#ethiopic

[themanfrommensa]

Summer School (online): Catholic University of America, Washington DC, USA

https://semitics.catholic.edu/academics/summer-language-program/index.html Take a College Level Language Course in Arabic, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopic, Georgian, or Syriac The Semitics department offers intensive summer language courses through Summer Sessions. Languages and literatures of the Christian Near East (Arabic, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopic, Georgian, Syriac) are a focus of the…

[dark333rose]

finally! something I wanted to do for many years but was never able to be ready for it. until today! >= D

I finally get to draw the Patron Saint of England himself. I had fun drawing this and it is the first time I used a bit of colour in one of my traditional drawings (I don't normally use colour on traditional paper as I fear it would ruin the quality. (unless the colouring is done digitally))

I am overall happy to make this. and I am also happy that it seems that more people in my country are celebrating it more than the previous years.

so happy St. George's Day for England.

and all other places that have St. George as their patron; Venice, Genoa, Portugal, Ethiopia, Catalonia and more (let me know if I miss any.

[nony7231]

Translation by Ken Johnson (BibleFacts.org)

When people go missing… books that will be needed. 📚

Only the Ethiopic version is not corrupted ✝️

[dragkingandreweldritch]

that's not even Hebrew???

[writingwithcolor]

Naming International POC Characters: Do Your Research.

This post is part of a double feature for the same ask. First check out Mod Colette's answer to OP's original question at: A Careful Balance: Portraying a Black Character's Relationship with their Hair. Below are notes on character naming from Mod Rina.

~ ~ ~

@writingraccoon said:

My character is black in a dungeons and dragons-like fantasy world. His name is Kazuki Haile (pronounced hay-lee), and his mother is this world's equivalent of Japanese, which is where his first name is from, while his father is this world's equivalent of Ethiopian, which is where his last name is from. He looks much more like his father, and has hair type 4a. [...]

Hold on a sec.

Haile (pronounced hay-lee), [...] [H]is father is this world’s equivalent of Ethiopian, which is where his last name is from. 

OP, where did you get this name? Behindthename.com, perhaps?

Note how it says, “Submitted names are contributed by users of this website. Check marks indicate the level to which a name has been verified.” Do you see any check marks, OP? 

What language is this, by the way? If we only count official languages, Ethiopia has 5: Afar, Amharic, Oromo, Somali, & Tigrinya. If we count everything native to that region? Over 90 languages. And I haven't even mentioned the dormant/extinct ones. Do you know which language this name comes from? Have you determined Kazuki’s father’s ethnic group, religion, and language(s)? Do you know just how ethnically diverse Ethiopia is? 

~ ~ ~

To All Looking for Character Names on the Internet:

Skip the name aggregators and baby name lists. They often do not cite their sources, even if they’re pulling from credible ones, and often copy each other. 

If you still wish to use a name website, find a second source that isn’t a name website. 

Find at least one real life individual, living or dead, who has this given name or surname. Try Wikipedia’s lists of notable individuals under "List of [ethnicity] people." You can even try searching Facebook! Pay attention to when these people were born for chronological accuracy/believability. 

Make sure you know the language the name comes from, and the ethnicity/culture/religion it’s associated with. 

Make sure you understand the naming practices of that culture—how many names, where they come from, name order, and other conventions. 

Make sure you have the correct pronunciation of the name. Don’t always trust Wikipedia or American pronunciation guides on Youtube. Try to find a native speaker or language lesson source, or review the phonology & orthography and parse out the string one phoneme at a time. 

Suggestions for web sources:

Wikipedia! Look for: “List of [language] [masculine/feminine] given names,” “List of most common [language] family names,” “List of most common surnames in [continent],” and "List of [ethnicity] people."  

Census data! Harder to find due to language barriers & what governments make public, but these can really nail period accuracy. This may sound obvious, but look at the year of the character's birth, not the year your story takes place. 

Forums and Reddit. No really. Multicultural couples and expats will often ask around for what to name their children. There’s also r/namenerds, where so many folks have shared names in their language that they now have “International Name Threads.” These are all great first-hand sources for name connotations—what’s trendy vs. old-fashioned, preppy vs. nerdy, or classic vs. overused vs. obscure. 

~ ~ ~

Luckily for OP, I got very curious and did some research. More on Ethiopian & Eritrean naming, plus mixed/intercultural naming and my recommendations for this character, under the cut. It's really interesting, I promise!

Ethiopian and Eritrean Naming Practices

Haile (IPA: /həjlə/ roughly “hy-luh.” Both a & e are /ə/, a central “uh” sound) is a phrase meaning “power of” in Ge’ez, sometimes known as Classical Ethiopic, which is an extinct/dormant Semitic language that is now used as a liturgical language in Ethiopian churches (think of how Latin & Sanskrit are used today). So it's a religious name, and was likely popularized by the regnal name of the last emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie (“Power of the Trinity”). Ironically, for these reasons it is about as nationalistically “Ethiopian” as a name can get.

Haile is one of the most common “surnames” ever in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Why was that in quotes? Because Ethiopians and Eritreans don’t have surnames. Historically, when they needed to distinguish themselves from others with the same given name, they affixed their father’s given name, and then sometimes their grandfather’s. In modern Ethiopia and Eritrea, their given name is followed by a parent’s (usually father’s) name. First-generation diaspora abroad may solidify this name into a legal “surname” which is then consistently passed down to subsequent generations.

Intercultural Marriages and Naming

This means that Kazuki’s parents will have to figure out if there will be a “surname” going forward, and who it applies to. Your easiest and most likely option is that Kazuki’s dad would have chosen to make his second name (Kazuki’s grandpa’s name) the legal “surname.” The mom would have taken this name upon marriage, and Kazuki would inherit it also. Either moving abroad or the circumstances of the intercultural marriage would have motivated this. Thus “Haile” would be grandpa’s name, and Kazuki wouldn’t be taking his “surname” from his dad. This prevents the mom & Kazuki from having different “surnames.” But you will have to understand and explain where the names came from and the decisions dad made to get there. Otherwise, this will ring culturally hollow and indicate a lack of research.

