Re: The Unholy Trio: Rephrasing the Question

From: Todd Gardiner <todd.gardiner_at_xQgNSQIbPaJtFtODPQMm1xoy5IQalyQbdYGYtUWq8LhbrRnbcZ1EAVm9s6GJ0d>
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2008 09:36:43 -0800


I would suggest we to keep to the Bronze Age concepts of disease and illness. The modern ideas of pathogens, to me anyway, suck out the ongoing fear of a malady that strikes from "nowhere". While there might be understanding that a well is "polluted" and a forbidden swamp is "unclean", the description of illness as a physical entity which breeds and transmits itself through predictable vectors is a distinctly modern concept. My understanding of Bronze Age sickness that it is a type of curse that affects the body, one that is generally avoidable by holding to a culture's taboos, but potentially can strike the victims without warning even if they have followed all of the rules of survival.

Humans have a great fear of the unknown (disease which can strike with no reason or identifiable cause) and things they cannot control or avoid (even the strongest can fall victim). To me, it is little surprise that Malia receives propitory worship, given that it is the only method which suggest a course of action people can follow.

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