Polytheisms

The work of the Paduan antiquarian Lorenzo Pignoria constitutes one of the most interesting examples of a general reflection on religion at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The short treatise analysed in this article, aims to insert a group of “deities” from Asia and the Americas within the project of the mythographic work of Vincenzo Cartari. Promoting an assimilation of these extra-European deities, Pignoria also proposes a singular visual theory of polytheism. In order to illustrate this innovative methodology, this work focuses on the complex narration through which the Paduan antiquarian manages to build an incorporation of a group of Mexican deities whom he had known by consulting pictographic documents in the Vatican Apostolic Library.

I testi raccolti in questo volume mirano a indagare, in una prospettiva storico-religiosa, il rapporto dialettico indissolubile tra Religione e Conquista che anima i processi del contatto tra il mondo europeo e le culture native del continente americano. Primariamente, il volume intende riconoscere una funzione dialogica e negoziale al concetto di Religione che, al principio dell'Età moderna, si impone come uno dei principali strumenti di "occidentalizzazione del mondo". In questa prospettiva, la Religione diviene dispositivo atto alla Conquista, da intendersi però non tanto ideologicamente come strumento pratico del dominio politico e militare, quanto, processualmente, come "arma simbolica", spazio, teorico e pratico, del confronto interculturale. Questa lettura vuole contribuire alla costruzione di una disciplina disposta a volgere il proprio sguardo ai processi di incontro tra mondi diversi, per elaborare una teoria storico-religiosa dei contatti culturali. In questa direzione, i processi legati alla Scoperta e alla Conquista del continente americano costituiscono un perfetto laboratorio di indagine, giacchè mostrano come le relazioni tra culture nella modernità abbiano avuto inizio grazie al codice della Religione.

More than 20 years after presenting his first interpretation of the mosaic from the House of Aion in a paper entitled “Uwagi na temat mozaiki z Domu Aiona w Nea Paphos (Cypr)” (Meander 9/10, 1987, p. 421-438, in Polish, and translated to English: « The Immortality of the Human Soul and the Dionysiac Mysteries in the 4th Century Allegory [in Connection with the Interpretation of the Mosaic from the “House of Aion” at Paphos in Cyprus]»), where he proposed reading the five mythological panels (1. Leda and Zeus; 2. Dionysus on Mount Nysa; 3. The Dionysian thiasos; 4. Apollo and Marsyas; 5. The Apotheosis of Cassiopeia) as an allegory of the destiny of the human soul and body, starting with conception and ending with the liberation of the soul and its apotheosis, the author now enhances his initial interpretation with numerous reflections concerning the historical context of this work of art, created in the years 320-360.
If, according to the author, the mosaic is a “Hymn” in honour of the pagan gods, Man (his soul) and his place in the (pagan) universe, then at the same time it polemicises with the Christian faith and its God, Jesus Christ.
The author puts forward numerous new solutions relating to the mosaic’s iconography and iconology. Analysis of the mosaic also leads him to propose a solution to the as-yet unanswered question regarding the absence of images of the crucified Christ in Christian art of the 3rd and 4th centuries, up until 420/430, when the first images of Christ on the cross appear.
CONTENTS:
Introduction
1. Research to-date (recap)
2. Description of mosaic (recap)
2.1. Composition of five mythological scenes
2.2. Brief iconographic description of mythological panels
2.3. Outline of individual iconographic elements and their respective roles
2.4. The pagan gods’ air of majesty and dignity as an expression of piety
3. A few words about the pagan reaction
4. An apology of pious human life according to pagan principles and a polemic on the Christian model of Man and his theological idol, Jesus Christ
4.1. Divine intervention in the act of human conception (allusion to/polemic on the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary)
4.2. The Epiphany of Dionysus (an allusion to the Epiphany of Christ – Theou Pais)
4.3. The procession and dissemination of Dionysian order (allusion to/polemic on Christ’s entry into Jerusalem)
4.4. The error of Marsyas (polemic on/allusion to the error of Jesus the Messiah): arrest, sentencing for arrogance and lack of piety (asebeia) and condemnation to a martyr’s death
4.5. The anabasis (or anagoge psyches) of a ‘beautiful soul’ (allusion to/polemic on the Ascension of Christ)
5. A few words on the mosaic programme prior to final conclusions
Final conclusions
Key words: mythological mosaic, House of Aion, Nea Paphos, Late Antiquity, Roman art, allegorical narrative, allusive language of mythological pictures, wordplay (Marsyas-Messias), Jesus Christ, anti-Christian polemic, Dionysos, Cassiopeia, Apollon, Nereides, Abstract Personifications, Greek Mythology, ΚΥΠΡΟΣ

This research demonstrates the scope of the application of the theory of the History of Religions, made by the famous historian of religions Angelo Brelich, in the study of the religion of the ancient Maya. It proposes a new methodology developed specifically for the interpretation of the superhuman characters from this belief system. In particular, we analyze the character known as God N.
     
