Proskynesis or proscynesis , or proskinesis ( Greek , ''proskýnēsis'';

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

adoratio) is a solemn gesture of respect for the gods and people; among the Persians, it referred to a man prostrating himself and kissing the earth, or the limbs of a respected person. Proskynesis (''adoratio'') was one of the religious rites of the Greeks and Romans. In the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

ceremonial, it is a common gesture of supplication or reverence. The physical act ranged from full

prostration Prostration is the gesture of placing one's body in a reverentially or submissively prone position. Typically prostration is distinguished from the lesser acts of bowing or kneeling by involving a part of the body above the knee, especial ...

to a genuflection, bow, or simple greeting that concretized the relative positions of performer and beneficiary within a hierarchical order (''taxis'').

Etymology

The Greek word is derived from the verb προσκυνέω, ''proskyneo'', itself formed from the compound words πρός, ''pros'' (towards) and κυνέω, ''kyneo'' ( kiss). It describes an attitude of humbling, submission, or worship adoration – particularly towards a sovereign ruler, God or the gods.

Practice

According to

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria (Italy). He is known fo ...

in his ''

Histories Histories or, in Latin, Historiae may refer to: * the plural of history * ''Histories'' (Herodotus), by Herodotus * ''The Histories'', by Timaeus * ''The Histories'' (Polybius), by Polybius * ''Histories'' by Gaius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust), ...

'', a person of equal rank received a kiss on the lips; someone of a slightly lower rank gave a kiss on the cheek; and someone of a very inferior social standing had to completely bow down to the other person before them. To the Greeks, giving proskynesis to a mortal was seen as barbaric and ludicrous. In his '' Anabasis'' (3.2.13), Xenophon cites the Greek refusal to perform ''proskynesis'' as a sign of their freedom distinguishing them from the Persians: "As tokens of these victories Xerxes's_invasion.html" ;"title="Xerxes_I.html" ;"title="ver Xerxes I">Xerxes's invasion">Xerxes_I.html" ;"title="ver Xerxes I">Xerxes's invasionwe may, indeed, still behold the trophies, but the strongest witness to them is the freedom of the states in which you were born and bred; for to no human creature do you pay homage as master, but to the gods alone [οὐδένα γὰρ ἄνθρωπον δεσπότην ἀλλὰ τοὺς θεοὺς προσκυνεῖτε]."

Applications

The Persian custom may have led some Greeks to believe that they worshipped their king as a god, the only person who received proskynesis from everyone, and other misinterpretations caused cultural conflicts. Proskynȇsis was not a specific custom of the

Achaemenid The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Bas ...

court alone, since it was practiced earlier in the

Assyria Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...

n court. Contrary to the suggestions of Greek authors, Near Eastern sources leave no doubt that proskynȇsis did not have the character of a religious gesture, but was an element of the court ceremony.

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

proposed this practice during his lifetime in adapting to the local customs of the Persian areas he conquered, but it was not accepted by his Greek companions (such as noted by the court historian, Callisthenes); he later did not insist on the practice. Most of his men could cope with Alexander's interest for having a Persian wardrobe, but honoring the king as if he was a god with proskynesis went a bit too far.Alexander III and proskynesis: an affair
/ref> According to Arrian, Callisthenes explains the existence of separated ways of honoring a god or a human and that prostration is a way to explicitly honor gods. It is seen as a threat to the Greeks, ‘who are men most devoted to freedom’. According to Callisthenes, prostration was a foreign and degrading fashion. The

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...

Diocletian (AD 284–305) is usually thought to have introduced the practice to the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

, forming a break with the Republican institutions of the

principate The Principate is the name sometimes given to the first period of the Roman Empire from the beginning of the reign of Augustus in 27 BC to the end of the Crisis of the Third Century in AD 284, after which it evolved into the so-called Dominate. ...

, which preserved the form, if not the intent, of republican government. However, there is some evidence that an informal form of proskynesis was already practiced at the court of

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary suc ...

