MORTALS




ATHENA GIVES SOUL (PSUCHE) TO MORTALS

1- Plato uses pusche to describe Soul, Athena & Hephaestus guide men's Souls:


Critias 109b,c,d --Athena guides our Souls (see footnote 48- Plato's works)
Once upon a time the gods were taking over by lot the whole earth according to its regions,...and they settled their countries; and when they had thus settled them, they reared us up, even as herdsmen rear their flocks, to be their cattle and nurslings; only it was not our bodies that they constrained by bodily force, like shepherds guiding their flocks with stroke of staff, but they directed from the stern where the living creature is easiest to turn about, laying hold on the soul by persuasion, as by a rudder, according to their own disposition; and thus they drove and steered all the mortal kind. Now in other regions others of the gods had their allotments and ordered the affairs, but inasmuch as Hephaestus and Athena were of a like nature, being born of the same father, and agreeing, moreover, in their love of wisdom and of craftsmanship, they both took for their joint portion this land of ours as being naturally congenial and adapted for virtue and for wisdom, and therein they planted as native to the soil men of virtue and ordained to their mind the mode of government.
theoi gar hapasan gên pote kata tous topous dielanchanon... kai katoikisantes, hoion nomês poimnia, ktêmata kai thremmata heautôn hêmas etrephon, plên ou sômasi sômata biazomenoi, kathaper poimenes ktênê plêgêi nemontes, all' hêi malista eustrophon zôion, ek prumnês apeuthunontes, hoion oiaki peithoi psuchês ephaptomenoi kata tên autôn dianoian, houtôs agontes to thnêton pan ekubernôn. alloi men oun kat' allous topous klêrouchêsantes theôn ekeina ekosmoun, Hêphaistos de koinên kai Athêna phusin echontes, hama men adelphên ek tautou patros, hama de philosophiai philotechniai te epi ta auta elthontes, houtô mian amphô lêxin tênde tên chôran eilêchaton hôs oikeian kai prosphoron aretêi kai phronêsei pephukuian, andras de agathous empoiêsantes autochthonas epi noun ethesan tên tês politeias taxin:

2- Athena breathes Soul into first man

"The creation of mankind. Prometheus is holding a man whom he created; Athena breathes soul into him in the form of a
butterfly." [Sarcophagos 270 A.D., Musee Capitolina]-see footnote 49

Rome, Museo Capitolino- see footnote 50

To date, the only text to support this scene that I could find was written by a Latin author after 10 CE commenting on Hesiod's remark concerning the creation story. The original Hesiod text on this appears lost. Here is what the Latin author said:

ex terra cum omnia generata sint variarumque rerum mater reperiatur, tum humanum genus, quod cuncta vinceret,
Prometheus Iapeti filius, ut idem Hesiodus ostendit, ex humo finxit, cui Minerva spiritum infudit

Hesiod fragment 268- courtesy of the Center for Hellenic Studies Library, Washington, DC

Translation: Prometheus, son of Iapetus, as Hesiod himself showed, formed man out of earth, into which Minerva (Athena) poured breath.

3- Athena gives breath or soul to Pandora


Base of Athena statue, Parthenon, Nashville

Pandora, Hephaestus, and Athena (she is shown behind the reflecting flash) appear at the base of the massive Athena statue at the Parthenon replica in Nashville, TN.
This prominent placement means that the Athena folks were proud of the Pandora creation story.
Does anyone notice the similarities between the Pandora story and the Eve story?
Here is what is written about this creation scene by Hyginus in the 1st century CE:

Prometheus Iapeti filius primus homines ex luto finxit. Postea Vulcanus Iovis iussu ex luto mulieris effigiem fecit,
cui Minerua animam dedit
, ceterique dii alius aliud donum dederunt; ob id Pandoram nominarunt, ea data in coniugium Epimetheo fratri; inde nata est Pyrrha, quae mortalis dicitur prima esse creata.

Hyginus fable 142 courtesy of the Center for Hellenic Studies Library, Washington, DC

Translation: Prometheus, the son of Iapetus first made men out of clay. Afterwards Vulcan (Hephaestus), by order of Jove (Zeus), made the likeness of a woman out of clay, to which Minerua (Athena) gave breath / soul.

