nrcgsh@ultb.isc.rit.edu (N.R. Coombs) (11/29/90)
I recently took a trip to the Mediterranean, partly a vacation tour and
partly a pilgrimage. It was with a religious tour group from London England
and was to visit places connected with the early church and especially ST.
Paul.
The places which had the most to do with Paul were obviously Athens,
Corinth and Ephesus. As a historian, I should have known in advance that we
would not visit the remains of many early Christian churches, etc. The early
church was both poor and oppressed. Hence, it left almost no discoverable
ruins. What was apparent were the ruins of paganism. St. Paul commented in
Athens that he could see that the people were very religious because there were
idols to every god imaginable including "the unknown god". Here a god, there a
god, and everywhere a god, god! I have enjoyed a couple other trips to sites
of important historical events and found pleasure in trying to capture some
"feeling" for the past. Here, I found a strange sense of being surrounded by
all kinds of pagan deities. This must have been what Paul felt also. It made
me think I had really captured something from 2,000 years ago.
It was even a bit strange to me to sense from the guides the awareness
that the golden and romantic age of their nation's past was steeped in
paganism. I wouldn't go so far as to say that they still supersticiously
believed in it all, but it was a past of which they were aware and proud.
I was also struck by the fact that many of the deities were fertility gods,
male or female. As we were told the myths about them, it became clear that
this was not primarily about sex. Reproduction and production were glued
together. They saw a close connection between reproductive fertility and the
fertility of plants and animals. It seemed to me that by manipulating sexual
images, they were trying to influence the production of their crops and farms.
None of this is all that insightful, I know. However, it got me reflecting on
our own times. We live in an age that is saturated with sex and sexual images.
While many focus on pornography, it seems to me that some of the most blatant
uses and abuses of sex in our time is in the advertising media. We use sex to
seel cars, food, clothing, vacations, cigarettes, alcohol and almost
everything. I am struck by the similarity in our exploitation of sex in
advertising and hence to spur both consumption and production with the pagan
use of sexual fertility symbols to manipulate natural productivity. The
goddess diana had 21 breasts. The male semi-god, satyros, had an amazing
appendage. It all leads me to believe that our inner motivations are closer to
the pagans that we realize. By, 'we', I don't just mean evil, exploitative
Madison Ave. executives. We all have become gripped by "the bottom line" and
the gross national product.
My knowledge on ancient paganism is sadly limited. Does anyone have some
background to shed light on possible parallels between pagan fertility
religions and our devotion to the advancement of capitalism?
Comments appreciated: Norman Coombs: NRCGSH@RITVAX.ISC.RIT.EDU on
internet and bitnet.rblack@shemtaia.weeg.uiowa.edu (Roger Black) (12/04/90)
In article <Nov.28.23.47.15.1990.12662@athos.rutgers.edu>, nrcgsh@ultb.isc.rit.edu (N.R. Coombs) writes: > The goddess diana had 21 breasts. If you're referring to the famous statue of Artemis (often identified with Diana), those aren't breasts--they're bull testicles. At least so it was said on a recent TV documentary I saw. Apparently part of the worship of Artemis was the ritual castration of bulls and the draping of their severed testicles around the neck of the priestess. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roger Black rblack@shemtaia.weeg.uiowa.edu Disclaimer: My employer doesn't even know I have any opinions. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------