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148-500: As a poet, Xenophanes was known for his critical style, writing poems that are considered among the first satires . He composed elegiac couplets that criticised his society's traditional values of wealth, excesses, and athletic victories. He criticised Homer and the other poets in his works for representing the gods as foolish or morally weak. His poems have not survived intact; only fragments of some of his work survive in quotations by later philosophers and literary critics. Xenophanes

296-619: A "deity" and various cultures have conceptualized their deities differently. Monotheistic religions typically refer to their god in masculine terms, while other religions refer to their deities in a variety of ways—male, female, hermaphroditic , or genderless. Many cultures—including the ancient Mesopotamians , Egyptians , Greeks , Romans , and Germanic peoples —have personified natural phenomena , variously as either deliberate causes or effects. Some Avestan and Vedic deities were viewed as ethical concepts. In Indian religions , deities have been envisioned as manifesting within

444-422: A creator God or transcendental absolute principle ( monistic theologies), which manifests immanently in nature. Henotheism accepts the existence of more than one deity, but considers all deities as equivalent representations or aspects of the same divine principle, the highest. Monolatry is the belief that many deities exist, but that only one of these deities may be validly worshipped. Monotheism

592-417: A far more obviously extreme and unrealistic tale, involving interplanetary exploration, war among alien life forms, and life inside a 200 mile long whale back in the terrestrial ocean, all intended to make obvious the fallacies of books like Indica and The Odyssey . Medieval Arabic poetry included the satiric genre hija . Satire was introduced into Arabic prose literature by the author Al-Jahiz in

740-574: A few of them, particularly Dumuzid , Geshtinanna , and Gugalanna were said to have either died or visited the underworld. Both male and female deities were widely venerated. In the Sumerian pantheon, deities had multiple functions, which included presiding over procreation, rains, irrigation, agriculture, destiny, and justice. The gods were fed, clothed, entertained, and worshipped to prevent natural catastrophes as well as to prevent social chaos such as pillaging, rape, or atrocities. Many of

888-550: A highly original and distinct philosopher whose philosophy extends well beyond the influence he had on later philosophical schools. As a social critic, Xenophanes composed poems on proper behavior at a symposium and criticized the cultural glorification of athletes. Xenophanes sought to reform the understanding of divine nature by casting doubt on Greek mythology as relayed by Hesiod and Homer , in order to make it more consistent with notions of piety from Ancient Greek religion . He composed natural explanations for phenomena such as

1036-413: A little even as you chuckle. Laughter is not an essential component of satire; in fact, there are types of satire that are not meant to be "funny" at all. Conversely, not all humour, even on such topics as politics, religion or art is necessarily "satirical", even when it uses the satirical tools of irony, parody, and burlesque . Even light-hearted satire has a serious "after-taste": the organizers of

1184-505: A means of expression and an outlet for common people to express their anger against authoritarian entities. A popular custom in Northern India of "Bura na mano Holi hai" continues, in which comedians on the stage mock local people of importance (who are usually brought in as special guests). Deity A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over

1332-655: A pantheon of deities, the chief of whom was the god El , who ruled alongside his consort Asherah and their seventy sons . Baal was the god of storm, rain, vegetation and fertility, while his consort Anat was the goddess of war and Astarte , the West Semitic equivalent to Ishtar , was the goddess of love. The people of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah originally believed in these deities, alongside their own national god Yahweh. El later became syncretized with Yahweh , who took over El's role as

1480-584: A philosophical poem. John Burnet says that "The oldest reference to a poem Περὶ φύσεως is in the Geneva scholium on Iliad xxi. 196, and this goes back to Crates of Mallus . We must remember that such titles are of later date, and Xenophanes had been given a place among philosophers long before the time of Crates. All we can say, therefore, is that the Pergamene librarians gave the title Περὶ φύσεως to some poem of Xenophanes." However, even if Xenophanes never wrote

1628-630: A poem on the foundation of Colophon and Elea, which ran to approximately 2000 lines. Later testimony suggests that his collection of satires was assembled in at least five books. Although many later sources attribute a poem titled "On Nature" to Xenophanes, modern scholars doubt this label, as it was likely a name given by scholars at the Library of Alexandria to works written by philosophers that Aristotle had identified as " phusikoi " who studied nature. The satires are called Silloi , and this name may go back to Xenophanes himself, but it may originate that

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1776-496: A prehistoric female deity. A number of probable representations of deities have been discovered at 'Ain Ghazal and the works of art uncovered at Çatalhöyük reveal references to what is probably a complex mythology. Diverse African cultures developed theology and concepts of deities over their history. In Nigeria and neighboring West African countries , for example, two prominent deities (locally called Òrìṣà ) are found in

1924-613: A presiding deity, who inspired social rituals, special trading markets and community festivals. A deity with aspects similar to Kulkulkan in the Aztec culture has been called Quetzalcoatl . However, states Timothy Insoll, the Aztec ideas of deity remain poorly understood. What has been assumed is based on what was constructed by Christian missionaries . The deity concept was likely more complex than these historical records. In Aztec culture , there were hundred of deities, but many were henotheistic incarnations of one another (similar to

2072-429: A prominent example from ancient Greece , philosopher Plato , when asked by a friend for a book to understand Athenian society, referred him to the plays of Aristophanes . Historically, satire has satisfied the popular need to debunk and ridicule the leading figures in politics, economy, religion and other prominent realms of power . Satire confronts public discourse and the collective imaginary , playing as

2220-625: A prominent role in Indian and Hindi literature , and is counted as one of the " ras " of literature in ancient books. With the commencement of printing of books in local language in the nineteenth century and especially after India's freedom, this grew. Many of the works of Tulsi Das , Kabir , Munshi Premchand , village minstrels, Hari katha singers, poets, Dalit singers and current day stand up Indian comedians incorporate satire, usually ridiculing authoritarians, fundamentalists and incompetent people in power. In India, it has usually been used as

2368-511: A public opinion counterweight to power (be it political, economic, religious, symbolic, or otherwise), by challenging leaders and authorities. For instance, it forces administrations to clarify, amend or establish their policies. Satire's job is to expose problems and contradictions, and it is not obligated to solve them. Karl Kraus set in the history of satire a prominent example of a satirist role as confronting public discourse. For its nature and social role, satire has enjoyed in many societies

2516-446: A rebuke to Anaximenes ' air theory. The idea of alternating states and human life perishing and coming back suggests he believed in the principle of causation, another distinguishing step that Xenophanes takes away from Ancient philosophical traditions to ones based more on scientific observation. This use of evidence was an important step in advancing from simply stating an idea to backing it up by evidence and observation. Xenophanes

2664-399: A special freedom license to mock prominent individuals and institutions. The satiric impulse, and its ritualized expressions, carry out the function of resolving social tension. Institutions like the ritual clowns , by giving expression to the antisocial tendencies , represent a safety valve which re-establishes equilibrium and health in the collective imaginary , which are jeopardized by

2812-407: A specific and flawed personality. They were not omnipotent and could be injured in some circumstances. Greek deities led to cults, were used politically and inspired votive offerings for favors such as bountiful crops, healthy family, victory in war, or peace for a loved one recently deceased. The Roman pantheon had numerous deities, both Greek and non-Greek. The more famed deities, found in

