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Alexander Of Abonoteichus
Alexander of Abonoteichus ( ''Aléxandros ho Abōnoteichítēs''), also called Alexander the Paphlagonian ( CE), was a Greek mystic and oracle, and the founder of the Glycon cult that briefly achieved wide popularity in the Roman world. The contemporary writer Lucian reports that he was an utter fraud – the god Glycon was supposedly made up of a live snake with an artificial head. The vivid narrative of his career given by Lucian might be taken as fictitious but for the corroboration of certain coins of the emperors Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius and of a statue of Alexander, said by Athenagoras to have stood in the forum of Parium. This cites: *Lucian, *Samuel Dill, ''Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius'' (1904) * F. Gregorovius, ''The Emperor Hadrian'', trans. by M. E. Robinson (1898). There is further evidence from inscriptions. Lucian describes him as having swindled many people and engaged, through his followers, in various forms of thuggery. The strength of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abonoteichus
Abonoteichos (, demonym: , ), later Ionopolis (, ; ), was an ancient city in Asia Minor, on the site of modern İnebolu (in Asian Turkey), and remains a Latin Catholic titular see. History Abonoteichos was a town on the coast of Paphlagonia, memorable as the birthplace of the infamous fortuneteller Alexander Abonoteichites, founder of the cult of Glycon, of whom Lucian left an amusing account in the treatise bearing his name. According to Lucian, Alexander petitioned the Roman emperor (probably Antoninus Pius) that the name of his native place should be changed from Abonoteichos to Ionopolis; and whether the emperor granted the request or not, we know that the town was called Ionopolis in later times. Not only does this name occur in Marcian of Heraclea and Hierocles, but on coins of the time of Antoninus and Lucius Verus we find the legend Ionopoliton (), as well as Abonoteichiton (). The modern Turkish name İnebolu is evidently a corruption of Ionopolis. It was the site ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epicureans
Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded 307 BCE based upon the teachings of Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher. Epicurus was an atomist and materialist, following in the steps of Democritus. His materialism led him to religious skepticism and a general attack on superstition and divine intervention. Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism, and its main opponent later became Stoicism. It is a form of hedonism insofar as it declares pleasure to be its sole intrinsic goal. However, the concept that the absence of pain and fear constitutes the greatest pleasure, and its advocacy of a simple life, make it very different from hedonism as colloquially understood. Following the Cyrenaic philosopher Aristippus, Epicurus believed that the greatest good was to seek modest, sustainable pleasure in the form of a state of '' ataraxia'' (tranquility and freedom from fear) and ''aponia'' (the absence of bodily pain) through knowledge of the workings of the world an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eleusis
Elefsina () or Eleusis ( ; ) is a suburban city and Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in Athens metropolitan area. It belongs to West Attica regional unit of Greece. It is located in the Thriasio Plain, at the northernmost end of the Saronic Gulf. North of Elefsina are Mandra, Greece, Mandra and Magoula, Attica, Magoula, while Aspropyrgos is to the northeast. It is the site of the Eleusinian Mysteries and the birthplace of Aeschylus. Today, Elefsina is a major industrial centre, with the largest oil refinery in Greece as well as the home of the Aeschylia Festival, the longest-lived arts event in the Attica Region. On 11 November 2016, Elefsina was named the European Capital of Culture for 2021, which became effective in 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic postponement. Etymology The word ''Eleusis'' first appears in the ''Orphic Hymn to Eleusinian Demeter'': «Δήμητρος Ελευσινίας, θυμίαμα στύρακα». Also Hesychius of Alexand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mystery Cult
Mystery religions, mystery cults, sacred mysteries or simply mysteries (), were religious schools of the Greco-Roman world for which participation was reserved to initiates ''(mystai)''. The main characteristic of these religious schools was the secrecy associated with the particulars of the initiation and the ritual practice, which may not be revealed to outsiders. The most famous mysteries of Greco-Roman antiquity were the Eleusinian Mysteries, which predated the Greek Dark Ages. The mystery schools flourished in Late Antiquity; Emperor Julian, of the mid-4th century, is believed by some scholars to have been associated with various mystery cults—most notably the mithraists. Due to the secret nature of the schools, and because the mystery religions of Late Antiquity were persecuted by the Christian Roman Empire from the 4th century, the details of these religious practices are derived from descriptions, imagery and cross-cultural studies. Justin Martyr in the 2nd century e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glycon Bronze Coin
Glycon, also spelled Glykon ( ''Glýkōn'', : ''Glýkōnos''), was an ancient snake god. He had a large and influential cult within the Roman Empire in the 2nd century, with contemporary satirist Lucian providing the primary literary reference to the deity. Lucian claimed Glycon was created in the mid-2nd century by the Greek prophet Alexander of Abonoteichos. Lucian was ill-disposed toward the cult, calling Alexander a false prophet, accusing the whole enterprise of being a hoax, and that Glycon himself was a hand puppet. Macedonian cultural roots The cult possibly originated in Macedonia, where similar snake cults had existed for centuries. The Macedonians believed snakes had magical powers relating to fertility and had a rich mythology on this subject, for example the story of Olympias's impregnation by Zeus disguised as a serpent. Early years At least initially, the cult did not worship an abstraction or a spirit of a snake but an actual, physical serpent that was said ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Obolus
