From: Tommy Tyrberg
Message: 1989
Date: 2000-04-01
> ----- Original Message ----- From: Rex H. McTyeireA few corrections. The cult-center of Odhin you're thinking about is Old
>Mark Odegard
> great cult centers of Dodona and Delphi; we know Odhinn had a very
>major center located where Uppsala cathedral, only gothic cathedral in
>Scandinavia, now stands. There is that oasis out in the western desert of
>Egypt (the name escapes me as I write -- Silwa?) which Alexander visited.
>There is Jerusalem too. Such centers have developed even in modern times,
>as with Lourdes -- even non-Catholics visit the shrine seeking a 'cure'.
> are well-attested (the daughter of the current priestess becomes the next
>priestess). In Myceanean Greece, the king was king only by virtue his
>wife: his son-in-law would be the next king. His wife was very often the
>priestess. We also have to remember that the distinction between the
>goddess herself was oftentimes vague, at least to our modern
>sensibilities. When Sabine posted about the Homer's lustral bathtub on
>Ageanet, I did some lookups on the word, but never managed to post it.
>But, whenever you look at the text (all but one are from Homer, and all
>but one of these are from the Odyssey), the goddess -- or her
>representative -- is present. Nausicaa was the goddess's representative!
>Athena herself is there when Oddysseus takes his bath (along with
>Penelope's old serving maid). Patriarchal IEs or no, the goddess had
>her powers. When our standard-model steppe nomads came into contact with
>goddess-cults, they were influenced. They did not really change their
>views on the position of women, but they clearly recognized the 'holiness'
>of the situation. The goddess and her representative were respected, even
>revered. Some of the nastiest of nasty modern-day male chauvinist pigs are
>fervent devotees of the BVM ('Blessed Virgin Mary'). I think it is fair
>to say a VERY major cult center of Artemis was located in the Crimea, a
>center with deeply ancient roots. It is also probably fair to say this
>center had widespread connections. In my earlier post, I mentioned the
>Greek city which, for 1000 years, sent priestesses of Artemis to Troy --
>not at the behest of the Trojans, but because this is what the goddess
>herself apparently wanted. A '' branch temple " of a major cult by
>definition has transported the cult from one locale to another; the idea
>that they also transported hereditary priestesses too is not the least bit
>out of line. Such connections between temples can persist for a very long
>time. The modern analogue is 'apostolic succession' as regards bishops.
>As you all know, I'm fascinated by Leda's offspring. The Laconian/Spartan
>recension of the underlying IE myth is the standard one. Iphigenia is
>either Helen's daughter or Clytemnestra's daughter. With the former, the
>Divine Twins are her uncles (and the sequence of events, as we have them,
>makes more sense with this being the case). We are close to at least one
>(and probably a conflation of several ) of the various versions of the
>Divine IE Celestial Family mingled with some non-IE ideas. a
>sun-maiden or was she the sun herself? Such questions! Aside from my
>speculations, we need to pay attention to north-south religious
>influences. The ancient literature clearly indicates the importance of
>Crimean/Tauridian Artemis. The mythological references, vague as they are,
>clearly point to religious connections with the north shore of the Black
>Sea. The proto-Greeks brought their religion with them, and the suggestion
>is they kept alive, in some degree and for a very long time, the religious
>connections, the 'apostolic succession' of their religion. Mark.
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