The Age Of The Fish

In Gallicenae (London, 1988) by Poul and Karen Anderson, a Witch-Queen of Ys says that the Gods

"'...Themselves are troubled. For the heavens have moved from the Sign of the Ram to the Sign of the Fish, and the old Age dies as the new comes to birth.'" (p. 32)

That sounds familiar. In Greek, "Ichthys," meaning "fish," is also the initials for the phrase "Jesus Anointed God's Son Saviour." The fish is a symbol of life and associated with Jesus through parables and miracle stories. Could these be the meanings of the Ages? -

Ram: agriculture, animal sacrifice;
Fish: Christianity;
Aquarius, Water Carrier: watering the seeds planted in the previous Age.

I have seen three versions of "Ichthys" on cars:

the Christian symbol;
the symbol with legs enclosing the word "Darwin";
the symbol with legs and an arm holding a spanner enclosing the word "Evolve."

"Ichthys" is preferable to an instrument of torture and execution, as are the seated Buddha and the Taoist yin-yang symbol.

Addendum: Also, the Water Carrier is a man so the Aquarian Age is the Age of Men, meaning human beings as opposed to Gods, maybe with the God-Man of the Piscean Age as an intermediary? (I interpret astrology symbolically, not literally.)

Church And State

In Gallicenae by Poul and Karen Anderson (London, 1988), the King of Ys is " '...high priest and Incarnation of Taranis...' " (p. 30), needed in the city for " '...ceremonial and sacral tasks...' " (p. 29). However, the present King is also the Roman prefect in the city. He must leave Ys for an extended period for three purposes:

to make a personal report on political and military matters to the Co-Emperor, Maximus Augustus;
to find a replacement for the deceased Christian minister in Ys;
to seek elevation to the rank of Father in the Mystery of Mithras in order to be able to found a Mithraeum in Ys.

Can the Incarnation of one God give allegiance to another?

Gratillonius retorts:

" 'Have we become Christians here, to deny respect to everything divine other than the Lord of our narrow sect?...Or sects, rather. They might as well have a dozen different Christs, the way they quarrel about His nature.' " (p. 30)

I sympathise with Gratillonius, the Mithraist Incarnation of Taranis. Issues of faith could be settled neither by experience nor by reason but only by authority backed, originally, by Constantine's military might. Gratillonius supports civilisation, therefore the Empire, but thinks that its citizens should be free to serve Christ, Mithras or Someone Else - with which I agree.

The King Of Ys, Volume Two

Volume One of Poul and Karen Anderson's King Of Ys tetralogy culminates with the death of Dahilis. Volume Three culminates with the drowning of Ys. Is there a comparable culmination to Volume Two? I will find out by rereading.

Two important events follow the death of Dahilis, the Caesarian birth of her daughter, Dahut, and the divine choice of a new Queen.

Volume Two, Gallicenae (London, 1988) begins with the child Dahut's point of view:

"The child knew only that she was upon the sea." (p. 21)

- but some of the narration refers to knowledge that she does not have:

"The child did not recognize a piece of driftwood as being off a wreck." (p. 23)

Dahilis is present as a seal that accompanies the yacht, watching Dahut, then, when she falls into the sea, holding her until she is rescued by her father.

The second section of Chapter I reverts to the father's point of view and reveals how much time has elapsed since Volume One:

"The summons came to Gaius Valerius Gratillonius in the third year during which he had been Roman prefect and King of Ys." (p. 25)

This also tells us that Dahut is between one and two years old.

As when reading any series of books, we recognise names and contexts. After reading the summons, Gratillonius "...sent for Bodilis and Lanarvalis...", names which remain meaningful if we have read Volume One sufficiently recently (p. 25).

For those who have not read or do not remember Volume One, the text of Volume Two is preceded by a ten page italicised "Synopsis" (pp. 11-20).

The question before the reader is whether Gratillonius will be able to maintain his difficult balancing act of prefect for Rome and King of Ys. Ysans expect him to remain King until killed by a challenger whereas he expects to leave when he has completed his duty as prefect.