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<p>[QUOTE="Gavin Richardson, post: 4168485, member: 83956"]As I understand Peter Weiss's argument, conflation is exactly what we should be doing, though perhaps with some explanation. I gave a paper this summer on the Sol coinage at a small conference in Oxford (not affiliated with the University, alas). Here's an excerpt from that paper that addresses the "one vision, two explanations" argument:</p><p><br /></p><p><b>The vision of Apollo makes the later Christian vision seem derivative, threatening to erode whatever kernel of historicity it might have possessed. In 1993, Peter Weiss published an essay that sought to reconcile these seemingly incompatible visions. His reading was met with general indifference, if not outright contempt, with the exception of a few early supporters. However, at the present time, Weiss’s explanation is gaining increasing support. Weiss’s central argument is this: What the panegyrist calls a “vision of Apollo” was actually a solar halo, a natural phenomenon that occurs when sunlight passes through ice crystals in the atmosphere. When conditions are right, a halo forms around the sun and may include “sundogs,” or <i>parhelia</i>—orbs of light that resemble the sun itself, floating above and to the sides of the sun. Since Apollo was a Roman solar deity, such a phenomenon could have been interpreted as a sign of the god’s favor, with sundogs being the wreaths of victory alluded to here.[1] Weiss further suggests that in the period between 310 and 312, Constantine was being progressively drawn to Christianity, and sometime around the time of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantine <span style="color: #ff0000">reinterpreted this vision</span> of 310 to be a sign not from Apollo, but from the God of the Christians. <span style="color: #ff0000">Hence, there were not two visions, but one, with the latter given a new Christian explanation</span>. If Weiss his correct, then Eusebius, in his <i>Vita Constantini</i>, collapses this progressive revelation of sorts, with the result that Constantine seems to experience his vision immediately prior to battle, not two years earlier. Whether Eusebius does so in a willful act of misrepresentation or out of misunderstanding would remain a matter of some debate, though it would be consistent with his rhetorical approach to suppress any hint that Constantine’s vision was understood as anything other than a triumphant, unsolicited omen from the Christian God.</b></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.cointalk.com/#_ftnref1" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/#_ftnref1">[1]</a> This explanation is mine, not Weiss’s.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Gavin Richardson, post: 4168485, member: 83956"]As I understand Peter Weiss's argument, conflation is exactly what we should be doing, though perhaps with some explanation. I gave a paper this summer on the Sol coinage at a small conference in Oxford (not affiliated with the University, alas). Here's an excerpt from that paper that addresses the "one vision, two explanations" argument: [B]The vision of Apollo makes the later Christian vision seem derivative, threatening to erode whatever kernel of historicity it might have possessed. In 1993, Peter Weiss published an essay that sought to reconcile these seemingly incompatible visions. His reading was met with general indifference, if not outright contempt, with the exception of a few early supporters. However, at the present time, Weiss’s explanation is gaining increasing support. Weiss’s central argument is this: What the panegyrist calls a “vision of Apollo” was actually a solar halo, a natural phenomenon that occurs when sunlight passes through ice crystals in the atmosphere. When conditions are right, a halo forms around the sun and may include “sundogs,” or [I]parhelia[/I]—orbs of light that resemble the sun itself, floating above and to the sides of the sun. Since Apollo was a Roman solar deity, such a phenomenon could have been interpreted as a sign of the god’s favor, with sundogs being the wreaths of victory alluded to here.[1] Weiss further suggests that in the period between 310 and 312, Constantine was being progressively drawn to Christianity, and sometime around the time of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantine [COLOR=#ff0000]reinterpreted this vision[/COLOR] of 310 to be a sign not from Apollo, but from the God of the Christians. [COLOR=#ff0000]Hence, there were not two visions, but one, with the latter given a new Christian explanation[/COLOR]. If Weiss his correct, then Eusebius, in his [I]Vita Constantini[/I], collapses this progressive revelation of sorts, with the result that Constantine seems to experience his vision immediately prior to battle, not two years earlier. Whether Eusebius does so in a willful act of misrepresentation or out of misunderstanding would remain a matter of some debate, though it would be consistent with his rhetorical approach to suppress any hint that Constantine’s vision was understood as anything other than a triumphant, unsolicited omen from the Christian God.[/B] [URL='https://www.cointalk.com/#_ftnref1'][1][/URL] This explanation is mine, not Weiss’s.[/QUOTE]
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