Thursday, October 23, 2003
COUNSELOR HAMANN
A political leader of Zion. He believes the prophecy could be true and assists Neo and Morpheus with the prophecy.
Johann Georg Hamann (1730-1788),
Preacher of Christ in the Wilderness of the Enlightenment
"Hamann was widely known and greatly esteemed by leading thinkers of his time, however little they might understand or agree with his thoroughly biblical view of man and of all things and their origin in God's creation as told in the Bible. During the nineteenth century he was occasionally studied and recognized as the father of German classicism and also of Romanticism. Soren Kierkegaard spoke of him as his "Emperor"2 and when Kierkegaard was rediscovered in Europe after World War I, some interest in Hamann also awoke, although not really in earnest until after World War II. It should be stated from the outset that despite Kierkegaard's praise and certain misinterpretations of Ha mann due (0 (he difficulty of Hamann's style and form Hamann cannot be classified with modern existentialist writers, nor with any school of thought fundamentally opposed to biblical Christianity.
Hamann realized from the very beginning of his walk with Christ that philosophers who do not take Christ as their starting point are not "neutral" but rather dedicated to presuppositions of their own. This is why, for instance, they deny the creation account of the Bible, and seek to substitute for it a "story" of their own which would "explain creation as a natural event."5 Moreover, these philosophers' arrogance demands that a work purporting to be inspired by God be expressed in philosophical notions they themselves recognize and approve of. so that they might "know things which are too high for us. . `it would be. .a ridiculous demand to ask that Moses should explain about nature according to Aristotelian, Cartesian or Newtonian concepts." On the other hand, to assert "that Moses wrote only for the common rabble is either totally meaningless or a ridiculous way to judge."8 If we would be truly wise and understanding, we must humbly accept God's revelation as He sets it forth:" More...
COMMANDER LOCK
"Commander of Zion's military forces, and Niobe's husband. Lock doesn't believe in the prophecy and thinks devoting resources to it will hasten Zion's destruction."
Lock
"A secure hold; control: The distributor has a lock on most of the market.
A sure thing; a certainty: His promotion is a lock.
To confine or exclude by or as if by means of a lock: locked the dog in for the night; locked the criminal up in a cell.
To fix in place so that movement or escape is impossible; hold fast: The ship was locked in the ice through the winter. She felt that she had become locked into a binding agreement.
To engage and interlock securely so as to be immobile.
To clasp or link firmly; intertwine: locked arms and walked away.
To bind in close struggle or battle: The two dogs were locked in combat.
Computer Science.
To end the processing of (a magnetic tape or disk) in such a way as to deny access to its contents.
To protect (a file) from changes or deletion.
To become rigid or immobile: The mechanism tends to lock in cold weather.
To become embroiled in conflict.
[Middle English, from Old English loc, bolt, bar.]"
CAPTAIN NIOBE
"Captain of the hovercraft Logos, former flame of Morpheus, and married to Commander Lock. Niobe is one of the two main characters in Enter The Matrix."
Niobe
"In Greek mythology, queen of Thebes, wife of Amphion and daughter of Tantalus. The mother of six sons and six daughters, she boasted of her fruitfulness, saying that Leto had only two children. Apollo and Artemis, angry at this insult to their mother, killed all Niobe’s children. Crying inconsolably, she fled to Mt. Sipylus. There Zeus turned her into a stone image that wept perpetually."
Niobe
"1873, an incident that came near to causing war between the United States and Spain. The Virginius, a filibustering ship, was fraudulently flying the American flag and carrying arms to the Cubans in the Ten Years War. It was captured by the Spanish off Cuba, Oct. 31, 1873. The captain, Joseph Fry, and 52 of the crew and passengers among them several Americans were executed. More would have been killed but for the intervention of the British ship, Niobe. After the incident, negotiations were undertaken by Daniel Edgar Sickles, U.S. minister to Spain, whose intemperate attitude worsened the situation. However, Secretary of State Hamilton Fish took negotiations out of Sickles hands and a settlement was reached. Spain paid the United States an indemnity of $80,000."
BANE
"A member of another hovercraft crew, Bane is turned into an Agent Smith duplicate in the Matrix immediately before jacking out. It appears Agent Smith now controls him in the 'real world'."
