[Premodern history] the year of the two fatal eruptions

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > [Premodern history] the year of the two fatal eruptions

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Plutonis: Mar 25, 2011

Some Guy TT posted:

that website always defaulting to english is a big reason why i suspect theyre hoteps

That website is criticizing the Hwan Empire theory dumbass

# ? Feb 11, 2021 15:31

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# ? Jun 10, 2024 22:58

Some Guy TT: Aug 30, 2011

i dont think you understand what i mean when i say theyre hoteps one of the few still functioning links on this page directly connects a professor who supposedly supports the theory with an american linguistics conference

# ? Feb 11, 2021 15:43

Azathoth: Apr 3, 2001

Yadoppsi posted:

It's based off the flooding of the Persian Gulf the drove the Sumerians to settle in the location of their famous cities imo.

Edit) bouncing off of that and the recent hilarity in the A/T history thread what are some of your favorite history conspiracies? I'm not talking ancient aliens poo poo but stuff that could be a heterodox history if a layman squints at it just so. Napoleon knocking the nose off the Sphinx because he thought it looked too african is a classic (it was an Inman centuries ago trying to stop idol worship) or the theory that the pyramids were built atop much older structures created by a higher tech civilization wiped out when the Younger Dyras ended.

I think my favorite is either that the historical Jesus was a fabrication of the Roman government created for ... reasons ... that just got really out of hand. The gist of the theory is that the Romans created Jesus as propaganda during the Roman-Jewish Wars to use against the Jews, and that anyone who wrote about Jesus or very early Christianity was either in on it or needs to be read in a very weird light.

To be clear, not getting into the historical Jesus argument generally, as I think reasonable people can fall on both sides of it, just bringing up this one specific conspiracy theory that is just so delightfully crazy.

In the same vein, the legend of Pope Joan is up there as well. This legend, as the name implies, holds that a woman disguised herself as a man and rose up to become Pope. It's got some really salacious poo poo, like having an affair with another priest, getting pregnant, then giving birth on the papal throne. It also takes advantage of the fact that there isn't a valid Pope John XX, due to a combination of Antipopes and a misreading of some lists.

Both are just delightfully crazy, in that they require the willful ignorance of the vast majority of evidence in favor of a National Treasure style thread of hidden history.

# ? Feb 11, 2021 15:55

Some Guy TT: Aug 30, 2011

is there reason to believe paul was originally an undercover roman cop or is that a conspiracy theory

# ? Feb 11, 2021 15:58

Dalael: Oct 14, 2014; Hello. Yep, I still think Atlantis is Bolivia, yep, I'm still a giant idiot, yep, I'm still a huge racist. Some things never change!

Yadoppsi posted:

It's based off the flooding of the Persian Gulf the drove the Sumerians to settle in the location of their famous cities imo.

Edit) bouncing off of that and the recent hilarity in the A/T history thread what are some of your favorite history conspiracies? I'm not talking ancient aliens poo poo but stuff that could be a heterodox history if a layman squints at it just so. Napoleon knocking the nose off the Sphinx because he thought it looked too african is a classic (it was an Inman centuries ago trying to stop idol worship) or the theory that the pyramids were built atop much older structures created by a higher tech civilization wiped out when the Younger Dyras ended.

I'm on record on this very site in the history thread for suggesting Atlantis may not have been such a myth, and would actually have ad its capital in Bolivia. I know a lot of Atlantis theories and that one's my favorite. http://www.atlantisbolivia.org/

# ? Feb 11, 2021 16:09

Nebakenezzer: Sep 13, 2005; The Mote in God's Eye

Yadoppsi posted:

It's based off the flooding of the Persian Gulf the drove the Sumerians to settle in the location of their famous cities imo.

Yeah, when I heard about that in death of civilizations podcast I was pleasantly gobsmacked. Who'd have thought the great flood could be something that had multiple possible historical inspirations?

Yadoppsi posted:

bouncing off of that and the recent hilarity in the A/T history thread what are some of your favorite history conspiracies? I'm not talking ancient aliens poo poo but stuff that could be a heterodox history if a layman squints at it just so. Napoleon knocking the nose off the Sphinx because he thought it looked too african is a classic (it was an Inman centuries ago trying to stop idol worship) or the theory that the pyramids were built atop much older structures created by a higher tech civilization wiped out when the Younger Dyras ended.