Typically intercultural parents try to

come up with a first name that is pronounceable in both languages,

go with a name that is the dominant language of where they live, or

compromise and pick one parent’s language, depending on the circumstances.

Option 1 and possibly 3 requires figuring out which language is the father’s first language. Unfortunately, because of the aforementioned national ubiquity of Haile, you will have to start from scratch here and figure out his ethnic group, religion (most are Ethiopian Orthodox and some Sunni Muslim), and language(s). 

But then again, writing these characters knowledgeably and respectfully also requires figuring out that information anyway.

~ ~ ~

Names and naming practices are so, so diverse. Do research into the culture and language before picking a name, and never go with only one source.

~ Mod Rina

[gemsofgreece]

Folklore ask! Any stories on how the Greek mermaids got to be named after gorgons instead of any other countless sea or water spirits in myth? Does it have to do with princess Thessalonike?

I think this is actually a very complex story involving literature, oral tradition, the perception of creatures, women, historical figures and the meaning we apply to symbols according to our circumstances. This is a long story so there is going to be a Read More cut below.

First of all, Modern Greek has two words for the mermaid; γοργόνα (ghorghóna) and σειρήνα (sirína), so as you see both gorgons and sirens were conflated with the image of the mermaids at some point. In fact, the sirens did that first. I write "ghorghóna" in Latin characters to stress the change of the pronunciation of γ to a voiced velar fricative ever since late antiquity but otherwise the word is the exact same.)

Ancient Greek Mythology did not have a mermaid creature in the way we imagine it since the Middle Ages but the Ancient Greeks were aware of an ancient Assyrian deity who was imagined like that. This was goddess Atargatis who was known in Greek as Derceto. Greeks identified Atargatis / Derceto as the same with a mermaid goddess worshipped in Askhelon, somewhere in the north of modern-day Syria, according to Diodorus (1st century BC) but also Ctesias (5th century BC). The Roman Lucian confirmed this perception in the 2nd century AD. It is believed that to some degree this worship was known to Greece, especially during and after the Hellenistic period. For example, there has been a scripture found in Pella, Macedonia (<- coincidence?) dating to 206 AD in which the veneration of an Assyrian water deity is described.

The early Sirens of the Greek mythology (since 7th century BC) were depicted as creatures with the bodies of birds and the faces of women, who would seduce sailors with their beautiful music and singing. However, from the Classic period onwards there is scarce art depicting them with a fish body instead, maybe due to an Assyrian influence or maybe because the Sirens were creatures associated with the water mostly. They lived at the shore waiting for ships to pass and they were children either of River God Achelous or the Titan Oceanus or of Phorcys, son of Pontus (Sea).

A critical moment for the establishment of the siren as a mermaid in European minds might have been the book Physiologicus, written in Greek around the 2nd century in Alexandria. The book was a predecessor of bestiaries and was connecting various beasts (mostly actual animals but also a few mythological creatures) with the Christian doctrine by associating them with some trademark moral qualities they supposedly had. Physiologicus became very impactful and was translated to Latin, Armenian, Ethiopic, Syriac and later to Slavic, Old German and other European languages. I wasn't able to find what exactly was said about the Siren in the original Physiologicus, however the 10th century German copy Bern Physiologicus described the siren as half-woman, half-fish. Also, from the 7th century onwards western European books assert that the sirens are "sea girls" and are described as "having scaly fish tails". I did find a tiny image of a Greek manuscript of the Physiologicus and it has this drawing of the sirens, who indeed look a lot more like merpeople than half-birds:

Again, Physiologicus was very influential and the rest of the Early Christian tradition also explored the theme of the sirens extensively through the lens of morality. Early Christian documents discourage people to believe in the literal existence of sirens (fair enough) but they also shape their meaning into an allegory for prostitutes or any vile lustful women who are a danger for the moral male. In this context, the fish form gains more and more ground as well as alternative imaginings of the sirens as half-snakes or half-dragons. It should be noted that there are even imaginings in which the Siren has simultaneously fish and bird traits. The scaly look though, the picture of the siren ascending from the dark abyss instead of a feathery flying singer was more effective for the description of a destructive, dangerous feminine being. It is in the Byzantine period and respectively in the Middle Ages in West Europe when mermaids really become popular. In spite of all that, the bird version was not obsolete. The 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia Suda describes the sirens as half-birds.

Pages from Suda.

Let's go to the Gorgons now. The Gorgons were daughters of Phorcys, son of Pontus (Sea), much like the Sirens according to one version of their myth. They are too part of the general sea mythological sphere. They lived either beyond the edges or in Oceanus, in a hardly accessible rocky island. Their bodies were imagined as centaurs or wasps as early as in the 8th - 7th centuries BC but after that point they were imagined as humanoid, however sometimes they have snakes in their waist too or a scaly appearance or even wings, like we see happening with Sirens. All original accounts agree to a terrible old-looking repuslive face crowned with snakes. So does their name; Γοργώ (Gorgó) means "terrible looking, fearsome, terrifying". Despite that and before Ovid's popularisation of the Roman version of a victimized Medusa, the Greek Pindar already described Medusa as an incredibly beautiful woman in the 5th century BC. Pindar's take was influential and after this point ancient Greek art depicts a fairer Medusa. One can argue that Medusa typically looks scary but beautiful in pop culture ever since. In other words, as time passed there was some convergence in the way Gorgons and Sirens were imagined; the duality of being beautiful yet terrible and vile, sea creatures, feminine attributes, eventually a scaly look.

Let's make a pause now to talk a bit about Thessalonike and her tragic story. Thessalonike was Alexander the Great's half-sister, so named by her father Philip after an (undefined) victory against the Thessalians. Her mother Nicesipolis died when she was a baby and Philip died when she was a child so she was raised by Olympias. I would like to stress that there was a signficant age gap between Thessalonike and Alexander and there should not have been a lot of interaction between them. After Alexander's death, Olympias had still not married Thessalonike to anyone, favouring her own daughter first. Cassander, one of the diadochi, killed Olympias and Alexander's son and successor and married Thessalonike probably forcefully in order to get a better claim for becoming the King of Macedon. Cassander then named a new city he founded on the site of Ancient Therma after his wife. Thessalonike seemed to have influence over her three sons, especially after Cassander died, however when the first born Philip died, the second son Antipater murdered his mother, most likely because she favoured her third son Alexander to at least share the throne with Antipater while she was also serving as regent. I mostly wrote all this to make a point that the last person who was impactful in Thessalonike's life was Alexander the Great.

