My unverified personal gnosis is that Daylight Savings Time (DST) is sacrilegious. Twice a year, DST violently disrupts our perception of and connection to the gradual seasonal drift of sunrise, sunset, and the length of the day. As I have gotten older, I have taken more notice of the annual patterns of the sun. I feel like I acquired an "internal calendar" in the same way that sunrise and sunset regulate our "internal clock" (circadian rhythm).
As an illustration, here is how DST shifts our perception of sunrise and sunset relative to a fixed system of 24 hours in Rome [source]:
I’m pretty sure that if Emperor Julian had succeeded in saving polytheism that we wouldn't have to deal with DST in the modern era. The cycle of the sun would be widely considered sacred and messing with our perception of it like this would be sacrilegious.
By the way, permanent Standard Time is superior from a public health perspective to permanent Daylight Savings Time.
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Sol Invictus
A @strangerthingsreversebigbang fic
Art: @waldosakimbo
Story: @just-my-latest-hyperfixation
Coming 29 March 2024
The courtyard is bubbling with life. He can hear it even before he arrives, all the different sounds mingling into a cacophony of noise. The shouts of the guards, the rattle and clank of armor. The neighing of the horses, hooves scraping nervously on cobblestone. Servants and priests milling about, frantically making the last preparations for the procession. Every balcony and balustrade packed with courtiers and nobles, screaming and laughing over one another.
All of it grinds to a stop the moment he enters. A hush falls over the crowd, as suddenly as if all sound had been sucked right out of the world. Only the roar of the crowd outside the palace gate remains, a hum like that of an angry swarm of wasps hanging heavy in the air. The crowd in the courtyard parts before him, every single back bent, every single head bowed.
One does not gaze directly into the sun.
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Felix dies natalis Solis Invicti!
25 December is the dies natalis (anniversary) of the dedication of the Roman temple of Sol Invictis ("invincible") by the Emperor Aurelian in 274 CE. Sol Invictus was regarded as the special patron of the Emperor and of soldiers in the Roman army.
This particular image of Sol Invictus is from Carrawburgh Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, England. I selected it for today's post because this mithraeum was intentionally aligned with the rising sun on and around 25 December. The length of day at Carrawburgh around the winter solstice is only about 7 hours long, so the lengthening daylight hours were likely noticed - and appreciated - by the soldiers stationed on Hadrian's Wall.
༺*⌎° •.✨ ⋅ ✧ ⋅ *⋅ ✶ ⋅*⋅ ✧ ⋅*⌎° •. 🌟 .• °⌏*⋅ ✧ ⋅*⋅ ✶ ⋅*⋅ ✧ ⋅✨.• °⌏*༻
Image description: A vertical rectangular altar carved in light brown sandstone. On the front is an image of Sol facing forward. A cloak drapes the left side of his torso and left arm. He wears a radiate (also known as solar) crown, the rays of which are pierced so as to be illuminated by a lamp placed in a recess behind the stone. Traces of paint on the carving indicate it was painted in red and other colours which have since worn away.
The back of the altar is inscribed with a dedication by one Marcus Simplicius Simplex, Prefect (3rd in command of a legion), to "the invincible god Mithras" in fulfillment of a vow.
Remix info:
-Base image: "Altar in sandstone dedicated to Mithras, from Carrawburgh, CIMRM 847, Great North Museum, Newcastle" by Carole Raddato. https://www.flickr.com/photos/carolemage/39288766852
-Base image license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
Radiate crown illumination source: "Photo of flame on galvanized container" by Josh Boot. https://unsplash.com/photos/phohttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/to-of-flame-on-galvanized-container-kpfHIAHW3w0
-Unsplash license: https://unsplash.com/license
-Background: "Lighted wall sconce" by Ethan Hoover. https://unsplash.com/photos/lighted-wall-sconce-eIVJAkj1uCs
Unsplash license: https://unsplash.com/license
Other sources:
Entry in RIB - Roman Inscriptions of Britain: https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/1546
Jarus, Owen. "Roman Temple of Mithras May Align with Sun on 'Jesus' Birthday." Live Science, 2 January, 2018. https://www.livescience.com/61309-roman-temple-sun-alignment-christ-birth.html
More information:
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Why I think Sol Invictus might actually be the overarching villain of the next saga (I blame Valhalla for this)
⭐️ Valhalla's release date being two weeks before Christmas and being described by so many as an "early Christmas present." Listen, we have never had anything in God of War released around Christmas before. Ever. And the release dates of these games always tie into mythology in some way: the Greek games releasing in March ties back to Mars, Ragnarok's release date of Wednesday ties back to Wednesday being Odin's day, even Valhalla coming out on a Tuesday is a reference to Tyr.
So, why is Christmas so important than? Well, December 25th, is the date of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, the Birth of the Unconquerable Sun. It's a commonly held theory that the Early Church appropriated the date to make it easier to integrate Roman converts.
⭐️ Getting back to Christianity... we know it's confirmed in the God of War universe, we know the original ending of the Greek saga was going to be Kratos becoming one of the Three Wisemen. No way in hell are they touching Christianity with a ten foot pole, but that doesn't mean monotheism isn't going to be addressed. Jesus was drawn as Sol Invictus in Ancient Roman art, the depiction of Jesus having a halo came from Helios, Psalm 104:3 describes God as having a chariot...
"Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind." -Psalm 104: 3
Kratos isn't suplexing Jesus, but Sol Invictus could be a villain that is the closest we get to a Fallen Christ figure. All the Jesus parallels are right there:
Jesus refers to himself as "the light of the world" and goes on to say "whoever walks with me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12). Not quite exactly the same thing as Kratos using Helios' head as a flashlight, but Kratos did use him to light his way through the darkness to ultimately beat Zeus. His light also lit up the entire Underworld. Greece cannot survive without him.