I am fond of those unverifiable hypothesis theories, like authorship theories of the old testament. For those who don't know, there's a line of thinking out there that when the old testament was codified, it was written up by four authors, designated A, B, C, and D. The four letters get assigned traits, like A being an Aaronite priest who was an excellent writer, and D being some sort of hyper-orthodox dude who was fond of lists. In the new Testament, there's a similar theory: that all of the gospel authors were referencing a document that was essentially "things Jesus said". Assuming it existed, it's possibly one of the most important lost documents in history, since it's probably the first and most accurate version.

Generally, I find lost books really interesting.

Nebakenezzer has issued a correction as of 16:18 on Feb 11, 2021

# ? Feb 11, 2021 16:10

Nebakenezzer: Sep 13, 2005; The Mote in God's Eye

Dalael posted:

I'm on record on this very site in the history thread for suggesting Atlantis may not have been such a myth, and would actually have ad its capital in Bolivia. I know a lot of Atlantis theories and that one's my favorite. http://www.atlantisbolivia.org/

Are you aware of where the myth of Atlantis started

It comes from Plato, who has Socrates do his usual thing and make up hypotheticals to illustrate his point. Socrates even starts by saying "this is a story friend's cousin former roommate who worked in the Great Library of Alexandria told."

This is the only historical document that discusses Atlantis

quote:

The only primary sources for Atlantis are Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias; all other mentions of the island are based on them. The dialogues claim to quote Solon, who visited Egypt between 590 and 580 BC; they state that he translated Egyptian records of Atlantis.[20] Written in 360 BC, Plato introduced Atlantis in Timaeus:

For it is related in our records how once upon a time your State stayed the course of a mighty host, which, starting from a distant point in the Atlantic ocean, was insolently advancing to attack the whole of Europe, and Asia to boot. For the ocean there was at that time navigable; for in front of the mouth which you Greeks call, as you say, 'the pillars of Heracles,' there lay an island which was larger than Libya and Asia together; and it was possible for the travelers of that time to cross from it to the other islands, and from the islands to the whole of the continent over against them which encompasses that veritable ocean. For all that we have here, lying within the mouth of which we speak, is evidently a haven having a narrow entrance; but that yonder is a real ocean, and the land surrounding it may most rightly be called, in the fullest and truest sense, a continent. Now in this island of Atlantis there existed a confederation of kings, of great and marvelous power, which held sway over all the island, and over many other islands also and parts of the continent.[21]

The four people appearing in those two dialogues are the politicians Critias and Hermocrates as well as the philosophers Socrates and Timaeus of Locri, although only Critias speaks of Atlantis. In his works Plato makes extensive use of the Socratic method in order to discuss contrary positions within the context of a supposition.

The Timaeus begins with an introduction, followed by an account of the creations and structure of the universe and ancient civilizations. In the introduction, Socrates muses about the perfect society, described in Plato's Republic (c. 380 BC), and wonders if he and his guests might recollect a story which exemplifies such a society. Critias mentions a tale he considered to be historical, that would make the perfect example, and he then follows by describing Atlantis as is recorded in the Critias. In his account, ancient Athens seems to represent the "perfect society" and Atlantis its opponent, representing the very antithesis of the "perfect" traits described in the Republic.

# ? Feb 11, 2021 16:16

Dalael: Oct 14, 2014; Hello. Yep, I still think Atlantis is Bolivia, yep, I'm still a giant idiot, yep, I'm still a huge racist. Some things never change!

Nebakenezzer posted:

Are you aware of where the myth of Atlantis started

It comes from Plato, who has Socrates do his usual thing and make up hypotheticals to illustrate his point. Socrates even starts by saying "this is a story friend's cousin former roommate who worked in the Great Library of Alexandria told."

This is the only historical document that discusses Atlantis

I am very aware of the story of Atlantis and its myriad hypothesis. There is Timeus, Critias and a third text no one ever brings up because while it does mention "Atlantis" its only one word and pretty much refers to the ocean. Keep in mind those two things that is described by Plato:

West of the pillar of Hercules, and the island the size of Asian and Lybia. If you stick to the text, it cannot be anywhere east of the pillars of hercules which pretty much invalidates 90% of all proposed sites.

Now I want to make it clear, tho nobody is gonna care, that I don't actually believe in Atlantis per say, but this is my very favorite hypothesis and I do believe that civilization is a bit older than we think and we suffered a major reset in the YD.