Around 338 AD there was an Alexander Romance attributed to Pseudo-Callisthenes. This book was supposedly recounting the life and adventures of Alexander the Great, however it was highly fantastical and inaccurate and became what you would call a liberal historical novel of sorts. This is where the origins of the legend of Thessalonike were. (What if there is some connection to the surviving veneration of the Assyrian mermaid goddess in Macedonia, just a century earlier?) Alexander Romance was a huge success getting translating into 25 languages in pre-modern times and reaching as far as Malaysia and Mali. This is certainly what greatly assisted Alexander to become a legend and hero even amongst foreign nations, gaining even their own local national traits. The original Greek version was so loved amongst the Byzantine Greeks that it got multiple revised editions, including some in which it was recasted in poetic Medieval Greek vernacular. It was one of these copies that the Latin diplomat Leo the Archpriest found in Constantinople in the 10th century and translated it into Latin, which made the Romance very popular in the west too.

Okay, we talked about the duality that the sirens and the gorgons had attained at this point as well as the survival of the interest around them due to the Christian theology. In Byzantine Greek the meaning of the word gorgo (terrible, fearsome) was still fully understood. In fact, in Byzantine Greek there was the word γοργόνη (ghorghóni) which addressed a horrible woman. It is also reported in the local dialect of Amorgos island. It is thus most likely that the shift of Thessalonike as "a gorgon therefore a mermaid" happened at that time and perhaps especially in the copies in the Medieval Greek vernacular and it was due to all this mix of influences.

You see, Thessalonike is not described as just any mermaid or even just like a plain man-eating siren. She appears to have two forms or two personalities in her. She swims in the seas waiting to find a ship and ask the sailors whether Alexander is still alive. In this state she is beautiful and calm and pleasant in her manners, which resembles the romantic view of a mermaid or the initial seductive state of a siren. If the sailors confirm that Alexander lives and rules and conquers the world, she remains this way and sends good winds to help the ship travel to its destination quickly and safely. But when the unsuspecting sailors say "But, Lady, Alexander died long ago!" then she changes and becomes what the Byzantine Greeks would call "ghorghóni". Her power is way more immense than to just grab a dude and eat him. She becomes huge and terrible and with the power of her tail she causes enormous storm waves which break and sink the ship and kill all the sailors. For this reason she was probably engraved in people's perception as a terrible Gorgon.

Here's the thing though: γοργώ (ghorghó) sounds an awful lot like another Greek word, γρήγορος (ghríghoros) which means "quick, fast". Those two are both ancient but etymologically unrelated. The fall of the Byzantine Empire and the annexation of the Greek lands by the Ottomans led to significant changes for the worse in the number of Greek people who had easy access to education and particularly education in relation to their heritage beyond this of the religion. Only select few that kept their riches or Greeks who then fled to the west had easy access to these things. In short, with more limited access to older forms of Greek or old Greek literature eventually γοργός (ghorghós) changed into a variant of γρήγορος (ghríghoros) = fast and its actual meaning of fearsome, terrible was forgotten. In these circumstances, the word γοργόνα (ghorghóna) which was used to address Thessalonike was now perhaps perceived as meaning something in the likes of "swift, agile and lithe" and it became associated with the positive mermaid form of hers. Eventually, the word γοργόνα was established as a generic term for the mermaid just like σειρήνα.

This happened because the legend of Thessalonike as a mermaid as well as the entirety of the Alexander Romance remained popular in the Ottoman period. The Byzantine copies were still circulating in the Greek population and in 1680 a Modern Greek version was printed with the name Φυλλάδα του Μεγαλέξανδρου (loosely translated to "Papers about Alexander the Great"). The book was written in the colloquial Demotic vernacular and it could be read by everyone (who knew how to read). This is how these stories spread and became oral tradition and folk tales. The romantisation of Alexander's character and by extension Alexander himself became a point of reference for their historical origins for both the Byzantine and the Modern Greeks.

The modern book from 1680 (yeah that's modern)

The true reason Thessalonike's legend remained so popular was not due to Thessalonike herself. Thessalonike was a minor historical figure for the most part and her interaction with Alexander was minimal. Some historians believe it was her son Alexander she was grieving for in the original legend but then he was confused with his much more famous uncle. I downright disagree. I believe the reason Pseudo-Callisthenes or the unknown authors and / or all these revisions imagined Thessalonike as the one grieving and wreaking havoc for Alexander was because of her being the name-giver to the city of Thessaloniki which by the ending of the Roman period and the beginning of the Byzantine period became very prosperous and gained a lot of power. Thessaloniki was so loved by Byzantine Greeks that it was considered as the Συμβασιλεύουσα (symvasilévusa) = co-ruler city of Constantinople. Thessaloniki remains the most loved city for the Modern Greeks too. After the unification of Macedonia and its largest city Thessaloniki to the already independent from the Ottomans south and central Greece, Thessaloniki became the "Συμπρωτεύουσα" (symprotévusa), the co-capital to Athens. It is also called Capital or Nymph / Bride of the North. Greeks damn sure love that city. This was a folk legend which connected the ever loved Greek city to a distant past.

Furthermore, the legend explores a theme that resonates deeply in the hearts of the Greeks across millenias. The allure and the danger of being a sailor, of travelling in the seas. The Greeks have always been seafarers. Losing loved ones to seas far away is a very common theme of Greek folk songs. The folk felt represented in this legend with the ghorghona representing the unpredictability of the sea. But this is also how Greeks developed an understanding for this dual creature, beautiful yet ruthless, yet also melancholic and temperamental. The ghorghona became a familiar concept, representing their loved sea and their loved city and their loved symbol of old glories (Alexander). Inevitably, she was "forgiven" of her fearsome qualities and the ghorghona became the beautiful mermaid of the Greek seas that you have to know how to talk to and earn her favor.

