Ariel Chen (ac47386)

Classical Mythology and Occult

05/08/15
Mythology and Religion in the Reimagined Battlestar Galactica

In 1978, a television series called Battlestar Galactica aired, and it

lasted 24 episodes. The creator was Glen A. Larson, who was a member of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and many Mormon themes
were incorporated into the series yet never fully explored due to the
cancellation of the show after one year (Beliefnet). Beginning December of
2003, a reimagined Battlestar Galactica began airing on the Sci-Fi Channel
and it continued through four seasons, ending its run in 2009. It takes its cue
from the original series in many ways, including the inclusion of religious
aspects in the story, but the new show took it a step farther. The reimagined
series was developed by Ronald D. Moore, who describes himself as
agnostic in the truest sense of the word and says that though he was
raised Roman Catholic, he has always been interested in various religions,
such as Hinduism and other Eastern religions (Hickerson). Moore wanted to
explore mythological ideas and the basis of faith in his show, so the
reimagined Battlestar Galactica (BSG) has strong religious themes in its core,
pervading the entire length of the show and its story, despite the fact that it
is categorized as science fiction.
The story arc of Battlestar Galactica is set in a distant star system,
where a civilization of humans live on a group of planets known as the
Twelve Colonies. In the past, the Colonies had been at war with a cybernetic

Ariel Chen (ac47386)

Classical Mythology and Occult
05/08/15
race of their own creation, known as the Cylons. With the unwitting help of a
human scientist named Gaius Baltar, the Cylons launch a sudden sneak
attack on the Colonies, laying waste to the planets and devastating their
populations. Only approximately 50,000 humans survive, most of who were
aboard civilian ships that avoided destruction. Of all the Colonial Fleet, the
eponymous Battlestar Galactica appears to be the only military ship that
survived the attack. Under the leadership of Colonial Fleet officer
Commander William "Bill" Adama (portrayed by Edward James Olmos) and
President Laura Roslin (portrayed by Mary McDonnell), the Galactica and its
crew take up the task of leading the small fugitive fleet of survivors into
space in search of a fabled refuge known as Earth (Wiki).
Despite the fact that the majority of the show is set in space and
aboard spaceships, the series seemed far more interested in the sociopolitical happenings in the surviving human population than the science in
science fiction (Beliefnet). The human beings, or the Colonials, follow a
polytheistic religion that has distinctly Greco-Roman roots, and various
characters have varying degrees of piety and faith. The primary driving
narrative of BSG is that of the Colonials seeking out a planet they know as
Earth by following divine signs as well as a sacred scroll of prophecy called
the Book of Pythia. An entirely separate theology is also portrayed in the
religious faith of the Cylon race, which is a monotheistic religion with some
resemblance to Christianity and, some argue, Gnosticism. Like the Colonials,

Ariel Chen (ac47386)

Classical Mythology and Occult
05/08/15
the different humanoid Cylon models are shown to have varying degrees of
faith. Throughout the show, beliefs are challenged as events the audience
should take to be divine occur, and certain characters are ultimately
revealed to be actual messengers of God.
Many of the Colonials practice polytheism, worshiping the Lords of
Kobol. This religion appears to be the state religion as well, with government
oaths making references to the gods and with public museums housing
sacred artifacts. The Lords of Kobol closely resemble the Greek Olympian
pantheon and myths of the Greek classical and Hellenistic periods. Some of
the gods mentioned by name in the show include Zeus/Jupiter, Aphrodite,
Apollo, Ares/Mars, Athena, Artemis, Hera, Hecate, and Asclepius. The
Colonials appear to use Greek and Roman names for their gods
interchangeably. The Greco-Roman zodiac is featured prominently
throughout the show as well, as the Twelve Colonies of Kobol are named after
the signs in the zodiac: Aerilon (Aries), Aquaria (Aquarius), Canceron
(Cancer), Caprica (Capricorn), Gemenon (Gemini), Leonis (Leo), Libran
(Libra), Picon (Pisces), Sagittaron (Sagittarius), Scorpia (Scorpio), Tauron
(Taurus), and Virgon (Virgo). The basis of their religion is contained within the
Sacred Scrolls, which are said to record the history of humanity, when
humanity and the gods lived together in a kind of paradise on the planet
Kobol until the humans left the planet in tribes. This is the mythology that
the show creates that many characters within their world subscribe to.

