Nomad archetype Vespasian came to the Principate as the result of something called either the "first war of the legions" or the "year of the four Emperors." During 68-69 A.D. Rome had four Emperors in rapid succession: Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian. With the exception of Otho, these men were the nominees of the Roman legions situated in various regions of the empire: those along the lower Rhine supported Vitellis; those in West Asia, Vespasian, and Otho was placed on the throne by the praetorian gaurd. As the historian Tacitus was to remark later, the fatal secret of the empire had been discovered; that the army could make and unmake emperors. The years of the Flavian crisis in addition to being marked by a greater Orientalization in Rome itself, saw an increase in militerization of the principate and a corresponding loss of freedom of the citizenry even among the aristocratic class. After Vespasian, military command would becoe a prerequisite to govern. All of the Flavians and especially Domitian, dropped the pretense of the word princeps and began to use te title of imperator, emperor, freely. But military failure along the Danube, hostility toward the Senate, severe economic problems, and the strong trend toward autocracy made the long reign of Domtian seem longer than 15 years. Partly because the time was not ripe for a Roman emperor to call himself Lord and God. After Domitian's assasinatio in 96, the militerization of the principate became even more prononced. But, as with the Julio-Claudians, both the Flavians and Trajan continued to nurture the illusion that representative government still existed. Examples of this self-deception can be found in the writings of the Younger Pliny and Dio Chrysostom. Pliny was chosen by the Senate to pronouce the "panegyric" of greeting to the new Emperor Trajan. About the same time Dio delivered before the Emperor a discourse on the duties of a monarch as viewed by the Stoic philosophy. Both Pliny and Dio could still make the distinction between "dominato" and "principates." Pliny remarked, "He who is to command all should be elected by all." It is said that the hero archetype general listened courteously, but he knew that like the rest of Rome, it now loved security too much to be capable of freedom. (more later) DMMcg [/i]

Throughout the Flavian crisis, while experiencing a significant loss of freedom and increased militerization, untold thousands of Roman citizens and otherwise flocked to the varios mystery religions. The most popular were those from the East, the cult of Baal-Helios, the cult of Isis, the Christian cult, and the cult of Mithra. Two of these grops that of the Christians and the cult of Mithra became associated with Rome's geatest political foe, the Parthians. Since the time of Julius Caesar, Parthia had been a thorn in Rome's economic side and for severl generations the Eastern frontier had been Rome's gretest political, economic, and military problem. It was for that reason that the hero archetype Emperor Trajan spent most of his energy during the high that bears his name ca. 102-131 on the Eastern problem. As early as 106 Trajan sent his generl Palma to overrun and annex the Kingdom of the Nabataean Arabs across the Dead Sea from Judaea. This gave the Romans control of the Red Sea and its trade. In 113 he involved Rome in a war with Parthia and by 116 had conquered all of Mesopotamia all the way to the Persian Gulf. But no sooner was this war won that he was faced with yet another Jewish revolt that took place not only in Palestine but in Anatolia and Egypt as well. He died while the revolt was being put down. His successor artist archetype Hadrian made matters worse by erecting a shrine to Jupiter Capitolinus on the site of the ruined second temple, thus precipitating the bloody Bar Kochba war in Judaea in 131. Hadrian put down the revolt but died in 138 and was succeeded by the joint principate of artist archetype Antoninus Pius and prophet archetypes Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius who would jointly reign until 161. Now I call the period 131-161 the Sassanid Awakening (see appendix) after Sasan a Persian Magus or High Priest of the goddess Anahita, the virgin sister of the warrior god Mithra whose cult had already won numerous devotees in the Roman army. Both as result of Roman pressure from the West and Sassanid pressure from the East, the Parthians days were numbered. From this point on there will be important parallel developments in both the Roman and Sassanian theocracies. (more later) DMMcG

