Week 3 (The Divine Men?)

Published on: Author: lucask@uoregon.edu
  1. A couple passages in White really stood out to me and showed the persuasion of Apollonius being an undisputed divine man. To start off, Apollonius was supposedly going to be a divine man before he was even born. An apparition of an Egyptian Demon, Proteus came to Apollonius’s mother while she was child bearing. The mother asks the demon what sort of child she would bear. The demon continues on to tell her that she will produce an Egyptian god. Apollonius has a story very similar to Jesus, both are parallel on how before they were even born, they were on the path for becoming divine men. One of the only ways to kind of fact check things in this time period was based off of predictions. If the predictions added up then it was sometimes good enough for people to believe in. Also when Apollonius was born, a lighting bolt shot through the sky, representing the gods approval. But the real kicker is here when Apollonius’s root of power is told. Apollonius’s power stems directly from his very own wisdom. People perceive Apollonius is wise, and then they can believe his powers are real and powerful because he is so wise. All of these statements basically go down a checklist for creating a divine man. Speaking to an apparition before birth, miracle of birth coming from higher power, ability to produce miracles, and full of wisdom that excelled above kings. Jesus and Apollonius follow a pretty similar divine man story. Is this because they are truly divine men, or is this how people were “convinced” they were divine men.

-Lucas Kuchta