Word: dionysius
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...filled, as his was, with mediocrities and idiot intoxications. Haxton writes in his introduction: "To a sober mind, the drunkenness of cultic worshipers must have been particularly unappealing in a cosmopolitan city like Ephesus, with gods of wine on every side, drunken Greeks initiated into the Thracian ecstacies of Dionysius running amok with drunken Phrygians worshipping Sabazius, Lydians possessed by Bassareus, and Cretans in the frenzy of Zagreus, all claiming in their cups to have transcended understanding...
Even in a city of blue laws, Harvard seems to be especially vigorous in keeping the gifts of Dionysius out of its formerly ivy-clad walls. But what is troubling is not the University's strict stance toward college drinking--nationally, there has dramatic upswing in concern over alcohol on campus--but that the University can wield so much influence over private commerce in the community. Harvard's staunch refusal to compromise and bullying tactics shut down what was otherwise a sound business proposal that would serve legal-age residents in Cambridge and Boston. If the University was a private...
...just an excuse for some folks to sell more alcohol, for others to drink more alcohol, and for still others to see if Anthrax really works as well as advertised. In fact, it's not even the year 2000. Our western calendar was concocted out of thin air by Dionysius Exiguus, a sixth-century Scythian monk, whose love of Jesus was eclipsed only by his inability to count accurately. Dionysius tried to estimate the date of his Savior's birth, and then tried to construct, on that foundation, a formal system of measuring time. Let's just say that mistakes...
...party crowd pounding back beers in Times Square, the doomsayers bunched in armored yurts, all of them will greet the millennium at the stroke of midnight on Dec. 31. But by more careful calculations, the millennium began a few years ago. A large part of the misunderstanding stems from Dionysius Exiguus--Latin for "Dennis the Short"--a 6th century monk who should be thought of as the original millennium bug. Dennis laid down the basis for the calendars we use today by figuring how far in the past Christ's birth was. As it turns...
...that chapter, Gould retraces the history of malfunctioning Christian calendars back to a monk named Dionysius Exigus who began the A.D. calendar at the year 1 rather than the year zero. From there sprang the simmering academic debate over whether the new millennium begins on Jan. 1, 2000, or one year later. Based on extensive research of fin de siecle newspapers and magazines, Gould observes that pop culture has generally favored the 1999 New Year's Day as the dawning of the new century. The other view "has always been over-whelmingly favored by scholars and by people in power...