#was that the original purpose of the Mithraeum?

[yoursincalendricalheresy]

So, if the corpse of a lyctor’s cavalier remains in stasis without any sort of decay… what happened to the bodies of the og cavs?

[harrowharks-iliac-crest]

14

Ninth skull again!

The other Lyctors complained that there was a strange aftertaste to thousand-year-old food kept necromantically pure, but you couldn’t taste it.

Well, Harrow, you're from Drearburh, where you only really had snow leeks. They probably don't taste of much.

Arrayed were the bones of the dead and the bodies of the dead and the mummified heads of the dead, and the retrieved flesh-and-skeleton arms of the dead, preserved immediately after they had been blown off the bodies of the previously living, and the ashes of the dead and the hair of the dead and the fingernails of the dead, and the folded skins of the dead and the eyes of the dead, jarred in long and exquisite crystal containers filled with aldehydes.

Sounds like the pathology museum I visited months ago, or the anatomy collection where I studied. Hey, is the Mithraeum open for visitors? Asking for a friend.

it was beyond imagining that you would become a normal human being who learnt how to make a sandwich. You were born of the Ninth House even if you had risen to the First, and you were happy with a cold collation. Ingredients could be taken from the storeroom and eaten as they were

Smh Harrow. Eating hot food and cooking a delicious meal are some of the few pleasures in life. Not that you'd even think you deserved it, mind.

You said, “I have never heard of them.” “You might have by another name—or simply as nameless insurgents. They prefer to present themselves as a kind of organic reaction, not a single coherent group. In fact, their existence depends on a secretive central organisation that sends its agents to people we encounter outside the Nine Houses, to populated planets we’re stewarding, and turns them against us from the shadows.

Interesting. A possible Gideon origin?

Whenever something needed doing, she’d always say, Me, I will, and because she acted as though she had a leaven of selfishness to her it was easy to say Of course, not recognising how many times she’d said I will … not recognising how she worked herself into the grave.”

In a stunning turn of events, Cytherea becomes relatable. Me too hun. Although ten thousand years is a really long time, and it's only taken me thirty or so to stop doing that all the fucking time.

“No, I don’t mean mechanically. Conceptually. To all intents and purposes, your mother and father committed a type of resurrection,” he said. “They did something nigh-on impossible. I know, because I have committed the same act, and I know the price I had to pay.

Oh, oh, a perspective on the necromancy that led to Harrow's birth, from the Emperor himself. This is going to be Interesting!

“Harrowhark, nobody has the right to know,” he said fiercely. “Nobody has the right to blame you. Nobody can judge. What has happened, has happened, and there’s no putting it back in the box. They wouldn’t understand. They don’t have to. I officially relieve you from living in fear. Nobody has to know.”

Oh, this is heartwrenching; the Emperor has such a similar reaction to hearing this story - as Gideon did, back in the pool. The absolute urge to protect Harrow, to absolve her. To say sorry.

Harrow, if you bother to remember anything from my ramblings, please remember this: once you turn your back on something, you have no more right to act as though you own it.”

This sounds really familiar. Who said it before?

... ctrl+f doesn't come up with anything for GtN or HtN, then why does it feel so familiar? Did I see it in some tumblr post before I started reading?

[shamsaddinmegalommatis]