Bane
"Shrouded in mystery, Bane appeared in Gotham City assigned to eliminate Batman for crime boss Rupert Thorne. Besides being a man of great physical size and power, Bane's strength is augmented by "Venom," a Super Steroid that increases his strength, physical size and durability for limited periods of time. It should be noted that Bane's strength is matched by his intelligence and cunning. He prefers to manipulate his target until they are most vulnerable, and then strike. After a short confrontation, Batman defeated Bane."
SERAPH
"Guardian of The Oracle, Seraph is a program in the Matrix. He tests Neo before allowing him to see her."
Seraph
"Supernatural being. The name seems to derive from the Hebrew word Å“to burn. According to the Book of Isaiah, seraphim have six wings. Scholars have suggested that seraphim were winged serpents. In Numbers, the word seraph denotes a fiery(i.e. poisonous) serpent. Like cherubim, seraphim are associated with the glory of God, as in the liturgy. See also cherub."
ORACLE
"An unusual inhabitant of the Matrix, The Oracle is able to see the future. She guides Neo on the path to destroying the Matrix. The Oracle is also responsible for the original prophecy concerning the existence of The One."
Oracle
"In Greek religion, priest or priestess who imparted the response of a god to a human questioner. The word is also used to refer to the response itself and to the shrine of a god. Every oracular shrine had a fixed method of divination. Many observed signs, such as the motion of objects dropped into a spring, the movement of birds, or the rustle of leaves. Often dreams were interpreted. A later and popular method involved the use of entranced persons whose ecstatic cries were interpreted by trained attendants. Before an oracle was questioned consultants underwent rites of purification and sacrifice. There were many established oracles in ancient Greece, the most famous being those of Zeus at Dodona and of Apollo at Delphi and at Didyma in Asia Minor. Other oracular shrines were located in Syria, Egypt, and Italy."
THE MEROVINGIAN
"Likely another program in the Matrix, Merovingian holds The Keymaker captive, standing in Neo's way. His wife, Persephone, betrays him."
The Merovingian
"The Frankish King Dagobert II, and the Merovingian dynasty from which he came, have been romantically mythologized in the annals of both local legend and modern mystical pseudo-history, but few have understood the true meaning and origins of their alluring mystery. The mystique that surrounds them includes attributions of saintliness, magical powers (derived from their long red hair), and even divine origin, stemming from their supposed descent from the one and only Jesus Christ. However, the importance of the divine origin of the Merovingians, and the antiquity from whence it comes, has never to this author's knowledge been fully explored by any writer or historian. As Boyd Rice and I will explain in more detail in our forthcoming book, we have uncovered mountains of evidence which indicates that the origins of the Merovingian race, and the mystery that surrounds them, lies ultimately with a race of beings, "Nephilim," or "Fallen Angels," who created mankind as we know him today, and with a civilization, far more ancient than recorded history, from which came all of the major arts and sciences that are basic to civilizations everywhere, even unto today. As we intend to show, all of the myths and symbolism that are associated with this dynasty can, in fact, be traced back to this earlier civilization. It is known, in some cultures, as Atlantis, although there are many names for it, and it is the birthplace of agriculture, astronomy, mathematics, metallurgy, navigation, architecture, language, writing, and religion.
It was also the source of the first government on Earth - monarchy. And the first kings on Earth were the gods. Their race was known by various names. In Greece, the Annodoti. In Sumeria, the Annunaki. In the Celtic lore, the Tuatha de Danaan. In the Semetic scriptures (Torah, Talmud, Old Testament, and other Apocryphal texts like the Book of Enoch), they are called The Nephilim, "The Sons of God," or the Watchers. They are described as having attachments such as wings, horns, and even fish scales, but from the depictions it is clear that these are clothes or costumes worn for their symbolic value, for these symbols indicated divine power and royal blood. The gods themselves had their own monarchy, with laws of succession similar to our own, and they built a global empire upon the Earth, with great cities, temples and monuments, and mighty nations established on several continents. They created mankind as a slave race to work on their farms and in their gold mines, among other things. The Sumerian legends are very clear: man was made to "bear the yoke of the gods." Man was separate from the gods, like a domesticated animal, and there was a great cultural taboo amongst the gods against sharing any of their sacred information with humanity, even things such as writing and mathematics. These gods ruled directly over Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Indus Valley, and their rule is recorded in the histories of all three civilizations." More...
PERSEPHONE
"Wife of Merovingian, Persephone tires of her husband's infidelities and assists our heros in locating The Keymaker...but at what cost to Neo?"