4- Orphic Hymn 28 to Athena--she inspires Souls


English translation by Thomas Taylor- see footnote 51

Greek translation Hymnes & Discours- Sacres p. 100

 

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GEN


GOD'S BREATH (PNOE) & SOUL (PSUCHE) AT CREATION GEN 2:7

God's breath (pnoe) & soul (psuche) at Creation- Gen. 2:7


Genesis 2:7 Septuagint

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ST AUGUSTINE SAYS THIS BREATH (PNOE) IS "THEIR SPIRIT"

First, Plato obseved that soul (psuche) is likened to breath (pnoe):

PLATO CRATYLUS 419d
[419d] Terpsis (delight) is from terpnon (delightful); and terpnon is called from the creeping (herpsis) of the soul, which is likened to a breath (pnoê), and would properly be called herpnoun,

[419d] “terpsis” de apo tou terpnou: to de “terpnon” apo tês dia tês psuchês herpseôs pnoêi apeikasthen keklêtai, en
dikêi men an “herpnoun” kaloumenon,

St Augustine states that soul was created by breath (pnoe) -
and pnoe is "their spirit"-
and breath (pnoe) and soul (psuche) are the same-
and that soul (psuche) is of the same substance and equal to Wisdom:


City of God by Saint Augustine, Book 13, Chap 24, p. 439

St.Augustine makes the startling revelation that pnoe is not the Holy Spirit, but their spirit. He states if we believe breath / soul are the same (as stated by Plato), then they are of the same substance / equal to Divine Wisdom.

St Augustine is referring the following passage when he talks about the breath (pnoe) of God creating a living soul (psuche).

Genesis 2:7 Septuagint

St Augustine quotes the Wisdom text below when he states that breath / soul from the mouth of the most High is the same substance as Divine Wisdom (line 3).
We also noted (line 1) that Wisdom is Soul (psuche).


Ecclesiasticus 24: 1-4 ---Septuagint

St Augustine defines "their spirit" as breath (pnoe) / soul (psuche)

Breath (pnoe) / soul (psuche) is of the same substance as Divine Wisdom
Thus Divine Wisdom is "their spirit"
Divine Wisdom (the evolution of Athena goddesss of wisdom) was Constantine's Holy Spirit

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BREATH

ATHENA TIED TO BREATH (PNOE)

ILIAD 20.440
Athena stopped a spear with her breath (pnoe)-

but Athene with a breath turned it (a spear) back from glorious Achilles, [440] breathing full lightly; and it came back to goodly Hector, and fell there before his feet.

ê rha, kai ampepalôn proïei doru, kai to g' Athênê pnoiêi Achillêos palin etrape kudalimoio 440 êka mala* psuxasa: to d' aps hiketh' Hektora dion,


ODYSSEY 6.20
Like a breath of air (pnoe), Athena intructs Nausicaa-

[20] But like a breath of air the goddess sped to the couch of the maiden, and
stood above her head, and spoke to her, taking the form of the daughter of Dymas, famed for his ships, a girl who was of like age with Nausicaa, and was dear to her heart. Likening herself to her, the flashing-eyed Athena spoke and said:

20 hê d' anemou hôs pnoiê epessuto demnia kourês,
stê d' ar' huper kephalês, kai min pros muthon eeipen,
eidomenê kourêi nausikleitoio Dumantos,
hê hoi homêlikiê men eên, kecharisto de thumôi.
têi min eeisamenê prosephê glaukôpis Athênê:


ODYSSEY 1.99
athena moved as a blast of wind (pnoe)-

(Athena) So she spoke, and bound beneath her feet her beautiful sandals, immortal,2 golden, which were wont to bear her both over the waters of the sea and over the boundless land swift as the blasts of the wind.

hôs eipous' hupo possin edêsato kala pedila,
ambrosia chruseia, ta min pheron êmen eph' hugrên
êd' ep' apeirona gaian hama pnoiêis anemoio:

PNOE appears only twice in the New Testament, but in some significant places:

ACTS 2:2- at Pentecost as a violent wind-

ACTS 17:25- as breath from God the creator-

We have noted how St Augustine calls PNOE "their spirit"--thereby referring to Divine Wisdom / Athena.

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CONSTANTINE & COUNCIL ESTABLISH TRINITY
DIVINE WISDOM (an evolution of Athena) IS THE HOLY SPIRIT
ST. AUGUSTINE CONFIRMS MINERVA (ATHENA) AS HOLY SPIRIT

The original Nicene Creed of 325 CE & revision of 381 CE

What was NOT said is almost as important as what was said.
The Arians (which included Eusebius of Caesarea) wanted to include the Word and Wisdom under the attributes of Christ. They focused on Proverbs 8:22 to show that Christ (Wisdom) was created by God.

The Council rejected Arian thinking. As we can see, Word and Wisdom were not named under the attributes of Christ in the 325 Nicene Creed.
This left Divine Wisdom as an unassigned entity. I contend that in 325 CE this was solved by renaming Divine Wisdom as the Holy Ghost / Holy Spirit.
I believe this happened in part because Constantine admired Athena (goddess of wisdom), and wished to keep the old Capitoline Triad going (Minerva was a member) so that this new religion would appeal to more Romans.

Letter from Constantine- he objects to the issue (Prov 8:22) being raised:
Victor Constantine, Maximus Augustus, to Alexander and Arius: I understand that the origin of the present controversy is this. When you, Alexander, demanded of the presbyters what opinion they severally maintained respecting a certain passage in the divine Law (Prov.8:22), or rather, should say, that you asked them something connected with an unprofitable question, then you, Arius, inconsiderately insisted on what ought never to have been conceived at all, or if conceived, should have been buried in professed silence.
(see footnote 53)

(Prov 8:22 -"the Lord created me at the beginning of his works"-Divine Wisdom)


The position of Arius- early on God was alone, the word and wisdom did not exist
God was not always Father. There was a time when he was not yet Father, then he became Father. The Son was not always: for all things were made from the nonexistent, and all existing creatures and works were made, so also the Word of God himself was made from the nonexistent, and there was when he did not exist, and he was not before he was made, but he also had a beginning of creation. For God was alone, the word and wisdom did not yet exist...

Arius, a strict and highly respected priest from a parish in Alexandria, wanted to safeguard the position that God was unique, a being who alone had no beginning. If God was a Father, then at some point he had to begot his Son. So the Son had a beginning. He was not of the same nature as the Father and therefore was subordinate to Him. Prov.8:22; John 14:28.
(see footnote 53)


Position of Eusebius (an Arian) prior council. Note--Christ is Word, Christ is Wisdom
One called God by many titles, is honoured in this passage under the style and name of Wisdom, and we have learned to call Him Word of God, Light, Life, Truth, and, to crown all, "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."
Hence we call Him Only-begotten Son, and the Firstborn Word of God, Who is the same as this Wisdom.
But yet as Holy Scripture first says that He is the Firstborn of every creature, speaking in His Person, "The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways," and then says that He is the Begotten of the Father in the words: "Before all the hills he begets me";
Passages quoted, Prov. 8:12-31.
(see footnote 54)


The Creed of Eusebius of Caesarea, which he presented to the council,

note he proposes Christ is Word.

(Found in his Epistle to his diocese; vide: St. Athanasius and
Theodoret.)

We believe in one only God, Father Almighty, Creator of things
visible and invisible; and in the Lord Jesus Christ, for he is the Word
of God, God of God, Light of Light, life of life, his only Son, the first-
born of all creatures, begotten of the Father before all time, by whom
also everything was created, who became flesh for our redemption,
who lived and suffered amongst men, rose again the third day,
returned to the Father, and will come again one day in his glory to
judge the quick and the dead. We believe also in the Holy Ghost We
believe that each of these three is and subsists; the Father truly as
Father, the Son truly as Son, the Holy Ghost truly as Holy Ghost; as
our Lord also said, when he sent his disciples to preach: Go and teach
all nations, and baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

(see footnote 55)

The creed which was approved at the Council of Nicaea in 325- note neither Word nor Wisdom is tied to Christ. Holy Spirit introduced, but not defined.

