Salvete, Quiriti.
Nicolaus Moravius wrote:
> Consider by way of contrast, if you will, the indecent haste which got us
> Brits. our rather embarrassing 'God Save the King' (or, currently, 'Queen').
> The English Whigs borrowed it from the Jacobites
> and first sang it publicly to celebrate their first victory over them in
> 1745. We've been stuck with the dam' thing ever since. I believe it is the
> oldest national anthem known - if so, it proves that there's such a thing as
> historical progress.
It became a very popular tune for national songs.Imperial Germany had at least
three patriotic songs to that tune
One was solid navy (Kaiser und Admiral), the Kaiser's Birthday song
and "Heil Dir im Siegeskranz" which was an Imperial national anthem.
And the U.S. got "My Country T'is of Thee" which I never liked
(I have several dislikes of the "Pilgrims").
"Senatus Publiusque
Romanum Imperium
We give you rebirth..."
A Definite "Non" on that one. Eh?
> Anyway, that's what happens when you want something in a hurry. Perhaps we
> should sponsor a competition, say for the next Apollonian Games? (Not that a
> winner need be declared afterward, just to give us time to see what we can
> produce).
This idea sounds like a good beginning to me.The contest and the caveat that the
winner is
Not the Official Anthem. But it will put ideas in front
of the citizens.
I would suggest that it be a known tune that most can get through some means.
I can do better with Cyrrilic than I can with musical notation, so sheet music
would leave me and other such illiterates out in the cold. MIDI files would
work.
For the sake of legal hassles, or simple paranoia about them, any tune should
be in the public domain. That is what, at lest 75 years old without whatever
copyright extensions that might apply? Other than that I can see it ranging
from the light hearted
to the ponderously serious. Latin should get automatic extra points. Otherwise
ANY of
the languages of the Quirites Nova Romanum. [You *have* noticed I can't do
correct endings?]
Just some thoughts inspired by Moravius.
> For myself, having a dim recollection of sitting on the floor of the bar at
> the Pagan Federation Annual Conference in London last night, fitting the
> tune of the European Union's Federal Anthem ('An die Freude' from
> Beethoven's Ninth) to the words of Lewis Carrol's 'The Lobster Quadrille', I
> hereby declare myself mentally unfit to make any further sensible
> contribution in this particular area of Nova Roman endeavour.
"Lobster Quadrille"? Why not? I think one of the best national songs is
"Waltzing Matilda",largely because it is a song the people of a national
adopted, rather than being a construct
to please "most" political elements, or the political tide of the period.
"Dixie" is another good one,
but not for us.
Enough!
Bene vale.
C. Aelius Ericius.
|
Zaidman, Louise Bruit and Pauline Schmitt Pantel,
_Religion in the Ancient Greek City_, trans. Paul
Cartledge (Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 1992), xx +
278pp., maps and line drawings, ISBN 0-521-41262-5
(hardcover), 0-521-42357-0 (paperback), originally
published in French as _La Religion grecque_ (Paris,
Armand Colin, 1989). Four parts, fifteen chapters.
This study is divided into four major divisions:
1)How should we study Greek civic religion?;
2)Cult-practices;
3)Systems for representing the divine;
4)Conclusion.
The aim of this study, as the authors explain in
their preface, was not "to write a grand synthesis on
Greek religion," but to provide an introductory
framework reflecting recent work in the field. In this
regard, they have done an admirable job! However, this
work is more than just a simple exposition of trends
in the field, as per Jan Bremmer's update of Burkert's
_Greek Religion_, but an interpretive study that
stands well on its own. True, it does not have the
encyclopedic thoroughness of Burkert's synthesis, but
for that reason it is far more valuable, especially
for those beginning the study of ancient Hellenic
polytheism. The prose translation by Paul Cartledge,
who also updated the work even further, reads very
smoothly, which also makes this study in many ways
more valuable by avoiding the turgid academic language
found in Burkert.
One of the key aspects of this study is the attempt
to see Hellenic religion through the eyes of its
ancient practitioners, to grasp its alienness from
ourselves, and, especially, to avoid the monotheistic
bias so typical of work in this field. At times it is
very tempting to think the authors are themselves
practicing pagans--making this work even
more valuable for the modern pagan.
Their discussion of ancient concepts such as "the
sacred," "purity and pollution," "piety", "ritual,"
"prayer," and "sacrifice" is quite enlightening in
regard to the meaning of the ancient terms to the
ancients, along with expository descriptions of the
actual methods in use by the ancients--which draw upon
literary, epigraphic, anthropological, and
archaeological evidence.
Additionally, I found the chapters on Religious
personnel and Places of cult to be most
enlightening, and particularly valuable to the modern
practitioner, as were those on religious associations
and rites of passage. The charts and discussions of
the various mythological genealogies also proved most
enlightening.
However, for this reviewer, the most valuable
discussion was this study's explanation of the web
of inter-related interests of the gods, and how and
why
the gods were worshipped in different ways in
different cities and regions, or even within the
same city--problems which are rarely resolved
satisfactorily by other studies. In short, with any
event in their lives, such as marriage, death, birth,
planting, harvesting, etc., the ancient Hellenes
prayed and sacrificed to many gods and spirits, each
of which impacted the outcome of any given event.
For example, the Hellenic girl, facing marriage,
prayed not merely to Hera, but also to Zeus,
Artemis, Hymen, Peitho, Hermes, Demeter, Athene, and
Aphrodite (among others), all done according to set
rules and symbolism, tied in to a highly ritualistic
structure emphasizing the change from childhood to
adulthood, and married life. The reason is similar to
those with whom we, today, must deal in our own
events. For example, if we wish to drive our first
car, we must
deal with a driving instructor and various driving
examiners to receive a driving license; car
salespeople; perhaps bankers to get the money to buy
the car; along with various mechanics and others to
keep the car running. All these, and others, are
required for us to drive our cars successfully;
similarly, the ancients had to deal with any number
of gods and spirits for a marriage, a childbirth,
etc.,
to be successful.
Also, the authors do a wonderful job explaining why
each city will usually have a number of temples and
cult places dedicated to the same deity, but each
with differing rituals. Rather than the equivalent of
"parish churches", the deities, like humans, can be
approached for different kinds of help, but must be
so approached in different ways. Thus, for example, I
might be approached as a friend, sibling, lover,
teacher, lawyer, writer, researcher, etc., for
different kinds of help, but the method of approach
will differ depending on what kind of help one aims
to ask from me. Similarly, the ancients approached
deities who had different functions and powers.
All in all, then, this is the book on ancient
Hellenic religion one should read and study as an
introduction. Only after this work has been mastered
should one turn to other, more advanced studies, such
as Burkert's encyclopedic synthesis.
This study considerably enlarged my knowledge of
ancient Hellenic polytheism, enabling me to see the
"system" (if one wishes to call it that) which would
have been quite apparent to the ancients, but which,
due to the alienness of its structure, seems utterly
lacking to us moderns. While highly readable, I
nonetheless was forced to read this study at a slow
pace, due entirely to the intellectually compelling
connections and ideas which occurred to me about other
forms of ancient polytheism (eg., Roman, Egyptian,
Babylonian, Indian, etc.) as I read nearly every page.
Nonetheless, I found my reading of this study a
thoroughly engaging, fascinating, and enriching
experience, which anyone interested in the workings of
ancient polytheism--not just that of the Hellenes, but
also those of all other peoples--would do well to
read.
L. Licinius Varro Murena
> thus receives my highest recommendation
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Bid and sell for free at <a href="http://auctions.yahoo.com" target="_top" >http://auctions.yahoo.com</a>
>
|