Stalin in Ottoman Anatolia: his Spiritual, Religious and Historical Quests

The Mithraic Trajectory of an Unknown Transcendentalist

Сталин в Османской Анатолии: его духовные, религиозные и исторические искания

Митраистская траектория неизвестного трансценденталиста

Table of Contents

I. The erroneous perception of Stalin among most people today

II. The erroneous perception of WW II by average people today

III. The true Yalta Conference

IV. The Big Game never ended

V. Good intentions and evil purposes

VI. Roosevelt & Stalin: like Abraham Lincoln & Alexander II

VII. The real, hidden Stalin: an experienced mystic

VIII. A Turkish ambassador speaks about Stalin living in Artvin and Istanbul

IX. Stalin in Ottoman Anatolia: 1911-1912

X. Turkish statesman Rıza Nur noted that Stalin understood Turkish

XI. Stalin's cultural background: distorted & unknown to most

XII. The Mithraic Iranian cultural heritage of Georgia & Stalin

XIII. The long, heavy shadow of the Sassanids

XIV. An indelible stamp on Islam: the Iranian Intermezzo  

XV. The intertwined Islamic & Christian cultural heritage of Georgia, and Shota Rustaveli

XVI. Rustaveli's Russian translations and Stalin's pseudonyms

XVII. Archaeological excavations and Orientalist discoveries prior to Stalin's sojourn in Anatolia

XVIII. Stalin's textual sources of information about Mithra and the Mithraic mysteries

XIX. Spirituality, Religion, Eschatology, Soteriology, the Extinction of the Mankind, and Stalin

XX. Major themes of Stalin's spiritual quest in Anatolia – 1. Tauroctony and Crucifixion

XXI. Major themes of Stalin's spiritual quest in Anatolia – 2. Mithraic Trinity, Christian Trinity, Spirituality and Stalin

XXII. Major themes of Stalin's spiritual quest in Anatolia – 3. Solar nature of Mithraism / Immaculate birth from the rock

XXIII. How Stalin's Mithraic meditations in Anatolia formed his decision-making 

1. Pontus' King Mithridates VI's wars with Rome

2. Cilicia's Mithraic Pirates in fight with Rome, the desecration of Greece, and Stalin

3. Did Stalin travel to visit the world's greatest Mithraic monument at Nemrut Dagh?

4. Stalin's Mithraic meditations and anti-sacerdotal stance

5. The Mithraic version of the Assyrian-Babylonian Gilgamesh: Verethragna, and his association with Heracles in Nemrut Dagh

6. Mithraic Anatolian Imperial Spirituality vs. Nordic Mythology: Stalin vs. Hitler

XXIV. Rome, New Rome, the Third Rome, and Stalin

XXV. Mithraism, Christianity, Stalin and the Antichrist

The idea that most of the people around the world have about Stalin is entirely false. This is due to the fact that atheists, materialists, Marxists-Leninists, liberal socialists, socialist-democrats, evolutionists and all the trash of Anglo-Saxon and Ashkenazi Khazarian pseudo-intellectuals and bogus-academics have first perceived, then interpreted, and last analyzed/presented Stalin and his historical role through the most erroneous, Trotskyist misunderstanding/distortion of the Georgian-origin Soviet statesman. But Stalin was an unconditional transcendentalist and a remarkable mystic.

Mithraic Tauroctony from a Mithraeum in Syria (currently in the Israel museum in Jerusalem): a mythical-religious topic early conceived by evil forces as purely eschatological symbolism

Human sacrifice: dead bodies wait for cremation in Dresden after the bombardment of the 'Allied' forces.

I. The erroneous perception of Stalin among most people today

According to this irrelevant story, Stalin (1878-1953) was a resolute materialist, a convinced Darwinist, a devoted Marxist-Leninist, and a heartless dictator who decimated entire nations, before purging the old guard of Communist-Bolshevik partisans, relocating populations, and sending millions to jail. There is only little truth in all this. In fact, Stalin was as realist as Kemal Ataturk; he therefore had to appear to others in the way he did in order to succeed Lenin and eliminate Trotsky. Many may agree with the last sentence, stating that this is part of the well-known History.

But there is also the 'Other History'; the one that is unknown, because it did not happen. This is, in other words, the negative reflection of the reality. All the same, because this 'other' or 'unknown' History did not happen, this does not mean that it was not attempted. And indeed many secret and known organizations and 'societies' tried to prepare several developments which finally did not occur. It is essential for a true Historian to know well these failed attempts; in fact, he only then understands History as the Absolute Sphere that contains the outcome of all the desires, feelings, thoughts and attempts of the humans.