We believe in one God, father almighty, maker of all things, both visible and invisible.And in one lord, Jesus Christ, the son of God, begotten from the father, only-begotten, that is from the being* of the father, God from God, light from light, True God from True God, begotten not made, one in being** with the father, through whom all things came to be, both those in heaven and those on the earth, who because of us human beings and because of our salvation descended, became enfleshed, became human, suffered and rose on the third day, ascending to the heavens, coming to judge the living and dead.
And in the Holy Spirit.
The catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes those who say: there was when he was not; and before being born he was not; or that he came to be from things that are not; or that the Son of God is from a different hypostasis or ousia or mutable or changeable.

* being - "ousia" in the Greek, a very difficult word to translate. "Being", "essence" and "substance" are all candidates, but in the Creed "essence" is inappropriate since it is open to a tritheistic interpretation.
** "homoousios", 'consubstantial' is an alternative. The word was not new at Nicaea, but was given a new use as a means of excluding Arianism.

(see footnote 56)

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381 CE- attributes added to Holy Spirit, who is of neutral gender. "Giver of Life" I believe refers to Gen. 2:7, in which "breath of life" (pnoe) and "living soul" (psuche) refers to Divine Wisdom.

I believe in One God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-Begotten, begotten of the Father before all ages; Light of Light; True God of True God; begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father, by Whom all things were made; Who for us men and for our salvation came down from Heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man. And He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried. And the third day He arose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead; Whose Kingdom shall have no end.
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father; Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; Who spoke by the prophets.
And in One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

(see footnote 57)

St Augustine identified the Holy Spirit as Wisdom in his ON THE TRINITY, book XV, chapter 6
Nor could we find the Holy Spirit to be in any other way than that He Himself also is wisdom, and altogether one wisdom, as one God, one essence.
(see footnote 58)

St Augustine writes concerning Plato's comments on Minerva: "another the patterns of things, which Plato calls ideas. He makes Jupiter to signify heaven, Juno the earth, Minerva the ideas. .... But, with respect to the last, I am forgetting to say that Plato attributed so great an importance to these ideas as to say, not that anything was made by heaven according to them, but that according to them heaven itself was made".[1] his footnote "In the Timæus".
The City of God, Book VII, Chapter 28
I searched the word "ideas" in Plato's Timaeus. The word "ideas"occurs only once in the entire text, and not in this context.

St Augustine was probably referring to this text in Timaeus. It refers to "soul", not "ideas".
Now when the Creator had framed the soul according to his will, he formed within her the corporeal universe, and
brought the two together, and united them centre to centre. The soul, interfused everywhere from the centre to the
circumference of heaven, of which also she is the external envelopment, herself turning in herself, began a divine
beginning of never ceasing and rational life enduring throughout all time. The body of heaven is visible, but the soul
is invisible, and partakes of reason and harmony, and being made by the best of intellectual and everlasting
natures, is the best of things created.

Plato TIMAEUS
(see footnote 59)

St Augustine recognizes Soul of nature as the third part of the Platonic Trinity, which he refers to as the Holy Spirit.
"For Plotinus places the soul of nature after the intellect of the Father, while Porphyry, making it the mean, does not place it after, but between the others. No doubt he spoke according to his light, or as he thought expedient; but we assert that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit not of the Father only, nor of the Son only, but of both."

"The Platonists of the Alexandrian and Athenian schools, from Plotinus to Proclus, are at one in recognizing in God three principles or hypostases: 1st, the One or the Good, which is the Father; 2nd, the Intelligence or Word, which is the Son; 3rd, the Soul, which is the universal principle of life. But as to the nature and order of these hypostases, the Alexandrians are no longer at one with the school of Athens."
The City of God, Book X, Chapter 23
We've seen how St Augustine equates soul (psuche) with Divine Wisdom (City of God, book 13, chap 24, pg 439). These
texts therefore suggest the link Minerva to soul to Divine Wisdom to Holy Spirit.

Later versions of the Nicene Creed made the Holy Spirit masculine, and added the filoque clause which further confuses the identity of the Spirit.

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CONCLUSION-
Athena (goddess of wisdom) is linked to breath / soul and creation.
Various later Septuagint texts describe these same things (breath / soul / creation) in Gen 2:7 and various Wisdom texts.
Athena (goddess of wisdom) evolves into Divine Wisdom, Constantine's Holy Spirit.
St Augustine calls her (pnoe) "their spirit", equal to Divine Wisdom.