The Mayan religion of Pre-Hispanic times must be understood as a dynamic system that is constantly transforming. The polytheism that was generated during the Late Classic period was due to a social process of specialization by the revolution of at least three pre-deists systems (animism, fetishism and ancestor worship) set the foundations for the creation of the divinities. God N should be treated as part of this process. The Spanish conquest stopped the consolidation of polytheism, however, remained pre-deists beliefs during the colonial and modern times, indicating a historical process based on a dialectical movement of continuity and transformation.


Este estudio muestra los alcances de la aplicación de la teoría de la Historia de las Religiones, formulada por el célebre historiador de las religiones Angelo Brelich, en el estudio de la religión de los antiguos mayas. Propone una metodología novedosa elaborada específicamente para la interpretación de los personajes sobrehumanos de este sistema de creencias. En particular, se analiza el personaje conocido como Dios N.

La religión maya de la época prehispánica debe entenderse como un sistema dinámico que se encuentra en constante devenir. El politeísmo que se estaba generando durante el final del periodo Clásico se debió a un proceso social de especialización que por medio de la revolución de al menos tres sistemas predeístas (animismo, fetichismo y culto a los ancestros) estableció las bases para la creación de las divinidades. El Dios N debe ser entendido como parte de este proceso. La conquista española detuvo la consolidación del politeísmo, no obstante, las creencias predeístas permanecieron durante la época colonial y moderna, lo que indica un proceso histórico basado en un movimiento dialéctico de continuidad y transformación.

Self-conscious Israelite monotheism arose from the rejection of gods now identified as alien.  It did not evolve from an absorption of powers by the high god, Yhwh, taken over from lesser beings -- although all unnatural agency is subordinated to his own agency.  What led to the denial of others was his alienation even from gods regarded as his subordinates and servants.  This alienation was the outcome of a reformationist or Axial critique:  the symbol is mere appearance, and like icons and ritual, like the high places (I add here), like the temple and ark in Jeremiah:  between the symbol and the Real falls the shadow.  The Axial critique did not address the practical monotheism of devotion to a high god, and the universal classification of other deities as his agents, which is why even philosophical, or self-conscious, monotheism, like that of Deutero-Isaiah (per Saul Olyan's work), can accommodate their appearance.  But the ideal of monotheism, monotheism as a form of distinctive identification, seems to arise principally in anticipation of pre-Socratic controversies about the identity of the one and the many, already in 7th-century works -- precisely the era of Judah's Reformation.

The nephew and successor of Shabaka was even less prudent than his uncle. Following a period of several years of co-regency, Shabataka (as known to the Assyrians) rose to the throne of Thebes and Napata in 706 BCE and ruled until 690 BCE. Probably in order to stabilize the huge but newly merged countries of Kush / Ethiopia (North Sudan) and Kemet (Egypt), he tried to appease Sharrukin (Sargon), Emperor of Assyria.

But assuredly, Shebitqu failed to accurately evaluate the formidable military might of Assyria that controlled the entire Asiatic part of the Middle East from today´s Turkey´s western confines to the central Iranian plateau, and from Caucasus to Yathribu (today´s Madina in Arabia) and the Persian Gulf. In Shebitqu´s days, the ancient state of Israel (of the ten Hebrew tribes) had disappeared and its entire population (all the Israelites) had been taken to exile in Assyria´s northeastern confines; only the tiny southern Hebrew state of Judah (of the two tribes) had managed to survive around Jerusalem. Damascus and many other Aramaean states had also disappeared, being annexed by Assyria, similarly with the Neo-Hittite states, Urartu, Babylonia, and many minor states in the area of the Zagros mountains and the Iranian plateau.

To avoid an imminent Assyrian attack, Shebitqu extradited Iamanni of Asfdod, the Palestinian king, to Sharrukin of Assyria (722 – 705).
First published on 25th March 2010 in AfroArticles, Buzzle, and American Chronicle
Republished in the portal of the Oromo Parliamentarians:
https://www.oromoparliamentarians.org/English/Facts%20about%20Oromo/Kushatic%20-Oromo%20%20Palestinians.htm

Fake Term "Nubian" – Why?

