Re: generalist

John wrote: Over to s-lauf.

lauf-s replies:

I spent the better part of yesterday re-reading chapters 12-14 of DIOCLETIAN
AND THE ROMAN RECOVERY because I feel the need to have all the facts of the
last Roman persecution of the Christians fully engrained in my mind. Right
now I'm interested in Nicomedia just after 300 AD because that's where all
the action was going on -- big church burning and all that. There is also
enough evidence (depending on how you look at it) that suggests the last
persecution had a good bit to do with anti-feminism. It seems that early
Christian woman may be indeed regarded as the first woman to actually have a
voice, especially a voice against the standard patriarchal system. Some
ancient sources even say Diocletian's wife and daughter were Christian
sympathizers. Ironically, both the Roman leaders and the Christian Church
leaders (all males, of course) pretty much did their best to put woman in
their 'proper' (non)place (especially in history).

When the last persecution began, there was something very similar to today's
'don't ask, don't tell." And yes, the first persecution edict targeted those
Christians in the military. It wouldn't surprise me at all if back then
Christians in the mitilary were called the same names as today's gays in the
military.

Jumping ahead 25 odd years, last Friday 1675 years ago Constantine left Rome
for the last time; he just buried his mother Helena a day of two before. I'm
beginning to be convinced that this is precisely the time that marks the end
of the (Roman) Classical world, for from this moment on Constantine very
actively began to dismantle and destroy many, many Pagan temples,
particularly throughout the eastern empire where Paganism was most deeply
rooted.

All this fascinates me because what happened back then amounts to an
enormous paradigm shift for 'western' culture, a shift, moreover, that we
(in the west) today take very much for granted. For example, it was
Constantine who first exempted 'clergy' from taxation, and he's the one that
made Sunday what it now is practically all over the world.

I now find myself wondering about all those destroyed Pagan temples, like no
doubt many of them would be in architecture history books today if things
had gone otherwise. And as far as generalism goes, give up! There's way too
much data out there on the surface, and even more deeply buried. Didn't the
Oracle of Delphi once say that the smartest man is he who knows what he
doesn't know? Or didn't you know that?

ps
I also just started reading HOUSE OF LEAVES by Mark Z. Danielewski. I
borrowed it from my assistant, and her mother also told me a lot about it.
It seems to me that Danielewski might have some sort of architectural
background, or maybe he's a generalist. Anyone know?