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Continue reading the remaining 25700 words of the 30200-word article here:

Read and download the entire book in PDF here:

[gallpall]

canaan bubble redux as a womb for story/character arcs

I’m sure most of this has been posted about before but: ever since my initial read I’ve been obsessed with the gross bodily/gorey stuff in the Canaan redux and I wanted to organize some of my constant+chaotic thoughts!!

TM has said that a lot of the motifs/events in the bubbles are actually “Silent Hill stand-ins” for story elements and she hopes we pick up on stuff, so here’s my Attempt!

At the same time that Harrow’s mind is being made a tomb for Gideon Nav Wake’s subconscious is pulled in to act as a womb for certain plot elements right alongside it. The chronology/time period of HtN mimics a full nine-month gestation. There’s a lot of very literal imagery here (which is below the cut), but I also think we’re meant to see it as metaphorical: we’re able to glean some things about character arcs based on how everything in the bubble goes down.

I’m particularly interested right now in those ‘side’ characters in the bubble who aren’t actually dead, who barely appear in the bubble at all except to get summarily offed, all in very distinctive ways. Judith, Camilla, Palamedes, and Coronabeth.

(cw below cut for some pregnancy/insemination imagery, canonical body horror and gruesome bubble deaths rehashed)

First of all just some quotes showing some of the imagery that I’ve attributed to being Wake manifesting pregnancy trauma stuff (there’s possibly some of Harrow’s conception trauma here, too) seeping through, for the purposes of this line of speculation. 

This isn’t nearly all of it, but some things that stood out to me as possibly comparing Canaan House 2.0 to a functioning reproductive system:

(ch. 21) a “collection of large, rusted pipette needles” -- turkey basters?

(ch. 35) “great, slithering, pulsing tubes” which contain “whitish-pearl bubbled globules”-- this perhaps recalls ovaries/fallopian tubes, with the ‘globules’ being follicles produced by superovulation for insemination, or corpus luteum that supply progesterone to maintain a pregnancy.

(ch. 45) “stretched webs of organ [...] like nets of sticky venous spiderweb” --uterine walls, maybe; it’s all over the windows, totally encasing them in Canaan’s rooms, and arguably even contracting like a uterus would: “every so often they would tremble uncertainly and erupt in floods of bloody, foamy water.”

in the next pgh we get some more of the tools Wake would have used to conceive/upkeep the pregnancy: “pipettes, broken glass-fronted containers filled with dark fluid,” skeletons sitting atop piles of “capsules or pills” perhaps hormones/supplements. (also holding Drearburh tools, the way Wake’s skelly would have been doomed to do)

(ch. 43) “from that hole emerged a clattering pile of plex scope slides, the type you would preserve a cell sample between“ -- Wake would’ve had to carry out the IVF process for implantation, this also seems like apparatus for that

(ch. 47) there’s the “libation” Abigail uses to summon Wake which is... well. It’s a “thin, milky, whitish liquid pooled at the base, sluggish in the cold,” and the summoning involves a bunch of ‘come’ commands, which I think might be Muir making a very elaborate jizz-adjacent “silly buggers with the emissions” joke. 

Just a note, cause I’m hopeless about Pyrrwake: the Seconds’ quarters are almost completely preserved from the leaky body horror (though it’s still cold in there)--as if they represented a sanctuary in Wake’s subconscious. There are also letters in the nonagonal coffin room which spell out an anagram of “PYRRHA” (ch. 47).

So with all that in mind, I’d posit that the fake-ghost deaths are all metaphorical “rebirths” of various characters arcs for ATN. I haven’t delved into what this imagery might mean for Harrow or Gideon specifically because I know there’s a LOT and it’s probably above my theoretical paygrade (I would love for someone to tack on with that though!!) but I can talk about ‘side’ chars on a very big-picture level.