Persephone
"In Greek and Roman religion and mythology, goddess of fertility and queen of the underworld. She was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. When she was still a beautiful maiden, Pluto seized her and held her captive in his underworld. Though Demeter eventually persuaded the gods to let her daughter return to her, Persephone was required to remain in the underworld for four months because Pluto had tricked her into eating a pomegranate (food of the dead) there. When Persephone left the earth, the flowers withered and the grain died, but when she returned, life blossomed anew. This story, which symbolizes the annual vegetation cycle, was celebrated in the Eleusinian Mysteries, in which Persephone appeared under the name Kore."
SHIPS
The Gnosis - Captain: Ice
"Gnosticism: dualistic religious and philosophical movement of the late Hellenistic and early Christian eras. The term designates a wide assortment of sects, numerous by the 2d cent. A.D.; they all promised salvation through an occult knowledge that they claimed was revealed to them alone. Scholars trace these salvation religions back to such diverse sources as Jewish mysticism, Hellenistic mystery cults, Iranian religious dualism (see Zoroastrianism), and Babylonian and Egyptian mythology. The definition of gnosis [knowledge] as concern with the Eternal was already present in earlier Greek philosophy, although its connection with the later Gnostic movement is distant at best. Christian ideas were quickly incorporated into these syncretistic systems, and by the 2d cent. the largest of them, organized by Valentinus and Basilides, were a significant rival to Christianity. Much of early Christian doctrine was formulated in reaction to this movement.
Until the discovery at Nag Hammadi in Egypt of key Manichaean (1930) and Coptic Gnostic (c.1945) papyri, knowledge of Gnosticism depended on Christian sources, notably St. Irenaeus, St. Hippolytus, Tertullian, and Clement of Alexandria. Among principal Gnostic writings are the Valentinian documents Pistis-Sophia and the Gospel of Truth (perhaps by Valentinus himself). Important too is the literature of the Mandaeans in modern Iraq, who are the only Gnostic sect extant. Gnostic elements are found in the Acts of Thomas, the Odes of Solomon, and other wisdom literature of the pseudepigrapha.
Some Gnostics taught that the world is ruled by evil archons, among them the deity of the Old Testament, who hold captive the spirit of humanity. The heavenly pleroma was the center of the divine life, and Jesus was interpreted as an intermediary eternal being, or aeon, sent from the pleroma to restore the lost knowledge of humanity’s divine origin. Gnostics held secret formulas, which they believed would free them at death from the evil archons and restore them to their heavenly abode. See Valentinus for typical Gnostic teaching on the pleroma.
Gnosticism held that human beings consist of flesh, soul, and spirit (the divine spark), and that humanity is divided into classes representing each of these elements. The purely corporeal (hylic) lacked spirit and could never be saved; the Gnostics proper (pneumatic) bore knowingly the divine spark and their salvation was certain; and those, like the Christians, who stood in between (psychic), might attain a lesser salvation through faith. Such a doctrine may have inspired extreme asceticism (as in the Valentinian school) or extreme licentiousness (as in the sect of Caprocrates and the Ophites). The influence of Gnosticism on the later development of the Jewish kabbalah and heterodox Islamic sects such as the Ismailis is much debated."
The Logos- Captain: Niobe
"In Greek and Hebrew metaphysics, the unifying principle of the world. The central idea of the Logos is that it links God and man, hence any system in which the Logos plays a part is monistic. The Greek Heraclitus held (c.500 B.C.) that the world is animated and kept in order by fire—this fire is the Logos; it is the power of order in the world and the order itself. It thus became the unifying feature of the Heraclitean system. The Stoics (see Stoicism) were influenced in part by Platonism and Aristotelianism in their conception of the Logos. To them God was immanent in the world, its vitalizing force, and God as the law guiding the universe they called Logos; with the additional idea that all things develop from this force, it is called the Spermaticos Logos. The Logos reappears in Greek philosophy in a much restricted form in the system of emanations of Neoplatonism. Certain books of the Old Testament present a principle called the Wisdom of God active in the world. At the same time there was a very ancient Hebrew idea of the Word of God, also active in the world. Thus the Wisdom and the Word of God, sometimes quasi-distinct from Him, coalesced. Philo, in his synthesis of Judaism and Greek thought, naturally hit upon the Logos as a union between the systems; hence his Logos retains qualities both of the Stoic Logos and the Hebrew Word of God. Philo’s God is remote, unaffected by the world, without attributes, unmoving; hence He must have mediation to connect Him with the world. At times Philo’s Logos is independent of God (because of God’s remoteness); at other times the Logos is simply the Reason of God (because Philo’s monism obliges God to act in the world through His mediating forces). St. John in his Gospel adapted the term to his purpose. In the prologue of 14 verses the idea of the Gospel is stated clearly and simply. The Logos, which is the eternal God, took flesh and became man, in time. The Logos is Jesus. The impersonal, remote God of Philo is not there; the intermediate Logos, neither God nor man, has been replaced by a Logos that is both God and man. This explanation of the relation of God and man became an abiding feature of Christian thought."