# ? Feb 11, 2021 16:27

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

Dalael posted:

I am very aware of the story of Atlantis and its myriad hypothesis. There is Timeus, Critias and a third text no one ever brings up because while it does mention "Atlantis" its only one word and pretty much refers to the ocean. Keep in mind those two things that is described by Plato:

West of the pillar of Hercules, and the island the size of Asian and Lybia. If you stick to the text, it cannot be anywhere east of the pillars of hercules which pretty much invalidates 90% of all proposed sites.

Now I want to make it clear, tho nobody is gonna care, that I don't actually believe in Atlantis per say, but this is my very favorite hypothesis and I do believe that civilization is a bit older than we think and we suffered a major reset in the YD.

so what you're saying is that conan is canon?

# ? Feb 11, 2021 16:31

Agean90: Jun 28, 2008

All this talk of history conspiracy theories and no one brought up The Phantom Time Hypothesis

quote:

First published in 1991, it hypothesizes a conspiracy by the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, Pope Sylvester II, and possibly the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII, to fabricate the Anno Domini dating system retrospectively, in order to place them at the special year of AD 1000, and to rewrite history[1] to legitimize Otto's claim to the Holy Roman Empire.

# ? Feb 11, 2021 16:36

WoodrowSkillson: Feb 24, 2005; *Gestures at 60 years of Lions history*

The phantom time poo poo owns because it just loving ignores all other worldwide calendar systems and plows ahead into crazy

# ? Feb 11, 2021 16:41

exmachina: Mar 12, 2006; Look Closer

Azathoth posted:

I think my favorite is either that the historical Jesus was a fabrication of the Roman government created for ... reasons ... that just got really out of hand. The gist of the theory is that the Romans created Jesus as propaganda during the Roman-Jewish Wars to use against the Jews, and that anyone who wrote about Jesus or very early Christianity was either in on it or needs to be read in a very weird light.

To be clear, not getting into the historical Jesus argument generally, as I think reasonable people can fall on both sides of it, just bringing up this one specific conspiracy theory that is just so delightfully crazy.

Honestly I see Paul more like some guy who goes to south-east Asia and comes back claiming he is a Buddhist but the real Buddhists are wrong, see? And then forms a cult based on his 10 day trip and bad english sources.

# ? Feb 11, 2021 16:55

Plutonis: Mar 25, 2011

Agean90 posted:

All this talk of history conspiracy theories and no one brought up The Phantom Time Hypothesis

Bro on the last page

CoolCab posted:

oh for sure the phantom time hypothesis, and that one is even pretty modern. a conspiracy that popes and emperors made up several hundred years of history - including Charlemagne - so that their rule would line up with the millennia turning over and as such be granted legitimacy (????). amazingly, the conspirators were so successful they apparently managed to penetrate the entire globe's calendar system in 1000 AD - wait, poo poo sorry, 703 AD.

# ? Feb 11, 2021 16:58

Azathoth: Apr 3, 2001

Some Guy TT posted:

is there reason to believe paul was originally an undercover roman cop or is that a conspiracy theory

I'd say it's about as likely as Pope Joan being historical fact, in that it isn't something that's wholly falsifiable, but to even consider it requires willful ignorance of the vast majority of the evidence.

I mean, just on its face, Paul (then Saul) was actively involved in the persecution of Christians. We have every reason to believe this is historically accurate, since he kept having to address it publicly, and it makes no sense for him to invent that detail about himself. If the Romans were looking to plant someone undercover, he is the absolute last person you'd pick.

A more plausible but unprovable theory about Paul is that he was divorced, and that's why everything he wrote has powerful Divorced Guy Who Won't Shut Up About How Women Should Act misogynistic energy. Entirely unprovable, but reading his stuff in that light is ... interesting.

Nebakenezzer posted:

I am fond of those unverifiable hypothesis theories, like authorship theories of the old testament. For those who don't know, there's a line of thinking out there that when the old testament was codified, it was written up by four authors, designated A, B, C, and D. The four letters get assigned traits, like A being an Aaronite priest who was an excellent writer, and D being some sort of hyper-orthodox dude who was fond of lists. In the new Testament, there's a similar theory: that all of the gospel authors were referencing a document that was essentially "things Jesus said". Assuming it existed, it's possibly one of the most important lost documents in history, since it's probably the first and most accurate version.

Generally, I find lost books really interesting.

I absolutely love the various theories about biblical authorship, though I think it must be said that scholarly consensus has been moving away from the Documentary Hypothesis for a while in favor of a more gradual or piecemeal process.