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In the Roman Empire Christanity will become the state religion after external struggles with the competing cults of Baal-Helios, Isis and Mthra. But also after internal struggles with the heresies of Arianism, Nestorianism, and Monophysitism. At roughly the same time the Zoroastrian inspired religion of Sasan will also become the state religion of the Sassanid Empire and this too after internal and external struggles with competing cults and internal struggles with heresy. Indeed, the several awakenings in the 500 year history of the West from the Essene ca. 105-76 B.C. through the Augustinian ca. 388-421 A.D. show evidence of Zorastrian influence. The Essenes were a Zoroastrian inspired Jewish cult. There is also evidence to suggest that Jesus and some of his followers were influenced by Zorastrianism during the Christian awakening 14-41 A.D. The Sassanid awakening was, as I have just described, a product of Persian Zoroastrianism. The awakening following the Sassanid is named after the heretic Mani another Zorastrian inspired prophet ca. 259-293. During the next awakning ca. 388-421 Augustin of Hippo had been a Manichaean before he became the Christian Bishop of Hippo. (more later) DMMcG

By the accession of "New Age" Princeps Marcus Aurelius at the end of the Sassanian Awkening and onset of the Aurelian Unraveling ca. 161-193 the political economy of Rome had been thouroughly Orientalized. The Principate had become the Dominate. The net outcome of the stuggles between Christianity and competing cults and heresies was also a product of this same period of Orientalization even though the public struggles happen mostly during the second to fourth centuries of the Medieval Paradigm. In addition to the end of the Principate and rise of the Dominate there was a correspoding decline in rational thought and rise in mythopoetic thinking. Rational thought had become ossified during the period of the "Second Sophistic" and was comunnicated to students through the "seven liberal arts" curriculum. The curriculum was highly ideologic and domnated by an obssession with a priori knowledge. It looked mostly to the Academics of Plato for its inspiration. The program of education would be very familiar to contemporary America. Students entered the Grammatistic or elementary school at age 7 and remained there until age 11. The next level was Grammar school from ages 12 to 15. After that the student would be enrolled in a School of Rhetoric between the ages 16 to 19. And finally after age 19 they would be off to the "professional" schools of law, philosophy or medicine. A high quality liberal education was given and received, however, there were two drawbacks. The first was that there was no scientific study while the second and most problmatic was that it failed to get students to question or to think. This is important for the simple fact that when fundamentaly new problems would rise up, the educated Roman was completely unprepared or unwilling to deal with them. The great contrast between Roman times and the present is in the area of science. We cannot fault the Romans for not using science in the education of the young. They didn't have the numbers to use in a satisfying mathematics. So in its simplest form the crisis in rational thought mirrored a crisis in education. The major contest between reason and mythopoetics was in the area of Cosmology. The rational Cosmology thaught in the seven liberal arts curriculum was that proposed by Plato and "perfcted" by the Egyptian astronomer Claudius Ptolemy. This is the famous geo-centric Cosmology that was overturned by Nicholas Coppernicus' helio-centrism in the 16th century. In the final analysis, the rational Ptolemaic system along with the seven liberal arts curriculum will ultimatelly be supplanted by the mythopetic Paschal Mystery Cosmology and its seven sacraments. (more later) DMMcG

