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<p>How is Severian explicitly a lictor, and which definition fits
him?</p>
<p>Yes, although the bull Mithras kills is not shown as a castrated
one.</p>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2/17/2018 11:45 AM, Dan'l
Danehy-Oakes wrote:<br>
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<div dir="ltr">I'm not sure what you mean about Severian's sword
belonging to "a lictor...never mentioned in the text." Severian
is a lictor.
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<div>The Mithras thing also ties in with the Old Autarch being a
castrato.</div>
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<div>Dan'l Danehy-Oakes</div>
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<div>The spatula is the natural enemy of the
hypothalamus.</div>
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<div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Feb 17, 2018 at 7:28 AM, David
Stockhoff <span dir="ltr"><<a
href="mailto:dstockhoff@verizon.net" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">dstockhoff@verizon.net</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
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<p>I don't see "lictor" mentioned in the wiki---do you
have a specific link to that?</p>
<p>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. <br>
</p>
<p>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. <br>
</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Hidden in plain sight, as usual.</p>
<p>Thanks!<br>
</p>
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<div class="h5"> <br>
<div class="m_-9070866629000320755moz-cite-prefix">On
2/17/2018 9:10 AM, Ab de Vos wrote:<br>
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<div class="h5">
<p>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.</p>
<p><img alt=""
src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Mithra%26Antiochus.jpg/220px-Mithra%26Antiochus.jpg"
class="m_-9070866629000320755thumbimage"
moz-do-not-send="true" height="325" width="220">Mithras-Helios,
with solar rays and in Iranian dress,<sup
id="m_-9070866629000320755cite_ref-iranica_105-0"
class="m_-9070866629000320755reference"><a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraism#cite_note-iranica-105"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">[104]</a></sup>
with Antiochus I of <a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commagene"
class="m_-9070866629000320755mw-redirect"
title="Commagene" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">Commagene</a>. (<a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Nemrut"
title="Mount Nemrut" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">Mt. Nemrut</a>,
1st Century BCE)</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><a
class="m_-9070866629000320755moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraism"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/<wbr>Mithraism</a><br>
</p>
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