2960-509: A specific poem title On Nature , many of the surviving fragments deal with topics in natural philosophy such as clouds or rainbows, and it is thus likely that the philosophical remarks of Xenophanes were expressed incidentally in his satires. Although Xenophanes has traditionally been interpreted in terms of the Eleatics and Skeptics who were influenced by him and saw him as their predecessor and founder, modern scholarship consider him to be

3108-458: A strict genre that imposed hexameter form, a narrower genre than what would be later intended as satire . Quintilian famously said that satura, that is a satire in hexameter verses, was a literary genre of wholly Roman origin ( satura tota nostra est ). He was aware of and commented on Greek satire, but at the time did not label it as such, although today the origin of satire is considered to be Aristophanes' Old Comedy . The first critic to use

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3256-522: Is Diels, Hermann; Kranz, Walther (1957). Plamböck, Gert (ed.). Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (in Ancient Greek and German). Rowohlt. ISBN   5875607416 . Retrieved 11 April 2022 . . Satires Satire is a genre of the visual , literary , and performing arts , usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction , in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with

3404-577: Is militant ", according to literary critic Northrop Frye — but parody , burlesque , exaggeration , juxtaposition , comparison, analogy, and double entendre are all frequently used in satirical speech and writing. This "militant" irony or sarcasm often professes to approve of (or at least accept as natural) the very things the satirist wishes to question. Satire is found in many artistic forms of expression, including internet memes, literature, plays, commentary, music , film and television shows, and media such as lyrics. The word satire comes from

3552-415: Is an apotropaic rite in which the sin-eater (also called filth-eater), by ingesting the food provided, takes "upon himself the sins of the departed". Satire about death overlaps with black humor and gallows humor . Another classification by topics is the distinction between political satire, religious satire and satire of manners. Political satire is sometimes called topical satire, satire of manners

3700-601: Is an enclave in which satire can be introduced into mass media , challenging mainstream discourse. Comedy roasts , mock festivals, and stand-up comedians in nightclubs and concerts are the modern forms of ancient satiric rituals. One of the earliest examples of what might be called satire, The Satire of the Trades , is in Egyptian writing from the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. The text's apparent readers are students, tired of studying. It argues that their lot as scribes

3848-587: Is deemed to be a full deity with the Christian cross as his icon. The theological examination of Jesus Christ, of divine grace in incarnation, his non-transferability and completeness has been a historic topic. For example, the Council of Chalcedon in 451 CE declared that in "one person Jesus Christ, fullness of deity and fullness of humanity are united, the union of the natures being such that they can neither be divided nor confused". Jesus Christ, according to

3996-455: Is derived from Proto-Germanic *guthan , from PIE *ghut- , which means "that which is invoked". Guth in the Irish language means "voice". The term *ghut- is also the source of Old Church Slavonic zovo ("to call"), Sanskrit huta- ("invoked", an epithet of Indra ), from the root *gheu(e)- ("to call, invoke."), An alternate etymology for the term "god" comes from

4144-473: Is impossible to conclusively identify any prehistoric figurines as representations of any kind of deities, let alone goddesses. Nonetheless, it is possible to evaluate ancient representations on a case-by-case basis and rate them on how likely they are to represent deities. The Venus of Willendorf , a female figurine found in Europe and dated to about 25,000 BCE has been interpreted by some as an exemplar of

4292-465: Is known that the most and widest variety of evidence was considered by Xenophanes to be the surest way to prove a theory. Xenophanes's influence has been interpreted variously as "the founder of epistemology, a poet and rhapsode and not a philosopher at all, the first skeptic, the first empiricist, a rationalist theologian, a reformer of religion, and more besides." Karl Popper read Xenophanes as an early precursor of critical rationalism , saying that it

4440-428: Is light reflected off of clouds. Knowledge of Xenophanes' views comes from fragments of his poetry that survive as quotations by later Greek writers. Unlike other pre-socratic philosophers such as Heraclitus or Parmenides , who only wrote one work, Xenophanes wrote a variety of poems, and no two of the fragments can positively be identified as belonging to the same text. According to Diogenes Laertius, Xenophanes wrote

4588-407: Is little historical or philosophical justification for these associations between Pythagoras, Xenophanes, and Parmenides as is oft alleged in succession of the so-called " Italian school ". It had similarly been common since antiquity to see Xenophanes as the teacher of Zeno of Elea , the colleague of Parmenides, but common opinion today is likewise that this is false. In his ninety-second year he

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4736-509: Is masculine, and the related feminine equivalent is devi . Etymologically, the cognates of Devi are Latin dea and Greek thea . In Old Persian , daiva- means " demon , evil god", while in Sanskrit it means the opposite, referring to the "heavenly, divine, terrestrial things of high excellence, exalted, shining ones". The closely linked term " god " refers to "supreme being, deity", according to Douglas Harper, and

4884-406: Is not only useful, but far superior to that of the ordinary man. Scholars such as Helck think that the context was meant to be serious. The Papyrus Anastasi I (late 2nd millennium BC) contains a satirical letter which first praises the virtues of its recipient, but then mocks the reader's meagre knowledge and achievements. The Greeks had no word for what later would be called "satire", although

5032-453: Is often pessimistic, characterized by the use of irony, sarcasm, moral indignation and personal invective, with less emphasis on humor. Strongly polarized political satire can often be classified as Juvenalian. A Juvenal satirist's goal is generally to provoke some sort of political or societal change because he sees his opponent or object as evil or harmful. A Juvenal satirist mocks "societal structure, power, and civilization" by exaggerating

5180-557: Is often seen as one of the first monotheists in Western philosophy of religion . However, the same referenced quotation refers to multiple "gods" who the supreme God is greater than. This god "shakes all things" by the power of his thought alone. Differently from the human creatures, God has the power to give "immediate execution" (in Greek: to phren ) and make effective his cognitive faculty (in Greek: nous ). The thought of Xenophanes

5328-540: Is one of the first philosophers to show interest in epistemological questions as well as metaphysical ones. He held that there actually exists an objective truth in reality , but that as mere mortals, humans are unable to know it . He is credited with being one of the first philosophers to distinguish between true belief and knowledge , as well as acknowledge the prospect that one can think he knows something but not really know it. His verses on skepticism are quoted by Sextus Empiricus as follows: Yet, with regard to

5476-672: Is possible to act only on the basis of working hypotheses —we may act as if we knew the truth, as long as we know that this is extremely unlikely. Many later ancient accounts associate Xenophanes with the Greek colony in the Italian city of Elea , either as the author of a poem on the founding of that city, or as the founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy, or as the teacher of Parmenides of Elea . Others associate him with Pythagoreanism . However, modern scholars generally believe that there

5624-403: Is seen as one of the most important pre-Socratic philosophers . A highly original thinker, Xenophanes sought explanations for physical phenomena such as clouds or rainbows without references to divine or mythological explanations, but instead based on first principles . He distinguished between different forms of knowledge and belief, an early instance of epistemology . Later philosophers such as

5772-465: Is sometimes called satire of everyday life, and religious satire is sometimes called philosophical satire. Comedy of manners , sometimes also called satire of manners, criticizes mode of life of common people; political satire aims at behavior, manners of politicians, and vices of political systems. Historically, comedy of manners, which first appeared in British theater in 1620, has uncritically accepted