The evolution of the Paschal Mystery Cosmology must be seen as part of the larger syncretic process of Orientalization. The Cosmology is most completly described in the document called the Nicaean Creed which was promulgated by the Emperor Constantine around 325. We know that the Creed itself was modelled on a much earlier composition known as the Apostle's Creed. This major doctrine of the faith was issued by an Ecumenical Council of Christian prelates from troughout the Roman world would met in council at Nicaea, a suburb of the still incomplete city of Constantinole. The Council met in reaction to a dispute involving the Patriarchates of two of the East's most important cities. These two citie were Alexandria in Egypt and Antioch in Syria. The dispute between the two apostolic sees centered around the teachings of a priet named Arius who was a graduate of the school of theology at Antioch but who upon graduation was given a teaching job in Alexandria. The Patriarch who accused Arius of Heresy was named Athenasius. The dispute between the two cities is called "Christological" since it deals with the divinity of Christ. But to understand fully the nature of the positions held by the Patriarchs of Antionch and Alexandria we must say something about the cults of Baal-Helios and Isis, both of which were still active at the time of the Nicaean council. The cult center of the cult of Baal-Helios was located at Baalbek in Syria which is just outside the city of Antioch. The cosmology of the cult was deived from several diverse sources in the area. In the first instance the Baal god is made up of three cultural parts. Baal is 1/3 (Asianic) Sumerian and represents the creative power of the lord of Air Enlil who destroyed the goddess Tiamat. This creation account is found in the Babylonian story of the Enuma Elish. The tablets with this story inscribed upon them were discovered by Sir Austen Henry Layard in the library of Ashurbanipal. It is the same creation account that inspired Thales of Miletus in his search for a rational Cosmology. The Baal god is also 1/3 Tammuz the Semitic dying and rising shepherd god. And Baal was also 1/3 Adonis the Indo-European god of vegitation. In the Cosmology of the cult of Baal-Helios the dying and rising Baal god was part of a triad that included his father El (also known as Dagon by the Sumerians and by the Greeks as Zeus) and his sister Anat (also known as Athena by the Greeks). The cult of Baal-Helios like all of the Hellenistic cults dealt with the problem of death. Upon inititation to the cult, devotees were gauranteed a bodily resurrection like the god. The initiation or "musterion" to the cult involved undertaking a series of psychotechnological rituals of invigoration (struggle/combat) followed by rituals of jubilation (illumination/communal meals). The "musterion" provided the devotee with the feeling of "Enthusiasmos." This is the same feeling we used to describe the "born again' experience claimed by devotees of contmporary Enthusiastic Christians. The worshipers describe the feeling of the god entering them as they co-mingle with him. In the Baal cult this co-mingling was usually felt after imbibing a generous amount of wine. A similar experience was reported by devotees of the cult of Mithra however the drug in question was not alchohol but cyliciban obtained from mushrooms. Some devotees were drunk while others were tripping. Of single importance in its cosmological syncretism with Christianity is the notion that Baal was literally a second generation god who took a human form to commuicate with his devotees. As we pointed out earlier the most prominant devotee of this cult was Eluyabaalus who was the first priest-king in the history of the Roman theocracy. (more later) DMMcG

The cult of Isis at Alexandria in Egypt owes its cosmoogical origins to the Memphite Theology. Earlier we associated this drama with the blak African Pharaoh Shabakka. In the main it is a ritual originally designed for the coronation of the god-king of Egypt. But simply to say that the Pharaoh in Egypt was considered to be a god-on-earth in missing an important part of the story. The Pharaoh was the god Horus. The story goes like this: "There came into being as the heart and there came into being as the tongue (something) in the form of Atum. The mighty great one is Ptah, who transmitted life to all gods as well as to their ka's. Through this heart by which Horus became Ptah and through this tongue by which Toth became Ptah....Thus it happened that the heart and tongue gained control over every (other) member of the body, by teaching that he is in every body and every mouth of all gods and men [all] cattle allcreeping tings, and (everything) that lives by thinkng and communicating everything that he wishes (ANET)." (more later) DMMcG

