symbolism: Terminus Est / Ratio / Divisor

Bennewitz · 08 Oct 2008, 21:22 · from 2008-October.txt.gz

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From: witz at trog.org (Bennewitz)
Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2008 21:22:03 +0000
Subject: (urth) symbolism: Terminus Est / Ratio / Divisor
Message-ID: <W9979516355213631223500923@webmail45>

Regarding Terminus Est as a symbol

I know there has been some argument regarding Severian as Christ over the years, but I'm not abreast of the current opinions.  Regardless, I find it alluring. I consider the Conciliator a hypostasis of the Logos, just as Jesus was a hypostasis of the Logos. I don't mean to propose that Severian is literally Jesus, but that he's an embodiment of the Logos.

According to Fideler in Jesus Christ, Sun of God (ISBN-10: 0835606961)
the original Pagan notion of the Logos (the Logos is Greek not Judaic) was that a more accurate translation of 'Logos' is "ratio" rather than "word".  He describes the Logos as that which relates Man to God, Life to Death, Present to Eternity. Hence the claims of "no one comes to the father but through me" by Jesus can be understood as the voice of the Logos, not Jesus in particular.  The "conciliator' seems to be a nice substitute for Logos in that it means 'one who reconciles or brings together'

Terminus Est is modeled after a standard executioner's sword with a straight blade, long handle, and a thick guard that crosses perpendicularly.  Quite obviously, yet seemingly ignored as far as I've searched these discussions, is that Terminus Est is symbolic of a CRUCIFIX. That's right, Severian (logos) carries a Cross over his shoulder for most of his journey.  It's right there on many of the book covers.

Now trip on this:

Picture a ratio.  1:4, which is 1/4.
I'm using the "/" slash here for the divisor symbol because that's the easiest thing on the keyboard. 
but look at it: 1/4
The Divisor. The Dividing Line. Terminus Est.
God/Man,  Time/Eternity

Christ's Cross to my eyes, similarly represents this crossroads, this meeting point between Time and Eternity. Horizontal beam for Time/Multiplicity, Vertical beam for Eternal/Unity. 

Terminus Est is the Cross of the Conciliator in the Book of the New Sun.

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