5920-484: Is sometimes considered the first skeptic in Western philosophy. Xenophanes's alleged skepticism can also be seen as a precursor to Pyrrhonism . Sextus quotes Pyrrho's follower Timon as praising Xenophanes and dedicating his satires to him, and giving him as an example of somebody who is not a perfect skeptic (like Pyrrho), but who is forgivably close to it. Eusebius quoting Aristocles of Messene says that Xenophanes

6068-552: Is the reactionary side of the comic ; it limits itself to a shallow parody of physical appearance. The side-effect of teasing is that it humanizes and draws sympathy for the powerful individual towards which it is directed. Satire instead uses the comic to go against power and its oppressions, has a subversive character, and a moral dimension which draws judgement against its targets. Fo formulated an operational criterion to tell real satire from sfottò , saying that real satire arouses an outraged and violent reaction, and that

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6216-414: Is the belief that divinity pervades the universe, but that it also transcends the universe. Agnosticism is the position that it is impossible to know for certain whether a deity of any kind exists. Atheism is the non-belief in the existence of any deity. Scholars infer the probable existence of deities in the prehistoric period from inscriptions and prehistoric arts such as cave drawings , but it

6364-429: Is the belief that only one deity exists. A monotheistic deity, known as "God", is usually described as omnipotent , omnipresent , omniscient , omnibenevolent and eternal . However, not all deities have been regarded this way and an entity does not need to be almighty, omnipresent, omniscient, omnibenevolent or eternal to qualify as a deity. Deism is the belief that only one deity exists, who created

6512-582: Is the first to define this concept of Yuyan. During the Qin and Han dynasty, however, the concept of yuyan mostly died out through their heavy persecution of dissent and literary circles, especially by Qin Shi Huang and Han Wudi . The first Roman to discuss satire critically was Quintilian , who invented the term to describe the writings of Gaius Lucilius . The two most prominent and influential ancient Roman satirists are Horace and Juvenal , who wrote during

6660-460: Is the superstitious man who fears the gods, while the truly religious person venerates them as parents. Cicero, in his Academica , praised Varro for this and other insights. According to Varro, there have been three accounts of deities in the Roman society: the mythical account created by poets for theatre and entertainment, the civil account used by people for veneration as well as by the city, and

6808-489: Is typically seen as male . In contrast, all ancient Indo-European cultures and mythologies recognized both masculine and feminine deities. There is no universally accepted consensus on what a deity is, and concepts of deities vary considerably across cultures. Huw Owen states that the term "deity or god or its equivalent in other languages" has a bewildering range of meanings and significance. It has ranged from "infinite transcendent being who created and lords over

6956-504: Is unclear what these sketches and paintings are and why they were made. Some engravings or sketches show animals, hunters or rituals. It was once common for archaeologists to interpret virtually every prehistoric female figurine as a representation of a single, primordial goddess, the ancestor of historically attested goddesses such as Inanna , Ishtar , Astarte , Cybele , and Aphrodite ; this approach has now generally been discredited. Modern archaeologists now generally recognize that it

7104-544: Is zoomorphic and is most often found in Middle Eastern archaeological remains depicted as a "snake-dragon" or a "human-animal hybrid". In Germanic languages , the terms cognate with ' god ' such as Old English : god and Old Norse : guð were originally neuter but became masculine, as in modern Germanic languages, after Christianisation due their use in referring to the Christian god . In Norse mythology , Æsir (singular áss or ǫ́ss ) are

7252-628: The Early Middle Ages , examples of satire were the songs by Goliards or vagants now best known as an anthology called Carmina Burana and made famous as texts of a composition by the 20th-century composer Carl Orff . Satirical poetry is believed to have been popular, although little has survived. With the advent of the High Middle Ages and the birth of modern vernacular literature in the 12th century, it began to be used again, most notably by Chaucer . The disrespectful manner

7400-574: The Eleatics and the Pyrrhonists saw Xenophanes as the founder of their doctrines, and interpreted his work in terms of those doctrines, although modern scholarship disputes these claims. The Ancient biographer Diogenes Laertius reports that Xenophanes was born in Colophon , a city that once existed in Ionia, in present-day Turkey. Laertius stated that Xenophanes is said to have flourished during

7548-800: The First Council of Nicaea in the fourth century, which declared that all three persons of the Trinity are equal. Christians regard the universe as an element in God's actualization and the Holy Spirit is seen as the divine essence that is "the unity and relation of the Father and the Son". According to George Hunsinger, the doctrine of the Trinity justifies worship in a Church, wherein Jesus Christ

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7696-572: The Ig Nobel Prize describe this as "first make people laugh, and then make them think". Satire and irony in some cases have been regarded as the most effective source to understand a society, the oldest form of social study. They provide the keenest insights into a group's collective psyche , reveal its deepest values and tastes, and the society's structures of power. Some authors have regarded satire as superior to non-comic and non-artistic disciplines like history or anthropology . In

7844-488: The Latin deitatem (nominative deitas ) or "divine nature", coined by Augustine of Hippo from deus ("god"). Deus is related through a common Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origin to *deiwos . This root yields the ancient Indian word Deva meaning "to gleam, a shining one", from *div- "to shine", as well as Greek dios " divine " and Zeus ; and Latin deus "god" ( Old Latin deivos ). Deva

7992-437: The Latin word satur and the subsequent phrase lanx satura . Satur meant "full", but the juxtaposition with lanx shifted the meaning to "miscellany or medley": the expression lanx satura literally means "a full dish of various kinds of fruits". The use of the word lanx in this phrase, however, is disputed by B.L. Ullman. The word satura as used by Quintilian , however, was used to denote only Roman verse satire,

8140-598: The New Testament , is the self-disclosure of the one, true God, both in his teaching and in his person; Christ, in Christian faith, is considered the incarnation of God. Ilah , ʾIlāh ( Arabic : إله ; plural: آلهة ʾālihah ), is an Arabic word meaning "god". It appears in the name of the monotheistic god of Islam as Allah ( al-Lāh ). which literally means "the god" in Arabic. Islam

8288-502: The Pyrrhonist philosopher Timon of Phlius , the "sillographer" (3rd century BC), put much of his own satire upon other philosophers into the mouth of Xenophanes, one of the few philosophers Timon praises in his work. Xenophanes' surviving writings display a skepticism that became more commonly expressed during the fourth century BC. Several of the philosophical fragments are derived from commentators on Homer. He aimed his critique at

8436-743: The Renaissance were Giovanni Boccaccio and François Rabelais . Other examples of Renaissance satire include Till Eulenspiegel , Reynard the Fox , Sebastian Brant 's Narrenschiff (1494), Erasmus 's Moriae Encomium (1509), Thomas More 's Utopia (1516), and Carajicomedia (1519). The Elizabethan (i.e. 16th-century English) writers thought of satire as related to the notoriously rude, coarse and sharp satyr play. Elizabethan "satire" (typically in pamphlet form) therefore contains more straightforward abuse than subtle irony. The French Huguenot Isaac Casaubon pointed out in 1605 that satire in

