Proskynesis

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Proskynesis

Proskynesis, (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
) formed from the Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
words pros and kuneo literally means "kissing towards", and refers to the traditional Persian

Persian Empire

The 'Persian Empire' was a series of successive Iranian or Persianization empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland, and beyond in Southwest Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus....
act of prostrating oneself before a person of higher social rank.

According to Herodotus

Herodotus

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Proskynesis, (Greek

Greek language

Ancient Greek

Persian Empire

Herodotus

Herodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greeks historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture....
in his Histories, a person of equal rank received a kiss on the lips, someone of a slightly lower rank gave a kiss on the cheek, and someone of a very inferior social standing had to completely bow down to the other person before them. To the Greeks, giving proskynesis to a mortal seemed to be a barbarian and ludicrous practice. They reserved such submissions for the gods only. This may have led some Greeks to believe that the Persians worshipped their king, who was the only Persian that received proskynesis from everyone, and other misinterpretations caused cultural conflicts. Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great , also known as Alexander III of Macedon was an ancient Greeks King of Macedon . He was one of the most successful military commanders of all time and is presumed undefeated in battle....
proposed this practice during his lifetime, in adapting to the Persian cities he conquered, but it failed to find acceptance amongst his Greek companions (an example can be found in the court historian, Callisthenes

Callisthenes

Callisthenes of Olynthus was a Ancient Greece historian. He was the son of Hero and Proxenus of Atarneus, which made him the great nephew of Aristotle by his sister Arimneste....
) - and in the end, he did not insist on the practice.

During the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, the emperor Diocletian

Diocletian

Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus , born Diocles and commonly known as Diocletian , was Roman Emperor from November 20, 284 to May 1, 305....
(C.E. 284-305) introduced the practice, forming a break with the Republican institutions of the principate

Principate

The Principate is the first period of the Roman Empire, extending from the beginning of the reign of Caesar Augustus to the Crisis of the Third Century, after which it was replaced with the Dominate....
, which preserved the form, if not the intent, of a representative government according to Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788....
, paraphrasing historians such as Zosimus

Zosimus

Zosimus was a Byzantine Empire historian, who lived in Constantinople during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I . According to Photios I of Constantinople, he was a comes, and held the office of "advocate" of the imperial treasury....
. The political reason for this change was to elevate the role of the emperor from 'first citizen' to an otherworldly ruler, remote from his subjects, thus reducing the likelihood of successful revolt, which had plagued the Empire for the last 50 years. This change in status was accompanied by reduction in the size of the legions and a reorganization of the Empire into prefectures, dioceses, and smaller provinces. Similarly, the emperor was hailed no longer as "(Imp)erator" on coins, which meant 'commander in chief" but as "(D)ominus (N)oster" - 'Our Lord.' With the conversion of Constantine I

Constantine I

Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus , commonly known in English_language as Constantine I, Constantine the Great, or Saint Constantine , was Roman Emperor from 306, and the undisputed holder of that office from 324 until his death in 337....
to Christianity, proskynesis became part of an elaborate ritual, as asserted by historian John Julius Norwich

John Julius Norwich

John Julius Cooper, 2nd Viscount Norwich Royal Victorian Order is an England historian, travel writer and television personality. He is commonly known as John Julius Norwich....
, whereby the emperor became God's vice-regent on Earth. Titular inflation affected the other principal offices of the Empire.

Eastern Christianity

In the Eastern Orthodox Church

Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide. It is considered by its adherents to be the Four Marks of the Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago....
the term proskynesis is used theologically to distinguish between the veneration

Veneration

In Christianity, veneration , or veneration of saints, is a special act of honoring a saint: a dead person who has been identified as singular in the traditions of the religion....
given to icon

Icon

An 'icon' is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity. More broadly the term is used in a wide number of contexts for an image, picture, or representation; it is a sign or likeness that stands for an object by signifying or representing it either concretely or by analogy, as in semiotics; by extension, ...
s and relic

Relic

A relic is an object or a personal item of Religion significance, carefully preserved with an air of veneration as a tangible memorial. Relics are an important aspect of some forms of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, shamanism, and many other religions....
s of the saint

Saint

A saint in Christianity is a human being who has been called to holiness. The term is used differently by various denominations, with some, such as the Anglicans, Methodists, and Lutherans distinguishing between Saints and saints....
s from the worship

Worship

Worship usually refers to acts of religion devotion typically directed to one or more deity. It is the informal term in English for what sociology of religion call cult —traditional beliefs and practices, the individual study of which is one of the chief concerns of theology....
(adoration

Adoration

Adoration is to give homage or worship to someone or something....
) which is due to God alone (the latter being designated by the Greek word, latria
Latria

Latria is a Latin term used in Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church theology to mean adoration, which is the highest form of worship or reverence and is directed only to the Holy Trinity....
)

Bibliography

Josef Wiesehöfer
Josef Wiesehöfer

Josef Wieseh?fer is a Germany classical scholar and current professor of Ancient history at the Department of Classics of the University of Kiel....
: "Denn ihr huldigt nicht einem Menschen als eurem Herrscher, sondern nur den Göttern". Bemerkungen zur Proskynese in Iran", in: C.G. Cereti / M. Maggi / E. Provasi (Hgg.), Religious Themes and Texts of Pre-Islamic Iran and Central Asia. Studies in Honour of Gh. Gnoli on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday on 6th December 2002, Wiesbaden 2003, S. 447-452.

Proskynesis

Eastern Christianity

Bibliography

See also

External links