The Letter of Aristeas, an ancient text purporting to describe the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek (the Septuagint), touches on this very question. And surprisingly, it does so in the context of… debunking the idea of deifying inventors!
Think about it. Someone invents the wheel. Incredible, right? But did they create the wood, the stone, the very idea of circularity? According to the Letter of Aristeas, absolutely not. "For the inventors simply took certain objects already created and by combining them together, showed that they possessed a fresh utility: they did not themselves create the substance of the thing."
It’s a pretty straightforward argument. These so-called inventors, these heroes of innovation, they're just remixing existing materials. They're not pulling something from nothing. So, why on earth would we elevate them to god-like status?
The author of the Letter of Aristeas is pretty blunt about this. He says, "it is a vain and foolish thing for people to make gods of men like themselves." Ouch. That stings a little, doesn’t it? Especially when we live in a culture that often worships at the altar of innovation and entrepreneurship.
He even goes a step further, pointing out that in his own time, there are folks far more inventive and learned than these ancient figures who were deified. And yet, nobody’s building temples to them! The logic is airtight. If we're not worshipping the modern geniuses, why were we so quick to deify the ones from the past?
The text then takes a bit of a jab at the originators of these myths. "The makers and authors of these myths think that they are the wisest of the Greeks." It's a subtle dig, implying that these myth-makers are perhaps a little too impressed with their own cleverness. Maybe they got carried away with their storytelling, blurring the lines between human achievement and divine power.
So, what’s the takeaway?
Perhaps it's a reminder to stay grounded. To appreciate innovation and ingenuity, absolutely. But also to recognize that we're all standing on the shoulders of giants (or, you know, rearranging pre-existing materials). True creation, the Letter of Aristeas suggests, is something else entirely. Something perhaps beyond human capacity. And maybe, just maybe, that’s a good thing. It keeps us humble, keeps us searching, and keeps us from turning ourselves into idols.