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onager

(9,356 posts)
Sat Mar 8, 2014, 02:29 PM Mar 2014

"Without Zeus, humans would live like beasts..."



Now where have I heard that before...with only one word changed? And when Zeus got pissed off at humanity, what did he do? Wiped 'em out with a big flood!

That also sounds sort of familiar.

Sitting here watching "Clash of the Gods" on the History H2 Channel, which will be running for several more hours, starring various Greek deities.

To be followed by several hours of the good "Ancient Discoveries" series. Including "Ancient Torture Tech." In which you can expect the Spanish Inquisition.

And then all of this knowledge comes to a crashing halt, when H2 shows "Nostradamus: 500 Years Later." AAARRGGHHH! Wisdom to woo, without even touching the remote.

For my fellow couch potatoes, other interesting on-topic TV stuff this week:

"Saxon Gold: Finding the Hoard" (NatGeo Channel) - show about the discovery of a huge hoard of Saxon gold in a farmer's field in Staffordshire, England.

What does this have to do with religion? One artifact was a thin, beautifully worked sheet of gold bent into a pretzel shape.

Once unbent, it turned out to be a Xian cross. Conclusion: a pagan army had conquered a Xian army in a battle and taken its stuff. The pagans showed their Deep Respect For All Religions by wadding up the cross into a ball, to be melted down later. Well, I thought it was interesting, anyway...

"Trashopolis: Cairo" (Smithsonian) - including Toilets of the Ancient Pharaohs! Jeez, how could you not find that interesting?

Proving something about how we humans never learn...in the 15th century the Mameluk rulers of Cairo built a scientific/engineering marvel - an aqueduct system to bring water from the Nile.

Part of the system was a complex of shiny new public toilets. The users of the toilets decided they were haunted by demons. And this was years before the invention of Taco Bell. So they came up with a complicated ritual for leaving the toilets, to make sure no demons followed. Always step out of the toilet with the right foot first, etc. etc.

Sometimes I'm surprised that our species ever made it out of the caves.

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"Without Zeus, humans would live like beasts..." (Original Post) onager Mar 2014 OP
Now you make me sorry that I don't have cable! Curmudgeoness Mar 2014 #1
try Heather MC Mar 2014 #2
we should all have a ritual for leaving the toilet. AlbertCat Mar 2014 #5
Oh, I know what the Pharaohs did. Curmudgeoness Mar 2014 #7
The "Clash of the Gods" is pretty good. Behind the Aegis Mar 2014 #3
Agreed. onager Mar 2014 #4
hiding the baby Zeus from his father. AlbertCat Mar 2014 #6
Ditto for Sargon of Assyria. onager Mar 2014 #8
The Romans ditched much of their mythology for the Greeks when they conquered them. Behind the Aegis Mar 2014 #9

Curmudgeoness

(18,219 posts)
1. Now you make me sorry that I don't have cable!
Sat Mar 8, 2014, 05:02 PM
Mar 2014

Damn it, I am missing all the good stuff!

And I think that we should all have a ritual for leaving the toilet.....do the hokey pokey, anyone?

Curmudgeoness

(18,219 posts)
7. Oh, I know what the Pharaohs did.
Sun Mar 9, 2014, 07:44 PM
Mar 2014

The men left the seat up, and the women always bitched about it when the fell in the toilet in the middle of the night. There is nothing new under the sun.

Behind the Aegis

(53,831 posts)
3. The "Clash of the Gods" is pretty good.
Sat Mar 8, 2014, 11:57 PM
Mar 2014

Some wild make-up jobs. As I recall, they don't do any female deities. The one on Hades is really good. Medusa is the only female. I wish they had continued the series to include more goddesses and different religions.

onager

(9,356 posts)
4. Agreed.
Sun Mar 9, 2014, 04:06 PM
Mar 2014

They did sneak in some good comparisons of the Greeks with...heh...other religions.

e.g., in the Zeus episode, they told the story of his mother hiding the baby Zeus from his father. Then directly compared that to the stories of Baby Jesus and Moses.

I had stuff to do yesterday, so I only caught the Zeus and Hades episodes.

The Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria, Egypt has a massive marble statue of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.

Early Xian vandals (presumably) hacked off most of the Roman imperial eagle on his belt-plate, and carved a cross into it.

But they didn't touch his breastplate. Which featured a very intricate, detailed carving of the Medusa. It's beautiful, in a completely horrendous way. That is one really pissed-off-looking Medusa.

I wondered if the ancient sculptor took some artistic license in blending Greek mythology with a Roman emperor. But that's common all over Alexandria's archeological sites. The city has a famous Roman tomb complex that extends underground for 3 levels. It's a downright psychedelic mix of Egyptian, Greek and Roman religious symbols - e.g., the Egyptian gods Osiris and Sobek The Crocodile God, dressed in the armor and uniforms of Roman soldiers.

 

AlbertCat

(17,505 posts)
6. hiding the baby Zeus from his father.
Sun Mar 9, 2014, 07:11 PM
Mar 2014

Y'know..... in the Mahabharata, Kunti has a child by the Sun god and, ashamed, she puts the child in a basket and then to a river's whim.....

That must be ages older than Moses.

onager

(9,356 posts)
8. Ditto for Sargon of Assyria.
Mon Mar 10, 2014, 01:49 AM
Mar 2014

Saved as a baby because Mom waterproofed a basket and put him in the river. It's fun to Google some Xian apologetics sites and see them try to hand-wave that story away. "Well, it was probably after Moses but even if it wasn't bla-bla-bla..."

Then there's the Egyptian story of Pharaoh Sneferu. He was the father of Cheops, who built the Great Pyramid, so should have been before Moses.

The story says Pharaoh Sneferu was floating on a lake one day in a boat with some of his harem women. One of the women dropped a ring given to her by her father, IIRC. The Pharaoh told her he would buy her a bigger ring. But she was inconsolable and wanted her ring and no other.

So Sneferu called for his court magician. Who parted the waters of the lake and walked on the bottom until he found the woman's ring.

Behind the Aegis

(53,831 posts)
9. The Romans ditched much of their mythology for the Greeks when they conquered them.
Mon Mar 10, 2014, 02:01 AM
Mar 2014

It is difficult to find but there are some works out there about early Roman myths, before they became Hellenized. They are very sexual! I find it interesting you got to see the unscathed breastplate with Medusa, which can also be called an Aegis.

You'd like the other episodes. They are very interesting. They also compare other religions, including the Christian and Jewish myths. I don't recall any referencing of Muslim myths, but I do think the Hindu ones are talked about in one episode. It has been awhile.

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