Rome

Burning Rome: cuellar / Jose Maria Cuellar

Rome is the vibrant capital of Italy which has a long and complicated history, dating back to the 8^th century BCE.

Pre-Christian Rome fell in the 5^th century to Germanic invaders. In the 6^th century it became an important center for the Christian Church, with Vatican City on the West bank of the Tiber river.

In 1871 Rome became the capital of modern Italy.

When it was the center of the old Roman Empire, Rome was a symbol of worldly power and also of the cruel persecution of the early Christians. Ironically, the center for the persecution of Christians was to become the center for Christianity and later, as the Protestant revolution arose, for Catholicism.

The historian Arnold Toynbee and several others note that as soon as the Christian Romans gained power, they began persecuting individuals just as the pagan Romans had previously persecuted Christians.

Toynbee believes it was mostly power – and the greed and arrogance that often goes with it – that was responsible for this exceedingly cruel behavior among human beings.

» Acts of the Apostles, Aeneas, Aeneid, Caesar (Julius), Church Fathers,  Mythic Inflation, Romulus and Remus, Vestal Virgin

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Sibyl

The Libyan Sibyl by Cliff

Sibyl

A name representing alleged prophetesses consulted in ancient Greece and Rome, said to prophecize in ecstasy, under the temporary possession of Apollo.

Ten Sibylline oracles have been recorded by history. The best known Sibyl is said to have resided in a cave at Cumea, near Naples–”The Cumean Sibyl.”

In Vergil’s Aneid this Sibyl is visited by Aeneas before his descent to Hades. She is also believed to have composed the original Sibylline books.

These prophetic works were taken to Rome, where they were guarded by two nobles. Extended volumes of Sibylline books survived into the 4^th century CE.

Another famous Sibyl lived in Erythia in Asia, “The Erythian Sibyl.”

Sibyls appear in Christian art and literature. Early Christian interest in the Sibylline oracles raised them to a status comparable to the Old Testament Prophets.

In 1973 a popular novel, Sibyl, was written by Flora Rheta Schreiber based on the life of Shirley Ardell Mason, a woman diagnosed with multiple personality disorder or MPD. In 1976 the book was made into a film with Sally Field as Sibyl.

In the 19^th and 20^th centuries, two other novels have also been entitled Sibyl.

» Mistletoe, DSM-IV-TR

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Tyche

Caligula with Tyche Syria by Joe Geranio

Tyche (Greek: luck)

The Greek goddess of chance or fortune, usually identified with the Roman goddess Fortuna. Personifications of Tyche are somewhat unclear, although the abstract idea of Tyche is found throughout ancient literature and her imprint appears on ancient Hellenistic coins some three centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ.

Tyche is often referred to as one of the Fates or as a daughter of Zeus. Temples for Tyche were mostly built around cities, offering protection or good luck.

In art she’s sometimes depicted as blind but her influence goes further than that. In medieval times

she was depicted as carrying a cornucopia, an emblematic ship’s rudder, and the wheel of fortune, or she may stand on the wheel, presiding over the entire circle of fate. In the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, Tyche became closely associated with the Buddhist ogress Hariti.†

One source says she’s an Oceanid, one of a group of 3,000 nymphs who are daughters of the oldest of the Titans, Oceanus. » Taboo

On the Web:

• Youtube video showing a temple of Tyche and giving a wonderful feel of the ancient world: “The Zeus temple, high tower, and mausoleum date from the Hellenistic Olba kingdom while the city gate, colonnaded street, fountain, and temple of Tyche are from the Roman period” (MariaJBogaerts)

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† http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyche

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Vulcan

041/366: Vulcan

Originally uploaded by mosesxan

Vulcan

In earliest Roman mythology, Vulcan was the god of destructive fire, particularly that of a volcano.

His temple was usually at the outskirts of a city, attended to by a priest (flamen). And his festival, Volcanalia, was celebrated on August 23.

When the Volcanalia also paid homage to the Nymphs and other deities, live fish were thrown into a fire as a sacrificial offering to Vulcan.

In the Greece during the classical period Vulcan became Hephaestus the master blacksmith.