8584-571: The Resaleh-ye Delgosha , as well as Akhlaq al-Ashraf ("Ethics of the Aristocracy") and the famous humorous fable Masnavi Mush-O-Gorbeh (Mouse and Cat), which was a political satire. His non-satirical serious classical verses have also been regarded as very well written, in league with the other great works of Persian literature . Between 1905 and 1911, Bibi Khatoon Astarabadi and other Iranian writers wrote notable satires. In

8732-667: The Sharia " and later Arabic poets in turn using the term "Farazdaq-like" as a form of political satire. The terms " comedy " and "satire" became synonymous after Aristotle 's Poetics was translated into Arabic in the medieval Islamic world , where it was elaborated upon by Islamic philosophers and writers, such as Abu Bischr, his pupil Al-Farabi , Avicenna , and Averroes . Due to cultural differences, they disassociated comedy from Greek dramatic representation and instead identified it with Arabic poetic themes and forms, such as hija (satirical poetry). They viewed comedy as simply

8880-559: The Vanir went to war , according to the Nordic sources. The account in Ynglinga saga describes the Æsir–Vanir War ending in truce and ultimate reconciliation of the two into a single group of gods, after both sides chose peace, exchanged ambassadors (hostages), and intermarried. The Norse mythology describes the cooperation after the war, as well as differences between the Æsir and

9028-584: The Vanir which were considered scandalous by the other side. The goddess Freyja of the Vanir taught magic to the Æsir , while the two sides discover that while Æsir forbid mating between siblings , Vanir accepted such mating. Temples hosting images of Germanic gods (such as Thor , Odin and Freyr ), as well as pagan worship rituals, continued in Scandinavia into the 12th century, according to historical records. It has been proposed that over time, Christian equivalents were substituted for

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9176-528: The Yoruba religion , namely the god Ogun and the goddess Osun . Ogun is the primordial masculine deity as well as the archdivinity and guardian of occupations such as tools making and use, metal working, hunting, war, protection and ascertaining equity and justice. Osun is an equally powerful primordial feminine deity and a multidimensional guardian of fertility, water, maternal, health, social relations, love and peace. Ogun and Osun traditions were brought into

9324-442: The avatar concept of Hinduism). Unlike Hinduism and other cultures, Aztec deities were usually not anthropomorphic, and were instead zoomorphic or hybrid icons associated with spirits, natural phenomena or forces. The Aztec deities were often represented through ceramic figurines, revered in home shrines. The Polynesian people developed a theology centered on numerous deities, with clusters of islands having different names for

9472-523: The repressive aspects of society . The state of political satire in a given society reflects the tolerance or intolerance that characterizes it, and the state of civil liberties and human rights . Under totalitarian regimes any criticism of a political system, and especially satire, is suppressed. A typical example is the Soviet Union where the dissidents , such as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Andrei Sakharov were under strong pressure from

9620-634: The "art of reprehension", and made no reference to light and cheerful events, or troubled beginnings and happy endings, associated with classical Greek comedy. After the Latin translations of the 12th century , the term "comedy" thus gained a new semantic meaning in Medieval literature . Ubayd Zakani introduced satire in Persian literature during the 14th century. His work is noted for its satire and obscene verses, often political or bawdy, and often cited in debates involving homosexual practices. He wrote

9768-415: The 60th Olympiad (540–537 BC), and modern scholars generally place his birth some time around 570-560 BC. His surviving work refers to Thales , Epimenides , and Pythagoras , and he himself is mentioned in the writings of Heraclitus and Epicharmus . By his own surviving account, he was an itinerant poet who left his native land at the age of 25 and lived 67 years in other Greek lands, dying at or after

9916-450: The 9th century. While dealing with serious topics in what are now known as anthropology , sociology and psychology , he introduced a satirical approach, "based on the premise that, however serious the subject under review, it could be made more interesting and thus achieve greater effect, if only one leavened the lump of solemnity by the insertion of a few amusing anecdotes or by the throwing out of some witty or paradoxical observations. He

10064-711: The Americas on slave ships . They were preserved by the Africans in their plantation communities, and their festivals continue to be observed. In Southern African cultures , a similar masculine-feminine deity combination has appeared in other forms, particularly as the Moon and Sun deities. One Southern African cosmology consists of Hieseba or Xuba (deity, god), Gaune (evil spirits) and Khuene (people). The Hieseba includes Nladiba (male, creator sky god) and Nladisara (females, Nladiba's two wives). The Sun (female) and

10212-459: The Earth's surface. He used this evidence to conclude that the arche or cosmic principle of the universe was a tide flowing in and out between wet and dry, or earth (γῆ) and water (ὕδωρ). These two extreme states would alternate between one another, and with the alternation human life would become extinct, then regenerate (or vice versa depending on the dominant form). The argument can be considered

10360-744: The East Semitic Ishtar, became popular, with temples across Mesopotamia. The Mesopotamian mythology of the first millennium BCE treated Anšar (later Aššur ) and Kišar as primordial deities. Marduk was a significant god among the Babylonians. He rose from an obscure deity of the third millennium BCE to become one of the most important deities in the Mesopotamian pantheon of the first millennium BCE. The Babylonians worshipped Marduk as creator of heaven, earth and humankind, and as their national god . Marduk's iconography

10508-611: The Father , God the Son , and the Holy Spirit . The first person to describe the persons of the Trinity as homooúsios ( ὁμοούσιος ; "of the same substance") was the Church Father Origen. Although most early Christian theologians (including Origen ) were Subordinationists , who believed that the Father was superior to the Son and the Son superior to the Holy Spirit, this belief was condemned as heretical by

10656-616: The Germanic deities to help suppress paganism as part of the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples . Worship of the Germanic gods has been revived in the modern period as part of the new religious movement of Heathenry . The ancient Greeks revered both gods and goddesses. These continued to be revered through the early centuries of the common era, and many of the Greek deities inspired and were adopted as part of much larger pantheon of Roman deities. The Greek religion

10804-660: The Greek pantheon were the Twelve Olympians : Zeus, Hera , Poseidon , Athena , Apollo , Artemis , Aphrodite, Hermes , Demeter , Dionysus , Hephaestus , and Ares . Other important Greek deities included Hestia , Hades and Heracles . These deities later inspired the Dii Consentes galaxy of Roman deities. Besides the Olympians, the Greeks also worshipped various local deities. Among these were

10952-532: The Greek word for "satyr" (satyros) and its derivatives. The odd result is that the English "satire" comes from the Latin satura; but "satirize", "satiric", etc., are of Greek origin. By about the 4th century AD the writer of satires came to be known as satyricus; St. Jerome, for example, was called by one of his enemies 'a satirist in prose' ('satyricus scriptor in prosa'). Subsequent orthographic modifications obscured

11100-547: The Inca people have corresponded to elements of nature. Of these, the most important ones have been Inti ( sun deity ) responsible for agricultural prosperity and as the father of the first Inca king, and Mama Qucha the goddess of the sea, lakes, rivers and waters. Inti in some mythologies is the son of Viracocha and Mama Qucha . Inca Sun deity festival Oh creator and Sun and Thunder, be forever copious, do not make us old, let all things be at peace, multiply

11248-662: The Latin origin of the word satire: satura becomes satyra, and in England, by the 16th century, it was written 'satyre.' The word satire derives from satura , and its origin was not influenced by the Greek mythological figure of the satyr . In the 17th century, philologist Isaac Casaubon was the first to dispute the etymology of satire from satyr, contrary to the belief up to that time. The rules of satire are such that it must do more than make you laugh. No matter how amusing it is, it doesn't count unless you find yourself wincing

