danaids and dircae

I realized that I hadnt added your blog to our blogroll. Even given that the surviving part of the Histories under consideration was setting up the subsequent war and was a set-apart programmatic ethnography of the Jews in Judaea, two things are striking. See back issues. Under Martin V he reached the top rank of his office, as Apostolicus Secretarius, papal secretary. the pagan writer Tacitus testifies to these evernt in his Annales (15, 44) as does Clement, bishop of Rome, in his letter to the Corinthians (chapters 5-7). As a member of a higher social class, he received an excellent education and was trained as a lawyer. It seems as if official science is here again, as in so many other cases, under the dominion of a long-continued suggestion, in taking the narrative of Tacitus to be genuine without further examination. As always, grace and peace to all those who love our Lord Jesus, the Christ, in truth. Le chtiment des Danades is an essay by the French-Canadian author Henri Paul Jacquesthe applying the Freudian concept of psychoanalysis to the study of the punishment imposed on the Danades after they committed their crimes. Owing to envy, Paul also obtained the reward of patient endurance, after being seven times thrown into captivity, compelled to flee, and stoned. Paul, according to Acts, was in trouble not for being a Christian but for being a disturber of the peace. Paul explains the problem in Romans 7. Tacitus composed this passage approximately at the end of the second decade of the second century, perhaps assembling notes and other research earlier in the years after 110 C.E. In Jewish apocalyptic mythology Nero was depicted as a bestial figure, no doubt because the war that ended with the destruction of the Temple was commenced under his reign. 24.4: Iudaeos impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantis Roma [Claudius] expulit. In November, he took the first steps in composing the Community's own draft programme. ", Earl Doherty, November 2013 (personal email), "Note that I do not use the term amateur pejoratively. In the Gospel of John there was a prophecy that Peter would meet an undesirable fate and it seemed appropriate that he should die by crucifixion as hadJesus. Tacitus himself was well aware of these developments. 142-72. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Witnesses_to_the_Historicity_of_Jesus/Part_2/Section_2. It is a great reminder for us today that if we are not repenting, we are not going to be among his beloved. Nevertheless, it is evident that this catalogue has almost nothing in common with that of Pseudo-Apollodorus. I do need to touch on the two women Clement lists, "the Danaids and Dircae." According to the footnote in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, they are either two unknown women or the phrase was possible added later. Those who have expressed even modest scepticism about the historicity of the one explicit passage in the historian Tacitus that attests to the executions have been voces clamantium in deserto. 2:5). Let us look steadfastly to the blood of Christ, and see how precious that blood is to God, which, having been shed for our salvation, has set the grace of repentance before the whole world. Danaus ruled Argos for many years and was leading a quiet life till one day a foreign ship came. Further, Tacituss friend Pliny also described Christians in the same terms (the same words), seeing them as a plague spreading throughout the countryside of his province. ", Mary Booker, February 2020 (personal email), "Very good. What is missing in the punishments described, however, is anything suggesting a Christian association. Christian Dirce by Henryk Siemiradzki (National Museum, Warsaw) shows the punishment of a Roman woman who had converted to Christianity. Cassius Dio(ca 155-235 C.E.) But if Tacitus was picking up on an initial development of that myth in the interval between Nero in 64 CE and himself (writing only a decade or so into the 2nd century), it is virtually impossible to believe that Christians themselves would not have picked up on this development (they would hardly have remained ignorant of it for so long) and embraced it as a prime example of the establishments persecution of their new faith. Therefore, unless one simply presumes, in a complete void of supporting data, that the words in the pseudo-Clement must have some relationship to the fire in 64 C.E., there is nothing in the text that would lead any reasonably critical reader to connect the two events. ", Aelian, Historical Miscellany 12. Theoi Project Copyright 2000 - 2017 Aaron J. Atsma, Netherlands & New Zealand, (Callimachus