I suppose, all Christians know the myth of the “unknown god” that Paul spoke about on the hill of Areopagus in Athens to persuade the Athenians to convert. Well, he was laughed up and thrown out of the city. The NT’s mythographers took advantage of these altars dedicated to the “Unknown gods” that existed on the hill of Areopagus, to fabricate that laughable story, that has nothing to do with the reality.
I will refer not only to the following dictionary, but also to the ancient Greek historians, to debunk the Christian propaganda.
DICTIONARY OF DEITIES AND DEMONS IN THE BIBLE, Edited by Karel van der Toom Bob Becking Pieter W. van der Horst, SECOND EXTENSIVELY REVISED EDITION
UNKNOWN GOD (p 882) Jerome is quite explicit: “The altar-inscription is not, as Paul asserted. ‘To an unknown god’. but as follows: ‘To the gods of Asia, Europe, and Africa, to the unknown and foreign gods’ (diis Asiae et Europae el Afrieae, diis ignotis et peregrinis). But since Paul did not need [or: could not use] a number of gods but only one unknown god, he used the word in the singular” (Comm. in Ep. ad Titum I 12 =PL 26:607). And later, in a letter of ca. 388 (ep. 70), he repeats that Paul “in his propaganda for Christ even skillfully rephrases (torquet) an inscription he came across by chance so as to turn it into an argument for faith” (a statement in which Jerome perhaps echoes Didymus of Alexandria; see the latter’s comments on 2 Cor 10:5 in the catenae edited by K. STAAB, Pauluskomentare aus der griechischen Kirche [Munster 1933] 37). The opinion of these two (or three) Church fathers that Paul (or Luke) changed the text of the inscription in order to get a suitable starting-point for his speech strengthens the impression that there may have been no such inscriptions in the singular at all, neither in Athens nor elsewhere, however much their testimonies do corroborate the pagan literary and epigrnphical data to the effect that there were indeed cults of unknown gods in antiquity (for further testimonies from Church fathers see LAKE 1933: 240-246; VAN DER HORST 1989:1440-1442).
Further on we read how the Greek texts in general were falsified by the Hebrew-Christians.
(II)By making Paul start his speech by referring to an inscription Luke makes use of a well-known literary device (cf. Ps-Heraclitus, Ep. 4: Ps-Diogenes, Ep. 36). There is a distinct possibility that Luke had his hero deliberately change the text of an inscription, for it would by no means be an isolated case. Before his days, the 2nd cent. BCE Jewish exegete Aristobulus quoted Aratus’ Phaenomena but changed twice ‘Zeus’ into ‘God’ (he frankly admits: “We have given the true sense, as one must, by removing the name Zeus throughout the verses“, apt Eusebius, Praep. Ev. XIII 12,7). Philo also quotes Hesiod in a monotheistic form by changing θεοί *(gods) into θεός *(god) (De ebrielate 150), and also later Christian writers, when quoting Plato or Plotinus or other pagan writers, adapt these texts to Christian usage by changing θεοί *(gods) into θεός *(god) (e.g. Theodoret of Cyrrhus). But there is no absolute need to assume Luke did the same. The backgrounds of the cult of ‘unknown gods’ show that a dedication in the singular belonged to the possibilities and can never be ruled out, but the question must remain undecided. Whether or not there ever existed an altar for an unknown God (in the singular) in Athens, it is clear that Luke wants to present Paul as claiming that he is proclaiming to the Greeks the God of Israel whom they honour without knowing him. and that from now on they have no longer any excuse for their ignorance. since they have heard the message of this God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ.
The Greek historians’ thesis on this subject.
Cylon the Athenian, son-in-law of Theagenus, tyrant of the Megara, a man of renown, wished to seize the tyranny of Athens in the 5th century BC (636, or 632), and for this purpose he attacked with his men Athens, but when the coup failed, the conspirators found refuge on Acropolis, where they were besieged in the sanctuary of Athena. The Athenians first promised not to kill them, nevertheless they killed them all when the rebels were persuaded to leave the sanctuary. Some of them fled to the altar of the Modest Gods, like Cylon and his brother, but they were also killed. That was the notorious “Cylonian sacrilege” or “affaire”, because the Athenians killed men who found refuge in a god’s sanctuary. Due to this unholy deed many miseries and plagues befell upon Athens and the people believed that they suffered all these calamities because Athena was enraged due to the murder of her suppliants. Finally, the Athenians received a Delphic oracle that the city should be purified. This was undertaken by Epimenidis from Crete, who asked from the Athenians to set free white and black sheep on the hill of Arios Pagos (Areopagus) in Athens and wherever each one of them stood, there an altar should be erected and the animal had to be sacrificed to the god whom the nearest sanctuary belonged to. But to the distant erected altars where there weren’t any gods’ sanctuaries, the erected altars were dedicated to the “Unknown gods”. Only in Attica had the Unknown gods such altars, and near the port of Falirea. Later on such altars were also erected in Olympia, but for different purposes. During the Olympiads, many peoples who venerated other deities from foreign countries visited Olympia and therefore they should have also the opportunity to offer sacrifices to their own gods. For this reason some altars were erected and dedicated to the “unknown gods”.
This is the true story and not the Christian propaganda. Very often, Hebrew-Christians took advantage of some physical phenomena, or historical events and fabricated their own versions on their behalf, like the Flood, the Tower of Babel, the slaughter of Sennacherib’s army by the angels of destructions etc, historical events that occurred due to different reasons and causes.
Your thoughts?
R&I ~ MJM
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