Judith’s simulacrum gets knocked off first (ch. 18); shot through the heart (both atria) while she and Marta’s ghost are trying to complete the winnowing trial. The Sleeper shoots her 7 more times after that, I guess partly just ‘cause she can, but Ortus notes that it seems like there was an element of "Anger” to it. It’s possible Wake wasn’t pleased to have someone messing around with Pyrrha’s lyctoral trial, infuriated that anyone would be attempting to replicate G1d/Pyr’s original downfall. She then ignores Marta entirely and climbs back in the coffin (now with the sword) once Judith’s out of the way.

[Marta’s] scarlet necktie looked redder too—by the time they’d gotten hold of Judith Deuteros the blood had dried hers nearly black.

Cohort red-and-whites being stained black with blood, like a certain high-collared BOE uniform... could be another little clue to Judith’s "heart” for the Emperor (and for Marta, and pretty much everything else she knew) being lost and her realigning--though not willingly, at least at first--with the other side.

Cam and Pal’s simulacrums are plainly executed (ch. 21), they have their “faces obliterated” each by a single gunshot, and it’s as if they just stood there and let it happen. In the bubble, “Harrow had never seen Sextus or Hect except from afar.” These simulacrums totally avoid having their features revealed to Harrow. I’m willing to bet their faces being obscured and then exploded is one of the clues we get to their eyes being swapped around the next time we see them in the epilogue and in ATN.

Regarding the twins: They are essentially non-extant in the bubble. Ianthe never appears because she’s still kicking and, in her own words, “doesn’t live alternate histories” (GtN ch. 15).

Coronabeth’s simulacrum scene (ch. 37) is SO vivid and cryptic. It fascinates me because it definitely is, in part, trying to tell us something poignant about the initiation of Corona’s “worse twin” arc in ATN.

[Corona] was turned away from Harrow, and her riot of hair—half-caught in a fillet, half-escaping—was soaking wet, a dark and crinkling amber in the rain. She was not fighting or arguing. She was still as a statue, and ready and waiting as a dog.

Sounds like the fake ghost preparing for that major shift in allegiance. Silas is the one to ‘dismiss’ her, with his “may the blood of your blood suffer,” which perhaps is a really Templar-y way of saying ‘now go wreck ianthe’s SHIT.’ When Harrow accuses him of sending Corona to her death, Silas asks “Death?”--as if he sees that what’s really just happened, at least metaphorically, is (re)Birth.

[Harrow] thought she saw, absurdly, a sudden gush of watery blood, as though the fog itself had been knifed; but it was gone almost as soon as she had seen it.

Sounds a bit like amniotic fluid/water breaking? Coronabeth doesn’t ever seem to hit the ocean (bodies of water=necromancy and that’s not her deal), she instead just kinda poofs, and Silas says she would have ended up “on her feet.” Coronabeth is ditching her family ties and is out for blood, and I think her charisma, willpower, and sheer desire for revenge will move her a long way in the ranks of Eden--probably even to the point of echoing Commander Wake’s ambitions and actions. I could delve into that damn portrait mirroring Ianthe’s obsession w/ Cyrus’ paintings on the Mithraeum... but that is a whole other post!

So all of these are fairly baseline observations and I think there’s a LOT more to be expounded on, if y’all wanna reply/reblog/DM with additions I would freaking love that, every time I open a page of this book I find something I missed before and it’s such a delight. Thanks for reading if you got this far!!

[aion-rsa]

Raised by Wolves: Mithraism and Sol Explained

https://ift.tt/3hY0iEv

The following contains spoilers for Raised By Wolves.

HBO Max’s new sci-fi series Raised By Wolves, created by Aaron Guzikowski and executive produced by Ridley Scott, sees humanity (and their androids) reduced to two warring religious factions; Atheists, and the “Mithraic”, who follow a religion dedicated to the sun god Sol.