The Memphite Theology represents the "celestial side of te Egyptian myth. The terrestrial side involves two brothers named Osiris and Set and their sister who is named Isis. In the ancient matrilineal system in Egypt they way to the royal throne was through marriage with Isis. The two brothers are competing for the hand of their sister. Set kills his brother Osiris and cuts his body up into 72 peices. Isis mourns for her dead brother whom she prefered. She gathers up 71 pieces of the body and puts Osiris back back together and he becomes the first mummy. She restored him to life as judge of the dead. Unfortunately the 71st part that she could not find was the male sexual organ. As a result she is forced to conceive a son without a male. Hence she is known as the virgin mother. Her son is Horus who is the pharaoh incarnate who must do battle with his uncle Set. Horus represents order (ma'at) and Set reresents chaos. Putting the two stories together gives us the entire Cosmology of the Hellenistic cult of Isis. The creative act of Ptah creates a trinity as opposed to a triad. This is the significance of both Horus and Toth "becoming Ptah." Ptah thinks a thought (i.e. through this heart) and the thought becomes Horus. Horus then speaks the thought ( and trough this tongue) and the word becomes Toth (the scribe god who writes it down). The creative trinity reflects the intellectual process of thought(Ptah), word (Horus), and deed (Toth) or to put it another way, speaker(Horus), spoken to (Toth) and spoken about (Ptah). In abstracing the complete Cosmology we can see that Horus (i.e. the Pharaoh) is the second person of a trinity who is literally the "word enfleshed" who is the son of the virgin mother (i.e. Isis) who, upon his death, undergoes an apotheosis to become the judge of the dead. We remember this myth explains how the Pharaoh is a god-on-earth and it evolved into the cosmology of the cult of Isis. Thus the devotees of the cult go through psychotechnological rituals of initiation (musterion) that involve mortifications followed by purgation. Wheras the Baal-Helios cultic rituals produced the feeling of the enthusiastic "born again" experience, the rituals of the cult of Isis produced the feeling of an ecstatic "near death" experience. This is the same experience that we associated with Evangelical Charismatic and Pentacostal Christian sects. The ecstasis produces the feeling of the soul becoming clear of the body and uniting with the god. Again, unlike the Baal-Helios cult, the cult of Isis promises not bodily resurrection but rather eternal life. (more later) DMMcG

Thus archeological and linguistic sudies of ancient West Asia civilizations has given us a greater understanding of the cosmologies of the Hellenistic cults of Baal-Helios and Isis. The increase in our knowledge of the ancient Canaanite and Egyptian cultures provides us with a better perspective to the theological controversies debated at the Christian Eccumenical councils held at Nicaea (325), Ephesus (431), and Chalcedon (451). This clearer view shows us a great deal about the nature of Oriental syncretism during the Hellenistic phase of Orientalization II and some possibilities that might help us understand the nature of Orientalization IV. As I have said, at the council of Nicaea the position held by the Antiochaean priest Arius was declared to be heretical. He taught that the person [J]e,sus Christ was a second generation God created by God, quite literraly God's son. This God-Son was believed to have descended into hell and to have risen from the dead and memorialized in a cannibalesque communal meal of bread that was actually His flesh and wine that was actually His blood. In other words Christ was seen as a prexisting divine figure called the "Lord" and "only begotten son of God" who had condescended to take a human form, who in his death descended and struggled victoriously with the reptilian forces of evil and death and then rose from the dead and now reigns with God in heavenly places. Devotees of this Antiochaean vision believed that through a personal faith and through a cannibalesque co-mingling they could identify themselves with the risen Lord and could also win a similar victory over evil and death and experience theirown bodily ressurection. The principle rituals were the Eucharist (Jubilation) preceeded by a confirmation like struggle (invigoration). This was known as the "Damascus Experience" and recalls the writings of Paul of Tarsus (eg. Rom 1; 1-7, Cor 11; 23-27, Eph 4; 9-11 and Acts 14; 11-14) The position that prevailed at Nicaea was that taught by Athenasius, Patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt. In this cosmology [J]e,sus was seen as a second person as a second person of a co-equal and eternal Trinity with the divine functions of creator, redeemor, and conceivor. [J]e,sus, the redeemor, was seen as the logos or incarnate word, son of the virgin, who suffered and died and underwent an apotheosis to become the judge of the living and the dead. In other words Christ too was consdered to have been a pre-existent divine figure who descended from heaven and moved mysteriously through human life speaking in Oracles and ever conscious of his purpose as the "Good Shepherd" and "scapegoat" and his impending suffering and sacrificial death. In this Version, devotees belived that through personal suffering and through a ritual bath they could identify themselves with the passion and death of the "God-with-us" and achieve eternal life. As a result the principle rituals that were emphasized were Baptism (purgation) preceeded by penance (mortification). This came to be known as the "desert experience" and was associated with the writings of John the Evangelist (eg. John 1; 1-14, John 11; 11-14 and John 6, 47-54). The cosmological solution of the struggle between Antioch and Alexandria was codified in the Creed of Nicaea. The Creed was a compromise that re-formed the topocosm of suffering (morfication), death (purgation), descent (invigoration) and resurrection (jubilation) of God-the son of-God. The cosmic number seven being restored linking triune diety with the fourfold process (4+3=7), thus recapitulaing the opening lines of the Genesis cosmology first rediscovered by Theiry of Chartres in the 13th century of earth, water, air, and fire created by the process of thought (God), word (said), and deed (light) (4+3=7). But Arianism did not disappear after Nicaea and this is evidenced by the dispute between the Patriarchs Cyril of Alexandria and Nestorius of Constantinople. This dispute was settled at the Council of Ephesus in 431. Nestorius' position was similar to that of Arius and was condemned as heresy. Nestorius taught that Mary, the Isis-like virgin mother, could not be the mother of a diety since that would make Him a demi-god since Mary was mortal. Rather, Nestorius said, Mary gave birth to the form taken by the God-son. The new doctrine coming from the Ephesian council being the title Theotokos, God-bearer, being applied to the virgin Mary. The Alexandrian position was once again upheld and Mary came very close to deification. Indeed, the city chosen for the council was itself not insignificant. In traditional Christian lore, Ephesus was the town where Mary is said to have died or "fell asleep" (dormition) and bodily taken out into the cosmos (assumption). But Ephesus also contained one of the seven wonders of the ancient Hellenistic world, the temple of Artemis in her guise as the virgin goddess of Asia. Thus the city of Ephesus had several meanings for the ancients. (more later) DMMcG

