Friday, September 23, 2011

Satan's Throne

There are two strong possibilities for what "Satan's throne" was in Pergamum.

1. The Temple of Zeus

There was a huge and famous temple of Zeus in Pergamum (the photo above is a reconstruction of the Western side of this temple).  The question would be, how would Zeus be seen as Satan?  Satan is often associated with Baal, the Canaanite god of war and thunder, who defeated El, the Father God, to rule over heaven and earth.  Zeus is the Greek counterpart to Baal, a god of thunder, who defeated his father, Saturn, to rule over heaven and earth.  In the creation story of Genesis 1, El reorganizes heaven and earth to restore it to his possession after the powers of darkness and water had taken over.

As all three personas are seen as pretty much the same, Satan's throne could be seen as Zeus' largest temple in the Roman empire.


2. Emperor worship

Pergamum was also famous as being a center of emperor worship.  In the first century B.C. they would hold processions for Augustus, the first emperor of Rome.  This worship grew through the time of Trajan in the early second century A.D., where Pergamum was the capital of its province in Asia and was the focus of emperor worship in Asia.

How would emperor worship be seen as the "throne of Satan"?  The Roman persecution of Christians would be seen as an act of judgment on the innocent, and thus an act of Satan, the "prosecutor" and the "accuser of the brothers."  Worship is a symbolic act of reverence to a powerful emperor, whether a god or a man.  Thus, the center of worship is a kind of throne of an emperor.   So emperor worship could be considered "Satan's throne".

F.F. Bruce on emperor worship in Pergamum

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