Euripides’ Bacchae: * see Endnote 34
Greek tragedy, written by the Athenian playwright Euripides during his final years in Macedonia, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. It premiered posthumously at the Theatre of Dionysus in 405 BC as part of a tetralogy that also included Iphigeneia at Aulis and Alcmaeon in Corinth, which Euripides' son directed. It won first prize in the City Dionysia festival competition.
Plato’s Timaeus:
(350 BC) famous dialogue, most of it a monologue by Timaeus of Locri. Timaeus is possibly based on Archytas of Tarentum, a Pythagorean school scientist famous for founding mathematical mechanics, also a good friend of Plato. Timaeus gives an account of the formation of the universe, explaining its impressive order & beauty, the product of rational, purposive & beneficent agency, the handiwork of a divine Craftsman (the Demiurge) who, imitating an unchanging and eternal model, imposes mathematical order on chaos to generate the ordered universe (kosmos). Others in the dialogue are Socrates, Hermocrates & Critias. Critias was an Athenian politician & author, eventually to become a leading, violent member of the Thirty Tyrants. As an author he was noted for his tragedies, elegies & prose works. Related to Plato he was also an associate of Socrates.
syncretism:
the attempted reconciliation (often in religion or philosophy) of different or opposing principles, practices, or parties.
Faust II:
see Chapter II: The Meaning of Numbers, Faust II, page 70
Wagner’s Parsifal: * see Endnote 35
opera in 3 acts, his last completed opera, first produced 1882 (2nd Bayreuth Festival), conceived in1857. Based on 12th century epic poem by Wolfram von Eschenbach, about Arthurian knight Parzival & his quest for the Holy Grail. Wagner described it as a Festival Play for the Consecration of the Stage.
homology: * see Endnote 36
the measurable likenesses between animals, as used in grouping them according to the theory of cladistics (classification of organisms based on the branching of descendant lineages from a common ancestor).
os intermaxillare:* see Endnote 37
(aka human intermaxillary bone) refers to the premaxilla bone anterior to the maxilla bone found in the upper jaw of amphibians, reptiles & mammals. The discovery of the bone in humans is credited to Goethe (1784). In the mid-18th century, Dutch physician Petrus Camper (1722-1789) proposed that the key anatomical difference between man & animal was the missing intermaxillary bone in man, this being the feature distinguishing man as against monkeys. This pro-Biblical theory became dogma.
Owen: * see Endnote 38
(1804-1892) English biologist, comparative anatomist & palaeontologist; despite being a controversial figure, he is considered an outstanding naturalist with a gift for interpreting fossils. He produced a vast array of scientific work, best remembered today for coining the word Dinosauria. An outspoken critic of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, Owen agreed that evolution occurred, but thought it was more complex than outlined by Darwin. His approach anticipated evolutionary developmental biology, research comparing the developmental processes of different organisms to infer the ancestral relationships & how developmental processes evolved.
“analogous”:
Spengler here refers to historical comparisons based on function (not homology- the position in the lifecycle); because they are non-homologous they are therefore false affinities. He gives 4 examples (see below)
Christ & Buddha:
Both figures are spiritual & their teachings attracted followers & established institutions, churches, temples; both men had a profound influence on their respective Cultures. Christ (4BC-30 AD), a phenomenon of the Magian Culture, lived during the spring period, very early in the Culture’s life. Buddha (563-483 BC) on the other hand represents the winter of the Indian Culture, when it emerged into Civilization.
Archimedes & Galileo:
Both men were Number thinkers; they worked in different periods of their respective Cultures: Archimedes (287-212 BC) lived during the Winter of the Classical period; Galileo (1564-1642) was a participant in the Faustian early summer.
Caesar and Wallenstein:
Two military leaders of great talent, both assassinated by political rivals. Caesar (100-44 BC) was a military/political leader in the Classical Culture during the winter period. Wallenstein (1583-1634 AD) was a military leader in the summer (Baroque) period of the Faustian Culture. And see below
Wallenstein: * see Endnote 39
(1583-1634) Bohemian military leader & Holy Roman Empire Count palatine, who offered his services, an army of 30,000 men, in the Thirty Years' War (1618–48), to emperor Ferdinand II. He became the supreme commander of the armies of the Habsburg Monarchy and was a major figure of the war.
parcelled Germany parcelled Greece: * see Endnote 40
Germany was fragmented while within the Holy Roman Empire, 962–1806 AD, and unified in 1871, a period that falls within the Civilization stage, early Autumn of the Faustian culture. The Greek polis was finally unified under Phillip II in the late summer period of the Classical Culture.
