Why our cultures and civilization is failing.

[Gwaihir]

Originally Posted by Kaveh [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

As an aside, does anyone know why Ionian Greek, the form of Greek spoken in Attica and Ionia, became koine Greek? I’m curious because the Macedonian conquerors of the near East spoke Doric

Yes.

Cadmus brought with him, the Phoenician alphabet:

"The natives of the land surmised that unless they removed the foreigners, their troubles would never be resolved. At once, therefore, the aliens were driven from the country and the most outstanding and active among them banded together and, as some say, were cast ashore in Greece and certain other regions; their leaders were notable men, among them being Danaus and Cadmus. But the greater number were driven into what is now called Judea, which is not far from Egypt and at that time was utterly uninhabited. The colony was headed by a man called Moses."

Source: Diodorus Siculus. XL: 3.2

This is also where the concept of the Lost Tribe of Dan comes from: Danaus, who constituted the nation of Troy.

Likewise Orpheus was a student of Moses as well:
Aristobulus, a third century BC Jewish philosopher, claimed that Orpheus was a follower of Moses, and quoted the following from an Orphic poem: “I will sing for those for whom it is lawful, but you uninitiate, close your doors, charged under the laws of the Righteous ones, for the Divine has legislated for all alike. But you, son of the light-bearing moon, Musaeus (Moses), listen, for I proclaim the Truth…”Artapanus, third century BC Jewish philosopher, declared of Moses that, “as a grown man he was called Musaeus by the Greeks. This Musaeus was the teacher of Orpheus.”

Source: Orphica, cited in James H. Charlesworth,, ed. The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Apocalyptic Literature & Testaments, Vol. I & II (New York: Doubleday, 1983), p. 799).

Source: Eusebius. Praeparatio Evangelica, 9.27 .1-37

Plato stated:

"Beggar priests and seers come to the doors of the rich and convince them that in their hands, given by the gods, there lies the power to heal with sacrifices and incantations, if a misdeed has been committed by themselves or their ancestors, with pleasurable festivals… and they offer a bundle of books of Musaeus and Orpheus… according to which they perform their sacrifices; they persuade not only individuals but whole cities that there is release and purification from sin through sacrifices and playful pastimes, and indeed for both the living and the dead; they call these teletai, which deliver us from evil in the afterlife; anyone who declines to sacrifice, however, is told that terrible things are waiting for him."

Source: Plato. The Republic, 364b -365a.


Also, according to Clement of Alexandria:
"The raving Dionysus is worshipped by Bacchants with orgies, in which they celebrate their sacred frenzy by a feast of raw flesh. Wreathed with snakes, they perform the distribution of portions of their victims, shouting the name of Eva (Eua), that Eva through whom error entered into the world; and a consecrated snake is the emblem of the Bacchic orgies."

Source: Clement of Alexandria. Exhortation to the Greeks, 2.12