Interpretatio Romana-
Interpretatio Romana-
In some of the recent diaries of Obsidius, there was discussion about "borrowed" gods. Specifically, the idea that Roman gods were taken from the Greeks and Egyptians was discussed. The Roman and Greek equivalent deities are no doubt well-known to most investigators: Zeus-Jupiter, Ares-Mars, Dionysus-Bacchus etc.
However, the concept that some of these well-known gods might exist in other civilisations such as ancient Egypt and/or Phoenicia is perhaps less familiar. That these gods are shared is not just a recent theory of cultural diffusion proffered by modern historians. Plutarch's "Treatise of Isis and Osiris", inter alia, identifies Osiris and Bacchus as one and the same. The equivalency of Dionysus and Osiris was established by the historian Herodotus in the 5th century BC.
A fair question is: were the processes of interpretatio graeca and later interpretatio romana merely exercises in semantic translation? Were these ancients merely making sense of foreign pantheon's, drawing on superficial similarities? Alternatively, did they really believe these gods to be " the same" in a fundamental sense, ontologically prior to their varying linguistic appellations and differing cultural interpretations.
Pliny the Elder, encountered already in our story, described the process of borrowing deities as "different names to different peoples" (nomina alia aliis gentibus).
I would like to suggest that viewing aspects Obsidius' journey through this prism may yield useful insights. No doubt ideas and connections will occur to more experienced agents that have eluded me.
For example, the Osiris narrative has been remarked on before as echoing the recursive and regenerative aspects of simulacra. In particular, the legends which involve Osiris being resurrected by Isis, after being cut up into many pieces and scattered, certainly seems to parallel the process of xm sharding and subsequent reconstruction and rebirth when the shards are collected.
If Bacchus, Dionysus, and the Ptolemaic hybrid Serapis, are all the same, this could have profound implications for our research. In particular, Bacchus enjoyed a particular association with Pompeii due to the fertile fields on the slopes of Vesuvius....
I hope these thoughts might be helpful to others.
Edgar Allan Wright, Hank Johnson,
In some of the recent diaries of Obsidius, there was discussion about "borrowed" gods. Specifically, the idea that Roman gods were taken from the Greeks and Egyptians was discussed. The Roman and Greek equivalent deities are no doubt well-known to most investigators: Zeus-Jupiter, Ares-Mars, Dionysus-Bacchus etc.
However, the concept that some of these well-known gods might exist in other civilisations such as ancient Egypt and/or Phoenicia is perhaps less familiar. That these gods are shared is not just a recent theory of cultural diffusion proffered by modern historians. Plutarch's "Treatise of Isis and Osiris", inter alia, identifies Osiris and Bacchus as one and the same. The equivalency of Dionysus and Osiris was established by the historian Herodotus in the 5th century BC.
A fair question is: were the processes of interpretatio graeca and later interpretatio romana merely exercises in semantic translation? Were these ancients merely making sense of foreign pantheon's, drawing on superficial similarities? Alternatively, did they really believe these gods to be " the same" in a fundamental sense, ontologically prior to their varying linguistic appellations and differing cultural interpretations.
Pliny the Elder, encountered already in our story, described the process of borrowing deities as "different names to different peoples" (nomina alia aliis gentibus).
I would like to suggest that viewing aspects Obsidius' journey through this prism may yield useful insights. No doubt ideas and connections will occur to more experienced agents that have eluded me.
For example, the Osiris narrative has been remarked on before as echoing the recursive and regenerative aspects of simulacra. In particular, the legends which involve Osiris being resurrected by Isis, after being cut up into many pieces and scattered, certainly seems to parallel the process of xm sharding and subsequent reconstruction and rebirth when the shards are collected.
If Bacchus, Dionysus, and the Ptolemaic hybrid Serapis, are all the same, this could have profound implications for our research. In particular, Bacchus enjoyed a particular association with Pompeii due to the fertile fields on the slopes of Vesuvius....
I hope these thoughts might be helpful to others.
Edgar Allan Wright, Hank Johnson,
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