The Caduceus - Captain: Ballard
"Wing-topped staff, with two snakes winding about it, carried by Hermes, given to him (according to one legend) by Apollo. The symbol of two intertwined snakes appeared early in Babylonia and is related to other serpent symbols of fertility, wisdom, and healing, and of sun gods. This staff of Hermes was carried by Greek heralds and ambassadors and became a Roman symbol for truce, neutrality, and noncombatant status. By regulation, it has since 1902 been the insignia of the medical branch of the U.S. army. The caduceus is much used as a symbol of commerce, postal service, and ambassadorial positions and since the 16th cent. has largely replaced the one-snake symbol of Asclepius as a symbol of medicine."
The Novalis - Captian: Tirant
"pseud. of Friederich von Hardenberg (fr´drkh fn här´dnbrk) (KEY) , 1772–1801, German poet. He studied philosophy under Schiller, Schlegel, and Fichte and was especially influenced by Fichte. He later studied geology. Novalis was one of the great German romantics; his chief work was the novel Heinrich von Ofterdingen (1802), unfinished at the time of his early death from tuberculosis. It tells the story of a legendary minnesinger, whose wanderings and search for a “blue flower� became symbols of German romantic poetry. Novalis’s grief at the death (1797) of his young love, Sophie von Kühn, found expression in a volume of beautiful and deeply religious lyrics, Hymns to the Night (1800; tr. 1889, 1948). Christendom or Europe (1826, tr. 1844) is an exposition of his Roman Catholicism."
The Icarus - Captain: Ajax
"Daedalus in Greek mythology, craftsman and inventor. After killing his apprentice Talos in envy, he fled from Greece to Crete. There, he arranged the liaison between Pasiphaë and the Cretan Bull that resulted in the Minotaur. At the order of King Minos, he built the Minotaur’s labyrinth. When Minos refused to let him leave Crete, Daedalus built wings of wax and feathers for himself and his son Icarus. Together they flew away, but Icarus flew too close to the sun and fell to his death when the wax melted. Daedalus escaped to Sicily."
The Brahma - Captain: Kali
"A god often identified, with Vishnu and Shiva, as one of the three supreme gods in Hinduism. In the late Vedic period he was called Prajapati, the primeval man whose sacrifice permitted the original act of creation. His popularity has declined since the Gupta era (A.D. 320–550), and today only one temple near modern Ajmer is devoted to him. He is regarded as the creator and is periodically reborn in a lotus that grows from the navel of the sleeping Vishnu. His consort Sarasvati is the patroness of art, music, and letters, and the traditional inventor of the Sanskrit language. The kalpa or “day of Brahma,� equal to 4,320,000,000 earthly years, is a basic unit in Hindu chronology. The neuter form of the masculine name Brahma is Brahman."
The Osiris - Captain: Thadeus
"In Egyptian religion, legendary ruler of predynastic Egypt and god of the underworld. He was the son of the sky goddess Nut and the earth god Geb. The great benefactor of mankind, Osiris brought to the people knowledge of agriculture and civilization. In a famous myth he was treacherously slain by his evil brother Set, who cut his body into 14 pieces and spread the fragments throughout Egypt. Thereupon, Isis, sister and wife of Osiris, sought and found his scattered body. She buried the pieces, making each burial place a sacred spot. According to another legend Isis did not bury Osiris, but collected the pieces of her dead husband and miraculously brought him back to life. Osiris’ son Horus later killed Set and became the new king of Egypt, while Osiris became ruler and judge of the underworld. The worship of Osiris, like that of the sun god Ra, was one of the great cults of ancient Egypt. It gradually spread throughout the Mediterranean world and, with that of Isis and Horus, was especially vital during the time of the Roman Empire. Identified variously with the waters of the Nile, the grain of the earth, the moon, and the sun, Osiris was the great symbol of the creative forces of nature and the imperishability of life. He was commonly represented as swathed in mummy wrappings, wearing the crown of Upper Egypt (a dome-shaped hat with a papyrus tuft) and holding a whip and a crook."
