(urth) Lictor
David Stockhoff
dstockhoff at verizon.net
Sat Feb 17 08:55:37 PST 2018
How is Severian explicitly a lictor, and which definition fits him?
Yes, although the bull Mithras kills is not shown as a castrated one.
On 2/17/2018 11:45 AM, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote:
> I'm not sure what you mean about Severian's sword belonging to "a
> lictor...never mentioned in the text." Severian is a lictor.
>
> The Mithras thing also ties in with the Old Autarch being a castrato.
>
> Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
>
> The spatula is the natural enemy of the hypothalamus.
>
> On Sat, Feb 17, 2018 at 7:28 AM, David Stockhoff
> <dstockhoff at verizon.net <mailto:dstockhoff at verizon.net>> wrote:
>
> I don't see "lictor" mentioned in the wiki---do you have a
> specific link to that?
>
> Nevertheless, the Mithraic cult has always been suggestive of
> similarities to both early Xtianity, which is useful to Wolfe, and
> to Severian's "secret history." It's closely allied with a branch
> of Roman government and with Rome. A sword figures prominently in
> its symbology. Severian becomes an outcast when he gives Thecla a
> blade, and he becomes Autarch when he kills the Autarch with a
> blade. He is often blood-covered, as with the sacrificial blood of
> a bull (sun symbol), but never blood-stained.
>
> Cultists proceeded through grades like Masons to become Leos, and
> lions have always been linked with the sun. The Mithraic leo has
> been taken as Aion, who is the Greek god of eternity or "unbounded
> time." Severian's going to Yesod and returning as the New Sun
> literally enacts this elevation to Leo.
>
> I had not realized that "mitra" could be read as "covenant."
> That's suggestive too. It's always been a mystery to me that
> Severian's sword (The Sword of the Lictor) belongs to a lictor
> that is never mentioned in the text, but if the lictor is a
> servant of a secret god with whom a covenant is held, then ... it
> fits.
>
> Hidden in plain sight, as usual.
>
> Thanks!
>
>
> On 2/17/2018 9:10 AM, Ab de Vos wrote:
>>
>> By chance I had to look up the Greek word for servant (υπηρέτης).
>> The "servant of the eleven" in Athens was the executioner or his
>> servant. Servant is also the greek translation of Lictor. The
>> lictor is an official of the roman state but the term is also
>> used for servitor in the cult cult of Mithras.
>>
>> Mithras-Helios, with solar rays and in Iranian dress,^[104]
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraism#cite_note-iranica-105>
>> with Antiochus I of Commagene
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commagene>. (Mt. Nemrut
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Nemrut>, 1st Century BCE)
>>
>>
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraism
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraism>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Urth Mailing List
>> To post, writeurth at urth.net <mailto:urth at urth.net>
>> Subscription/information:http://www.urth.net
>
>
> <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient&utm_term=icon>
> Virus-free. www.avast.com
> <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient&utm_term=link>
>
>
> <#m_-9070866629000320755_DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Urth Mailing List
> To post, write urth at urth.net <mailto:urth at urth.net>
> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Urth Mailing List
> To post, write urth at urth.net
> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net
---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.urth.net/pipermail/urth-urth.net/attachments/20180217/fb066853/attachment-0001.html>
More information about the Urth
mailing list