></span>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-29164647470842835532008-07-19T05:23:00.003+03:002008-07-19T05:34:13.425+03:00'Anastenaria', The Ancient Ecstatic Fire-Walking Ritual of Greece<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.serres.gr/Arts/dance/563.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://www.serres.gr/Arts/dance/563.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The Anastenaria is a traditional ritual of fire walking which dates back to pagan times. Barefoot villagers of Ayia Eleni near Serres, and of Langada near Thessaloniki, and other places, annually walk over hot coals. As there are variations in the ritual from place to place, the following description is largely based upon the performance of the festival as celebrated at Ayia Eleni, the most authoritative Anastenarian community, and the illustrations are from the ritual at Langada.<br /><br />The communities which celebrate the Anastenaria are descendants of refugees from Eastern Thrace who arrived in Greece following the migrations necessitated by the Balkan Wars and by the later exchange of populations in 1923. Each village community of Anastenarides is headed by a “group of twelve” of which the large majority are women. They gather in a special building, or in the room of a house set aside for the purpose, called a konaki. Here on an icon shelf are kept the special icons of SS Constantine and Helen which are the most precious possessions of the community. Each has a handle so that it can conveniently be carried in processions and dances, is hung with small bells, decorated with “sacred knots” made from kerchiefs, and is covered with specially made cloth envelopes. Draped over the icons and the shelf are large red kerchiefs called simadia, which are believed to possess in themselves the power of the icons. On a table nearby offerings of oil, incense and lighted candles are kept.<br /><br />On the eve of the feast of Saints Constantine and Helen (May 20th) the Anastenarides gather in the konaki, where the participants dance and sing to the music of the Thracian lyra, and a large drum. After some time, the dancing generates extreme emotional and ecstatic phenomena in the devotees, particularly in those dancing for the first time. This manifests itself in the form of violent trembling, repeated rocking backwards and forwards, and writhing. The archanastenaris hands out icons from the shelf to some of the dancers. The Anastenarides believe that during the dance they are “seized” by the saint, and enter a state of trance.<br /><br />On the morning of the saints’ day (May 21st) the Anastenarides gather at the konaki before leaving together in procession, accompanied by musicians and candle bearers to a holy well, where they are blessed by the holy water. Next, they sacrifice one or several animals to the saints. In Ayia Eleni, the animal must be over one year old, and of an odd number of years of age, the most acceptable being seven. The beast must also be unmarked and it must not have been castrated. It is incensed, and then led up to a shallow pit excavated in a place previously indicated by the Archanastenaris in a trance, usually beside the roots of a tree or at the agiasma. At one side of the shallow pit candles are lighted, while, on the other stand pots of holy water and the sacrificial animal. The beast is turned upside down, with its head tilted upwards, at the edge of the pit. Its throat is cut in such a way as to allow its blood to soak into the earth. The carcass is hung and skinned to the sound of music, and the raw flesh and hide cut up into equal parts put into baskets and distributed, amongst the families of the village in a procession from house to house.<br /><br />After lunch the Anastenarides gather again and resume their dancing. A candle is lit from one of the oil lamps in front of the icons, and given to a man who takes it to an open space in the village, where a cone-shaped pile of logs has been prepared. There a bonfire is lit. As the wood burns, men spread out the coals with long poles until they form a large oval bed. When the Anastenarides are informed that the fire is ready, they approach the place barefoot in procession, bearing their icons and simadia.<br /><br />Initially the Anastenarides dance barefoot around the hot ashes, but when the saint moves them, individuals run backwards and forwards across the burning coals, some bearing aloft the icons. Sometimes devotees kneel down beside the fire and pound the ashes with the palms of their hands in order to demonstrate their power over the fire. The Anastenarides continue dancing over the coals until the ashes are cool, then they return to the konaki and enjoy a common meal, with music and singing. During the next two days, they process around the village visiting each house, taking care to do so always by moving in a counter-clockwise direction. On May 23rd they conclude with a second dance over the fire, this time privately.<br /><br />The refugees say that in their original home, in Kosti, now in eastern Bulgaria, the ancient ceremonies were performed in full. With the outbreak of the Balkan war of 1912, the Greeks of Kosti were forced out of their village with their icons by the Bulgarians. They travelled by steamer to Constantinople, from there they were moved on Thessaloniki, finally settling in rural Macedonia. For more than twenty years they celebrated the Anastenaria only in secret, before being persuaded to perform in public in 1947. This provoked hostile response from the Church, but ecclesiastical disapproval has been counterbalanced by the active support of folklore societies, local government officials and government ministries.<br /><br />According to the story told by the refugees, the origin of the Anastenaria lies in a fire which took place at Kosti in the dancing on the hot coalsthirteenth century. One night the church of Saint Constantine caught fire, and as it burned the people heard cries coming from the flames. It was the icons calling out for aid. Some villagers ran into the building and rescued them, neither the icons not their saviours being burned. Since that time, the Anastenaria has been held to celebrate their delivery. This is similar to the many stories invented to “explain” customs of unknown origin which are found across Greece. In the nineteenth century, the Byzantine scholar Anna Chatzinikolaou was able to show that the icons of the saints, today considered so important to the group, did not exist before 1833, and that all had at that time been recently repainted. There was evidence that the earliest icons depicted the red-robed Saint Helena “as if she were dancing”; clearly a serious embarrassment to a group under threat of religious persecution.<br /><br />Among scholars the origins of the Anastenaria, as opposed to what the cult has become today, are a matter of considerable dispute. Although there is no evidence in ancient literature of fire-walking rituals associated with the god Dionysos, most scholars connect the Anastenaria with the widespread cult of that divinity. This association was also made by the Church authorities when they condemned the practices of the cult. Folklore scholar George A. Megas observes that “the cradle of Dionysiac worship was precisely in the Haemus area where the Anastenaria are danced today, passed down by the Greeks to the neighboring Bulgarian villages.” This latter point is made clear by the fact that the prayers used by the Bulgarian Anastenarides are recited in Greek, and that the transmission of the rites from Greeks to Bulgarian settlers in the area is a matter of historical record. Moreover, the evidence of mid-winter and carnival customs is that much that was associated with the Dionysian cult has survived throughout northern and central Greece. Katerina Kakouri has established a close connection between these customs and the Anastenaria in Ayia Eleni.<br /><br />Megas has also pointed out that the state of frenzy among worshippers, observed among the Anastenarides, was characteristic of the cult of this god, whose Maenads, or female worshippers, “rushed in a frenzy over the mountains at night, lighted by torches and goaded on by the wild music of deep-throated flutes and thunddancing on the hot coalsering drums.” Certainly some observers have noted in the dance of the Anastenarides over the hot ashes, with their trance-like faces and outstretched arms, the modern successors of the infamous ancient Maenads of Dionysos, the God-intoxicated women who might, in their trance-like state, tear apart any animal they came across in their frenzied nocturnal roamings over the mountains. Of crucial importance in this context is the evidence that the modern Anastenarides may, in their frenzy, run away with the icons for a period “into the mountains”, and that this is expected as an integral part of the sacred ritual. In the last century A. Chourmouziades described how “now beside themselves, [they] run and speed like birds up the hills and into the woods and up escarpments.” D. Petropoulos observed as recently as the 1930s that “when the dance was at its height, many folk broke away in their joy and ran up towards the mountains.” This certainly recalls the frenzy of the Maenads, who roamed the mountains while out of their minds.<br /><br />It would appear that in the practices of these settlers from Eastern Thrace may be found one of the most distinctive living survivals, under a very thin Christian guise, of an important part of the ancient religion of much of rural classical Greece.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">by John L. Tomkinson, </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">from 'Festive Greece: A Calendar of Tradition'.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><br /></span>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-36072558103070296502008-06-11T00:30:00.004+03:002008-06-11T00:41:18.375+03:00Bear-worshipping Ainu to flourish again<h2><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:78%;" >.</span></h2><div class="picabove"> <div><img src="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/00677/ainu-meeting-404_677146c.jpg" alt="A group of people from Japan's minority Ainu people bow their heads after the Japanese parliament recognised the Ainu as an indigenous people" height="260" width="404" /></div> <div style="font-style: italic;" class="piccaption">Representatives from Japan's minority Ainu people bow their heads after the Japanese parliament recognised their indigenous status<br /><br /><span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />A bear-worshipping indigenous minority of northern Japan are to receive official recognition, a move that will end 140 years of enforced assimilation and discrimination.<br /><br /></span></span></span></div> </div> <p> The Ainu, the original inhabitants of Hokkaido island, were conquered by Japan in the mid-1800s and forcibly assimilated into Japanese culture. </p> <p> The Meiji government in Tokyo declared the Ainu language illegal, forced them to adopt Japanese names, redistributed their land to mainland settlers and forced them to labour in the fishing industry. </p> <p> But yesterday Japan's parliament unanimously adopted a resolution to recognise the Ainu as "indigenous people that have their own language, religious and cultural identity."</p><p> Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura issued a statement saying that the government would set up a panel to draw up measures to assist the Ainu. </p> <p> The Ainu are one of Japan's most marginalised groups. Government estimates put the number of people with half or more Ainu ancestry at around 50,000. </p> <p> The century-long repression of the Ainu has all but rendered their dialect extinct. </p> <p> The cultural differences are also significantly at odds with mainland Japanese culture. </p> <p> Ainu men preferring full beards and long hair and women tattoo around their mouths for decoration. </p> <p> Traditional clothing is made from tree bark and the Ainu are animists – believing that everything in their rugged homeland contains a spirit. They worshipped natural landmarks and animals, especially bears. </p> <p> "The Ainu people have been waiting for this day for 140 years and we no longer have to be ashamed of being considered a minority group," said Mikiko Maruko, an Ainu woman attending a festival in Tokyo to mark the Diet's decision. </p> <p> "This is a very important day for us – and for other minorities in this country," she said. "This is the beginning of our empowerment, although this is just the start of a new phase of our struggle." </p> <p> Ainu elders also welcomed the announcement, which they hope will entitle them to treatment similar to the Aborigines of Australia and native Americans. </p> <p> "We will take seriously the historical fact that during our country's modernization process, many Ainu people were discriminated against and were forced to live in poverty," Mr Machimura's statement said. </p> <p> "Today's resolution will turn a new page in Japanese history," Tadashi Kato, director of the Hokkaido Utari Association, told a meeting of a group of politicians. "I sincerely hope you will continue to support the creation of a society with ethnic harmony."</p><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />By Julian Ryall, <span style="font-style: italic;">'The Telegraph'.</span></span><br /><p> </p><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-71137612912252002862008-06-03T03:38:00.002+03:002008-06-03T03:52:37.621+03:00Cleanthes' Hymn to Zeus<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://stoa.files.wordpress.com/2007/01/zeus.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://stoa.files.wordpress.com/2007/01/zeus.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><i>Cleanthes (331-232 B.C.) was a disciple of Zeno the Stoic. He considered the universe a living being and said that god was the soul of the universe and the sun its heart.</i><p><i><br /></i> </p>Most glorious of the immortals, invoked by many names, ever all-powerful,<br />Zeus, the First Cause of Nature, who rules all things with Law,<br />Hail! It is right for mortals to call upon you,<br />since from you we have our being, we whose lot it is to be God's image,<br />we alone of all mortal creatures that live and move upon the earth. Accordingly, I will praise you with my hymn and ever sing of your might.<br />The whole universe, spinning around the earth,<br />goes wherever you lead it and is willingly guided by you.<br />So great is the servant which you hold in your invincible hands,<br />your eternal, two-edged, lightning-forked thunderbolt.<br />By its strokes all the works of nature came to be established,<br />and with it you guide the universal Word of Reason which moves through all creation,<br />mingling with the great sun and the small stars. O God, without you nothing comes to be on earth,<br />neither in the region of the heavenly poles, nor in the sea,<br />except what evil men do in their folly.<br />But you know how to make extraordinary things suitable,<br />and how to bring order forth from chaos; and even that which is unlovely is lovely to you.<br />For thus you have joined all things, the good with the bad, into one,<br />so that the eternal Word of all came to be one. This Word, however, evil mortals flee, poor wretches;<br />though they are desirous of good things for their possession,<br />they neither see nor listen to God's universal Law;<br />and yet, if they obey it intelligently, they would have the good life.<br />But they are senselessly driven to one evil after another:<br />some are eager for fame, no matter how godlessly it is acquired;<br />others are set on making money without any orderly principles in their lives;<br />and others are bent on ease and on the pleasures and delights of the body.<br />They do these foolish things, time and again,<br />and are swept along, eagerly defeating all they really wish for.<br />O Zeus, giver of all, shrouded in dark clouds and holding the vivid bright lightning,<br />rescue men from painful ignorance.<br />Scatter that ignorance far from their hearts.<br />and deign to rule all things in justice.<br />so that, honored in this way, we may render honor to you in return,<br />and sing your deeds unceasingly, as befits mortals;<br />for there is no greater glory for men<br />or for gods than to justly praise the universal Word of Reason.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-91655454091593374362008-04-20T03:13:00.000+03:002008-04-20T03:22:19.600+03:00ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΣ ΠΛΗΘΩΝ ΓΕΜΙΣΤΟΣ - Ύμνοι στους θεούς<div align="center"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><br /><img src="http://www.dwdekatheon.org/images/stories/plh8wn.gif" alt="" border="0" /></div><br /><span style="color: brown; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 1.3em;"><b>Βίος Γεωργίου Πλήθωνος Γεμιστού</b></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: maroon; font-style: italic;">Σχετικά με τα νεανικά του χρόνια δεν υπάρχουν πολλά ακριβή στοιχεία. Τα μεγαλύτερο μέρος του τμήματος αυτού της ζωής του πέρασε στην Κωνσταντινούπολη, ενώ για κάποιο διάστημα διέμεινε στην Οθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, όπου μαθήτευσε κοντά στον κατά τα άλλα άγνωστο εβραίο οπαδό του Αβερρόη, Ελισσαίο. Το 1400 εγκαταστάθηκε στον Μυστρά, την πρωτεύουσα του Δεσποτάτου του Μορέως, όπου ίδρυσε φιλοσοφική σχολή. Μεταξύ των μαθητών του συγκαταλέγονται οι Βησσαρίων και Γεννάδιος Σχολάριος. Οι δεσπότες του Δεσποτάτου Θεόδωρος Α΄ (1383-1407), Θεόδωρος Β΄ (1407-1443) και Κωνσταντίνος (1428/1443-1449, ο κατοπινός αυτοκράτορας Κωνσταντίνος ΙΑ’) συχνά ζητούσαν την γνώμη του για διάφορα θέματα. Επίσης Πλήθων ήταν σύμβουλος και των τελευταίων αυτοκρατόρων του Βυζαντίου. Είχε επίσης μακρά σταδιοδρομία ως δικαστής.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: purple; font-style: italic;">Το 1438-39 συνόδευσε τον αυτοκράτορα Ιωάννη Η' στη Σύνοδο της Φεράρας-Φλωρεντίας. Επίσης μέλος της αποστολής ήταν και ο μαθητής του Πλήθωνα, ο ανθρωπιστής λόγιος και κατοπινός καρδινάλιος Βησσαρίων. Στη διάρκεια της παραμονής του στη Φλωρεντία η προσωπικότητα, η μόρφωση και η ευγλωττία του Πλήθωνα εντυπωσίασε ιδιαιτέρως τους ιταλούς ανθρωπιστές και μεταξύ αυτών τον Κόζιμο ντε Μέντιτσι.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: brown; font-style: italic;">Ο Πλήθων πέθανε υπέργηρος από φυσικά αίτια στην Λακεδαίμονα το 1450, και λόγω της καθόδου των Οθωμανών που ακολούθησε μετά από λίγα χρόνια, οι περισσότεροι μαθητές του, ανάμεσα στους οποίους και ο μετέπειτα καρδινάλιος Βησσαρίων, έφυγαν στην Ιταλία όπου συνέβαλαν σημαντικά στην λεγόμενη Αναγέννηση. Το 1466 Ιταλοί θαυμαστές του με επικεφαλής τον Σιγισμούνδο Μαλατέστα εισέβαλαν στην Λακεδαίμονα, πήραν τα οστά του και τα μετέφεραν στο Ναό των Μαλατέστα (Tempio Malatestiano) στο Ρίμινι όπου βρίσκονται μέχρι σήμερα, «για να βρίσκεται ο μεγάλος διδάσκαλος μεταξύ ελευθέρων ανθρώπων».</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.3em; font-style: italic;"><b><span style="color: brown;">Έργο</span></b></span><br /><br /><span style="color: maroon; font-style: italic;">Ένθερμος υπερασπιστής της φυσικής και πολιτισμικής συνέχειας του Ελληνισμού («εσμέν Έλληνες το γένος, ως η τε φωνή και η πάτριος παιδεία μαρτυρεί»), βαθύς γνώστης του Πλατωνισμού, συνέθεσε πολλούς ύμνους προς τους Έλληνες Θεούς, συγκρότησε τον φιλοσοφικο-λατρευτικό «Κύκλο» του Μυστρά, και συνέγραψε τα «Περί ων Αριστοτέλης προς Πλάτωνα διαφέρεται» και «Περί Νόμων». Το τελευταίο, ένα πλήρες σχέδιο για επανελληνοποίηση της Πελοποννήσου, δυστυχώς κάηκε δημόσια μετά τον θάνατό του από τον πατριάρχη Γεννάδιο Σχολάριο, καθώς θεωρήθηκε «ειδωλολατρικό» και «σατανικό», που περιείχε υποτίθεται στις σελίδες του «τα σαπρά των Ελλήνων ληρήματα»</span><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: navy; font-style: italic;">Βιβλιογραφία</span><br /><br /><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Μανδηλάς Κώστας, «Γεώργιος Γεμιστός – Πλήθων», Αθήναι 1997</span><br /><br /><br /></span><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="42" width="817"><tbody><tr><td height="42" width="817"><span style="" lang="EL"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Πρώτος ύμνος για όλο το χρόνο στον Δία.</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;"><br /> </span></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" width="817"> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;"><span style="" lang="EL"><o:p> </o:p> Ζεύ πατέρα, αυτοπάτορα, πρεσβύτατε και δημιουργέ,<br /> πανυπέρτατε βασιλέα, που τα γέννησες όλα, επιφανέστερε από όλους,<br /> εσύ που εξουσιάζεις τα πάντα και είσαι αυτοόν και αυτοένα και το ίδιο το αγαθό·<br /> εσύ ο οποίος από τον άπειρο αιώνα γέννησες αυτά όλα,<br /> όσα μεν (είναι) μεγαλύτερα ο ίδιος και με αυτά τα άλλα,<br /> (έκαμες) όπως και όσο δυνατόν, πιο καλά·<br /> σπλαχνίσου, σώζε, οδηγώντας μαζί με όλα τα άλλα και εμάς,<br /> διά των επιφανών παιδιών σου, πάντοτε, στα οποία μας ανέθεσες,<br /> όπως ώρισες το πεπρωμένο μας, καθώς έπρεπε.</span></span></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"> <p align="left"><span lang="EL"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Δεύτερος ύμνος στους θεούς και αυτό για όλο τον χρόνο.</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;"><br /> </span></span></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span lang="EL"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Επιφανή παιδιά του Διός, που υπάρχει από τον εαυτόν του και γέννησε τα πάντα<br /> και υπαρχηγοί· εσείς οι οποίοι άρχετε σε εμάς με δικαιοσύνη,<br /> ποτέ να μην παύσωμε να σας έχωμε οδηγούς,<br /> ούτε να χρησιμοποιούμε λανθασμένους νόμους, αλλά αυτούς που είναι αγαπητοί σε εσάς<br /> και αυτούς που θέσαμε εμείς μόνοι, καλώς, όσο μπορούσαμε.<br /> Αλλά, ώ θεοί, εσείς που διευθύνετε τον ηνίοχο νου μας,<br /> τον οποίο εσείς μας δώσατε ως προστάτη μας...<br /> και κατά τα άλλα μας δίνετε (την δύναμι) να περνάμε καλά την ζωή μας<br /> και (τώρα) δώστε μας (την δύναμι) να υμνούμε τελευταία τον Δία μαζί με εσάς.</span></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span lang="EL"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Τρίτος ύμνος στον Δία, πρώτος κατά μήνα (=στις μηνιαίες τελετές).</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;"><br /> </span></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span lang="EL"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Ο Ζευς ο μεγάλος, ο πραγματικά Ιανός, αυτοπάτορας και<br /> προπάτορας όλων σε όσα έχουν υπάρξι και τελειωμένη γένεσι,<br /> εσύ ο οποίος δεν κάμεις τίποτε πρόχειρα<br /> αλλά αφ’ ότου υπάρχεις ο ίδιος και όσο (υπάρχεις)<br /> και αυτά όμοια τα πράττεις και δεν είσαι ποτέ αργός<br /> και δεν κάμεις τίποτε κατώτερο από την δική σου δύναμι,<br /> πραγματικά, αρμόζει να εκτελής αυτό που είναι καλό,<br /> εσύ που φροντίζεις για όλα, βασιλεύτατε Ζεύ,<br /> ώ εσύ, τέλεια μακάριε· ώ εσύ που δίνεις αφειδώς τα δικά σου.</span></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span lang="EL"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Τέταρτος ύμνος στον Ποσειδώνα, δεύτερος μηνιαίος.</span></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Ώ, μεγάλε άναξ Ποσειδών, πρεσβύτατε υιέ του Διός,<br /> που υπερέχεις σε όλην αυτήν (την κτίσι) στην λαμπρότητα και στην δύναμι,<br /> όση γένεσι υπάρχει από τον Δία, έχει την δύναμι αυτήν<br /> να άρχης και να βασιλεύης δεύτερος από τον πατέρα,<br /> εσύ, που είσαι εξαίρετος από όλα τα άπειρα που υπάρχουν,<br /> γιατί μόνος από όσα υπάρχουν είσαι τελείως αγέννητος.<br /> Εσύ και αυτόν τον ευρύχωρο ουρανό με τις διαταγές του πατέρα,<br /> άρχισες να κάμης, από τον οποίο και εμείς από εσένα γεννηθήκαμε·<br /> σε εμάς να είσαι πάντοτε μειλίχιος (πράος) και σπλαχνικός, ώ πατέρα.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Πέμπτος ύμνος στην Ήρα, τρίτος μηνιαίος.</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;"><br /> </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Ήρα, μεγάλη θεά, κόρη του μεγάλου Διός,<br /> που έχεις σύζυγο τον Ποσειδώνα, που είσαι βέβαια αυτό που είναι,<br /> αγαθό, μητέρα των θεών, που είναι εντός του ουρανού.<br /> εσύ που δημιουργείς την ύλη, που είναι το υπόβαθρο στα είδη·<br /> εσύ που δίνεις κάθε δύναμι, άλλοτε άλλη, τόσο την γενική όσο και αυτήν που μας οδηγεί στην αρετή και σε κάθε λαμπρότητα<br /> και με αυτήν (την δύναμι) ανάγεις τους νόμους, από τους οποίους υπάρχει πλήθος σε εσένα<br /> και συνάμα η αιωνιότητα· εσύ και σε εμάς<br /> δίδε να ζήσωμε καλά, οδηγώντας μας σπλαχνικά στην αρετή.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Έκτος ύμνος στους Ολυμπίους θεούς, τέταρτος μηνιαίος.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Άναξ Ποσειδών, άριστο παιδί του μεγάλου Διός,<br /> εσύ που έγινες αρχηγός από τον πατέρα, πριν από κάθε γένεσι·<br /> εσύ και η Ήρα, η αγνή σύζυγός σου και καλή βασίλισσα.<br /> Απόλλων και Άρτεμι και Ήφαιστε και Βάκχε<br /> και Αθηνά, εσείς βέβαια οι επτά ανώτεροι θεοί,<br /> από όλους τους άλλους, μετά βέβαια τον έξοχο βασιλέα που είναι υψηλά·<br /> και εσείς οι άλλοι θεοί, που κατοικείτε στον Όλυμπο (και είσθε)<br /> πατέρες των εκεί αθανάτων (θεών) και σε εμάς μεταξύ αυτών,<br /> γίνετε σπλαχνικοί και ευνοϊκοί σε εμάς.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Έβδομος ύμνος στον Απόλλωνα, πέμπτος μηνιαίος.</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;"><br /> </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Άναξ Απόλλων, προστάτη σε κάθε φύσι<br /> Και ηγεμόνα που κατευθύνεις όλα τα άλλα μεταξύ τους σε ένα<br /> Και μάλιστα αυτό το παν και πολυμερές, που είναι πολύχορδο<br /> Πολυθόρυβο, το φέρνεις σε αρμονία·<br /> Εσύ, βέβαια, δίνεις την ομόνοια και την φρόνησι στις ψυχές<br /> Και την δικαιοσύνη, τα οποία είναι τα κάλλιστα από τα δικά σου (πράγματα)<br /> Και (δίνεις) υγεία στα σώματα και κάλλος βέβαια σε αυτά·<br /> Εσύ να μας δίδης πάντοτε την επιθυμία για τα καλά,<br /> Άναξ στις ψυχές μας, σε ώ παιάν.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Όγδοος ύμνος στην Άρτεμι, έκτος μηνιαίος.<br /> </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Βασίλισσα Άρτεμι, που ηγείσαι στην άλλη φύσι<br /> και την προστατεύεις· αφού παρέλαβες ενιαίο σύμπαν,<br /> έπειτα στο τέλος με διαφόρους άλλους τρόπους το ξεχωρίζεις<br /> σε περισσότερα είδη και από τα είδη κάνεις το καθένα<br /> και από το όλο πάλι τα μέρη· και τους συνδέσμους· εσύ δίδεις<br /> στις ψυχές σωφροσύνη και δύναμι να διακρίνουν τα χειρότερα<br /> και στα σώματα δύναμι και ακεραιότητα. Αλλά, ώ, εσύ, σεβαστή,<br /> ανόρθωσε τη ζωή μας που έχει πέσει πολλές φορές,<br /> δίδοντας κάθε τρόπο αποφυγής των αισχρών.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Ένατος ύμνος, έβδομος μηνιαίος, στους ουράνιους θεούς.</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;"><br /> </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Ώ άναξ αυτού του ουρανού, Ήλιε, είθε να γίνης σπλαχνικός<br /> και εσύ Σελήνη, είθε να είσαι σπλαχνική και ιερή βασίλισσα<br /> και εσύ Εωσφόρε και Στίλβων, λαμπρέ ακόλουθε πάντοτε του Ηλίου<br /> και εσείς Φαίνων και Φαέθων και Πυρόη<br /> και όλοι οι υπαρχηγοί του Ηλίου του άνακτος,<br /> που συνεργάζεσθε με εκείνον που πρέπει· σας υμνούμε και εμείς<br /> γιατί είσθε οι λαμπροί προνοητές για εμάς<br /> και εσείς τα άλλα άστρα, τα οποία έχουν αφεθή (στον χώρο) με θεία πρόγνωσι.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Δέκατος ύμνος στην Αθηνά, όγδοος μηνιαίος.</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;"><br /> </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Αθηνά βασίλισσα, που έχεις είδος χωρίς καθόλου ύλη,<br /> προΐστασαι και ηγείσαι η ίδια και εδημιούργησες αυτά<br /> (τα δύα) μετά από τον βασιλέα όλου του κόσμου, τον Ποσειδώνα,<br /> ο οποίος υπερέχει από εσένα σε όλο το είδος·<br /> Εσύ, που είσαι αιτία κάθε κινήσεως που γίνεται με ώθησι<br /> και γίνονται τα παράξενα γιατί καθένα εσύ το εξωθείς·<br /> αλλά και από εμάς (να απομακρύνης αυτά)<br /> αν και κάθε φορά κάνωμε κάποιο σφάλμα από την ανοησία μας,<br /> ώ, θεά, ξυπνώντας με τον νου την ψυχή μας όταν πρέπει.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Ενδέκατος ύμνος στον Διόνυσο, ένατος μηνιαίος.</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;"><br /> </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Βάκχε, πατέρα και γεννητή όλων των λογικών ψυχών,<br /> όσες είναι ουράνιες και όσες δαιμονικές<br /> και όσες δικές μας, μετά τον άνακτα Ποσειδώνα·<br /> εσύ που είσαι αίτιος της κινήσεως (της ψυχής) που έλκεται<br /> από τον έρωτα του καλού και της αναγωγής στο καλλίτερο.<br /> Εσύ δίδε και σε εμάς που απομείναμε καλή και θεϊκώτερη<br /> κάθε φορά ενέργεια (εμπνέοντας) την ανόητη σκέψι μας,<br /> για να αναγώμαστε γρήγορα σε αυτήν με φρόνησι<br /> και να μην ανοηταίνωμε για πολύ σχετικά με τα αγαθά.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Δωδέκατος ύμνος στους Τιτάνες, δέκατος μηνιαίος.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Τον δημιουργό όλης της θνητής φύσεως, τον υιό του Διός,<br /> ελάτε να υμνήσωμε, τον άνακτα Κρόνο,<br /> τον πρεσβύτατο από τα νόθα παιδιά του Διός,<br /> Ταρτάροι Τιτάνες, τους οποίους βέβαια μαζί με αυτόν<br /> υμνούμε, που είναι όλοι αγαθοί και χωρίς κακό,<br /> αν και είσθε γεννήτορες των φθαρτών θνητών.<br /> Και την Αφροδίτη, την ιερή σύζυγο αυτού του Κρόνου,<br /> και τον Πάνα, τον αρχηγό των θηραμάτων και την Δήμητρα των φυτών<br /> και την Κόρη, (την αρχηγό) του δικού μας θνητού και όλους τους άλλους.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Δέκατος τρίτος ύμνος στον Ήφαιστο, ενδέκατος μηνιαίος.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Άναξ Ήφαιστε, που ηγείσαι στους υπερουρανίους θεούς,<br /> των Ολυμπίων και των Ταρταρίων συνάμα<br /> και προΐστασαι μετά τον ευρυάνακτα Ποσειδώνα και δίδεις<br /> σε καθένα την χώρα και την έδρα του·<br /> εσύ που είσαι αίτιος ταυτοχρόνως της στάσεως και του όλου<br /> και σε καθένα από αυτά δίδεις την αιωνιότητα.<br /> Εσύ και ο Ποσειδών με την θέλησι του πατέρα σου·<br /> εσύ να φρουρής και εμάς, δίδοντας (την δύναμι) να μένωμε<br /> σταθεροί κάθε φορά στις καλές πράξεις.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Δέκατος τέταρτος ύμνος στους θεούς, δωδέκατος μηνιαίος.</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;"><br /> </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Μαζί με τους άλλους θα εξυμνήσωμε και τους προσεχείς<br /> αυτούς αγνούς θεούς, οι οποίοι θεοί μας βοηθούν πολύ καλά<br /> με άλλα θεϊκώτερα (πράγματα) και συχνά μας δίδουν όλα τα αγαθά,<br /> τα οποία βέβαια προέρχονται από τον ίδιο τον Δία,<br /> και έρχονται μέσω των άλλων θεών και από εκεί σε εμάς,<br /> άλλοι μεν καθαρίζοντας άλλοι δε ανάγοντας και άλλοι φρουρώντας<br /> μας σώζουν ανορθώνοντας εύκολα τον νου μας·<br /> αλλά σπλαχνικοί είθε να είσθε (σε εμάς).</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Δέκατος πέμπτος ύμνος σε όλους τους θεούς και δέκατος τρίτος μηνιαίος.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Ύψιστε Ζεύ, που υπερέχεις από όλους,<br /> όντας πρεσβύτατος δημιουργός και γεννήτορας όλων·<br /> και εσείς όλοι οι θεοί, που είσθε στον Όλυμπο,<br /> και εσείς οι Ταρτάριοι και οι ουράνιοι και χθόνιοι (γήινοι)·<br /> δώστέ μας, αν (κάναμε) κάποια δεινή αμαρτία και ανόητα (ασεβή) έργα,<br /> αφού καθαρθούμε να σας πλησιάζωμε άμεμπτα<br /> για να είναι ευτυχισμένη η ζωή μας· και εσύ κυρίως, ώ Ζεύ,<br /> εσύ που είσαι ανώτερος αρχηγός όλων και είσαι το πρώτιστο και το τελευταίο αγαθό (βοήθησέ μας).