medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Perhaps the clearest link between St. Michael and past "pagan"
veneration involves the Church of St Michael at Constantinople built by
Constantine, that was also mentioned. This was located at the ancient
shrine of Sosthenium, which came to be called the Michaelium.
Constantine was advised in a dream to build it. The place got its name
of Sosthenium reputedly from the Argonauts, who had been fighting
againtst Amycus, the king of that district. They had suffered defeat,
when a man with eagle's wings appeared to them and prophesied victory.
The prophesy was fulfilled, and in gratitude they raised a shrine and
statue at the spot in honour of the apparition. Constantine visited this
shrine and, coincidentally given a recent thread, practiced incubation.
While he slept, he had a vision of a man in the likeness of the statue,
who declared himself to be St. Michael. When Constantine awoke, he
resolved to raise a church and altars to St Michael, thus ousting the
original pagan god. Thereafter, apparitions of St Michael became
common, and incubation continued to be practiced. In fact, incubation
appears to have been particularly associated with shrines of St Michael
in general, including Monte Gargano and Mont St Michel.
Cheers,
Jim
On 29/09/2011 6:29 AM, Cormack, Margaret Jean wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Can anyone provide bibliography for the following extract from the saint of the day post? I know I have also read of a mediterranean mountain cult of the saint, (and of course would like bibliography for that too!) and always thought of Mont St. Michel and Skellig Micheal as mountainous or rocky rather than assocated with hillsides. Of course Wotan is out in the case of Skellig Michael (as well as mediterranean dedications, if any). If there is literature associating Wotan (or Thor, who is the snake-slayer in the Norse tradition) specifically with hill sites I'd like that, too.
>
> "In northern Europe in the middle ages, churches were often built in his honor on hillsides, apparently substituting his worship for that of Wotan."
>
> By the by: anyone doing work on pagan sites (as indicated by archaeology or placenames) I'm interested in mapping them, as well as saint's dedications,
> on an electronic map. Please get in touch!
>
> Meg Cormack
> [log in to unmask]
>
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