Names - Characters
A political leader of Zion. He believes the prophecy could be true and assists Neo and Morpheus with the prophecy.
Johann Georg Hamann (1730-1788),
Preacher of Christ in the Wilderness of the Enlightenment
"Hamann was widely known and greatly esteemed by leading thinkers of his time, however little they might understand or agree with his thoroughly biblical view of man and of all things and their origin in God's creation as told in the Bible. During the nineteenth century he was occasionally studied and recognized as the father of German classicism and also of Romanticism. Soren Kierkegaard spoke of him as his "Emperor"2 and when Kierkegaard was rediscovered in Europe after World War I, some interest in Hamann also awoke, although not really in earnest until after World War II. It should be stated from the outset that despite Kierkegaard's praise and certain misinterpretations of Ha mann due (0 (he difficulty of Hamann's style and form Hamann cannot be classified with modern existentialist writers, nor with any school of thought fundamentally opposed to biblical Christianity.
Hamann realized from the very beginning of his walk with Christ that philosophers who do not take Christ as their starting point are not "neutral" but rather dedicated to presuppositions of their own. This is why, for instance, they deny the creation account of the Bible, and seek to substitute for it a "story" of their own which would "explain creation as a natural event."5 Moreover, these philosophers' arrogance demands that a work purporting to be inspired by God be expressed in philosophical notions they themselves recognize and approve of. so that they might "know things which are too high for us. . `it would be. .a ridiculous demand to ask that Moses should explain about nature according to Aristotelian, Cartesian or Newtonian concepts." On the other hand, to assert "that Moses wrote only for the common rabble is either totally meaningless or a ridiculous way to judge."8 If we would be truly wise and understanding, we must humbly accept God's revelation as He sets it forth:" More...
COMMANDER LOCK
"Commander of Zion's military forces, and Niobe's husband. Lock doesn't believe in the prophecy and thinks devoting resources to it will hasten Zion's destruction."
Lock
"A secure hold; control: The distributor has a lock on most of the market.
A sure thing; a certainty: His promotion is a lock.
To confine or exclude by or as if by means of a lock: locked the dog in for the night; locked the criminal up in a cell.
To fix in place so that movement or escape is impossible; hold fast: The ship was locked in the ice through the winter. She felt that she had become locked into a binding agreement.
To engage and interlock securely so as to be immobile.
To clasp or link firmly; intertwine: locked arms and walked away.
To bind in close struggle or battle: The two dogs were locked in combat.
Computer Science.
To end the processing of (a magnetic tape or disk) in such a way as to deny access to its contents.
To protect (a file) from changes or deletion.
To become rigid or immobile: The mechanism tends to lock in cold weather.
To become embroiled in conflict.
[Middle English, from Old English loc, bolt, bar.]"
CAPTAIN NIOBE
"Captain of the hovercraft Logos, former flame of Morpheus, and married to Commander Lock. Niobe is one of the two main characters in Enter The Matrix."
Niobe
"In Greek mythology, queen of Thebes, wife of Amphion and daughter of Tantalus. The mother of six sons and six daughters, she boasted of her fruitfulness, saying that Leto had only two children. Apollo and Artemis, angry at this insult to their mother, killed all Niobe’s children. Crying inconsolably, she fled to Mt. Sipylus. There Zeus turned her into a stone image that wept perpetually."
Niobe
"1873, an incident that came near to causing war between the United States and Spain. The Virginius, a filibustering ship, was fraudulently flying the American flag and carrying arms to the Cubans in the Ten Years War. It was captured by the Spanish off Cuba, Oct. 31, 1873. The captain, Joseph Fry, and 52 of the crew and passengers among them several Americans were executed. More would have been killed but for the intervention of the British ship, Niobe. After the incident, negotiations were undertaken by Daniel Edgar Sickles, U.S. minister to Spain, whose intemperate attitude worsened the situation. However, Secretary of State Hamilton Fish took negotiations out of Sickles hands and a settlement was reached. Spain paid the United States an indemnity of $80,000."
BANE
"A member of another hovercraft crew, Bane is turned into an Agent Smith duplicate in the Matrix immediately before jacking out. It appears Agent Smith now controls him in the 'real world'."
Bane
"Shrouded in mystery, Bane appeared in Gotham City assigned to eliminate Batman for crime boss Rupert Thorne. Besides being a man of great physical size and power, Bane's strength is augmented by "Venom," a Super Steroid that increases his strength, physical size and durability for limited periods of time. It should be noted that Bane's strength is matched by his intelligence and cunning. He prefers to manipulate his target until they are most vulnerable, and then strike. After a short confrontation, Batman defeated Bane."
