Winter \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Seed Catalog Moon<\/p>\n
Hmmm. \u00a0I do like it when I’m scratching my head and I turn to the commentary to find, “Medieval and modern Latinists could make nothing of this.” \u00a0Ah. At least I’m not alone.<\/p>\n
Today I’ve started in the tale of Deucalion and Pyrrha. \u00a0This is an ancient flood narrative with parallels in Greek authors. \u00a0In Ovid Deucalion and Pyrrha end up on the top of Mt. Parnassus and have to rebuild the human race after the flood. \u00a0Right now Ovid is still describing the earth as the sea and extensive plains suddenly become water.<\/p>\n
I don’t remember if I mentioned yesterday the image of dolphins swimming among the trees. \u00a0Nice. \u00a0Ships scrape their keels along the tops of hardy oak and mountain peaks.<\/p>\n
There is controversial, but not crazy geological evidence for a flood in ancient, ancient times involving the Black Sea, sometime around 5,600 b.c.e. \u00a0That’s this corner of the world and, of course, the Middle East is nearby, too.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, in earlier translation work I ran across the Latin word, ararat. \u00a0This is the pluperfect singular of a verb which means to plough or to till. \u00a0It can also mean to cultivate land. \u00a0Could the “flood” have been a period of wandering due to some natural disaster, maybe a flood, that resulted in Jews ending up on new land to farm? \u00a0Don’t recall enough of my studies in Genesis to know if this is probable or not, but the Latin is suggestive.<\/p>\n
I don’t know enough about the hebrew word or the Latin translation of it either. \u00a0This is probably a coincidence, but it’s a weird one if it is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Winter \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Seed Catalog Moon Hmmm. \u00a0I do like it when I’m scratching my head and I turn to the commentary to find, “Medieval and modern Latinists could … Continue reading Flood Narratives<\/span>