. The political reason for this change was to elevate the role of the emperor from "first citizen" to an otherworldly ruler, remote from his subjects, thus reducing the likelihood of successful revolt, which had plagued the Empire during the preceding 50 years. Certain forms of proskynesis, such as those which entailed kissing the emperor's breast, hands, or feet, were reserved to specific categories of officials. The audience granted to native or foreign delegations included multiple series of proskynesis at points marked by porphyry disks (''omphalia'') set in the floor. Until the 10th century at least, imperial ceremonial avoided proskynesis on Sundays out of reverence for the God. As a show of loyalty, proskynesis had strong political overtones; it recurs in imperial iconography and its importance in imperial ceremonial could sometimes raise delicate diplomatic dilemmas when foreign potentates were involved. Similarly, the emperor was hailed no longer as "''Imp(erator)''" on coins, which meant "commander in chief" but as "''D(ominus) N(oster)''" - "Our Lord." With the conversion of Constantine, I to Christianity, proskynesis became part of an elaborate ritual, whereby the emperor became God's viceregent on earth. Titular inflation also affected the other principal offices of the Empire.

Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized '' renov ...

and Theodora both insisted on an extreme form of proskynesis, even from members of the

Roman Senate The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...

,Mitchell, Stephen. (2007) ''A History of the later Roman Empire AD 284-641: The Transformation of the Ancient World''. Oxford: Blackwell, p. 228. and they were attacked for it by Procopius in his '' Secret History''.

In Christianity

The verb προσκυνέω (''proskyneo'') is often used in the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond t ...

and

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

for the worship of pagan gods or the worship of the

God of Israel God of Israel may refer to: * God in Judaism, God as understood in Jewish theological discussion * Yahweh, the national god of the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah * Tetragrammaton, the four Hebrew letters YHWH as the name of God, and various ...

. In addition, this word in some cases was used for the worship of angels. As with the Greeks five centuries earlier, the practice was shocking but prevailed. With the conversion of Constantine to Christianity, it became part of an elaborate ritual, making the emperor "vice-regent of God on earth." The question of the admissibility of proskynesis in relation to

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The mos ...

s (bowing and kissing to icons) was raised in the 8th century during the period of

iconoclasm Iconoclasm (from Greek: grc, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, εἰκών + κλάω, lit=image-breaking. ''Iconoclasm'' may also be consid ...

. Opponents of proskynesis in relation to the icons referred to the second commandment of the Law of Moses: "You shall not make for yourself a carved image any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down (προσκυνήσεις) to them nor serve (λατρεύσῃς) them. For I, the your God, am a jealous God." One defender of proskynesis in relation to icons was John of Damascus. He wrote ''Three Treatises on the Divine Images'' in defense of the icons, in which he described several kinds of proskynesis. The first kind is the proskynesis of latreia (λατρεία), which people give to God, who alone is adorable by nature. John believed that only the first kind of proskynesis associated with latreia was forbidden by God. Other kinds of proskynesis: proskynesis performed in relation to saints and images of them (

s) are permitted by God. In Christian theology, proskynesis denotes that simple veneration which is also permitted to saints, icons, etc., as opposed to Latreia (worship), which is due only to triune God. "Greetings and respected proskynesis" ( el, "ἀσπασμόν καί τιμητικήν προσκύνησιν"; lat, "osculum et honorariam adorationem") for icons was established by the

Second Council of Nicaea The Second Council of Nicaea is recognized as the last of the first seven ecumenical councils by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. In addition, it is also recognized as such by the Old Catholics, the Anglican Communion, an ...

(Seventh

Ecumenical Council An ecumenical council, also called general council, is a meeting of bishops and other church authorities to consider and rule on questions of Christian doctrine, administration, discipline, and other matters in which those entitled to vote ar ...

) in 787. Different authors translate the Greek word "προσκύνησις" from Christian texts into English differently: adoration,

worship Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. It may involve one or more of activities such as veneration, adoration, praise, and praying. For many, worship is not about an emotion, it is more about a recogni ...

veneration Veneration ( la, veneratio; el, τιμάω ), or veneration of saints, is the act of honoring a saint, a person who has been identified as having a high degree of sanctity or holiness. Angels are shown similar veneration in many religions. Etym ...

, bow, reverence.

Latter-day Saints

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

, proskynesis occurs in a number of the narratives in the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude ...

References and sources

;References

Sources

* * Josef Wiesehöfer: "Denn ihr huldigt nicht einem Menschen als eurem Herrscher, sondern nur den Göttern". Bemerkungen zur Proskynese in Iran", in: C.G. Cereti / M. Maggi / E. Provasi (eds.), Religious Themes and Texts of Pre-Islamic Iran and Central Asia. Studies in Honour of Gh. Gnoli on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday on 6 December 2002, Wiesbaden 2003, S. 447–452. *

External links

Livius.org: Proskynesis

{{Authority control Achaemenid Empire Bowing Eastern Orthodox spirituality Christian terminology Gestures of respect Christianity in late antiquity Greek words and phrases Roman Empire