apeiron:

Greek, reference multiplied to infinity, infinitely more

 

ἀρχή:

Greek, reference to the beginning, foundation, source, to begin with, at first, first principle, or element

 

μορφή:

Greek, noun, form, shape, beauty of form, form, fashion or appearance

​

 μλη:

Greek, noun, common usage, referring to material or to matter; rarely stuff or copy

 

ἀλλοίωσις:

Greek, referring to difference, alteration, confusion of mind

 

Empedocles (4 elements):

(494-434 BC) Greek pre-Socratic philosopher, native citizen of Akragas, Sicily; famous for his cosmogonic theory of the 4 classical elements (earth, water, air & fire); he also proposed forces he called Love and Strife which would mix and separate the elements, respectively.  Influenced by the Pythagoreans challenged the practice of animal sacrifice & killing animals for food.  He developed a distinctive doctrine of reincarnation.  Last Greek philosopher who recorded his ideas in verse.

 

Arabian:

reference to the Magian Culture./Civilization

 

Syrian:

reference to the Magian Culture/Civilization; Syria was where Spengler sited the physical birthplace (lands) of the Magian Culture/Civilization

 

somata:

plural of soma (see below)

 

soma:

the body of an organism as contrasted with its germ cells.

 

Byzantine Bogomils:

Christian neo-Gnostic or dualist sect founded in Macedonia (part of the First Bulgarian Empire) by the priest Bogomil in the 10th century; advocated a return to the Primitive Church, rejecting the hierarchy & resisting both state & church authorities, an attitude which allowed their rapid spread throughout the Byzantine Empire, and later Kievan Rus', Bosnia, Dalmatia, Serbia, Italy, & France (as the Cathars).  As Gnostics that they believed in a world within & outside the body; they did not use the Christian cross or build churches; they revered their human form & considered their body a temple, which gave rise to cleansing thru purging, fasting, celebrating & dancing.

 

early Councils (person of Christ):

from the 2nd century onwards, disputes emerged about the human & divine nature of Jesus.  The prevailing view was monoprosopic, the concept of a single divine person (prosopon).  An alternative was the dyoprosopic notion, that God has 2 persons (Father & Son); other ideas also circulated, for instance, Arianism did not endorse divinity, Ebionism argued Jesus was an ordinary mortal, while Gnosticism argued Christ was a spiritual being who only appeared to have a physical body.  The doctrine of docetism argued that the historical & corporal existence of Jesus was mere semblance, his human form was an illusion.  These views led to tensions & schisms in the 2nd & 3rd centuries.  To deal with this, ecumenical councils were convened starting in the 4th century.  The first 7 ecumenical councils were: Nicaea (325), Constantinople (381), Ephesus (431), Chalcedon (451), the Second Council of Constantinople (553), the Third Council of Constantinople (680–681) and, the Second Council of Nicaea (787).  They resolved most of these controversies, making the doctrine of the Trinity orthodox & condemning all others as heretical.  Only the Dyophysite doctrine was recognized.

 

Nestorian (secessions): * see EndNote<A>

The Nestorian Schism (431) was a split between the churches of Sassanid Persia affiliated with Nestorius, and Constantinople which rejected him.  It rose out of a Christological dispute involving Cyril (Patriarch of Alexandria) & Nestorius (Patriarch of Constantinople).  Nestorius, a student of Theodore of Mopsuestia of the School of Antioch, argued Christ's human & divine natures were distinct; he condemned the title “Theotokos” (Greek: "God bearer") for Mary, preferring Christotokos ("Christ bearer").  The First Council of Ephesus (431) led by Cyril condemned Nestorius & his doctrine; this was re-affirmed by the Council of Chalcedon (451).  This led to a breach between the Christian church of Sassanid Persia which had defended Nestorius, & the state church of the Roman Empire.  The Church of the East became known as the Nestorian Church.

see Chapter VI page 209

 

Monophysite (secessions):

a Christological term, derived from Greek, meaning solitary nature: the doctrine that Christ had only 1 essence: the divine.  The Council of Nicaea (325) declared that Christ was divine, consubstantial, of one essence with the Father BUT he was also human.  In the 5th century the school of Antioch began laying stress on the human side of Christ.  One of its theologians was Nestorius (386-450 AD), Patriarch (Archbishop) of Constantinople (428-431).  He rejected the title “Theotokos” (Mother of God), used for Mary, since Jesus was human not divine.  He believed union between the human & divine was impossible.  Christ could not truly be consubstantial with God AND man because if so he would grow, mature, suffer & die, something God cannot do.  In addition, a consubstantial Christ would possess the power of God, which would separate him from humans.  Christ was a human, of a single essence, not 2.

This doctrine led to the Nestorian succession (see above)

and see Chapter VI page 209

 

betokens:

to give evidence of; indicate; to give a token or sign of; portend:

 

Hermes Trismegistus:

Latin meaning "thrice-greatest Hermes"; purported author of the Hermetic Corpus, a series of sacred texts, the basis of Hermeticism; he is associated with the Greek god Hermes & Egyptian god Thoth.  Greeks in the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt recognized the equivalence of Hermes & Thoth through the interpretatio graeca & the 2 were worshiped as one (during the Hellenistic period the Temple of Thoth in Khemenu, became the Hermopolis).  References in Cicero corroborate these origins, that Thrice-Great Hermes originated in Hellenistic Egypt through syncretism between Greek & Egyptian gods.  The Hermetic Corpus was concerned with conjuring spirits & animating statues, it informs the oldest Hellenistic writings on Greco-Babylonian astrology & on the newly developed practice of alchemy.  They are presented as dialogues in which a teacher (Hermes Trismegistus) enlightens a disciple; they discuss the divine, the cosmos, mind & nature, some touch upon alchemy, astrology & related concepts.  Modern scholarship date them no earlier than the 2nd or 3rd century AD, written by Greeks, containing popular Greek philosophy of the period, Platonism and Stoicism, combined with Jewish & Persian influences.

 

[Spengler links Hermes Trismegistus correctly with the development of alchemy; since he associates Alchemy closely with the Magina Culture, dating Hermes Trismegistus with Plotinus & Diophantus, in the 3rd century AD, places him in the  Spring period of the Magian Culture]

 

Plotinus:

(204-270 AD) major Hellenistic philosopher born in Roman Egypt, lived in Alexandria & Rome; the father of Neo-Platonism.

and see Chapter II pages 56, 72, 81 Chapter VII page 248

 

Diophantus:

(200-284 AD) a Greek or Hellenized Egyptian or Hellenized Babylonian, an Alexandrian mathematician, author of a series of books called Arithmetica, dealing with solving algebraic equations.

and see Chapter II pages 63, 71