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Acanthus: Greek Culture

8th June 2011, hej

 

1) Hellenism versus Hebraism

The Acanthus was and is evident as the decoration of the capital of Corinthian columns, might be found in frieze decorations in classical style buildings, but is most evident in the modern world in curtain fabrics, upholstery and clothing. But the opulent Greek pattern has a meaning.


In a commentary a Rabbi gave an overview of two core influences of 'western culture',

The West was shaped by two profoundly different civilizations, brought together in creative tension by Christianity. One was ancient Greece, the other ancient Israel: Hebraism and Hellenism as Matthew Arnold called them. Each gave us a political value but they were not the same. The Hebrew Bible gave us the idea we call civil rights. ...To the Greeks we owe a different value, that of democracy,.. rule by the majority israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/10099

It is to be noted that Hebraism and Hellenism were 'not the same' and 'profoundly different'. They were so different as to engender mutual antipathy and the rise of the Macabees. So how did they become reconciled in the Western culture? What precisely is this 'creative tension' in Christianity?


The Acanthus decoration will show how and why.

The word acanthus is from Greek from ake "point, thorn" and anthos "flower" dictionary.reference.com/browse/acanthus, which accurately describes the thorn covered leaves as a “thorny flower.”

The meaning of Acanthus

The first use of the decoration in a Corinthian column was in the Temple of Apollo Epicurius in Arcadia, ca. 450–420 BCE. The Corinthian column was made very popular by the Romans. The Roman architectural writer Vitruvius (c.75 BCE -c.15 BCE) collected the wisdom of his day and explained why the pagan Romans valued the decoration.

The third order, called Corinthian, is an imitation of the slenderness of a maiden; for the outlines and limbs of maidens, being more slender on account of their tender years, admit of prettier effects in the way of adornment.

9. It is related that the original discovery of this form of capital was as follows. A free-born maiden of Corinth, just of marriageable age, was attacked by an illness and passed away. After her burial, her nurse, collecting a few little things which used to give the girl pleasure while she was alive, put them in a basket, carried it to the tomb, and laid it on top thereof, covering it with a roof-tile so that the things might last longer in the open air. This basket happened to be placed just above the root of an acanthus. The acanthus root, pressed down meanwhile though it was by the weight, when springtime came round put forth leaves and stalks in the middle, and the stalks, growing up along the sides of the basket, and pressed out by the corners of the tile through the compulsion of its weight, were forced to bend into volutes at the outer edges.

10. Just then Callimachus, whom the Athenians called [Greek: katatêxitechnos] for the refinement and delicacy of his artistic work, passed by this tomb and observed the basket with the tender young leaves growing round it. Delighted with the novel style and form, he built some columns after that pattern for the Corinthians, determined their symmetrical proportions, and established from that time forth the rules to be followed in finished works of the Corinthian order. Book IV Chapter 1

The story's veracity is doubtful, but nevertheless this explains what Romans thought and why they valued the acanthus design.


The original use in the temple designed for Apollo in Corinth reveals a further connection. The name Apollo originally meant 'to destroy'. The following quote shows Apollo means destroyer as 'Abaddon' also means 'destroyer'

They had a king over them, which is the messenger of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue has his name Apollyon. (Rev 9:11).

Apollo came also to be thought of as 'a healer'

Acanthus Leaves Is a medicinal plant associated with Apollo and his healing abilities. The curling leaves of the acanthus became the main element of the Corinthian capital. It can be seen today not only in Greece and Rome on Temples, but on our own U.S. Post Offices, libraries and any number of Greek Revival buildings of the nineteenth century. www.solnyc.com/

But to the Pagan Romans Apollo meant 'light' and then he was transformed into a sun deity by the Celts.


The destroying-healing Apollo was first and naturally associated with the the acanthus leaf, and then the acanthus leaf took on that pagan meaning, and came itself to mean 'regeneration'

Although many variants of the style are known, the principal component was the acanthus leaf, symbol of death and rebirth.... Being an herbaceous plant, the acanthus is an ideal symbol of regeneration. humanflowerproject.com


By extension regeneration, and cyclical regrowth came to mean immortality. The Romans so loved the Corinthian order and its meaning they invented a new composite order which was used in the Arch of Titus of 82 CE. This should give all Christians pause as this arch also includes the pagan Roman triumph over Jerusalem in 70CE.