</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Δέκατος έκτος ύμνος στον Δία και πρώτος από τους ιερούς.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Ώ Ζεύ, που είσαι τελείως αγέννητος και αυθύπαρκτος,<br /> και γέννησες όλα και φροντίζεις γι’ αυτά, που τα έχεις όλα μόνα μέσα σου,<br /> κάθε ένα και τίποτε χωριστό, από όπου καθένα προχωρεί χωριστά,<br /> κάνοντας έτσι ενιαίο και συνολικό το έργο ώστε να είναι πολύ πλήρες και ωραίο,<br /> όσο ήταν δυνατόν, γιατί είσαι ένα και τελείως χωρίς φθόνο.<br /> Αλλά, ώ Ζεύ, εσύ με τα λαμπρά παιδιά σου να μας οδηγής μαζί με το όλον<br /> κατευθύνοντας όπου έχεις αποφασίσει· και δίδοντάς μας να κάνωμε καλές αρχές<br /> και να φέρωμε σε πέρας τις πράξεις μας.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Δέκατος έβδομος ύμνος στους Ολυμπίους θεούς, δεύτερος από τους ιερούς.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Εμπρός να υμνήσωμε τον άνακτα Ποσειδώνα,<br /> που είναι το πρεσβύτατο παιδί του Διός, πριν από όλους<br /> και άριστος και δεύτερος αρχηγός από τον πατέρα όλης της γενέσεως<br /> και γειτονικός σε εμάς δημιουργός· και μαζί με αυτόν την βασίλισσα Ήρα, που είναι και η πρεσβύτατη κόρη του πατέρα Διός,<br /> ακόμη και τους άλλους θεούς υμνούμε που είναι στον Όλυμπο<br /> και είναι από τους αθανάτους (θεούς) όλοι αυτοί αρχηγοί και αίτιοι των εδώ·<br /> αλλά γίνετε σπλαχνικοί σε εμάς.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Δέκατος όγδοος ύμνος σε όλους τους θεούς, τρίτος από τους ιερούς.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Ώ, όλοι οι θεοί, που είσθε μετά τον εξαίρετο αγαθό Δία,<br /> όλοι σεις είσθε τελείως άμεμπτοι και χωρίς ελάττωμα·<br /> από εσάς κορυφαίος αρχηγός, από τον Δία, είναι ο Ποσειδών·<br /> εσείς που είσθε υπερουράνιοι και εσείς μέσα στον ουρανό,<br /> όλοι λαμπροί και σας υμνούμε εμείς που έχομε φύσι συγγενική<br /> με εσάς τελευταίο. Ώ μακάριοι και εσείς, δώστέ μας από τα δικά σας,<br /> αλλά και σε εμάς δίδοντας τα καλά και αγαθά, όσοι δεν είμαστε<br /> πάντοτε αμελείς στην ζωή, είθε πάντοτε να μας ανορθώνετε.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Δέκατος ένατος ύμνος σε όλους τους Ολυμπίους θεούς, τέταρτος από τους ιερούς.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Ώ άναξ Κρόνε, που άρχεις στους υπερουράνιους θεούς<br /> και τους κυβερνάς· εσύ ηγείσαι σε όλον αυτόν τον ουρανό, Ήλιε,<br /> στον οποίο ακολουθούν ως πλανήτες οι άλλοι·<br /> από τους οποίους εξεβλάστησε όλη η γενεά των θνητών<br /> και από τους δύο σας, δηλαδή από τον Κρόνο και τον Ήλιο·<br /> και Τιτάνες και πλανήτες υπαρχηγοί αυτών, που συνεργάζεσθε άλλοι σε άλλα,<br /> και εσάς υμνούμε εμείς (γιατί) συχνά από εσάς έχομε τα αγαθά·<br /> μαζί δε με εσάς και τα απλανή άστρα, εσάς τους αγνούς δαίμονες (υμνούμε).</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Εικοστός ύμνος στον Πλούτωνα, πέμπτος από τους ιερούς.<br /> </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Ώ άναξ Πλούτων, αρχηγέ της ανθρωπίνης φύσεως<br /> και προστάτη, που πήρες αυτό (το αξίωμα) από τον Δία,<br /> το καθένα και όλα, που υπάρχουν χωριστά σε εμάς<br /> και μπορεί να υπάρξουν, τα έχεις και προΐστασαι<br /> τελείως σε εμάς εδώ και από εδώ πάλι πάντοτε μας ανάγεις εκεί·<br /> γύρω από εσένα (είναι) οι ήρωες και η εξέχουσα φύσι μας<br /> και οι άλλοι φίλοι μας οι καλοί και αγαθοί· με εσένα Κόρη, η αγαθή Ταρτάρια θεά συζή,<br /> εμείς οι θνητοί (σε) έχομε ανάγκη· είθε να γίνης σπλαχνικός.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Εικοστός πρώτος ύμνος στον Δία, έκτος από τους ιερούς.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Ζεύ πατέρα, που πράττεις μεγάλα έργα, παντοδύναμε και αρχηγέ<br /> που γέννησες τα πάντα· από τον δικό σου νου, που είναι εξαίρετα<br /> καλός, ούτε εμείς γεννηθήκαμε άμοιροι (αμέτοχοι) των καλών που έχουν οι θεοί,<br /> αλλά υποκείμεθα στην αναγκαιότητα του θνητού (σώματος) και είμαστε και επιρρεπείς στην αμαρτία<br /> καθώς και ικανοί πάντοτε για επανόρθωσι. Δώσέ μας (την δυνατότητα) και τώρα, αφού απαλλαγούμε<br /> από την κακότητα των αμαρτιών μας<br /> μέσω των παιδιών σου, στα οποία μας ανέθεσες, να (σε) πλησιάζουν<br /> αυτοί που είναι όσιοι και έχουν ορθό νου, για να συνυπάρχωμε (με εσένα) κάθε φορά, σαν με κάποιο πράο και σπλαχνικό (θεό).</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Εικοστός δεύτερος ύμνος, που ψάλλεται την δεύτερη ημέρα και πρώτος από τους ημερησίους.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Είθε, ώ μακάριοι θεοί, να μην πάψω να σας ευγνωμονώ<br /> για όλα τα αγαθά που έχουν δημιουργηθή (αλλά) και προέρχονται<br /> από εσάς και τα οποία τελικά τα δίνει ο Ζευς.<br /> Είθε να μην παραμελήσω, όσο μπορώ, το αγαθό γένος μου·<br /> (είθε) να είμαι πρόθυμος να ασχολούμαι καλώς με τα κοινά<br /> και αυτό να το θεωρώ μεγάλο όφελός μου.<br /> (Είθε) να μην γίνωμαι (ποτέ) αίτιος κακού στους ανθρώπους,<br /> με τους οποίους κάθε φορά συναντώμαι, αλλά (αίτιος) στο καλό, όσο μπορώ,<br /> και είθε να γίνω κι εγώ μακάριος ομοιάζοντας με εσάς.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Εικοστός τρίτος ύμνος, που ψάλλεται την τρίτη ημέρα, δεύτερος από τους ημερησίους.</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;"><br /> </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Ώ θεοί, είθε να μην έχω (ποτέ) ακράτεια στις ηδονές<br /> αλλά να αρκούμαι στο όριο, από το οποίο δεν θα επέλθη<br /> κάποια κακία (βλάβη) στην ψυχή και στο σώμα από αυτές (τις ηδονές).<br /> να μην είμαι άπληστος στα χρήματα· και σε αυτά να τηρώ<br /> το μέτρο και στο σώμα, σε ό,τι χρειάζομαι, να έχω κοσμιότητα (τάξι),<br /> για να χαίρωμαι με αυτάρκεια. (Είθε) ποτέ να μην νικηθώ<br /> από καμμία δελεαστική κενή δοξασία, και να γνωρίζω από αυτήν (την δοξασία) μόνο εκείνο το καλό<br /> που μας οδηγεί στην θεϊκή και αληθινή αρετή.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Εικοστός τέταρτος ύμνος, που ψάλλεται την τέταρτη ημέρα, τρίτος από τους ημερησίους.</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;"><br /> </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Είθε, ώ θεοί, να μη με καταστρέψουν οι ατυχίες, εμένα τον θνητό,<br /> και να μη με καταβάλλουν κάθε φορά, αφού γνωρίζω ότι η ψυχή μου είναι αθάνατη,<br /> χωριστή δε από το θνητό (σώμα) και θεϊκή.<br /> Είθε να μη με ταράσση τίποτε από τα δεινά τα ανθρώπινα<br /> και να είμαι ελεύθερος από αυτά και να μην είμαι δούλος στις ανάγκες<br /> κακής ιδέας· είθε να μη φείδωμαι του θνητού μου (σώματος) αλλά πάντοτε<br /> να φροντίζω πως η ψυχή μου, η οποία είναι αθάνατη, θα είναι σε άριστη κατάστασι.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Εικοστός πέμπτος ύμνος, που ψάλλεται την πέμπτη ημέρα, τέταρτος από τους ημερησίους.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Ευτυχισμένος αυτός που φροντίζει για την αθάνατη ψυχή του,<br /> πάντοτε, για να είναι καλλίστη, και που δεν φροντίζει πολύ<br /> για το θνητό (σώμα), αν κάτι χρειάζεται και δεν το λυπάται.<br /> Ευτυχισμένος (είναι) αυτός από τους ανθρώπους, ο οποίος<br /> δεν υποδουλώνει τον εαυτόν του σε αυτούς τους αγνώμονες, που τον κτυπούν<br /> έχοντας δε ατάραχη την ψυχή του, νικά την κακία εκείνων.<br /> ευτυχισμένος είναι αυτός που δεν πονεί για τις πιο δυσάρεστες ατυχίες (που προέρχονται από τους θεούς)<br /> αλλά τις υποφέρει εύκολα, θεωρώντας καλό αυτό που ωφελεί το αθάνατο μέρος του (=την ψυχή).</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Εικοστός έκτος ύμνος, που ψάλλεται την έκτη ημέρα, πέμπτος από τους ημερησίους.</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;"><br /> </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Ευτυχισμένος είναι αυτός, που δεν προσέχει τις ανόητες<br /> γνώμες των ανθρώπων, αλλά σκέπτεται σωστά και με σωστή γνώμη<br /> μελετά την θεϊκή αρετή· ευτυχισμένος αυτός που δεν επιδιώκει συνεχώς<br /> άσκοπα και απερίσκεπτα (να αποκτήση) άπειρο πλήθος κτημάτων<br /> αλλά τηρεί το μέτρο στις αρμονικές ανάγκες του σώματος.<br /> ευτυχισμένος είναι αυτός που θέτει το σωστό μέτρο στις τέρψεις,<br /> για να μην ελκυσθή η ψυχή ή το σώμα από κάποια κακία,<br /> αλλά να συμφωνή με την θεϊκή αρετή.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#800000;">Εικοστός έβδομος ύμνος, που ψάλλεται την εβδόμη ημέρα, έκτος από τους ημερησίους.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="42" valign="middle" width="817"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">Ευτυχισμένος είναι αυτός που δεν κάνει κακό στους ανθρώπους<br /> λόγω της δεινής ανοησίας και από πλεονεξία,<br /> αλλά κάνει πάντοτε καλό (και είναι) όμοιος με τους μακάριους θεούς.<br /> Ευτυχισμένος είναι αυτός που δεν αμελεί κανένα κοινό καλό<br /> στο γένος του· αυτός που γνωρίζει περισσότερο ότι και οι θεοί<br /> φροντίζουν για το κοινό (καλό) και (που) δεν το καταπροδίδει.<br /> ευτυχισμένος είναι αυτός που αποδίδει ευγνωμοσύνη στους θεούς<br /> και ξέρει ότι όλα όσα έχει (τα καλά και αγαθά προέρχονται)<br /> κυρίως από τον Δία, που δίνει σε όλους πρώτος όλα τα καλά και τα αγαθά.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-48926975547752442712008-03-10T04:11:00.006+02:002008-03-10T04:29:51.136+02:00A Song to Mithras<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.well.com/%7Edavidu/marino2005cropfinal2_30.jpg%20"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.well.com/%7Edavidu/marino2005cropfinal2_30.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /> <span times="" new="" roman="" style=";font-family:Times;font-size:130%;" > MITHRAS, God of the Morning, our trumpets waken the Wall!<br />' Rome is above the Nations, but Thou art over all!'<br />Now as the names are answered, and the guards are marched away,<br />Mithras, also a soldier, give us strength for the day!<br /><br />Mithras, God of the Noontide, the heather swims in the heat,<br />Our helmets scorch our foreheads ; our sandals burn our feet.<br />Now in the ungirt hour; now ere we blink and drowse,<br />Mithras, also a soldier, keep us true to our vows !<br /><br />Mithras, God of the Sunset, low on the Western main,<br />Thou descending immortal, immortal to rise again !<br />Now when the watch is ended, now when the wine is drawn,<br />Mithras, also a soldier, keep us pure till the dawn!<br /><br />Mithras, God of the Midnight, here where the great bull dies,<br />Look on Thy children in darkness. Oh take our sacrifice !<br />Many roads Thou hast fashioned: all of them lead to the Light,<br />Mithras, also a soldier, teach us to die aright!<br /></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Rudyard Kipling</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-14209577234138588552008-03-05T03:09:00.002+02:002008-03-05T03:17:14.451+02:00Who Was that Masked God?: The Symbolism of Dionysos in Nietzsche’s Philosophy<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.aztriad.com/dionysos.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.aztriad.com/dionysos.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u>I. Introduction<o:p></o:p></u></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">“Yes, my <span class="GramE">friends,</span> believe with me in Dionysian life and the rebirth of tragedy. The age of the Socratic man is over; put on the wreaths of ivy, put the thyrsus into your hand, and do not be surprised when tigers and panthers lie down, fawning, at your feet. Only dare to be tragic men; for you are to be redeemed. You shall accompany the Dionysian pageant from <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style="font-size:100%;"> to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Greece</st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="font-size:100%;">. Prepare yourselves for hard strife, </span></span><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="font-size:100%;">but believe in the miracles of your god.”</span><span style=";font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="font-size:100%;">(BT, 124)</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style=""> </span>These words were first published in 1871, and it was a philosophy unlike anything the west had ever seen.<span style=""> </span><i>The Birth of Tragedy</i>, Friedrich Nietzsche’s first book, published when he was twenty-seven years old and about to assume a professorship, introduced some themes that would recur powerfully in his later works. It introduced them in such an impassioned and extravagant way, however, that the work met with some severe criticism at the time. Nietzsche himself later repudiated some of the ideas in the book, in a new preface written in 1886 and titled “Attempt at a Self-Criticism” – calling it “strange and almost inaccessible” as well as “ponderous” and “embarrassing.”<span style=""> </span>(BT, 17-19) It is not difficult, however, to find the lingering echoes of the Birth of Tragedy in his later thought – the emphasis on the heroic attitude of total affirmation to life in the face of suffering, the repudiation of reason as the only valid approach to all concerns, and an enthusiastic embrace of the natural urges, instincts and passions of man.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style=""> </span>All of this Nietzsche found in the symbol of Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of wine, ecstasy, passion, fertility, and orgiastic madness. Dionysus was also, however, the god of theater; ancient Greek drama grew directly out of the primitive religious rites honoring the power of Dionysus. It is this role of the god in tragedy that Nietzsche emphasizes, as he calls himself “the first tragic philosopher” and “a disciple of Dionysus.”<span style=""> </span>But Nietzsche’s use of Dionysus as a symbol of the affirmative, overflowing and heroic life must be distinguished from the original mythic religious figure of Dionysus as a god. In latching onto the figure of Dionysus as an expression of his own philosophy, Nietzsche necessarily molds him, to some extent, to the pattern of his own philosophy. Dionysus, however, is perhaps a figure ideally suited to this sort of transformative revision.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">In his original conception Dionysus was a strange, enigmatic, mysterious deity, a god of sudden metamorphoses and unexpected epiphanies. He was a god who seemed to come from somewhere else, but exactly where was never clear. He embodied many paradoxical qualities: the fertility of life and the horrors of violent death, phallicism and femininity, ecstasy and agony, wildness and civilization. He was both human and divine, the only major Olympian god born of a mortal mother; but in his divine metamorphoses he assumed various animal and plant shapes – the grapevine, the ivy, a goat, a panther, a bull, a many-headed snake. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">Originally the central figure in drama, Dionysus remained its unseen presence even when theater turned to the narratives of tragic heroes for its themes. The iconographic presence of Dionysos in religious rites was often shown as a mask, decorated with ivy leaves, hanging upon a column. He remained, in many ways, an unknown god -- the god behind the mask. In Nietzsche’s thought, too, Dionysus assumes many masks. Nietzsche saw him in the prophet Zarathustra, and as the heroic Prometheus who brings the gift of fire to man; later in life, as Nietzsche was slipping off the edge of sanity, he himself signed his letters with “Dionysus.”<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">Assessing the meaning and importance of the figure of Dionysus in the thought of Nietzsche is neither easy nor straightforward. Although there are some later references to Dionysus and the “Dionysian,” most of them occur in the Birth of Tragedy, much of which he later repudiated. Additionally, Nietzsche’s conception of Dionysus apparently shifted over time, coming later to include many of the qualities he originally saw as Apollonian – the very opposite of Dionysus. The changing role of the Dionysian in Nietzsche’s <span class="GramE">philosophy<span style=""> </span>has</span> led some authors to dismiss or minimize its importance, especially if they rely solely upon his published writings. Other authors, perhaps wishing to redeem Nietzsche from his discipleship to that most scandalous of Greek gods, argue that Nietzsche himself was really more along the lines of Apollo than Dionysus. (Silk & Stern, 379-380) </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">One author who does consider the Dionysian of crucial importance is Rose Pfeffer, whose book <i>Nietzsche: Disciple of Dionysus</i> presents the symbol of Dionysus as a central unifying theme in Nietzsche’s system of thought, a philosophy organized around the “tragic worldview.” (Pfeffer, 17)<span style=""> </span>In order to do so, however, she finds it necessary to draw not only upon Nietzsche’s later published works but also relies heavily upon the <i>Nachlass</i>, a large volume of Nietzsche’s unpublished writings. From these scattered bits and pieces she sews together a picture of Nietzsche’s thought that regards Dionysus as a metaphysical principle, the<i> Ur-Eine</i> – “primal oneness and the ground of being, ever contradictory and ever suffering; he is Heraclitean flux and becoming...he is also the will to power, the will to overcome, to affirm and to create.” (Pfeffer, 36) </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">The use of the <i>Nachlass</i> in this way is controversial; some Nietzsche scholars hold that only the published works should be assumed to reflect Nietzsche’s views, and the Nachlass should be used only sparingly, to clarify the themes contained in the published volumes. There are similar problems with citing passages from The Will to Power; this book was itself assembled from Nietzsche’s unpublished writings by his sister Elizabeth, and <span class="GramE">it’s</span> organization of themes bears the stamp of her own questionable viewpoints. But this choice for later authors of whether to use unpublished writings, with full admission of the risks, can be seen from at least two perspectives. From one view, using the nachlass risks the error of misrepresenting Nietzsche’s thoughts; from the other view, not using the nachlass would yield an incomplete and unsatisfying picture of the overall arc of his philosophy. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">Perhaps it comes down to a question of defining who or what is meant by the signifier “Nietzsche.”<span style=""> </span>As a writer, he himself is perhaps something like the “will to power” -- an ever-changing river of thought pouring forth, a convergence of many disparate brooks and streams of ideas, some flowing this way and others that way, joining and separating, sometimes in concert and sometimes in conflict. Discerning the overall pattern is, of course, a matter of perspective and selection; how could it not be?<span style=""> </span>It seems the true Nietzsche is as elusive and metamorphic as the true Dionysus. With this caveat in mind, perhaps we can see something to be gleaned from an interpretation of Nietzsche that places “the Dionysian” in central position. As Pfeffer readily admits, other major Nietzschean themes could also serve as the central organizing principle: the Eternal Recurrence, the Ubermensch, or the Will to Power.<span style=""> </span>The theme of the Dionysian, however, lends its own peculiar insight into the thoughts <span class="GramE">of<span style=""> </span>“</span>the tragic philosopher.”<span style=""> </span>There is also something to be said for looking at the origins of things; and some of Nietzsche’s most radical and profound ideas first surfaced in this “birth of tragedy” – the initial and startling encounter between an enigmatic philosopher and the most enigmatic of gods. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" > </span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><u>II. Creative tension<o:p></o:p></u></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style=""> </span>In <i>The Birth of Tragedy</i>, Nietzsche originally saw Dionysus as the polar antithesis of Apollo, the two gods in antipodal fraternal union, the wild god of music, passion, excess, and instinctual urges versus the calm god of ordered beauty, clarity and restraint. Of these two, it seemed that he saw Dionysus as the more fundamental, the deeper reality of chaos, creative destruction and suffering; with Apollo as a surface gloss to make life appear beautiful and bearable and allow for the production of art as an ameliorating illusion. These two deities, and the tendencies or attitudes labeled “Dionysian” and “Apollonian” were expressed in music and artistic images, respectively.<span style=""> </span>Both were necessary, and they found their perfect synthesis in Greek tragedy, whereby the primal, raw, emotive power of music was expressed through the visual forms of the stage. Tragedy thus served as a vehicle for the Greeks to express the heroic life, which consisted in a positive “overcoming” of pessimism that expressed courage, bold ascending action, and even joy in the face of life’s inevitable suffering. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">The original title of the book was “The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music.”<span style=""> </span>This reflected the primacy of music as the original expression of the Dionysian, which was later given form by the Apollonian aspects of art. In its original form, the book was also an expression of praise for the composer Wagner, who was a close friend and mentor of Nietzsche, and to whom it was dedicated, and the emphasis on the primordial power of music reflects this admiration.<span style=""> </span>(BT, 31-32)<span style=""> </span>The philosopher Schopenhauer was a friend of Wagner and an early influence on Nietzsche; BT also reflected some of Schopenhauer’s ideas regarding the notions of pessimism and the world as will.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">But Nietzsche later had a serious falling-out with both men, and his later repudiation of several notions in BT reflects this. In particular, while both Nietzsche and Schopenhauer embraced a pessimistic view of life as essentially an arena of suffering, they had very different normative attitudes towards this descriptive pessimism. (Soll, 105, 115)<span style=""> </span>Schopenhauer was seen by Nietzsche as expressing a “weak” pessimism – a response that advocates the overcoming of will by the turning of the will against itself and towards ascetic withdrawal from the world; if life is suffering, one should not pursue willed action, which can only continue the suffering. Nietzsche, in contrast, advocates precisely the opposite: heroic striving even in the face of overwhelming suffering. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">This is “strong” pessimism – a pessimism that overcomes itself by saying “yes” to life, no matter what the circumstances. This is the spirit of tragedy, which is defined by Nietzsche as “pessimism and its overcoming.” (Pfeffer, 37) This, Nietzsche held, was the genius of the ancient Greeks: that they could look into the terror of the abyss and still choose to create art, a heroic art that reflects the dynamic tension of <span class="GramE">both creation</span> and destruction, suffering and joy. The later edition of BT reflects both the ascending primacy of these notions, and a downplaying of his earlier homage to Wagner, by changing the subtitle from “The Spirit of Music” to “Hellenism and Pessimism.” </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style=""> </span>Nietzsche’s original notion of art in BT, however, was art as illusion, as a pleasing distraction to make life bearable. This notion of art as escape had also been influenced by Schopenhauer, and was later rejected by Nietzsche as an expression of weak pessimism. (Pfeffer, 34)<span style=""> </span>Instead of artifice, Nietzsche came to see art as life itself, an expression of that very same overflowing abundance and instinctual energy that sustains the becoming of the world. In Nietzsche’s later preface to BT, he speaks of it as “this audacious book [that] dared to...look at science in the perspective of the artist, but at art in that of life.”<span style=""> </span>(BT, 19) </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">This “looking at science in the perspective of the artist” is the other side of Nietzsche’s elevation of art as the <i>sine qua non</i> of the heroic life. At the same time Nietzsche raised aesthetics to the level of <span class="GramE">a metaphysics</span>, he also sought to dislodge rationalism from its throne at the supposed pinnacle of Greek culture. Socrates appears as something of a villain in The Birth of Tragedy, initiating a rationalistic turn in Greek thought that would end the heroic age, turn men away from their natural impulses, rob myth of its power and bring about the death of tragedy.<span style=""> </span>(Pfeffer, 43) Thus Socratic reason is seen as beginning a period of decadence in Greek culture, and a long period of decline in western civilization, continued by Plato’s rejection of the immanent in favor of the transcendent, and later Christianity’s antipathy towards nature and the body; later, even science is seen as a form of decadence. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">All the these worldviews are expressions of “the ascetic ideal” and reflect a mode of thinking that divides the world into binary oppositions of good/bad, male/female, being/becoming, reason/emotion, spirit/body – and then validate one pole of the opposition and negate the other. Nietzsche, in contrast, seeks to encompass all opposites – all the clashing and conflict of life’s multivalent urges – and to bring them together into a greater organic whole. This is not a harmony of resolving all tensions, but rather a celebration of dynamic tension itself, a celebration of the rhythm and pulse of life that creates and destroys and creates again, in joy and sorrow, in a spirit of fearless play – <span class="GramE">a<span style=""> </span>boundless</span> and exhuberant overflow of life’s abundance. For Nietzsche, the dialectic process of thesis, antithesis and synthesis can never rest in a resolution; it can only take up the challenge again, and continue its lightfooted dance of opposition. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">Nietzsche’s philosophy embraces both a description of life that is fundamentally pessimistic and a normative response that is affirmative, joyful and even heroic; this odd, paradoxical combination might also be viewed as an instance of this continuing, creative dynamic tension of opposites that powers the world.<span style=""> </span>This positive valuation of the power of opposing forces can be seen in BT in Nietzsche’s insistence that the calm, restraining and form-giving power of Apollo, and the wild, passionate, energetic excess of Dionysus are both necessary, in art as well as life. Later, Nietzsche comes to subsume both impulses under the symbol of Dionysus, attributing to him a fundamental ambivalence that is actually closer to the original mythic view of the god in ancient <st1:country-region><st1:place>Greece</st1:place></st1:country-region>. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><u>III. Connections<o:p></o:p></u></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><u><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"> </span></o:p></u></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">This full-on embrace of all of life’s contradictions is Nietzsche’s creative response to the binary dualisms of the ascetic ideal. It is a criterion for his conception of the Ubermensch – a being who embodies a pure and total affirmation of life. The Ubermensch would be someone who lives in such a way that he could pass the “test” of Eternal Recurrence: he would be willing, even <span class="GramE">enthusiastic,</span> to have his life recur eternally, exactly as it is, in every detail. This implies a willingness to embrace the most intense of pains as well as the deepest delights of life, and in this deep “yes” to life’s ambivalence the Ubermensch could also be said to embody the Dionysian principle of extreme opposites in fruitful tension. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">Indeed, there is in <i>The Birth of Tragedy</i> a passage which seems to <span class="GramE">foreshadow<span style=""> </span>the</span> notion of the Eternal Recurrence as a “test” – a passage which uses the criterion of one’s aesthetic response to tragedy, as a marker of the extent to which he can reject the Socratic and embrace the tragic and mythic view of life, which sees life as art rather than history: </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="font-size:100%;">“Whoever wishes to test rigorously to what extent he is related to the true aesthetic listener or belongs to the community of the Socratic-critical persons needs only to examine sincerely the feeling with which he accepts miracles represented on stage: whether he feels his historical sense, which insists on strict psychological causality, insulted by them, whether he makes a benevolent concession and admits the miracles as a phenomenon intelligible to childhood but </span></span><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="font-size:100%;">alien to him, or whether he experiences anything else.”</span></span><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="font-size:100%;"></span> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:10;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">The “anything else” is left hauntingly ambiguous, but it is clearly a response that lies at the opposite pole from Socratic criticism. It may be a willingness to relate to art, even the miracles of the stage, in a deeply emotive way as the outpouring of life itself. Tracy Strong sees in this test “a call for those who can respond to the world mythically, that is, to respond deeply to the world as it is, in itself, with no reference to any other world, positive or negative.”<span style=""> </span>(Strong, 137)<span style=""> </span>This sounds much like the Eternal Recurrence “test” for the Ubermensch; the Ubermensch would not choose to have any other world besides the one that is and has been and will be, because he is a being who affirms life in its totality.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">If, as Pfeffer suggests, Nietzsche’s system of thought could be equally well organized around either the Eternal Recurrence or the Dionysian as a pivotal principle, then one might expect to find some relationship between these two themes. The Eternal Recurrence can be interpreted in a number of ways, as can the notion of the Dionysian. One interpretation is cosmological or metaphysical; in this view Eternal Recurrence is a claim about the way the world really is. Such a view is problematic in terms of how one defines time and exactly what state of affairs constitutes an exact recurrence. Another interpretation is the normative one. Here the important thing is an exhortation to live one’s life as if ER were true; imagine the transforming power of living in such a way as to embrace every detail of one’s life, regretting none. The normative view also runs into problems of interpretation; either it is an impossible ideal and therefore meaningless, or else the criterion must be diluted sufficiently that it ceases to be a test of the Ubermensch.