Something similar is happening for the idea of Q existing as a separate book in the sense of the surviving Gospels.

From the outside, it looks really similar to how plate tectonics required a whole generation of scientists to die off before gaining widespread acceptance, because that older generation had built their academic careers on that not being the case, so shifting and admitting they were wrong wasn't just throwing their legacy in the trash, it would also involve throwing the entire foundation of their legitimacy in the trash as well, and there's just some lines that can't be crossed.

I'm not an expert, I just read a shitload about it, so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt though.

# ? Feb 11, 2021 16:59

Tulip: Jun 3, 2008; yeah thats pretty good

WoodrowSkillson posted:

The phantom time poo poo owns because it just loving ignores all other worldwide calendar systems and plows ahead into crazy

I know they definitely do not have any real answer but do they have any answer of any sort for like, "So the Tang dynasty falls inside those phantom years, what's your explanation?"

# ? Feb 11, 2021 17:11

Zerg Mans: Oct 19, 2006

Agean90 posted:

All this talk of history conspiracy theories and no one brought up The Phantom Time Hypothesis

lol like when they retconned the start of the holy roman empire so they could get exactly 1000 years out of it.

# ? Feb 11, 2021 17:13

Grevling: Dec 18, 2016

Cerebral Bore posted:

so what you're saying is that conan is canon?

I've seen some Turkish nationalist stuff that gets really close to being the Hyborian age with Turks ruling a world-spanning empire 10,000 years before Christ, using Viking auxiliaries to guard the Himalayas as their bulwark against the cannibal Chinese (who are not quite human).

# ? Feb 11, 2021 17:52

Azathoth: Apr 3, 2001

Tulip posted:

I know they definitely do not have any real answer but do they have any answer of any sort for like, "So the Tang dynasty falls inside those phantom years, what's your explanation?"

I don't know but I feel like it's going to be only slightly less racist than the cannibal Chinese the Vikings were supposedly fighting in the Himalayas.

# ? Feb 11, 2021 18:09

Take the plunge! Okay!: Feb 24, 2007

Azathoth posted:

A more plausible but unprovable theory about Paul is that he was divorced, and that's why everything he wrote has powerful Divorced Guy Who Won't Shut Up About How Women Should Act misogynistic energy. Entirely unprovable, but reading his stuff in that light is ... interesting.

Paul as the divorced rear end in a top hat dad making misogynistic videos in his pickup? I can picture that.

# ? Feb 11, 2021 19:00

Riot Bimbo: Dec 28, 2006

paul is the counter-revolution in saint form

# ? Feb 11, 2021 19:34

Ghostlight: Sep 25, 2009; maybe for one second you can pause; try to step into another person's perspective, and understand that a watermelon is cursing me

Some Guy TT posted:

is there reason to believe paul was originally an undercover roman cop or is that a conspiracy theory

you don't find it suspicious that in our only surviving document jesus is all like "pay your taxes to rome" and "hey, the romans tried over and over not to kill me - the son of god - but the jews just had to have it done" then all of a sudden the supreme leader of his church is enshrined permanently in the centre of roman rule rather than sacred city of jerusalem?

# ? Feb 11, 2021 23:06

Azathoth: Apr 3, 2001

I think it's hard to pin that one on Paul so much as Christians seeing how things were going in Judea Province and going "we are totally not with those folks, please don't turbomurder us too".

I'd say it's more that Paul's faction won the battle for the early Church because he was presenting a version of Christianity compatible with not having Legions come in and curb stomp you, rather than him taking control and moving the Church in that direction.

# ? Feb 11, 2021 23:27

Nebakenezzer: Sep 13, 2005; The Mote in God's Eye

Riot Bimbo posted:

paul is the counter-revolution in saint form

He was a man of the system

Though when you put it like that it makes me wonder if there are saints out there more counter-revolutionary

Dalael posted:

I am very aware of the story of Atlantis and its myriad hypothesis. There is Timeus, Critias and a third text no one ever brings up because while it does mention "Atlantis" its only one word and pretty much refers to the ocean. Keep in mind those two things that is described by Plato:

West of the pillar of Hercules, and the island the size of Asian and Lybia. If you stick to the text, it cannot be anywhere east of the pillars of hercules which pretty much invalidates 90% of all proposed sites.

Now I want to make it clear, tho nobody is gonna care, that I don't actually believe in Atlantis per say, but this is my very favorite hypothesis and I do believe that civilization is a bit older than we think and we suffered a major reset in the YD.