The Mithraic get their name from an ancient religious cult of the god Mithras. The god Mitra originally came from ancient Persia (modern Iran). At the height of the Roman Empire, he began to be worshipped as Mithras in a Roman mystery cult. The cult became very popular, especially with soldiers. The sun god Sol was originally a separate god, but Mithras was often worshipped together with “Sol Invictus”, the conquering sun. This is why in the show, the two gods have been blended into one and the Mithraists, or “Mithraic”, worship a single god called Sol, who is associated with “the Light”. It’s also why the Mithraic characters wear sun emblems and sun pendants in the same way Christians might wear crosses.

Why did the creators of Raised By Wolves choose Mithriasm as the basis for their futuristic religion? Well, the show makes no secret of the fact that the “Mithraic” are standing in for strands of Christianity. Much of their imagery is drawn straight from Roman Catholicism – the priests’ robes and the long, belted robes worn by the young boys assisting them are clearly based on Roman Catholic robes for priests and altar boys and girls. In Episode 2, we see characters Caleb and Mary being offered what looks like Roman Catholic communion, in the form of round wafers of unleavened bread and a drink (presumably wine) from a silver chalice.

The cult of Mithras is a particularly useful choice for a comparison with Christianity, especially Roman Catholicism, because several elements of Mithraic religion were adopted by early Christians (the clue is in the name – it’s a Roman religion!). Ancient Mithraists shared a ritual meal of bread and wine, just like early Christians (though the Christian detail of the unleavened bread comes from the Jewish Passover). Both Mithras and Jesus were associated with light and the sun. The early Christians deliberately took over Mithras’ birthday on the 25th December to celebrate the birthday of Jesus instead, a date conveniently close to the Roman winter festival of Saturnalia (17-23 December), though nowhere near where the Christian gospels would place the birth of Jesus (if there were shepherds out all night watching sheep and lambs, it must have been spring). And, like most mystery cults, Mithraism offered personal salvation in this life and the next, just as Christianity did. In 1882, a historian called Ernest Renan actually suggested that if Christianity had not taken over the Roman world, Mithraism would have done – most modern historians would disagree with that, but the association has stuck.

However, some elements of the “Mithraic” religion in the show would be completely unrecognizable to an ancient follower of Mithras. Ancient Mithraism was not a monotheistic religion. The mystery cults included cults to the Egyptian goddess Isis, the Anatolian goddess Cybele, the Greek god Dionysus and the Greek hero Orpheus, and they weren’t rivals to ancient pagan religion in general; they were add-ons. Everyone in the Roman Empire (except Jews) was expected to worship the main state gods – Jupiter, Juno, Neptune and so on – as well as the cult of the emperors who had become gods (i.e. the ones who hadn’t been assassinated).

We call them “mystery cults” because the rituals they practiced, the “mysteries” or “secret rites”, were kept secret from anyone who wasn’t initiated into the cult. They were members-only clubs, which you had to pay to join, and go through an initiation ritual. We don’t know exactly what these were like because, of course, they were a secret! Only members could learn the secrets of the god or goddess and take part in the secret ceremonies. Like modern Freemasonry, ancient Mithraism also allowed members to rise through the ranks of the cult, gaining different levels as they went. Also like Freemasonry, and unlike the other mystery cults, membership was usually restricted to men.

All this means that a lot of the attitudes of the “Mithraic” on the show would sound completely weird to ancient Mithraists. They would be especially confused by the Mithraic reliance on a book of “Scriptures”, since it was forbidden on pain of death to write down anything about the sacred mysteries or the secrets of the cult. Most of what we know about ancient Mithraism, we’ve put together from images and inscriptions from inside the secret chamber of the Mithraeum. This was a place of worship designed to look like a cave, which only people who had been initiated into the cult were allowed to enter, so no one outside the cult would see the images or know the cult’s secrets. The idea that any group would only be allowed to hear stories from “Scriptures” represents an extreme minority even for Christianity, but would have been completely confusing to ancient Mithraist.