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">Similarly, the symbol of the Dionysian could be interpreted in various ways.<span style=""> </span>Some authors read it in a limited sense, as a treatise on aesthetics, divorced from deeper implications. Some interpret Nietzsche’s exhortation to the tragic life, life as art, in an ethical or normative sense; tragedy is glorified because it makes men wise. (Berkowitz, 65) <span style=""> </span>Others may even interpret it as a political statement, expressing the hope that the Germans may learn to follow the example of the Greeks in enlivening their mythic vision. (Strong, 137) </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">Pfeffer, however, takes a primarily metaphysical approach to the question of the meaning of the Dionysian. She identifies it with Nietzsche’s notion of the Will to Power, and the “innocence of becoming” which she interprets in a metaphysical way. “The innocence of becoming is the unity and inseparability of things we call opposites and contradictions: the unity of being and becoming, of good and evil, of freedom and necessity, of nature and man. This is the purity of nature, untouched and unspoiled by human values and goals.” (Pfeffer, 203)<span style=""> </span>It is a true “beholding of the play of the cosmic forces” in Dionysian <span class="GramE">rapture.,</span> such that “in the totality of being everything is redeemed and affirmed.”<span style=""> </span>(Ibid, 198)<span style=""> </span>In this way Dionysus becomes the “primal oneness and the ground of being” – the “Ur-Eine.” (Ibid, 36) </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">Suffering, as it exists in relation to this vision, is a primal suffering – not a suffering from lack, but <span class="GramE">a suffering</span> form “overfullness.” One might even say<span class="GramE">,</span> it connotes suffering from an explosive exuberance. Pfeffer relates this to the German notion of Rausch, for which it is difficult to find English equivalents; it connotes intoxication, ecstatic dancing, sexual passion, and pagan religious rites, as well as the ecstasy of the artist who suffers from overabundance. It is “mixture of suffering along with feelings of vitality, joy, heightened sensitivity and power.” (Ibid, 49) </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">This view affirms “the furious prodding of this pain in the same moment in which we become one with the immense lust for life.” (Pfeffer 198) She relates this to Kant’s notion that “the unconscious activity of nature breaks out in the consciousness of man” – which is here given a positive valuation by Nietzsche. <span class="GramE">(Ibid.)</span><span style=""> </span>Pfeffer also sees this notion as play, in the purest sense of the word: “Nature and art create in a playful manner, ‘building and destroying in innocence,’ disinterested in practical, utilitarian ends, unconcerned with the traditional concepts of good and evil.” (Pfeffer, 202) </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">The ethical views that adhere to this metaphysics of “innocent becoming” here include the familiar Nietzschean rejection of Judeo-Christian values, but Pfeffer seems to extend it even beyond this, to a place where art replaces ethics: “In the ‘innocence of becoming’ Nietzsche wants to create a conception of being that transcends moral distinctions and is free of all imperatives, all guilt and responsibility...there are no cosmic purposes and ends to which we are responsible. No one can be blamed or punished for things being as they are...” <span class="GramE">(Ibid.)</span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">The relation of this notion of the “innocence of becoming” to the Nietzschean concept of the Will to Power can be seen in this passage from the nachlass: </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">“And do you know what ‘the world’ is to me? ...This world: a monster of energy, without beginning, without end...a play of forces and waves of forces, at the same time one and many,...a sea of forces flowing and rushing together, eternally changing, eternally flooding back...My <i>Dionysian</i> world of the eternally self-creating, the eternally self-destroying, this mystery world...’beyond good and evil,’ without goal, unless the joy of the circle is itself a goal...This world is the will to power – and nothing besides!”<span style=""> </span>(WP, Book 4, #1067)</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style=""> </span>It is in this way, by taking the notion of Will to Power in a metaphysical or cosmological <span class="GramE">way, that</span> the Dionysian may be equated with it. But this interpretation of the Will to Power is also subject to some criticism. The passage above appears to be making a metaphysical claim; but in other places, as published material in the Genealogy of Morals, the Will to Power was introduced as a thought experiment – “Suppose,” begins the pondering, “nothing else were ‘given’ as real except our world of desires and passions...” The section ends with a view of the world as “viewed from inside” – “it would be ‘will to power’ and nothing else.” (GM, 36) </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">One problem with taking the Will to Power (or anything else in Nietzsche, for that matter) as a metaphysical claim of the truth is that it seems to posit a “God’s-eye view” of the way things really <span class="GramE">are</span>, beneath the world of appearances. The world of appearances, however, can only be seen from some particular angle, in some particular light – as one perspective among many. Thus, a metaphysical claim seems to conflict with Nietzsche’s views on perspectivism. However, it has also been pointed out that his theory of perspectivism conflicts with itself, if taken as a metaphysical position. The perspectivist notion is that things are always seen from a perspective and that there is no preferred perspective is “true” – so, is that notion “true?” <span class="GramE">And if so, from what perspective?</span><span style=""> </span>Perspectivism therefore becomes paradoxical and hence what has been called a “self-consuming” concept: a concept that “requires as a condition of its intelligibility the very contrast it wishes to set aside.” (Magnus, 25)<span style=""> </span>A self-consuming concept paradoxically needs its opposite to be in some sense “true” – it therefore negates itself. It can still be a useful dialectic device, however, for keeping doubts alive; it causes us to question not only the validity of the concept itself, but also our own presuppositions. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><u>IV. Conclusion<o:p></o:p></u></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><u><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"> </span></o:p></u></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">We have looked at the relation of the concept of the Dionysian to other Nietzschean themes such as Eternal Recurrence, the Will to Power, and Nietzsche’s critique of reason and the Ascetic Ideal. Is there any way the Dionysian could be interpreted in a way as to relate it to the theme of perspectivism?<span style=""> </span>We recall that, in the Orphic mythology of Greek mystery religion, Dionysos was the dismembered god, from whose ashes humans were brought into being, and whose divine spark all men therefore carried within themselves. Dionysos as the god of theater became the god behind the mask, the hidden presence behind the personality (“persona” being “mask) of every actor upon the stage, as he acts out the eternal tragic themes of heroic suffering and redemption. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">If Dionysos represents, as Pfeffer posits, the will to power in all things, the “Ur-Eine” – the ground of being and its “innocence of becoming” – then he also represents the explosive, over-abundant concentration of vital energies that burst into individuation and heroic art. The process of individuation – the One becoming the Many – is precisely what bursts the “God’s-eye” view of the world into an infinitely refracted mosaic of individual perspectives. Dionysus as a <span class="GramE">god,</span> would be a god who sees from within us, as us, from a vast multiplicity of perspectives, each of them masked by its own limitations. The very nature of the ambiguity of Dionysos, containing all polar opposites in unresolved dynamic tension, would burst forth as a world of multiplicity. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">Dionysus would represent an immanent and polymorphous deity, having his being in and through the diversity of the world, in direct opposition to the transcendent vision of deity fostered by the Judeo-Christian tradition. Dionysos would become all of us, and all perspectives. Perhaps this comes close to capturing the vision of the ancient Greek mystery religions; perhaps this is even what Nietzsche had an inkling of, even in the midst of his otherwise atheistic philosophy, in his most passionately enthused moments: </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:10;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">“In truth, however, the hero is the suffering Dionysus of the Mysteries, the god experiencing in himself the agonies of individuation...torn to pieces by the Titans and now worshiped...this dismemberment, the properly Dionysian suffering, is like a transformation...the state of individuation as the origin and primal cause of all suffering...” <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:10;"><span style="font-size:100%;">“From the smile of this Dionysus sprang the Olympian gods, from his tears sprang man...But the hope of the epopts [initiates into the mysteries] looked toward a rebirth of Dionysus, which we must now dimly conceive as the end of individuation...It is this hope alone that casts a gleam of joy upon the features of a world torn asunder...” (BT, 73-74)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size:10;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">This metaphysical oneness, the “Ur-Eine” of the Will to Power, does not negate or disparage the multiplicity of the world, but rather returns all things to its bosom for periodic renewal. It is the pause and resting place, the gateway of the eternal moment between destruction and creation. It expresses itself through “innocent becoming” – in the eternal pulse of nature’s rhythms, in the heroic cycles of epic tragedy, in the life-affirming bursting forth <span class="GramE">of<span style=""> </span>art</span>, in the perpetual overcoming of life by itself. Its power is that it may overcome the decadence brought about by the ascetic ideal, and its stance is at the opposite pole from the world-negating moralism and transcendence of Christianity. Nietzsche’s poignant plea in <i>The Antichrist: </i>“Have I been understood<span class="GramE">?...</span>Dionysus versus the Crucified.”<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">Dionysus, the strange and ancient god of the Greek mysteries, was perennially dying and reborn. Today, even if he is seen as only a symbol rather than a metaphysical presence, Dionysus still may have the power to return again, to be born anew from the “death of God” and to redeem the world from the debilitating influence of Christianity. Perhaps this was the hidden promise behind the infamous proclamation of <span class="SpellE">Zarathustra</span>, that the rebirth of the dancing god of chaos will awaken the heroic spirit of affirmation: “Into all abysses I still carry the blessings of...saying Yes – But this is the concept of Dionysus once again.”<span style=""> </span>(Ecce Homo, #6) </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><u>Bibliography/References<o:p></o:p></u></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Allison, David B., editor. <i>The New Nietzsche: Contemporary Styles of Interpretation</i>. Dell Publishing Co. <st1:place><st1:city>New York</st1:city>, <st1:state>NY</st1:state></st1:place>. 1977. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Berkowitz, Peter. <i>Nietzsche: The Ethics of an Immoralist</i>. <st1:place><st1:placename><span class="GramE">Harvard</span></st1:placename><span class="GramE"> </span><st1:placetype><span class="GramE">University</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span class="GramE"> Press, </span><st1:place><st1:city><span class="GramE">Cambridge</span></st1:city><span class="GramE">, </span><st1:state><span class="GramE">MA</span></st1:state></st1:place><span class="GramE">.</span> 1995. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="GramE">Magnus, Bernd and Higgins, Kathleen M., editors.</span> <span class="GramE"><i>The </i></span><st1:city><st1:place><span class="GramE"><i>Cambridge</i></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="GramE"><i> Companion to Nietzsche.</i></span> <st1:place><st1:placename><span class="GramE">Cambridge</span></st1:placename><span class="GramE"> </span><st1:placetype><span class="GramE">University</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span class="GramE"> Press, </span><st1:place><st1:city><span class="GramE">Cambridge</span></st1:city><span class="GramE">, </span><st1:country-region><span class="GramE">UK</span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span class="GramE">.</span> 1996.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="GramE">Magnus, Bernd; Stewart, </span><st1:city><st1:place><span class="GramE">Stanley</span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="GramE">; and <span class="SpellE">Mileur</span>, Jean-Pierre.</span><span style=""> </span><i>Nietzsche’s Case: Philosophy as/and Literature.</i> <st1:place><st1:city><span class="SpellE"><span class="GramE">Routledge</span></span></st1:city><span class="GramE">, </span><st1:state><span class="GramE">New York</span></st1:state></st1:place><span class="GramE">, NY.</span> 1993.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Nietzsche, Friedrich. <span class="GramE"><i>The Portable Nietzsche</i>.</span> Trans<span class="GramE">./</span>edited by Walter Kaufmann. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="GramE">Penguin.</span> <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> 1953 (?) [This information has been ripped out of my used copy.]</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Nietzsche, Friedrich. <i>The Birth of Tragedy & <span class="GramE">The</span> Case of Wagner</i>. Trans<span class="GramE">./</span>edited by Walter <span class="SpellE">Kaufmann.Random</span> House, <st1:place><st1:city>Toronto</st1:city>, <st1:country-region>Canada</st1:country-region></st1:place>. 1967.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="GramE">Nietzsche, Friedrich (?).</span> (Elizabeth <span class="SpellE">Foerster</span>-Nietzsche) <span class="GramE"><i>The Will to Power</i>.</span> (Excerpt from class handout.) </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="SpellE">Pfeffer</span>, Rose. <i>Nietzsche: Disciple of Dionysus</i>. Associated University Presses, <st1:place><st1:city>Cranbury</st1:city>, <st1:state>NJ</st1:state></st1:place>. 1972. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="SpellE">Sallis</span>, John. Crossings: <i>Nietzsche and the Space of Tragedy</i>. <st1:place><st1:placetype><span class="GramE">University</span></st1:placetype><span class="GramE"> of </span><st1:placename><span class="GramE">Chicago</span></st1:placename></st1:place><span class="GramE"> Press, </span><st1:place><st1:city><span class="SpellE"><span class="GramE">Chigo</span></span></st1:city><span class="GramE">, </span><st1:state><span class="GramE">IL</span></st1:state></st1:place><span class="GramE">.</span> 1991.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="GramE">Silk, M.S. and Stern, J.P. <i>Nietzsche on Tragedy</i>.</span> <st1:place><st1:placename><span class="GramE">Cambridge</span></st1:placename><span class="GramE"> </span><st1:placetype><span class="GramE">University</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span class="GramE"> Press, </span><st1:place><st1:city><span class="GramE">Cambridge</span></st1:city><span class="GramE">, </span><st1:country-region><span class="GramE">UK</span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span class="GramE">.</span> 1981.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="SpellE">Soll</span>, Ivan. <i>Pessimism and the Tragic View of Life: Reconsiderations of Nietzsche’s Birth of Tragedy.</i> <span class="GramE">In Reading Nietzsche, edited by Robert Solomon and Kathleen Higgins.</span> <st1:place><st1:placename><span class="GramE">Oxford</span></st1:placename><span class="GramE"> </span><st1:placetype><span class="GramE">University</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span class="GramE"> Press, </span><st1:place><st1:city><span class="GramE">New York</span></st1:city><span class="GramE">, </span><st1:state><span class="GramE">NY</span></st1:state></st1:place><span class="GramE">, 1988.</span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Strong, Tracy B.<span style=""> </span>“Nietzsche’s Political Misappropriation<span class="GramE">”<span style=""> </span>in</span> <i>The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche</i>, ed. by Bernd Magnus and Kathleen Higgins. <st1:place><st1:placename><span class="GramE">Cambridge</span></st1:placename><span class="GramE"> </span><st1:placetype><span class="GramE">University</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span class="GramE"> Press, </span><st1:place><st1:city><span class="GramE">Cambridge</span></st1:city><span class="GramE">, </span><st1:country-region><span class="GramE">UK</span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span class="GramE">.</span> 1996.</p><br /><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="GramE">by</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Delia Morgan</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /></span></p>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-78084062841776459422008-03-01T00:20:00.002+02:002008-03-01T00:26:16.027+02:00More On Viking Clothing<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fossilscience.com/Images/viking_man.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.fossilscience.com/Images/viking_man.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span>Vikings did not dress the way we thought<br /><br /></span> Vivid colors, flowing silk ribbons, and glittering bits of mirrors - the Vikings dressed with considerably more panache than we previously thought. The men were especially vain, and the women dressed provocatively, but with the advent of Christianity, fashions changed, according to Swedish archeologist Annika Larsson. <p>"They combined oriental features with Nordic styles. Their clothing was designed to be shown off indoors around the fire," says textile researcher Annika Larsson, whose research at Uppsala University presents a new picture of the Viking Age. </p> <p>She has studied textile finds from the Lake MΓ€laren Valley, the area that includes Stockholm and Uppsala and was one of the central regions in Scandinavia during the Viking Age. The findings, some of which were presented in her dissertation last year, show that what we call the Viking Age, the years from 750-1050 A.D., was not a uniform period. Through changes in the style of clothing we can see that medieval Christian fashions hit Sweden as early as the late 900s and that new trade routes came into use then as well. The oriental features in clothing disappeared when Christianity came and they started to trade with the Christian Byzantine and Western Europe. </p> <p>"Textile research can tell us more about the state of society than research into traditions. Old rituals can live on long after society has changed, but when trade routes are cut off, there's an immediate impact on clothing fashions," says Annika Larsson.<br /></p><p> She maintains that Swedish Viking women in the pre-Christian period probably dressed much more provocatively than we previously believed. She bases her theory on a new find uncovered in Russian Pskov, close to Novgorod and the eastward trade routes then plied from Sweden. The find consists of extensive remnants of a woman's attire, which Annika Larsson claims does not square with the traditional picture of how Viking women dressed. </p><p>Previously it was thought that Viking women wore a long suspender (brace) skirt, with both the front and back pieces consisting of square sections, held together by a belt. Clasps, often regarded as typical of the Viking Age, were attached to the suspenders roughly at the collar bone. Under this dress they wore a linen shift, and on top of it a woolen shawl or sweater. </p> <p>"The grave plans from excavations at Birka outside Stockholm in the 19th century show that this is incorrect. The clasps were probably worn in the middle of each breast. Traditionally this has been explained by the clasps having fallen down as the corpse rotted. That sounds like a prudish interpretation," says Annika Larsson. </p> <p>She maintains instead that the Birka women's skirts consisted of a single piece of fabric and were open in front. The suspenders held up the train and functioned as a harness that was fastened to the breasts with the clasps. Annika Larsson's theory is strengthened by that fact that a number of female figures have been preserved whose outfits both have trains and are open in front. But if we are to believe the archeological finds, this style of clothing disappeared with the advent of Christianity. </p> <p>"It's easy to imagine that the Christian church had certain reservations about clothing that accentuated the breasts in this way and, what's more, exposed the under shift in front. It's also possible that this clothing was associated with pre-Christian rituals and was therefore forbidden," she believes.</p><br /><br /><p style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Fossil Science</p><p style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /></p>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-23394143251994890412008-02-27T12:32:00.001+02:002008-02-27T12:36:27.793+02:00Viking Women Dressed Provocatively<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.livescience.com/images/080225-viking-dress-02.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://images.livescience.com/images/080225-viking-dress-02.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />A runway fashion show in Viking times would have spotlighted women cloaked in imported colored-silk gowns adorned with metallic breast coverings and long trains.<br /><br />This surprising claim is the result of a new analysis of remnants from a woman's wardrobe discovered in a grave dating back to the 10th century in Russia, painting a picture of Viking panache before Christianity was established that runs counter to previous ideas about buttoned-up, prudish looking Norsewomen.<br /><br />"Now we can say the pre-Christian dress code was very rich," textiles researcher Annika Larsson of Uppsala University in Sweden told LiveScience. "When Christianity came, the dress was more like that of nuns. There was a big difference."<br /><br />The fashion findings go beyond apparel, revealing that the Viking Age from 750 A.D. to 1050 A.D. was not uniform and might even have been sort of sexy. (The findings here apply to the Swedish Vikings, who mostly traveled east into modern-day Russia and further on to Byzantium and beyond, rather than the Danish/Norwegian Vikings who went westward).<br /><br />"Textile research can tell us more about the state of society than research into traditions. Old rituals can live on long after society has changed, but when trade routes are cut off, there's an immediate impact on clothing fashions," Larsson said.<br /><br />Larsson discovered a blue silk dress and associated ornaments in a grave in the Russian region of Pskov, close to Novgorod and the eastern trade routes then plied by Vikings from Sweden. She said the dress was positioned in the grave as a gift likely to be worn in an afterlife.<br /><br />Until now, anthropological evidence showed a Viking woman wearing an apron on top of a linen robe. The apron consisted of two rectangular pieces of cloth, in which strings on the back panel attached to the front with brooches. The outfit was completed with an outer woolen shawl or sweater.<br /><br />The new finding reveals instead that a Viking woman's dress consisted of a single piece of fabric with an opening in the front. A pair of brooches, or clasps, was situated on top of the breasts to accentuate the wearer's figure.<br /><br />"It's easy to imagine that the Christian church had certain reservations about clothing that accentuated the breasts in this way and, what's more, exposed the under shift in front," Larsson said. "It's also possible that this clothing was associated with pre-Christian rituals and was therefore forbidden" once Christianity became established.<br /><br />The changes in clothes over time indicate that medieval Christian fashions hit Sweden as early as the late 900s, a time when new trade routes came into use, Larsson said. Overall, Oriental features in clothing disappeared when Christianity came and the Vikings started to trade with the Christian Byzantine and Western Europe, she said.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">By Jeanna Bryner<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /></span>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-41467242959520617772008-01-26T21:58:00.000+02:002008-01-26T22:25:11.362+02:00Worship at Zeus's "Birthplace" Predates the Greek God<span style="color:#ffffff;">.</span><br /><a href="http://mountlykaion.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/week2_fig4.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://mountlykaion.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/week2_fig4.jpg" border="0" /></a> Excavations at Zeus's mountaintop "birthplace" suggest the site's ash altar was in use at least 5,000 years ago—a thousand years before the earliest known versions of the myth of the Greek god.<br />Perched on the summit of remote Mount Lykaion, some 4,500 feet (1,370 meters) above the sea, the shrine is about 22 miles (35 kilometers) from the more thoroughly excavated Olympia. <div><div></div><div>One of two locations referred to in classical literature as Zeus's "birthplace," Mount Lykaion has attracted the god's devotees and pilgrims for millennia. </div><div></div><div>Now pottery unearthed by the Greek-American Mount Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project shows the mountaintop's conical ash altar was used for sacrifices and other rites centuries before Greeks began to worship their most powerful god. </div><div><span style="color:#ffffff;">.</span></div><div><span style="color:#ffffff;">.</span><br /><strong>Birth of a God</strong> </div><div><span style="color:#ffffff;">.</span></div><div></div><div>Greek-speaking peoples moved into the region of modern Greece some 4,000 years ago and brought their religions with them, archaeologists say. </div><br /><div>"What was the altar used for in the thousand-odd years before that time?" asked David Gilman Romano, one of the project's directors. </div><div></div><div></div><div>"It's our hope that we'll learn much more about the early use of this altar and the origins of Zeus [and] what was going on during those thousand years before there was a Zeus," said Romano, an archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.</div><div></div><div>Romano and colleagues have no sure answers, but they say there's good reason to believe the mountaintop weather and natural phenomena gave rise to the stormy god of gods. </div><div></div><div></div><div>"Rain, thunder, lightning, storms, clouds—all of these things are [associated with] Zeus," Romano said. </div><div></div><div></div><div>"He's a god that historically is often found on mountaintops, and the theory has been presented that the whole idea of Zeus may have come from a weather god as a result of the natural phenomena found on mountaintops." </div><div></div><div></div><div>George Davis of the University of Arizona, a geologist working with the project, has even identified a fault line encircling much of the Arcadian mountaintop, suggesting earthquakes were also part of the impressive array of natural events.</div><div><span style="color:#ffffff;">.</span></div><div></div><div><span style="color:#ffffff;">.</span></div><div></div><div></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>What's Already There</strong> </div><div><span style="color:#ffffff;">.</span></div><div>Ken Dowden, director of the Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity at the University of Birmingham, U.K., said that when the Greeks arrived, they likely adapted the region's existing religions rather than sweeping them away. </div><div></div><div></div><div>"Paganism is a language, and you suppose that other people worship your gods under the appropriate names in their language," said Dowden, author of Zeus, one in a series of books on ancient gods. </div><div></div><div></div><div>"So if, as we suppose, the Greeks arrive in Greece at the beginning of the second millennium B.C., it is no surprise to see that their cult site goes back to the third millennium B.C.," Dowden said in email. </div><div></div><div></div><div>"The cult sites of earlier inhabitants are still regarded as valid," he said, "and when the language spoken eventually changes to Greek, so may the name of the god. </div><div></div><div></div><div>"There can be no doubt the Greeks brought 'Zeus,' the name, with them to Mount Lykaion. But you do tend to worship a sky and weather god on mountain peaks, and that's doubtless what his predecessor (as we would view it) was." </div><div></div><div></div><div>The two leading myths about Zeus's birth were perpetuated in the writings of Greek and Roman authors. One suggests the God had his origins on Crete, instead of Mount Lykaion. </div><div>"It's always interesting to look for what may be the facts behind the myth," Romano said. "That's what we're involved in." </div><div><span style="color:#ffffff;">.</span></div><div><span style="color:#ffffff;"></span></div><div><span style="color:#ffffff;">.</span></div><div></div><div></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>Sacrifice, Competition</strong> </div><div><span style="color:#ffffff;">.</span></div><div></div><div>The research team is also turning up interesting findings from the site's later history.<br />Many ancient authors have documented the peak as a thriving center for Panhellenic pilgrimage from the Archaic period to the Hellenistic period (700-200 B.C.). </div><div></div><div></div><div>Some Writers—including the second-century A.D. geographer Pausanias—have hinted that human sacrifices took place at the site. </div><div></div><div>So far, digging has turned up only numerous goat and sheep remains. </div><div>But an ancient hippodrome, stadium, and other buildings grace a lower-mountain meadow—remains of ancient athletic contests that once drew competitors from across Greece and rivaled the games at neighboring Olympia. </div><div>"In some ways Olympia might have been modeled after this site, which may have been—according to Pliny—an earlier site," Romano said, referring to the first-century A.D. Roman scientist and historian. </div><div></div><div></div><div>The team has also unearthed an intriguing find from this later era—a rock crystal seal with an image of a bull that identifies it as Minoan, from around 1500-1400 B.C.