The Spring fresco. Thera, 16th cent. BCE (!!). Picture is from the National Archaeological Museum, Athens. CC BY-NC-DC.

A Metaphor for Easter

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

April 03, 2018 by Sean Coughlin in Philosophy

It’s Easter time. A metaphor from Photius on raising the dead.

epsukhagôgêsen: was hopeful; was encouraged; or, brought back through magic the souls of the dead.

Ἐψυχαγώγησεν: ἐπήλπισε· παρεμυθήσατο· ἢ ψυχὰς διὰ μαγγανείας τῶν τελευτησάντων ἀνήγαγεν.

Photius, Lexicon, 47,14-16

See also the LSJ:

ψυχαγωγέω , (ψυχαγωγός): A. lead departed souls to the nether world, esp. of Hermes. II. evoke or conjure up the dead by sacrifice; hence metaph., lead or attract the souls of the living, win over, persuade, allure.