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| Facts > Pagan Christs > Appolonius of Tyana |
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| Glycon | Simon | Apollonius of Tyana | Pythagoras | Orpheus | |
| Isis / Osiris | Dionysus | Zalmoxis | Kore | Samothrace | |
| Heroes | Attis | Adonis | Mithras | Other godmen |
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The dying, resurrected saviors |  |
Apollonius of Tyana was a first century AD sage who had a miraculous birth, gathered disciples, taught wisdom, performed miracles, healed the sick, cast out demons, and raised the dead. After he died he was worshiped as a God. I haven't gotten to this page yet, but here are some unorganized cut and pastes from elsewhere at POCM.
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We do have time for enough ancient evidence for you to see that Pagans had demons, Christians had demons; and that Pagans had demons first, Christians had demons second. Let's start with a Pagan demon. Here's the story of a meeting between a Pagan demon and the Pythagorean teacher-sage Apollonius of Tyana. Apollonius lived in the first century AD; after He died, He was worshiped as a God. This history about Him was written in the third century AD, from notes made by one of His disciples. Here we go... |
Apollonius was with some people, discussing a point of sacred ritual, when he was interrupted by a young man who was, I'll be blunt, an asshole. Always shouting at the wrong time. Being licentious. You know the type. Anyhow, Apollonius is talking and the young guy butts in, real loud
like, with a coarse voice. And right away Apollonius,
who has this divine power about Him, sees it's not the young
lad who's the asshole, it's a demon [ |
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And sure enough, the kid did have a demon in him. And it was the demon that made him laugh, and cry, and sing and generally act crazy. Don't that beat all! |
And in fact the youth was, without knowing it, possessed by a devil [daimon] ; for he would laugh at things that no one else laughed at, and then he would fall to weeping for no reason at all, and he would talk and sing to himself. Now most people thought that it was the boisterous humor of youth which led him into such excesses ; but he was really the mouthpiece of a devil, though it only seemed a drunken frolic in which on that occasion he was indulging. Now when Apollonius gazed on him, the ghost in him began to utter cries of fear and rage, such as one hears from people who are being branded or racked ; and the ghost swore that he would leave the young man alone and never take possession of any man again. |
And as soon as Apollonius spotted him, the demon knew it, and started to cry out, and talk with Apollonius and bargain with Him about leaving the young man.
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But Apollonius, he didn't need to bargain. He just commanded that daimon to LEAVE! And the demon left, performing a little miracle on the way.
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But Apollonius addressed him with anger, as a master might a shifty, rascally, and shameless slave and so on, and he ordered him to quit the young man and show by a visible sign that he had done so. " I will throw down yonder statue," said the devil [daimon], and pointed to one of the images which were in the king's portico, for there it was that the scene took place. But when the statue began by moving gently, and then fell down, it would defy anyone to describe [page 392] the hubbub which arose thereat and the way they clapped their hands with wonder. |
After which the young man turned out to be a swell fellow. I never saw it coming. How about you?
And the man who Apollonius fixed up, demon wise, becomes His follower. |
But the young man rubbed his eyes as if he had just woke up, and he looked towards the rays of the sun, and assumed a modest aspect, as all had their attention concentrated on him ; for he no longer showed himself licentious, nor did he stare madly about, but he had returned to his own self, as thoroughly as if he had been treated with drugs ; and he gave up his dainty dress and summery garments and the rest of his sybaritic way of life, and he fell in love with the austerity of philosophers, and donned their cloak, and stripping off his old self modeled his life in future upon that of Apollonius. |
[Philostratus, The Life
of Apollonius of Tyana, 4.10 (217 AD), -- which you can find in:
Conybeare,
F. C. Philostratus I: The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Books I - V (Loeb
Classical Library #16) (2000), pg. 389- 91
|
=
daimon].