<br />Scholars say the artifact may indicate some kind of Crete-Arcadia connection related to early Zeus worship. </div><div></div><div></div><div>Certainly, Romano said, the seal's presence is not an accident.<br />"It's an important object, so whoever put it there did it for a reason," he said. It's "a dedication to the god—at that time, Zeus—that was meaningful, [because it meant] leaving something of worth on the altar." </div><div></div><div></div><div>The excavations—the first at the Mount Lykaion site in a century—are a collaborative project of the Greek Archaeological Service, 39th Ephoreia in Tripolis, the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, and the University of Arizona operating under the auspices of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. </div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><div><strong>Brian Handwerk, for "National Geographic News".</strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong><span style="color:#ffffff;">.</span></strong></div></div>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-83939685566142381202008-01-14T02:13:00.000+02:002008-01-14T02:21:12.711+02:00Inanna<span style="color:#ffffff;">.</span><br /><a href="http://www.crystalinks.com/inanna3.gif"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.crystalinks.com/inanna3.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><div><div>Inanna (or Inana) was the paramount goddess of the Sumerian pantheon. Even though she was never considered the "mother goddess" technically, she headed a long line of historical female deities concerned with fertility of the natural world. Inanna, also a warrior goddess, was the daughter of the moon god Nana, and sister of Utu and Iskur. In alternative tradition she is the daughter of <a href="http://www.themystica.com/mythical-folk/articles/an.html">An</a>. Her attendant is the minor goddess Ninsubur, and her champion is the mythical hero Gilgames. The vegetation god Dumuzi is the most significant of her many consorts. Inanna becomes the handmaiden of An, the god of heaven. She is also identified as the younger sister of the underworld goddess Ereskigal. She is the tutelary deity of the southern Mesopotamian city of Unug (Uruk), where her sanctuary is the Eanna temple.<br />Usually Inanna is depicted wearing a horned headdress and tiered shirt, with wings and with weapon cases at her shoulders. Her earliest symbol is a bundle of reeds tied in three places and with streamers. Later, in the Sargonic period, her symbol changes to a star or rose. She may be associated with a lion, or lion cub, and often depicted as standing atop a mountain. Also, she is embodied in the sacred tree of Mesopotamia, which evolved into a stylized totem made of wood and decorated with precious stones and bands of metal.<br />Originally Inanna may have been the goddess of the date palm, as Dumuzi was the god of the date harvest. Gradually her role extended to wool, meat, and grain, and ultimately to the whole of the natural world. Also she was perceived as a rain goddess, and as the goddess of the morning and evening stars. Therefore, she was worshipped in the morning with offerings, and in the evening she became the patroness of temple prostitutes when the evening star was a sign of male offerings to the goddess. In less prominent roles she is goddess of lightening and extinguishing fires, of tears and rejoicing, of enmity and fair dealing and many others, usually conflicting principles.<br />According to another legend, Enki who lives in a watery abyss or Abzu beneath the city of Eridu, was persuaded when drunk, and through Inanna's subterfuge, to endow her with more that one hundred divine degrees, which she took back to Urin in her reed boat and which formed the Sumerian cultural constitution.<br />Inanna is one of three deities involved in the primordial battle of good and evil, the latter personified by the dragon Kur. She is further engaged in an annual conflict, also involving her consort Dumuzi, with Ereskigal. She descends into "the land without return," kur-mu-gi-a, situated beneath the sweet waters of the earth, which is a dark realm, a dry, dusty place, belonging to her sister Ereskigal, the mistress of death, who asserts authority there. Before her descent, Inanna dresses in all her finery and leaves orders with Ninshubur, her attendant, to rescue her. After she enters kur-mu-gi-a, Inanna is stopped of its seven portals and is obliged to take off a garment or ornament until she finally stands naked before Ereskigal and the seven judges of the dead, the Anunnaki. At their cruel command, the defenseless goddess was turned into a corpse that hung on a stake. After three days and nights had passed Ninshubur became worried about her mistress and sought help of the gods who said that nothing could be done against the decrees of the neither world. But persistently the attendant appealed to Enki, the god of wisdom, who created two sexless beings, Kur-gar-ra and Gala-tur-ra, for whom admission to the land of infertility and death could not be refused. They obtained access to Inanna's corpse and resurrected it with the "food of life" and the "water of life." But unfortunately the resurrected goddess could not escape the ghastly escort of demons, which accompanied her on her wonderings from city to city. They refused to leave her unless a substitute was found. Thus she returned home to Urug where she finds her consort Dumuzi, the king of nearby Kullab, at a feast. Outraged, she selects him for kur-mu-gi-a, and in spite of two incredible escapes from the eager demons, they take him.<br />This descent myth reveals two aspects of the mother goddess: Inanna and Ereskigal, the two sisters, light and darkness respectively, represent the antithetical, paradoxical nature of divinity. Although, unfortunately, only a portion of this five-thousand-year-old story remains, it was certainly very near to the origin of the symbols fundamental to thought in West Asia. Dumuzi does not seem to have a significant role in the myth; perhaps he just makes the goddess seem more human. </div><div> </div><div><span style="color:#ffffff;">.</span></div><div></div><div></div><div><strong>Sources</strong>:<br />Cotterell, Arthur, A Dictionary of World Mythology, New York, G. P. Putman's Sons, 1980, pp. 35-36</div><div>Jordan, Michael, Encyclopedia of Gods, New York, Facts On File, Inc. 1993, pp. 114-115 </div><div> </div><div> </div><div><span style="color:#ffffff;">.</span></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><span style="color:#ffffff;"></span></div><div><strong><span style="color:#000000;">Alan G. Hefner</span></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong><span style="color:#ffffff;">.</span></strong></div></div>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-5890554909294825572007-12-28T12:45:00.000+02:002007-12-28T12:52:11.779+02:00150 convert Christians return to Hinduism in Himachal<p><strong>Shimla:</strong> It was a moment of pride for all those who believe in the basic values of Indian culture and fundamental rights when 151 men, women and children were given an opportunity to return to their original faith. They all belong to Scheduled Castes with fragile economic condition and were converted in to Christianity by allurements during past several decades. When their struggle to achieve equal social and economic status within the Christian community failed to yield results and they were just thrown away like used commodity, they realised the folly. </p> <a href="http://www.himvani.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/After_conversion.jpg" onfocus="this.blur()" onclick="ps_imagemanager_popup(this.href,'After_conversion','790','613');return false"><img src="http://www.himvani.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/.thumbs/.After_conversion.jpg" alt="After_conversion" title="After_conversion" border="0" height="272" width="350" /></a><br /><br /><p>All India Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Mahasangh, HP, in the vibrant leadership of its president Tarsem Bharti, showed them the path to return to Hinduism again. Braving heavy snowfall in all around Shimla on February 28, 2007, hundreds of people of all castes and faiths gathered at Sanatan Dharam Mandir to welcome their alienated brothers and sisters. <img id="image644" src="http://www.himvani.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/david-couple.jpg" alt="david-couple.jpg" align="left" height="184" width="221" />There were Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Valmikis and Ravidasis apart from other Hindus to greet them. The persons who returned back to Hinduism included one senior Pastor Tulku Ram, one old and hapless widow Lajja Devi, two young sisters Sanam Samta and Safar Samta, two brothers Ashok and Kishore and one couple Vikas David and Anita David along with their families. Everybody had his or her own story of deception and cheating by those who once came to them as saviour in white cloak. </p> <p> <img id="image640" src="http://www.himvani.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/lajja-devi.jpg" alt="lajja-devi.jpg" align="right" height="245" width="200" />Dalit widow Lajja Devi (62), a resident of Kasumpati area in Shimla, while talking to <strong>HimVani</strong>, narrated her pathetic tale. She said, “I not only lost my young grandson Rakesh (28) but also my faith. The Pastor assured me that my beloved grandson, who was a serious patient of brain tumour, will be cured, provided we all bring belief in Jesus Christ. As he was the only earning member in my family of 15 and we had no reason to disbelieve the Pastor, we all got converted to Christianity. The Pastor also mislead us and threw the sacred <em>Ganga Jal</em> in the toilet and the idols and pictures of Gods and Goddesses were thrown in nearby <em>nalla</em>. But after a couple of days, Rakesh died.” </p> <p> That was not the end of her story. She revealed, “After the death of Rakesh, the Pastor demanded Rs 2,000 from me to arrange for his burial and did not hesitate to demand Rs 5,000 for making a magnificent grave so that the soul of my grandson could rest in peace. I know how I managed this big amount to give them after losing my beloved. Now three and half years have passed, leave aside a magnificent grave, even a <em>pucca </em>grave has not taken shape. Having ruined me, the Pastor left me to my fate. I am feeling relieved after coming back home (Hinduism).” </p> <p> <img id="image639" src="http://www.himvani.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/tulku.JPG" alt="tulku.JPG" align="left" height="240" width="200" />While talking to <strong>HimVani</strong>, the former senior Pastor Tulku Ram became very emotional. He said, “I was literally cheated. In 1997, while I was doing my graduation, they (missionaries) contacted me and assured me a good job, provided I got converted. But after conversion, they sent me to Agape Bible College, Ludhiana, for one year training and then to G.F.A. College, Kumbnad (Kerala) for further one year training. I had little options at that time because of my fragile economic condition. Having appointed as Pastor, I started converting poor people, mostly ailing, by giving them assurance that they will be cured by bringing faith in Jesus and prayers.” He also revealed that his outfit ‘Masihi Sangati’ belonging to the Protestants had converted more than 1,000 people in Himachal Pradesh. </p> <p>Tulku Ram said, “I spent nearly 10 years in Christianity and eight years as pastor, but my conscience never allowed me for that fake healing, although I converted about 50 people myself. I very well knew that nobody could be cured by that way and the Pope John Paul, who was suffering from Parkinson, was a great example before me. Now I was fed up with all these frauds and was ready to return to the fold of the faith to which my forefathers belong, when Mr. Bharti, (President of All India Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Mahasangh, HP) contacted me.” </p> <p>Replying to a pointed question, he said, “This was no religion but business. They used hapless people like me as tool to collect a gathering and would take snaps of them. By sending those photographs to their mentors abroad, they would fetch a lot of money to spend for the welfare of neo-converts. But the fact is that they never spent that money on the purpose.” </p> <div align="center"> <img id="image642" src="http://www.himvani.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/ashokandkishore.JPG" alt="ashokandkishore.JPG" height="186" width="434" /> </div> <p>The tales of two brothers, Kishore (46) and Ashok (49) and two young sisters Sanam and Safar Samta are not much different from the story of the former Pastor. They were allured to convert by fake healers. In 1988 Kishore and Ashok got converted along with other members of the family by one Sister Sony who assured them that their younger sister Indu, who was suffering from stomach ulcer would get cured by prayers. Now 19 long years have passed, the patient is still suffering. Ashok also confirmed that after conversion, they did not get equal social status and had to face discrimination at many times, even within the Christian community. </p> <p> <img id="image643" src="http://www.himvani.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/samta-sisters.jpg" alt="samta-sisters.jpg" align="right" height="186" width="221" />Same thing occurred with the family of Sanam and Safar. Their grandmother was seriously ill and the fake healers in white cloak took advantage of that and got the whole family converted. The condition of that old lady did not improve by prayers in the Church. One Deepak was lured for free education to her daughter and one Chandan Pal was assured a job. But the promises were not kept. Now they all, after coming to their original home, are feeling good. </p> <p> <img id="image641" src="http://www.himvani.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/bharti.jpg" alt="bharti.jpg" align="left" height="236" width="150" />The programme, first of its kind in the history of this hill state, was organised under the aegis of All India SC and ST Mahasangh; HP and its president Tarsem Bharti played a key role in bringing them all to their original home. He said, “It is a question of human rights because they were basically cheated and left at the mercy of those who are known for their crafty designs.” </p> <p> Mahant Surya Nathji and Swami Lalji Maharaj along with Sriniwas Murti, the <em>Prant Pracharak</em> of RSS and others washed the feet of all 150 persons, with their hands. After <em>havan</em> and <em>shuddhi</em>, all were presented with pictures of Hindu Gods and Goddesses, apart from religious books and <em>Ganga Jal</em>. Earlier to this, they all were brought to Sanatan Dharam Mandir in a <em>Shobha Yatra</em>. Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Sanatan Dharam Sabha, Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Sewa Bharti and other religious and nationalist organisations supported the cause.</p><br /><br /><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">source:</span> <a href="http://www.himvani.com/news/2007/03/01/150-convert-christians-return-to-hinduism-in-himachal/645/culturemythsreligion/ajai/" target="_blank">Himavani<br /></a></p><p><a href="http://www.himvani.com/news/2007/03/01/150-convert-christians-return-to-hinduism-in-himachal/645/culturemythsreligion/ajai/" target="_blank"><br /></a></p>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-64103363687318954772007-11-29T04:13:00.000+02:002007-11-29T04:27:16.254+02:00The Canticle of Brother Sun, By Francis of Assisi<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.saintsilas.org.uk/images/module1/S_Francis_of_Assisi_copy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.saintsilas.org.uk/images/module1/S_Francis_of_Assisi_copy.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><b><span style="font-size:130%;color:#006600;"><i><br />The original name of this song was:</i> </span></b> <p align="center"><i><b><span style="font-size:180%;color:#0000ff;">The Canticle of the Creatures</span></b></i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family:Monotype Corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:180%;"> Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord,</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Monotype Corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:180%;"> All praise is Yours, all glory, all honour and all blessings.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Monotype Corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:180%;"> To you alone, Most High, do they belong,</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Monotype Corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:180%;"> and no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your Name.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div><div align="center"> <span style="font-family:Monotype Corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:180%;">Praised be You my Lord with all Your creatures,<br />especially Sir Brother Sun,<br />Who is the day through whom You give us light.<br />And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendour,<br />Of You Most High, he bears the likeness.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div> <div align="center"> <span style="font-family:Monotype Corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:180%;">Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,<br />In the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div> <div align="center"> <span style="font-family:Monotype Corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:180%;">Praised be You, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,<br />And fair and stormy, all weather's moods,<br />by which You cherish all that You have made.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div> <div align="center"> <span style="font-family:Monotype Corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:180%;">Praised be You my Lord through Sister Water,<br />So useful, humble, precious and pure.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div> <div align="center"> <span style="font-family:Monotype Corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:180%;">Praised be You my Lord through Brother Fire,<br />through whom You light the night<br />and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div> <div align="center"> <span style="font-family:Monotype Corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:180%;">Praised be You my Lord through our Sister,<br />Mother Earth<br />who sustains and governs us,<br />producing varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div> <div align="center"> <span style="font-family:Monotype Corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:180%;">Praise be You my Lord through those who grant pardon<br />for love of You and bear sickness and trial.<br />Blessed are those who endure in peace,<br />By You Most High, they will be crowned.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div> <div align="center"> <span style="font-family:Monotype Corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:180%;">Praised be You, my Lord through Sister Death,<br />from whom no-one living can escape.<br />Woe to those who die in mortal sin!<br />Blessed are they She finds doing Your Will.<br />No second death can do them harm.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div> <div align="center"> <span style="font-family:Monotype Corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:180%;">Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks,<br />And serve Him with great humility.<br /><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span><div style="text-align: left;"><b><i><span style="font-size:100%;color:#003300;"><br /></span></i></b><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size:100%;color:#003300;">Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)<br /><br /></span></i></b><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />A christian overlay on a pagan spirit.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /></span></div></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Monotype Corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:6;"><span style="font-family:monotype corsiva;"><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></div></div>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-82580043927490846842007-11-27T04:01:00.000+02:002007-11-27T04:21:15.627+02:00Emperor Julian: Against the Galilaeans<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.<br /></span><b> Translator's Introduction<br /></b><p> Julian, like Epictetus, always calls the Christians Galilaeans because he wishes to emphasise that this was a local creed, "the creed of fishermen," and perhaps to remind his readers that "out of Galilee ariseth no prophet"; with the same intention he calls Christ "the Nazarene." His chief aim in the treatise was to show that there is no evidence in the Old Testament for the idea of Christianity, so that the Christians have no right to regard their teaching as a development of Judaism. His attitude throughout is that of a philosopher who rejects the claims of one small sect to have set up a universal religion. He speaks with respect of the God of the Hebrews, admires the Jewish discipline, their sacrifices and their prohibition of certain foods, plays off the Jews against the Christians, and reproaches the latter for having abandoned the Mosaic law; but he contrasts the jealous, exclusive "particular" Hebraic God with the universal Hellenic gods who do not confine their attentions to a small and unimportant portion of the world. Throughout Julian's works there are scattered references, nearly always disdainful, to the Galilaeans, but his formal attack on their creed and on the inconsistencies of the Scriptures, which he had promised in Letter 55, To Photinus, the heretic, was not given to the general public, for whom he says he intends it, till he had left Antioch on his march to Persia in the early spring of 363. He probably compiled it at Antioch in the preceding winter. Perhaps it was never completed, for at the time Julian had many things on his mind. It was written in three Books, but the fragments preserved are almost entirely from Book I. In the fifth century Cyril of Alexandria regarded the treatise as peculiarly dangerous, and said that it had shaken many believers. He undertook to refute it in a polemic of which about half survives, and from the quotations of Julian in Cyril's work Neumann has skilfully reconstructed considerable portions of the treatise. Cyril had rearranged Julian's hurriedly written polemic, in order to avoid repetitions and to bring similar subjects together. <b>Moreover, he says that he omitted invectives against Christ and such matter as might contaminate the minds of Christians.</b> We have seen that a similar mutilation of the letters occurred for similar reasons.</p><p> Julian's arguments against the Christian doctrine do not greatly differ from those used in the second century by Celsus, and by Porphyry in the third; but his tone is more like that of Celsus, for he and Celsus were alike in being embittered opponents of the Christian religion, which Porphyry was not. Those engaged in this sort of controversy use the same weapons over and over again; Origen refutes Celsus, Cyril refutes Julian, in much the same terms. Both sides have had the education of sophists, possess the learning of their time, borrow freely from Plato, attack the rules or lack of rules of diet of the opponents' party, point out the inconsistencies in the rival creed, and ignore the weaknesses of their own.</p><p> For his task Julian had been well equipped by his Christian teachers when he was interned at Macellum in Cappadocia, and he here repays them for the enforced studies of his boyhood, when his naturally pagan soul rebelled against the Christian ritual in which he had to take part. In spite of his insistence on the inconsistency of the Christians in setting up a Trinity in place of the monotheism of Moses and the prophets, he feels the need of some figure in his own pantheon to balance that of Christ the Saviour, and uses, both in this treatise and in Oration 4, about Asclepius or Dionysus or Heracles almost the language of the Christians about Christ, setting these pagan figures up one after another as manifestations of the divine beneficence in making a link between the gods and mankind.</p><p> Though Julian borrowed from Porphyry's lost polemic in fifteen Books,5 he does not discuss questions of the chronology and authorship of the Scriptures as Porphyry is known to have done. Libanius, always a blind admirer of Julian, says that in this treatise the Emperor made the doctrines of the Christians look ridiculous, and that he was "wiser than the Tyrian old man," that is, Porphyry. But apparently the Christians of the next two centuries did not agree with Cyril as to the peculiarly dangerous character of Julian's invective. At any rate, the Council of Ephesus, in a decree dated 431, sentenced Porphyry's books to be burned, but did not mention Julian's; and again in a law of Theodosius II. in 448, Julian was ignored while Porphyry was condemned. When in 529 Justinian decreed that anti-Christian books were to be burned, Porphyry alone was named, though probably Julian was meant to be included. Not long after Julian's death his fellow-student at Athens, Gregory Nazianzen, wrote a long invective against him, in which he attacked the treatise Against the Galilaeans without making a formal refutation of Julian's arguments. Others in the fifth century, such as Theodorus of Mopsuestia and Philip Sideta, wrote refutations which are lost. But it was reserved for Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, writing between 429 and 441, to compose a long and formal refutation of Julian's treatise; the latter seems to have been no longer in circulation, or was at least neglected, and Neumann thinks that the bishop was urged to write his polemic by his dislike of the heretical views of other and earlier antagonists of Julian, especially Theodorus of Mopsuestia. This refutation, which was dedicated to the Emperor Theodosius II, was in at least twenty Books. But for Cyril's quotations we should have a very vague idea of Julian's treatise, and as it is we are compelled to see it through the eyes of a hostile apologist. Cyril's own comments, and his summaries of portions of the treatise have been omitted from the following translation. Spanheim's (1696) edition of Cyril's polemic Pro Christiana Religione, was used by Neumann to extract and string together Cyril's quotations of Julian. There is, therefore, an occasional lack of connection in Julian's arguments, taken apart from their context in Cyril's treatise.</p><p><b> By Wilmer Cave WRIGHT, PH.D.</b></p><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zffQx3yafHs&rel=1"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zffQx3yafHs&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></span><br /><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iraF45C2SBU&rel=1"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iraF45C2SBU&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jZFSEMwZefM&rel=1"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jZFSEMwZefM&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Against the Galilaeans</span></span><br /><br /><br /><b> It is, I think, expedient to set forth to all mankind<br />the reasons by which I was convinced that<br />the fabrication of the Galilaeans<br />is a fiction of men composed by wickedness. </b><p> <b>Though it has in it nothing divine,<br />by making full use of that part of the soul<br />which loves fable and is childish and foolish,<br />it has induced men to believe<br />that the monstrous tale is truth.</b></p><p> Now since I intend to treat of all their first dogmas, as they call them, I wish to say in the first place that if my readers desire to try to refute me they must proceed as if they were in a court of law and not drag in irrelevant matter, or, as the saying is, bring counter-charges until they have defended their own views. For thus it will be better and clearer if, when they wish to censure any views of mine, they undertake that as a separate task, but when they are defending themselves against my censure, they bring no counter-charges.</p><p> It is worth while to recall in a few words </p><ul><li>whence and how we first arrived at a conception of God;<br /></li><li>next to compare what is said about the divine among the Hellenes and Hebrews; and </li><li>finally to enquire of those who are neither Hellenes nor Jews, but belong to the sect of the Galilaeans,<br /><ul>why they preferred the belief of the Jews to ours;<br />and what, further, can be the reason why they do not even adhere to the Jewish beliefs but have abandoned them also and followed a way of their own. </ul></li></ul>For they have not accepted a single admirable or important doctrine of those that are held either by us Hellenes or by the Hebrews who derived them from Moses; but from both religions they have gathered what has been engrafted like powers of evil, as it were, on these nations----atheism from the Jewish levity, and a sordid and slovenly way of living from our indolence and vulgarity; and they desire that this should be called the noblest worship of the gods.<p> </p><h3>Whence and how<br />we first arrived<br />at a conception of God</h3> Now that the human race possesses its knowledge of God by nature and not from teaching is proved to us first of all by the universal yearning for the divine that is in all men whether private persons or communities, whether considered as individuals or as races. For all of us, without being taught, have attained to a belief in some sort of divinity, though it is not easy for all men to know the precise truth about it, nor is it possible for those who do know it to tell it to all men. . . . Surely, besides this conception which is common to all men, there is another also. I mean that we are all by nature so closely dependent on the heavens and the gods that are visible therein, that even if any man conceives of another god besides these, he in every case assigns to him the heavens as his dwelling-place; not that he thereby separates him from the earth, but he so to speak establishes the King of the All in the heavens as in the most honourable place of all, and conceives of him as overseeing from there the affairs of this world.