Agora
Spanish director Alejandro Amenabar’s movie, “Agora,” is based on the story of Hypatia (born between 350 and 370 CE) a Greek pagan woman from Alexandria, Egypt, who was a scholar, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer. In March 415, she was falsely accused of inciting religious turmoil. Hypatia was then set upon by a Christian mob led by a man called Peter, probably Peter the Reader, who was the assistant to Bishop Cyril. Hypatia was stripped and dragged through the streets, only to have her skin stripped off with potsherds, and was then burnt to death. Bishop Cyril was rewarded by being canonized
By way of definition, an agora was initially an open “place of assembly” in ancient Greek city-states for free-born male land-owners to discuss politics, current events, and philosophize. Later, it served as a marketplace where merchants kept stalls or shops
The movie, Agora, was awarded the Alfred P Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize as it serves as a reminder of “why science and technology cut to the heart of the human enterprise.”
In the movie, the early church is shown violently oppressing other faiths, science and women in its bid for political power. The Christians are portrayed as more preoccupied with slaughtering than spirituality and the only truly principled character is Hypatia.
Just days before the release of the movie, civil rights organizations in Spain are denouncing the film for promoting hatred of Christians and reinforcing false clichés about the Catholic Church. According to some Spanish media, the film has yet to find a distributor in the United States because of its strong anti-Christian bias.
A common myth about early Christianity was that it spread through love to a pagan world pregnant with anticipation of the coming of the one truth. While there were undoubtedly some pagans who were quite happy to embrace Christianity, the reality is that quite often Christians were incredibly brutal and forcibly imposed their beliefs. A movie such as Agora should be commended as it increases public awareness of early Christian atrocities.
I am so looking forward to this movie ! I am saddened that it still does not have a US distributor. :(
It reminds me of the recent uproar by the church in Greece upon the opening of the new museum in Athens. A short movie (maybe a couple of minutes) made by famous director Costas-Gravas (who did a movie I love, “Z”). The uproar was over the fact that the movie showed, for perhaps five or ten seconds, the period when the parthenon had been “attacked” by christians, taking hammers and things to the structure in an attempt to tear it down. Oh, did I mention this is an *animated* movie…a cartoon ?!
Anyway, the church demanded that the museum either remove the offending scene or not show the movie at all. Initially, the museum relented by removing the scene. But then Costas-Gravas demanded his name be removed from the film altogether. And the museum then decided to leave the scene in and the film is still shown at the museum.
One has to wonder about a religion that is so afraid of anything that might be negative (even if historical fact) or different from their hard line of what they, and everyone else, are supposed to believe in. Why would someone want to be a part of such a religion that is so fragile it cannot stand up to any sort of challenge or opposition ?
I also have been disappointed by the Greek Orthodox Church’s actions regarding Costa-Gavras’ short animation about the Parthenon. The Church has been quite happy about the portrayal of Lord Elgin’s removal of the Parthenon marbles in the early 19th century, but was incensed about the portrayal of Christians hacking away at the Parthenon in the Byzantine period.
Greek art treasures, such as the Parthenon belong first and foremost to the Greek people, and to a lesser extent, the world. The Parthenon marbles, which are now in the British Museum, should be returned to the Greek people. While Elgin’s theft of the marbles was wrong, it can be argued that at least they have been protected, and enjoyed by numerous visitors. The destruction of part of the Parthenon frieze by Christians was senseless vandalism that robbed the Greek people and indeed the world of a priceless art treasure that can never be replaced.