Entire History of Mediterranean Religions | Pagan to Christian | FULL DOCUMENTARY

Main Channel: @GnosticInformant Traditionally the “great story” of ancient Greece has been a hymn to progress, progress both toward rationality and toward humanity; the two appeared connected in their contrast to brute primitivity. The slogan had been the momentous step from “Mythos to Logos,” from fantastic tales about gods and the heroic past to a reasonable account of permanent nature, which is fundamental for “modern” consciousness. We are less secure today about the essence of such progress. The traditional praise of Greece has proved to be šawed, at least on three accounts: The originality of the “Greek miracle” is crumbling, as the older civilizations of the Near East have become better known. There are strata of high civilization that reach far beyond the pageant of Greece. The focus of interest has shifted from “classical” to “wild.” That has rekindled a special interest in myth, be it nostalgic or critical; this has ousted the concept of “primitive mentality.” Myth is no longer viewed as an inferior genre, but as a central and persistent phenomenon of culture. This also means that the superiority of logos is becoming less clear. The “rationality” of the Greek achievement has been found questionable; the logos claimed by Greeks, the “reasonable account” of Greek philosophy and science, can be criticized for various kinds of prejudice and blunder, within a society dominated by machos and slaveholders. Modern doubts about rationality Šnd their rešection in the ancient evidence and cast their shadow on the rising sun of the Greek miracle. Take as an example the book on the “Sacred Disease,” attributed to Hippocrates, a doctor of the 5fth century b.c. This is a polemical treatise on epilepsy, which fervently advocates a “natural” explication of this illness, with vigorous polemics against the traditional characterization as a “sacred disease,” to be tackled by religious rituals. This is enlightenment versus superstition, we are prone to judge: Epilepsy, the author writes, is not at all “sacred” but “has its nature and its cause”; it is a natural phenomenon. So far we acclaim the birth of natural science as the foundation of medicine. The consequences from this theory for treatment would be zero, if not detrimental; a traditional “purifier” or witch doctor, we imagine, might easily come up with better results. So where is the progress, but for the arrogance of polemics? This is not new knowledge, but rather a new kind of rhetoric, Geoffrey Lloyd has stated. This new rhetoric indeed is contemporary with the political and judicial rhetoric that arose with emerging “democracy” just then. We see the social context in the evolution of media; we fail to see the triumph of science. The cry of triumph was premature; but the route toward “nature” was promising. It is easy to adduce examples of less controversial progress at the same epoch, “classical” discoveries from the crucial 5fth century b.c., new chapters indeed of emerging natural science. A simple one is the statement that the moon shines by rešected light, light that comes from the sun. You can realize this if only you care to observe the moon regularly and realize how a globe’s surface is lit by light from the side. It is still detracting from the charms of moonlight and greatly contradicts the Greek name “Selene,” which means the “shining torch” of night. Nasseenes affirm that Venus and Proserpina, both in love with Adonis, represent the natural world of Production and Regeneration, but when Diana-Selene passes over to eclipse them, then Adonis becomes Attis Castrated. This represents the three fold nature of Christ, who is neither male nor female enacted by his death, ressurection and apotheosis. Christ they say, in all that have been generated, is portrayed Son of Man from the un-portryabale Logos, which is the meaning of the Great and Unspeakable Eleusinian Mysteries of Dionysus and Demeter. They say that Christ is Mercury, the Logos of Zeus, waving his wand, which guides souls out of Hades and into Heaven. The Nassene preacher says to the adepts: “And as when in the Magic Cave’s recess, Bats humming fly, and when one drops from ridge of rock, and each to other closely clings. I place as a rock at the foundations of Zion“. This Rock, he affirms is Adam. The Nassene Hymn, was an ancient Orphic Hymn to Attis, re-purposed for Jesus Christ: I will Hymn Attis, Son of Rhea, not with buzzing sound of trumpets, or of Idaean Pipers, with accord of the voices of the Curetes; but I will mingle my song with Apollo’s music of Harps, Evoe, halelujah, insomuch as thou art Pan, as thou art Bacchus as thou art Shepherd of brilliant stars!“ #christianity #paganism #documentary