Stumble it!St. Isidore and his Etymologies
posted in Religion by themaiden |I can’t help myself. When I read this, I couldn’t help but see the similarities. I’ll explain after the quote.
12. And just as there are monstrous individuals in separate races of men, so in the whole human kind there are certain monstrous races, as the Gigantes, Cynocephali, Cyclopes, and the rest.
15. The Cynocephali are so called because they have dogs’ heads and their very barking betrays them as beasts rather than men. These are born in India.
16. The Cyclopes, too, the same India gives birth to, and they are named Cyclopes because they are said to have a single eye in the midst of the forehead. These have the additional name ἁγριοϕαγίται because they eat nothing but the flesh of wild beasts.
17. The Blemmyes, born in Libya, are believed to be headless trunks, having mouth and eyes in the breast; others are born without necks, with eyes in their shoulders.
18. In the remote east, races with faces of a monstrous sort are described. Some without noses, with formless countenances; others with lower lip so protruding that by it they shelter the whole face from the heat of the sun while they sleep; others have small mouths, and take sustenance through a narrow opening by means of oat-straws; a good many are said to be tongueless, using nod or gesture in place of words.
19. They say the Panotii in Scythia have ears of so large a size that they cover the whole body with them. For πᾶν in Greek means all, and ὧτα, ears.
21. The Satyrs are manikins with upturned noses; they have horns on their foreheads, and are goat-footed, such as the one St. Anthony saw in the desert. And he, being questioned, is said to have answered the servant of God, saying, “I am mortal, one of the inhabitants of the waste, whom the heathen, misled by error, worship as the Fauns and Satyrs.”
23. The race of the Sciopodes is said to live in Ethiopia. They have one leg apiece, and are of a marvelous swiftness, and the Greeks call them Sciopodes from this, that in summertime they lie on the ground on their backs and are shaded by the greatness of their feet.
24. The Antipodes in Libya have feet turned backward and eight toes on each foot.
28. Other fabulous monstrosities of the human race are said to exist, but they do not;
they are imaginary.
Fabulous irony isn’t it, that after listing “certain monstrous races, as the Gigantes, Cynocephali, Cyclopes” St. Isidore ends his passage by asserting that other “fabulous monstrosities” are mere rumors, and do not exist but are imaginary?
I can’t help but think of the Christians who… no, I’ll be more general. Pick a religion, and among its adherents you will find a list of “certain monstrous races” much like Isidore’s. You’ll find ghosts, spirits, angels, demons, magical mythical beasts; and you’ll find them treated as if they were real things. But you’ll also find a similar list of creatures, rejected as imaginary much as Isidore rejects “other fabulous monstrosities”. Christians will accept Leviathan and the Great Beast of Revelation, but mention the Norse frost giant Ymir and suddenly you are talking foolishness. Mention angels and you are talking fact– after all Mary was impregnated by one, at least by proxy– but mention nymphs, and you are a nut. Curious isn’t it?
Honestly, this need to play by different rules according to context is a primary reason why I cannot be a Christian, but let’s not single out the Jesus cult too much. The same reasoning applies to most faiths. Accepting the tenants of one religion “would require me to accept ‘facts’ which in most contexts would be considered irrational, if not downright insane…” For example, “In the Biblical context, anything goes. The animation of dirt-people? Why not? Talking shrubbery? Sure. Sentient storm clouds? Okey Dokey. Sticks that turn into snakes? Yep. Fires that don’t burn? Yes, indeed-ie. Zombies and the living dead? No problem…” But talk about Athena jumping from the head of Zeus, and suddenly I’ve left the realm of reason? Hmmm… something doesn’t quite add up.
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