Gratillonius and his congregation hallow their Mithraeum in the Raven Tower in Ys on the Birthday of Mithras. Gratillonius is the Father and his father, Marcus, has been brought from Britannia to be consecrated as Runner of the Sun. In Latin, they are Pater and Heliodromos. The Mithraist ranks also include Raven, Occult, Lion, Persian and Soldier. Too cumbersome, in my opinion. They sacrifice a dove, as in Temple Judaism although not in either synagogue Judaism or Christianity. On the top of the tower, the Mithraists hymn the sun at dawn, noon and sunset.
In Ys, the elements express the Three Gods Who are patrons of the city so how do the Three seem to respond to this day of Mithraist ceremony?
"Night fell upon son and father as they made their way back to the palace. Wind yelled, drove rain and scud before it, filled streets with chill. Under the sea wall, tide ramped and snarled." (p. 158)
Thus, Taranis yells and Lir snarls. The narrative builds toward a climax at the end of Volume III.
17 comments:
One reason for the religious upheavals of the Roman period is that it was a 'universal state' with religions designed for a much more localistic world.
The Roman elite espoused philosophical principles that were universalistic without renouncing the old myths -in toto-.
That was the beginning of a compromise that was potentially similar to what Hinduism did in its sphere.
It didn't go far because universalistic religions popped up instead.
This was probably for the best -- Christianity was a necessary, though not sufficient, condition for the scientific and industrial revolutions -- but on an aesthetic basis I prefer the alternative.
I have tried to imagine a European equivalent of Judaism and Hinduism. Instead of "Moses and the Prophets," its most fundamental scriptural canon would be "Homer and the Poets (= Dramatists)." Instead of Wisdom literature, it has Philosophy (= love of wisdom). Like the Bible, it has historical books. Its equivalent of the New Testament is Mystery religions and the Aeneid. Its one God would be Jupiter/Zeus with lesser deities instead of angels. Heroes instead of saints. Philosophical monotheism or monism coexisting with popular monotheism. The Pontifex Maximus would remain in office but would not become the Bishop of Rome. I think that pagan monotheism and natural philosophy could lead to empirical science.
popular polytheism
"Christianity was a necessary, though not sufficient, condition for the scientific and industrial revolutions"
Could you give a link to a discussion about *why* that is a reasonable idea?
Jim: Basically, it lead to the triumph of the theory of Thomas Aquinas that revelation (revealed religious truth) could not contradict observation of natural phenomenon, and that any apparent contradiction was illusory.
Kaor, Jim!
Besides what Stirling said, I would recommend looking up Anderson of this question in IS THERE LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS?, if you have a copy of that book.
I suggest a hardback copy, a printing error caused the loss of some text from the paperback edition.
Ad astra! Sean
I will try to find that essay by Anderson.
I can easily imagine people who dislike Christianity, or religion in general, argue that makes pre-Aquinas Christianity an unnecessary intellectual detour.
Perhaps Anderson's essay will give me good reason to regard that idea as mistaken.
Kaor, Jim!
Any Andersonian completist should read that book! One of the earliest serious examinations of the idea whether intelligent life exists on other worlds.
Not just Christianity in general! Just mention the Catholic Church and many bigots, atheist or not, simply foam at the mouth with ignorant hate, rage, fear, and envy of the Church.
Orthodox Catholics have always taken knowledge and philosophy, and hence science, seriously. A attitude found as long ago as Irenaeus of Lyons, Justin Martyr, Boethius, etc. Long before St. Thomas Aquinas.
Ad astra! Sean
Jim: Catholic Christianity in many respects preserved chunks of the intellectual accomplishments of Classical civilization, and among those was Aristotle's logic.
Particularly after the High Middle Ages, Catholic theology was exceptionally rationalistic, partly because of that preservation.
But Catholicism added something that the Graeco-Romans had lacked: a sense of an entire universe that was orderly and obedient to a single Law.
The combination was fundamental to Western Civ.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And that was one of the points Anderson made in IS THERE LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS?
I've mentioned Boethius because, before his unjust death at King Theoderic's hands, he strove to translate as much Greek philosophy as possible into Latin. Including those works of Aristotle on logic.
Boethius has been called Last of the Romans and first of the Scholastics.
Ad astra! Sean
One problem was that under the Roman Empire up through its 2nd-century peak, Roman aristocrats and scholars were almost all bilingual in Latin and Greek. Translations just weren't all that necessary, because the people concerned moved seamlessly back and forth between the two main Imperial languages.
Marcus Aurelius wrote his "Meditations" in Greek, for example, though of course he was a native Latin-speaker and his family had had moved from Italy to Baetica (southern Spain), an area so densely Romanized it might as well have been in Italy.
"But Catholicism added something that the Graeco-Romans had lacked: a sense of an entire universe that was orderly and obedient to a single Law."
Thanks. That is a point that makes the idea plausible to me.
I can also look for that idea in non-Christian (influenced) cultures.
The harder it is to find outside Christianity the more plausible I will find the idea that Christianity was needed to develop science.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Jim!
Mr. Stirling: I have occasionally wondered why, before St. Boethius*, there were so few translations of Greek works into Latin. Your comments states the obvious, it wasn't necessary, because for a long time educated people were bilingual in Latin/Greek.
One amusing detail I recall from Anderson's story "Wildcat" was it being mentioned that one of the characters was reading a Latin translation of the MEDITATIONS.
Jim: I think Sung Dynasty China (AD 960-1279) came closest to developing a true science, except it never did. IIRC, I think Stirling said that was because did not have a monotheistic faith believing in a God Who respected His laws.
That might have changed if Christianity had been able to spread to the Orient unhindered by a hostile Islam interposing itself between the West and China.
Ad astra! Sean
*Boethius is revered as a saint and martyr in the Italian diocese of Pavia, in a local cult approved, I think, in 1883 by the Congregation of Rites.
Sean: note that the combination of Greek logic and monotheism was most complete and 'organic' specifically in -Western- ("Latin") Catholic Christendom. Monophysite Christianity didn't do that as much.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
While I agree with what you said about Latin rite Catholicism, I'm puzzled by your mentioning of the Monophysites. Are you saying the Muslim conquest of Egypt and Syria/Palestine, the main centers of the Monophysites, cut off and isolated them from Aristotelianism?
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: Pretty much. So, in Central and East Asia, did sheer distance.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
You made me think of the Nestorian Christians. They had spread widely by the early T'ang Dynasty of China (AD 618-907). The Muslim irruption cut them off from the West.
For a time, as well, during the Mongol Empire, there were Latin rite bishops of Peking. Again, sheer distance and the breakup of the Mongol Empire also brought that to nothing. Pity!
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment