Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

As one of the three virgin goddesses alongside Hestia (Vesta) and Athena (Minerva), Artemis is a very important god in the Greek world. Ephesus was a city central to the belief in Artemis.

The Temple of Artemis is undoubtedly a solemn temple. It was burned down due to a fire hundreds of years ago. The people of Ephesus built a larger and more solemn temple on the site. The temple was not destroyed again until nearly two hundred years later in 262 due to the invasion of the Goths.

At this time, due to the disappearance of Greek polytheistic beliefs and the decline of the city of Ephesus, the temple was not rebuilt. The temples that people see today are mostly the ruins that survived from that time.

But at this time, the Temple of Artemis was still magnificent. It was made of huge pure white stones, and there were dozens of Greek-style columns more than ten meters high, covered with precise carvings and decorations. It is said that this symbolizes the highest achievement of Greek architecture.

Today, more than three hundred years after its reconstruction, the Temple of Artemis still does not look outdated, and can even be called shocking.

In Orville's view, Artemis is one of the Greek gods that he is more accepting of. At least she is a bit more self-sufficient and doesn't do too many abstract things.

As for some of her stories, such as the murder of a poor noble who accidentally saw her bathing, judging from some modern research, it seems to be inseparable from Ovid's fabrications.

In the minds of the local Greeks, Artemis is an even more serious and even awe-inspiring god, because she is not only in charge of hunting, but also symbolizes the unconquerable power of nature and is the deified image of nature. one.

Thanks to this, the local people's belief in the goddess of hunting is very pious and serious. When Orville came, the locals happened to be worshiping the god. The battle was as solemn and grand as the sacrifice of Jupiter in Rome, which also allowed Orville to broaden his horizons. Quite a bit of knowledge.

He and Cleopatra did not believe in the goddess of hunting, so they just joined in the fun. After seeing enough, he and Cleopatra left the temple in a sedan chair and prepared to go back to their ship.

At this time Cleopatra asked Orville: "Do you still believe in your gods?"

"Maybe when necessary, but I only have the altar of the goddess Athena at home." When he was in Parphi, he would also pretend to join in the fun with King Herod, but it was just for fun, and he had nothing to do with the gods. true faith.

After all, if a person travels back in time to ancient times, he may convert to Christianity and Buddhism, which is a systematic religion with its own logic and theoretical system, but it is still a bit troublesome for modern people to suddenly convert to Greek polytheism that does not even have a systematic ideological program.

"That's it. Actually, I think your religion also has merit."

"I thought the Egyptians didn't have a good impression of the Parphys. Of course I'm a Roman, not a Parphy." Orville emphasized his identity intentionally or unintentionally.

"This has nothing to do with ethnicity, but I think myths should be simplified and simplified. Think about it, if a person wants to pray for a good harvest, where will he go?"

"Demeter's temple, after all, she is the god of agriculture."

"There is a problem with thinking like this," Cleopatra denied with a wry smile. "If he wants to pray for a good harvest of fruits from the mountains and forests, then he can also ask for Artemis, because she is a symbol of nature. In addition, There are also people who seek Gaia, the Mother Earth Goddess, and I have even seen examples in the literature of offering sacrifices to the Goddess of Youth, Herb, to pray for a good harvest.

In addition to her, there are also people who sacrifice to Zeus to pray for a good harvest. After all, he is the god-king who is in charge of everything, and he also has a horn of fertility that can bring wealth and good harvests to the world.

This is still a relatively common situation. In fact, there are land gods, ancestor gods and harvest gods in various places. The situation of sacrifices is very confusing. There are sacrifices to all kinds of things, and there is no way to unify the ideas.

I think this aspect of the Palfi people is still preferable. If they believe in one god, their thoughts will naturally be unified and stronger, and they will burst out with more powerful power. "

Orville did not expect that the other party's thoughts had reached this point, and he began to think about the rationality of polytheism and monotheism. In fact, polytheism was replaced partly for this reason. The fact that people only had to run once was still very advanced.

"What do you want?" He began to test the other party's intentions.

"In one of my ideas, Egypt should also evolve in this way. The complicated pantheon is simplified, and each place mainly worships one main god. I think the goddess Isis may be more suitable. She is the symbol of the life tide of the sacred Nile River, and also A source of nature’s power, easily accepted by people everywhere.”

Cleopatra's intermittent description is somewhat close to the later Isis religion, which was a popular religion in the eastern part of the empire. Although it ultimately did not compete with Christianity like Mithraism, it still had a considerable audience. .

And the key point is that polytheistic beliefs tend to be more systematic than polytheistic beliefs.

Orwell himself liked the feeling of polytheism with kings everywhere, but he did not deny that he was indeed very confused and lacked a self-consistent logical system of thought.

It should be said that Cleopatra was very powerful in being able to figure out these things herself, because this is one of the major trends in historical development. Given time, maybe she can really do part of this thing.

As an audience member, Orville had another idea.

"I have heard some stories about Egyptian gods. I heard that in the past, the goddess Isis was regarded as the mother of the pharaoh?"

"That's right. There are many texts and pictures describing the goddess Isis breastfeeding the pharaohs. The pharaohs are gods and children of the god Isis."

"The goddess Isis is in charge of life, fertility, and raising these things?"

"Part of her power is that."

"Are she and Aphrodite sometimes thought to be one god?"

"You mean?" Cleopatra probably understood what Orville wanted to do and looked at him in surprise.

"Then I think that the goddess Isis is somewhat similar to our Venus (goddess of beauty Aphrodite). The two have the same divine functions. And Venus is the mother of Aeneas and nurtured Aeneas. Aeneas is the ancestor of the Roman emperor. Isis is the mother of the Egyptian pharaoh. Can the two be considered to be one god, especially at this time? unified.”

Orwell didn't say a word yet - logically reversing right and wrong from the mythological genealogy, identifying the Roman emperor as the Egyptian pharaoh.