From its use in Roman design the thoroughly pagan symbol was imported as a symbol into state run Christianity when it inherited the Roman world as the Byzantine style continued the use of the formerly pagan design.

The symbolism and meaning associated with the Acanthus is that of enduring life, and the plant is traditionally displayed at funerary celebrations.
In Christianity the thorny leaves represent pain, sin and punishment. Acanthus symbolizes immortality in Mediterranean countries.
"In Greece 2 BC the acanthus was a clear reference to life emerging from a grave. It was not initially a reference to resurrection in Christian sense, but in a sense that life is cyclical." - Gus Tassara, "Plant Symbolism" buffaloah


2) Hebrew thinking

There is nothing 'cyclical' in the Hebrew doctrine of resurrection found in the Bible. There is no mention of immortality of a person's soul in his life. Rather the soul dies. Adam is told,

In the sweat of thy face shall thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return. (Genesis 3:19)

The ancient Hebrews from their earliest history were clear as to the fate of humans after death. The account of Adam in Genesis implies all the things that were Adam and defined him as a person returned to dust. There is breath given by God, but it is taken away,

Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou take away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. (Psalm 104:29)

In Hebrew thinking even during the later prophets maintained that sinners souls died,

Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. (Ezekiel 18:4)

Did something change with the coming of Christianity? Peter who was a Jew used the common Jewish understanding of the death state to preach Christ resurrected,

Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, (Act 2:29-34)

Paul, who also self-identified himself as a Hebrew, backs up Peter,

For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption. (Acts 13:36-37)


The Hebrews who were the first Christians did not believe in immortality of the soul. Their great and faithful King David was dead, perished and dust. Rather after a resurrection those risen from the dead are who are found worthy are made immortal,

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. (1Cor 15:52-54)


3) Greek thinking

Greek ideas are present in their texts. Academic analysis suggest that early Greek texts used the word soul as Hebrews did, merely for a person's life. It then came to mean also character so that at the time of Hippocrates as he speaks of 'body and soul'. But

Pythagorean speculation (beginning around mid-sixth century), contributed to the semantic expansion of ‘soul’... Pythagoreanism was concerned with, among other things, the continued existence of the person (or something suitably person-like) after death.
Empedocles and, apparently, Pythagoras (cf. Bremmer 1983, 125) thought that plants have souls, and that human souls, for instance, can come to animate plants. (Note, though, that Empedocles, in extant fragments, rarely uses the word ‘soul’, preferring the word daimôn.) Empedocles in fact claimed to have been a bush in a previous incarnation, as well as, among other things, a bird and a fish
Plato appears to think that plants do have minds in this sense, because he takes them to exhibit desire and sense-perception (Timaeus 77b) http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ancient-soul/


Greek theorizing apparently went beyond this with Socrates,

Socrates says not only that the soul is immortal, but also that it contemplates truths after its separation from the body at the time of death. Needless to say, none of the four main lines of argument that Socrates avails himself of succeeds in establishing the immortality of the soul.. (As above)

Aristotle goes further and develops a theory of “soul”. By the time of the Hellenistic world there were a few schools of thought,

Epicurus thinks that the soul is dispersed at death along with its constituent atoms, losing the powers that it has while it is contained by the body of the organism that it ensouls (L&S 14A6). The Stoics agree that the human soul is mortal, but they also take it that it can and does survive the person's death — that is, its separation from the perceptible body. (As above)

The academics added to their conclusion a remarkable point,

Christian writers such as Clement of Alexandria and Gregory of Nyssa were heavily indebted to philosophical theories of soul, especially Platonic ones, but also introduced new concerns and interests of their own (As above)

Why were these so called Christian writers interested in pagan ideas?


