The American Minervan

Tag: gods

  • The Garden Philosopher: Epicurus of Samos on the existence of the Gods

    The Garden Philosopher: Epicurus of Samos on the existence of the Gods

    “The gods exist, but they are not what the hoi polloi suppose them to be. And the impious man (Gr. ἀσεβὴς, asebēs) is not he who denies the existence of the gods whom the multitude worship, but he is such who attaches to the gods the beliefs of the multitude.” EPICURUS OF SAMOS, EPISTLE TO MENOECEUS.…

  • Samuel Fales Dunlap on the Ancient Origin of Names of Great Gods, Cities, Rivers and Countries

    Samuel Fales Dunlap on the Ancient Origin of Names of Great Gods, Cities, Rivers and Countries

    In Samuel Fales Dunlap’s work The Origin of Ancient Names of Countries, Cities, Individuals, and Gods (Cambridge, 1856), he argued that the proper names of countries, cities, individuals, and gods, drawn from regions including Greece, Italy, Asia Minor, Babylon, Egypt, Phoenicia and Judaea, are generally compound words incorporating the names of ancient sun-gods. This reveals…