Vedic:

aka Vedism, ancient Hinduism or Brahmanism; religious ideas & practices among some of the Indo-Aryan peoples of NW India & W. Ganges plain during the Vedic period (1500–500 BC); their ideas and practices are found in the Vedic texts.  Spengler calls this Culture/Civilization Indian

 

Orphic:

aka Orphism; religious beliefs & practices originating in the Greek world; associated with literature ascribed to the poet Orpheus, who descended into the Greek underworld and returned; they revered Dionysus (who also once descended into the Underworld & returned) and Persephone (who annually descended into the Underworld for a season & then returned); considered a reform of the earlier Dionysian religion, involving a re-interpretation of the myth of Dionysus,  Its central myth is the suffering of Dionysus who is killed & ripped apart by the Titans, who then consume him; Zeus, in retribution, strikes the Titans with a thunderbolt, turning them to ash from which humanity is born.

 

Christianity of Jesus:

Spengler makes a distinction between the Christian religion which began after the death of Jesus, and the religion practised in the Medieval Church after 1054.  The former he regards as a Magian religion whereas the latter is Faustian.

 

Faustian Christianity ( the old Germany of chivalry):

Spengler differentiates between the Faustian Western Church (post 1054) and the Magian Eastern Orthodox Church; he calls the Western Church “German Catholicism”, it is Gothic and dates from approximately (900-1200 AD).

 

Buddhism (and diet):

vegetarianism is practiced by significant portions of Mahayana Buddhist monks, nuns, laypersons & by Buddhists of other sects; views on vegetarianism vary; the Mahayana schools recommend a vegetarian diet because in some sutras the Buddha set forth that his followers not eat the flesh of any sentient being.

 

Sophists (diet):

Protagoras, a respected Sophist in Athens, emphasised (according to Plato) that olive oil `is good for the outward parts of man's body, but at the same time as bad as can be for the inward'.  For this reason `all doctors forbid the sick to take oil, except the smallest possible quantity, if one is going to eat'.  He said the utilisation of olive oil should be restricted to small quantities & added to meals for reasons of taste.

 

Antisthenes (diet):

(446-366 BC) Greek philosopher, pupil of Socrates; adopted & developed the ethical side of Socrates' teachings, advocating an ascetic life lived in accordance with virtue; regarded as the founder of Cynic philosophy. Zeno, also a Cynic, strongly advised avoiding gourmet food as it led to a craving for the expensive & exotic while eschewing simple natural foods.  The Cynic diet was simple & austere. They drank water (instead of wine), and ate barley-bread and lentil soup, barley bread, vegetables & water, all very cheap.

 

Stoa:

a generic reference to Stoicism, a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium, in Athens early 3rd century BC; it flourished throughout the Roman & Greek world until the 3rd century AD; it declined in the 4th century after Christianity became the state religion.

 

Sceptics:* see EndNote<A>

aka Skeptics; a philosophy of the Hellenistic period; began with the Academic & Pyrrhonian skeptical movements 3rd century BC ending 2nd century AD with Sextus Empiricus; core concepts were belief, suspension of judgment, criterion of truth, appearances, and investigation.  The skeptics were concerned with epistemological aspects, noting that claims of truth could not be adequately supported, and psychotherapeutic aspects, noting that beliefs caused mental perturbation.

 

Aristotle (and alcohol):

in his Problems (Book III: Problems Connected with the Drinking of Wine and Drunkenness), Aristotle weights in on the value of temperance & moderation in drinking

 

philosophers (vegetarianism):

In the later 4th century BC the ethics of vegetarianism was topical (a Pythagorean legacy).  In the Platonic Academy the principals Xenocrates (head 339-314 BC) & Polemon (head 314-270 BC) pleaded for vegetarianism.   Aristotle's immediate successor in the Peripatetic school, Theophrastus (371-287 BC) supported vegetarianism.  Prominent Platonists and Neo-Platonists in the Roman Empire lived on a vegetarian diet; these included Apollonius of Tyana (15-100 AD), Plotinus (204-270 AD), & Porphyry (234-305 AD) who wrote a treatise “On abstinence from beings with a soul”.   Ovid (43 BC-17 AD) was a Pythagorean inspired Stoic & advocated a vegetarian lifestyle.  The Stoic Seneca (4 BC-65 AD) the Younger was briefly a vegetarian.

 

Shaw (diet):

In 1880 Shaw became a vegetarian.  In 1898 he was interviewed by the Vegetarian Journal, who published:  "What Vegetarianism Really Means: a Talk with Mr Bernard Shaw",   He said in this interview: “Why should you call me to account for eating decently? If I battened on the scorched corpses of animals, you might well ask me why I did that. Why should I be filthy and inhuman? Why should I be an accomplice in the wholesale horror and degradation of the slaughter-house?”  At a time when the prevailing notion in British society was that vegetarians tended to be somewhat effeminate, Shaw was preaching vegetarianism as the healthy option, not just for the human digestive system but also for the world economy. "My objection to meat, is that it costs too much and involves the slavery of men and women to edible animals that is undesirable."

 

Nietzsche (Ecce Homo):

Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One Is; written 1888, published 1908; it is Nietzsche's own interpretation of his development, his works, and his significance. Throughout the book, he expounds, in the characteristically hyperbolic style of his later period (1886–1888), on his life as a child, his tastes as an individual, and his vision for humanity.

 

Roman (in opposition to Stoicism):

Although Stoicism was one of the most popular philosophies during the Roman empire, it faced Imperial persecution in the 1st-century AD.  The Stoics emphasized morally correct behaviour (virtue) as the only true good; any form of morally deplorable behaviour was the only true evil; furthermore Stoic doctrine favoured an active engagement in political life.  Even emperors were not above censure & Stoics were often supporters of political opponents in the 1st century AD.  The Stoic Opposition (a group of Stoic philosophers) were actively opposed to autocratic Imperial rule.  Most prominent among them was Thrasea Paetus, an influential Roman senator.  These 'Stoic Martyrs' included Thrasea as well as Rubellius Plautus & Barea Soranus, students of the Stoic teacher Musonius Rufus.  All 3 were executed by Nero (reigned 54-68 AD).  Persecution continued under Vespasian (reigned 69-79), an emperor who saw the philosophical schools & in particular the Stoics, as a political threat.  In 71 AD he banished philosophers from the city of Rome.  Domitian (reigned 81-96 AD) like his predecessor was suspicious of dissent from the philosophical schools.  In 88 AD he expelled philosophers from Rome & in 93 he expelled them from all of Italy.  Those expelled include Epictetus who moved to Nicopolis, Greece, where he set up his successful school, becoming one of the most famous Stoic philosophers.

 

Latin (as Stoic creation): *  see EndNote<B>

reference to the conjunction of Latin’s emergence as a mature language (Classical Latin) and the domination of Rome by Greek culture especially the philosophy of Stoicism.  In 155 BC a delegation from Athens arrived in Rome; the Roman conversion to Stoicism might be dated to their arrival.  The Middle Stoa philosopher Panaetius established a Stoic school in Rome.  The Greek Stoics Panaetius & Poseidonius would live in Rome & provide language models for Roman writers (i.e. Cicero).  The language of Rome began to produce the literary works which made it an established civilized tongue, beginning with Cato (On Agriculture-160 BC); and culminating with Virgil’s epic Aeneid (29-19 BC). & Ovid’s The Metamorphoses (8 AD)

 

Socialism (generic quality):

Spengler does not define Socialism as a distinct political movement (i.e. the S.P.D. of Germany) or an economic form (a command economy) but sees it more as a mental framework, aiming to change the entire globe, all humanity for the rest of Time.