Re: Religion in The Roman World
Marianne Bonz’s essay describing the several Roman Gods and Goddesses made me feel much like the Roman people. Like all of humanity including the sturdy Romans, I have always embodied a thriving curiosity about the world around me. If I could, I would love to know exactly how everything in the natural world works, so I study Biology. Bonz’s description of the divine deities obviously made sense to the Roman people since the purposes of each God or Goddess explained a natural cause for which the people had no other explanation. The Romans could not whip out their microscope or pH testing kits or reference Linus Pauline’s theory on electron bonding—the Romans simply did not yet have the technology to decipher the mysteries of the natural world. So, they adhered to principles that deities created for them.
What was the great ball of light in the sky? Was it light? Who was in charge of its rays, and why does it warm Earth around us? Why, because Apollo, “an archer-god, whose arrows could either wound or heal,” had “rays [that] strike the earth like darts” (Bonz). Biologically, I would say that the Sun’s rays do move like darts or arrows in all directions and straight lines, and the vitamin D produced as a product of sun exposure on human skin can dry and prevent hemorrhages such as rosaceous skin and certain mild acne. UVA rays are proven to prevent and heal psoriasis skin diseases as well (webmd.com). As we all know, overexposure to sun is “wounding,” since excessive UVA/B rays can cause painful sunburns and skin cancers.
Why are men attracted to women? The Romans would say that Aphrodite persuaded sailors, “exud[ing] charm and seduction” (Bonz). They might say that a man had been hexed just as Cupid shot himself in the foot in pursuit of Psyche. However, Biologists might argue than men lust after women due to the different investment of male and female sex gametes. In all animals, males produce many more sperm than they could ever need to reproduce, but females produce very few. This principle of anisogomy states that males will forever relentlessly pursue females.
In hopes of a successful harvest, Romans might consult the Goddess Demeter, “the goddess of fertility and of the fruits of the harvest…bestow[ing] the benefits of the earth’s abundance” (Bonz). Farmers of the 21st Century might consult a meteorologist, climatologist, or an Almanac—empirical data. They might guess that a period of unusually warm winter (El Nino weather pattern) might be a precursor to a period of unusually cold winter (La Nina weather pattern). They might realize that, while wine grapes might never grown in Northern Wisconsin, they might grow in Southern Ireland since low pressure air currents bring warm air and climate to County Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula in South Ireland. Roman farmers prayed relentlessly to Demeter in hopes of a fruitful crop, instead.
So we inevitably ask ourselves the question; which is the more superior approach for explaining natural phenomena? As a 21st Century scientist, I am compelled to defame the Roman belief in Gods and Goddesses overshadowing and controlling Earth complete dogma bullshit. Even those of us who do not study science will hear ourselves saying that the Romans “made up” or “created” tales of powerful deities to explain the world around them. But who is correct? We readily admit that nothing on Earth is fact. Even our hand before us is an upside-down perception taking place in our optic nerve and brain. We do not “see” it, our brain tells us what our eyes are viewing, and we call it “hand.” All we see and know are just theories we have cultivated reliant on faith, logic, and test, which do not differ at all from the Romans’ approach in their belief in deities at all. Romans’ faith in Zeus/Jupiter, who was “the most powerful and the most wise” relied solely on faith, logic and test as well. What can be noted, however, is that the Romans (though superior to their surrounding counterparts) did not accredit their existence and survival to their own doing. They relied on supernatural forces who guided their existence in manifestations such as arrow-like rays and rain amid a drought. Perhaps humanity will never gain the confidence to devote our survival to the brilliance of the human mind. Maybe we will always seek a supernatural being, reason, or group to worship. But do not read this too loudly, my blasphemy might merit me a lightning bolt-strike straight from Zeus!... (or from electrostatic attraction between positive and negative charges between the stratosphere and the ground)
MMM