The ghorghona became a loved symbol of Greek folklore and she is featured in numerous modern Greek poems, artworks, short stories etc

Modern art by the prolific cartoonist and painter Bost (Chrysanthos Mentis Bostantzoglou, 1918 - 1995). All the national symbols are here: the Ghorghona as the beautiful mermaid, the sea, Alexander, the White Tower of Thessaloniki and the flags.

"The ghorghóna as the captains of old told her story." Modern Greek folk artwork. Look how she eventually becomes a postive emblem of Greece.

Due to the tight connection of the sense of ethnic identity with the Greek Orthodox Christianity for Byzantine and Modern - frequently occupied - Greeks, the popularisation of the ghorghona the mermaid was reflected in the Greek Orthodoxy as well .

Detail from a wooden templum in the Church of Saint Dionysius in Zakynthos (Zante) island.

Detail from the Chruch of the Great Archangels, Tsagarada, Mount Pelion. This templum was probably completed in 1749.

And because this was not enough of a "how to make an Evangelical mad" I guess, you know how saints in Orthodoxy are venerated and they are often imagined as patrons of certain groups of people or certain qualities??? Well...

may I introduce you to Virgin Mary the Ghorghona?

...who also became a novel?

Clearly, this is Mary imagined as Patron Saint of the sailors and those who travel in the seas.

In conclusion, there is not an exact moment in history that suddenly turned the gorgons into mermaids, however I tried to explain how in the long course of time there were many linguistic, cultural and religious points which ever so slowly contributed into changing the perception of the gorgon from an ancient, murderous, fearsome creature to a positive, beautiful (yet at times very dangerous) symbol of ethnic identity.

Sources:

Mermaid - Wikipedia

Atargatis - Wikipedia

Siren (mythology) - Wikipedia

The siren: a medieval identity crisis – Mittelalter

Physiologus - Wikipedia

Gorgons - Wikipedia

Thessalonike of Macedon - Wikipedia

Alexander Romance - Wikipedia

Η Γοργόνα Θεσσαλονίκη | Parallaxi Magazine

Φυλλάδα του Μεγαλέξανδρου - Βικιπαίδεια

Ο συμβολισμός της γοργόνας στη λαϊ��ή παράδ��ση της Ελλάδας μέσα από τη ποίηση και το τραγούδι

«Ζει ο βασιλιάς Αλέξανδρος;» Η γοργόνα και ο Μέγας Αλέξανδρος – ΧΩΡΑ ΤΟΥ ΑΧΩΡΗΤΟΥ

Ζει ο βασιλιάς Αλέξανδρος;

[sybillum]

the Nine Saints

ethiopia, c. 15-16 centuries

a group of nine missionaries from various regions of the Byzantine Empire, who came to Ethiopia during the Council of Chalcedon 451, a very divisive and complicated period of the Early Church’s history, played a pivotal role in bringing Christian faith into the land as the primary faith. 

‘Chronicle of Axum’ stated about all saints that: ‘in the days of Amiamid, many monks came from Rum, who fill’d all the Empire; Nine of them stay’d in Tigre, and each of them erected a Church of his own Name’. 

not much is present about their hagiographies, at least in english, so all that i could acquire on them shall be presented below. only eight are depicted on the icon.

abba Pantelewon

abba Garima

abba Liquanos

abba Aftse

abba Aragawi

either abba Yem’ata or abba Alef

abba Guba

abba Tsahma

1. abba Pantelewon

borne in a noble Byzantine family (470-522), he eventually became a monk, who is associated with the founding of Pantelewon monastery. in 480 AD he fled to Axum, the capital city of Ethiopia, among with other 8 saints, who were all, just as him, escaping the Chalcedonian Council 451 (declared Monophysitism a heresy). in another tradition, abba Pantelewon enclosed himself in a tower for 45 years, and this tower, later, was identified as Pantelewon Monastery near Axum. abba Pantelewon is also regarded as a skilled exorcist, considered to have casted out evil spirits and brought peace to turmoiled regions. 

2. abba Garima (Isaac/Yeshaq)

his hagiography was written in around late 15th century. his father was king of Rum (Byzantium) and after his death, abba Garima was a king for 7 years - up until abba Pantelewon summoned him to be a monk. this way, abba Garima spent 5 years with abba Pantelewon, until he went on his own way and established a monastery at Mädära, where he spent about 20 years of his life. there, he became known as an exorcist and wonderworker. monastic tradition holds that the Garima gospels (three ancient ethiopic manuscripts containing all four Gospels and supplements like lists of Gospel chapters. Garima 2 is held as the earliest existing complete illuminated Christian manuscript) were composed by abba Garima himself. 

3. abba Liquanos

is known as composer of hymns, prayers and liturgies, that are still used within the tradition of Ethiopic Orthodox Church. was probably from Constantinople, but later moved to Däbrä Qwänasel monastery. 

4. abba Aftse

has a syriac name, so probably came from Edessa. according to his hagiography, he travelled from Asia Minor to Rome, where he met abba Garima. they travelled together to Ethiopia and he founded a monastery in Yeha as a center of learning and spiritual guidance. abba Aftse is known as a healer. 

5. abba Aragawi

was a disciple of Coptic monk Pachomius the Great (a founder of Cenobitic monasticism). after twelve years at the court of king Ella Amida of Axum, he and the nun Edna, his friend, travelled to found Debre Damo monastery. as the legend states, when he was at the base of the mountain, on the top of which Debre Damo is located, a large green serpent slithered to him, and st Michael the archangel appeared, giving abba Aragawi instructions on how to build the monastery. after that, the serpent coiled itself around the monk and aided in travelling up the mountain to do the angel’s bidding. 

6. abba Yemata OR Alef

abba Yemata: a charismatic preacher, who travelled far and wide preaching the Gospel and founding churches in distant areas. currently has a church of Abuna Yemata Guh dedicated to him.

abba Alef: travelled north and reached Bi’isa, founded a monastery there (Gär’alta, Endärta woreda, Tigray region) and was a missionary to the local people.

7. abba Guba

probably coming from Cilicia, he was a fellow monk of abba Pantelewon. after that, he moved to the desert of Bäräka. he is known as a healer, who established a monastery in Madara for medical needs and spiritual comfort of the community. 

