The myth of Theseus and the Minotaur tells of the fearsome
minotaur, a beast with a man's body in a Bull's Head, which lived in The
Labyrinth under the palace of King Minos of Crete.
According to the story,
“The son of Minos, Androgeus, went to Athens to participate
to the Panathenaic Games, but he was killed during the Marathon. Minos was
infuriated, and demanded Aegeus the king of Athens to send seven men and women
every year to the Minotaur to advert the plague caused by the death of
Androgeus.
In the third year, Theseus, son of Aegeus decided to be one
of the seven young men that would go to Crete, in order to kill the Minotaur
and end the human sacrifices to the monster. King Aegeus tried to make him change
his mind but Theseus was determined to slay the Minotaur.
Theseus announced to King Minos that he was going to kill
the Monster, but Minos knew that even if he did manage to kill the Minotaur,
Theseus would never be able to exit the Labyrinth.
Theseus met Princess Ariadne, daughter of King Minos, who
fell madly in love with him and decided to help Theseus. She gave him a thread
and told him to unravel it as he would penetrate deeper and deeper into the
Labyrinth, so that he knows the way out when he kills the monster.
Theseus followed her suggestion and entered the labyrinth
with the thread. Theseus managed to kill the Minotaur and save the Athenians,
and with Ariadne’s thread he managed to retrace his way out.”
Did this really happen? Was there really ever such a
creature as the Minotaur?
Of course not. Such a
creature is impossible.
But wait! The
Labyrinth is real!
The Palace of Knossos was discovered on Crete in 1878, and
excavations began in 1900. There archaeologists discovered a complex maze of
corridors, stairways, and rooms. The palace is the largest discovered on Crete.
It seems there really was a labyrinth beneath the Palace of the king of the
Minoans.
Does it follow that the Minotaur was real?
No. No, it does
not. At best, shows where the
inspiration for one part of the story comes from.
And yet, I seen
identical argument made all the time 4 elements of Tanach. Perhaps the most common are those who argue
that there really was a flood, either global or local, and therefore Noach was
real person, God exists, etc etc.
Proving that there really was a great flood doesn't say any more
about Noach then the discovery of the labyrinth at Knossos says about the
Minotaur.
What I hear when people say, “ I can prove that there was a
great flood!” Is, “There really was a
Minotaur!”
This is one of the most frequent arguments used in Christian apologetics. The NT is obviously an accurate document because, hey, look at all of the historical places and events that it talks about that we know are true.
ReplyDeleteOne of the more frustrating counterarguments I hear every now and then is something like "yes, maybe there *was* a Minotaur". As an example I point out that whatever argument they are using can also be used to support that Jesus rose from the dead. They say "I am not disputing that maybe Jesus *did* rise from the dead." It can be hard to win an argument with someone who has pretty much unlimited credulity.
ReplyDeleteBut if there was a Minotaur, and if Jesus really did rise from the dead, then what makes Judaism special? If the Greek gods were real, and Jesus was real, why not worship them?
DeleteYou would think.
DeleteThe answer would be that there was only one maamad har sini, and there Hashem told us to only believe him and his torah. All other religions, miracles etc. are by the power of tumah, so while they do work they are assur. They would point to the parsha of navi sheker as specifically pointing to those like jesus and note that that parsha says he *would* perform "signs" but should still be disregarded.
> All other religions, miracles etc. are by the power of tumah
DeleteThe problem with that is that there's no way to differentiate "real" nissim from those done with kishuf. Maybe Moshe was using the powers of tummah, and Jesus was the real deal.
Ofc. But the answer they would give is that there is only one maamad har sini where everyone directly saw hashem and that hashem then said that this is the only time he is giving the torah and it is never to change etc. If you are happy to retroject back all of the current torah (bicsav and baal peh) to that point (using something like the kuzari argument) then you effectivly have immunised yourself against any later challenges. So after that point, even a "real" neis doesn't have the power to change the law (cf. tanur shel akhnai).
DeleteWell, you know what I think of the Kuzari Argument.
DeleteYes I do. But it is hard to overestimate how much of the heavy lifting in modern-day OJ (and especially charedi) philosophy that argument does. Pretty much everything either stands or falls by that argument alone. (I actually think there are two factors that are at play. One is kuzari, but the other is even higher level and is basically the willingness - even eagerness - to accept supernatural explanations - and in particular an omnipotent, omniscient and good god - rather than either a naturalistic explanation or more simply just an "I don't know". Kuzari itself only stands at all based on this attitude.)
DeleteBut of course all of this ground has been covered before.