AtDtDA(34): Zalmoxis

[Dave Monroe]

"'At some point Orpheus, never comfortable in any kind of history that
could not be sung, changed identities, or slowly blended with another
demigod, Zalmoxis ...'" (AtD, Pt. IV, p. 957)


"history that could not be sung"

Vs. ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_poetry

In Greek mythology, Calliope ("beautiful-voiced", also spelled Kaliope
or Kalliope, in Greek, Καλλιόπη, pronounced in English /kə'laɪəpi/
ka-LIE-oh-pee) was the muse of epic poetry, daughter of Zeus and
Mnemosyne, and is now best known as Homer's muse, the inspiration for
the Iliad and the Odyssey.

She had two sons, Orpheus and Linus ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calliope


"changed identities, or slowly blended"

Cf. ...

http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/gravity/extra/slothrop-t.html
http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Tyrone_Slothrop


Zalmoxis

For myself, I have been told by the Greeks who dwell beside the
Hellespont and Pontus that this Salmoxis was a man who was once a
slave in Samos, his master being Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchus;
presently, after being freed and gaining great wealth, he returned to
his own country....

--Herodotus, History IV, 95

http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/036.html

Zalmoxis (Greek Ζάλμοξις, also known as Salmoxis, Σάλμοξις, Zamolxis,
Ζάμολξις, or Samolxis Σάμολξις) was a legendary social and religious
reformer, regarded as the only true god by the Thracian Dacians (also
known in the Greek records as Getae Γέται)....

Herodotus was told by the Euhemeristic Pontic Greeks that Zalmoxis was
really a man, formerly a slave (or disciple) of Pythagoras, who taught
him the "sciences of the skies" at Samos. Zalmoxis was manumitted and
amassed great wealth, returned to his country and instructed his
people, the Getae, about the immortality of the soul....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zalmoxis

This passage could almost have been drawn from the Wikipedia entry.

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_946-975#Page_957


"the carved iconostasis"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iconostasis

(Gr. eikonostasion, eidonostasis, picture screen, from eikon, image,
picture, and histemi, place), the chief and most distinctive feature
in all Greek churches, whether Catholic or Orthodox....

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07626a.htm


"as if into a cinema screen"

Cf. ...

"The screen is a dim page spread before us, white and silent. The film
has broken, or a projector bulb has burned out. It was difficult even
for us old fans who've always been at the movies (haven't we?) to tell
which before the darkness swept in."  (GR, PT.II, p. 760)


"a second sight, a knowledge beyond light"

Against the day?


"what lay in the wood itself"

Cf. ...

With a face on ev'ry mountainside,
And a Soul in ev'ry stone  (GR, Pt. IV, p. 760)

http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/zak_smith/760.htm


Krâstova Gora

Bulgarian: name of a mountain or range. Krâstova Gora means "Mountain
(or Forest) of the Cross" and is in the Rhodopes. The monk Grigorii,
known as "the Rhodopean Paisii", has named in his sermons the Central
Rhodopes as the "Mountain of the Cross" or "Forest of the Cross". The
Russian Paisi is mentioned on page 904.

Is this sentence the orphan of some narrative that's been cut?
Disclosure of the baby's sex is on p. 949 and has neither a mountain
nor a church in it.

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_946-975#Page_957

http://www.discover-bulgaria.com/Articles.aspx?ProductID=268&CategoryID=0&pg=3&srchString=


narthex

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narthex
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10704b.htm
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/narthex