So far, we have learned that the Renaissance, while it certainly celebrated human reason, also witnessed the revival of neopagan, anti-Christian magic. This Hermetic movement, which takes its name from the writings written under the name Hermes Trismegistus, aimed at finding the secrets of making gold, creating living creatures, liberating men from the Christian religion and Christian morality,
Nearly every popular Italian language series with which I am familiar, including Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone, Duolingo, etc, as well as the podcasts would have you believe that learning grammar is out of date.
A couple of times a year I cook borsch. Fits of nostalgia aren’t the reason, and I would make this wholesome soup more often if beets, its principal ingredient, were easier to come by in the south of Italy.
Unfortunately, neopaganism does not merely have a dark side. It is the dark side of the classical revival in general and of Hellenism in particular
I would be somewhat offended if the gentle reader thought even for a moment that I had watched this film before writing about it.
This then is a summary of what very little we know of the Greeks down to the time of the Trojan War and its aftermath. Since writing disappeared with the rest of Mycenaean civilization, a poet would have to rely on traditions handed down to him over a period of 4 centuries—10 or 12 generations.
Christopher Nolan’s new film “version” is out, and although I have not yet seen it, I am going to put up some sections of a long-promised but never delivered set of lectures on the Ancient Greek Mind. This first section takes up the question of “who were the Greeks?”, though I have eliminated most of the historical details of the lectures.
I have been completely tied up the past few weeks with our Summer School. Besides, a little vacation from time to time refreshes the brain and the appetite to learn.
One thread connecting Renaissance magic with our own New Age magic is the belief in secret brotherhoods and perfect societies, such as the lost continent of Atlantis.
Continuing last week’s ruminations about things that endure and are to be celebrated for their virtue…