The obol (, ''obolos'', also ὀβελός (''obelós''), ὀβελλός (''obellós''), ὀδελός (''odelós''). "nail, metal spit"; ) was a form of ancient Greek currency and weight. Currency Obols were used from early times. According to Plutarch they were originally spits of copper or bronze traded by weight, while six obols make a drachma or a handful, since that was as many as the hand could grasp. Heraklides of Pontus (died 310 BC) is cited as having mentioned the obols of Heraion and also gives the etymology of ''obolos'' (the name of the coin) from ''obelos'' (the word for "spit, spike, nail"). Similarly, the historian Ephorus in his equally lost work ''On Inventions'' (mid 4th century BC) is said to have mentioned the obols of Heraion. Excavations at Argos discovered several dozen of these early obols, dated well before 800 BC; they are now displayed at the Numismatic Museum of Athens. Archaeologists today describe the iron spits as "utensil- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Drachma
In ancient Greece, the drachma (, ; Grammatical number, pl. drachmae or drachmas) was an ancient currency unit issued by many city-states during a period of ten centuries, from the Archaic Greece, Archaic period throughout the Classical Greece, Classical period, the Hellenistic period up to the Roman period. The ancient drachma originated in Greece around the 6th century BC. The coin, usually made of silver or sometimes gold had its origins in a bartering system that referred to a drachma as a handful of wooden spits or arrows. The drachma was unique to each city state that minted them, and were sometimes circulated all over the Mediterranean. The coinage of Classical Athens, Athens was considered to be the strongest and became the most popular. Origins The name ''drachma'' is derived from the verb (, "(I) grasp"). It is believed that the same word with the meaning of "handful" or "handle" is found in Linear B tablets of the Mycenaean Greece, Mycenean Pylos. Initially a dra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snake
Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors and relatives, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads ( cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most only have one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Lizards have independently evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs at least twenty-five times via convergent evolution, leading to many lineages of legless lizards. These resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ears, which snakes lack, althoug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apollo
Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, music and dance, truth and prophecy, healing and diseases, the Sun and light, poetry, and more. One of the most important and complex of the Greek gods, he is the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin brother of Artemis, goddess of the hunt. He is considered to be the most beautiful god and is represented as the ideal of the ''kouros'' (ephebe, or a beardless, athletic youth). Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as ''Apulu''. As the patron deity of Delphi (''Apollo Pythios''), Apollo is an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Pythia, Delphic Oracle and also the deity of ritual purification. His oracles were often consulted for guidance in various matters. He was in general seen as the god who affords help and wards off e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euxine
The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia (country), Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. The Black Sea is Inflow (hydrology), supplied by major rivers, principally the Danube, Dnieper and Dniester. Consequently, while six countries have a coastline on the sea, its drainage basin includes parts of 24 countries in Europe. The Black Sea, not including the Sea of Azov, covers , has a maximum depth of , and a volume of . Most of its coasts ascend rapidly. These rises are the Pontic Mountains to the south, bar the southwest-facing peninsulas, the Caucasus Mountains to the east, and the Crimean Mountains to the mid-north. In the west, the coast is generally small floodplains below foothills such as the Strandzha; Cape Emine, a dwindling of the east end ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ionopolis
Abonoteichos (, demonym: , ), later Ionopolis (, ; ), was an ancient city in Asia Minor, on the site of modern İnebolu (in Asian Turkey), and remains a Latin Catholic titular see. History Abonoteichos was a town on the coast of Paphlagonia, memorable as the birthplace of the infamous fortuneteller Alexander of Abonoteichus, Alexander Abonoteichites, founder of the cult of Glycon, of whom Lucian left an amusing account in the treatise bearing his name. According to Lucian, Alexander petitioned the Roman emperor (probably Antoninus Pius) that the name of his native place should be changed from Abonoteichos to Ionopolis; and whether the emperor granted the request or not, we know that the town was called Ionopolis in later times. Not only does this name occur in Marcian of Heraclea and Hierocles (author of Synecdemus), Hierocles, but on coins of the time of Antoninus and Lucius Verus we find the legend Ionopoliton (), as well as Abonoteichiton (). The modern Turkish name İnebol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
