very non-academic academic reading abt the locked tomb and revelation! [discussion]
warning: this will be long and disorganised and SOOOO spoilery for Harrow and Nona. If you've only read Gideon prob spoilers too but more likely this just won't make any sense to you. i am working on an assignment for a theology class and was reading the chapter on revelation/apocalypse from Marcus Borg's 'reading the bible again for the first time: taking the bible seriously not literally' and was struck by how locked tomb it all got really fast. i have some very messy notes and excerpts from the chapter compiled, but would be so keen to know if anyone else has looked into this kind of stuff and has thoughts about what it might mean for alecto bc i think that it's been said that AtN is gonna really lean into the biblical themes already explored in the series. maybe people more familiar with revelation will find this all super obvious but i thought it was pretty interesting to read and it fed the little worm in my brain that is experiencing alectopause.
anyway. here are my notes.
Borg at 268:
- ‘because revelation was written by a person named John, the book is often known more fully as “the revelation of john” or “the apocalypse of john”’
- ‘as a literary genre, an apocalypse is defined by both content and style. Its subject matter is one or more visions disclosing or unveiling either the future or the heavenly world or both. Commonly, the present age is seen to be under the rule of evil powers who will soon be overthrown and destroyed by god, ushering in an age of blessedness for the faithful.”
- ‘stylistic features of apocalyptic literature include luxuriant imagery, fabulous beasts, and symbolic numbers.’
o This is all very ninth house.
- ‘though revelation is an apocalypse, it is also a letter addressed to 7 christian communities in seven cities in asia. John of patmos was apparently known in these communities and may have been an itinerant Christian prophet and charismatic authority figure.’
- Frequent use of the Hebrew bible though never formally quotes a single verse
o The locked tomb chock-full of biblical references/allusions >!but again John never explicitly references Christianity I don’t think? Maybe does in Nona.!<
269
- Heard by original authors not read – “hearing revelation all at once would convey the cumulative effect of John’s visions in a way that the private reading of individual texts in isolation from the broad sweep of the book does not.
- >! Harrow actually = John, having the visions in Nona. Subverting cumulative effect of visions as would have been in Bible by being fragmented throughout Nona.!<
>! !<
271
- Emphasis on the number 7 in revelation = parallel to emphasis on the number nine. But also could be alluding to seven in terms of John G’s intentions.
- The nine houses, >!nine resurrection beasts!<, nine necromancers / seven churches, series of seven beatitudes, seven hymns, seven references to the altar
o + if we take out >!the first/john and the ninth (bc that was never supposed to be its own house & Anastasia and Samael messed up the lyctoral process, !<we are left with 7 houses/7 full lyctors.
§ >! Gideon/!<Pyrrha
§ Cyrus/Valancy
§ Ulysses/Titania
§ Augustine/Alfred
§ Cassiopeia/Nigella
§ Cytherea/Loveday
§ Mercymorn/Cristabel
- Ch 2 and 3 letters to the 7 churches. Nothing bad about Smyrna and Philadelphia, nothing good about sardis and Laodicea. ephesus, Pergamum, and Thyatira get mixed verdicts
- Issues: persecution, false teaching, accommodation to the larger culture
- ‘continues with a vision of the lamb that was slain but that now lives and is worthy to open the seven seals of the scroll of judgment’
- >! Parallel to Alecto??? Opening the tomb!< = opening the seven seals?
272
- After ch 13, “then seven angels pour out upon the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of god, and we are shown the judgment and destruction of the “great harlot” or “great whore” who rides upon the beast and whose name is “Babylon the great”
o >!Seven angels = seven full lyctors!<
>!o Babylon the great – Alecto!<
>!o The beast = varun / other resurrection beast!<
- ‘the dragon, now named “the devil” and “satan” is cast into a bottomless pit for a thousand years, during which christ and the saints rule. after a thousand years, satan is released, and with gog and magog he fights a final battle and is again defeated. Then the last judgment occurs: all the dead, great and small, are raised, the book of life is opened, and all whose names are not in it are cast into the lake of fire, along with the devil, the beast, death, and Hades.’
o >!Alecto, renamed “the body” or “annabel lee” cast into THE LOCKED TOMB for 10 thousand years, during which John and the lyctors rule.!<
- ‘concluding vision. The new Jerusalem, >!adorned as a bride for her husband!<, descends from the sky – a city in which there will be no more tears, no pain, no death.”
282
- Discusses ‘Cosmic combat myth’
- Revelation and empire – starts at 283
o ‘john echoes the story of apollo’s bird and reverses the imperial version of it in the vision found in revelation 12’…
§>! Woman is about to give birth to a son who will rule the nations. A great dragon waits to devour the son, but the child is delivered by being taken up to the throne of god. For john, the child is jesus of course!<
>!§ Gideon = jesus. Great dragon = Cytherea (fallen lyctor/angel/satan-esque) but great dragon could also be Alecto or the ninth or some other resurrection beast!<
>!§ Gideon delivered by john claiming her as prince kiriona gaia after she dies and then she is resurrected!<
o Scene in heaven in which Michael and his angels fight against the dragon and defeat him
§ >!Scenes at the end of Harrow with battle on the mithraeum between lytors, resurrection beast, river etc.!<
§ ‘though the war occurs in heaven, the means of the dragon’s defeat is an event that happened on earth; he has been conquered by the blood of the lamb i.e. by jesus’ death. Result – dragon cast down to earth and gives his authority, power, and throne to the seven-headed “beast from the sea”
o 284: “rome is the opposite of what it claimed to be: the empire that claimed to bring peace on earth, and whose emperors were spoken of as lord, saviors on of god, and even god, was in fact the incarnation of disorder, violence, and death’
§ >!Instead of john = john of patmos, John gaius = Caesar-like figure, ‘new rho’ an allusion to rome?!<
>!§ John calls rome the beast – seems similar to how john gaius viewed the billionaires/society on earth before the resurrection. May also feed into theory that the people on new rho are the descendants of the billionaires. Also could just be a resurrection beast thing.!<