Hymn to Delos, Nonnus Dionysiaca 44.10). In almost every history of the early Christian Church, the event is marked as a dramatic turning point in the relations between Christians and the imperial government. Tacitus does not believe the Christians were guilty, but at the same time he never tells us who he thinks wereculpable. I also have a rough draft of what will be the Rebuilding the Foundations book. Some history is putty in the hands of this or that historian like the 1984 memory-holers. Dirce who treats Antiope cruelly throughout her life, instructs the twins to kill their mother. ISMENOS (Callimachus Hymn to Delos, Nonnus Dionysiaca 44.10), Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. If Tacitus is the only source that connects Christians, their persecution, and the fire, we might usefully ask: what do other sources say about this same matter? DID TACITUS WRITE OF A NERONIAN PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS? And Juno was propitiated by Roman matrons, first on the Capitol and then at the nearby seashore from which water was drawn and sprinkled on the temple and the image of the goddess. As such refusals could provoke violent reactions from their pagan husbands (including sexual abuse), Clement metaphorically called these Christian women Dircae, the bull being a symbol of unchained debauchery. New Testament Studies. Most evangelicals believe that Jesus died to pay for all our sins so that we will no longer be judged for what we do. Slingerlands own proposal for the identity of Chrestus is imaginative and novel. They indeed killed their bridegrooms and buried their heads in Lerma, a region with lakes in southern Argos. Good job. The other 49 daughters buried the heads of their bridegrooms in Lerna and paid funeral honors to their bodies in front of the city. The absence is doubly striking since it was precisely a fire at Nicomedia (two of them, in fact) that caused Galerius and Diocletian to turn on the Christians in the Great Persecution of 303 C.E. These include: The Daughters of Danaus is also the title of an 1894 novel by Mona Caird, also dealing with imposed marriage although, in this case, it is a single marriage instead of 50, and in 19th-century Great Britain. They thought this might serve their purpose. This conclusion is based on subsequent Christian writings, in particular that of Lactantius. . Through jealousy women were made to appear as Danaids and Dircae, suffering terrible and unholy indignities; they finished the race of faith unshaken and received a noble reward, weak in the body though they were. Its the prohibition against knowing, Interestingly, 80% of Israeli Christians say that the Israeli government is insincere in pursuing peace (against 72% of Israeli Muslims)., You can also remember Ladon guarding the garden of the Hesperides https://www.theoi.com/Titan/Hesperides.html, Hi Diana and everyone else. ", Callimachus, Hymn 4 to Delos 75 ff (trans. Given the surprisingly widespread acceptance of the great significance ofthis axial event in Christian history, the thinness of the evidence on all aspects of it is quite striking. . The DANAIDS are the 50 daughters of Danaus 1who married the sons of Aegyptus 1, and murdered their husbands (except one) on their wedding night. Tacitus describes the Christians in the same way, as a plague or contagion, and likewise emanating from Judea. It advocated a racially integrated German nation at the heart of a central European customs union, the basis of a united states of Europe. The gaps are striking lacunae in the knowledge of a senator from Italy, frequently resident in or near the imperial capital, who was well informed on these matters, if in fact Christians had been found guilty of a monstrous crime against the Roman state in the mid-60s. Then, Danaus and his daughters reached Argos, the birthplace of his great-grand-mother, the Argian princess Io. This oversight has been corrected. Soon the sons of Aegyptus presented themselves to the palace and asked once more to marry the Danaides. As such, he functioned as a personal attendant (amanuensis) of the Pope, writing letters at his behest and dictation, with no formal registration of the briefs, but merely preserving copies., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poggio_Bracciolini. Then notice Tacitus explaining to his readers that these Christians were just as people in his own day thought of them the harbingers of a new and degraded form of superstitio. It is hard to believe that Lactantius was wholly unaware of Tacitus. The reason for Nero attacking the Christians (including the deaths of Peter and Paul), according to Lactantius, was