Saturday 28 November 2015

Matthew 13:57

#biblestudy #greeklanguage

Matthew 13:57 is one of those very popular verse that gets quoted a lot .

Many of us relate to being rejected to friends or family for various reasons apart from being a prophet.

Jesus has gone back to Nazareth and hassled and heckled and mocked by local residents.

His reply is very ironic and often gets translated or (mis)quoted as prophets are not honored in their own country or some variation on that.

So whats the actual text?

Not is (a) prophet atimos = unvalued / worthless / dishonored in not in the homeland and in the house his

Atimos is one of those words that tend to vary ever so slightly in meaning but the basic idea is that he is un / dis / not / having worth value honour

In  Modern 21st century English perhaps

A Prophet is honored anywhere but his own homeland and household or birthplace and home

IN this context I accept but or expect as a translation of ei mee.

The double negative isnt a form English is comfortable with ?

This is one of those deceptively simple verse you have to change the syntax and word order around a bit to get the full impact in English without it sounding awkward???

You might want to look up timos timee and the verb timaw and decide for your self whether you want to use honour value or worth.

Friday 27 November 2015

THE ODD HISTORY OF BASILICAS

#BASILICAS #basilica

Basilica is actually an very odd word with a strange history that shows how a word can change in usage and meaning as it shifts from one language to another.

Basilica derives from greek and is an adjective meaning royal

Now there was a building in Athens called the Basilike Stoa used as a law court by the King Archon and this function is a distant echo of the time when Athen had kings and Kings were Judges.

It is believed this is the source of a Latin word.

Vitruvius a few centuries later refers to basilicas as buildings in the centre of cities that functioned as public halls used for business and law courts.

Yet Roman basilicas generally had their colonnades INSIDE and not along one side of a building or porch HOWEVER Roman era Basilicas often occupy the same position next to a forum  as a stoa did in the agoras of Greek and Hellenistic polises.

Yet why use a Greek loan word when a Latin equivalent was available?

I suspect some of the Hellenistic Greek or Hellenized Asian monarchs were building basilike stoa of their own but adapted to local climate traditions?

Perhap Roman architect studying in Greek and Asia Minor brought back the idea to Rome and then it spread back to the province and basilicas begun replacing the  stoa ?

In a final twist Basilicas once again became Kingly Houses for a different kind of King that of heaven when Christians took over basilicas for churches and then the word became associated with large churches and bishops.

From House to Public Hall back to House!



Secular Saturday

SECULAR SATURDAY ANNOUNCEMENT

People due to a change to my schedule I'm moving the midweek #metousia posts to Saturday for a while

Also a request this weekend is an online shopping frenzy for some.

Could you mention my #redbubble url to others?

They have a 20% off discount and 40% on posters!

There's a link on my blog! Thanx

Sunday 22 November 2015

Prayer For Terrorists 2015 PRO version

No Bible study this Sunday.
I'm just too appalled by the volumes of anti refugee remarks and islamophobia on the web

A Poster with the text of Prayer for Terrorists


I've posted the text for Prayer for terrrorists a few times before and decided rather than do "slackactivism" and just talking on action to sell the prose piece as a poster or other item and hopefully raise some money for charity donations since people are not using the paypal tipjar!

View the site Read the Text. Share BUT Encourage people to buy !

I don't get "FREE WIFI" and I am not on one of those unlimited data plans!

Usually when I am at the library or mall I have far too much shopping ot carry to lug my laptop along as well since I do NOT have a car and have to carry stuff home on foot.


Friday 20 November 2015

FOLLOW METOUSIA AND GIVE FEEDBACK

I see from checking the stats while I know Meotousia has some fans and readers on G+ none of you are actually following the blog ... or using the paypal tip jar.

Christmas is coming. Please consider following the blog and using the Paypal link. If its not working let me know?

If you would rather see the blog via Wordpress maybe or another site let me know?

The stats claim I have had 5000 views. Personally I suspect many viewers are actually botware. However humans out there and AIs please use the tipjar.