Well god knows I have my share of strange notions that I like to think about, so if you are sincere, I'm definitely with sin and casting a few stones. But: if you understand that the original reference was just Plato being Plato, so any remarks he had were about as valid as Herodotus talking about giant ants being used as salt miners or WTF, why would you then treat this entirely hypothetical situation as having real, meaningful truth in it? It's contradictory.

Also, if you are sincere:

Dalael posted:

I am very aware of the story of Atlantis and its myriad hypothesis

looks to me that you are, in fact, not aware of what I posted previous. It leaves no room for "multiple origin theories" [I take it that's what you mean by "myriad hypothesis"]; it excludes everything but "Plato was talking hypothetically just like he does all the time" and confusing Atlantis with a real place is like confusing "Narnia" with "Manchester."

# ? Feb 11, 2021 23:31

Tulip: Jun 3, 2008; yeah thats pretty good

It's a really weird one to try to pin on Paul since Paul didn't become Pope and didn't center his power in Rome but in Asia Minor.

More importantly I think is that the early church wasn't like, hyper centralized. Having anything to suddenly take over at all wouldn't happen until well after Paul's death.

e: There's a very Marxist book about the revolutionary reading of Paul by Alain Badiou, surprised that one hasn't come up yet

# ? Feb 11, 2021 23:34

SHALASHASKA HAWKE: Nov 10, 2016; No child soldier in poverty by 1990

the carthaginians sailing down west Africa and running into gorillas who they thought were hairy uncivilised people is pretty cool

# ? Feb 11, 2021 23:35

Real hurthling!: Sep 11, 2001

theres a crackpot german that is convinced carthage evacuated to south america because some reddish blond hair was mentioned there once and got a full pbs special that was not convincing in its speculation

# ? Feb 11, 2021 23:41

SHALASHASKA HAWKE: Nov 10, 2016; No child soldier in poverty by 1990

Real hurthling! posted:

theres a crackpot german that is convinced carthage evacuated to south america because some reddish blond hair was mentioned there once and got a full pbs special that was not convincing in its speculation

yeah but... what if?

# ? Feb 11, 2021 23:42

Communist Thoughts: Jan 7, 2008; Our war against free speech cannot end until we silence this bronze beast!

found a weird/great book about ancient chinese sexuality from some translations of some sex handbooks

women have infinite chi that men have to tap during sex to stay vital and alive
men should always make the woman orgasm but not nut unless the woman is ovulating or they've absorbed the maximum amount of chi
if you hold back at the moment of orgasm while making the woman orgasm your yang and her yin shoot up your dick and balls, via the spinal column, and into your brain to power you up

wanking is forbidden to men but not to women, but a medical text advises them not to use dildos to excess to avoid injury

# ? Feb 11, 2021 23:58

Azathoth: Apr 3, 2001

Tulip posted:

It's a really weird one to try to pin on Paul since Paul didn't become Pope and didn't center his power in Rome but in Asia Minor.

More importantly I think is that the early church wasn't like, hyper centralized. Having anything to suddenly take over at all wouldn't happen until well after Paul's death.

e: There's a very Marxist book about the revolutionary reading of Paul by Alain Badiou, surprised that one hasn't come up yet

Yeah, during Paul's life, the idea that anyone exercised any real degree of control over the Christianity as a whole is pretty laughable, even someone of Paul's stature. As is the idea that Rome, if it felt Christianity was an actual threat, would try to subvert the religion from the inside, with just one person, instead of crushing it openly.

It wasn't like Christianity was a mass movement yet, or popular with political elites. During Paul's time it was a peasant thing that rolled in from the provinces and occasionally annoyed the local powers enough to do an actual persecution.

See, that's the other thing. Christianity today would have you believe that Rome did everything it could to stamp out Christianity, but it just wouldn't die. And while that makes for a rousing story about a plucky underdog, it's just not true. Persecution of early Christians was sporadic, and while brutal at times, quite uneven throughout the Empire even as it was happening.

Paul as spy makes for an interesting story, but it's about as accurate to biblical history as your average Kirk Cameron movie.