<p> What need have I to summon Hellenes and Hebrews as witnesses of this? There exists no man who does not stretch out his hands towards the heavens when he prays; and whether he swears by one god or several, if he has any notion at all of the divine, he turns heavenward. And it was very natural that men should feel thus. For since they observed that in what concerns the heavenly bodies there is no increase or diminution or mutability, and that they do not suffer any unregulated influence, but their movement is harmonious and their arrangement in concert; and that the illuminations of the moon are regulated, and that the risings and settings of the sun are regularly defined, and always at regularly defined seasons, they naturally conceived that the heaven is a god and the throne of a god. For a being of that sort, since it is not subject to increase by addition, or to diminution by subtraction, and is stationed beyond all change due to alteration and mutability, is free from decay and generation, and inasmuch as it is immortal by nature and indestructible, it is pure from every sort of stain. Eternal and ever in movement, as we see, it travels in a circuit about the great Creator, whether it be impelled by a nobler and more divine soul that dwells therein, just as, I mean, our bodies are by the soul in us, or having received its motion from God Himself, it wheels in its boundless circuit, in an unceasing and eternal career. </p><p> </p><h3>What is said about the divine<br />among the Hellenes and Hebrews</h3> Now it is true that the Hellenes invented their myths about the gods, incredible and monstrous stories. For they said that Kronos swallowed his children and then vomited them forth; and they even told of lawless unions, how Zeus had intercourse with his mother, and after having a child by her, married his own daughter, or rather did not even marry her, but simply had intercourse with her and then handed her over to another. Then too there is the legend that Dionysus was rent asunder and his limbs joined together again. This is the sort of thing described in the myths of the Hellenes. Compare with them the Jewish doctrine, how the garden was planted by God and Adam was fashioned by Him, and next, for Adam, woman came to be. For God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone. Let us make him an help meet like, him." Yet so far was she from helping him at all that she deceived him, and was in part the cause of his and her own fall from their life of ease in the garden. <p>This is wholly fabulous. For is it probable that God did not know that the being he was creating as a help meet would prove to be not so much a blessing as a misfortune to him who received her? Again, what sort of language are we to say that the serpent used when he talked with Eve? Was it the language of human beings? And in what do such legends as these differ from the myths that were invented by the Hellenes? Moreover, is it not excessively strange that God should deny to the human beings whom he had fashioned the power to distinguish between good and evil? What could be more foolish than a being unable to distinguish good from bad? For it is evident that he would not avoid the latter, I mean things evil, nor would he strive after the former, I mean things good. And, in short, God refused to let man taste of wisdom, than which there could be nothing of more value for man. For that the power to distinguish between good and less good is the property of wisdom is evident surely even to the witless; so that the serpent was a benefactor rather than a destroyer of the human race. Furthermore, their God must be called envious. For when he saw that man had attained to a share of wisdom, that he might not, God said, taste of the tree of life, he cast him out of the garden, saying in so many words, "Behold, Adam has become as one of us, because he knows good from bad; and now let him not put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and thus live forever." Accordingly, unless every one of these legends is a myth that involves some secret interpretation, as I indeed believe, they are filled with many blasphemous sayings about God. For in the first place to be ignorant that she who was created as a help meet would be the cause of the fall; secondly to refuse the knowledge of good and bad, which knowledge alone seems to give coherence to the mind of man; and lastly to be jealous lest man should take of the tree of life and from mortal become immortal,---- this is to be grudging and envious overmuch.</p><p> Next to consider the views that are correctly held by the Jews, and also those that our fathers handed down to us from the beginning. Our account has in it the immediate creator of this universe, as the following shows. . . Moses indeed has said nothing whatsoever about the gods who are superior to this creator, nay, he has not even ventured to say anything about the nature of the angels. But that they serve God he has asserted in many ways and often; but whether they were generated or un-generated, or whether they were generated by one god and appointed to serve another, or in some other way, he has nowhere said definitely. But he describes fully in what manner the heavens and the earth and all that therein is were set in order. In part, he says, God ordered them to be, such as light and the firmament, and in part, he says, God made them, such as the heavens and the earth, the sun and moon, and that all things which already existed but were hidden away for the time being, he separated, such as water, I mean, and dry land. But apart from these he did not venture to say a word about the generation or the making of the Spirit, but only this, "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." But whether that spirit was ungenerated or had been generated he does not make at all clear.</p><p> Now, if you please, we will compare the utterance of Plato. Observe then what he says about the creator, and what words he makes him speak at the time of the generation of the universe, in order that we may compare Plato's account of that generation with that of Moses. For in this way it will appear who was the nobler and who was more worthy of intercourse with God, Plato who paid homage to images, or he of whom the Scripture says that God spake with him mouth to mouth. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was invisible and without form, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters. And God called the firmament Heaven. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass for fodder, and the fruit tree yielding fruit. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven that they may be for a light upon the earth. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to rule over the day and over the night." </p><p> In all this, you observe, Moses does not say that the deep was created by God, or the darkness or the waters. And yet, after saying concerning light that God ordered it to be, and it was, surely he ought to have gone on to speak of night also, and the deep and the waters. But of them he says not a word to imply that they were not already existing at all, though he often mentions them. Furthermore, he does not mention the birth or creation of the angels or in what manner they were brought into being, but deals only with the heavenly and earthly bodies. It follows that, according to Moses, God is the creator of nothing that is incorporeal, but is only the disposer of matter that already existed. For the words, "And the earth was invisible and without form" can only mean that he regards the wet and dry substance as the original matter and that he introduces God as the disposer of this matter.</p><p> Now on the other hand hear what Plato says about the universe : </p><ul><i> "Now the whole heaven or the universe,----or whatever other name would be most acceptable to it, so let it be named by us,----did it exist eternally, having no beginning of generation, or has it come into being starting from some beginning? It has come into being. For it can be seen and handled and has a body; and all such things are the objects of sensation, and such objects of sensation, being apprehensible by opinion with the aid of sensation are things that came into being, as we saw, and have been generated. . .It follows, therefore, according to the reasonable theory, that we ought to affirm that this universe came into being as a living creature possessing soul and intelligence in very truth, both by the providence of God." </i></ul><p> </p><h3>Comparison between what is said about the divine<br />among the Hellenes and Hebrews</h3> Let us but compare them, point by point. What and what sort of speech does the god make in the account of Moses, and what the god in the account of Plato?<p> "And God said, Let us make man in our image, and our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them, and said, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over all the cattle and over all the earth."</p><p> Now, I say, hear also the speech which Plato puts in the mouth of the Artificer of the All.</p><ul> "Gods of Gods! Those works whose artificer and father I am will abide indissoluble, so long as it is my will. Lo, all that hath been fastened may be loosed, yet to will to loose that which is harmonious and in good case were the act of an evil being. Wherefore, since ye have come into being, ye are not immortal or indissoluble altogether, nevertheless ye shall by no means be loosed or meet with the doom of death, since ye have found in my will a bond more mighty and more potent than those wherewith ye were bound when ye came into being. Now therefore hearken to the saying which I proclaim unto you : Three kinds of mortal beings still remain unborn, and unless these have birth the heaven will be incomplete. For it will not have within itself all the kinds of living things. Yet if these should come into being and receive a share of life at my hands they would become equal to gods. Therefore in order that they may be mortal, and that this All may be All in very truth, turn ye according to your nature to the contriving of living things, imitating my power even as I showed it in generating you. And such part of them as is fitted to receive the same name as the immortals, which is called divine and the power in them that governs all who are willing ever to follow justice and you, this part I, having sowed it and originated the same, will deliver to you. For the rest, do you, weaving the mortal with the immortal, contrive living beings and bring them to birth; then by giving them sustenance increase them, and when they perish receive them back again."</ul><p> But since ye are about to consider whether this is only a dream, do ye learn the meaning thereof. Plato gives the name gods to those that are visible, the sun and moon, the stars and the heavens, but these are only the likenesses of the invisible gods. The sun which is visible to our eyes is the likeness of the intelligible and invisible sun, and again the moon which is visible to our eyes and every one of the stars are likenesses of the intelligible. Accordingly Plato knows of those intelligible and invisible gods which are immanent in and coexist with the creator himself and were begotten and proceeded from him. Naturally, therefore, the creator in Plato's account says "gods" when he is addressing the invisible beings, and "of gods," meaning by this, evidently, the visible gods. And the common creator of both these is he who fashioned the heavens and the earth and the sea and the stars, and begat in the intelligible world the archetypes of these.Observe then that what follows is well said also. "For," he says, "there remain three kinds of mortal things," meaning, evidently, human beings, animals and plants; for each one of these has been denned by its own peculiar definition. "Now," he goes on to say, "if each one of these also should come to exist by me, it would of necessity become immortal." And indeed, in the case of the intelligible gods and the visible universe, no other cause for their immortality exists than that they came into existence by the act of the creator. When, therefore, he says, "Such part of them as is immortal must needs be given to these by the creator," he means the reasoning soul. "For the rest," he says, "do ye weave mortal with immortal." It is therefore clear that the creative gods received from their father their creative power and so begat on earth all living things that are mortal. For if there were to be no difference between the heavens and mankind and animals too, by Zeus, and all the way down to the very tribe of creeping things and the little fish that swim in the sea, then there would have had to be one and the same creator for them all. But if there is a great gulf fixed between immortals and mortals, and this cannot become greater by addition or less by subtraction, nor can it be mixed with what is mortal and subject to fate, it follows that one set of gods were the creative cause of mortals, and another of immortals.</p><p> Accordingly, since Moses, as it seems, has failed also to give a complete account of the immediate creator of this universe, let us go on and set one against another the opinion of the Hebrews and that of our fathers about these nations.</p><p> Moses says that the creator of the universe chose out the Hebrew nation, that to that nation alone did he pay heed and cared for it, and he gives him charge of it alone. But how and by what sort of gods the other nations are governed he has said not a word,----unless indeed one should concede that he did assign to them the sun and moon. However of this I shall speak a little later. Now I will only point out that Moses himself and the prophets who came after him and Jesus the Nazarene, yes and Paul also, who surpassed all the magicians and charlatans of every place and every time, assert that he is the God of Israel alone and of Judaea, and that the Jews are his chosen people. Listen to their own words, and first to the words of Moses: "And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Israel is my son, my firstborn. And I have said to thee, Let my people go that they may serve me. But thou didst refuse to let them go." And a little later, "And they say unto him, The God of the Hebrews hath summoned us; we will go therefore three days' journey into the desert, that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God." And soon he speaks again in the same way, "The Lord the God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go that they may serve me in the wilderness." </p><p> But that from the beginning God cared only for the Jews and that He chose them out as his portion, has been clearly asserted not only by Moses and Jesus but by Paul as well; though in Paul's case this is strange. For according to circumstances he keeps changing his views about God, as the polypus changes its colours to match the rocks, and now he insists that the Jews alone are God's portion, and then again, when he is trying to persuade the Hellenes to take sides with him, he says : "Do not think that he is the God of Jews only, but also of Gentiles : yea of Gentiles also." Therefore it is fair to ask of Paul why God, if he was not the God of the Jews only but also of the Gentiles, sent the blessed gift of prophecy to the Jews in abundance and gave them Moses and the oil of anointing, and the prophets and the law and the incredible and monstrous elements in their myths? For you hear them crying aloud: "Man did eat angels' food." And finally God sent unto them Jesus also, but unto us no prophet, no oil of anointing, no teacher, no herald to announce his love for man which should one day, though late, reach even unto us also. Nay he even looked on for myriads, or if you prefer, for thousands of years, while men in extreme ignorance served idols, as you call them, from where the sun rises to where he sets, yes and from North to South, save only that little tribe which less than two thousand years before had settled in one part of Palestine. For if he is the God of all of us alike, and the creator of all, why did he neglect us? Wherefore it is natural to think that the God of the Hebrews was not the begetter of the whole universe with lordship over the Avhole, but rather, as I said before, that he is confined within limits, and that since his empire has bounds we must conceive of him as only one of the crowd of other gods. Then are we to pay further heed to you because you or one of your stock imagined the God of the universe, though in any case you attained only to a bare conception of Him? Is not all this partiality? God, you say, is a jealous God. But why is he so jealous, even avenging the sins of the fathers on the children? </p><p> But now consider our teaching in comparison with this of yours. Our writers say that the creator is the common father and king of all things, but that the other functions have been assigned by him to national gods of the peoples and gods that protect the cities; every one of whom administers his own department in accordance with his own nature. For since in the father all things are complete and all things are one, while in the separate deities one quality or another predominates, therefore Ares rules over the warlike nations, Athene over those that are wise as well as warlike, Hermes over those that are more shrewd than adventurous; and in short the nations over which the gods preside follow each the essential character of their proper god. Now if experience does not bear witness to the truth of our teachings, let us grant that our traditions are a figment and a misplaced attempt to convince, and then we ought to approve the doctrines held by you. If, however, quite the contrary is true, and from the remotest past experience bears witness to our account and in no case does anything appear to harmonise with your teachings, why do you persist in maintaining a pretension so enormous?</p><p> Come, tell me why it is that the Celts and the Germans are fierce, while the Hellenes and Romans are, generally speaking, inclined to political life and humane, though at the same time unyielding and warlike? Why the Egyptians are more intelligent and more given to crafts, and the Syrians unwarlike and effeminate, but at the same time intelligent, hot-tempered, vain and quick to learn? For if there is anyone who does not discern a reason for these differences among the nations, but rather declaims that all this so befell spontaneously, how, I ask, can he still believe that the universe is administered by a providence? But if there is any man who maintains that there are reasons for these differences, let him tell me them, in the name of the creator himself, and instruct me. As for men's laws, it is evident that men have established them to correspond with their own natural dispositions; that is to say, constitutional and humane laws were established by those in whom a humane disposition had been fostered above all else, savage and inhuman laws by those in whom there lurked and was inherent the contrary disposition. For lawgivers have succeeded in adding but little by their discipline to the natural characters and aptitudes of men. Accordingly the Scythians would not receive Anacharsis among them when he was inspired by a religious frenzy, and with very few exceptions you will not find that any men of the Western nations have any great inclination for philosophy or geometry or studies of that sort, although the Roman Empire has now so long been paramount. But those who are unusually talented delight only in debate and the art of rhetoric, and do not adopt any other study; so strong, it seems, is the force of nature. Whence then come these differences of character and laws among the nations? Now of the dissimilarity of language Moses has given a wholly fabulous explanation. For he said that the sons of men came together intending to build a city, and a great tower therein, but that God said that he must go down and confound their languages. And that no one may think I am falsely accusing him of this, I will read from the book of Moses what follows: "And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, before we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men had builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they have begun to do; and now nothing will be withholden from them which they purpose to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that no man may understand the speech of his neighbour. So the Lord God scattered them abroad upon the face of all the earth : and they left off to build the city and the tower." And then you demand that we should believe this account, while you yourselves disbelieve Homer's narrative of the Aloadae, namely that they planned to set three mountains one on another, "that so the heavens might be scaled." For my part I say that this tale is almost as fabulous as the other. But if you accept the former, why in the name of the gods do you discredit Homer's fable? For I suppose that to men so ignorant as you I must say nothing about the fact that, even if all men throughout the inhabited world ever employ one speech and one language, they will not be able to build a tower that will reach to the heavens, even though they should turn the whole earth into bricks. For such a tower will need countless bricks each one as large as the whole earth, if they are to succeed in reaching to the orbit of the moon. For let us assume that all mankind met together, employing but one language and speech, and that they made the whole earth into bricks and hewed out stones, when would it reach as high as the heavens, even though they spun it out and stretched it till it was finer than a thread? Then do you, who believe that this so obvious fable is true, and moreover think that God was afraid of the brutal violence of men, and for this reason came down to earth to confound their languages, do you, I say, still venture to boast of your knowledge of God?</p><p> But I will go back again to the question how God confounded their languages. The reason why he did so Moses has declared: namely, that God was afraid that if they should have one language and were of one mind, they would first construct for themselves a path to the heavens and then do some mischief against him. But how he carried this out Moses does not say at all, but only that he first came down from heaven,----because he could not, as it seems, do it from on high, without coming down to earth. But with respect to the existing differences in characters and customs, neither Moses nor anyone else has enlightened us. And yet among mankind the difference between the customs and the political constitutions of the nations is in every way greater than the difference in their language. What Hellene, for instance, ever tells us that a man ought to marry his sister or his daughter or his mother? Yet in Persia this is accounted virtuous. But why need I go over their several characteristics, or describe the love of liberty and lack of discipline of the Germans, the docility and tameness of the Syrians, the Persians, the Parthians, and in short of all the barbarians in the East and the South, and of all nations who possess and are contented with a somewhat despotic form of government? Now if these differences that are greater and more important came about without the aid of a greater and more divine providence, why do we vainly trouble ourselves about and worship one who takes no thought for us? For is it fitting that he who cared nothing for our lives, our characters, our manners, our good government, our political constitution, should still claim to receive honour at our hands? Certainly not. You see to what an absurdity your doctrine comes. For of all the blessings that we behold in the life of man, those that relate to the soul come first, and those that relate to the body are secondary. If, therefore, he paid no heed to our spiritual blessings, neither took thought for our physical conditions, and moreover, did not send to us teachers or lawgivers as he did for the Hebrews, such as Moses and the prophets who followed him, for what shall we properly feel gratitude to him?</p><p> But consider whether God has not given to us also gods and kindly guardians of whom you have no knowledge, gods in no way inferior to him who from the beginning has been held in honour among the Hebrews of Judaea, the only land that he chose to take thought for, as Moses declared and those who came after him, down to our own time. But even if he who is honoured among the Hebrews really was the immediate creator of the universe, our beliefs about him are higher than theirs, and he has bestowed on us greater blessings than on them, with respect both to the soul and to externals. Of these, however, I shall speak a little later. Moreover, he sent to us also lawgivers not inferior to Moses, if indeed many of them were not far superior.</p><p> Therefore, as I said, unless for every nation separately some presiding national god (and under him an angel, a demon, a hero, and a peculiar order of spirits which obey and work for the higher powers) established the differences in our laws and characters, you must demonstrate to me how these differences arose by some other agency. Moreover, it is not sufficient to say, "God spake and it was so." For the natures of things that are created ought to harmonise with the commands of God. I will say more clearly what I mean. Did God ordain that fire should mount upwards by chance and earth sink down? Was it not necessary, in order that the ordinance of God should be fulfilled, for the former to be light and the latter to weigh heavy? And in the case of other things also this is equally true. . . . 34 Likewise with respect to things divine. But the reason is that the race of men is doomed to death and perishable. Therefore men's works also are naturally perishable and mutable and subject to every kind of alteration. But since God is eternal, it follows that of such sort are his ordinances also. And since they are such, they are either the natures of things or are accordant with the nature of things. For how could nature be at variance with the ordinance of God? How could it fall out of harmony therewith? Therefore, if he did ordain that even as our languages are confounded and do not harmonise with one another, so too should it be with the political constitutions of the nations, then it was not by a special, isolated decree that he gave these constitutions their essential characteristics, or framed us also to match this lack of agreement. For different natures must first have existed in all those things that among the nations were to be differentiated. This at any rate is seen if one observes how very different in their bodies are the Germans and Scythians from the Libyans and Ethiopians. Can this also be due to a bare decree, and does not the climate or the country have a joint influence with the gods in determining what sort of complexion they have?</p><p> Furthermore, Moses also consciously drew a veil over this sort of enquiry, and did not assign the confusion of dialects to God alone. For he says that God did not descend alone, but that there descended with him not one but several, and he did not say who these were. But it is evident that he assumed that the beings who descended with God resembled him. If, therefore, it was not the Lord alone but his associates with him who descended for the purpose of confounding the dialects, it is very evident that for the confusion of men's characters, also, not the Lord alone but also those who together with him confounded the dialects would reasonably be considered responsible for this division.</p><p> Now why have I discussed this matter at such length, though it was my intention to speak briefly? For this reason: If the immediate creator of the universe be he who is proclaimed by Moses, then we hold nobler beliefs concerning him, inasmuch as we consider him to be the master of all things in general, but that there are besides national gods who are subordinate to him and are like viceroys of a king, each administering separately his own province; and, moreover, we do not make him the sectional rival of the gods whose station is subordinate to his. But if Moses first pays honour to a sectional god, and then makes the lordship of the whole universe contrast with his power, then it is better to believe as we do, and to recognise the God of the All, though not without apprehending also the God of Moses; this is better, I say, than to honour one who has been assigned the lordship over a very small portion, instead of the creator of all things.</p><p> That is a surprising law of Moses, I mean the famous decalogue! "Thou shalt not steal." "Thou shalt not kill." "Thou shalt not bear false witness." But let me write out word for word every one of the commandments which he says were written by God himself.</p><p> "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt." Then follows the second: "Thou shalt have no other gods but me." "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." And then he adds the reason : " For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third generation." "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." "Remember the sabbath day." "Honour thy father and thy mother." " Thou shalt not commit adultery." "Thou shalt not kill." "Thou shalt not steal." "Thou shalt not bear false witness." "Thou shalt not covet anything that is thy neighbour's." </p><p> Now except for the command "Thou shalt not worship other gods," and "Remember the sabbath day," what nation is there, I ask in the name of the gods, which does not think that it ought to keep the other commandments? So much so that penalties have been ordained against those who transgress them, sometimes more severe, and sometimes similar to those enacted by Moses, though they are sometimes more humane.</p><p> But as for the commandment "Thou shalt not worship other gods," to this surely he adds a terrible libel upon God. "For I am a jealous God," he says, and in another place again, "Our God is a consuming fire." Then if a man is jealous and envious you think him blameworthy, whereas if God is called jealous you think it a divine quality? And yet how is it reasonable to speak falsely of God in a matter that is so evident? For if he is indeed jealous, then against his will are all other gods worshipped, and against his will do all the remaining nations worship their gods. Then how is it that he did not himself restrain them, if he is so jealous and does not wish that the others should be worshipped, but only himself? Can it be that he was not able to do so, or did he not wish even from the beginning to prevent the other gods also from being worshipped? However, the first explanation is impious, to say, I mean, that he was unable; and the second is in accordance with what we do ourselves. Lay aside this nonsense and do not draw down on yourselves such terrible blasphemy. For if it is God's will that none other should be worshipped, why do you worship this spurious son of his whom he has never yet recognised or considered as his own? This I shall easily prove. You, however, I know not why, foist on him a counterfeit son. . . </p><p> Nowhere is God shown as angry, or resentful, or wroth, or taking an oath, or inclining first to this side, then suddenly to that, or as turned from his purpose, as Moses tells us happened in the case of Phinehas. If any of you has read the Book of Numbers he knows what I mean. For when Phinehas had seized with his own hand and slain the man who had dedicated himself to Baal-peor, and with him the woman who had persuaded him, striking her with a shameful and most painful wound through the belly, as Moses tells us, then God is made to say : "Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them; and I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.'' What could be more trivial than the reason for which God was falsely represented as angry by the writer of this passage? What could be more irrational, even if ten or fifteen persons, or even, let us suppose, a hundred, for they certainly will not say that there were a thousand,----however, let us assume that even as many persons as that ventured to transgress some one of the laws laid down by God; was it right that on account of this one thousand, six hundred thousand should be utterly destroyed? For my part I think it would be better in every way to preserve one bad man along with a thousand virtuous men than to destroy the thousand together with that one. . .