Common sailors who used to make:
"...primitive bloody sacrifices to Aeak'ha-in-the-Deeps..." (p. 62)
- now worship the Moons but educated Diomedeans know that there is:
"...only the Lodestar." (ibid.)
Terrestrial monotheists would accept this provided that they could get some agreement on what the "Lodestar" is. And there is also much room for discussion as to whether "know" or "believe" is the more appropriate verb.
We need another word for "know." My political opponent knows (so he thinks) that the party that I support has disastrous policies! We all know contradictory propositions to be true. See two earlier posts on "knowledge" of the nature of comets here.
I am certain that many propositions that are commonly "known" are not true but it would probably unleash an argument if I said what they are. When I was only a few years old, I "knew" that germs and Germans were bad (post-WWII period) and was not sure of the difference between them. Of course my ideas have changed since then but I am not sure that everyone's ideas change. Some people came out of University with exactly the same opinions that they had had when they went in.
11 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Some of the Drak'honai seemed to have close to belief in the Lodestar as the sole or only God deserving worship.
Some are convinced by philosophic arguments a sole God or First Cause is real. Others are not, proposing counter arguments.
Others believe in the existence of a sole God thru divine/prophetic revelation, which is what Jews and Christians believe. And Zoroastrians believe likewise as regards the teachings of Zoroaster.
Happy New Year! Sean
Lodestar sounds like the polestar for that hemisphere of Diomedes. Would the worshippers of the Lodestar fear sailing into the other hemisphere. How would precession of the pole of Diomedes away from pointing at that star effect the Lodestar religion?
Kaor, Jim!
I never thought of that before--and reminds me of how Pharaohnic Egyptians may have had similar views of our Pole Star. But increased contact with Technic civilization would soon bring up such issues to the Drak'honai.
Happy New Year! Sean
It's analogous to the development of classical paganism and Hinduism. That is, elite philosopical types tended towards monotheism, while the bulk of the population continued to regard the deities as separate rather than diverse manifestations of a "One".
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I can see that, upper crust/middle class Romans of the Late Republic/Early Empire and high caste Hindus becoming dissatisfied with the primitive polytheism of the lower classes/castes. With some in the former group becoming attracted to Judaism as God Fearers and later becoming Christians.
Happy New Year! Sean
Sean: note that conversion to Christianity really took off during the 3rd-century crisis when the Roman Empire nearly went under in a chaos of civil war and economic collapse.
Prior to that -- in Marcus Aurelius' time for example -- Christians were substantially less numerous than Jews.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I am not disagreeing, I basically agree there were probably only about 150,000 Christians in the Empire by Marcus Aurelius' reign. Your comments about how dense the population of Egypt was made me wonder if Christians were more numerous there than in other provinces of the Empire.
Yes, the chaos of the Third Century Crisis shook the confidence of many in merely human institutions. Hence the great increase in conversions to the Faith.
I agree it would be very good indeed if the innovations being made by Artorius and his grad students in your Antonine books prevented that Third Century Crisis. But I don't think that would necessarily stop Christianity from spreading--esp. if Marcus Aurelius repealed the anti-Christian laws--allowing believers to emerge from hiding. Because more citizens of the Empire would have the chance to discover what Christianity taught.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: well, that would depend on how it 'rhymed' with prevalent attitudes. Generalized empathy wasn't very popular in Classical civ, for example.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Of course, I agree. I would not be expecting a dramatic increase in conversions to Catholic Christianity if Marcus Aurelius repealed the anti-Christian laws. A slow steady increase over a long period is more likely.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: that was certainly a possibility.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I'll be wondering what Marcus Aurelius might do about those anti-Christian laws in your third Antonine book.
Ad astra! Sean
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