8. abba Tsahma

originally coming from, possibly, Antioch, he moved to Ethiopia and, establishing the monastery there, this devout scholar devoted his life to studying the Scriptures and evangelising, educating people on Christian faith. 

sources:

The Nine Saints

The Legend of Saint Abuna Aragawi Monastery

Aleteia.org

Dictionary of African Christian Biography

[baebeylik]

Ethiopian coin depicting King Endubis of Axum. The ruling elite of Ethiopia at this time were typically bilingual capable of understanding both Greek and Ethiopic(Ge’ez). He reigned from 270 to 300 CE.

[star-of-zeus]

Zeus Aethiops

For the people that come to my blog for the information, the actual post is in non-italics below (pls scroll down quick otherwise I'll look like a dork haha) For the people who have been following my blog for a longer period of time (and those fond of the dramatic) I set this scene:

You open your eyes to a sturdy oak table in the midst of a dimly room that smells of moisture, frankincense, and oakmoss. A deep blue satin cloth, about three feet long, lies upon the table, held down on either side by lit candelabras. The surface is bare otherwise. Pulled out a few feet behind the table is matching sturdy oak armchair with eagle head detailing on each of the armrests, and a royal purple satin cushion. Star-of-Zeus enters, wearing square glasses and holding a old and dusty-looking leather-bound tome that's thicker than their hands can hold stretched to their max, so Star chooses to hold it to their chest wrapped in their arms. Walking to the table, you watch them lean forward to set the heavy tome on the table with a solid, resounding thump before wiping the dust off their shirt and blowing the rest of the dust off of the tome before opening it up. [You, standing on the other side of the table, are subsequently covered in this dust and have to stand there looking like a bizarre snowman while listening] Finally, Star looks up through their glasses after settling in their chair and grins.

"My, my. It seems that it's been three years and two months since my last Zeus Epithets post. Finally ready for the next one?"

Zeus Aethiops is one of my absolute favorite epithets that I commonly venerate, and though this epithet comes rooted in a notion of race that looks nothing like our modern concept, I will take a stand (likely in another post so I can make a full breakdown/rant) against other opinions that I've seen that advise against blending the two (ancient and modern) notions of race when venerating such an epithet, but it will be written entirely from my perspective and experience, so be aware. But I digress - let's get back to learning about this epithet. Some translations I've seen include "of the Burnt Face" or "Ethiopian". Our beloved resource, theoi.com, defines this epithet of Zeus as:

AE′THIOPS (Aithiops), the Glowing or the Black. A surname of Zeus, under which he was worshipped in the island of Chios. (Lycophron, Cass. 537, with the note of Tzetzes.)

If we go to the theoi.com translation of Lycophron's Alexandra, 537, we find the line:

But we have one, yea one beyond our hope, for gracious champion, even the god Drymnius Promatheus Aethiops Gyrapsius, who, when they who are destined to suffer things dread and undesirable shall receive in their halls their fatal guest, the swooping robber, the wandering Orthanes...

The god referred to only by epithets in this line "Drymnius Promatheus Aethiops Gyrapsius" is indeed Zeus - the epithets Aethiops + Gyrapsius are cult-names from Chios, while Drymnius is from Pamphylia and Gyrapsius from Thurii.

So, now that we've established this epithet is from Chios, and attributed to Zeus, let's take a closer look at what the term Aethiops might signify. Merriam-Webster defines Aethiops as an alternate spelling of Ethiops, and defines Ethiops and simply meaning "Ethiopian" but the old Greek etymology of the word is a compound, according to Wikitionary --

From Proto-Hellenic*aitʰiyokʷs, explained since antiquity as αἴθω (aíthō, “I burn”) +‎ ὤψ (ṓps, “face”), though this is likely a folk etymology.

Thus, it wouldn't be outrageous at all to assume that this was a word used to refer to peoples with higher amounts of melanin, or generally those from the ancient region of Aethiopia, which was a geological term used to designate the "upper nile region of Sudan, south of the Sahara, and certain areas of Asia."

But yes, overall the opinion of scholars and historians is that the term 'Aethiops' could reasonably be associated with features that are associated with the Black or African people of today. As an American, I could go on long-winded talks about my experience worshipping a Justice god that is depicted as what I see as Black (not even to mind that I started following this path in 2020, during another round of BLM protests) but that's a topic for a more personal post instead of a research-based one. In the meantime, please look at one of my favorite pictures of Zeus from a Laconian cup, and if you look at me in my beautiful hazel eyes and tell me those aren't locs coming from Zeus's head I'm having Sisyphus crush you under his boulder.

Was Homer's Zeus Black?

Chios is a Greek island off the Western coast of Turkey, and I watched one video that also talks about Zeus Aethiops but makes the claim that Homer is from the island of Chios (which the author provides evidence for from the Homeric hymn to Apollo) and therefore the Zeus that Homer writes about in the Iliad and the Odyssey could be Black. In my personal opinion, they're playing very fast and loose with the Homeric Question, something scholars have been arguing over for centuries, but at the same time I very firmly believe in the mystery of history and the fact that it is incredibly important for people to see themselves in the deities or things they venerate, and at the very least it's great food for thought. The Homeric Question is outside the scope of this post, but I just wanted to share some other resources in case someone wants a longer more video-essay style post about Zeus Aethiops and that perspective on Homer.

But yes. That's all I have to say on Zeus Aethiops for now, but rest assured I will be shouting from the rooftops about him again soon. I'm so happy I finally did a post on one of my (probably top 5?) Zeus epithets, even though there isn't a lot to be found about this surname of his since I suppose it could have been considered minor in the ancient world.

As always, feel free to send in requests for other epithets!

[ibarkatpeoplewoofwoofbitch]

So I'm pretty sure lucifers real name was Samael. His original name before he left Heaven.

"Samael, from the amoraic period onward the major name of Satan in Judaism. The name first appears in the account of the theory of angels in the Ethiopic Book of Enoch 6, which includes the name, although not in the most important place, in the list of the leaders of the angels who rebelled against God."