</p><p> For if the anger of even one hero or unimportant demon is hard to bear for whole countries and cities, who could have endured the wrath of so mighty a God, whether it were directed against demons or angels or mankind? It is worth while to compare his behaviour with the mildness of Lycurgus and the forbearance of Solon, or the kindness and benevolence of the Romans towards transgressors. But observe also from what follows how far superior are our teachings to theirs. The philosophers bid us imitate the gods so far as we can, and they teach us that this imitation consists in the contemplation of realities. And that this sort of study is remote from passion and is indeed based on freedom from passion, is, I suppose, evident, even without my saying it. In proportion then as we, having been assigned to the contemplation of realities, attain to freedom from passion, in so far do we become like God. But what sort of imitation of God is praised among the Hebrews? Anger and wrath and fierce jealousy. For God says : "Phinehas hath turned away my wrath from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them." For God, on finding one who shared his resentment and his grief, thereupon, as it appears, laid aside his resentment. These words and others like them about God Moses is frequently made to utter in the Scripture.</p><p> Furthermore observe from what follows that God did not take thought for the Hebrews alone, but though he cared for all nations, he bestowed on the Hebrews nothing considerable or of great value, whereas on us he bestowed gifts far higher and surpassing theirs. For instance the Egyptians, as they reckon up the names of not a few wise men among themselves, can boast that they possess many successors of Hermes, I mean of Hermes who in his third manifestation visited Egypt; while the Chaldaeans and Assyrians can boast of the successors of Oannes and Belos; the Hellenes can boast of countless successors of Cheiron. For thenceforth all Hellenes were born with an aptitude for the mysteries and theologians, in the very way, you observe, which the Hebrews claim as their own peculiar boast. . . </p><p> </p><h3>Hellenic gifts: science, philosophy, mathematics, music, harmony</h3> But has God granted to you to originate any science or any philosophical study? Why, what is it? For the theory of the heavenly bodies was perfected among the Hellenes, after the first observations had been made among the barbarians in Babylon. And the study of geometry took its rise in the measurement of the land in Egypt, and from this grew to its present importance. Arithmetic began with the Phoenician merchants, and among the Hellenes in course of time acquired the aspect of a regular science. These three the Hellenes combined with music into one science, for they connected astronomy with geometry and adapted arithmetic to both, and perceived the principle of harmony in it. Hence they laid down the rules for their music, since they had discovered for the laws of harmony with reference to the sense of hearing an agreement that was infallible, or something very near to it.<p> Need I tell over their names man by man, or under their professions? I mean, either the individual men, as for instance Plato, Socrates, Aristeides, Cimon, Thales, Lycurgus, Agesilaus, Archidamus,----or should I rather speak of the class of philosophers, of generals, of artificers, of lawgivers? For it will be found that even the most wicked and most brutal of the generals behaved more mildly to the greatest offenders than Moses did to those who had done no wrong. And now of what monarchy shall I report to you? Shall it be that of Perseus, or Aeacus, or Minos of Crete, who purified the sea of pirates, and expelled and drove out the barbarians as far as Syria and Sicily, advancing in both directions the frontiers of his realm, and ruled not only over the islands but also over the dwellers along the coasts? And dividing with his brother Rhadamanthus, not indeed the earth, but the care of mankind, he himself laid down the laws as he received them from Zeus, but left to Rhadamanthus to fill the part of judge. . . </p><p> But when after her foundation many wars encompassed her, she won and prevailed in them all; and since she ever increased in size in proportion to her very dangers and needed greater security, then Zeus set over her the great philosopher Numa. This then was the excellent and upright Numa who dwelt in deserted groves and ever communed with the gods in the pure thoughts of his own heart. . . . It was he who established most of the laws concerning temple worship. Now these blessings, derived from a divine possession and inspiration which proceeded both from the Sibyl and others who at that time uttered oracles in their native tongue, were manifestly bestowed on the city by Zeus. And the shield which fell from the clouds and the head which appeared on the hill, from which, I suppose, the seat of mighty Zeus received its name, are we to reckon these among the very highest or among secondary gifts? And yet, ye misguided men, though there is preserved among us that weapon which flew down from heaven, which mighty Zeus or father Ares sent down to give us a warrant, not in word but in deed, that he will forever hold his shield before our city, you have ceased to adore and reverence it, but you adore the wood of the cross and draw its likeness on your foreheads and engrave it on your housefronts. </p><p>Would not any man be justified in detesting the more intelligent among you, or pitying the more foolish, who, by following you, have sunk to such depths of ruin that they have abandoned the ever-living gods and have gone over to the corpse of the Jew. . . . For I say nothing about the Mysteries of the Mother of the Gods, and I admire Marius. . . . For the spirit that comes to men from the gods is present but seldom and in few, and it is not easy for every man to share in it or at every time. Thus it is that the prophetic spirit has ceased among the Hebrews also, nor is it maintained among the Egyptians, either, down to the present. And we see that the indigenous oracles of Greece have also fallen silent and yielded to the course of time. Then lo, our gracious lord and father Zeus took thought of this, and that we might not be wholly deprived of communion with the gods has granted us through the sacred arts a means of enquiry by which we may obtain the aid that suffices for our needs. </p><p> </p><h3>Asclepius: the Greatest Gift of the Helenes</h3> I had almost forgotten the greatest of the gifts of Helios and Zeus. But naturally I kept it for the last. And indeed it is not peculiar to us Romans only, but we share it, I think, with the Hellenes our kinsmen. I mean to say that Zeus engendered Asclepius from himself among the intelligible gods, and through the life of generative Helios he revealed him to the earth. Asclepius, having made his visitation to earth from the sky, appeared at Epidaurus singly, in the shape of a man; but afterwards he multiplied himself, and by his visitations stretched out over the whole earth his saving right hand. He came to Pergamon, to Ionia, to Tarentum afterwards; and later he came to Rome. And he travelled to Cos and thence to Aegae. Next he is present everywhere on land and sea. He visits no one of us separately, and yet he raises up souls that are sinful and bodies that are sick.<p> But what great gift of this sort do the Hebrews boast of as bestowed on them by God, the Hebrews who have persuaded you to desert to them? If you had at any rate paid heed to their teachings, you would not have fared altogether ill, and though worse than you did before, when you were with us, still your condition would have been bearable and supportable. For you would be worshipping one god instead of many, not a man, or rather many wretched men. And though you would be following a law that is harsh and stern and contains much that is savage and barbarous, instead of our mild and humane laws, and would in other respects be inferior to us, yet you would be more holy and purer than now in your forms of worship. But now it has come to pass that like leeches you have sucked the worst blood from that source and left the purer. Yet Jesus, who won over the least worthy of you, has been known by name for but little more than three hundred years: and during his lifetime he accomplished nothing worth hearing of, unless anyone thinks that to heal crooked and blind men and to exorcise those who were possessed by evil demons in the villages of Bethsaida and Bethany can be classed as a mighty achievement. As for purity of life you do not know whether he so much as mentioned it; but you emulate the rages and the bitterness of the Jews, overturning temples and altars, and you slaughtered not only those of us who remained true to the teachings of their fathers, but also men who were as much astray as yourselves, heretics, because they did not wail over the corpse in the same fashion as yourselves. But these are rather your own doings; for nowhere did either Jesus or Paul hand down to you such commands. The reason for this is that they never even hoped that you would one day attain to such power as you have; for they were content if they could delude maidservants and slaves, and through them the women, and men like Cornelius and Sergius. But if you can show me that one of these men is mentioned by the well-known writers of that time,----these events happened in the reign of Tiberius or Claudius,----then you may consider that I speak falsely about all matters.</p><p> </p><h3>Why do the Galilaeans prefer<br />the belief of the Jews to ours</h3> But I know not whence I was as it were inspired to utter these remarks. However, to return to the point at which I digressed, when I asked, "Why were you so ungrateful to our gods as to desert them for the Jews?" Was it because the gods granted the sovereign power to Rome, permitting the Jews to be free for a short time only, and then forever to be enslaved and aliens? Look at Abraham : was he not an alien in a strange land? And Jacob : was he not a slave, first in Syria, then after that in Palestine, and in his old age in Egypt? Does not Moses say that he led them forth from the house of bondage out of Egypt "with a stretched out arm"? And after their sojourn in Palestine did they not change their fortunes more frequently than observers say the chameleon changes its colour, now subject to the judges, now enslaved to foreign races? And when they began to be governed by kings,----but let me for the present postpone asking how they were governed: for as the Scripture tells us, God did not willingly allow them to have kings, but only when constrained by them, and after protesting to them beforehand that they would thus be governed ill,----still they did at any rate inhabit their own country and tilled it for a little over three hundred years. After that they were enslaved first to the Assyrians, then to the Medes, later to the Persians, and now at last to ourselves. Even Jesus, who was proclaimed among you, was one of Caesar's subjects. And if you do not believe me I will prove it a little later, or rather let me simply assert it now. However, you admit that with his father and mother he registered his name in the governorship of Cyrenius. <p> But when he became man what benefits did he confer on his own kinsfolk? Nay, the Galilaeans answer, they refused to hearken unto Jesus. What? How was it then that this hardhearted and stubborn-necked people hearkened unto Moses; but Jesus, who commanded the spirits and walked on the sea, and drove out demons, and as you yourselves assert made the heavens and the earth,----for no one of his disciples ventured to say this concerning him, save only John, and he did not say it clearly or distinctly; still let us at any rate admit that he said it----could not this Jesus change the dispositions of his own friends and kinsfolk to the end that he might save them?</p><p> </p><h3>Hebrew Generals</h3> However, I will consider this again a little later when I begin to examine particularly into the miracle-working and the fabrication of the gospels. But now answer me this. Is it better to be free continuously and during two thousand whole years to rule over the greater part of the earth and the sea, or to be enslaved and to live in obedience to the will of others? No man is so lacking in self-respect as to choose the latter by preference. Again, will anyone think that victory in war is less desirable than defeat? Who is so stupid? But if this that I assert is the truth, point out to me among the Hebrews a single general like Alexander or Caesar! You have no such man. And indeed, by the gods, I am well aware that I am insulting these heroes by the question, but I mentioned them because they are well known. For the generals who are inferior to them are unknown to the multitude, and yet every one of them deserves more admiration than all the generals put together whom the Jews have had.<p> Further, as regards the constitution of the state and the fashion of the law-courts, the administration of cities and the excellence of the laws, progress in learning and the cultivation of the liberal arts, were not all these things in a miserable and barbarous state among the Hebrews? And yet <b>the wretched Eusebius</b> will have it that poems in hexameters are to be found even among them, and sets up a claim that the study of logic exists among the Hebrews, since he has heard among the Hellenes the word they use for logic. What kind of healing art has ever appeared among the Hebrews, like that of Hippocrates among the Hellenes, and of certain other schools that came after him? Is their "wisest" man Solomon at all comparable with Phocylides or Theognis or Isocrates among the Hellenes? Certainly not. At least, if one were to compare the exhortations of Isocrates with Solomon's proverbs, you would, I am very sure, find that the son of Theodoras is superior to their "wisest" king. "But," they answer, "Solomon was also proficient in the secret cult of God." What then? Did not this Solomon serve our gods also, deluded by his wife, as they assert? What great virtue! What wealth of wisdom! He could not rise superior to pleasure, and the arguments of a woman led him astray! Then if he was deluded by a woman, do not call this man wise. But if you are convinced that he was wise, do not believe that he was deluded by a woman, but that, trusting to his own judgement and intelligence and the teaching that he received from the God who had been revealed to him, he served the other gods also. For envy and jealousy do not come even near the most virtuous men, much more are they remote from angels and gods. But you concern yourselves with incomplete and partial powers, which if anyone call daemonic he does not err. For in them are pride and vanity, but in the gods there is nothing of the sort.</p><p> If the reading of your own scriptures is sufficient for you, why do you nibble at the learning of the Hellenes? And yet it were better to keep men away from that learning than from the eating of sacrificial meat. For by that, as even Paul says,he who eats thereof is not harmed, but the conscience of the brother who sees him might be offended according to you, O most wise and arrogant men! But this learning of ours has caused every noble being that nature has produced among you to abandon impiety. Accordingly everyone who possessed even a small fraction of innate virtue has speedily abandoned your impiety. It were therefore better for you to keep men from learning rather than from sacrificial meats. But you yourselves know, it seems to me, the very different effect on the intelligence of your writings as compared with ours; and that from studying yours no man could attain to excellence or even to ordinary goodness, whereas from studying ours every man would become better than before, even though he were altogether without natural fitness. But when a man is naturally well endowed, and moreover receives the education of our literature, he becomes actually a gift of the gods to mankind, either by kindling the light of knowledge, or by founding some kind of political constitution, or by routing numbers of his country's foes, or even by travelling far over the earth and far by sea, and thus proving himself a man of heroic mould. . . </p><p> Now this would be a clear proof: Choose out children from among you all and train and educate them in your scriptures, and if when they come to manhood they prove to have nobler qualities than slaves, then you may believe that I am talking nonsense and am suffering from spleen. Yet you are so misguided and foolish that you regard those chronicles of yours as divinely inspired, though by their help no man could ever become wiser or braver or better than he was before; while, on the other hand, writings by whose aid men can acquire courage, wisdom and justice, these you ascribe to Satan and to those who serve Satan!</p><p> Asclepius heals our bodies, and the Muses with the aid of Asclepius and Apollo and Hermes, the god of eloquence, train our souls; Ares fights for us in war and Enyo also; Hephaistus apportions and administers the crafts, and Athene the Motherless Maiden with the aid of Zeus presides over them all. Consider therefore whether we are not superior to you in every single one of these things, I mean in the arts and in wisdom and intelligence; and this is true, whether you consider the useful arts or the imitative arts whose end is beauty, such as the statuary's art, painting, or household management, and the art of healing derived from Asclepius whose oracles are found everywhere on earth, and the god grants to us a share in them perpetually. At any rate, when I have been sick, Asclepius has often cured me by prescribing remedies; and of this Zeus is witness. Therefore, if we who have not given ourselves over to the spirit of apostasy, fare better than you in soul and body and external affairs, why do you abandon these teachings of ours and go over to those others?</p><p> And why is it that you do not abide even by the traditions of the Hebrews or accept the law which God has given to them? Nay, you have forsaken their teaching even more than ours, abandoning the religion of your forefathers and giving yourselves over to the predictions of the prophets? For if any man should wish to examine into the truth concerning you, he will find that your impiety is compounded of the rashness of the Jews and the indifference and vulgarity of the Gentiles. For from both sides you have drawn what is by no means their best but their inferior teaching, and so have made for yourselves a border of wickedness. For the Hebrews have precise laws concerning religious worship, and countless sacred things and observances which demand the priestly life and profession. But though their lawgiver forbade them to serve all the gods save only that one, whose "portion is Jacob, and Israel an allotment of his inheritance "; though he did not say this only, but methinks added also "Thou shalt not revile the gods"; yet the shamelessness and audacity of later generations, desiring to root out all reverence from the mass of the people, has thought that blasphemy accompanies the neglect of worship. This, in fact, is the only thing that you have drawn from this source; for in all other respects you and the Jews have nothing in common. Nay, it is from the new-fangled teaching of the Hebrews that you have seized upon this blasphemy of the gods who are honoured among us; but the reverence for every higher nature, characteristic of our religious worship, combined with the love of the traditions of our forefathers, you have cast off, and have acquired only the habit of eating all things, "even as the green herb." But to tell the truth, you have taken pride in outdoing our vulgarity, (this, I think, is a thing that happens to all nations, and very naturally) and you thought that you must adapt your ways to the lives of the baser sort, shopkeepers, tax-gatherers, dancers and libertines.</p><p> But that not only the Galilaeans of our day but also those of the earliest time, those who were the first to receive the teaching from Paul, were men of this sort, is evident from the testimony of Paul himself in a letter addressed to them. For unless he actually knew that they had committed all these disgraceful acts, he was not, I think, so impudent as to write to those men themselves concerning their conduct, in language for which, even though in the same letter he included as many eulogies of them, he ought to have blushed, yes, even if those eulogies were deserved, while if they were false and fabricated, then he ought to have sunk into the ground to escape seeming to behave with wanton flattery and slavish adulation. But the following are the very words that Paul wrote concerning those who had heard his teaching, and were addressed to the men themselves : "Be not deceived : neither idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And of this ye are not ignorant, brethren, that such were you also; but ye washed yourselves, but ye were sanctified in the name of Jesus Christ." Do you see that he says that these men too had been of such sort, but that they "had been sanctified" and "had been washed," water being able to cleanse and winning power to purify when it shall go down into the soul? And baptism does not take away his leprosy from the leper, or scabs, or pimples, or warts, or gout, or dysentery, or dropsy, or a whitlow, in fact no disorder of the body, great or small, then shall it do away with adultery and theft and in short all the transgressions of the soul? . . .</p><p> Now since the Galilaeans say that, though they are different from the Jews, they are still, precisely speaking, Israelites in accordance with their prophets, and that they obey Moses above all and the prophets who in Judaea succeeded him, let us see in what respect they chiefly agree with those prophets. And let us begin with the teaching of Moses, who himself also, as they claim, foretold the birth of Jesus that was to be. Moses, then, not once or twice or thrice but very many times says that men ought to honour one God only, and in fact names him the Highest; but that they ought to honour any other god he nowhere says. He speaks of angels and lords and moreover of several gods, but from these he chooses out the first and does not assume any god as second, either like or unlike him, such as you have invented. And if among you perchance you possess a single utterance of Moses with respect to this, you are bound to produce it. For the words "A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; to him shall ye hearken," were certainly not said of the son of Mary. And even though, to please you, one should concede that they were said of him, Moses says that the prophet will be like him and not like God, a prophet like himself and bom of men, not of a god. And the words " The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a leader from his loins," were most certainly not said of the son of Mary, but of the royal house of David, which, you observe, came to an end with King Zedekiah. And certainly the Scripture can be interpreted in two ways when it says "until there comes what is reserved for him "; but you have wrongly interpreted it "until he comes for whom it is reserved." 90 But it is very clear that not one of these sayings relates to Jesus; for he is not even from Judah. How could he be when according to you he was not born of Joseph but of the Holy Spirit? For though in your genealogies you trace Joseph back to Judah, you could not invent even this plausibly. For Matthew and Luke are refuted by the fact that they disagree concerning his genealogy. However, as I intend to examine closely into the truth of this matter in my Second Book, I leave it till then. But granted that he really is "a sceptre from Judah," then he is not "God born of God," as you are in the habit of saying, nor is it true that "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made." But, say you, we are told in the Book of Numbers also : "There shall arise a star out of Jacob, and a man out of Israel." It is certainly clear that this relates to David and to his descendants; for David was a son of Jesse.</p><p> If therefore you try to prove anything from these writings, show me a single saying that you have drawn from that source whence I have drawn very many. But that Moses believed in one God, the God of Israel, he says in Deuteronomy: "So that thou mightest know that the Lord thy God he is one God; and there is none else beside him." And moreover he says besides, "And lay it to thine heart that this the Lord thy God is God in the heaven above and upon the earth beneath, and there is none else." And again, "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord." And again, "See that I am and there is no God save me." These then are the words of Moses when he insists that there is only one God. But perhaps the Galilaeans will reply: "But we do not assert that there are two gods or three." But I will show that they do assert this also, and I call John to witness, who says : "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God." You see that the Word is said to be with God? Now whether this is he who was born of Mary or someone else,----that I may answer Photinus at the same time,----this now makes no difference; indeed I leave the dispute to you; but it is enough to bring forward the evidence that he says "with God," and "in the beginning." How then does this agree with the teachings of Moses?</p><p> "But," say the Galilaeans, "it agrees with the teachings of Isaiah. For Isaiah says, 'Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son.' " Now granted that this is said about a god, though it is by no means so stated; for a married woman who before her conception had lain with her husband was no virgin,----but let us admit that it is said about her,---- does Isaiah anywhere say that a god will be born of the virgin? But why do you not cease to call Mary the mother of God, if Isaiah nowhere says that he that is born of the virgin is the "only begotten Son of God " and "the firstborn of all creation"? But as for the saying of John, "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made," can anyone point this out among the utterances of the prophets? But now listen to the sayings that I point out to you from those same prophets, one after another. "O Lord our God, make us thine; we know none other beside thee." And Hezekiah the king has been represented by them as praying as follows : "O Lord God of Israel, that sittest upon the Cherubim, thou art God, even thou alone." Does he leave any place for the second god? But if, as you believe, the Word is God born of God and proceeded from the substance of the Father, why do you say that the virgin is the mother of God? For how could she bear a god since she is, according to you, a human being? And moreover, when God declares plainly "I am he, and there is none that can deliver beside me," do you dare to call her son Saviour?</p><p> And that Moses calls the angels gods you may hear from his own words, "The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." And a little further on: "And also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became the giants which were of old, the men of renown." Now that he means the angels is evident, and this has not been foisted on him from without, but it is clear also from his saying that not men but giants were born from them. For it is clear that if he had thought that men and not beings of some higher and more powerful nature were their fathers, he would not have said that the giants were their offspring. For it seems to me that he declared that the race of giants arose from the mixture of mortal and immortal. Again, when Moses speaks of many sons of God and calls them not men but angels, would he not then have revealed to mankind, if he had known thereof, God the "only begotten Word," or a son of God or however you call him? But is it because he did not think this of great importance that he says concerning Israel, "Israel is my firstborn son?" Why did not Moses say this about Jesus also? He taught that there was only one God, but that he had many sons who divided the nations among themselves. But the Word as firstborn son of God or as a God, or any of those fictions which have been invented by you later, he neither knew at all nor taught openly thereof. You have now heard Moses himself and the other prophets. Moses, therefore, utters many sayings to the following effect and in many places: "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve." How then has it been handed down in the Gospels that Jesus commanded : "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," if they were not intended to serve him also? And your beliefs also are in harmony with these commands, when along with the Father you pay divine honours to the son. . . .</p><p> And now observe again how much Moses says about the deities that avert evil: "And he shall take two he-goats of the goats for a sin-offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. And Aaron shall bring also his bullock of the sin-offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself and for his house. And he shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the covenant. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scape-goat'' so as to send him forth, says Moses, as a scape-goat, and let him loose into the wilderness. Thus then is sent forth the goat that is sent for a scape-goat. And of the second goat Moses says: "Then shall he kill the goat of the sin-offering that is for the people before the Lord, and bring his blood within the vail, and shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar-step, and shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel and because of their transgressions in all their sins." Accordingly it is evident from what has been said, that Moses knew the various methods of sacrifice. And to show that he did not think them impure as you do, listen again to his own words. "But the soul that eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace-offerings that pertain unto the Lord, having his uncleanness upon him, even that soul shall be cut off from his people." So cautious is Moses himself with regard to the eating of the flesh of sacrifice.