11396-485: The Moon (male) deities are viewed as offspring of Nladiba and two Nladisara . The Sun and Moon are viewed as manifestations of the supreme deity, and worship is timed and directed to them. In other African cultures the Sun is seen as male, while the Moon is female, both symbols of the godhead. In Zimbabwe , the supreme deity is androgynous with male-female aspects, envisioned as the giver of rain, treated simultaneously as

11544-521: The Proto-Germanic Gaut , which traces it to the PIE root *ghu-to- ("poured"), derived from the root *gheu- ("to pour, pour a libation "). The term *gheu- is also the source of the Greek khein "to pour". Originally the word "god" and its other Germanic cognates were neuter nouns but shifted to being generally masculine under the influence of Christianity in which the god

11692-420: The Roman fashion was something altogether more civilised. Casaubon discovered and published Quintilian's writing and presented the original meaning of the term (satira, not satyr), and the sense of wittiness (reflecting the "dishfull of fruits") became more important again. Seventeenth-century English satire once again aimed at the "amendment of vices" ( Dryden ). In the 1590s a new wave of verse satire broke with

11840-436: The Roman satirist Horace (65–8 BCE), playfully criticizes some social vice through gentle, mild, and light-hearted humour. Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) wrote Satires to gently ridicule the dominant opinions and "philosophical beliefs of ancient Rome and Greece". Rather than writing in harsh or accusing tones, he addressed issues with humor and clever mockery. Horatian satire follows this same pattern of "gently [ridiculing]

11988-483: The Sumerian deities were patron guardians of city-states . The most important deities in the Sumerian pantheon were known as the Anunnaki , and included deities known as the "seven gods who decree": An , Enlil , Enki , Ninhursag , Nanna , Utu and Inanna . After the conquest of Sumer by Sargon of Akkad , many Sumerian deities were syncretized with East Semitic ones. The goddess Inanna, syncretized with

12136-486: The absence of sin. Xenophanes espoused a belief that " God is one, supreme among gods and men, and not like mortals in body or in mind." He maintained that there was one greatest God. God is one eternal being, spherical in form, comprehending all things within himself, is the absolute mind and thought, therefore is intelligent, and moves all things, but bears no resemblance to human nature either in body or mind. While Xenophanes rejected Homeric theology, he did not question

12284-433: The absurdities and follies of human beings". It directs wit, exaggeration, and self-deprecating humour toward what it identifies as folly, rather than evil. Horatian satire's sympathetic tone is common in modern society. A Horatian satirist's goal is to heal the situation with smiles, rather than by anger. Horatian satire is a gentle reminder to take life less seriously and evokes a wry smile. Juvenalian satire, named for

12432-463: The age of 92. Although ancient testimony notes that he buried his sons, there is little other biographical information about him or his family that can be reliably ascertained. It is considered likely Xenophanes' physical theories were influenced by the Milesians . For instance, his theory that the rainbow is clouds is on one interpretation seen as a response to Anaximenes's theory that the rainbow

12580-450: The aim of humanizing his image. Types of satire can also be classified according to the topics it deals with. From the earliest times, at least since the plays of Aristophanes , the primary topics of literary satire have been politics , religion and sex . This is partly because these are the most pressing problems that affect anybody living in a society, and partly because these topics are usually taboo . Among these, politics in

12728-416: The broader sense is considered the pre-eminent topic of satire. Satire which targets the clergy is a type of political satire , while religious satire is that which targets religious beliefs . Satire on sex may overlap with blue comedy , off-color humor and dick jokes . Scatology has a long literary association with satire, as it is a classical mode of the grotesque , the grotesque body and

12876-582: The dawn, for instance, is cognate to Indic Ushas , Roman Aurora and Latvian Auseklis . Zeus , the Greek king of gods, is cognate to Latin Iūpiter , Old German Ziu , and Indic Dyaus , with whom he shares similar mythologies. Other deities, such as Aphrodite , originated from the Near East . Greek deities varied locally, but many shared panhellenic themes, celebrated similar festivals, rites, and ritual grammar. The most important deities in

13024-399: The deity is a principle or reality such as the idea of "soul". The Upanishads of Hinduism, for example, characterize Atman (soul, self) as deva (deity), thereby asserting that the deva and eternal supreme principle ( Brahman ) is part of every living creature, that this soul is spiritual and divine, and that to realize self-knowledge is to know the supreme. Theism is the belief in

13172-465: The divine soul and the mortal body. This doctrine is in contrast with the traditional religions as espoused by Homer and Hesiod . God moves all things, but he is thought to be immobile, characterized by oneness and unicity, eternity, and a spiritual nature which is bodiless and is not anthropomorphic. He has a free will and is the Highest Good, he embodies the beauty of the moral perfection and of

13320-503: The earliest pandeists . Xenophanes's view of an impersonal god seemed to influence the pre-socratic Empedocles, who viewed god as an incorporeal mind. However, Empedocles called Xenophanes's view that Earth is flat and extends downward forever to be foolishness. In the Diels-Kranz numbering for testimony and fragments of Pre-Socratic philosophy , Xenophanes is catalogued as number 21. The most recent edition of this catalogue

13468-522: The early days of the Roman Empire . Other important satirists in ancient Latin are Gaius Lucilius and Persius . Satire in their work is much wider than in the modern sense of the word, including fantastic and highly coloured humorous writing with little or no real mocking intent. When Horace criticized Augustus , he used veiled ironic terms. In contrast, Pliny reports that the 6th-century-BC poet Hipponax wrote satirae that were so cruel that

13616-487: The early modern period. The dutch translation Van den vos Reynaerde is considered a major medieval dutch literary work. In the dutch version De Vries argues that the animal characters represent barons who conspired against the Count of Flanders. Direct social commentary via satire returned in the 16th century, when texts such as the works of François Rabelais tackled more serious issues. Two major satirists of Europe in

13764-408: The existence of one or more deities. Polytheism is the belief in and worship of multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses , with accompanying rituals . In most polytheistic religions, the different gods and goddesses are representations of forces of nature or ancestral principles , and can be viewed either as autonomous or as aspects or emanations of

13912-516: The fashion was brought to an abrupt stop by censorship. Another satiric genre to emerge around this time was the satirical almanac , with François Rabelais 's work Pantagrueline Prognostication (1532), which mocked astrological predictions. The strategies François utilized within this work were employed by later satirical almanacs, such as the Poor Robin series that spanned the 17th to 19th centuries. Satire ( Kataksh or Vyang ) has played

14060-567: The formation of clouds and rainbows rather than myths, satirizing traditional religious views of his time as human projections . As an early thinker in epistemology , he drew distinctions between the ideas of knowledge and belief as opposed to truth , which he believed was only possible for the gods. Xenophanes wrote a number of elegiac poems on proper conduct at a symposium , the Ancient Greek drinking parties that were held to commemorate athletic or poetic victories, or to welcome young men into aristocratic society. The surviving fragments stress

14208-464: The formation of an Egyptian state under the Pharaohs and their treatment as sacred kings who had exclusive rights to interact with the gods, in the later part of the 3rd millennium BCE. Through the early centuries of the common era, as Egyptians interacted and traded with neighboring cultures, foreign deities were adopted and venerated. The ancient Canaanites were polytheists who believed in