In his giant forge at Mount Olympus he fashioned the armor and shield of Achilles, as well as Cupid’s arrows and Jupiter’s thunderbolts.

He was depicted lame and his offspring were usually ugly.

In the American TV and film productions of Star Trek, Vulcan is the home planet and the alien race to which Mr. Spock belongs.

Originally a highly savage and barbaric race, Vulcans almost destroyed themselves in the ancient past. They overcame global disaster by repressing all emotion in favor of highly developed logic.

Star Trek Vulcans have supra-human strength and intellect but are less adept at creative, intuitive problem solving.

Vulcan Stranger

Originally uploaded by blakeemrys

In keeping with Carl Jung’s idea that mythic symbols represent and evoke the numinous, spiritual aspects of the unconscious mind, it seems likely that Star Trek creators chose the mythic name of Vulcan, hoping it would resonate with Western viewers and the archetypal images they’re familiar with.

In this larger sense, then, Mr. Spock and his people may be regarded as a continuation of the original Roman myth.

» Romulans, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: The Original Series, T’Pol

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Vestal Virgins

Vestal Virgin by Morin 1791 Terracotta

Originally uploaded by mharrsch

Vestal Virgins

A priesthood of virgin women in ancient Rome probably of patrician class.

The Vestals apparently were instituted by the Roman King Numa and were thought to be the symbolic or perhaps spiritual daughters of the earliest Roman Kings.

They served for a minimum of 30 years (with a maximum of a lifetime), answered to the pontifex maximus (the head priest), lived in a building near the Forum called the Atrium Vestae, and were maintained at public expense.

Chosen by lots among pure-looking girls aged 6-10 years, they guarded the sacred flame at the temple of Vesta, also located near the Forum.

Their ongoing purity was essential. If found unchaste, a priestess could be buried alive as punishment.

In 83 CE, for instance, Domitian executed three Vestal Virgins on charges of immorality.

In 90 CE the chief Vestal, Cornelia, was buried alive.

» Romulus and Remus
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Vergil

Detail of Vergil’s tomb inscription

Originally uploaded by sethschoen

Vergil or Virgil, properly, Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 BCE).

Vergil was a Roman poet who studied studied philosophy in Rome before gaining status as a court poet.

His unfinished Aeneid was commissioned by the emperor Augustus to honor Rome’s origins.

Vergil’s grave was treated as a sacred site for centuries and from the Middle Ages up to recent times his Latin works became standard fare for educational institutions throughout Europe.

The poet Dante called Vergil, il nostro maggior poeta (“our greatest poet”)¹ and placed him prominently in his Divine Comedy as a guide leading him through several layers of Hell and upward to Purgatory.

And J. B. Trapp notes that

In the third canto of Purgatorio, Dante’s great mentor reproaches him for his faint trust:

Non credi tu me teco e ch’io ti guidi?²

But Vergil was replaced by Beatrice as Dante’s guide at the gates marking the entrance of Paradise. Quite simply, Vergil could not continue upwards due to his uncoverted pagan roots.

According to legend the apostle Paul wept over Vergil’s grave because he was so close to gaining the opportunity of becoming a Christian.

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¹M. C. Howatson, ed. The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature, Second Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989, p. 595.

²J. B. Trapp, “The Grave of Vergil,” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 47, (1984: 1-31), p. 1.

» Aeneas, Aeneid, Blessed Isles, Furies, Sibyl

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Venus

Birth of Venus

Originally uploaded by Sandruz

Venus

In Roman mythology Venus is the parallel to the Greek Aphrodite, although Venus is more somewhat more subdued than Aprhodite.

Venus is a goddess of seduction and, in one group of rites and myth, she is associated with Roman wine fesitvals (Vinalia) and thus regarded as a mediator between Jupiter and the Roman people.

She is also the mother of Aeneas, who according to the poet Vergil is the founder of Rome.

And she was the lover of Mars, who with the mortal Rhea Silva begat the twin brothers Romulus and Remus.

