Agora means city square, which is a place where citizens in ancient Greek cities had entertainment, trade, and conversations about politics and philosophy. The film is named after Agora, but the city square in the film has almost never become a place for people to express freely and talk happily. Instead, it became a slaughterhouse where polytheists and Christians, Christians and Jews fought and persecuted each other, and eventually became a Christian Church where Christian jihadists patrolled around. This is very different from the original role of the city square. .
The film is based on a series of belief conflicts and religious persecutions during the rise of Christianity in Alexandria, Egypt under Roman rule in the late classical era. In the late 4th century AD, after the crisis of the third century and a series of wars after the death of Constantine, Rome began to decline. A serious economic crisis, barbarian invasions, civil wars, and the struggle between emerging Christianity and old polytheistic forces made this twilight. The empire was gradually destroyed, and in despair, the poor people of the lower classes began to gradually accept the Christianity that declared Judgment Day and the Messiah. Many upper classes were also influenced by them and chose to believe in Christ for the sake of their status. The city of Alexandria, built by the Macedonian king Alexander and his successor Ptolemy, is located in Egypt on the border of the empire. It has been the trade center of the Eastern Mediterranean throughout the classical era, and has a large library with countless classical works, becoming the ancient Roman city. A pearl in the economic and cultural sense. But such a city that had not suffered too much from the wars of the previous century is now also affected by religious conflicts.
The protagonist of the film is the famous female philosopher Hypatia, who lives in such turbulent times, but at least mentally, she has been isolating herself from religious scuffles. She devotes herself to studying the movement of the celestial bodies, eager to find out the true laws of the movement of the earth and the sun, observing, experimenting, and constantly questioning and discussing with her students. This is her happiest time. At the same time, she is also subject to her slaves and polytheistic aristocratic students. Adore. When religious confrontation spreads into her classroom, she is extremely saddened and desperately hopeful that her students, polytheists and Christians alike, will unite and not become executioners. But she couldn't stop the storm that was engulfing her, feeling that the traditional polytheists who might have been offended by the Christians, attacked the Christians sneakily under the leadership of the priests, but were defeated by the Christians, who were numerous and poor people. , was forced to flee into the Great Library, a symbol of polytheism. Here, Hypatia, who is the daughter of a polytheist leader but an atheist herself, still discusses the movement of the celestial bodies with the students, and spiritually builds a paradise for herself and the students, and gets in touch with the astronomer Ptolemy. The geocentric theory is contrary to the heliocentric theory. The Christians finally burst into the great library with the permission of Theodosius I, they tore down the polytheistic idols, they burned the classical writings, they regarded this palace of wisdom as the most evil place, and they completely destroyed the library, Hipa Tia's helpless attempts to save more books are ultimately powerless. And the slave who adored her also chose to accept Christianity under the class conflict.
The second part of the film begins some years later, the aristocratic student becomes the governor of Egypt who believes in Christ, the slave becomes a member of the holy warriors of Christ, Christianity and becomes the dominant religion in the city, except for the Jews who also believe in God, From the dignitaries to the common people, they all believed in Christianity. At this time, these Jews became the thorns in the eyes of fanatical Christians because their religious rituals and beliefs were different from those of Christians. After several attacks on each other, the Jews of the whole city were massacred by Christians at the behest of the Bishop of Alexandria. And drive away, the city square blood flowed into a river, mourning everywhere. The polytheists and the Jews were dealt with, and the Christians set their sights on Hypatia and the Doge who was close to her. They cursed Hypatia as an atheist witch, citing the content of the Bible to slander the Doge under the command of a whore, Even publicly attacked the Governor after he refused to give in. Hypatia is still living a life like a paradise at this time, and her research on the orbit of the earth has gradually deepened, but the students who used to talk so eloquently and now are in high positions can no longer communicate with her spiritually, they don't care. The celestial bodies move, because the chaotic society is a more urgent issue for them, and they no longer care about the pursuit of true knowledge. When Hypatia finally discovered that ellipses were the orbits of the planets, there was no way for her to share this achievement, and the governor could no longer protect her under pressure. Another student, Bishop of Cyrene, persuaded her to accept it. Christianity, but for her, lost the right to question, lost her meaning as a philosopher, she refused, she walked alone in the city square, was arrested, abused, shredded by Christian jihadists, Before being crushed to death by the rocks, she looked at the dilapidated big library that turned into an oval skylight at a certain angle, and died in the arms of the slave. She never gave up her pursuit of true knowledge, but this true knowledge that could have changed the world, But it was annihilated in the anger of the same party.
"City Square" presents us with the appearance of all beings in that era of belief change.