To clarify that the non-Egyptian antiquities of the Egyptian South and the Sudanese North cannot be called Nubian, I initiated a series of articles, presenting the historical interaction among the Hamitic – Kushitic Egyptians, the Kushitic Ethiopians (ancestors to today´s Arabic-speaking Sudanese, Oromos, Sidamas, and other Eastern African Kushites), and the Medjay – Nubians, who are ancestors to the modern Nubians.

The latter may now well be the quasi-exclusive inhabitants of a vast part of the territory of Upper Egypt (Kemet) and of North Sudan (Kush - Ethiopia), namely south of Luxor to Wadi Halfa and thence further to Debba, but in the Antiquity, their ancestors were only a minority among the Egyptians and the Kushites (Ethiopians) who inhabited the said territory (and the rest of Egypt and North Sudan).

More importantly, the Ancient Nubians never formed a state of their own in the pre-Christian times. So, the royal monuments, temples, palaces, military camps and outposts, administrative buildings and private homes that have been unearthed in the land where today's Nubians live were not built by their ancestors and consequently, they are not their own historical heritage, but mainly the heritage of today's Egyptians, Arabic speaking Sudanese, Oromos, Sidamas and eventually other, minor, Kushitic nations.

Today's Nubians therefore cannot be considered as either the only or the primary heir to either the Egyptian Past or the Kushitic / Ethiopian Antiquity, History, monuments, and Heritage. In other words, the Egyptian temple of Isis at Philae cannot be characterized as a Nubian temple, and the Kushitic / Ethiopian temple of Amun of Napata (in today´s Karima, North Sudan) cannot be labeled "Nubian temple"; the latter is valid for even one more reason, namely that there is no Nubian population living there today as well.

The term "Nubian" cannot be given to the kings of Kerma, Napata and Meroe – the three most important capitals of Pre-Christian Kush / Ethiopia – because these kings were not Nubians but Kushites / Ethiopians. Considering both, the ethnic and the linguistic levels, the Nubians were as different from the Egyptians and the Sudanese Kushites / Ethiopians as the Ancient Greeks from the Ancient Babylonians.

The fake term "Nubian" has been introduced in order to effectively detach the Arabic-speaking Sudanese from the search for their identity, prevent them from properly assessing their tremendous historical heritage, further engulf them into the Pan-Arabist fallacy, and definitely disconnect them from their brethren, namely the tyrannized Oromos, Sidamas, and the other subjugated Kushitic nations. These Kushitic nations have been comprised within the non-Kushitic, non-African, Semitic colonial state of the racist Amhara and Tigray Abyssinians, who are totally unrelated to the Oromos, the Sidamas, and the other subjugated Kushitic nations of Abyssinia. 

For the above reason, the Amhara and Tigray Abyssinians are absolutely irrelevant of the historical name of Ethiopia, which belongs only to he Arabic-speaking Sudanese, the Oromos, the Sidamas, and the other subjugated Kushitic nations of Abyssinia. The criminal colonial state of Abyssinia has to be forced - by any means - not to use the fair name of Ethiopia anymore in the future.
First published in AfroArticles, Buzzle and American Chronicle on 24th March 2010
Republished in the portal of the Oromo Parliamentarians:
https://www.oromoparliamentarians.org/English/Facts%20about%20Oromo/Kushatic%20_%20Oromo%20Nation%20Part%20VI.htm

This essay focuses on the later writings of Heidegger, with his radical attempt
to rethink religion, and Folk Shinto. The first two sections outline the gods and
the fourfold in Heidegger’s later thought, while the subsequent sections discuss
the resonances these have within Shinto, particularly kami 神 and shrines.

Discussion paper Hygieia at:  ‘Historicisation’ A summer course for PhD students arranged by the Nordic network for medical history (NordForsk) about "framing health".. The University of Bergen, 24-26 August, 2011.