Ariel Chen (ac47386)

Classical Mythology and Occult
05/08/15
The gods are understood in different ways by different characters and
groups in BSG, with some seeing them as literal and others as metaphorical.
The show itself seems to lean towards the literal, the non-metaphorical
interpretation; relics and artifacts supposedly left behind by the gods are
discovered, such as the Arrow of Apollo, the Tomb of Athena, the Gates of
Hera, and the Eye of Jupiter. No deity or divine being is ever shown, but it
seems to audiences that there seems to be a level of reality behind the
colonial faith that is not merely metaphorical.
Prophecy plays a significant role in the show as well, with characters
consulting with oracles on more than one occasion. In the Colonial religion,
the oracles seem to possess prophetic insight on the directions and
motivations of the Lords of Kobol and can interpret dreams when characters
seek counsel regarding them. The Sacred Scroll cited most often on the
show, the Book of Pythia (similar to the Greek Oracle of the Delphi named
Pythia), contains a prophecy that discussed the exile and rebirth of the
human race, and that a dying leader would lead the Colonies to the promised
land. One of the major characters, President Roslin, began the series fairly
skeptical of religious faith but comes to believe that she is the dying leader
described in the Book of Pythia due to the fact that she terminal breast
cancer. Her character has quite a few parallels to Moses: both prophetic
figures intending to lead twelve tribes in search of the promised land, yet are
weak in faith and the promised land was not intended for them.

Ariel Chen (ac47386)

Classical Mythology and Occult
05/08/15
Also contained within the Book of Pythia is the phrase all of this has
happened before, and all of this will happen again, which recurs significantly
throughout, is emphasized repeatedly, and is a major theme of the entire
series. This theme can be associated with the concept of Eternal return,
which is found in Indian philosophy, ancient Egypt, and was later taken up by
the Stoics (Eliade). Time is seen to be cyclic, unlike the Jewish and Christian
concepts of linear time (Eliade). All in all, the Colonial religion most closely
resembles Greek Stoicism, but it definitely contains influences from a gamut
of real-world theologies.
On the other end, the Cylon religion is particularly interesting because
it is debated even within the show the extent to which the Cylons should
even be considered beings or individuals as opposed to mere machines,
because they did begin as machines created by humanity. One of the
strongest cases for Cylons being more than machines is the fact that they
have their own monotheistic faith, even launching a war on the human
beings on the basis of their beliefs. The Cylons use a great deal of Christian
language when talking about their religion, but it is debated what school of
thought their theology most closely resembles. Some argue that they Cylons
are monotheistic fundamentalists, while others say that the Cylons are
actually mystics (Wetmore). Yet others point out the similarities they have to
the Gnostics.

Ariel Chen (ac47386)

Classical Mythology and Occult
05/08/15
The Cylons believe in a single divinity they simply term God that
created humanity. Yet they see humanity as a flawed creation, one that is
sinful and has essentially thrown away the gift of the soul and of God's love.
They believe that God directed humanity to create the Cylons as a more
perfect entity that they were to take the place of the flawed humans in the
cosmos and become, essentially, the next generation of humankind. The
Cylons, seeing themselves as humankind's children, believe they cannot not
truly come into their own until the human race is gone. The logical
conclusion they reach is that they must commit genocide of the human race
in order to evolve and mature. Their theology is rooted in the idea that the
Cylon race is a chosen people and that God loves them. The Cylon beliefs are
not stagnant through the series though; their views change significantly
throughout the show in response to events. A Cylon civil war breaks out due
to differences in beliefs towards the end of the show and many of the Cylons
ultimately see their attack on the human race as a mistake.
Similar to the Christian God or the God of the Hebrews, the Cylon God
is not just the Cylon God but God to all, and they inform the human beings
when they can that they should form a relationship with God, which is
reminiscent of evangelical Christianitys understanding of the nature of the
relationship between humanity and divinity (Wetmore). Those that argue that
the Cylons are mystics base their arguments on connections between Cylon
theology and the anonymous fourteenth-century text of Christian mysticism,