SERAPH
"Guardian of The Oracle, Seraph is a program in the Matrix. He tests Neo before allowing him to see her."
Seraph
"Supernatural being. The name seems to derive from the Hebrew word Å“to burn. According to the Book of Isaiah, seraphim have six wings. Scholars have suggested that seraphim were winged serpents. In Numbers, the word seraph denotes a fiery(i.e. poisonous) serpent. Like cherubim, seraphim are associated with the glory of God, as in the liturgy. See also cherub."
ORACLE
"An unusual inhabitant of the Matrix, The Oracle is able to see the future. She guides Neo on the path to destroying the Matrix. The Oracle is also responsible for the original prophecy concerning the existence of The One."
Oracle
"In Greek religion, priest or priestess who imparted the response of a god to a human questioner. The word is also used to refer to the response itself and to the shrine of a god. Every oracular shrine had a fixed method of divination. Many observed signs, such as the motion of objects dropped into a spring, the movement of birds, or the rustle of leaves. Often dreams were interpreted. A later and popular method involved the use of entranced persons whose ecstatic cries were interpreted by trained attendants. Before an oracle was questioned consultants underwent rites of purification and sacrifice. There were many established oracles in ancient Greece, the most famous being those of Zeus at Dodona and of Apollo at Delphi and at Didyma in Asia Minor. Other oracular shrines were located in Syria, Egypt, and Italy."
THE MEROVINGIAN
"Likely another program in the Matrix, Merovingian holds The Keymaker captive, standing in Neo's way. His wife, Persephone, betrays him."
The Merovingian
"The Frankish King Dagobert II, and the Merovingian dynasty from which he came, have been romantically mythologized in the annals of both local legend and modern mystical pseudo-history, but few have understood the true meaning and origins of their alluring mystery. The mystique that surrounds them includes attributions of saintliness, magical powers (derived from their long red hair), and even divine origin, stemming from their supposed descent from the one and only Jesus Christ. However, the importance of the divine origin of the Merovingians, and the antiquity from whence it comes, has never to this author's knowledge been fully explored by any writer or historian. As Boyd Rice and I will explain in more detail in our forthcoming book, we have uncovered mountains of evidence which indicates that the origins of the Merovingian race, and the mystery that surrounds them, lies ultimately with a race of beings, "Nephilim," or "Fallen Angels," who created mankind as we know him today, and with a civilization, far more ancient than recorded history, from which came all of the major arts and sciences that are basic to civilizations everywhere, even unto today. As we intend to show, all of the myths and symbolism that are associated with this dynasty can, in fact, be traced back to this earlier civilization. It is known, in some cultures, as Atlantis, although there are many names for it, and it is the birthplace of agriculture, astronomy, mathematics, metallurgy, navigation, architecture, language, writing, and religion.
It was also the source of the first government on Earth - monarchy. And the first kings on Earth were the gods. Their race was known by various names. In Greece, the Annodoti. In Sumeria, the Annunaki. In the Celtic lore, the Tuatha de Danaan. In the Semetic scriptures (Torah, Talmud, Old Testament, and other Apocryphal texts like the Book of Enoch), they are called The Nephilim, "The Sons of God," or the Watchers. They are described as having attachments such as wings, horns, and even fish scales, but from the depictions it is clear that these are clothes or costumes worn for their symbolic value, for these symbols indicated divine power and royal blood. The gods themselves had their own monarchy, with laws of succession similar to our own, and they built a global empire upon the Earth, with great cities, temples and monuments, and mighty nations established on several continents. They created mankind as a slave race to work on their farms and in their gold mines, among other things. The Sumerian legends are very clear: man was made to "bear the yoke of the gods." Man was separate from the gods, like a domesticated animal, and there was a great cultural taboo amongst the gods against sharing any of their sacred information with humanity, even things such as writing and mathematics. These gods ruled directly over Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Indus Valley, and their rule is recorded in the histories of all three civilizations." More...
PERSEPHONE
"Wife of Merovingian, Persephone tires of her husband's infidelities and assists our heros in locating The Keymaker...but at what cost to Neo?"