In some translations of the Bible, Jesus is described as being raised up from the realm of Hades. Chains of Olympus is heavily, heavily referenced in Valhalla and what is the plot? Raising the sun- Helios- up from the Underworld.
Jesus, particularly his resurrection, was associated with the Phoenix (we'll get into that later).
Later on in the medieval era, Jesus would be described as descending into Hell before rising from the dead, which if the theory that the Roman gods are revived Olympians... where does Kratos take the head of Helios? Tartarus, the equivalent to Hell. In popular culture, Hell is usually always depicted as fire and brimstone, going off of Dante's Inferno and this passage of Revelation describing damned souls being thrown into a lake of fire. What seemingly has rivers of fire? Tartarus in God of War 3.
⭐️ We don't know what Athena's plan is, in fact, we don't know what the hell is going on with Athena at all. All we know is that she changed from wanting to save Olympus to being ready to sacrifice her entire family for the chance to rule on her own in a second. Monotheism. It could be just greed, but that's also so not Athena? I think her being a villain can work: I can believe ascending to a higher plan has changed her and that her priority is her new Ascended Council, but what do they want exactly? They definitely were involved with Odin's mask and the rift, they want Kratos to 'fulfill his destiny,' and then what?
⭐️ We know Rome exists in the God of War universe: the Norns speak Latin. While Athena/Minerva was still an important deity to the Romans (even if Ovid seemed to despise her), a lot of her significance as a god of war/strategy went to Ares/Mars and Bellona. Minerva was primarily a goddess of wisdom and crafts and only became a war goddess later on.
Minerva has an interesting history when it comes to Rome's push towards sun worship. Before Aurelian revived the cult of Sol Invictus, Emperor Elagabalus stripped Jupiter of his position as King of the Gods in order to give the title to the Syrian sun god, Elagabalus (Heliogabalus) instead. The Romans were already pissed, but the cherry on top was Elagabalus moving a statue of Athena/Minerva from the Temple of Vesta to be by Elagabalus' stone in a symbolic marriage that fell through after backlash.
There are theories that Sol Invictus is a combination of Elagabalus and Sol Indiges (the traditional Roman god of the sun), or that Sol Invictus was always Sol Indiges. It's hard to find information because most ancient writers were very, very bias and so much was lost over thousands of years. Anyway, a storyline of Sol Invictus over throwing Jupiter and having a connection to Minerva/Athena has precedence.
⭐️ Finally, there's the most damning piece of evidence... this line right here: "You think I'm afraid of a little fire? Don't threaten me with a good time, Kratos. Maybe I'll be infused with power and achieve my final form."
You know what mythological animal is infused with power and revived by fire? The phoenix. It's canonly seen in God of War 2 and after Kratos stabs himself with the Blade of Olympus in 3, the post credit scene has his blood seeping into a large engraving of a phoenix.
You know what the phoenix is also heavily associated with? The sun. Or, the God of the Sun. In Egyptian mythology, where the Phoenix originates, it's name is the Benu and instead of being an eagle or peacock, it's appearance is that of a heron. It's believed to be the ba (part of the soul) of Ra, but it's also associated with Atum and Osiris. There was significant reverence for the Benu at the Temple of Ra in the Egyptian city of Iunu, its Greek name being Heliopolis, "the City of the Sun." The Greeks took the concept of the Benu and associated their phoenix with Helios such as Herodotus when he first introduced the concept of the phoenix to the Greeks:
"There is another sacred bird, too, whose name is Phoinix (Phoenix). I myself have never seen it, only pictures of it; for the bird seldom comes into Aigyptos (Egypt) : once in five hundred years, as the people of Heliopolis say. It is said that the Phoinix comes when his father dies. If the picture truly shows his size and appearance, his plumage is partly golden and partly red. He is most like an eagle in shape and size. What they say this bird manages to do is incredible to me. Flying from Arabia to the temple of the Helios (the Sun), they say, he conveys his father encased in myrrh and buries him at the temple of Helios [i.e. in the temple of the Egyptian god Ra]. This is how he conveys him: he first molds an egg of myrrh as heavy as he can carry, then tries lifting it, and when he has tried it, he then hollows out the egg and puts his father into it, and plasters over with more myrrh the hollow of the egg into which he has put his father, which is the same in weight with his father lying in it, and he conveys him encased to the temple of the Sun in Aigyptos (Egypt). This is what they say this bird does." - Herodotus, Histories 2. 73 (trans. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.)
Rome also associated itself as being like a Phoenix and had images of them on their coins. The phoenix is immortal, much like how the Romans envisioned their empire, constantly going through a cycle of death and rebirth. Maybe I'm just becoming Charlie Kelly but... idk... I feel like SSM is onto something.
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Sol Invictus
A @strangerthingsreversebigbang fic
Art: @waldosakimbo
Story: @just-my-latest-hyperfixation
Coming 29 March 2024
He hears the commotion before he sees it. A low mutter of hushed whispers that picks up at the back of the crowd, spreads all over the courtyard within moments, swelling in volume until it crests into a chaos of excited shouts and cheers and clapping hands.
Eddie’s stomach lurches, and for a brief moment, he considers just turning away and leaving, sparing himself this last look.
The thought pulls a wry little laugh from his lips. Who is he even trying to fool?
Of course he must look. He has been helpless against it since that day in the alley, when he first laid eyes on him.
And so he raises his eyes, and he looks upon the sun.
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