Ancient/Classical History Forum discussion and questions on topics related to religion and mythology: the meaning of a god's tomb, Josephus, Chalindros, creation stories, Subigo, Frog-headed deity, left-handers' god, too Christian, not Christian enough, why capital-G God?

CHALINDROS
"The only lead I have is someone found it in a 'gods' book, and it was listed as 'the Mexican god of penitence.' I was curious if anyone might know more about this, such as origin, timeframe, culture, etc."

GOD FORMED IN OUR OWN IMAGE
"It has been stated that polytheistic abstraction goes hand in hand with city building. If you have a large group of people who distribute work among them, and a city environment that shelters you from most of the vagaries of nature, there is a lot of room for abstraction. Suddenly, lightning is not a spritual force of itself anymore but a tool used by some god to utter his displeasure. As society becomes stratified, so does the society of gods. However, they remain very human in their nature."

THE GREEK IN JESUS
"My contention is that Jesus was not only "influenced" by hellenization, but if not for the Hellenic influence, the Jesus religion would have only been another cult of Judaism, and not the Christianity that we know today."

HELLENISTIC JUDAISM AND QUMRAN
"Help! I can't stand it any longer. What in the world is first, second, or third temple?!!"

THE HISTORICAL JESUS: ECUMENICAL QUEST
"Don't sweat the lack of credentials. As the others have pointed out, a lot of us are self taught...and have to be as what passes for history teaching in schools these days is way beyond a sick joke."

IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE ???
"It is also interesting to note, that while most ancient religions have the gods copulating to create the universe (Egyptian and Greek), only in the Judeo/Christian one do you have God literally speaking the universe into existence."

IUS PRIMAE NOCTIS?
"I found a reference to a god called Subigo (also Subiugo) in a excerpt from St. Augustine texts. However, I have not been able to find much information on this deity besides that he was a minor god who participated during a couple's nuptial night."

JOSEPH'S TOMB?
"Do you happen to know anything about the archeological evidence for or against the veracity of Joseph's tomb? A very relevant question these days."

JOSEPHUS
"Here's an outstanding site which will give you all kinds of insights as to why for about four centuries the complete works of Josephus was the only other book besides the Bible to be found in millions of Christian homes."

KERMIT THE GODDESS
"Can anyone provide any sources for information on the frog headed Egyptian fertility Goddess Heket? I have been unable to find any artwork depicting her likeness."

LANGUAGE GODDESS?
"Where can I find out the name or names of the Goddess and Language? Is there such a Goddess in both Greek and Roman mythology?"

NOT CHRISTIAN ENOUGH
"Is there any reason why you would have only 'biased' - 'un-historical' writings about Jesus Christ? It definitely puts a dent in your so-called 'History' site, when the information is tainted; especially with the one man that caused us to use His death, burial, and resurrection as a historical marker... B.C.-A.D."

A SINISTER FORCE
"Was there a Roman (or Greek) deity who cared for left handed people?"

TOO CHRISTIAN
"I've often wondered why Hindu religion and Gods are referred to as myth, but no one refers to Christianity as mythology. Why is there not a historical Krishna section as there is a historical Jesus section?"

WHAT'S A GOD'S TOMB?
They Found Osiris' Tomb -- What does it mean to find the tomb of a god or is it really something else entirely?

WHOSE CREATION STORY CAME FIRST?
"Yes, these are oral traditions, but I suspect that some scholars have at least tried to estimate their mutual chronological relations. It is generally admitted, for instance, that the stories of Sumer influenced the whole Mesopotamia, which in turn influenced Israel and Greece, and so forth."