Numen

Numen, pl. numina, is a Latin term for "divinity", or a "divine presence", "divine will." The Latin authors defined it as follows.Cicero writes of a "divine mind" (divina mens), a god "whose numen everything obeys," and a "divine power" (vim divinam) "which pervades the lives of men." It causes the motions and cries of birds during augury. In Virgil's recounting of the blinding of the one-eyed giant, Polyphemus, from the Odyssey, in his Aeneid, he has Odysseus and his men first "ask for the assistance of the great numina" (magna precati numina). Reviewing public opinion of Augustus on the day of his funeral, the historian Tacitus reports that some thought "no honor was left to the gods" when he "established the cult of himself" (se ... coli vellet) "with temples and the effigies of numina" (effigie numinum).Pliny the younger in a letter to Paternus raves about the "power," the "dignity," and "the majesty;" in short, the "numen of history."Lucretius uses the expression numen mentis, or "bidding of the mind," where "bidding" is numen, not, however, the divine numen, unless the mind is to be considered divine (which well may be the case), but as simply human will.

Numen (journal)

Numen: International Review for the History of Religions is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the history of religions of any regions and times. It was established in 1954 and is published by Brill Publishers. The editors-in-chief are Olav Hammer (University of Southern Denmark), and Greg Alles (McDaniel College).

Abstracting and indexing

The journal is abstracted and indexed in:

References

External links

Numen (band)

Numen (rock band) is a Spanish progressive rock band from Alicante formed in 1992 by César Alcaraz, Víctor Arques, Gaspar Martínez, Manuel Mas and Antonio Valiente.Currently, Marcos Beviá is the new guitar player of Numen.

Numen has become one of the most known progressive rock in Spain of the 90’s. The band's sound is predominantly neoprogressive.

Former Members

History

Numen was born as a quartet in 1992. The former band was composed by Víctor Arques (vocals and bass), Manuel Mas (keyboards), Antonio Valiente (guitar) and Gaspar Martínez (drums). From the beginning of its musical career, the band has been pointing its style to a quite elaborated kind of music whose main aim is melody and the instrumental arrangements. All these qualities are perfectly mixed up with a deep feeling on its lyrics. The final result consists of some kind of mosaic where spontaneity and innovation fit together through a musical style as the progressive rock, one of the most suitable fields for the musical experimentation.