Who knows I could be 1000% wrong but like imagine if the other archangels especially michael call him samael to rub it in his face(he's always the one that's seen as the asshole in a lot of media privacy because he's the angel of "an angelic warrior, fully armed with helmet, sword, and shield, " "He is considered a champion of justice, a healer of the sick, and the guardian of the Church." "mentions of his name are in third- and second-century-BC Jewish works, often but not always apocalyptic, where he is the chief of the angels and archangels")

And if michael is the "mentions of his name are in third- and second-century-BC Jewish works, often but not always apocalyptic, where he is the chief of the angels and archangels"

Adam was the leader of Exorcist. But was it michael who taught them how to attack?. Because as much a warrior adam in most media represent him as head strong. And impulsive, also very arrogant.

The Exorcists' fighting styles pointed out by Carmella carmine "out for blood" and NEVER focus on getting hurt only on hurting others.

And "Gabriel is the herald of visions, messenger of God and one of the angels of higher rank."

Even the seraphim who are the "in the highest rank in Christian angelology and in the fifth rank of ten in the Jewish angelic hierarchy." Are powerful, and yet NEITHER of them knew how someone got into heaven. Is it gabriel that tells Sera to not question it. Especially when she was younger so she wouldn't fall?

And Sera carried that to Emily?

(Im sorry I know most of this don't male any sense I just saw six angels point angelic weapons at lucifer and I wanna know which ones)

These are all archangels I am certain. And I looked up how many arch angels are there and it says Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Chamuel (Camael), Raphael, Jophiel, and Zadkiel

We all know the first two.

Michael- He is considered a champion of justice, a healer of the sick, and the guardian of the Church.

Gabriel-Gabriel is the herald of visions, messenger of God and one of the angels of higher rank.

Now the others

Uriel- archangel of wisdom, light, and the truth of God.

Chamuel (camael)-Archangel Chamuel's mission is to help bring peace to the world. The Archangel of Love

Raphael- Archangel Raphael is often called upon to help with physical healing. travelers, the blind, happy meetings, nurses, physicians, medical workers, matchmakers, Christian marriage, and Catholic studies.

Jophiel-Widely known as the angel of beauty, Jophiel represents the beauty of God, and he plays a great role in helping you see your inner beauty

Zadkiel- In Jewish mysticism and Christian Kabbalah, Zadkiel is associated with the classical planet Jupiter. The angel's position in the sephirot is fourth, which corresponds to Chesed "Kindness".

Are we gonna see this? Because their gods main seven angels. Maybe we'd see Azrael the angel of death?

(Sorry tho when I'm into something I do research for hours)

[apocrypals]

Question, what's with so many books being added and removed depending on what flavoured christian you are? I thought removing and adding stuff to the bible was basically shitting on everyone's laundry?

There's actually not THAT much of that going around. The primary distinction is that the Catholic and Orthodox churches have a collection of books that are not in most Protestant Bibles. These books were written in the historic period between when the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament were written, but they were included in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible.

When Martin Luther translated the Bible into German, he included those books that were in the Septuagint but not in the Hebrew canon in a separate section called the Apocrypha, which is how they are categorized in most English Bibles that include them at all. He didn't condemn them, he thought they were of value, he just didn't think they were divinely inspired like the rest.

While it's tempting to assume that Protestant Bibles dropped the Apocrypha section for dogmatic or doctrinal reasons, the real for real honest to God truth is that it got cut to reduce printing costs on mass printed Bibles. So if you grew up Protestant, know that it was capitalism that took an exploding dragon from you. Capitalism took a flying army of the dead from you. Capitalism took the only biblical mention of cats from you.

On the other hand, the Ethiopic canon just follows a completely different tradition more or less disconnected from what was going on in Europe and Southwest Asia, so they have a bunch of books that other churches never even considered.

[harvardfineartslib]

We are inspired by an exhibition titled “Tiny Treasures: The Magic of Miniatures” at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. So, we’re posting one of the tiny books in our collections!

"Hymno a La Trinidad" is one of the smallest treasures preserved in the Biblioteca Nacional de Espana. It is a miniature codex of 52 pages folded in the form of an accordion. It is protected by a unique binding specially designed for this type of manuscript of Ethiopian origin, known as the sänsul.

The sänsul is one of the less common types of Ethiopian books, in a context where codices of various sizes and "magic" scrolls are used as amulets. It was usually made with one or more folded parchment strips, with or without covers, bound together with ties.

This tiny manuscript measures 950 x 40 mm. The text is copied in the classical Ethiopic language Ge'ez with black ink and carmine. It describes and praises the virtues of the Trinity, the Savior, the Virgin Mary, the Archangels, and the most venerated saints of the Ethiopian Synakserium. The text of the sänsul is arranged on both sides. The recto comprises fifty-one columns of sixteen lines each. The verso is made up of forty columns of text that end before the figurative representation. (From Facsimile Finder)

This example in the Fine Arts Library’s collection is a facsimile edition. You are encouraged to touch this tiny manuscript and use your hands to open it as an accordion book or flip through each page to experience the mighty power of a small thing.  

Himno a la Trinidad [Madrid] : Orbis Mediaevalis, [2020] 1 sheet : color illustrations ; 10 x 175 cm, folded to 10 x 4 cm + 1 volume (78 pages : color illustrations ; 19 cm) + 1 sheet (19 x 15 cm) Facsimile of manuscript VITR/26/3 of the Biblioteca Nacional de España. Text of the manuscript in Ethiopic ; accompanying material in Spanish. HOLLIS number: 99155660106003941

