Greek mythology’s bureaucratic structure makes it hard to get divine help.
February 5, 2010 5 Comments
Greek Mythology’s bureaucratic nature.
Greek mythology is a bureaucracy: Ares the god of war, Athena the goddess of wisdom, Aphrodite the goddess of love. The Greek gods have very specific job titles and union or godly rules that make it so that each god only does work within their job description, whether: it is love, war, wisdom, ect.
That is a very cumbersome and confusing way to deliver divine requests. You could spend two hours at the temple of Aphrodite in line with your love problem, finally get to the front, and then find out that your problem is actually a wisdom problem and not a love problem and that the temple of Athena is the only place where you can solve your problem and that the temple of Athena is clear across the city.
It is also lame asking Greek gods or goddesses for help if they are lazy and unmotivated, because they might try to give you the runaround when you ask them for assistance.
Example: You ask a Greek god for help and he tells you that it is not his department. Then he transfers you to another god, the new god refers you to a different god, and that god recommends you talk to the first god you talked to.
That’s why I like Christianity, no matter what your problem is, you always go to the same person; not to mention all the convenient locations located across the world.
It’s tough running a nation when you worship a lot of gods. Greek Mythology has about thirty major gods. If your nation practices Greek Mythology, you are looking at thirty days off a year minimal, just for religious holidays.
Historians believed that Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in 337 AD to cut down the Roman religious holidays from thirty to two.
OK, I can see where there might be some inconvenience to polytheism, especially when it comes to Temple worship. Thirty Major Greek Gods is perhaps a bit of an exaggeration; I’ve studied this quite a bit and for the life of me I can’t think of more than half that number that I would call “major”. Once you get to the Romans, maybe… But then again, that’s why they built the Pantheon, you know, the club only Jesus is cheap enough not to want to join because he doesn’t play well with others?
You say that Christians only have two national holidays, though, and that confuses me. Frist of all, I’m running through them in my head and I’m getting Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, Ascension, Twelfth Night, Mardi Gras, All Saints’ Day—Not to mention the fact that every single Sunday is supposed to be devoted to God, right?
And then there’s the matter of the convenience of churches over temples, but really, aren’t most churches closed every day except Sunday? Except for the Catholics, of course, but then they have all of those Saints, all of whom have their own holidays etc and we’re right back to polytheism.
“Historians believed that Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in 337 AD to cut down the Roman religious holidays from thirty to two.”
I dearly would like to know who those historians are, because they must have read some good fantasy. As polypsyches mentioned, the holiday count is itself completely wrong, but there were a time during the reign of Emperor Trajanus (98 – 117 AD) that a full third of the Roman year consisted of festivals. Good for the economy (Romans and foreigners get to spend money), morale (the state sponsors the entertainments, races and gladiatorial events) and religion (what god, pagan or otherwise, do not enjoy an over-the-top festival in his/her name?).
But to the point, Constantine actually nearly had the Empire converted to Mithraism instead of Christianity. Originally a minor Persian sun diety, Mithras experienced popularity in the Roman Empire, also as god of justice and protector of soldiers. Since the Roman Empire was basically and Empire of active and retired soldiers, Mithras was practically a common demoninator. But it was too exclusive – only soldiers belonged to his cult. The women, the poor and the slaves flocked to Christianity which were more inclusive.
So Constantine had to decide which was more important – a state religion of war, or peace?
Then again, wouldn’t you prefer specialised gods who are really good in theur field to a jack-of-all-trades that’s supposed to do everything? ;P
Unfortunately, if I subscribed to Greek gods as my ticket to an afterlife, I’d be damned to hell for all eternity. I’m ADD and there is no way that I could remember which one I had/or had not worshipped that day. So glad that I have other choices!
I like to think of the “run around” amusingly described in your post as a journey. Ultimately the answer reside within one’s self – where God is also said to reside, as that still, small, voice. I think it may have been a terrible mistake to get rid of so many holidays. This world is operating at a frantic, unsustainable pace, and hardly anyone knows who, they are or what they’re really here for, anymore. Christianity doesn’t really solve any problems. It’s a system of faith that is supposed to help us to grapple effectively with problems that arise. For example, say you want revenge on someone. Jesus will tell you to turn the other cheek. Because you love Jesus, that’s exactly what you do. But the anger, and desire for revenge still remain, with most people, anyway. Most people repress these negative emotions and as a result end up doing stupid things out of the blue because the repressed emotion exploded at the wrong time.
An intllegient point of view, well expressed! Thanks!