GODZILLA and the Divine

#Godzilla and the Divine.

#titans #greekmythology #arkhai #romans838

I had one of those stream of consciousness moments and want to share my chain of thoughts.

The latest Godzilla monster has several concepts drawn from mythology, both Asian and European, as well as from the mythos of previous #Monsterverse movies.

One of these is describing the Monsters as #Titans and ancient gods and depicting them as if they were as much primal forces as biological entities.

The least said about the violations of inverse square laws in relation to mass the better.

I'm looking at the concepts!

Like the Titans and Giants of Hesiod's Theogony they are both forces and beings, ideas of forces in conflict that predate and are more powerful than mere humans.

However like the Titans and Gods they can be both dangerous yet benevolent, worshipped and feared.

Like those Elder Gods they fight younger gods.

Some humans serve them Others guard them Some exploit their powers

We also have giants sleeping below mountains a theme found in several mythologies and the Hollow Earth of connected chambers is also an ancient myth that has spread across Eurasia.

So if you're a #mythology fan there's yet another reason to enjoy the movie.

Titans in action ! Myths embodied !

Maybe Rodan once slept under Krakatoa or Thera or Toba ?

Godzilla and Ghidorah are fortunately fiction though their message of respecting Nature's power is important.

Thinking about primal forces and powers in one of those odd leaps of connection lead me to contemplate another Greek word that might well describe these monsters: ARKHAI

ARKHAI is a odd word found in Romans 8:38 but also secular literature to describe rulers.

I've seen it translated as powers, rulers, demons, authorities, and principalities.

While it can be used to describe human rulers it seems to indicates beings human or not who are both sources and wielders of power. Powers begins and moves from them over lesser beings.
In the verse in Romans it follows the angels suggesting supernatural beings are being referred to, perhaps a reference to the Gnostic belief in evil spirits ruling the mortal world?

Whether Paul was referring to spiritual or human powers over others he ends by stating that nothing in this world can separate us from the love of God.

It could also be argued that Godzilla is an agent of the Divine, a guardian defending humans from Ghidorah, revived from (near) death by the angelic Mothra.

So what can we learn? Not to fear primal forces ?

As Paul puts it not life or death or anything in Creation can stop Love except maybe human lack of faith?

Enjoy Godzilla but read Romans 8:38 too !

Serpent Queens and Snake Goddesses

Who was SHAHMARAN? How is she linked to other Serpentine Myths?

#serpentqueens and #snakegodesses and an #indoeuropean #myth found across Eurasia from Greece to India and beyond.

In the Middle East there are tales in Syria Turkey Iran and elsewhere of a shape shifting serpent queen who marries a human and shares treasure called #ShahMaran.

She is depicted in folk art and on jewellery and amulets as a woman wearing jewels and a crown with a snake or dragon body.

France has the legend of Melusine who is said to have an half serpent form and have come to her spring from something in Albania or the Eastern Mediterranean. 

Greece has Lamia and the Echidna who are part serpent.

India and SE Asia has stories of nagas  such as this couple!

Given the spread of the myth it appears to be IndoEuropean or even Pre Indo European as the nagas are described as living in caves and rivers.

Another clue is the description of Echidna being pre Olympian and also in one story the ancestress of the Scythians of Central Asia and the Steppes who probably spoke an Indo European Language.

In Greece Echidna like Tiamat in Mesopotamia is a mother of monsters but those monsters were more hostile to the Olympians than humans though there is the story of the Lamia  who kills children and preys on adults too.

My personal suspicion is that this sometimes friendly and sometimes hostile entity may even predate the IndoEuropean expansion? 

Perhaps she was originally a goddess of water carving out rivers and channels through primodrial wetlands into seas and lakes . The twisting body of a snake  may have seemed like the meanders of a river to the ancients.

So why compare Shahmaran to Echidna or the nagas?

It shows us both convergence and divergence play a role to cultural development with preIndoEuropean beliefs across Eurasia fusing with IndoEuropean ideas about dragons and serpents yet changing over the centuries so we have Melusine the Fay with children with monstrous features and yet Nu Wa the half serpent mother creatrix in ancient Chinese myth and Tiamat and Nagas.

Both the vampiric Lamia of Greece and Shahmaran the majestic are echoes or shadows or something else of a power ancient and primal.

The Aphrodisias Graces

This is the oldest image I could find online. Oldest in being the oldest surviving image. We know from pausanias there were older paintings and sculptures but none have survived. Aphrodisias is a city of Asia Minor now Turkey.

Editorial note bumping this for upcoming IWD

Kronos and Zeus The old and the New

Kronos  and Zeus

A quote from Timotheus of Miletus preserved by Athenaeus in Deiphnosophists 3.122 d page 69 vol 2 in the loeb edition.

Οὐκ ἀείδω τὰ παλαιά. Καινὰ γὰρ μάλα κρείσσω.

Νέος ὁ Ζεὺς βασιλεύει. Τὸ πάλαι δ̓ ἦν

Κρόνος ἄρχων. Ἀπίτω μοῦσα παλαιά.

Literally

Not I sing (of) the ancient things new / recent for rather (is) greater /better.

New (is) the Zeus reigning the ancient but was Kronos ruling go away muse ancient

Titanic Names

A speculative  look at the names of some of the Titans.

Maia mother of Hermes.

Possibly a local Arcadian form of the great mother goddess as her name has several meanings, mother, midwife, good mother, dame, lady,

Themis T aspirated emis  possibly connected to the verb Titheemi?

Iapetus the only similar greek word is the Verb Iaptoo

Leto is Leetoo in Attic Ionic but Laatoo in Doric.

Graves links this toa Semitic goddess but another overlooked possiblity is the obscure verb law meaning Watch. Leto as the goddess who watches?

Koios The Ionic dialect has a verb Koeoo that has the same meaning as Noeoo so Koios may have been the Mindful One?

His Consort Phoibee Yes its aspirate p in greek not Fibee! The radiant one.

Hyperion father of the Sun Moon and Dawn Overlord ?

Kreios Kreion Lord master

Names have meanings but the meanings of these names predate the Olympian gods and it may well that given how words can change of the centuries that the names meant something different thousands of years ago.

Probably about 3500 years ago or older since some people think the myths about  Battle of the Titans or the gods fleeing Typhon reflect dim memories of the eruption of Thera?  Did religion in Greece change after Thera's eruption?

Something to to think about and google the concept of earthstorms?

Half Humans Centaurs and Satyrs

Half Humans Centaurs and Satyrs

The Centaurs disrupting the Lapith wedding feast is a story depicting the Centaurs as strange hybrids of human and horse, man and beast, with the Centaurs having equine ears and lower torsos.

Satyrs however are also depicted as having horse tails and ears.

The idea that Satyrs are part goat dates to the Roman era.

The Romans seem to have thought Satyrs and Fauns were the same.

So what underlies these images.

Animal features as symbols of lust?

Depictions of nature spirits possessing male cultists during Dionysiac rituals?

Old  stories about mountain tribes so primitive they wore fur rather than wool ?

Perhaps a sly dig at randy aristocrats behaviour during parties since horse ownership was a luxury for the wealthy?

Given the antiquity of these myths perhaps all the explanations are equally valid?

Bear in mind when you're looking at art featuring myths that the original artist's intentions may differ from your interpretations.