[punctuation-completionist]

the interpunct (also known as the interpoint, also known as the middle dot, middot, centered dot, or centred dot) is a point that looks like this [·]! the interpunct is used for a variety of things, it has a super interesting history as being used *before* the space was used for interword spacing

take a minute for that to sink in actually. · <- this bad boy was around before the FUCKING SPACE (things were written more·like·this in classical latin) isn't that wild⸮

but, i hear you say, "but punctuation completionist, why should that matter‽ you have never reblogged a post in classical latin!" and to which i say. uh rude. i could if i wanted to dude. but secondly, there are actual uses in english (and also other languages too :)

in english, the interpunct is sometimes used in place of a decimal place in formal writing. it's also been used instead of a full stop (basically a period) in certain documents historically! it is also in twitter screenshots o noticed. that's the main reason i was thinking of doing this lol Ɛ>

in other languages though it has more important usages! firstly, it's used for gender-neutral endings in french (say as in the word "musicien", the gender-neutral form would be "musicien·ne" which has the masculine form with the interpunct and then feminine ending) which is important to me specifically but it's also used in many other languages such as catalan as the punt volat, used between two l's to indicate that it is pronounced differently than the double l sound (that prononciation being called the "ela geminada" & being pronounced more like the english l as opposed to a y sound)

it's also used in chinese, hokkien, tibetan, ethiopic, franco-provençal, modern greek (as well as the classical greek), japanese, latin, and MUCH more that i literally cannot go over because there are so many uses... like so many languages use it for real. if i were to guess right now while i am not looking at the list i would guess ~15–20 languages use it. that's a lot

mostly i am just asking because it's in some twitter screenshots though :/

. ? ! , : ; – — - [ ] { } ( ) ' " ... / < >

21/21

bonus:

‽ & ⸮ ~

4/16

[muffinsin]

Hey, this one’s less nsfw and more fluffy.

Could I request dani with an s/o that is an absolute romantic and literally treats her like a princess? Like I imagine when dani is in the library she reads all these fairytales about Prince Charming and she secretly wants someone to sweep her off her feet. And she finally gets it, someone who can keep up with her pace and match her energy. Surprise bouquets, serenading, reciting poetry, kisses her hand when they first meet, etc. Just spoiling the fuck out of her.

Omg absolutely. Dani deserves nothing less but the absolute princess treatment imo!🎀

Masterlist

Meeting you was the best thing that has happened to Daniela in her reborn life. She isn’t over-estimating this. It’s simply the truth

She was in the library as usual, reading her favourite book yet again. Although, this time, it seemed more as though she merely flipped the pages

Her back was set against a bookshelf, her head leaning back

It was then that she heard your unique voice. A voice she would never forget

“O she doth teach the torches to burn bright. It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night. As a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear”

A quote, from the book in her hand. A quote of the moment Romeo expressed his feelings, his first impression of his dear Juliet. Daniela jumped from the suddenness of your voice

“You know this book?”, she asked, breathless

From then on out, Daniela had her eye on you. And, more importantly, she knew yours was set on hers

Each day she found a new, beautiful flower set outside the door to her room. Each time with strange initials written on a paper clip that was wrapped around the stem. Later on, she learned those were yours

And not only this, but as you gifted her rose after rose, she had noticed one thing; they never sported any thorns

“Because how dare they prickle the finger of such a beautiful, nimble creature such as yourself, Lady Daniela. No, it would be a vast crime indeed to harm a beauty such as yourself”, you had reasoned when she confronted you about this

She fell fast, but also, hard. And it was genuine. She learned to love your laughter and she loved being the reason for it

She blushed often around you, and kept a vase in her room, the most beautiful one, to hold all her dear gifted roses. It became a bouquet, the most beautiful one in all of Castle Dimitrescu, as time stretched on

Daniela had been called many things in her life- delusional, was one of the terms that struck her especially hard

Even Cassandra and Bela had used it on her

Delusional,

Such high expectations

A mutant’s life is not one of romance

Yet you proved them all wrong

You were raised from your low staff position to the one of Daniela’s personal servant in mere hours of her finding out about your identity. She couldn’t get enough of you

And neither could you of her

Daniela grew addicted to the way you treated her, loved her, and eventually to you

She found poems in her room after you were tasked to clean it, a note sitting on her bed inviting her to a date nearly every time. Secretly, she messed her room more often than normal, eager to see you more often

Upon experiencing your first date together, Daniela knew she was head over heels smitten, more so than the naive redhead often and normally was

You had taken her to a date in the opera hall, at night, when it had been just the two of you

Daniela had blushed bright pink when you bowed down and gripped her soft hand upon seeing her. She neglected her gloves and sickle, and it had paid off

She was sure she would faint when you held her hand softly and pressed a kiss, a sweet greeting, to her knuckles

How romantic

You knew your way around music, your fingers playing a steady rhythm as the two of you shared the small seat in front of the piano

It was refreshing to be with someone who’s heartbeat picked up around her for an entirely different reason than fear

Daniela was addicted to the feeling

She sung and laughed as you played the lovely tune, and giggled when you joined in, singing verse after verse,

Singing of auburn hair and golden eyes,

Beautiful lips and soft, pale skin,

A beauty in the distance growing nearer and nearer

It was then that she had kissed you. She never bothered holding back, and perhaps she was even in a rush, too used to the love she felt disappearing. To her lover losing interest

But you did not

In fact, in time your love only grew, as did hers

She was gifted bouquets and rare treasures and chocolates from the duke, showered in love and affection

And your attention? It was solely hers

She spent her days with you entirely, her head on your thighs as you read to her with a hand in her beautiful locks, or told her about the outside world and what you had heard of it

You had been the one to ask her to be yours, and she jumped at the opportunity

Never had she even taken this step. She had always claimed; and yet, never had she been claimed. Not until you

She had worn the dress you had gotten her with hard earned money, beautiful and green, matching the gemstone at her necklace and contrasting beautifully with her pale skin and hair

You made her stand out

That night, the opera hall was all yours once again

A servant of unknown nature playing the piano obediently as the two of you laughed and sang, danced and kissed the night away

She was sure she would faint when you pulled her onto the stage and danced with her, swirling her around and holding her tight

And then, when she laughed and sank to her knees after hours, and you did the same, and your hand held hers, you asked her

And she said yes, with tears in her eyes, the first time the young woman had been official. It felt good

Of course, your relationship did not go unnoticed by her family and servants

However, it seemed the closer you grew with Daniela, the more respect and power you earned. You were untouchable, fit for your queen

And as a queen she was treated,

Showered with gifts and cuddled whenever she wished,

Kissed and protected,

She smiled daily and blushed sweetly at every flower that was handed to her, as though it was the first

She was taken on dates frequently and cared for, carried when the floor was filthy and massaged in a hot bath,

Coddled and painted

She was your muse, as she had always been

She she wouldn’t have it any other way

{For sure got a bit off track, although I plan on continuing something, if not by far more than 1 thing, along the lines of Daniela getting her fairytale partner soon! Maybe even a proper story wohoo! I’ve had a Cassandra one once btw-} {I love Dani sm ;-;}

[is-the-thing-actually-jewish]

Amharic and Ge'ez. Jewish or just something Jews use?

