Re: CHAT deities (was: Minhyan & the goddess of conlangs)

Ray Brown comunu:

>> Tolkien sometimes wrote about "discovering Quenya" rather
>> than inventing it.
>
>He did indeed - tho I doubt he ascribed the gift to any Muse.
He clearly ascribed it as a gift from God the Father:
http://mercury.ccil.org/~cowan/mythopoeia.html#heartofman


>> It would be amusing (ahem) to have an agreed to Conlang Muse.
>
>Glossopoeia?
Greek for "tongue maker"?  I like that.


>So do I - but the Greek deities do nothing for me. They're capricious and
>behave just like a bunch of spoilt super-brats. Infidelity & incest seem
>the order of the day - and please don't upset them!
>
>No wonder Aristophanes mocks them in his comedies.
>
>What I like about the Greek classics are the human figures. What makes the
>Odyssey for me is Odysseus, and likewise Akhilleus (Achilles) is the
>figure that gives grandeur to the Iliad. They are human figures with the
>failings and frailties we all have but in them the human spirit wins
>through despite all the stupid arbitrariness of the immoral deities. I'm
>sure it was the human element in the Greek classics that appealed to the
>humanists of the Renaissance, not the deities.
No, I do not like the life of the deities, though I did love Bulfinch's as a
child.  My 11-year old didn't want to read it-- "the gods are boring,
because they can do anything, and always win".  I gave him a copy of
_Ax-age, Wolf-age_ instead
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0571148441) and told him that
the Norse gods didn't always win.

Like you, I loved the Odyssey for Odysseus.  Alas, though, I never cared for
the Iliad.  I re-read it last year and found that I didn't care which side
won.  It made war seem awful and pointless not heroic.  (I have complex
views on war, most similar to those expressed in _Following Gandalf: Epic
Battles & Moral Victory in LOTR_,
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1587430851/.)


>> Minhyan sprang from my head about
>> as forcefully.  So Minerva is the muse of Minhyan, if not the muse of
>> conlangers.
>
>Ah, I notice you go for the Roman name. Now the Romans had a very
>different attitude to their deities. There was genuine respect for Minerva.
Sorry, I just liked the aliteration of Minerva and Minhyan.


>  Juno & Jupiter in the Republic. What upset it IMO was the equation of
>Roman deities with the very different Greek ones and the slavish
>application of the Greek myths to their own deities in the later Republic.
>
>It was surely the unsatisfactory outcome that led to disillusion with the
>traditional deities and the growing popularity of cults such as those of
>Isis and of Mithras in the early Empire and, of course, of Christianity -
>and the development of the Imperial cult as an attempt to give a common
>underpinning to the many different religions of the Empire.
This is a very interesting theory and seems quite likely to me.


>I don't think I'll get involved in arguing about the motto - I've already
>got into trouble for getting involved in the Muse/goddess/god business
>;)
So somebody threw some angry ASCII at you.  That's what Delete is for.


>(And despite temptations, I've stayed clear so far from the flag business
>in case I spoil someone's fun)
I like the simple elegance of David Peterson's flag best, but I'd prefer a
heraldic color scheme.

Best regards,

Jeffrey

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