the same as we read of in Plinys correspondence: the pagan cults were being abandoned because of the success of Christian preaching. Yes, I had read Hurtados piece but my post was too long for me to include reference to what he had said. 25. In the classical tradition, they came to represent the futility of a repetitive task that can never be completed (see also Sisyphus and Ocnus). (I) Why does Clement quote so many texts of the Old Testament and only a few words . I like Hurtados works on Christology, but at the same time I have to be alert to the fact that he has conveniently found arguments that support his personal Christian beliefs so one does need to read his critics at the same time. This great massacre was unbelievable, even for the bloody ancient Greek myths. Yet not only do Christian commentators not breathe a word of such a myth (and that includes prime martyrologists like Tertullian and the historian Eusebius) until the beginning of the 400s, some of their documents actually say things which make it impossible that they could have been aware of or subscribed to such a myth, as in the Acts of Paul, and the Acts of Peter. The myth of Danaides is the story of fifty women who commit a horrible wrongdoing: guided by their father, they all kill their husbands on their wedding night! Jerusalem Catecheses 12-24 Cyril of Jerusalem, Jerusalem Catecheses 1-12 Cyril of Jerusalem, What We Believe: The Beauty of the Catholic Faith Video Trailer, St. Anthony, the Desert & Spiritual Warfare Podcast, Advent: The Season of the Wild-Haired, Crazy Man, 3 Crazy Ways Christianity & Islam Are Totally Different. Learn how your comment data is processed. . 2. DIRKE (Dirce) was the Naiad-nymph of the spring of Dirke near Thebes in Boiotia (central Greece). Myths that Nero would one-day return to overthrow his enemies had circulated. of an individual, and merge them with the art or ideas that belong to the childhood of a people. Dirke was originally the wife of King Lykos (Lycus) of Thebes who, as punishment for the mistreatment of her niece Antiope, was tied to a wild bull and torn limb from limb. 1 Clem. It is very unlikely that in 50s and 50sC.E. Overlooked or downplayed in the longstanding debate over the Tacitus passage has been the stark fact that no Christian commentator for over three centuries ever refers to a general anti-Christian pogrom by Nero (beyond the legendary executions of Peter and Paul, which are never linked to the fire). My books, and those I have published for others, consistently maintain 4-star and better ratings despite the occasional 1- and 2-star ratings from people angry about my kicking over sacred cows. 3) 1 Clement is authentic therefore confirms the Pauls death under Nero. Envy has alienated wives from their husbands, and changed that saying of our father Adam, "This is now bone of my . ", Nonnus, Dionysiaca 44. The Roman elites, meanwhile, came to remember Nero as a malicious villain. Do you even know who Danaids and Dircae are? The key reference here isBarnes, T. D. 2010: Early Christian Hagiography and Roman History, Tubingen. At first those who confessed were taken away for punishment; subsequently others who were denounced by others were rounded up. I do need to touch on the two women Clement lists, "the Danaids and Dircae." Parts came from written records about the fire, and oral recollections; others came from contemporary cognizance of imperial administrators about such an identifiable and threatening group, and still others were further contemporary sources that linked the Christians with Nero. . Chapter VI.Continuation. Just to count the grand houses, the apartment blocks, and the temples that had been destroyed would be very difficult. "I still wonder at all the material you turn out for Vridar. Now turn to the Book of Revelation, and we find that the Nero-like figure who is coming to destroy and kill on a cosmic scale is none other than Christ. 1.800.803.0118info@crossroadsinitiative.com. The climax of the story starts here. Lynceus, the only survivor of the fifty sons of Aegyptus, later killed Danaus to revenge for his brothers. | Contact Us 5 (trans. Hyginus' list[5] is partially corrupt and some of the names are nearly illegible. Danaus agreed to the marriage of his daughters only after Aegyptus came to Argos with his fifty sons in order to protect the local population, the Argives, from any battles. The list in the Bibliotheca[3] preserves not only the names of brides and grooms but also those of their mothers. At the time, and indeed up to the decades after 100 C.E., among Roman writers, including Tacitus, it was the Jews rather than the Christians whose beliefs