Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Clivedurdle · 01-23-2009, 01:35 PM

Is it a coincidence that there are twelve main Greek gods?

show_no_mercy · 01-23-2009, 02:05 PM

I think "the twelve" are supposed to mirror the twelve tribes of Israel.

premjan · 01-23-2009, 02:09 PM

I never even knew there were 12 main Greek Gods. I think their number was a bit fluid. For instance this list shows 14 (Dionysus and Hades added).

bacht · 01-23-2009, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by show_no_mercy

I think "the twelve" are supposed to mirror the twelve tribes of Israel.

...which mirror the twelve months of the year and the twelve signs of the zodiac

Clivedurdle · 01-23-2009, 02:15 PM

Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion

Zeus, Hera, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hephaestus, Ares, Demeter and Dionysus - the twelve Olympians.

And why does everyone assume Jewish links when the New Testament is written in Greek?

premjan · 01-23-2009, 02:18 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Olympians

Quote:

Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hestia

Hestia<->Dionysus.
But I agree most of Christianity was made up to sell to a Hellenic audience.

show_no_mercy · 01-23-2009, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clivedurdle

And why does everyone assume Jewish links when the New Testament is written in Greek?

That's a good question! :grin:

premjan · 01-23-2009, 02:21 PM

The reason they put the Jewish linkage first is because nowadays Christian has transmuted into Judaeo-Christian in the US especially with the close ties to Israel.

Clivedurdle · 01-23-2009, 02:23 PM

Now who was it who told us the tales of the gods? Homer was it?

And under these super gods everyone had local gods and local myths and another order of beings - heroes.

Why should not the gospels be examples of Greaco-Judaic local myths?

Quote:

The evidence of inscriptions, in particular, shows us individuals happily mixing from what our perspective we might want to call Jewish, Christian and Mithraic elements - and practices of this sort are far too widespread to be considered "deviant".

px111 Oxford Dictionary

arnoldo · 01-23-2009, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by show_no_mercy

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clivedurdle

And why does everyone assume Jewish links when the New Testament is written in Greek?

That's a good question! :grin:

And the following is a good answer as well!

Quote:

The first contact of the Greeks with Christ is related by the author of the Fourth Gospel. He writes that some Greeks among those who used to visit Jerusalem at the Passover approached Philip and Andrew and asked to see Jesus (Jn. 12.20-24). The Greeks, as seekers after truth, were eager to listen to something novel, to meet the new master.. .

Jesus was aware that the Greeks who came to Him were men with a searching mind and a troubled spirit. Upon His confrontation with them, He exclaimed, "The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified"(Jn. 12.23). Indeed, these Greeks were few in number, but Christ saw in them not only Greeks but Romans and Scythians and other peoples of all times and places who would also seek to find Him. Jesus said the hour had come for the Christian Gospel to be proclaimed outside the limited boundaries of ancient Israel.. . .

Following three centuries of underground existence and persecution in the Roman Empire, it was again the Greek Church, the Greek language, and Greek missionaries that carried the Christian message in both the East and the West. The Latin element emerged as a major factor in the history of Christianity only in the West and as late as the fifth century. It is significant that Saint Paul, writing to the Church of Rome, did not use Latin but Greek. The early Church in Rome was Greek-speaking, and the Church in the West was an extension of the Church in the East.. .

Christianity is Greek not only in form but to great degree in content as well. As we have seen, Greek religious and philosophical thought had penetrated into the mind and thought of later Judaism and Greek thought had thoroughly imbued the whole of the Roman Empire. The fusion of Greek classical and religious material was present not only in theological and philosophical writing but also in mystical and spiritual. Christian thinkers were in constant dialogue with ancient Greek thought and religious experience. Hellenization affected every aspect of early Christianity including worship.. . .

http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/engl...stantelos.html

01-23-2009, 01:35 PM	#1
Clivedurdle Contributor Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: London UK Posts: 16,024	Twelve apostles Is it a coincidence that there are twelve main Greek gods?

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01-23-2009, 02:05 PM	#2
show_no_mercy Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Dancing Posts: 9,940	I think "the twelve" are supposed to mirror the twelve tribes of Israel.

01-23-2009, 02:09 PM	#3
premjan Obsessed Contributor Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: NJ Posts: 61,538	I never even knew there were 12 main Greek Gods. I think their number was a bit fluid. For instance this list shows 14 (Dionysus and Hades added).

01-23-2009, 02:15 PM	#5
Clivedurdle Contributor Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: London UK Posts: 16,024	Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion Zeus, Hera, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hephaestus, Ares, Demeter and Dionysus - the twelve Olympians. And why does everyone assume Jewish links when the New Testament is written in Greek?

01-23-2009, 02:21 PM	#8
premjan Obsessed Contributor Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: NJ Posts: 61,538	The reason they put the Jewish linkage first is because nowadays Christian has transmuted into Judaeo-Christian in the US especially with the close ties to Israel.

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