Ariel Chen (ac47386)

Classical Mythology and Occult
05/08/15
The Cloud of Unknowing (Wetmore). God cannot be known intellectually, as
the Cylons understand it, and they pray to Him and experience His love but
otherwise know nothing of Him. They do not have theological texts,
doctrines, rites, or rituals. This is very similar to what is said in The Cloud of
Unknowing (Wetmore). The Cylons have similarities with the Gnostics, as
well, even though the Gnostic idea that true salvation comes from knowledge
is contradictive. The similarities lie in that the Cylons, much like the Gnostics,
believe that a chosen few have special insight or secret instruction outside of
the canonical scriptures. The idea that God is concealed from much of
humanity is also another aspect of Gnostic belief that fits in with the Cylon
view of the hierarchy in which they seem themselves as above humanity. To
the Cylons, humanity resembles the antagonistic Demiurge, creator of the
material, and their God is the highest, unknowable God of the Gnostics
(gnosis.org).
Besides the main religions of the Colonials and the Cylons, in the fourth
season of the show a theology somewhat distinct from both is introduced in
the cult of Gaius Baltar. Baltars theology is also closely tied to Gnosticism.
He preaches that the polytheistic human theology is wrong and that there is
only one true God. There are no sacred scriptures, relics, or places of worship
only God and his messengers, or angels. God must be obeyed totally and
unquestioningly. They must surrender to Gods divine plan. The cult sees
Baltar as a prophet. God speaks to the angels, the angels speak to Baltar,

Ariel Chen (ac47386)

Classical Mythology and Occult
05/08/15
and Baltar preaches to the people. This contrasts with the Cylons, who have
an imperfect understanding of the God they worship; Baltar gets his words
directly from an angel of God. With the revelation at the end of the series
that Virtual Six, the image of a Cylon that only Baltar sees and hears is an
angel of God, it would seem that Baltars teachings are real within the show.
His theology appears to have the strongest basis in divine reality and is the
most sound (Wetmore).
The religious themes and storylines of the show all culminate in the
finale of the show in which Gods divine plan is revealed to be the creation of
our reality, the one audiences know, on the planet they find called Earth. The
scrolls of Pythia that the human beings believed were demonstrated to be
accurate, but it seemed that the Cylons and Baltar were the ones that
understood the true nature of the divine. The show itself is a rather
fundamentalist text in a way because the prophecies were shown to be true
and manifesting literally. Through the presentation of different theologies,
Battlestar Galactica was a much richer show, thematically, than the original
series, and the complex mythologies the writers created elevated it above
the typical science fiction fare.

Ariel Chen (ac47386)

Classical Mythology and Occult
05/08/15
Works Cited

Battlestar Galactica (2004). Moore, Ronald. Sci-Fi. 2003. Television.

"Born-Again 'Battlestar'" Beliefnet. Web. 6 May 2015.
Eliade, Mircea. The Myth of the Eternal Return: Cosmos and History. 2nd Pbk.
ed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2005. Print.
"The Gnostic World View: A Brief Summary of Gnosticism." Gnosis.org. Web. 6
May 2015.
Hickerson, Mike. "Ronald D. Moore on the Meaning of God in Battlestar
Galacticas Finale." Slice of SciFi. 24 Mar. 2009. Web. 6 May 2015.
Wetmore, Kevin J. The Theology of Battlestar Galactica American Christianity
in the 2004-2009 Television Series. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2012.
Print.
Wiki, Battlestar. "[Various]." Battlestar Wiki. Web. 6 May 2015.