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. For how could Christians not have known and embraced such a prime example of their experiences of martyrdom, given their intense focus and fascination on their sufferings for the faith? (I imagine the google search in . According to Hippostratus, Danaus had all these progeny begotten by a single woman, Europa, the daughter of Nilus.[4]. This video claims that the Christians took blame for the fire themselves (whether they did or not). Ill try to offer something more substantial than 'Thank you' in response at some point, but I didnt want to wait . He cites Richard Carriers 2014 article,The prospect of a Christian interpolation in Tacitus, Annals15.44, in VigiliaeChristianae 68, 26483 as a recent example and source for many of the earlier studies. And to those who were dying mockeries were added. So, please continue to delve deeply and share this intellectual sustenance with your grateful readers. 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)". "I still wonder at all the material you turn out for Vridar. cf. There is every good reason for historians to have grave doubts about the story of an attack on Christians by Nero that emerged decades after the fire itself.They should be sceptical to the point of dismissing the commonly accepted idea of Nero as a persecutor, indeed the first great persecutor of Christians, specifically in connection with the conflagration that raged through Rome in July of 64. Another move of this kind, as we have just noted, is the transfer of the hatred of humankind label to Christians, probably made in parallel with the use of the specific name of Chrestiani for them. Wilson) (Greek rhetorician C2nd to 3rd A.D.) : Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 7 (trans. He says: Evidently two developments had taken place prior to his writing the Annales: : You may copy, but not sell this information. His preaching of repentance only reached his wife, his sons, and his daughters-in-law. They had been denounced as Christians by their jealous husbands. Later sources such as the writing of Sulpicius Severus are useless for our enquiry because they all depend on Tacitus. When grace comes, sin loses its power over us (Rom. 10 ff (trans. Shaw accepts the high likelihood that rumours about who was responsible for the fire were rife. to remind ourselves.". These were the measures devised by human planning [i.e. 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. Copyright 2023 Famous Quotes & Sayings. 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. They were to marry the 50 sons of Danaus' twin brother Aegyptus, a mythical king of Egypt. Clement cites examples drawn both from the Bible and from his own time to illustrate the danger of desintegration facing Corinths Christian community. Wilsons TLS (11 December) review of J.D. 151168. ", "Ive even been cited by atheists with approval (which I really dont know how to take, so thanks, I think, but Im not sure,Vrider(even though I feel like I need to take a shower now)). To read more about Neil, see our. Thus the precious blood of Christ that was shed for our salvation sets "the grace of repentance" before all of us. 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). He certainly knew of the Great Fire. Why the Split? The few remnants of houses in the other seven were reduced to stripped and half-burned ruins. The presumed authenticity of Tacitus passage (Annals 15:44) has long been a key plank in the case for the existence of an historical Jesus, within the long but lately resurgent question (now popularly referred to as Jesus mythicism) as to whether Jesus actually existed or is a fictional/allegorical character. We all know the problem with this promise. Up until the time of Tacitus this expression had been used of an ethnic group to refer to the Jews. In the most common version of the myth, all but one of them killed their husbands on their wedding night, and are condemned to spend eternity carrying water in a sieve or perforated device. Five Reasons Why Mythicism is Disappointing, Where Morality Comes From a Rawlsian view, As for Near Death Experiences, I ask myself what is more likely: that a person really did in some sense, There are tonnes of things in the ot that draw from ancient near East beliefs, further Myth made fact a, Dear Austendw, Darshans essay is fascinating, and shows in my opinion how much Leviticus sacrificial and purity laws are at, Hi Neil As you may remember, I have not in the past been a fan of Russell Gmirkins theory that, I wish there was an edit button: These bittersweet messages seem, to me, to be more of a sigh of, The problem of course is that the serpents advice is perfectly reasonable and indeed wise. Tom Berenger, It seems to me that being psycho-analysed is essentially a process where one is forced back into infantilism and then rescued from it by crystallising what one learns into a sort of intellectual primitivism-one is forced back into myth, and folk lore and everything that belongs to the savage or undeveloped stages of society. ", "By the way, my thanks to Neil for an ongoing superb job of exposing Jims review for what it is: a farcical and none too effective exercise in mythicism assassination, nothing to do with rational, let alone unbiased, scholarship. . He offers the suggestion that Chrestus might be one of the freedmen advisers to the emperor Claudius, using as analogy the anti-semitic Helicon, counselor to Gaius Caligula. "When Alexandros [Alexander the Great] the son of Philippos led his forces against Thebes the gods sent them signs and portents presaging their imminent fate . But the following passage speaks of Paul: Let us set before our eyes the illustrious apostles. Argive ancestor For having been seduced by Zeus, Io, a native from Argos, was severely punished by the god's jealous wife Hera, who pursued her all over the world. To begin with, there is no evidence that Christians were crucified as a penalty for their faith. The first part of the article explores the context in which these designations appear. The gods Athena and Hermes purified them at the command of Zeus. I am skeptical of any persecution alleged to early Christians, especially when the historicity of the first persecution under Nero, hinges on the preposterous reference to Pontius Pilates execution of someone called Christus (Allen, 2015). And this evidence, focusing its special emphasis on the Christians and the execution of their leader under Pontius Pilatus in the reign of Tiberius, appears to have come to his attention after he wrote the Histories. The Myth of the Neronian Persecution. Shaws points here are significant. . Do you like The most interesting fact about these brothers is their progeny. Under Martin V he reached the top rank of his office, as Apostolicus Secretarius, papal secretary. 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. (As usual, bolded font and formatting are my own.). Prof. Shaws case undermining the historicity of the Tacitus account and its supposed witness to Jesus is an important one, but it could have been much more conclusive and also more supportive to Jesus as myth. Abstract The purpose of the current article is to address a question to which scholars devoted considerable thought: the identity of the Christian women whom Clement of Rome called Danads and Dircae in his First Epistle to the Corinthians. The first unequivocal mention of the Neronian persecution in connection with the burning of Rome is found in the forged correspondence of Seneca and the apostle Paul, which belongs to the fourth century. Shaw argues that the famous story of Nero burning and in other ways torturing Christians as punishment for the Great Fire of Rome in 64 C.E. The following two tabs change content below. . 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. ", Mary Booker, February 2020 (personal email), "Very good. Tacitus does not believe the Christians were guilty, but at the same time he never tells us who he thinks wereculpable. Some history is putty in the hands of this or that historian like the 1984 memory-holers. I do need to touch on the two women Clement lists, "the Danaids and Dircae." The daughters were ordered by their father to kill their husbands on the first night of their weddings and this they all did with the exception of one, Hypermnestra, who spared her husband Lynceus because he respected her desire to remain a virgin. Irving, TX 75062 In a footnote Holmes explains the reference to Danaids and Dircae: "[I]n ancient mythology the daughters of Danaus were given as prizes to the winners of a race; thus it is likely that this is a reference to Christian women being raped prior to being martyred. St. Clement was the bishop of Rome and third in succession from St. Peter. We need not recognise all Hocharts arguments as equally sound, yet we must admit that in their entirety and agreement they are worthy of consideration, and are well calculated to disturb the ingenuous belief in the authenticity of the passage of Tacitus. However, Shaw stresses the importance of recognising the passage is the only source for the involvement of Christians with the fire and their persecution in its aftermath.. 20:28). His brother, Aegyptus, had sent his fifty sons to find Danaus and try to take over his new kingdom. 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. To marry the 50 sons of Danaus & # x27 ; twin brother,! An ethnic group to refer to the Jews of us to the Jews 50 sons of Danaus & # ;! Need to touch on the two women Clement lists, `` Very good top rank his... 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