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Raised by Wolves Review (Spoiler-Free)

By Natalie Zutter

Ancient Mithraists were also extremely unlikely to get involved in any kind of holy war. Because the cult was an add-on to the worship of many gods, the members of the cult would be involved in worshipping lots of other gods anyway, with Mithras as an added personal extra. Ancient people often weren’t too keen on atheists, as any refusal to sacrifice to the gods might endanger everyone if the gods got angry about it, so a holy war against atheists might be more likely than one against another religion, but it wouldn’t be because they thought the atheists should all worship their one specific god.

Although they didn’t start any holy wars, a lot of members of the cult of Mithras were in the army. It was against the law to meet in small groups unless it was for religious purposes in the Roman Empire, because the emperors were afraid that people might conspire against them. So if a group of soldiers all joined the same cult, they could meet together and socialize and bond in a way that was more difficult without the excuse of religion. In Raised By Wolves, all human survivors are expected to be “Mithraic”, but there is still a heavy military sense to it, thanks to the fact they’ve been fighting a war.

Whether the “Mithraic mysteries” that their prophet is expected to lead them to will have anything in common with the ancient mysteries remains to be seen. Mithras’ myth centred around the killing of a bull – in fact, this was the symbol shown in all the Mithraeums in a similar way to images of Jesus on the cross in Catholic churches, so really a bull might have been a better choice of emblem than a sun! Watch out for references to bulls in later episodes, and listen out for everybody’s names, too. When Mother gives her name in Episode 1, she says it’s Lamia, a child-eating monster from Greco-Roman mythology, so that’s something to bear in mind!

If you’re interested in learning more about ancient Mithraism, we’d recommend The Roman Cult of Mithras, by Manfred Clauss, translated by Richard Gordon, which is available for Kindle or in paperback from Amazon.

The post Raised by Wolves: Mithraism and Sol Explained appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/32Z9emy

[instituteofgeorgianhistory]

History of Multiculturalism – Case of Georgia

 Tedo Dundua

Nino Silagadze

Bolnisi, Georgia. Three-church basilica. 6th-7th cc.

The  contemporary spirit is filled with multicultural and universal concepts,  which regard all cultures as being equal. In other words, we need to enrich  our own culture, and respect its minorities. Historical background may be  useful in supporting this global idea. Georgia appears to be a good example,  as a permanent recipient of different ethnic groups and confessions, treating  them moderately. Below we present one of the specific expressions of the  idea.

 Three-church basilicas present,  indeed, a very special architectural appearance, and they are by and large  concentrated in Georgia. These churches were  built mostly in the 6th-7th cc. Who needed three  separate chambers in a basilica, which thus restricted the space for the  faithful? Christianity is a teaching, and a teaching needs an auditorium, and  auditorium demands a large interior. Why, then, is the Georgian case so unusual?  This paper deals with the problem of providing a functional explanation for  the three-church basilica type.

Lines of columns are  present in a normal basilica, whereas a three-church basilica is formed when  the columns are replaced by interior walls (see figure). The purpose of these  interior walls is still obscure.

We remain inclined to think that Georgia’s Zaza Aleksidze was  quite accurate in his conclusion, that those separated spaces in Georgia  served for the different Christian confessions – Monophysite and Diophysite (Liber  Epistolarum. Textum Armenicum cum Versione Georgica Edidit et Disputatione  Commentariisque Instruxit Z. Aleksidze. Tbilisi. 1968, pp. 262-266). Indeed, there had been a  substantial con­fe­ssional dualism in East Georgia (Iberia) in the 6th-7th  cc. and those three-church basilicas could have served as an ar­chitectural  compromise for the sake of unity. And Iberia was a special case of this  solution. An additional three-church basilica comes from Egypt (6th-7th  cc.) and it is thought to be a Georgian origin (U. Morrenet de Villard. Una Chiesa  di Tipo Georgiano nella Necropoli Tebana. Coptic Studies in Honor of Walter  Ewing Crum. Boston. 1950, pp. 495-500).