Now
while he [Now here's a story about Jesus and a demon. Jesus lived in the first century AD; after He died, He was worshiped as a God. Whoever wrote this story didn't sign his name, and didn't say when he wrote it, so it's hard to be sure of its date. Our first evidence of this writing dates from about 150 AD, when it was offered up as part of a new sacred text—a new testament—by a gnostic heretic named Marcion. Here we go, from the Gospel of Luke... |
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So Jesus comes to town, and right away he meets this man who has demons inside him. The demons make the man go around with no clothes, and live out in the cemetery. They make him act crazy. |
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Right away Jesus, who had this divine power about
Him, knew about the demons. And the demons, who had
this divine power about them, knew He knew. And as soon as |
28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and said with a loud voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beseech you, do not torment me." |
But Chatting with demons. |
29 For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him; he was kept under guard, and bound with chains and fetters, but he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the desert.) 30 Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him. 31 And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. |
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And the demons left, performing a little miracle on the way.
After which the man turns out to be a swell fellow. I never saw it coming. How about you? |
32 Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside; and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them leave. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. 34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled, and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36 And those who had seen it told them how he who had been possessed with demons was healed. 37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Ger'asenes asked him to depart from them; for they were seized with great fear; so he got into the boat and returned. |
And the man who |
38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but he sent him away, saying, 39 "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him. |
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["Luke," the unknown author of the Gospel of Luke, 8:22-39, RSV] |
26
Then they arrived at the country of the Ger'asenes, which is opposite
Galilee. 27 And as he [Let's recap. You now know Pagans had demons. Pagan demons could live inside people, and make them crazy. Pagan demons could be spotted by divine men. Pagan demons could tell when they'd be spotted by a divine men. Pagan demons talked to divine men. Divine men commanded Pagan demons to leave the body of the people they inhabited. And the Pagan demons left. Performing a little miracle on the way out. You also know You also know putting a line through Wow. |
As demi-gods, demons were worshiped. |
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Apollonius of Tyana became divine, and was worshiped. |
" And I," said Apollonius, " my good friend, understand all languages, though I never learnt a single one." The native of Ninevah was astonished at this answer, but the other replied: " You need not wonder at my knowing all human languages ; for, to tell you the truth, I also understand all the secrets of human silence." Thereupon the Assyrian worshipped him, when he heard this, and regarded him as a demon; and he stayed with him increasing in wisdom and committing to memory whatever he learnt. [Philostratus, The
Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 4.10 (217 AD), -- which you can find in:
Conybeare, F. C. Philostratus
I: The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Books I - V (Loeb
Classical Library #16) (2000), pg. 53] |
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The first century AD godman Apollonius gave Asclepius' incubators hints on how to get the best results. >> |
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| [Philostratus,
The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 4.11 (2d century AD), -- which you can
find in: Conybeare, F. C.. Philostratus I: The
Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Books I - V (Loeb Classical Library #16)
(2000), pg. 367]
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Dream messages from Gods were so much a part of the ancients' world view, the practice was institutionalized. Wow. |
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And more than this, as a faculty of divination by means of dreams, which is the divinest and most god- like of human faculties, the soul detects the truth all the more easily when it is not muddied by wine, but accepts the message unstained and scans it carefully. Anyhow, the explainers of dreams and visions, those whom the poets call interpreters of dreams, will never undertake to explain any vision to anyone without having first asked the time when it was seen. For if it was at dawn and in the sleep of morningtide, they calculate its meaning on the assumption that the soul is then in a condition to divine soundly and healthily, because by then it has cleansed itself of the stains of wine. But if the vision was seen in the first sleep or at midnight, when the soul is still immersed in the lees of wine and muddied thereby, they decline to make any suggestions, and they are wise. |
| [Philostratus,
The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 2.37 (2d century AD), -- which you can
find in: Conybeare, F. C. Philostratus I:The
Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Books I - V (Loeb Classical Library #16)
(2000), pg. 215]
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Lot's
of writers included short passages explaining dreams. Here's one from
How
Dreams Worked |
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Here's Philostratus in his book about Apollonius.