14356-796: The goat-legged god Pan (the guardian of shepherds and their flocks), Nymphs ( nature spirits associated with particular landforms), Naiads (who dwelled in springs), Dryads (who were spirits of the trees), Nereids (who inhabited the sea), river gods, satyrs (a class of lustful male nature spirits), and others. The dark powers of the underworld were represented by the Erinyes (or Furies), said to pursue those guilty of crimes against blood-relatives. The Greek deities, like those in many other Indo-European traditions, were anthropomorphic. Walter Burkert describes them as "persons, not abstractions, ideas or concepts". They had fantastic abilities and powers; each had some unique expertise and, in some aspects,

14504-814: The god of darkness and light and is called Mwari Shona . In the Lake Victoria region, the term for a deity is Lubaale , or alternatively Jok . Ancient Egyptian culture revered numerous deities. Egyptian records and inscriptions list the names of many whose nature is unknown and make vague references to other unnamed deities. Egyptologist James P. Allen estimates that more than 1,400 deities are named in Egyptian texts, whereas Christian Leitz offers an estimate of "thousands upon thousands" of Egyptian deities. Their terms for deities were nṯr (god), and feminine nṯrt (goddess); however, these terms may also have applied to any being – spirits and deceased human beings, but not demons – who in some way were outside

14652-501: The goddess Meretseger represented parts of the earth, and the god Sia represented the abstract powers of perception. Deities such as Ra and Osiris were associated with the judgement of the dead and their care during the afterlife. Major gods often had multiple roles and were involved in multiple phenomena. The first written evidence of deities are from early 3rd millennium BCE, likely emerging from prehistoric beliefs. However, deities became systematized and sophisticated after

14800-502: The gods and what I declare about all things: No man has seen what is clear nor will any man ever know it. Nay, for even should he chance to affirm what is really existent, He himself knoweth it not; for all is swayed by opining. Due to the lack of whole works by Xenophanes, his views are difficult to interpret, so that the implication of knowing being something deeper ("a clearer truth") may have special implications, or it may mean that you cannot know something just by looking at it. It

14948-600: The government. While satire of everyday life in the USSR was allowed, the most prominent satirist being Arkady Raikin , political satire existed in the form of anecdotes that made fun of Soviet political leaders, especially Brezhnev , famous for his narrow-mindedness and love for awards and decorations. Satire is a diverse genre which is complex to classify and define, with a wide range of satiric "modes". Satirical literature can commonly be categorized as either Horatian, Juvenalian, or Menippean . Horatian satire, named for

15096-1047: The head of the pantheon, with Asherah as his divine consort and the "sons of El" as his offspring. During the later years of the Kingdom of Judah , a monolatristic faction rose to power insisting that only Yahweh was fit to be worshipped by the people of Judah. Monolatry became enforced during the reforms of King Josiah in 621 BCE. Finally, during the national crisis of the Babylonian captivity , some Judahites began to teach that deities aside from Yahweh were not just unfit to be worshipped, but did not exist. The "sons of El" were demoted from deities to angels . Ancient Mesopotamian culture in southern Iraq had numerous dingir (deities, gods and goddesses). Mesopotamian deities were almost exclusively anthropomorphic. They were thought to possess extraordinary powers and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size. They were generally immortal, but

15244-409: The importance of piety and honor to the gods, and they discourage drunkenness and intemperance, endorsing moderation and criticism of luxury and excess. Xenophanes rejected the value of athletic victories, stating that cultivating wisdom was more important. Orphism and Pythagorean philosophy introduced into the Greek spirituality the notions of guilt and pureness, causing a dichotomic belief between

15392-515: The imposition of Christianity during Spanish colonialism , the Inca people retained their original beliefs in deities through syncretism , where they overlay the Christian God and teachings over their original beliefs and practices. The male deity Inti became accepted as the Christian God, but the Andean rituals centered around Inca deities have been retained and continued thereafter into

15540-402: The intent of exposing or shaming the perceived flaws of individuals, corporations, government, or society itself into improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be humorous, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism , using wit to draw attention to both particular and wider issues in society. A prominent feature of satire is strong irony or sarcasm —"in satire, irony

15688-598: The larger community the self identifies with. The audience's understanding of the context of reflexive humour is important for its receptivity and success. Satire is found not only in written literary forms. In preliterate cultures it manifests itself in ritual and folk forms, as well as in trickster tales and oral poetry . It appears also in graphic arts, music, sculpture, dance, cartoon strips , and graffiti . Examples are Dada sculptures, Pop Art works, music of Gilbert and Sullivan and Erik Satie , punk and rock music . In modern media culture , stand-up comedy

15836-643: The modern era by the Inca people. In Maya culture , Kukulkan has been the supreme creator deity , also revered as the god of reincarnation , water, fertility and wind. The Maya people built step pyramid temples to honor Kukulkan , aligning them to the Sun 's position on the spring equinox . Other deities found at Maya archaeological sites include Xib Chac —the benevolent male rain deity, and Ixchel —the benevolent female earth, weaving and pregnancy goddess. The Maya calendar had 18 months, each with 20 days (and five unlucky days of Uayeb ); each month had

15984-573: The moon traveled along a straight line westward, after which point a new sun or moon would be reconstituted after an eclipse. While this potentially infinite series of suns and moons traveling would likely be considered objectionable to modern scientists, this means that Xenophanes understood the sun and moon as a "type" of object that appeared in the sky, rather than a specific individual object that reappeared every new day. Xenophanes concluded from his examination of fossils of sea creatures that were found above land that water once must have covered all of

16132-725: The more they try to stop you, the better is the job you are doing. Fo contends that, historically, people in positions of power have welcomed and encouraged good-humoured buffoonery, while modern day people in positions of power have tried to censor, ostracize and repress satire. Teasing ( sfottò ) is an ancient form of simple buffoonery , a form of comedy without satire's subversive edge. Teasing includes light and affectionate parody, good-humoured mockery, simple one-dimensional poking fun, and benign spoofs. Teasing typically consists of an impersonation of someone monkeying around with his exterior attributes, tics , physical blemishes, voice and mannerisms, quirks, way of dressing and walking, and/or

16280-452: The mythologies and the 2nd millennium CE European arts, have been the anthropomorphic deities syncretized with the Greek deities. These include the six gods and six goddesses: Venus, Apollo, Mars, Diana, Minerva, Ceres, Vulcan, Juno, Mercury, Vesta, Neptune, Jupiter (Jove, Zeus); as well Bacchus, Pluto and Hercules. The non-Greek major deities include Janus, Fortuna, Vesta, Quirinus and Tellus (mother goddess, probably most ancient). Some of

16428-650: The natural account created by the philosophers. The best state is, adds Varro, where the civil theology combines the poetic mythical account with the philosopher's. The Roman deities continued to be revered in Europe through the era of Constantine, and past 313 CE when he issued the Edict of Toleration. The Inca culture has believed in Viracocha (also called Pachacutec ) as the creator deity . Viracocha has been an abstract deity to Inca culture, one who existed before he created space and time. All other deities of