The final chapter in the struugle between the ancient Patriarchates took place just twenty years after the council of Ephesus. In 451 a new council was conveened at Chalcedon. Up to this point the Cosmology of Alexandria had defeated both Antioch and Constantinople. This time though the contest was between the Alexandrian Patriarch Dioscorus and the Roman Ponfit Leo I. The council proclaimed Dioscorus' view heretical under the label of Monophysitism (one body). Leo's objection to the Egyptian Cosmology was that it saw Christ as only God and in no way man. Again, reflecting on the Memphite Theology, we remember that the ancient Egyptians saw Pharaoh as only a god-on-earth, that is Horus, who was in no way human. Out of this dispute emerged the Christian Coptic Church of Egypt and the Roman position of the 200% Christ. That is to say, Christ was one divine person with two natures. In His divinity He was God-the-Son while in His humanity He was the Son-of-God. Thus it was that the process of Oriental syncretism helped form the mythopetics of the Paschal Mystery Cosmology that ultimately became fused with the theocracies of Priest=King in the West(Pope) and King-Priest in the East (Caesaropapism). It is probable that, as a result of Orientalization IV, the modernist counter-culture of the 5thGA will see something like the syncretism and struggles of Orientalization II. It might well see the creation of a new cosmology that will reaffirm the Oriental nature of its faith. Unfortunately, as with the change in paradigm from the Greco-Roman to the Medieval, we seem to be in danger of loosing the objectivity of science. I have already noted te attacks on the scientific way of knowing by a combination of Christian fundamentalsts, devotees of New Age and Eastern religions and academic humanists alike. If spiritual and cultural relativism maintains into the 5thGA we might well be moving into a new dark age in Paradigm V. DMMcG

Besides Robert Ellwood, others have made direct comparisons between our time and the Hellenistic Age, including the arts, our psychology , and cosmopolitanism.

