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  • From: "Heard, Christopher" <Christopher.Heard AT pepperdine.edu>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] God vs gods
  • Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 09:23:52 -0700

On Aug 22, 2005, at 3:23 PM, Ben Crick wrote:
This depends of course upon one's interpretation of the visions of Daniel
chapter 11. If the "kings of the north and south" respectively are Antiochus
and Ptolemy, then some commentators link this passage with 1 Maccabees
1:41ff. The king is Antiochus, and he promoted atheism for all that he was
worth.
[/quote]

Antiochus IV was no atheist, nor a proponent of atheism. He styled himself "Epiphanes," and had pictures of Zeus and Nike minted on his coinage; these are not the actions of an "atheist." Judging by the narratives in 1 Maccabees and Josephus, when Antiochus IV defiled the temple in Jerusalem, it was not by promoting atheism, but by promoting the worship of Zeus Olympius/Baal Shamayim. Persecuting a "rival" religion is unusual in the history of antique polytheism, but it is not atheistic.

Chris

--
R. Christopher Heard
Assistant Professor of Religion
Seaver Fellow in Religion
Pepperdine University
Malibu, California 90263-4352
Professional Web Page: http://faculty.pepperdine.edu/cheard
Internet Resource Index: http://www.iTanakh.org
Personal Web Page: http://www.heardworld.com





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