Oh, what a fascinating site! Than kyou for linking to it.

The archaeological record does have a sneaky way of shedding light on all of the dusty, hidden corners doesn't it? One of its great virtues, IMO.

It seems as though Hadrian is responsible not only for building the world's second most famous wall, but also for inventing- or sponsoring the invention- of Christianity.

He accomplished a lot. *g*

Thanks for the link. I very much enjoyed Fry's discussion on the video.

Kate and I watch the 1980s Jeeves and Bertie series, which I got via Amazon, and Fry was wonderful as Jeeves.

I have fond memories of the BBC's first stab at Wooster- in which Ian Carmichael was Bertie and Denis Price was Jeeves. According to Wikipedia most of the shows- as so often with early sit-coms- have been wiped.

I managed to find for Mother the entire Rising Damp series from the seventies, and she loved it up until her last illness, when she couldn't process as well as before, due to medication, and simply couldn't understand the very fast British accents!

I have them now, and my favorite is still Miss Jones and her blue glasses.

Have you come across The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin- a series from the same era also starring Leonard Rossiter? It's recently been re-made starring Martin Clunes. Accept no substitutes. The original is extremely funny. Rossiter- who died far too early- was a comic genius.

The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin is one of the funniest and cleverest comedies ever to grace the little screen. Thanks so much for the reminder.

Should we be concerned that, on the "Archaeology of 'Chrest'" page, they begin by quoting Madame Blavatsky? As a man with physical copies of both Isis Unveiled and a multi-volume and hard-bound edition of The Secret Doctrine, I feel somewhat justified in asking.

Also, I am tempted to observe that, though I have not read too far in, some of this seems to be old news. The Christian-for-Chrestian substitution is noted by Graves, perhaps in King Jesus, though it has been some time since I read him. As I recall, he made much of a pun whereby chrestian could be taken to mean "simpleton", but the illiterate early Christians were in no position to appreciate the joke made at their expense. Don't know for sure, as I say it has been many moons ago.

I have an interesting volume here on the shelf entitled, Pagan Christs. The chapter on Father Mithras is often made a part of my Christmas reading each season.