Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 310 Calling a deer a horse
As one of the three virgin goddesses along with Hestia (Vesta) and Athena (Minerva), the goddess of wisdom, Artemis is a very important god in the Greek world, and Ephesus is the core city of the belief in Artemis.

The Temple of Artemis was undoubtedly a majestic temple. It was burned down by a fire several hundred years ago. The people of Ephesus built a larger and more majestic temple on the site. This temple was not destroyed again until nearly two hundred years later in 262 AD due to the invasion of the Goths.

At this time, due to the disappearance of Greek polytheism and the decline of the city of Ephesus, the temple was not rebuilt. The temple people see today is mostly the ruins that remain from that time.

But at this time, the Temple of Artemis was still magnificent. It was built entirely of huge pure white stones, with dozens of Greek columns more than ten meters high, covered with sophisticated carvings and decorations. It can be said that it symbolizes the highest achievement of Greek architecture.

Today, more than three hundred years after its reconstruction, the Temple of Artemis still does not look outdated, and can even be called shocking.

In Orville's opinion, Artemis is one of the Greek gods that he can accept more. After all, he is relatively clean and does not do too many abstract things.

As for some of her stories, such as the torturing and killing of the poor nobleman who accidentally saw her taking a bath, according to a little modern research, they seem to be closely related to Ovid's fabrication.

In the minds of local Greeks, Artemis is a serious and even awe-inspiring god, because she is not only in charge of hunting, but also symbolizes the invincible power of nature and is one of the deified images of nature.

Thanks to this, the locals' belief in the goddess of hunting is very pious and serious. When Orville arrived, the locals were also offering sacrifices to the goddess. The scene was as solemn and grand as the Roman city's sacrifice to Jupiter, which also broadened Orville's horizons.

He and Cleopatra did not believe in the goddess of hunting, so they just joined in the fun, and after watching enough, he and Cleopatra left the temple in a sedan chair and prepared to return to their ship.

At this time, Cleopatra asked Orville: "Do you still have faith in your God?"

"Maybe when necessary, but I only have an altar to the goddess Athena at home." When he was in Palphi, he would pretend to join in the fun with King Herod, but it was just a show. He had no real faith in the gods.

After all, if a person travels back to ancient times, he might convert to systematic religions such as Christianity or Buddhism, which have their own logic and theoretical systems. However, it is a bit troublesome to ask modern people to suddenly convert to Greek polytheism, which does not even have a systematic ideological program.

"I see. Actually, I think your religion has its merits."

"I thought the Egyptians had no good impression of the Parvi people. Of course, I am a Roman, not a Parvi people." Orville emphasized his identity intentionally or unintentionally.

"It has nothing to do with ethnicity. I just think myths should be simplified. Think about it, if a person wants to pray for a good harvest, where would he go?"

"The temple of Demeter, after all, she is the goddess of agriculture."

"That's a wrong way of thinking," Cleopatra said with a wry smile. "If he wants to pray for a good harvest of fruits in the mountains and forests, then he can pray to Artemis, because she is the symbol of nature. In addition, there are also people who pray to Gaia, the mother goddess of the earth. I have even seen examples of offering sacrifices to Hebe, the goddess of youth, to pray for a good harvest in the literature.

In addition to her, there are people who sacrifice to Zeus and pray for a good harvest. After all, he is the king of gods who is in charge of everything, and he also has a horn of plenty that can bring wealth and harvest to the world.

This is a common situation. In fact, every place has its own local gods of land, ancestors and harvests. The situation of worship is very chaotic. People worship everything and there is no way to unify their thoughts. I think the Parfi people are quite good at this. Everyone believes in one god, so their thoughts can naturally unite and burst out with more powerful power. "

Orville didn't expect that the other party's thoughts had reached this point, and he began to think about the rationality of polytheism and monotheism. In fact, this was indeed part of the reason why polytheism was replaced. The fact that people only had to run once was still very advanced.

"So what do you want?" He began to test the other party's intentions.

"In my conception, Egypt should also evolve in this direction, simplifying the complex pantheon, with each region focusing on worshipping a main god. I think the goddess Isis may be more suitable. She is a symbol of the life tide of the sacred Nile River and the source of the power of nature. She is easily accepted by people everywhere."

Cleopatra's intermittent descriptions are somewhat similar to the later Isis cult, a popular religion in the eastern part of the empire. Although it ultimately failed to compete with Christianity like religions such as Mithraism, it still had a considerable audience.

And the key point is that polytheism tends to be more systematic than monotheism.

Orville himself likes the feeling of polytheism where there are kings everywhere, but he does not deny that it is indeed very confusing and lacks a self-consistent logical thought system.

It should be said that it was quite amazing that Cleopatra could figure out these things on her own, because this is one of the major trends in the development of history. In time, she might really be able to accomplish part of this.

But Orville, as a listener, had another idea.

"I've heard some stories about Egyptian gods. I heard that in the past, the goddess Isis was regarded as the mother of the pharaoh?"

"That's right. There are many texts and pictures that describe the goddess Isis feeding the pharaohs. The pharaoh is a god and also the child of the goddess Isis."

"The goddess Isis is in charge of life, fertility, and raising children?"

"That's part of her power."

"Were she and Aphrodite sometimes considered one god?"

"You mean?" Cleopatra probably understood what Orville wanted to do and looked at him in surprise.

"Then I think that the goddess Isis is somewhat similar to our Venus (the goddess of beauty Aphrodite), and the two have overlapping divine duties. Moreover, Venus is the mother of Aeneas and she nursed Aeneas, who is the ancestor of the Roman emperor. Isis is the mother of the Egyptian pharaoh and she nursed the Egyptian pharaoh. Can these two sometimes be considered as one god? Especially at times like this, thoughts should indeed be unified."

Orwell hadn't said half a sentence yet - he had reversed the logic of the mythological genealogy and identified the Roman emperor as an Egyptian pharaoh.

(End of this chapter)