In existographies, Prodicus (c.465-395BC) (FA:12), aka “Prodicus of Ceos”, was a Greek philosopher, noted for []
Atheism
Prodicus, according to Mark Munn (2006), was labeled an atheist for the following reason: [2]
“Prodicus of Ceos advanced an account of Demeter and Dionysus as mortals who taught agriculture and viticulture, and who were accorded divine honors after their deaths in recognition of their gifts to humanity. The argument that the gods familiar to the Greeks were once mortals was a key element in the suspicion that sophists like Prodicus were atheists.”
Here, knowing that Demeter and Dionysus are Greek versions of Isis and Osiris, respectively (see: god character equivalents), who are the Christian equivalents of Mary and Jesus, respectively, a “modern Prodicus” labeled atheist would be someone who denied the divinity of Jesus, arguing that Jesus Christ was mortal who taught civility and who because of this was posthumously accorded divine honors.
Prodicus also argued that gods were what the ancients invented to equate the sun, rivers, and other beneficial things with. (Empiricus, 200AD). He tried for figure out, from a secular linguistic point of view, how humans learn the names of their gods; latter classified as an atheist by early contemporaries (Hecht, 2003; pg. 8)
Quotes | On
The following are quotes on Prodicus:
“In the list given by Drachmann [1922], others designated atheoi in the period up to the 3rd century BC are Diogenes of Apollonia, Hippo of Rhegium, Diagoras of Melos, Prodicus of Keos, the aristocrat Critias of Athens, Theodorus of Cyrene, Bion of Borysthenes, and Euhemerus of Messina.”
— Michael Palmer (2013), Atheism for Beginners [1]
References
1. (a) Palmer, Michael. (2013). Atheism for Beginners: a Coursebook for Schools and Colleges (pg. 15). Lutterworth Press.
(b) Drachmann, Anders B. (1922). Atheism in Pagan Antiquity (pg. 13). Gyldendal.
2. Munn, Mark H. (2006). The Mother of Gods, Athens, and the Tyranny of Asia: a Study of Sovereignty in Ancient Religion (pg. 82). University of California Press.
External links
● Prodicus – Wikipedia.