If 50% of you donated just one dollar each  I could tithe 10% to charity and still have money to cover all my December and January bills !

My one current casual job shuts down over the summer break in Australia so i could really use an income and savings boost.

Finally would anyone like to see some of these articles arranged and edited into a book a pdf ebook perhaps?

Thank You Julie Vaux

Ideology Idiots And ISI

#IDEOLOGY #IDIOTS AND #ISI

Idiot and Ideology both derive from #GREEK words.

Idiot came into usage in English in the 1300s via French.

It appears sometimes spelt with a y in books by Wyclif Langland Caxton and Chaucer.

In Latin it was used to describe someone who was uneducated and ignorant but the original Greek usage was a bit broader and it was used to describe people who were too private ill informed ignorant and uninvolved in politics society and current affairs. People who were peculiar and eccentric in a very negative way.

The origin of idiot and ideology was the word idios private selfish peculiar.

#Ideology is a much more recent formation and vexation whose usage in English dates to the late 18th century again coming in via French.

It is an unfortunate and troublesome child of philosophy and one of its several dictionary meanings is " scheme of ideas ... justifying actions ..."

So why have I linked this to ISI in the title.

They use a malignant ideology to justify their actions and one aspect of it is an alleged rejection of Western values. I say allegedly as they seem to have no problems with using Western technology or ideas like social media and propaganda.

They also hate democracy and want a caliphate.

Who invented democracy?

THE GREEKS

along with other annoying "western" values like experimentation, scientific method, logic, the spiritual value of music, philosophy as an ends to wisdom, and much more.

ISI's true ideology and aim seems to be that of most dictatorships power thru promoting ignorance and fear. History betrayed into propaganda. Emphasis on past enmities.

One way to defy ISI ??? Study. Counterbalance propaganda with facts.
Insist on eyewitness reports. Don't over interpret events.

Support Western Values.

Revenge is not one of them.

Consider Solon's reforms. He would not permit one faction to have more power than another or act in vengeance or let himself be pushed into becoming an oligarch to tyrant. He sought to strengthen Athens thru a balance of power.

(see Plutarchs life of Solon)

BALANCE and Moderation. Two more "Western values" !

Don't be a vengeful idiot like ISI Be Aware and practice balance and moderation!

and READ the Classics!


(OED and LSJ used for notes on ideology and idiot)

Sunday 8 November 2015

Scribes and Householders

#newtestament greek #classicalgreek #biblestudy #greek

Matthew 13:51

because / by / thru this thing (understanding parables?) every scribe who has studied into (possibly within in this context) the realm of of the heavens like is a (hu)man housemaster ( in sense of owner of property sometimes translate householder not housekeeper / servant
who brings forth out of the treasur(y) his new and old (treasures)

A grammateus is generally presumed to be a "SCRIBE" or a scholar of the Jewish scriptures in the New testament but a grammateus can also be a teacher or clerk or someone who is literate and earns money by being literate.

This is 1st century ad Palestine  an era in which many home owners Jewish or greek or hellenized jew or other pagans might have barely had the equivalent of say basic primary school .

Whether your education is secular or theological like a compotent home owner you should know how and when to make use of valuables you have in store.

This is a sound principle that can be applied to things other than parables and theology to knowledge and learning in general.

Use treasure wisely!

I'm a bit off schedule due to an ear infection and the joy of installing new software over the weekend.

Check out the mid week posts on the Ionian confederacy.

Next mid week post should be on basilicas!


Friday 6 November 2015

Two More Smyrna Maps

#smyrna #history #geography

I've been searching through Google image to find the most useful maps to share with you.



I quite like this old map because it clearly shows the location of the site of the Hellenistic city in an area now a suburb of the modern city. Plus silting is indicated and the surrounding hills  and how the Ionian colonists and later Hellenistic era Greeks sensibly built their cities and harbours north and south of the river deltas.

History and Geography interact.

This is why a GOOD Classicist truly is a generalist who knows some science too?!

One more map showing the surrounding areas and how very lucky or careful the colonists were picking their site!