</p><p> But now I had better remind you of what I said earlier, since on account of that I have said this also. Why is it, I repeat, that after deserting us you do not accept the law of the Jews or abide by the sayings of Moses? No doubt some sharp-sighted person will answer, "The Jews too do not sacrifice." But I will convict him of being terribly dull-sighted, for in the first place I reply that neither do you also observe any one of the other customs observed by the Jews; and, secondly, that the Jews do sacrifice in their own houses, and even to this day everything that they eat is consecrated; and they pray before sacrificing, and give the right shoulder to the priests as the firstfruits; but since they have been deprived of their temple, or, as they are accustomed to call it, their holy place, they are prevented from offering the firstfruits of the sacrifice to God. But why do you not sacrifice, since you have invented your new kind of sacrifice and do not need Jerusalem at all? And yet it was superfluous to ask you this question, since I said the same thing at the beginning, when I wished to show that the Jews agree with the Gentiles, except that they believe in only one God. That is indeed peculiar to them and strange to us; since all the rest we have in a manner in common with them----temples, sanctuaries, altars, purifications, and certain precepts. For as to these we differ from one another either not at all or in trivial matters. . . </p><p> Why in your diet are you not as pure as the Jews, and why do you say that we ought to eat everything "even as the green herb," putting your faith in Peter, because, as the Galilaeans say, he declared, "What God hath cleansed, that make not thou common"? What proof is there of this, that of old God held certain things abominable, but now has made them pure? For Moses, when he is laying down the law concerning four-footed things, says that whatsoever parteth the hoof and is cloven-footed and cheweth the cud is pure, but that which is not of this sort is impure. Now if, after the vision of Peter, the pig has now taken to chewing the cud, then let us obey Peter; for it is in very truth a miracle if, after the vision of Peter, it has taken to that habit. But if he spoke falsely when he said that he saw this revelation,----to use your own way of speaking,----in the house of the tanner, why are we so ready to believe him in such important matters? Was it so hard a thing that Moses enjoined on you when, besides the flesh of swine, he forbade you to eat winged things and things that dwell in the sea, and declared to you that besides the flesh of swine these also had been cast out by God and shown to be impure?</p><p> But why do I discuss at length these teachings of theirs, when we may easily see whether they have any force? For they assert that God, after the earlier law, appointed the second. For, say they, the former arose with a view to a certain occasion and was circumscribed by definite periods of time, but this later law was revealed because the law of Moses was circumscribed by time and place. That they say this falsely I will clearly show by quoting from the books of Moses not merely ten but ten thousand passages as evidence, where he says that the law is for all time. Now listen to a passage from Exodus: "And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever; the first day shall ye put away leaven out of your houses." . . . Many passages to the same effect are still left, but on account of their number I refrain from citing them to prove that the law of Moses was to last for all time. But do you point out to me where there is any statement by Moses of what was later on rashly uttered by Paul, I mean that "Christ is the end of the law." Where does God announce to the Hebrews a second law besides that which was established? Nowhere does it occur, not even a revision of the established law. For listen again to the words of Moses : " Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it. Keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day." And "Cursed be every man who does not abide by them all." But you have thought it a slight thing to diminish and to add to the things which were written in the law; and to transgress it completely you have thought to be in every way more manly and more high-spirited, because you do not look to the truth but to that which will persuade all men. </p><p> But you are so misguided that you have not even remained faithful to the teachings that were handed down to you by the apostles. And these also have been altered., so as to be worse and more impious, by those who came after. At any rate neither Paul nor Matthew nor Luke nor Mark ventured to call Jesus God. But the worthy John, since he perceived that a great number of people in many of the towns of Greece and Italy had already been infected by this disease, and because he heard, I suppose, that even the tombs of Peter and Paul were being worshipped ----secretly, it is true, but still he did hear this,----he, I say, was the first to venture to call Jesus God. And after he had spoken briefly about John the Baptist he referred again to the Word which he was proclaiming, and said, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." But how, he does not say, because he was ashamed. Nowhere, however, does he call him either Jesus or Christ, so long as he calls him God and the Word, but as it were insensibly and secretly he steals away our ears, and says that John the Baptist bore this witness on behalf of Jesus Christ, that in very truth he it is whom we must believe to be God the Word. But that John says this concerning Jesus Christ I for my part do not deny. And yet certain of the impious think that Jesus Christ is quite distinct from the Word that was proclaimed by John. That however is not the case. For he whom John himself calls God the Word, this is he who, says he, was recognised by John the Baptist to be Jesus Christ. Observe accordingly how cautiously, how quietly and insensibly he introduces into the drama the crowning word of his impiety; and he is so rascally and deceitful that he rears his head once more to add, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Then is this only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father the God who is the Word and became flesh? And if, as I think, it is indeed he, you also have certainly beheld God. For "He dwelt among you, and ye beheld his glory." Why then do you add to this that "No man hath seen God at any time"? For ye have indeed seen, if not God the Father, still God who is the Word. But if the only begotten Son is one person and the God who is the Word another, as I have heard from certain of your sect, then it appears that not even John made that rash statement.</p><p> However this evil doctrine did originate with John; but who could detest as they deserve all those doctrines that you have invented as a sequel, while you keep adding many corpses newly dead to the corpse of long ago? You have filled the whole world with tombs and sepulchres, and yet in your scriptures it is nowhere said that you must grovel among tombs and pay them honour. But you have gone so far in iniquity that you think you need not listen even to the words of Jesus of Nazareth on this matter. Listen then to what he says about sepulchres : "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres; outward the tomb appears beautiful, but within it is full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness." If, then, Jesus said that sepulchres are full of uncleanness, how can you invoke God at them? . . .</p><p> Therefore, since this is so, why do you grovel among tombs? Do you wish to hear the reason? It is not I who will tell you, but the prophet Isaiah : "They lodge among tombs and in caves for the sake of dream visions." You observe, then, how ancient among the Jews was this work of witchcraft, namely, sleeping among tombs for the sake of dream visions. And indeed it is likely that your apostles, after their teacher's death, practised this and handed it down to you from the beginning, I mean to those who first adopted your faith, and that they themselves performed their spells more skilfully than you do, and displayed openly to those who came after them the places in which they performed this witchcraft and abomination.</p><p> But you, though you practise that which God from the first abhorred, as he showed through Moses and the prophets, have refused nevertheless to offer victims at the altar, and to sacrifice. "Yes,'' say the Galilaeans, "because fire will not descend to consume the sacrifices as in the case of Moses." Only once, I answer, did this happen in the case of Moses; and again after many years in the case of Elijah the Tishbite. For I will prove in a few words that Moses himself thought that it was necessary to bring fire from outside for the sacrifice, and even before him, Abraham the patriarch as well. . . </p><p> And this is not the only instance, but when the sons of Adam also offered firstfruits to God, the Scripture says, "And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offerings; but unto Cain and to his offerings he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord God said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? Is it not so----if thou offerest rightly, but dost not cut in pieces rightly, thou hast sinned?" Do you then desire to hear also what were their offerings? "And at the end of days it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruits of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof." You see, say the Galilaeans, it was not the sacrifice but the division thereof that God disapproved when he said to Cain, "If thou offerest rightly, but dost not cut in pieces rightly, hast thou not sinned?" This is what one of your most learned bishops told me. But in the first place he was deceiving himself and then other men also. For when I asked him in what way the division was blameworthy he did not know how to get out of it, or how to make me even a frigid explanation. And when I saw that he was greatly embarrassed, I said; "God rightly disapproved the thing you speak of. For the zeal of the two men was equal, in that they both thought that they ought to offer up gifts and sacrifices to God. But in the matter of their division one of them hit the mark and the other fell short of it. How, and in what manner? Why, since of things on the earth some have life and others are lifeless, and those that have life are more precious than those that are lifeless to the living God who is also the cause of life, inasmuch as they also have a share of life and have a soul more akin to his----for this reason God was more graciously inclined to him who offered a perfect sacrifice."</p><p> Now I must take up this other point and ask them, Why, pray, do you not practise circumcision? "Paul," they answer, "said that circumcision of the heart but not of the flesh was granted unto Abraham because he believed. Nay it was not now of the flesh that he spoke, and we ought to believe the pious words that were proclaimed by him and by Peter." On the other hand hear again that God is said to have given circumcision of the flesh to Abraham for a covenant and a sign : "This is my covenant which ye shall keep, between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations. Ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be in token of a covenant betwixt me and thee and betwixt me and thy seed." . . . Therefore when He has undoubtedly taught that it is proper to observe the law, and threatened with punishment those who transgress one commandment, what manner of defending yourselves will you devise, you who have transgressed them all without exception? For either Jesus will be found to speak falsely, or rather you will be found in all respects and in every way to have failed to preserve the law. " The circumcision shall be of thy flesh," says Moses. But the Galilaeans do not heed him, and they say: "We circumcise our hearts." By all means. For there is among you no evildoer, no sinner; so thoroughly do you circumcise your hearts. They say: "We cannot observe the rule of unleavened bread or keep the Passover; for on our behalf Christ was sacrificed once and for all." Very well! Then did he forbid you to eat unleavened bread? And yet, I call the gods to witness, I am one of those who avoid keeping their festivals with the Jews; but nevertheless I revere always the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; who being themselves Chaldaeans, of a sacred race, skilled in theurgy, had learned the practice of circumcision while they sojourned as strangers with the Egyptians. And they revered a God who was ever gracious to me and to those who worshipped him as Abraham did, for he is a very great and powerful God, but he has nothing to do with you. For you do not imitate Abraham by erecting altars to him, or building altars of sacrifice and worshipping him as Abraham did, with sacrificial offerings. For Abraham used to sacrifice even as we Hellenes do, always and continually. And he used the method of divination from shooting stars. Probably this also is an Hellenic custom. But for higher things he augured from the flight of birds. </p><p> And he possessed also a steward of his house who set signs for himself. And if one of you doubts this, the very words which were uttered by Moses concerning it will show him clearly : "After these sayings the word of the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision of the night, sayings Fear not, Abraham: I am thy shield. Thy reward shall be exceeding great. And Abraham said. Lord God what wilt thou give me? For I go childless, and the son of Masek the slave woman will be my heir. And straightway the word of the Lord came unto him saying, This man shall not be thine heir: but he that shall come forth from thee shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth and said unto him, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them : and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And Abraham believed in the Lord: and it was counted to him for righteousness." </p><p> Tell me now why he who dealt with him, whether angel or God, brought him forth and showed him the stars? For while still within the house did he not know how great is the multitude of the stars that at night are always visible and shining? But I think it was because he wished to show him the shooting stars, so that as a visible pledge of his words he might offer to Abraham the decision of the heavens that fulfills and sanctions all things. And lest any man should think that such an interpretation is forced, I will convince him by adding what comes next to the above passage. For it is written next: "And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of the land of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle-dove and a pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another; but the birds divided he not. And the fowls came down upon the divided carcases, and Abraham sat down among them."</p><p> You see how the announcement of the angel or god who had appeared was strengthened by means of the augury from birds, and how the prophecy was completed, not at haphazard as happens with you, but with the accompaniment of sacrifices? Moreover he says that by the flocking together of the birds he showed that his message was true. And Abraham accepted the pledge, and moreover declared that a pledge that lacked truth seemed to be mere folly and imbecility. But it is not possible to behold the truth from speech alone, but some clear sign must follow on what has been said, a sign that by its appearance shall guarantee the prophecy that has been made concerning the future. . . </p><p> However, for your indolence in this matter there remains for you one single excuse, namely, that you are not permitted to sacrifice if you are outside Jerusalem, though for that matter Elijah sacrificed on Mount Carmel, and not in the holy city.</p><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fragments From Other Sources<br /><br /></span><ul><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">As is further detailed in the translator's note following, the above writing of Julian was not sourced directly from preserved works of Julian, because they were not preserved. The above is derived from a refutation of Julian, written by Cyril, in which Cyril's quotations from Julian have been reconstructed by Neumann.</span></span><p style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;"> The translated work also included a few additional phrases which had been sourced outside of Cyril's Refutation of Julian. These are listed as follows:</span></p><p style="font-family: georgia;"> </p><pre><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:130%;" >1. Such things have often happened and still happen,<br /> and how can these be signs of the end of the world?<br /><br />(Neumann frag. 3; from Julian, Book 2, derived from Cyril, Book 12.<br /> Quoted by Theodorus, bishop of Mopsuestia, in his Commentary on the<br /> New Testament. Neumann thinks that Theodorus probably wrote<br /> a refutation of Julian at Antioch about 378 CE.)<br /><br />2. Moses after fasting forty days received the law,<br /> and Elijah, after fasting for the same period,<br /> was granted to see God face to face.<br /> But what did Jesus receive,<br /> after a fast of the same length?<br /><br />(Neumann frag. 4; from the same source as above.)<br /><br />3. And how could he lead Jesus to the pinnacle of the Temple<br /> when Jesus was in the wilderness?<br /><br />(Neumann frag. 6. From the same source as above)<br /><br />4. Furthermore, Jesus prays in such language as would be used<br /> by a pitiful wretch who cannot bear misfortune with serenity,<br /> and though he is a god is reassured by an angel.<br /> And who told you, Luke, the story of the angel,<br /> if indeed this ever happened? <br /> For those who were there when he prayed could not see the angel;<br /> for they were asleep. Therefore when Jesus came from his prayer<br /> he found them fallen asleep from their grief<br /> and he said: "Why do ye sleep? Arise and pray," and so forth.<br /> And then, "And while he was yet speaking,<br /> behold a multitude and Judas."<br /> That is why John did not write about the angel,<br /> for neither did he see it.<br /><br />(Neumann frag. 7. From the same source as above.)<br /><br />5. Listen to a fine statesmanlike piece of advice:<br /> "Sell that ye have and give to the poor;<br /> provide yourselves with bags which wax not old."<br /> Can anyone quote a more statesmanlike ordinance than this?<br /> For if all men were to obey you who would there be to buy?<br /> Can anyone praise this teaching when, if it be carried out,<br /> no city, no nation, not a single family will hold together?<br /> For, if everything has been sold,<br /> how can any house or family be of any value?<br /> Moreover the fact that if everything in the city<br /> were being sold at once there would be no one to trade<br /> is obvious, without being mentioned.<br /><br /> (Neumann, frag. 12. From Cyril, Book 18, quoted by Photius.)<br /><br />6. How did the Word of God take away sin,<br /> when it caused many to commit the sin<br /> of killing their fathers, and many their children?<br /> And mankind are compelled either to uphold their ancestral customs<br /> and to cling to the pious tradition<br /> that they have inherited from the ages<br /> or to accept this innovation.<br /> Is not this true of Moses also, who came to take away sin,<br /> but has been detected increasing the number of sins?<br /><br /> (Not in Neumann; reconstructed by him from the polemical writings<br /> of Archbishop Arethas of Caesarea who wrote in refutation of Julian<br /> in the tenth century. First published by Cuinont, Recherches sur la<br /> tradition manuscrite de l'empereur Julien, Brussels, 1898. Neumann's<br /> reconstruction is in Theologische Litteraturzeitung, 1899.)<br /><br />7. The words that were written concerning Israel<br /> Matthew the Evangelist transferred to Christ,<br /> that he might mock the simplicity of those<br /> of the Gentiles who believed.<br /><br /> (Neumann frag. 15. Preserved by the fifth century writer Hieronymus<br /> in his Latin Commentary on Hosea 3. 11.)</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><br /></pre></ul>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-63250059030361398152007-11-19T03:05:00.000+02:002007-11-19T03:10:04.489+02:00Leisure in Action: Work as Play! The Yeguanas<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.primalspirit.com/images/indigenous2.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.primalspirit.com/images/indigenous2.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">"Several more contributions to an alternative point of view on the subject of work penetrated past the intervening layers of my prejudice ...</span><br /><p><b><i><br />... One was the apparent absence of a word for 'work' in the Yequana vocabulary."</i></b></p> <p>In her book "The Continuum Concept" Jean Liedloff describes her experience of living with Stone Age Indians in the South American jungle for two and a half years. (Most of her time was spent with the Yequana.) She found these people to be the happiest she had seen anywhere. What stuck most in my mind on reading this incredible book was the Indians' attitude towards "work," or rather their experience of all activity as play; they made no distinction between work and play ... </p><p> </p><blockquote> <b>"There appeared to be no Yequana concept of work similar to ours. There were words for each activity that might have been included, but no generic term." </b> </blockquote> <p> Jean initially visits the jungle with two young Italian explorers on a diamond hunting expedition. Soon after her arrival she is presented with a powerful example of the Indians' radically different approach to life ... </p><p> </p><blockquote> <em>"Some small illuminations did get through to my civilization-blinded mind: for example, some concerning the concept of work. We had traded our slightly too small aluminum canoe for a much too big dugout. In this vessel, carved from a single tree, seventeen Indians at one time travelled with us. With all their baggage added to ours and everyone aboard, the vast canoe still looked rather empty. Portaging it, this time with only four or five Indians to help, over half a mile of boulders beside a large waterfall, was depressing to contemplate. It meant placing logs across the path of the canoe, and hauling it, inch by inch in the merciless sun, slipping inevitably into the crevices between the boulders whenever the canoe pivoted out of control, and scraping one's shins, ankles and whatever else one landed on, against the granite. We had done the portage before with the small canoe and the two Italians and I, knowing what lay ahead, spent several days anticipating the hard work and pain. On the day we arrived at Arepuchi Falls we were primed to suffer and started off, grim-faced and hating every moment, to drag the thing over the rocks.</em> <p><em> When it swung sideways, so heavy was the rogue pirogue, it several times pinned one of us to the burning rock until the others could move it off. A quarter of the way across all ankles were bleeding. Partly by way of begging off for a minute, I jumped up on a high rock to photograph the scene. From my vantage point and momentary disinvolvement, I noticed a most interesting fact. Here before me were several men engaged in a single task. Two, the Italians, were tense, frowning, losing their tempers at everything, and cursing non-stop in the distinctive manner of the Tuscan. The rest, Indians, were having a fine time. They were laughing at the unwieldiness of the canoe, making a game of the battle, relaxed between pushes, laughing at their own scrapes and especially amused when the canoe, as it wobbled forward, pinned one, then another, underneath it. The fellow held bare-backed against the scorching granite, when he could breathe again, invariably laughed the loudest.</em> </p><p><em> All were doing the same work, all were experiencing strain and pain. There was no difference in our situations except that we had been conditioned by our culture to believe that such a combination of circumstances constituted an unquestionable low on the scale of well-being, and were quite unaware we had any option in the matter.</em> </p><p><em> The Indians, on the other hand, equally unconscious of making a choice, were in a particularly merry state of mind, enjoying the camaraderie; and of course they had had no long build-up of dread to mar the preceding days. Each forward move was for them a little victory, enjoyed to the full." </em> </p></blockquote> <p> Not only was I struck by the Yequana's playful attitude to all activity, but also by their complete freedom from the moral judgment, resentment and guilt that is so often, and so unecessarily, attached to such concepts as "working hard" or "being lazy" in western "civilised" society ... </p><p> </p><blockquote> <em>"Another hint about human nature and work came later.</em> <p><em> Two Indian families lived in a hut overlooking a magnificent white beach, a lagoon in a wide crescent of rocks, the Caroni and Arepuchi Falls beyond. One paterfamilias was called Pepe, the other, Cesar. It was Pepe who told the story.</em> </p><p><em> It seems that Cesar had been 'adopted' by Venezuelans when very young and had gone to live with them in a small town. He was sent to school, learned to read and write and was reared as a Venezuelan. When he was grown, he came, like many of the men of those Guianese towns, to the Upper Caroni to try his luck at diamond hunting. He was working with a group of Venezuelans when he was recognized by Mundo, chief of the Tauripans at Guayparu.</em> </p><p><em> 'Were you not taken to live with Jose Grande?' Mundo asked.</em> </p><p><em> 'I was brought up by Jose Grande,' said Cesar, according to the story.</em> </p><p><em>'Then you have come back to your own people. You are a Tauripan,' said Mundo.</em> </p><p><em> Whereupon Cesar, after a great deal of thought, decided that he would be better off living as an Indian than as a Venezuelan and came to Arepuchi where Pepe lived.</em> </p><p><em> For five years Cesar lived with Pepe's family, marrying a pretty Tauripan woman and becoming the father of a little girl. As Cesar did not like to work, he and his wife and daughter ate the food grown in Pepe's plantation. Cesar was delighted to find that Pepe did not expect him to clear a garden of his own or even help with the work in his. Pepe enjoyed working and since Cesar did not, the arrangement suited everyone.</em> </p><p><em> Cesar's wife liked joining the other women and girls in cutting and preparing the cassava to eat, but all Cesar liked was hunting tapir and occasionally other game. After a couple of years he developed a taste for fishing and added his catches to those of Pepe and his two sons, who always liked to fish and who had supplied his family as generously as their own.</em> </p><p><em> Just before we arrived, Cesar decided to clear a garden of his own, and Pepe had helped with every detail, from choosing the site to felling and burning the trees. Pepe enjoyed it all the more because he and his friend talked and joked the whole time.</em> </p><p><em> Cesar, after five years' assurance, felt that no one was pushing him into the project and was as free to enjoy working as Pepe, or any other Indian.</em> </p><p><em> Everyone at Arepuchi was glad, Pepe told us, because Cesar had been growing discontented and irritable. 'He wanted to make a garden of his own,' Pepe laughed, 'but he didn't know it himself!' Pepe thought it hilarious that anyone should not know that he wanted to work." </em> </p></blockquote> <p> We have focussed here on the Indians' approach to 'work.' In 'The Continuum Concept' Jean goes on to explore their attitudes to <em>all</em> areas of life, particularly child-rearing and looks at why they are so much happier and at ease with themselves than the average 'civilised' person. Her revelations are profound and their implications far-reaching. <em>Everyone</em> should read this book.<br /><br /><br /></p><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">All extracts taken from </span><strong style="font-style: italic;">The Continuum Concept</strong><span style="font-style: italic;">, written by Jean Liedloff in 1975.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /></span>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-63686873983001815562007-11-18T05:49:00.000+02:002007-11-18T06:01:48.273+02:00A Pagan Mari Sacrificial Prayer from the 19th Century<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.hs.fi/kuvat/iso_webkuva/1101978689871.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.hs.fi/kuvat/iso_webkuva/1101978689871.jpeg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"><br />This prayer song, performed in a sacrificial festival of the Cheremiss people (indigenously called the Mari) was preserved by the scientist, A. Genetz, in the Krasnoufimsk kray of the Perm oblast. Here the prayer is presented in the form it was published in the legendary work "The Cheremiss Religion" by Uno Holmberg (Harva) in 1914. The surviving wording of the prayer represents an altered tradition contaminated by the Greek Orthodox church and the Islam practiced by the neighboring Tatars and Chuvasses. This may have affected the characterization of the concept of god, and certain words could be borrowed.<br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> Although the written text shows various cultural layers, the most ancient and most essential core is clearly present. The traditional (earth) religion of the Volga Finns is part of the living religious tradition of the European pagan agricultural population, and its social and ethnic function has not essentially changed from the times when the European peoples began to till soil and cultivate plants, although new elements and overtones have been added along the millennia. For example, the central position of festival beer is a very original trait.<br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> This prayer has been performed on an occasion when the village community has gathered to a sacred site to perform a regular sacrificial rite. The sacrificial priest reads aloud or sings the prayer while the others listen seriously. The prayer enlists all the sources of livelihood essential to the village community, asking blessing for them, remembers the relatives enlisted in the imperial service (war) and implores the Cheremiss gods to protect the rulers of the country, especially the Czar. It is odd that they should have mentioned bleeding among the dangers threatening the ruler--it is unlikely that the people living on the shores of the Volga have had any information about the affliction of the Czarevich [son of the emperor suffering from hemophilia; but was Alexei Nikolayevich even born when this prayer was chanted? Perhaps a form of prophecy?] Other sequences listing various dangers do not mention bleeding in particular.<br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> Mentioning the ruler within the prayer may have been inherited from the period when the Volga Finns had countries of their own. During the wars waged by Ivan the Terrible against the Kazan khanate the independent duchies of the Mari and the Mordvins were destroyed, but rural life continued as usual, with a pagan religion, still for centuries to come.