XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien, alt.fan.tolkien, alt.religion.tolkienology   
   XPost: alt.religion.christian.roman-catholic, alt.religion.christian   
   From: douglas.eckhart@btinternet.com   
      
   "the softrat"  wrote in message   
   news:fbfqsvktsvfr01gt286bmockfnm1mjilah@4ax.com...   
   > On Tue, 2 Dec 2003 12:29:47 +0000 (UTC), "Douglas Eckhart"   
   >  wrote:   
   > >   
   > >I was told in Classical history lessons   
   >   
   > They lied to you.   
   >   
   > >that 'angels' are actually a   
   > >pre-Christian notion, and were already a feature of Classical mythology.   
   >   
   > Not classical. Very late Hebrew.   
   >   
   > >They were messengers of the gods, with all the usual equipment like   
   wings,   
   > >although I don't know if they came under the authority of Hermes or not,   
   > >actually, I think they could work for anyone.   
   >   
   > The word 'angel' is really just ancient Greek for 'messenger'.   
   > 'Messengers' can work for anyone.   
   >   
   > >Anyway they went out of fashion towards the end of the Classical era but   
   > >were 'resurrected' (pardon the pun) as part of Christian mythology.   
   >   
   > Wrong. The continuity with Judaism is there, not to mention   
   > Zoroastrianism.   
   >   
   > >The Christian notion of 'demons' too stems from the old Greek 'Daemones'   
   > >which actually referred to any kind of spirit, not necessarily an 'evil'   
   > >one.   
   > >   
   > Not the 'notion', which is virtually universal. Just the word.   
   >   
   >   
   > the softrat   
      
      
   fair enough, and no I wasnt 'lied to'. More likely they were discussing the   
   origins of the 'word' Angel rather than angels themselves!   
      
   However, it was certainly not the case that 'Daimones' were universally   
   recognised as 'evil' spirits. Daimones was a greek term which applied to all   
   spirits, and they were not any more good or evil than people.   
   However, with the advent of christianisation demons (and all pagan gods)   
   were alterd to fit in with the the 'eternal battle' good/evil bollocks which   
   was being promoted by Christianity, which of course it got from Judaism and   
   before that Zoarostianism....   
   Not really one of their more helpful ideas, antagonistic from the outset.   
      
   In fact the notion of polar opposites of good and evil did not exist in   
   classical civilisation. Rather, there were varying shades of 'grey' from our   
   perspectve. In this way classical civ is actually much cloer to our   
   post-modern notion of the world than any kind of polar opposition concept.   
      
   Check Prof. Robert Turcan's book 'Cults of the Roman Empire' to get the   
   lowdown on this.   
      
   Douglas   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)