Since Rome was named after Romulus, who after disposing of Remus became the first ruler of Rome, Venus plays a kind of dual role in the founding of Rome. As such, she was given a solemnity among the Romans that Aphrodite did not enjoy among the Greeks.

Venus’ first known temple was built shortly after 295 BCE. And despite New Age and Jungian attempts to treat her as some pristine archetype, and others to link her to the Indian Vedic term for desire, her historical roots remain obscure.

However, it’s clear that her character did develop, as most mythic entities do, along with sociopolitical changes in Rome. The influential aristocrat Sulla called her his “Protectress” and by the time of the Roman Empire, Venus was incorporated into the official pantheon.

In astronomy Venus is the second planet from the sun. Due to its brightness, Venus looks like a star and is accordingly called the “morning star” or “evening star.”

» Aliens, Aphrodite, Cupid, Earth, Ishtar, Libra, Taurus

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Xenophanes

Gold and Ivory Artemis(?)

Originally uploaded by greekgeek

Xenophanes (c. 570 BCE)

Greek thinker born in Colophon, an Ionian Greek coastal city.

Xenophanes critiqued the cosmology of Homer, Hesiod and the popular pre-Socratic take on religion and mythology.

From his surviving fragments – and from others commenting on his work – it’s clear that Xenophanes satirized the anthropomorphic nature of the Greek pagan gods, arguing that God must be unmoving and changeless.

5. But mortals suppose that the gods are born (as they themselves are), and that they wear man’s clothing and have human voice and body. [Zeller, 524, n. 2. Cf Arist. Rhet. ii. 23; 1399 b 6.]

6. But if cattle or lions had hands, so as to paint with their hands and produce works of art as men do, they would paint their gods and give them bodies in form like their own-horses like horses, cattle like cattle. [Zeller, 525, n. 2. Diog Laer. iii. 16; Cic. de nat. Deor. i. 27.]

Arthur Fairbanks, ed. and trans. “Xenophanes: Fragments and Commentary,” The First Philosophers of Greece (London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1898), p. 67.

Likewise, the early Christian writer Clement of Alexandria (2^nd – 3^rd CE) wrote in his Miscellanies 5. 109:

Xenophanes of Colophon puts it well indeed in teaching that god is one and without a body (asomatos): “There is one god, greatest among gods and men, who is not like human beings either in form (demas) or in thought (noema).”

Source » “XENOPHANES of Colophon” http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/xenophanes.html

Offering piercing criticisms of the pre-Soctratic mindset, Xenophanes nevertheless believed that we cannot be certain about anything. As such, he said that his observations were necessarily conjecture.

E. L. Hussey says that Xenophanes made the “first known attempt at philosophical theology”–i.e. thinking about faith instead of glossing over and mindlessly reproducing its cultural and historical aspects (Ted Honderich, ed., Oxford Companion to Philosophy, 1995, p. 920).

» Comparative Religion

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Aeneas

Aeneas and Dido

Originally uploaded by litmuse

Aeneas The Trojan hero and son of Anchises and Aphrodite. 

In Homer’s Illiad Poseidon prophesizes that Aenas and his descendants will rule the Trojans.

Other writers portray Aeneas as the founder of several Greek centers, such as Delos and Crete.

Aeneas has also been described as the founder of Lavinium and the head of the Latin League.

The poet Vergil in his Aeneid furthers Homer’s emphasis on Aeneas’ piety by representing him, in keeping with fashionable Roman ideals, as a symbol of filial, societal and spiritual devotion–i.e. devotion to parents, to the glory of Rome and its deities.

Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas draws from the Fourth Book of the Aeneid, dramatizing the destroyed marriage of Queen Dido of Carthage and prince Aeneas.

A sorceress had convinced Aeneas that Jove expected him to leave Carthage. The stricken Dido’s sorrowful When I am laid in earth reminds us of the price we might have to pay for listening to dark sorcerers instead of trusting in God and our own good judgment.

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Aeneid

books

Originally uploaded by nameless faceless

Aeneid An epic poem written in Latin by Vergil.

It is casts in mythic verse the journey and adventures of the Trojan hero Aeneas, who in ancient legend founded Rome. » Sibyl

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