In the  6th-7th cc., Iberia, being a traditional ally of  Byzantium, was badly threatened by the Sassanids (from Iran) who made their  attempt to build an Asian empire, and who demanded that the Caucasian range  to be considered as the outer boundary of their political influence. Iranians  supported Monophysites while the Georgians felt like to be Diophysites thus  demonstrating their fidelity towards Byzantium and Europe. However, the lower  classes mostly, inspired by Iranian aid and irritated by the local magnates,  stressed their loyalty to the pro-Iranian branch of Christianity, as did some  ambitious nobles. Moreover, the Armenian receptio  (community) was present in Georgia and they were faithful Monophysites.  The situation seems to have been even more complicated by the Iranian  Zoroastrian proselytizing conducted either by the Persian receptio dwelling in the Iberian  cities, or by new native converts to the Iranian confession.

Thus,  Diophysites, Monophysites, and even Zoroastrians were present, and, in trying  to maintain the national unity and social security of the country, one had to  deal with them. What was to be done? Collect them in one place, ignore their  confessional divisions, and not allow the appearance of truly separate, dominated  by the Iranians, religious and political structures. The three-church  basilicas were intended to serve this basic purpose, especially in the  villages, where the serfs were rudely suppressed by their lords. Thus, although  the village churches are very small, they are still divided into three  sections. One could argue that there was no place for the Zoroastrians in a  Christian church, but we have to take into consideration the fact of Iranian  (Sassanid) Zoroastrianism being largely influenced by European Mithraism,  according to which even the date of birth of Mithras was fixed to the 25th  of December (T.  Dundua. Christianity and Mithraism. The Georgian Story. Tbilisi. 1999). The Armenians, inspired  and strengthened by the support of Khusrau II, the Persian pro-Monophysite shah,  accused the Georgians of disloyalty to the Monophysite faith, and of loyalty  instead to all of the Christian confessions, admitting even the Nestorians to  the churches. Of course, the Georgians would have preferred their country to have  been neatly Orthodox, but failing to achieve this comfortable situation, they  tried to achieve a national, and not religious, unity putting all the  confessions in one church (Liber  Epistolarum. Textum Armenicum cum Versione Georgica Edidit et Disputatione  Commentariisque Instruxit Z. Aleksidze, p. 191. Pope Gregorius I is said to  have been delighted by the religious toleration of Georgia).

Europe  had faced the same problem earlier in the 4th-5th cc.  with the Orthodox Christian folk, the Arians and the Mithra-worshippers  living together. So, we are inclined to expect something similar there.  Indeed, the joint basilicas or a Mithraeum inserted into a Christian church  (Santa Maria Capua Vetere, Santa Prisca at Aventin Hill) could have served the  same purpose.

And  the Egyptian case included three separate chambers, perhaps, with the Greek,  Coptic and Armenian languages being involved in the church service. It is  thought that a certain Cyrus from Iberia prolonged his activity founding the  three-church basilica in Thebes in the 7th c. (Liber Epistolarum. Textum Armenicum cum  Versione Georgica Edidit et Disputatione Commentariisque Instruxit Z.  Aleksidze, pp. 167-272; Г. Чубинашвили. Архитектура Кахетии. Тбилиси. 1959, p. 142).

This  pattern of confessional pluralism has continued to be precisely maintained.  Being largely an Orthodox country, Georgia still embraced different  communities, like as Jewish (from the 2nd c. B.C.), Muslim (from  the 8th c.), Armenian, Roman Catholic etc.

So, a  co-existence was easily achieved, which means that it can be achieved any time,  anywhere.

https://www.academia.edu/35768659/History_of_Georgia

[daniellevictoriasandwell]

Rome/Italy 2017

I’ve been asked to do a short talk about my travels to Rome at work. 