Paul had rebuked his generation, regarding that very Greek philosophy,

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments (stoicheion) of the world, and not after Christ. (Colossians 2:8)

The use of the Greek word 'stoicheion' directly rejects Plato's ideas. Paul, a Hebrew, was warning people about and outright rejecting Greek philosophy.

4) The conflict: Greek verus Hebrew thinking

We have a great contrast. On one hand very, very ancient Hebrew understanding that endured until well after the era of the Apostle Paul, that proclaimed that all humans die and turn to dust. Then there is also Greeco- Roman pagan thought that emerged in the Hellenistic world that things might be cyclic, and speculated, without evidence, that death may not be an end.


The Hebrew scriptures hint at the origin of the Hellenistic thinking.

The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden thou may freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it: for in the day that thou eat of it your shall dying die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

The serpent said to Eve regarding eating that tree, “Ye shall not surely die:” (Genesis 3:4)

The acanthus as a Roman symbol borrowed from Hellenistic culture echoes the words of the serpent. It was said to the serpent, and any who inherit that serpent thinking,

I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15)


The culture of Hellenism had been in strong conflict with the Jewish culture at the time of the Macabees. Hellenism however was taken further by Rome. As Rome's influence grew, the Roman culture gained an influence during Herod's rule in Judea. The conflict became more muted. The Jewish leadership began to fear the Romans rather than the God of Israel. When Jesus, by demonstration of God's power, began to lead the people to return to God, the Jewish leadership acted on their fear of Roman power. They are recorded as saying,

If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. (John 11:48)

Their reasoning was incorrect. Their power was from God only. However, in this way, it was the Roman power, who valued the acanthus, that spoke the idea of the serpent, that was involved when 'the seed of the woman', Jesus, was 'bruised the heel' by crucifixion.


From the dominance of Greek-influenced Rome until its transference into an apostate Roman 'christianity' until the modern world, the Greek idea of an immortal soul has dominated and has paralleled the influence of Greek architecture and the prevalence of the acanthus decoration.


It is perhaps not an accident that with the liberation of Jews from ghettos in the late1800's and their increasing influence on thought after 1900, that the world began to prefer less decoration and the acanthus leaf motif was not so evident. Jewish architects were foremost in the less decorated styles of the Modern era. From about the same time, the mid 1800's, the ancient Hebrew thinking of death, dissolution of being and a bodily resurrection from dust on an appointed day was preached openly once again.


The words of Christ were read with the clarity of Hebrew thinking,

Jesus said, “Ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.” (John 8:24)

The Apostle Paul, another Hebrew, is in no doubt of his people's ancient understanding. His language is very strong,

But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
Thou fool, that which thou sow is not quickened, except it die: (1Corinthians 15:35-36)


The acanthus leaf has no longer the association that it once had, but the wise may ponder when they see it, that there was intense enmity between the Hellenistic and the Hebrew cultures. And one of the fundamental differences is exemplified in the meaning of the Acanthus decoration. Using speculation that rivalled the serpent's in Eden, philosophers of the Hellenistic world began to innovate and wonder if a bit of them might go on living, and if perhaps an intangible bit might animate a plant, or if the soul of plant might become human.


However Hebrew belief remained unchanged from the beginning; a belief that all die and turn to dust. From Job to Daniel to Paul the only hope expressed was that being raised from the dust on an appointed day. Early Christians exemplify Hebrew ideas and did most to promote the resurrection. They witnessed that a man who was dead in the grave for three days rose from the dead to live forever.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. (1Corinthians 15:22-23)


The 'creative tension' of 'christianity' is due to the late corruption of the Hebrew gospel with a Greek pagan error from incoherent discussions of philosophy. There has been enmity and tension always between those who call themselves Christian who hold the Hebrew ideas in purity and those who bear the Greek ideas of an immortal soul that went with the acanthus. The acanthus name “thorny flower” if used purposefully in decoration, bears a story of condemnation. The writer to the Hebrews speaks of it directly,

But that which bears thorns akantha and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. (Hebrews 6:8)



For more see heart, mind and soul


Topics: Greek, acanthus
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