Dido and Aeneas

Virgil, Aeneid (1st. century A.D.)
Aeneas, son of Dardanus and Aphrodite
Hector, son of Priam
Laocoön, priest of Poseidon
Priam, king of Troy
Pyrrhus, son of Achilles

Aphrodite/Venus
Juno/Hera
Athena/Minerva
Hermes/Mercury

Phoenicians
Tyre, Sidon
Carthage
Dido

Rome, 753 B.C.
Romulus and Remus
Sabines
Etruscans
509 B.C. revolt/revolution

Monotheism

Hagar = Abraham = Sarah
         _|_________|_
           |                  |
      Ishmael         Isaac

Islam, submission
Hajj
Ka'bah

Ancient "Religion" - Polytheism

Sacrifice
auspices
Prayer
do ut des (I give, so that you may give)
Tolerant

Translation
Zeus / Jupiter / Ammon

Roman cults

 Eastern cults
  • divides nature into component parts
  • many deities for many occasions
  • overwhelming flood of nature
  • initiated into one cult only

Jupiter - sky
Neptune - sea
Mars - war

 Magna Mater/Cybele/Demeter
Isis
Bacchus/Dionysus
 

suffering god

  • Attis (Cybele)
  • Osiris (Isis)

Magna Mater
Cybele / Demeter / Ceres
Macedonia
Phrygia
galli < gallus (cock)

T. Lucretius Carus (ca. 100 - ca. 55 B.C.)
Epicurean
ataraxia (tranquility of the soul)
atoms

 

Polytheism Monotheism
many gods representing forces of nature one god created nature and its forces
gods have physical shape god is spirit only
represented with pictures, statues unrepresentable!

idolatry
Ten Commandments (Exodus 20)

Exclusive (or intolerant)
Jews / gentiles
Christians / pagans
Muslims / infidels
vilification of the other