Here are my notes for it about some of my favourite places I visited (cutting it down to three was difficult as there are so many places I could talk about!) Basilica di San Clemente Church of St Clement (Roman Catholic Church) in Rome

· Present day church (12th cent AD) dedicated to Pope Clement 1

· From an archaeological perspective – three-tiered complex of buildings 

· Illustrates a sequence of different eras in Roman history & architecture

· Present day church/upper church – 12th cent AD – thought that this church was the original (dedicated to St Clement) UNTIL

· 19th century – excavations began and the original Basilica di San Clemente (dedicated to St Clement) was found. 4th century church, built 392 AD “lower church” Found frescoes (paintings) still visible today (as is original structure, pillars, altar etc)

· Survived until early 12th century – structure was unsafe – abandoned and filled in. Became a part of the foundations for the new 12th century church (the one visible today!)

· Lowest level – oldest part of the site – Roman house – 1st century AD in 2nd century house was adapted for use as a MITHRAEUM (separated from the house by a passageway)

· Mithraeum/Mithrea (subterranean caves, built for this purpose) – shrine to worship the Iranian Sun God Mithras (how the cult began) 

· Became more influential as centuries passed, in the 3rd century one of the most important cults in Rome – competing with Christianity

· This level - used as foundations for the 4th century church (after it was abandoned and filled in)

· 4th century – pagan sects including Cult of Mithras were deemed illegal under Constantine (312 AD) when Christianity was declared the official religion of the Roman Empire. The cult was in decline.

· Archaeological / Architectural evidence – Christian churches built over these shrines after this

· Cult of Mithras – little knowledge survives of their beliefs, rites or religious ideas (little written traces)

· Finds continue to provide insights into this (particularly from Mithrea at Ostia Antica (Ancient Roman port) and other archaeological sites. Colosseum

· Otherwise known as The Flavian Amphitheatre

· Started building – 72AD by Emperor Vespasian (Flavian Dynasty – Roman Imperial Dynasty – Vespasian, Titus and Domitian) 69-96 AD

· Inaugurated in 80AD by Vespasian’s successor and son Titus, Vespasian died before it was completed.

· 100 days of Gladiatorial games/spectacle upon opening (colosseum’s main use, although these were expensive so only happened around 8 times a year!)

· I didn’t know – Colosseum itself only called this since the Middle Ages

· It was situated close to Nero’s “Colossus” statue. 20m high

·  Artificial lake, part of Emperor Nero’s ‘Domus Aurea’ or Golden House (AD 68) was in place before the Colosseum. (It has been suggested that partly due to this the Colosseum floor could be flooded to hold water battles/re-enactments of naval battles – but my tour guide wasn’t convinced – technicalities of it, space, depth of water etc)

· Domus Aurea was built after the fire of 64AD.

· Nero seized the area for personal domain – built a grand palace and grounds. Can tour one side of the palace - still excavating and conserving a lot of it.

· Little remains of the building as successive emperors returned the site to the Roman people - Trajan’s baths were built on top of the main building, as was the temple of Venus and Roma. Palatine huts (Iron age)

· In Roman tradition – the Palatine (hill) was where Rome began – original city founded by Romulus in 753 BC (8th cent BC) – on the site of a pre-existing settlement (pre-historic)

· Palatine – political leaders, emperors housing - Situated next to the Forum (centre of Roman public life, government)

· Several excavations revealed a continuous population sequence since 9th cent BC – dense population until around 1 cent BC

· Three hut bases found dating back to 8th/7th cent BC – post holes, wall slots, (walls made of clay and straw mixture) floors p131 my book (excavated in 1948)

· Huts coincide with the legend of Romulus and Remus – suggests Romulus lived in one of these huts (founder and first ruler of Rome)

· Interesting to look back further past the foundations of Rome itself (still something I am looking in to)