16576-508: The nature of existence, guardians in daily lives as well as during wars, natural phenomena, good and evil spirits, priestly rituals, as well as linked to the journey of the souls of the dead. Christianity is a monotheistic religion in which most mainstream congregations and denominations accept the concept of the Holy Trinity . Modern orthodox Christians believe that the Trinity is composed of three equal, cosubstantial persons: God

16724-578: The non-Greek deities had likely origins in more ancient European culture such as the ancient Germanic religion, while others may have been borrowed, for political reasons, from neighboring trade centers such as those in the Minoan or ancient Egyptian civilization. The Roman deities, in a manner similar to the ancient Greeks, inspired community festivals, rituals and sacrifices led by flamines (priests, pontifs), but priestesses (Vestal Virgins) were also held in high esteem for maintaining sacred fire used in

16872-410: The offended hanged themselves. In the 2nd century AD, Lucian wrote True History , a book satirizing the clearly unrealistic travelogues/adventures written by Ctesias , Iambulus , and Homer . He states that he was surprised they expected people to believe their lies, and stating that he, like them, has no actual knowledge or experience, but shall now tell lies as if he did. He goes on to describe

17020-505: The original uncreated creator, with power of life, with nothing outside or beyond him. Other deities in the Polynesian pantheon include Tangaloa (god who created men), La'a Maomao (god of winds), Tu-Matauenga or Ku (god of war), Tu-Metua (mother goddess), Kane (god of procreation) and Rangi (sky god father). The Polynesian deities have been part of a sophisticated theology, addressing questions of creation,

17168-410: The other. Max Eastman defined the spectrum of satire in terms of "degrees of biting", as ranging from satire proper at the hot-end, and "kidding" at the violet-end; Eastman adopted the term kidding to denote what is just satirical in form, but is not really firing at the target. Nobel laureate satirical playwright Dario Fo pointed out the difference between satire and teasing ( sfottò ). Teasing

17316-434: The people, and let there be food, and let all things be fruitful. —Inti Raymi prayers Inca people have revered many male and female deities. Among the feminine deities have been Mama Kuka (goddess of joy), Mama Ch'aska (goddess of dawn), Mama Allpa (goddess of harvest and earth, sometimes called Mama Pacha or Pachamama ), Mama Killa ( moon goddess ) and Mama Sara (goddess of grain). During and after

17464-477: The phrases he typically repeats. By contrast, teasing never touches on the core issue, never makes a serious criticism judging the target with irony ; it never harms the target's conduct, ideology and position of power; it never undermines the perception of his morality and cultural dimension. Sfottò directed towards a powerful individual makes him appear more human and draws sympathy towards him. Hermann Göring propagated jests and jokes against himself, with

17612-416: The polytheistic religious views of earlier Greek poets and of his own contemporaries. To judge from these later accounts, his elegiac and iambic poetry criticized and satirized a wide range of ideas, including Homer and Hesiod , the belief in the pantheon of anthropomorphic gods and the Greeks' veneration of athleticism . There is no good authority that says that Xenophanes specifically wrote

17760-581: The presence of a divine entity; rather his philosophy was a critique on Ancient Greek writers and their conception of divinity. Regarding Xenophanes' positive theology five key concepts about God can be formed. God is: beyond human morality, does not resemble human form, cannot die or be born (God is divine thus eternal), no divine hierarchy exists, and God does not intervene in human affairs. Xenophanes' understanding of divine nature as separate and uninvolved in human affairs motivated him to come up with naturalistic explanations for physical phenomena. Xenophanes

17908-580: The principal group of gods, while the term ásynjur (singular ásynja ) refers specifically to the female Æsir . These terms, states John Lindow, may be ultimately rooted in the Indo-European root for "breath" (as in "life giving force"), and are cognate with Old English : os (a heathen god) and Gothic : anses . Another group of deities found in Norse mythology are termed as Vanir , and are associated with fertility. The Æsir and

18056-549: The publication of Hall 's Virgidemiarum , six books of verse satires targeting everything from literary fads to corrupt noblemen. Although Donne had already circulated satires in manuscript, Hall's was the first real attempt in English at verse satire on the Juvenalian model. The success of his work combined with a national mood of disillusion in the last years of Elizabeth's reign triggered an avalanche of satire—much of it less conscious of classical models than Hall's — until

18204-407: The same divine principle. Nontheistic religions deny any supreme eternal creator deity , but may accept a pantheon of deities which live, die and may be reborn like any other being. Although most monotheistic religions traditionally envision their god as omnipotent , omnipresent , omniscient , omnibenevolent , and eternal , none of these qualities are essential to the definition of

18352-545: The same idea. There are great deities found across the Pacific Ocean. Some deities are found widely, and there are many local deities whose worship is limited to one or a few islands or sometimes to isolated villages on the same island. The Māori people , of what is now New Zealand, called the supreme being as Io , who is also referred elsewhere as Iho-Iho , Io-Mataaho , Io Nui , Te Io Ora , Io Matua Te Kora among other names. The Io deity has been revered as

18500-499: The satiric grotesque. Shit plays a fundamental role in satire because it symbolizes death , the turd being "the ultimate dead object". The satirical comparison of individuals or institutions with human excrement , exposes their "inherent inertness, corruption and dead-likeness". The ritual clowns of clown societies , like among the Pueblo Indians , have ceremonies with filth-eating . In other cultures, sin-eating

18648-489: The social code of the upper classes. Comedy in general accepts the rules of the social game, while satire subverts them. Another analysis of satire is the spectrum of his possible tones : wit , ridicule , irony , sarcasm , cynicism , the sardonic and invective . The type of humour that deals with creating laughter at the expense of the person telling the joke is called reflexive humour. Reflexive humour can take place at dual levels of directing humour at self or at

18796-639: The sphere of everyday life. Egyptian deities typically had an associated cult, role and mythologies. Around 200 deities are prominent in the Pyramid texts and ancient temples of Egypt, many zoomorphic . Among these, were Min (fertility god), Neith (creator goddess), Anubis , Atum , Bes , Horus , Isis , Ra , Meretseger , Nut , Osiris , Shu , Sia and Thoth . Most Egyptian deities represented natural phenomenon, physical objects or social aspects of life, as hidden immanent forces within these phenomena. The deity Shu , for example represented air;

18944-407: The temple of every living being's body, as sensory organs and mind. Deities are envisioned as a form of existence ( Saṃsāra ) after rebirth , for human beings who gain merit through an ethical life, where they become guardian deities and live blissfully in heaven , but are also subject to death when their merit is lost. The English language word deity derives from Old French deité ,

19092-439: The term satire in the modern broader sense was Apuleius . To Quintilian, the satire was a strict literary form, but the term soon escaped from the original narrow definition. Robert Elliott writes: As soon as a noun enters the domain of metaphor, as one modern scholar has pointed out, it clamours for extension; and satura (which had had no verbal, adverbial, or adjectival forms) was immediately broadened by appropriation from

19240-516: The terms cynicism and parody were used. Modern critics call the Greek playwright Aristophanes one of the best known early satirists: his plays are known for their critical political and societal commentary , particularly for the political satire by which he criticized the powerful Cleon (as in The Knights ). He is also notable for the persecution he underwent. Aristophanes' plays turned upon images of filth and disease. His bawdy style