Persephone
"In Greek and Roman religion and mythology, goddess of fertility and queen of the underworld. She was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. When she was still a beautiful maiden, Pluto seized her and held her captive in his underworld. Though Demeter eventually persuaded the gods to let her daughter return to her, Persephone was required to remain in the underworld for four months because Pluto had tricked her into eating a pomegranate (food of the dead) there. When Persephone left the earth, the flowers withered and the grain died, but when she returned, life blossomed anew. This story, which symbolizes the annual vegetation cycle, was celebrated in the Eleusinian Mysteries, in which Persephone appeared under the name Kore."
SHIPS
The Gnosis - Captain: Ice
"Gnosticism: dualistic religious and philosophical movement of the late Hellenistic and early Christian eras. The term designates a wide assortment of sects, numerous by the 2d cent. A.D.; they all promised salvation through an occult knowledge that they claimed was revealed to them alone. Scholars trace these salvation religions back to such diverse sources as Jewish mysticism, Hellenistic mystery cults, Iranian religious dualism (see Zoroastrianism), and Babylonian and Egyptian mythology. The definition of gnosis [knowledge] as concern with the Eternal was already present in earlier Greek philosophy, although its connection with the later Gnostic movement is distant at best. Christian ideas were quickly incorporated into these syncretistic systems, and by the 2d cent. the largest of them, organized by Valentinus and Basilides, were a significant rival to Christianity. Much of early Christian doctrine was formulated in reaction to this movement.
Until the discovery at Nag Hammadi in Egypt of key Manichaean (1930) and Coptic Gnostic (c.1945) papyri, knowledge of Gnosticism depended on Christian sources, notably St. Irenaeus, St. Hippolytus, Tertullian, and Clement of Alexandria. Among principal Gnostic writings are the Valentinian documents Pistis-Sophia and the Gospel of Truth (perhaps by Valentinus himself). Important too is the literature of the Mandaeans in modern Iraq, who are the only Gnostic sect extant. Gnostic elements are found in the Acts of Thomas, the Odes of Solomon, and other wisdom literature of the pseudepigrapha.
Some Gnostics taught that the world is ruled by evil archons, among them the deity of the Old Testament, who hold captive the spirit of humanity. The heavenly pleroma was the center of the divine life, and Jesus was interpreted as an intermediary eternal being, or aeon, sent from the pleroma to restore the lost knowledge of humanity’s divine origin. Gnostics held secret formulas, which they believed would free them at death from the evil archons and restore them to their heavenly abode. See Valentinus for typical Gnostic teaching on the pleroma.
Gnosticism held that human beings consist of flesh, soul, and spirit (the divine spark), and that humanity is divided into classes representing each of these elements. The purely corporeal (hylic) lacked spirit and could never be saved; the Gnostics proper (pneumatic) bore knowingly the divine spark and their salvation was certain; and those, like the Christians, who stood in between (psychic), might attain a lesser salvation through faith. Such a doctrine may have inspired extreme asceticism (as in the Valentinian school) or extreme licentiousness (as in the sect of Caprocrates and the Ophites). The influence of Gnosticism on the later development of the Jewish kabbalah and heterodox Islamic sects such as the Ismailis is much debated."
The Logos- Captain: Niobe
"In Greek and Hebrew metaphysics, the unifying principle of the world. The central idea of the Logos is that it links God and man, hence any system in which the Logos plays a part is monistic. The Greek Heraclitus held (c.500 B.C.) that the world is animated and kept in order by fire—this fire is the Logos; it is the power of order in the world and the order itself. It thus became the unifying feature of the Heraclitean system. The Stoics (see Stoicism) were influenced in part by Platonism and Aristotelianism in their conception of the Logos. To them God was immanent in the world, its vitalizing force, and God as the law guiding the universe they called Logos; with the additional idea that all things develop from this force, it is called the Spermaticos Logos. The Logos reappears in Greek philosophy in a much restricted form in the system of emanations of Neoplatonism. Certain books of the Old Testament present a principle called the Wisdom of God active in the world. At the same time there was a very ancient Hebrew idea of the Word of God, also active in the world. Thus the Wisdom and the Word of God, sometimes quasi-distinct from Him, coalesced. Philo, in his synthesis of Judaism and Greek thought, naturally hit upon the Logos as a union between the systems; hence his Logos retains qualities both of the Stoic Logos and the Hebrew Word of God. Philo’s God is remote, unaffected by the world, without attributes, unmoving; hence He must have mediation to connect Him with the world. At times Philo’s Logos is independent of God (because of God’s remoteness); at other times the Logos is simply the Reason of God (because Philo’s monism obliges God to act in the world through His mediating forces). St. John in his Gospel adapted the term to his purpose. In the prologue of 14 verses the idea of the Gospel is stated clearly and simply. The Logos, which is the eternal God, took flesh and became man, in time. The Logos is Jesus. The impersonal, remote God of Philo is not there; the intermediate Logos, neither God nor man, has been replaced by a Logos that is both God and man. This explanation of the relation of God and man became an abiding feature of Christian thought."
