Oannes

Lee Berman · 19 Mar 2012, 14:34 · from 2012-March.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:34:05 -0400
Subject: (urth) Oannes
Message-ID: <SNT123-W3605CCB12B7390B846F8D2CF420 at phx.gbl>

>David Stockhoff: Yes, that's [gnostic] probably not a precise use of the term. 
>I think the term you may want to use is "mystical" or maybe "syncretist" or 
>"esoteric."

I appreciate these suggestions.  I'm not happy either with using the term "gnostic" 
but it still seems to come closer to what I mean. The Catholic Encyclopedia calls
gnosticism:

>A collective name for a large number of greatly-varying and pantheistic-idealistic 
>sects, which flourished from some time before the Christian Era down to the fifth 
>century, and which...held matter to be a deterioration of spirit, and the whole 
universe a depravation of the Deity...

I'm okay with that definition. Moreover, I think James has lately been using the term 
in a similar fashion to mine. And I consider James' ideas to be essential to this 
conversation.  What the C.E. doesn't fully recognize is the essential function of 
Alexander and his empire in drawing in and blending eastern and western (spritual and 
material, maternalistic and paternalistic, etc.) religious beliefs together.

As James so astuely observed, Spring Wind is likely the younger version of Typhon in
BotNS. And as was also discussed, combining the lives of Spring Wind and Typhon provides
a nice allegory for the life of Alexander.  As Alexander's empire set the stage for 
400 years of pre-Christian "gnosticism" so Typhon's empire sets the stage for the 
gnostic world of Severian that we see in BotNS (and the Whorl/Blue/Green).

>I see. In essence, you are saying the Outsider is not God, but Dionysius. Right?

Essentially, yes. The Dionysus who evolved beyond his incarnation as a rustic origin
god (Father), who evolved beyond his role as a minor part of the Greek pantheon (Son)
and became the central deity (Spirit) of much pre-Christian worship. 

Both Dionysus and The Outsider retained associations with wine and the vine and goatmen 
(Neighbors) after their ascension. The Dionysian trinity and its association with 
Long/Short Sun and the Christian trinity has previously been discussed. Whether Dionysus 
faded away and was replaced by the Christian God or whether he evolved into Him is a topic 
of theological discussion and debate.

Not a coincidence that bisexual, boyish, deified Alexander was the impetus for 
centuries of androgynous Dionysus worship (and not a coincidence that Typhon is bisexual). 
Alexander was notable for shaving and for making his soldiers shave. Severian shaves 
himself with his sword and I think that is a nod to the Alexanderian practice.

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