19388-591: The universe" (God), to a "finite entity or experience, with special significance or which evokes a special feeling" (god), to "a concept in religious or philosophical context that relates to nature or magnified beings or a supra-mundane realm", to "numerous other usages". A deity is typically conceptualized as a supernatural or divine concept, manifesting in ideas and knowledge, in a form that combines excellence in some or all aspects, wrestling with weakness and questions in other aspects, heroic in outlook and actions, yet tied up with emotions and desires. In other cases,

19536-434: The universe, but does not usually intervene in the resulting world. Deism was particularly popular among western intellectuals during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Pantheism is the belief that the universe itself is God or that everything composes an all-encompassing, immanent deity. Pandeism is an intermediate position between these, proposing that the creator became a pantheistic universe. Panentheism

19684-746: The universe, nature or human life. The Oxford Dictionary of English defines deity as a god or goddess , or anything revered as divine . C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater than those of ordinary humans, but who interacts with humans, positively or negatively, in ways that carry humans to new levels of consciousness , beyond the grounded preoccupations of ordinary life". Religions can be categorized by how many deities they worship. Monotheistic religions accept only one deity (predominantly referred to as " God "), whereas polytheistic religions accept multiple deities. Henotheistic religions accept one supreme deity without denying other deities, considering them as aspects of

19832-543: The votive rituals for deities. Deities were also maintained in home shrines ( lararium ), such as Hestia honored in homes as the goddess of fire hearth. This Roman religion held reverence for sacred fire, and this is also found in Hebrew culture (Leviticus 6), Vedic culture's Homa, ancient Greeks and other cultures. Ancient Roman scholars such as Varro and Cicero wrote treatises on the nature of gods of their times. Varro stated, in his Antiquitates Rerum Divinarum , that it

19980-543: The way it is called in Chinese, goes back at least to Confucius , being mentioned in the Book of Odes (Shijing 詩經). It meant "to criticize by means of an ode". In the pre-Qin era it was also common for schools of thought to clarify their views through the use of short explanatory anecdotes, also called yuyan (寓言), translated as "entrusted words". These yuyan usually were brimming with satirical content. The Daoist text Zhuangzi

20128-461: The words or position of his opponent in order to jeopardize their opponent's reputation and/or power. Jonathan Swift has been established as an author who "borrowed heavily from Juvenal's techniques in [his critique] of contemporary English society". In the history of theatre there has always been a conflict between engagement and disengagement on politics and relevant issue, between satire and grotesque on one side, and jest with teasing on

20276-406: The work Reynard the Fox , written by Willem die Madoc maecte, and its translations were a popular work that satirized the class system at the time. Representing the various classes as certain anthropomorphic animals. As example, the lion in the story represents the nobility, which is portrayed as being weak and without character, but very greedy. Versions of Reynard the Fox were also popular well into

20424-901: The writings of the Roman satirist Juvenal (late first century – early second century AD), is more contemptuous and abrasive than the Horatian. Juvenal disagreed with the opinions of the public figures and institutions of the Republic and actively attacked them through his literature. "He utilized the satirical tools of exaggeration and parody to make his targets appear monstrous and incompetent". Juvenal's satire follows this same pattern of abrasively ridiculing societal structures. Juvenal also, unlike Horace, attacked public officials and governmental organizations through his satires, regarding their opinions as not just wrong, but evil. Following in this tradition, Juvenalian satire addresses perceived social evil through scorn, outrage, and savage ridicule. This form

20572-566: Was adopted by Greek dramatist-comedian Menander . His early play Drunkenness contains an attack on the politician Callimedon . The oldest form of satire still in use is the Menippean satire by Menippus of Gadara . His own writings are lost. Examples from his admirers and imitators mix seriousness and mockery in dialogues and present parodies before a background of diatribe . As in the case of Aristophanes plays, menippean satire turned upon images of filth and disease. Satire, or fengci (諷刺)

20720-562: Was an Arabian Nights tale called "Ali with the Large Member". In the 10th century, the writer Tha'alibi recorded satirical poetry written by the Arabic poets As-Salami and Abu Dulaf, with As-Salami praising Abu Dulaf's wide breadth of knowledge and then mocking his ability in all these subjects, and with Abu Dulaf responding back and satirizing As-Salami in return. An example of Arabic political satire included another 10th-century poet Jarir satirizing Farazdaq as "a transgressor of

20868-401: Was considered "unchristian" and ignored, except for the moral satire , which mocked misbehaviour in Christian terms. Examples are Livre des Manières by Étienne de Fougères  [ fr ] (~1178), and some of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales . Sometimes epic poetry (epos) was mocked, and even feudal society, but there was hardly a general interest in the genre. In the High Middle Ages

21016-452: Was likely the first philosopher to come up with an explanation for the manifestation of St. Elmo's fire that appears on the masts of ships when they pass through clouds during a thunderstorm. Although the actual phenomenon behind St. Elmo's fire would not be understood until the discovery of static electricity in the modern era, Xenophanes' explanation, which attempted to explain the glow as being caused by agitations of small droplets of clouds

21164-414: Was polytheistic, but had no centralized church, nor any sacred texts. The deities were largely associated with myths and they represented natural phenomena or aspects of human behavior. Several Greek deities probably trace back to more ancient Indo-European traditions, since the gods and goddesses found in distant cultures are mythologically comparable and are cognates . Eos , the Greek goddess of

21312-412: Was still, we have seen, leading a wandering life, which is hardly consistent with the statement that he settled at Elea and founded a school there, especially if we are to think of him as spending his last days at Hieron 's court. It is very remarkable that no ancient writer expressly says he ever was at Elea, and all the evidence we have seems inconsistent with his having settled there at all. Xenophanes

21460-592: Was summarized as monolatrous and pantheistic by the ancient doxographies of Aristotle , Cicero , Diogenes Laertius , Sextus Empiricus , and Plutarch . More particularly, Aristotle's Metaphysics summarized his view as "the All is God." The pseudo-Aristotlelian treatise On Melissus, Xenophanes, and Gorgias also contains a significant testimony of his teachings. Pierre Bayle considered Xenophanes views similar to Spinoza . Physicist and philosopher Max Bernhard Weinstein specifically identified Xenophanes as one of

21608-470: Was the founder of a line of philosophy that culminated in Pyrrhonism. This line begins with Xenophanes and goes through Parmenides , Melissus of Samos , Zeno of Elea , Leucippus , Democritus , Protagoras , Nessos of Chios , Metrodorus of Chios , Diogenes of Smyrna, Anaxarchus , and finally Pyrrho . Because of his development of the concept of a "one god greatest among gods and men," Xenophanes

21756-408: Was unique in the ancient world. In Xenophanes' cosmology, there is only one boundary to the universe, the one "seen by our feet". Xenophanes believed that the earth extended infinitely far down, as well as infinitely far in every direction. A consequence of his belief in an infinitely extended earth was that rather than having the sun pass under the earth at sunset, Xenophanes believed that the sun and

21904-443: Was well aware that, in treating of new themes in his prose works, he would have to employ a vocabulary of a nature more familiar in hija , satirical poetry." For example, in one of his zoological works, he satirized the preference for longer human penis size , writing: "If the length of the penis were a sign of honor, then the mule would belong to the (honorable tribe of) Quraysh ". Another satirical story based on this preference

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