The Caduceus - Captain: Ballard
"Wing-topped staff, with two snakes winding about it, carried by Hermes, given to him (according to one legend) by Apollo. The symbol of two intertwined snakes appeared early in Babylonia and is related to other serpent symbols of fertility, wisdom, and healing, and of sun gods. This staff of Hermes was carried by Greek heralds and ambassadors and became a Roman symbol for truce, neutrality, and noncombatant status. By regulation, it has since 1902 been the insignia of the medical branch of the U.S. army. The caduceus is much used as a symbol of commerce, postal service, and ambassadorial positions and since the 16th cent. has largely replaced the one-snake symbol of Asclepius as a symbol of medicine."
The Novalis - Captian: Tirant
"pseud. of Friederich von Hardenberg (fr´drkh fn här´dnbrk) (KEY) , 1772–1801, German poet. He studied philosophy under Schiller, Schlegel, and Fichte and was especially influenced by Fichte. He later studied geology. Novalis was one of the great German romantics; his chief work was the novel Heinrich von Ofterdingen (1802), unfinished at the time of his early death from tuberculosis. It tells the story of a legendary minnesinger, whose wanderings and search for a “blue flower� became symbols of German romantic poetry. Novalis’s grief at the death (1797) of his young love, Sophie von Kühn, found expression in a volume of beautiful and deeply religious lyrics, Hymns to the Night (1800; tr. 1889, 1948). Christendom or Europe (1826, tr. 1844) is an exposition of his Roman Catholicism."
The Icarus - Captain: Ajax
"Daedalus in Greek mythology, craftsman and inventor. After killing his apprentice Talos in envy, he fled from Greece to Crete. There, he arranged the liaison between Pasiphaë and the Cretan Bull that resulted in the Minotaur. At the order of King Minos, he built the Minotaur’s labyrinth. When Minos refused to let him leave Crete, Daedalus built wings of wax and feathers for himself and his son Icarus. Together they flew away, but Icarus flew too close to the sun and fell to his death when the wax melted. Daedalus escaped to Sicily."
The Brahma - Captain: Kali
"A god often identified, with Vishnu and Shiva, as one of the three supreme gods in Hinduism. In the late Vedic period he was called Prajapati, the primeval man whose sacrifice permitted the original act of creation. His popularity has declined since the Gupta era (A.D. 320–550), and today only one temple near modern Ajmer is devoted to him. He is regarded as the creator and is periodically reborn in a lotus that grows from the navel of the sleeping Vishnu. His consort Sarasvati is the patroness of art, music, and letters, and the traditional inventor of the Sanskrit language. The kalpa or “day of Brahma,� equal to 4,320,000,000 earthly years, is a basic unit in Hindu chronology. The neuter form of the masculine name Brahma is Brahman."
The Osiris - Captain: Thadeus
"In Egyptian religion, legendary ruler of predynastic Egypt and god of the underworld. He was the son of the sky goddess Nut and the earth god Geb. The great benefactor of mankind, Osiris brought to the people knowledge of agriculture and civilization. In a famous myth he was treacherously slain by his evil brother Set, who cut his body into 14 pieces and spread the fragments throughout Egypt. Thereupon, Isis, sister and wife of Osiris, sought and found his scattered body. She buried the pieces, making each burial place a sacred spot. According to another legend Isis did not bury Osiris, but collected the pieces of her dead husband and miraculously brought him back to life. Osiris’ son Horus later killed Set and became the new king of Egypt, while Osiris became ruler and judge of the underworld. The worship of Osiris, like that of the sun god Ra, was one of the great cults of ancient Egypt. It gradually spread throughout the Mediterranean world and, with that of Isis and Horus, was especially vital during the time of the Roman Empire. Identified variously with the waters of the Nile, the grain of the earth, the moon, and the sun, Osiris was the great symbol of the creative forces of nature and the imperishability of life. He was commonly represented as swathed in mummy wrappings, wearing the crown of Upper Egypt (a dome-shaped hat with a papyrus tuft) and holding a whip and a crook."
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