In contrast to the polytheistic aristocrats who can go to the theatre, bathe, dress neatly, and feel at ease, countless gray and black clothes are starving in every corner of the city. They are oppressed, but Christianity gives them hope and warmth to unite them. , when Daus, the unbelieving slave, by chance entered the church of Christ, distributed bread to the poor with his own hands, and was blessed by those who were benefactors, he seemed to see a miracle, and at this moment he changed from the oppressed to the the savior of others. Polytheistic nobles would only call them slaves, while Christians would call them brothers. He picked up the weapon in the melee, and was angry because of the pain of being oppressed and because the mistress he admired stood on the opposite side of him. found attribution. But while Christians use the name of Christ to defend their rights, they have lost the greatest goodness of Christ—tolerance. When force was handed over to this mob, they could not tolerate sand in their eyes, calling pagans a demeaning meaning. The pagan, under the call of Bishop Cyril, they fought against differences in the name of religion. They did not understand the Bible at all, nor did they learn the virtues that Jesus Christ wanted to convey, but used this as a framework to restrain others and go Kill people who are different from them. Even when Daus looked at the mutilated Jewish corpses burned in the fire, he asked his comrades why they couldn't forgive these infidels like Jesus, but the comrades replied that forgiveness is the right of Christ. At the same time, the random speculation about the universe by the holy warriors of Christ is also very different from the discussions in the former Hypatia school. Such ignorance, such ignorance, and the shame of his former master made Daus begin to reflect on what he had done, and finally prompted him to find the arrested Hypatia like a madman at the last moment and distract the other thugs , gave her the last mercy. The story of this character reflects the good and evil of Christianity very well, and on top of that, his love for the hostess makes this character even more full.
The conversion from polytheism to Christianity was characteristic of the fourth and fifth centuries. As a primitive religion with strong absorption capacity, polytheism does not have the appeal and exclusivity of monotheism, and therefore allows the existence of doubts and philosophy. But in this day and age, the increasingly decadent polytheism controlled by princes and nobles will undoubtedly not be welcomed by the masses. In the conflict between polytheism and Christianity, polytheistic priests gave up their comrades who fought for him in order to save themselves, and their hypocrisy was shown. of the most vivid. As the Roman heads of state gradually accepted Christianity, the status of Christianity in the empire gradually increased, and the pragmatic polytheists also believed in Christianity for their own interests, such as Constantine, and also like the governor in the film. He can be said to be Hypatia's confidant, but he finally believed in Christianity for the sake of fame and fortune. From an astronomy student who was good at questioning, he became less concerned with truth and more concerned with secular political life. In Hypatia's conversation, he showed indifference to his teacher's research. In the face of a declining empire, what is the meaning of how the planets move? His actions are actually beyond reproach. The Christian faith in the film is like Hypatia's study of planetary motion. Overly pursuing perfection will undoubtedly lose more important things. The demands of Christians on the purity of the believers have made them lose their tolerance, and Hypatia's pursuit of the truth of the planetary trajectory has also made her lose the right to enjoy the worldly life of mankind.
This film is undoubtedly opposed to the same party and the opposite. In the face of the oppression of the polytheistic aristocracy, the slave picked up his weapon, shouted I am a Christian, and rebelled against his master. Years later, faced with the abuse of the Christian mob, the governor was horrified. Looking around and shouting "I am a Christian as you are", times have changed, and the dissent in the name of faith has never stopped, and the disasters it has brought have never stopped.
In Hypatia's heart, there is undoubtedly an Agora who can allow people to freely believe in and pursue the truth. He asked the students to respect each other when they conflicted because of their beliefs. He asked the students not to participate in the battle between polytheists and Christians. She hides in her own house in a chaotic society, and still does not give up the pursuit of the truth of the planetary movement. When death is imminent, she is still unwilling to give up the right to question, the right to question and pursue true knowledge in order to survive. Life is important, which is the value pursuit of her and thousands of philosophers, such as Socrates, who died after drinking poisoned wine and did not want to escape illegally, and Bruno who was burned to death because of his grievances not far from the church. By shaping the lofty image of Hypatia, it is a tribute to the freedom of belief.
In addition to the lofty story, the superb acting skills of the actors, and the historical setting and costumes, the filming of this film is also a highlight. The aerial shots of the mob fighting like ants, accusing the evil of the same party and smashing differences, rise to the sky in space. It reflects the insignificance of human struggle and the greatness of what Hypatia seeks. The camera is reversed when Christians step into the looted library on horseback, expressing the grief of the robbery of culture...
To be tolerant can prevent the pursuit of true knowledge from being drowned in the fire of war between parties.
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