Updated and corrected version: 28 juni 2021

Malgré l'histoire trépidante de ses batailles, la guerre de Troie échappe en réalité aux hommes : pour Homère, ce sont les dieux qui mènent le jeu et règlent leurs comptes. ils y consacrent leurs journées. Aussi Giulia Sissa a-t-elle trouvé chez Homère, avec l'Iliade, matière à explorer le quotidien des dieux grecs : de quoi leur corps est-il fait et comment se nourrissent-ils ? Quelle est l'organisation de leur société ? Quelle vie mènent-ils dans l'Olympe et dans le monde des hommes ? Les dieux sont partagés : modèle rêvé de jouissance infinie mais aussi exemple édifiant d'engagement dans le monde. Amours, festins, querelles Mais que désirent-ils vraiment ? Dans la seconde partie de ce livre, Marcel Detienne montre comment les citoyens entretiennent des relations quotidiennes avec les dieux et ce que deviennent les olympiens, invités à venir résider chez les humains organisés en cité. Au cœur des rituels et de la vie sociale, les dieux restent présents : dans les sacrifices, l'alimentation, les assemblées politiques, la guerre, la sexualité... Bref, les dieux sont indispensables à la cité, mais agissent-ils là vraiment en maîtres jaloux de mortels éphémères ? Ne seraient-ils pas plutôt - dans les premières démocraties en tout cas - assujettis, du moins soumis, aux décisions des hommes en leurs conseils et assemblées ?

La religion palmyrénienne délivre toujours un nouveau matériel des recherches dans les champs différents. On a à notre disposition les sources épigraphiques et objets cultueux. La grande diffusion des textes à partir du Ier jusqu’à la fin du IIIe siècle de notre ère témoigne la richesse rituelle. Dans les plusieurs inscriptions on retrouve des divinités variées invoquées par les épithètes, parmi lesquelles le plus fréquent est le qualificatif « bon », en palmyrénien : ṬBʾ, qui se lie aussi avec d’autres épiclèses comme miséricordieux : RHMN’ ou rémunérateur : SKR’. Ce qualificatif employé aussi par des hommes que par des femmes se trouve dans les dédicaces votives reflétant  l’attitude conditionnelle des fidèles : dabo ut dederis. Cette sorte de la tactique rituelle montre d’un côté la reconnaissance des dévots et de l’autre côté elle a pour but faire garder la bienveillance des dieux. L’invocation des qualités divines est également un moyen de la persuasion du divin pour qu’elle exauce des vœux.

The Palmyrene religion delivers all the time a new material to study in different fields of research. Through the epigraphic and cultic material evidence we find the complexity of the entire system of beliefs and worship and the richness of the religious evidence from the 1st until 3rd centuries CE. In many Palmyrene Aramaic texts we find the gods labelled as "good' which is mentioned sometimes with other epithets such as "merciful" and "rewarding". This ritual strategy shows on the one hand a recognition of the worshippers and on the other hand it serves to preserve the concept of divine benefaction. The invocation of the divine qualities is equally a mean of persuasion that a god responds to the wishes favorably.

"The gods were the true heroes of Rome. In this major new contribution to our understanding of ancient history, Jörg Rüpke guides the reader through the fascinating world of Roman religion, describing its unique characteristics and bringing its peculiarities into stark relief.

Rüpke gives a thorough and engaging account of the multiplicity of cults worshipped by peasant and aristocrat alike, the many varied rites and rituals daily observed, and the sacrifices and offerings regularly brought to these immortals by the population of Ancient Rome and its imperial colonies.

This important study provides the perfect introduction to Roman religion for students of Ancient Rome and Classical Civilization."

Άρθρο του Μουχάμαντ Σαμσαντίν (τότε Κοσμά) Μεγαλομμάτη στο περιοδικό Τρίτο Μάτι, 10 (Νοέμβριος 1991), σελ. 60-64
Article by Muhammad Shamsaddin (then Cosmas) Megalommatis in the monthly review Trito Mati (Third Eye), 10 (November 1991), p. 60-64
First published online on 1st June 2021 here:
https://profmegalommatistextsingreek.wordpress.com/2021/06/01/μονοθεϊσμός-εικονολατρικός-πολυθεϊ/

While examining a knee-deep contrast and comparison of Jainism and Christianity, an attempt is made to underscore the likenesses amongst all religions assuming the same basic needs for all mankind. Specifically, and with regard to matters of living, the struggle to ascend (moksha) in Jainism is contrasted with Christianity's struggle to improve (sanctification), and the differing roles of each faith's approach to compassion briefly discussed. In matters of truth, whether truth is absolute and what that might mean for all humanity is contrasted between the faiths. The criticisms and modern movements of each faith are shown in their resemblances, along with the author's personal thoughts on the subject of religious faith and its future in America.