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Author Topic: Modern patronage of deities?  (Read 1654 times)

RecycledBenedict

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Modern patronage of deities?
« on: July 21, 2015, 09:16:28 pm »
Despite it is in the middle of the night, I can't sleep, and that other thread about which gods are the best patrons of present gender roles made me think. I am just thinking loud and playing around, so don't take this thread too seriously, but this is a way of putting words to formerly unconscious assumptions in a playful way. Welcome to play along and disagree.

Our literary sources ends about 580 CE, or thereabout. Human civilization has then went on for many centuries. Which areas of influence does the deities have today?

Jupiter/Zeus: Weather, thunder, meteorologists, electric generators, power plants, power lines, conservative gender roles, political hegemony, establishment.

Juno/Hera: Conservative gender roles, marriage, The Bursary, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, banks, business cycles, stock brokers.

Vesta/Hestia: Lararium flame, central heating, light bulbs and LED, electric stoves, electric torches, TV sets.

Vulcanus/Hefaistos: Industries, cars, trains, undergrounds, drivers.

Diana/Artemis: Hunting, wild life preservation, maternity hospitals, feminism, modern gender roles.

Apollo/Apollon: Hospitals, doctors, nurses, artists, poets, novelists, musicians, actors, film stars, athletes, concert halls, sports arenas, cinemas, museums, gyms, personal trainers, modern gender roles.

Minerva/Athene: Ministry of Defence, Secret Intelligence, armed forces, fashion, home styling.

Mercury/Hermes: Surveying, real estate, brokers, the morgue, funeral directors, insurance salesmen, used cars salesmen, advertisements, stand up comedians, journalists, TV channels, radio stations, schools, teachers, pupils, students, research, universities, telephones, computer programming, world wide web.

Venus/Aphrodite: Love, friendship, sex, certain novels, certain TV serials, certain films.

Mars/Ares: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, football hooliganism, gangs, vandalism, domestic violence, teddy boys, mods, skinheads, punks, hiphop, chavs.

Ceres/Demeter: Agriculture, grocery shops. I am not sure if the environmental movement fits best here or under Dionysos.

Pater Liber/Dionysos: Pubs, liquor shops, counter-culture, beatniks, hippies, music festivals, vacation, camping, nightclubs, dragqueens, rave.

RecycledBenedict

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Re: Modern patronage of deities?
« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2015, 05:59:23 am »
Quote from: FraterBenedict;177630

Juno/Hera: Conservative gender roles, marriage, The Bursary, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, banks, business cycles, stock brokers.


Now when I think about it, I think that it's not called The Bursary, is it? The Treasury is the correct English word, isn't it? Sorry for my bad English. The English terminology about governement ministries was somewhat confusing for me already in school. Would it not be easier to call all ministries ministries instead of juggling around several different terms about them? If it had been called The Exchequer it had at least made sense.

Quote from: FraterBenedict;177630
Minerva/Athene: Ministry of Defence, Secret Intelligence, armed forces, fashion, home styling.


Architecture must fall under her patronage. I forgot that. I am not entirely sure about town plans: Is that an activity for her or for Mercury/Hermes?

rinceoir

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Re: Modern patronage of deities?
« Reply #2 on: July 22, 2015, 11:13:16 am »
Quote from: FraterBenedict;177630

Jupiter/Zeus: Weather, thunder, meteorologists, electric generators, power plants, power lines, conservative gender roles, political hegemony, establishment.


I'm not familiar with Greek and Roman pantheons beyond what I learned in high school, but I am a meteorologist. I've never personally felt drawn to any gods/goddesses of thunder/weather, like Zeus, Thor, or even Thunderbird types, which is fairly prevalent in the culture of the central US (at least areas I've lived). I think it's because there is a difference between the sciencey part of meteorology and a deity who is associated with the weather. After all, thunder is caused by rapidly expanding air molecules that break the sound barrier, resulting in a boom. These air molecules are expanded due to the intense sudden heating from lightning, where the ideal gas law tells us if temperature suddenly increases and pressure stays the same, the volume must suddenly increase. And the lightning is caused by charge separation in the cloud associated with ice crystals and graupel colliding. I can feel the raw power of a storm when I'm out chasing, and it thrills me, but I don't really get that sense of wonder/awe when I'm yelling at my computer because my code won't run.

On the other hand, I do have an interest in deities associated with the wind. I think this has to do with the feeling I get when the wind whips across the hills, or when you feel the outflow from a giant storm. But my main deities, Cernunnos and Flidais, are both associated more with woodlands.
 
Quote from: FraterBenedict;177645
Now when I think about it, I think that it's not called The Bursary, is it? The Treasury is the correct English word, isn't it? Sorry for my bad English. The English terminology about governement ministries was somewhat confusing for me already in school. Would it not be easier to call all ministries ministries instead of juggling around several different terms about them? If it had been called The Exchequer it had at least made sense.

 
First off, I think your English is quite good. So please quit thinking it is bad. :) I think you're right about referring to it as the Treasury. I think bursary is specific to British English though, as are ministries (in the US we call them Department of...), so I am of no use for your other questions. Most of the British English I know I picked up from my friends in the UK or via British media. Even though I read British news, I don't always retain the more formal terms that differ from American English.

Louisvillian

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Re: Modern patronage of deities?
« Reply #3 on: July 28, 2015, 07:10:18 pm »
Quote from: FraterBenedict;177630
Mercury/Hermes

I definitely get the feel that Hermes is the god of IT. It's all part of communication, rapidity, messages.

Quote
Mars/Ares: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, football hooliganism, gangs, vandalism, domestic violence, teddy boys, mods, skinheads, punks, hiphop, chavs.

I feel that there are some problems here. First off, Ares maybe can be tied to modern rageful violence; but the part of him that is the god of battle and war cannot be ignored, and he is not solely what the Homeric literature implies. And with Mars, he is just as much an agricultural and lawgiving god as he is a god of war; the Romans associated him with Ares largely on the basis of being the war-god. Mars is much more than that, though, and is rather more honourable and calm a figure than Ares is (in literature at least).

And an aside, I feel offended by your placing hip-hop music as part of Ares' domain, as it's clear you are emphasising the violence of Ares. That comes across, to me, as racist.

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