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1.23 And as he advanced into the Cissian country and was already close to Babylon, he was visited by a dream, and the god who revealed it to him fashioned its imagery as follows : there were fishes which had been cast up from the sea on to the land, and they were gasping, and uttering a lament almost human, and bewailing that they had quitted their element ; and they were begging a dolphin that was swimming past the shore to help them in their misery, just like human beings who are weeping in a foreign land. Apollonius was not in the least frightened by his dream, and proceeded to conjecture its meaning and drift ; but he was determined to give Damis [His disciple] a shock, for he found that he was the most nervous of men. So he related his vision to him, and feigned as if it foreboded evil. But Damis began to bellow as if he had seen the dream himself, and tried to dissuade Apollonius from going any further, "Lest," he said, "we also like the fishes get thrown out of our element and perish, and have to weep and wail in a foreign land. Nay, we may even be reduced to straits, and have to go down on our knees to some potentate or king, who will flout us as the dolphins did the fishes." |
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Dreams were messages from god... |
Then Apollonius laughed and said: "You've not become a philosopher yet, if you are afraid of this sort of thing. But I will explain to you the real drift of the dream. For this land of Cissia is habited by the Eretrians, who were brought up here from Euboea by Darius five hundred years ago, and they are said to have been treated at their capture like the fishes that we saw in the dream; for they were netted in, so they say, and captured on and all. It would seem then that the gods are instructing me to visit them and tend their needs, supposing I can do anything for them. And perhaps also the souls of the Greeks whose lot was cast in this part of the world are enlisting my aid for their land. Let us then go on and diverge from the high road, and ask only about the well, hard by which their settlement is." |
| [Philostratus,
The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 1.23 (2d century AD), -- which you can
find in: Conybeare, F. C. Philostratus I: The
Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Books I - V (Loeb Classical Library #16)
(2000), pg. 67-9]
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Philostratus explaining the miraculous birth of Apollonius. |
Now he is said to have been born in a meadow, hard by which there has been now erected a sumptuous temple to him ; and let us not pass by the manner of his birth. For just as the hour of his birth was approaching, his mother was warned in a dream to walk out into the meadow and pluck the flowers; and in due course she came there and her maids attended to the flowers, scattering themselves over the meadow, while she fell asleep lying on the grass. Thereupon the swans who fed in the meadow set up a dance around her as she slept, and lifting their wings, as they are wont to do, cried out aloud all at once, for there was somewhat of a breeze blowing in the meadow. She then leaped up at the sound of their song and bore her child, for any [page 14] sudden fright is apt to bring on a premature delivery. |
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But the people of the country say that just at the moment of the birth, a thunderbolt seemed about to fall to earth and then rose up into the air and disappeared aloft; and the gods thereby indicated, I think, the great distinction to which the sage was to attain, and hinted in advance how he should transcend all things upon earth and approach the gods, and signified all the things that he would achieve. |
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| [Philostratus,
The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 1.5 (2d century AD), -- which you can
find in: Conybeare, F. C. Philostratus I:The
Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Books I - V (Loeb Classical Library #16)
(2000), pg. 13- 4]
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In this story the Persian king has dream letting him know Apollonius is an OK guy. >>
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When these tidings were brought to the king, he happened to be sacrificing in company with the Magi, for religious rites are performed under their supervision. And he called one of them and said "The dream is come true, which I narrated to you to-day when you visited me in my bed." Now the dream which the king had dreamed was as follows: he thought that he was Artaxerxes, the son of Xerxes, and that he had altered and assumed the latter's form; and he was very much afraid lest some change should come over the face of his affairs, for so he interpreted his change of appearance. But when he heard that it was a Hellene, and a wise man, that had come, he remembered about Themistocles of Athens, who had once come from Greece and had lived with Artaxerxes, and had not only derived great benefit from the king, but had conferred great benefit himself. So he held out his right hand and said: "Call him in, for it will make the best of beginnings, if he will join with me in my sacrifice and prayer." |
| Philostratus,
The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 1.29 (2d century AD), -- which you can
find in: Conybeare, F. C. Philostratus I: The
Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Books I - V (Loeb Classical Library #16)
(2000), pg. 85
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In this story, Philostratus explains why Apollonius dreams are more often true: Apollonius sleeping in animal-free linen. >> |
8.5 Nor even is my mode of dress protected from their calumnies, for the accuser is ready to steal even that off my back, because it has such vast value for wizards. And yet apart from my contention about the use of living animals and lifeless things, according as he uses one or the other of which I regard a man as impure or pure, in what way is linen better than wool ? Was not the latter taken from the back of the gentlest of animals, of a creature beloved of the gods, who do not disdain themselves to be shepherds, and, by Zeus, once held the fleece to be worthy of a golden form, if it was really a god that did so, and if it be not a mere story ? On the other hand linen is grown and sown anywhere, and there is no talk of gold in connection with it. Nevertheless, because it is not plucked from the back of a living animal, the Indians regard it as pure, and so do the Egyptians, and I myself and Pythagoras on this account have adopted it as our garb when we are discoursing or praying or offering sacrifice. And it is a pure substance under which to sleep of a night, for to those who live as I do dreams bring the truest of their revelations. |
| [Philostratus,
The Life of Apollonius of Tyana,8.5(2d century AD), -- which you can find
in: Conybeare, F. C. Philostratus I: The
Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Books I - V (Loeb Classical Library #16)
(2000), pg. 307]
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Apollonius of Tyana cures the lame, the blind, the paralysed. |
3.39 There also
arrived a man who was lame.
He was already thirty years old and was a keen hunter of lions ; but
a lion had sprung upon him and dislocated his hip so that he limped
with one leg. However when they massaged with their hands his hip, the
youth immediately recovered his upright gait. And another
man had had his eyes put
out, and he went away having recovered the sight
of both of them. [page 318] Yet another man had his
hand paralysed, but left their presence in full poscession
of the limb. And a certain woman
had suffered in labour already seven times, but was healed in
the following way through the intercession of her husband. He bade the
man, of whenever his wife should be about to bring forth her next child,
to enter her chamber carrying in his bosom a live hare ; then he was
to walk once round her and at the same moment to release the hare; for
that the womb would be extruded together with the fetus, unless the
hare was at once driven out. |
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Apollonius of Tyana cures demon posession The nature of the demon described. |
THIS discussion was interrupted by the appearance among
the sages of the messenger bringing in certain Indians who were in want
of succour. And he brought forward a poor
woman who interceded in behalf of her child, who was, she said,
a boy of sixteen years of age, but had been for two years possessed
by a devil. Now the character of the devil was that of a mocker
and a liar. Here one of the sages asked, why she said this, and she
replied : "This child of mine is extremely good-looking, and therefore
the devil is amorous of him and will not allow him to retain his reason,
nor will he permit him to go to school, or to learn archery, nor even
to remain at home, but drives him out into desert places. And the boy
does not even retain his own voice, but speaks in a deep hollow tone,
as men do ; and he looks at you with other eyes rather than wit11 his
own. As for myself I weep over all this, and I tear my cheeks, and I
rebuke my son so far as I well may ; but he does not know me. And I
made up my mind to repair hither, indeed I planned to do so a year ago
; only the demon discovered himself, using my child as a mask, and what
he told me was this, that he was the ghost of a man, who fell long ago
in battle, but that at death he was passionately [page 316] attached
to his wife. Now he had been dead for only three days when his wife
insulted their union by marrying another man, and the consequence was
that he had come to detest the love of women, and had transferred himself
wholly into this boy. But he promised, if I would only not denounce
him to yourselves, to endow the child with many noble blessings As for
myself, I was influenced by these promises; but he has put me off and
off' for such a long time now, that he has got sole control of my household,
yet has no honest or true intentions." Here the
sage asked afresh, if the boy was at hand ; and she said not,
for, although she had done all she could to get him to come with her,
the demon had threatened her with steep places and precipices and declared
that he would kill her son, "in case," she added, " I
haled him hither for trial." "Take courage," said the
sage, '' for he will not slay him when he has read this." And so
saying he drew a letter out of his
bosom and gave it to the woman ; and the letter, it appears, was addressed
to the ghost and contained threats of an alarming kind. |
Good Books for this section
| The Life
of Apollonius of Tyana
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What you'll find:
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