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Concerning the idea that the West entered a period similar to the Hellenistic about fifty years ago-this roughly matches the Boomers' life span. The Hellenistic period, if I understand correctly, lasted about three centuries, from the death of Alexander the Great to the Roman take over. In Peace In Our Time Mathew Melko wrote of Western history being divided into ages, each with its own outlook. (Braundel wrote similar comments). The Age of The Reformation, the Age of the Baroque, the Victorian Age.... A major war would divide one age from another. These ages are out of synch with the saeculum untill the end of the Victorian, which was terminated by the World Wars. The Present Age began at the end of WWII, and with the first turning of the MilSaec. The biggest war in history synched the beginning of our saeculum with the beginning of our age. Melko wrote that an age might last perhaps 140 years. Concievably ours might last another 250-if our descendents are very, very lucky.

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Tim, Actually, if you consider the Hellenistic Period to date from 332 B.C. to 161 A.D. then you get a much longer period for things Hellenistic. The Roman phase probably was well under way by 76 B.C.. Then the Greek Phase (more precisely Eastern Mediterranian) lasted around 256 years while the Roman Phase covered around 237 years. Remember we are in a Euro-American Paradigm comparable to the Greco-Roman Paradigm with longer Greek and European peiods and shorter Roman and American periods. I believe that the Roman Phase of Hellenistic Civilization began as she started to become the World's Hegemon around 76 B.C. with the Dictatorship of prophet archetype L. Cornelius Sulla. I date the beginning of America's movement towards World Hegemony aound 1912 ( three progressive "Globalists" running for President, two had their heads facing West toward the new East and one, through force of circumstance, facing East toward an old West). I call the Roman Phase of Hellenistic Civilization Orientalization II. I call the American Phase of the Euro-American Paradign Orientalization IV. Both Orientaliztions covered two saecula. The 1st Orientalization II saeculum began , as I have already said, in 76 B.C. with the Julian Unraveling ( or the cultural warfare phase of the culturally modernist Essene Awakening ca.105 B.C.- 14 A.D.). The Julian Unraveling ends and the Octavian Crisis (actual warfare phase of Essene Awakening) began in 44 B.C. with Caesars assasination. The Octavian Crisis ended and the Augustan High (or culturally modernist steady state high of the Essene Awakening) began in 12 B.C. with the death of Marcus Agrippa and ends with the death of Augustus in 14 A.D. The Spiritual warfare phase of the fundamentalst Cristian Awakening began with the accession of Tiberius Ceasar in 14 A.D. and ended with the onset of the cultural warfare phase of the Christian Awakening ( Claudian Unraveling) in 41 A.D with the assasination of Caligula. I begin the first turning of the New Freedom unraveling ( or the cultural warfare phase of the culturally modernist 3rdGA) 1912. I believe that 1912 corresponds to 76 B.C.. The New Deal Crisis (actual warfare phase of 3rdGA) began and New Freedom unraveling ended in 1929. I believe that 1929 corresponds to 44 B.C.. The New Deal Crisis came to an end and New Frontier High ( modernist steady state of the 3rdGA) began in 1946. I believe that 1946 and 12 B.C. correspond. The New Frontier High ended and the Spiritual warfare phase of the fundamentalist 4thGA began in 1968. I believe that 1968 corresponds to A.D. 14. The cultural warfare phase of the 4thGA began (millenial unraveling) and the Spirital warfare phase of the 4thGA ended in 1986. I beleve that 1986 correspnds to 41 A.D. The actual warfare phase of the fundamentalist 4thGA began in 2001 while the actual wrfare phase of the fundamentalist Christian Awakening began in A.D. 70 with the destruction of the Second Temple. I believe that their is a correspondence between 70 A.D. and 2001. As I have said before, in 70 a Western hegemonic power destroyed the major symbol of semitic speaking terrorists. In 2001 semitic speaking terrorists destroyed the major symbol of a Western Hegemonic power. It took a long time to strike back, but they have long memories in the Orient. DMMcG

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