Brother AACOOLDRE : ETHICAL TEACHINGS OF GREEK PLAYS HELPED NT WRITERS?

AACOOLDRE

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ETHICAL TEACHINGS OF GREEK PLAYS HELPED NT WRITERS?

By Andre Austin

Theological professors like Robert Price stated in his book The Amazing Colossal Apostle: The Search for the Historical Paul that parts of Euripides play Bacchae were used to help construct the composite Paul.

My point of interest dealt with Euripides lost play Ino being used as an analogy to the Lukewarm church of Laodicea in Revelations 3:14-22. Ino-Leucothea was willing to use the clothes off her back and veil to help save the life of Odysseus (Odyssey V:333). Homer wrote favorably in 8th century BC. But when we get to the time of playwright Euripides (485-406BC) he states in Medea 1284:

O your heart must have been made of rock or steel,

You who can kill

With your own hand the fruit of your own womb

Of one alone I have heard, one woman alone

Of those of old who laid her hands on her children,

Ino, sent mad by heaven”.

Gaius Julius Hyginus (Latin author 64BC-17AD) had this to say in his Fabulae 4 on the subject of Ino-Leukothea:

4] IV. INO OF EURIPIDES

When Athamas, king in Thessaly, thought that his wife Ino, by whom he begat two sons, had perished, he married Themisto, the daughter of a nymph, and had twin sons by her. Later he discovered that Ino was on Parnassus, where she had gone for the Bacchic revels. He sent someone to bring her home, and concealed her when she came. Themisto discovered she had been found, but didn’t know her identity. She conceived the desire of killing Ino’s sons, and made Ino herself, whom she believed to be a captive, a confidant in the plan, telling her to cover her children with white garments, but Ino’s with black. Ino covered her own with white, and Themisto’s with dark; then Themisto mistakenly slew her own sons. When she discovered this, she killed herself. Moreover, Athamas, while hunting, in a fit of madness killed his older son Learchus; but Ino with the younger, Melicertes, cast herself intot he sea and was made a goddess.

Strabo was a Stoic historian (64BC-25AD) who traveled all over the place writing his Geography. I’m interested in his description of the city of Laodicea because I’m writing a book on them as they relate to Rev chapter three. Here are excerpts of his report on that city:

The country round Laodiceia produces sheep that are excellent, not only for the softness of their wool, in which they surpass even the Milesian wool, but also for its raven-black colour, so that the Laodiceians derive splendid revenue from it…”. (Strabo Book 12:16)

Having this background information we can see why Rev:3:18 request the Lukewarm church to put on white clothes to cover your shameful nakedness (which Ino and Odysseus become). The name Ino-leukothea means white foam of the waves of the sea. The front part of her new name is in the same cognate family of the word Luke (Loukas) which is the same as the male Leukos in the ILLIAD 4:489-500. Lukewarm is called spit also. Euripides, in his play Medea 1170 considered spit/foam as interchangeable or the same when he said: “White spit foaming in her mouth”.

Plutarch (46Ad-120AD), a Greek historian wrote an essay on the topic: On God’s slowness to Punish. Plutarch states in part that crime never pays, the proposition of Plato and of the Stoics; and of the corrupting distortion of emotions is more characteristic of Hellenistic Stoicism. Plutarch states this:

“Similarly, once wrongdoers clearly see the iniquity within themselves, they find it empty of gratifying pleasure and devoid of worthwhile hope, but ever full of fear, distress, unhappy memories, and both apprehension about the future and mistrust of the present. Consequently, just as we hear Ino in the play, when she has come to regret her actions, saying , ‘Dear women, I wish I could make a fresh start (repent?), and live in (her husband’s) Athamas’ house with what I have done undone’ so every sinner’s mind ponders and reflects how it can get rid of the memory of its crimes, eradicate its conscience, cleanse itself and make a fresh start with a different life. You see, iniquity is not confident or undeluded or stable and secure in its choices (otherwise we would of course have to say that immoral people are wise); but when the furious pursuit of wealth or pleasure and unbridled envy…” (see Plutarch’s Essays Translated by Robin Waterfield p.267).

Plutarch’s commentary on play Ino echoes some of Rev chapter 3 sentiment of the Lukewarm Laodicea who were rich from selling glossy black sheep wool but were naked, they were rich but poor and needed to repent. It appears that the New Testament writes were educated elite using the writings of Homer, Euripides as examples and analogies to supplement their lectures and writings. Of course, there’s always a 1 degree of difference between parallel stories and the hair splitting fundamentalist love to pounce and seize upon it. Nevertheless, I have no doubt in my mind that the spit/foam of Lukewarm is based on the male/female Leukos and Leukothea (white foam). The name of the white clothes may even be from Leukos (bright, white). It looks very clear to me. For example, If I was to tell you how I taught my ex-girlfriend three old daughter how to write by use of analogy. I would take scenes from Whoopi Goldberg movie of Color Purple of putting stick notes naming household items you get the point. That’s how they rewrote and redone Homer in parts of the NT, on the sly tip. But they tinker with leuk by requesting that she, and everybody keep on your clothes even if you trying to save somebody’s life or keep them out of the cold??????????????????????????
 

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