Pater = Peter?

Liber Pater, Pater Patratus... Pater was a Roman term before the christians ever co-opted it. It's just the Latin word for "Father." Conspiracies abound regarding the statue of "Saint Peter" pictured here. Some claim it is the statue of Jupiter simply renamed. Others claim the bronze from the statue of Jupiter was melted down and recast as Saint Peter. Either way, we have something terribly interesting and very telling about this saint: He is a recast of Jupiter. That just made me think about when a soap opera changed actors: The announcer would come on in a hushed voice after we see the new actor on screen, but before the actor spoke. "The role of Jupiter is now being played by Saint Peter."

"The role of Jupiter is now being played by Saint Peter."

Notice he is holding a key and is crowned with a nimbus, or sun disc. Some christian conspiracy sites out there rant about it and I'm still looking for the much quoted "archaeologists" but I keep getting side tracked by the fact that the Phrygium of Cybele, Magna Mater, which was built on Vatacan hill, just had "The Vatican" plunked down over it. Allegedly, the bones of Saint Peter were found there during an excavation. Really? How did they know that? The site of the Phrygium was built on top of a necropolis! There were already thousands of remains there! There's only vaguely circumstantial "evidence" that the bones of a man in his 60s were buried with other bones in an area some time around 300 ce. Not buying it.

I'm cutting this short tonight because this is making me cranky. Off to go find real sources on this, not just conspiracies about "Pater and Peter" being different pronunciaitons of the same word meaning "Father."

Do you have anything on this? Join the conversation!