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Twofold destruction and renewal of the world (1)

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12 Assyrian Identity



01 Religious and ideological doctrines and imagery




04 Religious and philosophical literature and poetry



02 Religious and ideological symbols and iconographic motifs



01 Religious and ideological doctrines and imagery


Keywords
astrology
destruction of the world
fire
omens
Rome
water
Period
1st century CE
Roman Empire
Channel
Roman philosophers and scholars


Text
Seneca, Naturales Quaestiones 3.28.7-29.1:
[Deluge will take place] in the same principle in which the conflagration will occur. Both will occur when it seems best to god for the old things to be ended and better things to begin. Water and fire dominate earthly things. From them is the origin, from them the death. Therefore whenever a renewal for the universe is decided, the sea is sent against us from above, like raging fire, when another form of destruction is decided upon. Berossus, who interpreted Belus, says that these catastrophes occur with the movements of the planets. Indeed, he is so certain that he assigns a date for the conflagration and the deluge. For earthly things will burn, he contends, when all the planets which now maintain different orbits come together in the sign of Cancer, and are so arranged in the same path that a straight line can pass through the spheres of all of them. The deluge will occur when the same group of planets meets in the sign of Capricorn. They are signs of great power since they are the turning-points in the very change of the year.


Source (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Seneca, Naturales Quaestiones 3.28.7-29.1

Bibliography

Corcoran 1971, VII 284-287Corcoran, Thomas H. Seneca. 10 Vols. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, London: Heinemann 1971.

Amar Annus


URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0000084.php


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