Rating: Not Jewish, but not not Jewish

Neither are a “Jewish” language the way Yiddish or Ladino are (though there may be community dialects, our search was a bit too surface level to be certain), but both are used by Jews.

Both are Semitic languages (as is Hebrew, though the former are South Semitic and the latter is West Semitic), of the Ethio-Semitic family. Amharic is the official language of Ethiopia, and its most spoken, as well as the language of the Amharas people of the region. The Ge’ez language (as opposed to the script, which is used for both) is an older language sometimes referred to as Classical Ethiopic by scholars, and is used liturgically by both local churches (Catholic and Eastern Orthodox) and by the Beta Israel, the Ethiopian Jews.

(Can you tell I’m a linguistics geek?)

~Mod Shoshana

[zerogate]

The problem, as St Augustine knew well, was the vagina of the Virgin Mary. This is rarely considered in the modern world. Yet, for a time, Mary’s vagina – or to be more precise, her hymen – was an issue of profound theological importance to Christianity, and that hymen’s presence (or absence) was debated in the highest circles of the Church and written about by everyone from the most loathed of heretics to Augustine himself.

The debate arose because this topic was not only one of great import, it was also one on which most gospels offered little help. The Christmas story is a story of a birth, but it is commonly told with biblical, rather than biological, simplicity. Of the four gospels found in modern Bibles, only two mention the actual birth of Jesus – and both do so briskly. The Gospel of Luke spends longer explaining the tax and travel arrangements of Mary and Joseph than it does on the moment of the birth itself, which is briefly dispatched in a single sentence. The Gospel of Matthew is more laconic yet, merely recording with workmanlike brevity that Mary ‘had given birth to a son.’

But, in the early centuries of Christianity, there was a gospel that lingered long and lovingly over every aspect of the birth of Christ. This gospel, known today as the Infancy Gospel of James, tells the story of the birth of Jesus with a physical and psychological detail lacking in the better-known versions. It offers detailed descriptions of how Joseph felt when he discovered that his supposedly virginal Mary was already quite far gone (in short: not good) and considerable detail on the lead-up to the birth. It even contains an intimate account of the birth itself, which begins with Mary’s contractions, involves the unexpected intervention of a midwife, and ends with a vaginal examination that is, in every sense, unorthodox.

Yet, while it is almost forgotten today, the Infancy Gospel of James was, for a time, one of the most popular and influential Christian gospels of all. It was read in churches in the East, for centuries, at important feasts – and even at Christmas. Its sacred words have been woven into the liturgy, art and calendar of Christianity for centuries. At least 140 manuscripts survive in Greek alone, and the spread of languages into which it was translated includes Syriac, Ethiopic, Georgian, Sahidic and Armenian. As one modern scholar put it, the ‘sheer number . . . attests to the value placed on this text in the Christian tradition’.

This book tilted the theology, the calendar and even the character of Christianity: the cult of the Virgin Mary, still evident today in the Catholic Church, is unthinkable without it. Together with later gospels in which it was absorbed, it even shaped the way the Nativity was represented. The famous image of Mary riding on a donkey is not present in any of the gospels contained within modern Bibles. This image, however, does appear, dramatically, in the Infancy Gospel of James.

Similarly, if you have ever seen a Nativity scene in which the baby Jesus is watched over by an ox and an ass, or in which he is born in a cave, you are looking at its influence, for these appear not in the Bible but in the gospel into which the Infancy Gospel of James was later absorbed. These scenes infused the works of Giotto and were held in the blue and beaten gold of Byzantine mosaics. It is, in the words of one modern theologian: ‘hardly possible to overestimate the influence of [this text] on subsequent church history.’ And it contains, at its heart, the story of how the Virgin Mary’s vagina was capable of burning human flesh.

[...]

As the scene of the birth opens, Mary and Joseph are travelling towards Bethlehem, Mary sitting on a donkey. They have not travelled far when Mary tells Joseph to take her down from the animal because her contractions are beginning. Or, as she puts it, in a brief and dignified phrase, ‘the child within me presses me to come forth.’ Joseph manages to find a cave in which Mary can give birth, and – an even greater stroke of luck – a Hebrew midwife to assist.

While he is outside the cave and Mary is labouring within, he suddenly notices that the entire world has quite literally stopped. The birds of the heavens are held motionless in the sky; a nearby shepherd, who had been lifting his hand to smite his sheep with his staff, has frozen with his hand in mid-air; the river has stopped flowing; the stars have stopped moving. Jesus has been born.

The moment of stillness ends. The birth over, the world starts up again – and, as it does, controversy begins to churn. It is at this moment that the gospel takes an unexpected turn. Because, for reasons that are not entirely clear, another woman, named Salome (no relation to the better-known Salome in the Bible, though she shares with her a certain insubordinate air), turns up at the mouth of the cave. The midwife, running outside after the birth, tells Salome, in great excitement, ‘I have a new sight to tell you about; a virgin has brought forth.’ Salome, not unreasonably, expresses a certain scepticism at this idea. ‘As the Lord my God lives,’ she says, ‘unless I thrust in my finger, and search for the parts, I will not believe that a virgin has brought forth.’

The midwife, not entirely to her credit, rises to the challenge. Get ready, she briskly tells Mary, ‘for there is no small contention concerning you.’ Salome enters the cave, and then, without a moment’s pause – or, indeed, permission – puts her finger into Mary’s vagina. Quite what Mary’s feelings are on this unexpected move are unrecorded, but the response of her vagina is unambiguous, for Salome’s hand is suddenly burned off. Salome is appalled. ‘Woe unto my iniquity and mine unbelief,’ she laments, ‘because I have tempted the living God, and lo, my hand falleth away from me in fire.’

-- Catherine Nixey, Heresy