<br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> The prayer is addressed to the godhead of fire who forwarded the messages on to greater godheads. An interesting feature: the priest wishes that "the two worlds" remain in harmony and aid his community. A. Genetz has paid special attention to the denomination used of the "circle" responsible for the sacrificial festival, certain houses or villages: MIR. In Russian it is a common word for a village community with a wider meaning of e. g. world, now also world peace etc. [Before the 1922 orthography reformation, the two mir's were separated by writing 'world' with 'i s tochkoy', looking like the Latin i, while 'peace' was written with the regular 'i' resembling an N upside down, derived from the Greek eta.] Finnish has assimilated the word through Karelia in the form 'miero.' When someone was 'mieron tiellä' [on the road of/to miero,] he was dependent upon the welfare food given away by the community. The word 'miero' was used among others during the starvation mutiny of the Käkisalmi county in the name of a mutiny meeting: "Musta miero" [Black Miero.] Probably the word mir/miero is precisely the original denomination of the habitations belonging to the same sacrificial circle, just like "pogosta" (bog = god.) Anyway, the text of this prayer offers a rare view of the pre-Christian culture of the Finno-Ugrians and the Europeans. Most notably: the pagan tradition of the Volga Finns has continued without interruption from the introduction of agriculture in Europe until the modern times, and still continues. [Wherever one personality is addressed, forms of the word 'thou' have been used, in the case of several, the word is 'you' and its forms. The difference is not always quite clear.]<br /><br /><br /></span><span><span style="color:#d98719;"><h1>A Cheremiss Sacrificial Prayer:</h1></span></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> Dear, great god, dear god of providence, dear god of thunder, dear god ruling over children, great divine force (?), dear god of the sacrificial mir [vide supra], dear mother of god, dear providence, dear prophet, dear protection angels, dear spirit of home and hearth, dear angel of the day of rest, dear mother earth, dear mother sun, dear mothers moon and wind, dear old man and woman frost, dear mother water, dear familial prosperity, grant the family a long life; dear birth-giver of cattle, ruler of cattle, dear birth-giver of grain, ruler of grain, warehouse of grain, key to the warehouse of grain, open thy warehouse of grain; dear birth-giver of grain, ruler of grain, grain prosperity, grain chief, open the warehouse of grain, key to the warehouse of grain, open thy warehouse of grain; Birth-giver of bees, ruler of bees, bee prosperity, bee chief, bee warehouse, key to the warehouse of bees, open thy warehouse of bees; warehouse of triple money, key to the treasury, open thy treasury!<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> Dear, great god, god of thunder, ruler of children, divine force (?), god of the Mir, mother of god, providence, prophet and dear protection angels, be merciful and receive with joy from this large sacrificial table the abundant steam of my feast which I have prepared and put forth with loaves of uncut bread, fragrances rising up from a large frying pan and with abundant beer mixed with mead! After you arrive to the fragrant smoke and settle down, do leave us pure like the flame of fire, light and unpolluted like smoke; surrounding us with fire and smoke, banish evil where smoke does not reach! Thus do we say, pray and beseech, amen be merciful to us, dear gods! If you grant this to us, we shall be grateful to you!<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> With the first uncut loaves of bread do we pray for your blessing, dear gods; follow the clinking sound of iron and settle down here, grant us the hardness of steel, the purity of iron and beating with your steel knives and axes, banish and drive away evil where the sound of iron does not reach, to the shores of night which the running water of the stream does not reach, where salt and bread are not eaten! For that do we beseech and pray, for such blessing do we ask, dear gods, dear angels, amen; unanimously be merciful to us, dear gods!<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> Dear gods, dear angels! Wherever we may walk, allow us to roam safely, wherever we may sit, allow us to be happy and to roam safe from pestilence, diseases and spells, do protect us from knives and axes hanging from belts, from fires and witches and warlocks, you, dear gods yourselves; do not allow our minds to err, our feet to stumble. There must be those who wish to damage whatever is found in our habitations, there must be those who wish evil to the triple family of the house: do not leave it in the hands of evil but banish the ill-willed; protect the triple cattle wealth living in the corral; probably there are also those who plan destruction for our triple grain; do banish the evil of mind; should anyone envy our bee wealth, drive the envier away from us, should anyone envy our triple wealth of money, banish him as well, so that we might live and prosper in the habitations built with our own hands with our triple families, with our triple cattle living in the courtyard, with our warehouses of triple grain, with our treasures of bees and money! For that do we beseech and pray, dear gods, for your blessing do we ask, amen; have mercy upon us! If you grant this to us, we shall be grateful to you, dear gods!<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> Grant us brightness of the sun, fullness of the moon, fertility of the earth, purity of water, mildness of temperature for us to live, rising like the morning star, jumping like the flea, gathering steadily like the beaver, moving gracefully like the otter, chirping like the swallow, waving like the hop, hanging like the pea-stalk, blossoming like the flower, soft like wax, durable like silk; grant us high age, long years and long days! For this do we beseech and pray, dear gods, amen; have mercy upon us! If you grant this to us, we shall be grateful to you.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> Let two complete strangers unite, let them go to bed as two, let them rise as three, let them bear seven daughters, nine sons; let their seven daughters find a new homeland beyond the stream, and their nine sons a bride beyond nine streams, may the names of the daughters be known in the country, may the fame of the sons spread up till the emperor! Let two complete strangers unite again, let the offspring of these strangers be numerous like cuckoos; and so that they may live conversing familiarly, let them have high age, long years and days! For that do we beseech and pray and ask of you, amen; have mercy upon us, dear gods! If you grant this to us, we shall be grateful to you.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> Wherever the family travels, let it travel safely, wherever it sits, let it be happy; protect it from various diseases, do not let its mind err, its feet stagger; protect personally, dear gods, it from knives and axes hanging from belts, from fires, witches and warlocks! For that do we beseech and pray, amen; have mercy upon us! If you grant this to us, we shall praise you.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> Grant them brightness of the sun, fullness of the moon, purity of water, mildness of temperature, so that they might live, rising like the morning star, jumping like the flea, gathering steadily like the beaver, moving gracefully like the otter, chirping like the swallow, waving like the hop, hanging like the pea-stalk, blossoming like the flower, soft like wax, durable like silk; grant them high age, long years and days! For that do we beseech and pray of you, dear gods, amen; have mercy upon us! If you grant this to us, we shall praise you.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> When the family has received abundant blessings to its triple cattle which it grasps each morning and evening to fondle it, and, in the springtime, after it has sent the cattle in three groups to the valleys of the field, make the sick healthy, the infertile fertile, to the fertile give offspring in abundance, and at the same time, protect, lead, and take care of them; let the grass that they eat be sweet and the water they drink tasty, let their resting places be soft; protect the creatures against dry and stinging twigs, the claws and teeth of wild predators, swamps and deep riverbeds, protect them from envious looks, evil tongues, witches and warlocks. When autumn sets in and snow falls upon black earth, let a cattle-shed be built beside another, let the cattle be rounded up and enclosed in the corral in one group, the same cattle which in three groups was sent out to the pasture; let us wake up in the middle of the night if a calf lows, a lamb bleats, or a foal neighs; when the cattle is being taken to drink, let one end of the herd be already by the hole made in the ice while the other still moves around by the habitation; grant us wealth of cattle, and multiplication of the herd the way you did to the people of yore. Thus do we say, pray and beseech, amen; unanimously have mercy upon us, dear gods! If you grant this to us, we shall praise you.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> When springtime comes and it is time to bring out the rooster-shaped plow and set its both plowshares in parallel, do grant people intelligence and understanding, set the tools in order, give power to the powerless horse, so that the plowmen, having reached the end of the ditch and stopped and saying "bless!" might plow a deep ditch into the fallow field, and having plowed one, might reach a third ditch, having plowed the third one, reach a fifth, seventh, ninth one, and having plowed the ninth one might reach a thousandth one, and with the thousandth time might turn over like a black cloud. And when the sower, having stacked three kinds of seeds in his load carries them to the field, and saying "bless!" sows a seed, let it become a thousand grains, may the root spread as wide as a plate, the straw grow solid like pearled grain, hard like an egg, smooth like butter, sturdy like fresh bulrushes, the heads strong like silver buttons; fertilize the pistils and let the flowers blossom; with warm thunderstorms, warm lightnings, warm winds and rains let the grain ripen, let it swell like dough; protect it against biting frost, and the damage caused by cold or heat, protect it against sharp wind and hails; from greedy herds of cattle, chewing mice, hungry rats, lusty grasshoppers, gnawing bugs and worms keep and protect it! Allow the owner, after he has inspected every part of the field, return home, rejoice with his next of kin and talk about it while sitting with the family.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> When the time is up, let him lift an arched iron upon his shoulders and, having bound up the hems of his garment, in a good and playful mood step to one end of his ditch and, saying "bless!", cut the straw; instead of a straw, let him fold up a bunch, instead of a bunch let him gather a sheaf, and instead of a sheaf, build a whole stack at each angle of the field, thus making the field pleasant like a wood! Should the cattle have dropped something, should something have been strewn from the hands, should something have gotten under the feet and left in the ditch, do gather the grains into the lap of their mother without harming them and send them speedily to the grain stack! That do we beseech and pray of you, amen; have mercy upon us, dear gods! If you grant this to us, we shall praise you. When the autumn sets in and snow falls upon the black earth and the time approaches to take the sheaves from a threshing house to another and when they are shoved into strong heat and their drying begins, let them dry, protect them from burning fire through the smoke of strong heat, and when threshing begins and when, after threshing, the grain has been winnowed with a grain-filled shovel and the grain is carried into warm wind to be cleansed from chaff and the airing of the grain has been started, grant that the grains will be like the sands of the Belaya [white] river, and when three or four granaries have been shoved full, and when god and providence have been worshiped with the first uncut bread and when the one who has arrived hungry has left sated, the beggar has been given his share and the borrower has been given his part, let us receive during one day three or four times, "let god repay you!" as thanks. Grant us property and agricultural prosperity which you have granted to the people of yore, so that when we scoop, our sieves or baskets will always be full of grain, and when we say "old, old! sour, sour! [leavened?]" we could never finish it by eating or drinking! For that do we pray and beseech, amen; have mercy! If you grant this to us, we shall be grateful to you.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> Perhaps thou hast been granted a beehive manufactured by the owner's father, himself, or his forefathers, hollowed inside a tree trunk, which, if set upon the ground, spreads like a woolen carpet: do set the one above and the one below at the same height, do set the damaged right, do make the inner part resplendent like mother-of-pearl, do make the honey-cakes like gold and silver! Perhaps thou hast been granted the bees of the proprietor or thou hast been entrusted with the bees of the community, perhaps their buzzing resounds in bright daylight or accompanies the moonlight, possibly thou hearest it from the cliffs or an island in the sea, perhaps thou hast bees that have come on their own accord; strengthen the wings of the queen bee and lead the swarm like a black cloud over the mountains, set them in every tree-trunk, let them settle therein. Thus we say, pray to you and beseech, amen; have mercy, dear gods! If you grant this to us, we shall be grateful to you.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> The infertile render fertile, grant the fertile offspring in abundance, make the drones industrious, grow flowers useful to them, protect them against sharp winds, thick fog, claws and teeth of predators, save them from evil looks, evil tongues, witches and warlocks and allow them to develop in peace. Let the owner, when he goes to inspect and peeks around, find now ten, now fifteen, until he returns home; let a stranger notice what he has not seen himself and let him know; let him sit with his family and neighbors full of awe and conversing joyfully; let the bees prepare honey resembling dough, and when the time of gathering draws nigh, let the owner leave walking and bring back walking, let him leave by horse and return having loaded the animal with such a load that its back gives way under the weight; whatever he has not been able to bring back home, let him leave there, hung in a tree in the meadow; let him sacrifice the first part to god and providence, whatever is left in the crock let him eat and drink with his family, his closest neighbors, and relatives coming and leaving; grant us infinite multiplication of honey and unending abundance of honey! For that do we pray and beseech, amen, be merciful, dear gods! If you grant this to us, we shall praise you.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> When youths gather from everywhere, grant them intelligence and understanding; give their dogs good scent, make their steeds fiery; when they go wandering over woody hills and through valleys, let them find close by what they desired to meet far away, turn towards them the game that had turned its back to them, and shorten their wide tracks! Thou hast bushy-tailed squirrels and hares with plow-shaped legs, thou hast black-tailed weasels and fast-running brown and black foxes, and the grouses and capercaillies of the forest are thine. For the benefit of the high emperor, grant them wisdom and understanding to collect the quarry from the bosom of every fallen tree and with the speed of fire take every shot creature from each tree-trunk! For this we beseech and pray; if you grant it to us, we shall praise you.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> Grant each man intelligence and understanding so that, having taken a backpack, preparing for a long journey and entered a dark spruce forest, he might find game near by; direct to him any creature that has turned its back to him, shorten the wide roads! Thou hast long-legged deer and moose that run speedily, thou hast furry bears, red foxes ready that escape quickly, and martens with green necks, and also thou hast beehives not made by human hands, greenish and sturdy. Grant the men wisdom and understanding so that, for the benefit of the high emperor, they might collect every shot creature from the bosom of each fallen tree and claim it for themselves from each tree-trunk! For this do we beseech and pray; have mercy, dear gods, and be unanimous! If you grant this to us, we shall praise you. After leaving the game tracks and entering the riverbank, they will notice that thou hast many gray partridges in the alder grove; thou hast geese and swans prone to be trapped, and also river fish, beavers, polecats and water bulls. Grant them intelligence and understanding for the benefit of the high emperor to attack the game like the foam of water against the current, so that the bodies strike sparks! For that do we beseech and pray, amen; if thou grantest that to us, we shall praise thee for it.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> When there is a stock of wares gathered from cattle or grain or game, when it has been bound into groups of ten and polished bright like metal, shimmering like the sky and glimmering like mother-of-pearl, and when it has been brought to the marketplace of the high emperor, let the price of each item be multiplied by three, seven or nine, and let us return with our trunk full of money. Part of it shall be saved, part of it shall be used for necessities, buying garments and underwear, for gloves and footwear, for purchasing salt and food, for paying taxes to the high emperor, and giving to the beggar and whoever wishes to borrow; present us with three kinds of money, infinite like groats! For that do we pray and beseech, amen; unanimously, have mercy upon us, dear gods! If you grant that to us, we shall praise you.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> To the high emperor, whose subjects we are, with all his various nations and all his troops, grant long life, many years and days, health, wealth and strength and, wherever he may move, grant him success, wherever he may sit, make him happy; protect him against all kinds of illnesses and pestilence, all mishaps, malicious rumors, knives and axes hanging from belts, and fire; do not allow his understanding to fail or his feet to stagger, so that he may without injury or bleeding act and work; grant him high age and long years of life! For that do we pray and beseech you, amen; have mercy! If you grant us this, we shall praise you.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> To the emperor whom we revere grant purity of the sun, fullness of the moon so that he may live and work, rising like the morning star, fertility of the earth, mildness of temperature, purity of water, so that he may live jumping like the flea, gathering like the beaver, crawling like the otter, chirping like the swallow, waving like the hop, hanging like the pea-stalk, blossoming like the flower, soft like wax, durable like silk; may he be granted high age, many years and days, firmness and strength! Thus do we say, pray and beseech, amen; have mercy, dear gods, dear angels! If you grant us this, we shall praise you.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> When children of mothers and fathers embark upon a journey to the high emperor to serve him, fathers and mothers send their prayers to god for the high emperor, mother with mother, father with father shed tears for their children who leave to serve their high emperor, then spouses cry together and children likewise for those leaving to serve the high emperor, father and mother pray to god for happiness and luck for their children: "Dear, great god, return him and lead him back home!"<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:-1;color:#000099;"> Dear spirit of fire, thy smoke is tall, thy tongue is sharp, pray for us in front of the good gods, let the first bits of sacrifice be ready, take everything with thee and give on to the good gods! Dear spirit of fire, thy smoke is tall, thy tongue is sharp, of the good gods do we pray this day for augmenting the family, we pray for a long, sinless life to the family, three kinds of cattle wealth, three kinds of grain and bee stock, three kinds of money treasure do we beseech; whether the riches you are going to give us are up in the heavens or down on earth, do reign rising like the morning mist, light like the water foam, allowing the two opposite worlds to shine, and impart us infinite happiness unanimously, dear gods! For this blessing do we pray you. Dear spirit of fire, let them consume entirely the butter and milk bread and the great sacrificial beverage, blessing with loving hands and feet the abundance of the sweet fragrance, saying, "bless!" Dear spirit of fire, eat thou the first sacrificial bits together with those in hand, take them with thee and give to them, amen! Unanimously, have mercy, dear gods! Dear spirit of fire, thy smoke is tall and thy tongue is sharp, give thou them, in our name, the blessing of the sweet smoke, carry it on and give it to them! Therefore may blessing follow thee, and may gratitude be thy own part, dear spirit of fire!<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.<br /><br /></span></span>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-64880669019389115572007-11-16T02:45:00.000+02:002007-11-16T03:03:12.744+02:00Ionic, by Constantinos Cavafis<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.dim.uchile.cl/%7Eanmoreir/escritos/cavafy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.dim.uchile.cl/%7Eanmoreir/escritos/cavafy.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:130%;" >That we’ve broken their statues,<br />that we’ve driven them out of their temples,<br />doesn’t mean at all that the gods are dead.<br /><br />O land of Ionia, they’re still in love with you,<br />their souls still keep your memory.<br />When an August dawn wakes over you,<br />your atmosphere is potent with their life,<br />and sometimes a young ethereal figure,<br />indistinct, in rapid flight,<br />wings across your hills.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">(C.P. Cavafy, </span><i style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Collected Poems.</i><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard.)<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /></span>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-66455600953629734632007-11-14T04:14:00.000+02:002007-11-14T04:19:15.455+02:00Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00174/Christiane185_174912a.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00174/Christiane185_174912a.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" ><br />Influential Classical scholar who brought methodological rigour to the study of Ancient Hellenic religion and ritual</span><br /><p><br /></p><p> Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood was an international authority in the field of Ancient Greek religion and one of the most prolific and influential Hellenists of her generation. </p><p> She was remarkable for her penetrating and uncompromising intellect and for her astonishing range of scholarly interests, which spanned almost every area of Ancient Greek culture from Minoan iconography to Greek tragedy. </p><p> She was born in Volos, Greece, in 1945, but grew up in Corfu. Her father was a colonel in the Greek Army, her mother a teacher. Sourvinou-Inwood studied as an undergraduate at the University of Athens, and began research in the young and exciting field of Mycenology in Rome and later in Athens. </p><p> Coming to England in 1969, she graduated from Oxford in 1973 with a doctorate on Minoan and Mycenaean beliefs in the afterlife, and went on to a junior research fellowship at St Hugh’s College, Oxford. She then worked as a lecturer at Liverpool (1976-78), as a senior research Fellow at University College, Oxford (1990-95), and as Reader in Classical Literature at the University of Reading (1995-98). She turned down many more foreign invitations than she accepted, but she did cross the Atlantic to give the Carl Newell Jackson lectures at Harvard in 1994, and she gave the Martin P. Nilsson lecture in the Swedish Institute at Athens in 1997. </p><!--#include file="m63-article-related-attachements.html"--><p> The focus of her early work was the Bronze Age and its iconography; experts still cite her brilliant defence of the authenticity of one particularly beautiful Minoan ring in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford – about which later discoveries proved her right. But in time her interests gravitated to the Classical period, and she was as adept at using textual sources as at using images and material culture – something which few classicists achieve. </p><p> She was particularly interested in rituals relating to young women and devoted a book to some of the interpretative problems connected with the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron near Athens, where young girls danced as bears (Studies in Girls’ Transitions, 1988). </p><p> Another interest, sustained since her doctorate, was Greek representations of the afterlife, her definitive statement on which was Reading Greek Death (1994). Perhaps most significant of all was her examination of the ways that Ancient Greek religion was determined by the political structure of the city state, set out in a paper What is Polis Religion? (1990), which bristles with insights in every paragraph. She explored literary aspects of the same theme in her provocative reading of Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone (1989), and at greater length in her Jackson lectures which were published as Tragedy and Athenian Religion (2003). </p><p> Methodology was a vital concern and she developed a repertory of technical terms such as “reading” (roughly, “methodologically rigorous interpretation”); “schema” (an ideologically significant narrative pattern); and “zooming” (the effect of bringing the world of the text or image nearer to the world of the viewer or listener). It was, and still is, unusual for classicists to be so explicit about methodology, and reviewers often commented on the style, length or frequency of her methodological pronouncements. She was unrepentant. In the first chapter of her Reading Greek Culture (1991) she explained that she aimed to produce a “neutral” interpretation by rigorously eliminating all modern assumptions and “perceptual filters” derived from unreflective common sense or traditional scholarly baggage. </p><p> Her “reading” of the texts or images could then begin, and an important part of it was the identification (or “recovery”) of ideological “schemata”. The result was sometimes to show that texts believed to have specific historical reference were better understood as ideological constructions, but if that meant we now knew less about history, we at least knew more about ideology. </p><p> Sourvinou-Inwood insisted that her aim was to establish “ancient realities and perceptions”. Thus, just as naive empiricism was her early target, so, later, she was anxious to combat extreme scepticism about the past, “nihilism” as she called it in her final book, Hylas, the Nymphs, Dionysos and Others (2005). </p><p> Her approach shares a lot with the structuralism of the French scholars Jean-Pierre Vernant and Pierre Vidal-Naquet, both associated with the École des Hautes Études, and in its later formulation it owed something to semiotics and even poststructuralism. But she was no follower of academic fashion, and her approach should be seen as an independent response to her own interpretative experience. </p><p> Those who knew her only from her publications were likely to form the impression of a certain intellectual defensiveness and a tendency to devote more space and ingenuity to demolishing her critics’ arguments than was strictly necessary. But to those who experienced her in the lecture room, she was an inspiring teacher and a warm-hearted mentor, convinced that even the least promising undergraduate was capable of brilliance if given enough encouragement. </p><p> Her own sense of being an outsider had given her a heightened empathy. That she taught formally for only brief periods is a great loss to the institutions that could have employed her, and to the profession. </p><p> Ill-health restricted her movement in the last decade of her life, but she still made herself available to friends, disciples and awed fans who visited her in Oxford, usually to be entertained over lunch in an Italian restaurant. To younger scholars facing uncertainty in the early stages of their careers, she could be a tower of support. </p><p> Her own tower of support was her husband, Mike Inwood, philosophy tutor at Trinity College, Oxford, whom she married in 1971. </p><p> Considering the volume of her publications, it is remarkable that she also wrote a series of detective novels. One appeared in Greek in 2003 as Enas polu klassikos phonos under the pseudonym Christiana Elfwood (the English version is to appear imminently). </p><p> She married first J. P. Olivier (divorced). Her second husband survives her. </p><p><b>Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood, Classical scholar, was born on February 26, 1945. She died of cancer on May 19, 2007, aged 62</b></p><br /><p><br /></p><p style="font-style: italic;"><b>From "The Times".</b></p><p><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /></p>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32255575.post-49468367329672708532007-11-12T03:27:00.000+02:002007-11-12T03:36:43.048+02:00"Hate You, Christ, I Do Not", by Fernando Pessoa<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/%7Ephorta/gifs/armani.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/%7Ephorta/gifs/armani.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 128);"><pre>Hate you, Christ, I do not, or seek. I believe<br />In you as in the others gods, your elders.<br />I count you as neither more nor less<br />Than they are, merely newer.<br /><br />I do hate, yes, and calmly abhor people<br />Who seek you above the other gods, yours equals.<br />I seek you where you are, not higher<br />Than them, not lower, yourself merely.<br /><br />Sag god, needed perhaps because there was<br />None like you: one more in the Pantheon, nothing<br />More, not purer: because the whole<br />Was complete with gods, except you.<br /><br />Take care, exclusive idolater of Christ: life<br />Is multiple, all days different from each other,<br />And only as multiple shall we<br />Be with reality and alone.<br /><br /><br />(09.10.1916)<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">'Selected Poems', translated by J.Griffin.</span></pre></span></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" >.</span>Alkmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01240656032916966785noreply@blogger.com0