“homologous forms”:
Spengler is applying the principle of homologous structures to the super-organism Culture, in the sense that within the lifecycle Cultures develop similar structures or forms, not strictly similar in content (content being unique to each culture) but similar in reflecting the stage of development, the age, of the Culture. He gives 8 examples (see below)
Classical sculpture & west orchestration:
Spengler identifies sculpture as the favoured art expression of the Apollonian Soul (the Classical Culture); and he selects music as the favoured expression for the Faustian Culture. Classical sculpture peaked in the 4th & 5th centuries, after slow development over the archaic period, it stagnated in the Hellenistic period. This was in the late summer. Western music reached an apogee during the Baroque (1600-1750) & Classical Periods (1730-1820), the summer of the Faustian Culture.
4th dynasty pyramids & Gothic cathedrals:
Both of these architectural entities date from similar times in their Culture’s lifecycle. The pyramids were produced between 2600- 2532 BC, the spring period of the Egyptian Culture. Gothic cathedrals date from the 12th to early 14th century, the spring time of the Faustian Culture.
Indian Buddhism & Roman Stoicism:
Buddhism originated in Indian Culture between the 6th- 4th centuries BC; spread through much of Asia, but in India it declined. Spengler places this in the far winter of the Indian Civilization. The Stoics were a Greek school of philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium (334-262 BC) during the Hellenistic age. It became the foremost popular philosophy among the educated elite in the Hellenistic world & Roman Empire. It later experienced a decline after Christianity became the state religion in the 4th century AD. Spengler sites this in the late winter stage of the Classic Civilization.
Contending States period/Punic Wars/Hyksos in Egypt: * see Endnote 41
All 3 of these historical periods are dated to the Autumn stage of the Civilization Period, of their respective cultures.
Age of Pericles & age of Ommayads: * see Endnote 42
The golden Age of Athens and the 2nd Caliphate date to the Summer period of their respective Cultures.
Epoch of Rigveda, Plotinus & Dante:
The Rigveda (sacred texts) were written during the Spring time of the Indian Culture. see Chapter I: Introduction, Vedic India, page 13, Endnote 30.
Plotinus (204-270 AD), the founder of Neoclassicism, is associated not with Classical Culture but with the Magian (Arabian); he was writing during the Magian late spring. Dante (1265-1321) was a major Italian poet of the Late Middle Ages famous for his Divine Comedy. He was writing during the early Spring of Faustian Culture. see Chapter II: The Meaning of Numbers, Dante, God idea of, p81 and see his Divina Comedia, p85
The Dionysian movement: * see Endnote 43
The Dionysia (Spengler refers to it as the Dionysian movement) involved 2 separate festivals, an urban festival & a country festival. The latter originated from the rural festival in Eleutherae, (Attica) celebrating the cultivation of vines & hence the association with Dionysus. It was a very ancient festival. The urban festival dates from the 6th century.
Dionysian movement & Renaissance:
Both of these movement contributed broad artistic features to their respective Cultures; in the case of Classical Culture it was drama (tragedy, comedy, dithyrambic poetry), in the case of the West it was painting, architecture & sculpture. The Dionysian movement originated in the 6th century BC, during the very early Summer time of the Classical Culture. The Renaissances dates from 1450 to 1600, the Spring of the Faustian Culture.
“…Dionysian movement…analogous to the Reformation”: * see Endnote 44
Spengler is making the point that in terms of function rather than position in the lifecycle, the Dionysian movement was a reform movement, intending to change or reform the older pagan religion, just as the Reformation (1517) reinterpreted and reformed the older Roman Christian Church.
resume:
French for summary, recapitulation, abridgment
Wagner homologous to Pergamene art:
Wagner’s music, romantic, rich, artistically large scale combining drama and music with an oversize orchestra, is product of the Romantic period, Winter of the Faustian Culture, the late Civilization era. Likewise Pergamene art is a vast programme, like Wagner’s theatrical in nature. It is exemplified in the gigantic Altar of Zeus at Pergamon (166-156 BC), adorned with a 370-foot long marble frieze depicting the Gigantomachy from Greek mythology, the sculpture departs from Classic calm & serenity, instead reflecting excitement, wild movement & strong feeling as the gods and giants are locked in mortal combat (allegorical for the Pergamene victories over the Celts & other eastern barbarian invaders). It too is a product of the Winter period (Hellenistic) of the Classical Age.