and practices were being labelled a superstitio, albeit not a novel one. Finally, for those that do not know, copyright allows "fair use" of all written works. Its worth comparing in detail with the alternative arguments that the entire passage is a later forgery. This made the Christians infamous throughout Rome where they hadnt been known of before. With its atrium, its choir enclosed by a wall, its ambos, it is the most perfect model of an early basilica in Rome, though it was built as late as the first years of the twelfth century by Paschal II, after the destruction of this portion of the city by the Normans under Robert Guiscard. Suetonius makes no connection here with the Fire. Neros spectacular executions of large numbers of Christians in the aftermath of the fire that raged through the city of Rome in July of 64 is commonly regarded as a foundational event in the history of Christian martyrdom. One of the plainest examples is the Acts of Peter (probably from the 180s) which tells of Neros persecution of Peter in Rome, but states that he was forced to keep his hands off Peters Christian followers due to a threatening vision from heaven. It betrays some modernizing or up-dating of the facts, among them calling Pontius Pilatus, the governor of Judaea, a procurator. 6:2 By reason of jealousy women being persecuted, after that they had suffered cruel and unholy insults as Danaids and Dircae, safely reached the goal in the race of faith, and received a noble reward, feeble though they were in body. Crossans Jesus and the Violence of Scripture (SPCK 2015), a passage re Nero, not because I support either of these writers in their views of HJ but because it rang a bell regarding the transmission of the (divine?) To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds toupgrade your browser. Nouvelles Considerations, pp. The myth says that, when they died, they Danaides were forced to a torment for eternity. After preaching both in the east and west, he gained the illustrious reputation due to his faith, having taught righteousness to the whole world, and come to the extreme limit of the west, and suffered martyrdom under the prefects. Greeka? certain womenwho were spectacularly executed, dressed up as Danaids and Dircae. There is thus no good evidence, Shaw concludes, that Nero was the first persecutor of the Christians, or that he had Christians rounded up for punishment in connection with the fire of Rome. Paul says that he went throughout the world preaching that the Gentiles should repent and turn to God, doing works suitable for repentance" (Acts 26:20). (The latter is a phenomenon which Tertullian is one of the earliest to focus on, yet without appealing to any Great Fire controversy. - Letter to the Corinthians, ch. Yet a man in Plinys position could not have failed to have known that Christians had been condemned to death by torture had such an event really happened. For if I say to you: I recognise in that dream,such and such a myth; or in that emotion about my father, that folk-tale; or the atmosphere of that memory is the same as an English ballad-then you smile, you are satisfied. You may copy, but not sell this information. Wilson) (Greek rhetorician C2nd to 3rd A.D.) : Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 7 (trans. We all know the problem with this promise. ", "Id like to thank you for this very nice representation of what I was trying to show in the book. Shaw, Brent D. (2018). I find the point 2 particularly biased and apologetical: impliciter, he is winking at those who say that the Romans coined the term Christian because they were historicists: the Christians were followers of a historical human leader. They had been denounced as Christians by their jealous husbands. Ill try to offer something more substantial than 'Thank you' in response at some point, but I didnt want to wait . Tags: Great Fire of Rome, Neronian Persecution, Persecution of Christians. This cannot be true because of the many warnings of judgment for Christians (e.g., Gal. Its an interesting hypothesis. When she was with child, and her father threatened her, she ran away to Epopeus at Sikyon (Sicyon) and was married to him. And Dohertys point about the failure to reference Tacituss passage until very late, too Id like to assess it carefully against the alternative proposed by Shaw. 51:16-17; Ezek. She felt pity for her husband, Lynceus, and spared his life. Names with () symbol means corrupted entries but annotations from various editors were provided to rationalize their possible names. can be read possibly as Phileas (Phileam) according to Mauricius Schmidt in his annotations of Hyginus, Last edited on 27 December 2022, at 03:05, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, "Interleaved Greek and English text (translation by Gillian Newing)". We will focus on repentance and grace in chapters 7 and 8. To begin with, there is no evidence that Christians were crucified as a penalty for their faith. Your voice is unique. to express appreciation for your detailed interaction with what Ive written!". But in fact all I do, or you do, is to fish among the childish memories. It might help to read my story of discovering the true purpose of the atonement at https://www.rebuildingthefoundations.org/faith-and-works-story.html in the Scriptures and the early fathers. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. In this chapter, Clement calls God's desire for the repentance of sinners a "gracious declaration." Candida Moss has established the Christian penchant for claiming imaginary persecutions and per the Great Fire of Rome 64 CE and persecution of Christians, the thinness of the evidence on all aspects of it is quite striking (Shaw, 2015). He made a secret plan to get rid of Aegyptus and his sons for good. ", "Neil Godfrey and Tim Widowfield, who both write at Vridar . I think I was the first to present a comprehensive case (587-630) for the whole Neronian persecution as a consequence of the Great Fire, let alone the idea of any Christian responsibility for it, as being a later myth. Lactantius wrote accounts of the wrongful persecutions of Christians by Roman rulers yet he omits any mention of a fire in the time of Nero. The vague charges of incendiarism assumed a more definite form, and were associated with the character of Antichrist, which the Church was accustomed to ascribe to Nero on account of his supposed diabolical cruelty. It is most likely that Tacitus and Pliny exchanged information on these Christians who, as Pliny records, appeared to bebecoming a noticeable social nuisance. Owing to envy, Paul also obtained the reward of patient endurance, after being seven times thrown into captivity, compelled to flee, and stoned. The myth says that Danaus had fifty daughters, known as the Danaides, from four different women, while Aegyptus had fifty sons. | Sitemap |. They had been denounced as Christians by their jealous husbands. So much for the late legend of Peter being crucified, let alone crucified upside down. Even if it was for guilty persons who deserved to suffer extreme and exemplary public punishments, there arose a feeling of pity because it was not for the public good but to satisfy one mans savagery that they were being liquidated. I shall not attempt to suggest why Jews or Christians might have thought badly of this imperial Apollo, especially as in currently predominant fashion the former could never have done wrong and the latter can never do right; and trust also that this doesnt provoke a tedious academic Armageddon over the real identity of 666. But between such hypotheses and the text there are considerable unfillable gaps in the evidence. Many points in the passage have been closely debated, but as a whole does it reflect reliable history? It is hard to believe that Lactantius was wholly unaware of Tacitus. Shaw, a classicist, demonstrates a critical approachthat is all too seldom encountered among ancient historians and theologians who refuse to face the questionable quality of their primarysources. | Privacy Policy Attached to the account of Neros atrocities against the Christians is an explanation of the derivation of their name, making reference to a man who had suffered the extreme penalty at the hands of Pontius Pilate. The trope of the jealous spouse delating his wife to Roman authorities in the city of Rome is also found in the writings of Justin Martyr who was probably writing in the mid-second century. [T]he name Chrestus is a very common one, no ancient source makes the identification with Christians, certainly not Suetonius (p. 102). Evidently two developments had taken place prior to his writing the Annales: These developments were arbitrary, matters of choice, and not inevitable. Nero had somehow come to be connected with the Christians; 2) Christiani/oi designated people as adherents or partisans of Christ, and not the fictive sons/daughters of someone. The third or fourth bishop of Rome has been proposed, but there are numerous pseudepigraphical texts attached to his name and no certain provenience or date can be established for the text. Your email address will not be published. When the people of Argos were about to choose their king, a wolf entered the city and tore a bull into pieces.

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