Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Toto · 08-01-2012, 02:10 PM

The Mitt Romney of his day?

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Herod had been appointed a client king of Rome (ruled 37-4 B.C.E.) and, with the help of his imperial masters, he succeeded in crushing his opponents, including the leaders of the Hasmonean dynasty, which had previously ruled Judea. A period of tranquility followed. An effective and loyal servant of Rome, Herod was soon rewarded with an expansion of his kingdom, which secured for him a degree of control over the lucrative trade route from Arabia to the Mediterranean. The Emperor Augustus also awarded Herod a valuable mining concession in Cyprus. Peace and prosperity led to financial surpluses, which Herod used to pay for an ambitious building program both at home and abroad.4

In emulation of the Emperor Augustus and the great Hellenistic monarchs of earlier times, Herod presented himself as a patron of Greek culture and benefactor of the great cities of the eastern Mediterranean. The first-century C.E. Jewish historian Josephus tells us that Herod’s twin aim was to earn a favorable reputation and future remembrance through ostentatious generosity (euergesia).5 Accordingly, he generously endowed the Olympic Games, for which he was made life president of this venerable Greek institution.6

Josephus Ant 21

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12. It is true, a man may say, these were favors peculiar to those particular places on which he bestowed his benefits; but then what favors he bestowed on the Eleans was a donation not only in common to all Greece, but to all the habitable earth, as far as the glory of the Olympic games reached. For when he perceived that they were come to nothing, for want of money, and that the only remains of ancient Greece were in a manner gone, he not only became one of the combatants in that return of the fifth-year games, which in his sailing to Rome he happened to be present at, but he settled upon them revenues of money for perpetuity, insomuch that his memorial as a combatant there can never fail. It would be an infinite task if I should go over his payments of people's debts, or tributes, for them, as he eased the people of Phasaelis, of Batanea, and of the small cities about Cilicia, of those annual pensions they before paid. However, the fear he was in much disturbed the greatness of his soul, lest he should be exposed to envy, or seem to hunt after greater filings than he ought, while he bestowed more liberal gifts upon these cities than did their owners themselves.

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... In the year 12 B.C. when there was apprehension as to whether the ancient Olympic Games could take place because of the lack of funds, came Herod, King of Jerusalem, and assured their survival and provided much money for the continuation of these games in the future. And indeed the ancient Olympic Games continued till the 293rd Olympiad, when came their definite end by order of the Caesar Theodosius in the year 385 A.D.

Too pagan for Theodosius.

sotto voce · 08-01-2012, 04:24 PM

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Originally Posted by Toto

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... In the year 12 B.C. when there was apprehension as to whether the ancient Olympic Games could take place because of the lack of funds, came Herod, King of Jerusalem, and assured their survival and provided much money for the continuation of these games in the future. And indeed the ancient Olympic Games continued till the 293rd Olympiad, when came their definite end by order of the Caesar Theodosius in the year 385 A.D.

Too pagan for Theodosius.

Too obviously pagan. Theodosius completed the task begun by Constantine, saving the faces of the most avaricious, ruthless, indolent, depraved and worthless people by presenting them as honourable, as approving of everything they actually hated— which is what they identified as Christianity.

One could perhaps say that Romney continues in his footsteps.

Roger Pearse · 08-02-2012, 07:26 AM

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Originally Posted by Toto

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And indeed the ancient Olympic Games continued till the 293rd Olympiad, when came their definite end by order of the Caesar Theodosius in the year 385 A.D.

I wouldn't bet on it.

Paleobabble alert.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

Toto · 08-02-2012, 08:36 AM

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Originally Posted by Roger Pearse

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Originally Posted by Toto

I wouldn't bet on it.

Paleobabble alert.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

I didn't think this common claim was controversial, but I see there is a debunker:

The Fall of the Ancient Olympics: The Theodosian Code

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The idea that Theodosius I literally banned the Olympic Games is firstly discredited by there being no direct references to the Ancient Olympic Games in the Theodosian Code.[1] The Theodosian code was based on the enforcement of the Christian faith and on the ideologies of Christian dogma.[2] Spivey explains that “There was nothing in the Christian faith that actively underminded the practice of athletics.”[3] An assessment of this suggests that Theodosius I would not have paid particular attention to athletic events, such as the Olympic Games, when authoring his edicts but rather to the ideas and activities that surrounded the ‘pagan’ faiths which governed such events.

More at the link.

I don't know for sure but I observe two things:

1. You never see the claim -- that Theodosius I banned the Olympic games -- referenced to an ancient source. That's a red flag, in my experience.
2. People who refer to this seem uncertain just when he did so; 385, 392, 393 ... I have seen all these referred to. That also is a red flag, to my eyes.

So ... time to be wary.

I'm looking into the matter at the moment. The only source that I can find so far is Cedrenus, writing in the 11th century. All he says is that in year 15-16 (=394 AD) of Theodosius I, "the festival of the olympics ceased". After that he refers to the order to "overturn" the temples; and then to the death of Theodosius. He also refers, earlier, but in the same regnal year, that the statue of Zeus by Phidias from Olympia was now in Constantinople, together with artworks from other temples in the empire.

There is also an argument that Theodosius II banned the games in the mid-5th century. Reference is a passage in the Scholiast on Lucian, or possibly from John the Lydian. I have no translation of either passage as yet. But the former is commenting on the word "olympiads", and might merely be referring to when the term fell into disuse.

I suspect that Theodosius did not ban the festival as such, but the festival ceased as a consequence of the seizure of the temple funds, the closure of the temples at Olympia, and the general atmosphere of hostility towards hellenism that was to make the term "hellene" a derogatory synonym for "godless pagan" in Byzantine literature as early as Macarius Magnes.

But as I say, not certain. That's all I have at the moment.

All the best,

Roger Pearse
PS: I didn't think the site you mentioned looked all that reliable. That's a pretty strange description of the Theodosian Code, for one thing.

Toto · 08-04-2012, 10:38 AM

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Originally Posted by Roger Pearse

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PS: I didn't think the site you mentioned looked all that reliable. That's a pretty strange description of the Theodosian Code, for one thing.

It's a blog written by "an ancient history enthusiast and academic who specialises in Ancient Greek history, philology, the history of medicine and procrastination", and the description is footnoted to Nigel Spivey, The Ancient Olympics: A History (or via: amazon.co.uk)

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