# ? Feb 12, 2021 00:07

twoday: May 4, 2005; C-SPAM Times best-selling author

Real hurthling! posted:

theres a crackpot german that is convinced carthage evacuated to south america because some reddish blond hair was mentioned there once and got a full pbs special that was not convincing in its speculation

please! we all know that the fleeing carthaginian nobility escaped from the sack of carthage to their secret colony in the azores, where obsidian and murex shells abound

https://www.sail-world.com/Australia/82-days-at-sea-and-Phoenicia-reaches-the-Azores/-72105?source=google

https://www.themediterraneantraveller.com/phoenician-ship-expedition/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carthaginian_coins_of_Corvo

https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2011/07/carthaginian-temples-found-in-azores.html

https://en.azoresguide.net/tale-of-the-equestrian-statue-of-corvo-island/

https://www.scirp.org/pdf/AD_2015071509562830.pdf

twoday has issued a correction as of 01:10 on Feb 12, 2021

# ? Feb 12, 2021 00:54

Platystemon: Feb 13, 2012; BREADS

twoday posted:

Amarna period artwork is notable because, since it is from the time when Akhenaton was overthrowing all of the conventions in society, it was one of the times when there was a deliberate attempt to break free of traditional artistic motifs, which is why these ducks look less "flat" than most Egyptian art

Babe! It�s 4pm, time for your duck flattening!

# ? Feb 12, 2021 00:59

Ghostlight: Sep 25, 2009; maybe for one second you can pause; try to step into another person's perspective, and understand that a watermelon is cursing me

loving whole culture is going to hell time to 3d some ducks

# ? Feb 12, 2021 01:09

HookedOnChthonics: Dec 5, 2015; Profoundly dull

Nebakenezzer posted:

Herodotus talking about giant ants being used as salt miners or WTF

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold-digging_ant

i mean tbf that one at least has some not totally crazy explanatory theories proposed

# ? Feb 12, 2021 01:09

twoday: May 4, 2005; C-SPAM Times best-selling author

the gold marmots are real, herodotus vindicated once again

# ? Feb 12, 2021 01:10

Riot Bimbo: Dec 28, 2006

Azathoth posted:

Yeah, during Paul's life, the idea that anyone exercised any real degree of control over the Christianity as a whole is pretty laughable, even someone of Paul's stature. As is the idea that Rome, if it felt Christianity was an actual threat, would try to subvert the religion from the inside, with just one person, instead of crushing it openly.

It wasn't like Christianity was a mass movement yet, or popular with political elites. During Paul's time it was a peasant thing that rolled in from the provinces and occasionally annoyed the local powers enough to do an actual persecution.

See, that's the other thing. Christianity today would have you believe that Rome did everything it could to stamp out Christianity, but it just wouldn't die. And while that makes for a rousing story about a plucky underdog, it's just not true. Persecution of early Christians was sporadic, and while brutal at times, quite uneven throughout the Empire even as it was happening.

Paul as spy makes for an interesting story, but it's about as accurate to biblical history as your average Kirk Cameron movie.

it's what he wrote that does the heavy lifting of de-fanging and making what little we have of Christ's actual ministry into something palatable for the Roman elite.

It's on him.

# ? Feb 12, 2021 01:29

Nebakenezzer: Sep 13, 2005; The Mote in God's Eye

HookedOnChthonics posted:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold-digging_ant

i mean tbf that one at least has some not totally crazy explanatory theories proposed

That wiki has the best categories: Medieval European legendary creatures. Mythological insects. Gold. Asian legendary creatures. Legendary creature stubs.

# ? Feb 12, 2021 02:12

exmachina: Mar 12, 2006; Look Closer

Riot Bimbo posted:

it's what he wrote that does the heavy lifting of de-fanging and making what little we have of Christ's actual ministry into something palatable for the Roman elite.

It's on him.

Paul was a product manager - he changed Christianity to make it palatable to Greeks and Romans.

Romans loved, and I mean looooved mystery cults. The older, the better. They were fascinated by the Jewish religion, recognising it's age, and even made quite large allowances to them. They were exempt from sacrificing to the emperor, instead the priests would make a concession in the temple.

But tell a Roman that he can't eat shellfish or wear a Woollen toga over cotton, or that he must wear a beard (pre-Hadrian) or god forbid get circumcised, and you're not getting a lot of converts.

# ? Feb 12, 2021 02:35

Benagain: Oct 10, 2007; Can you see that I am serious?; Fun Shoe

The Cartoon History of the World is not perfect and definitely shows its age in a few places, but I will forever remember it for the bit where all the Romans go "Salvation AND foreskins?! Halleluah!"

# ? Feb 12, 2021 04:46