Katana VentraIP

Unknown God

The Unknown God or Agnostos Theos (Ancient Greek: Ἄγνωστος Θεός) is a theory by Eduard Norden first published in 1913 that proposes, based on the Christian Apostle Paul's Areopagus speech in Acts 17:23, that in addition to the twelve main gods and the innumerable lesser deities, ancient Greeks worshipped a deity they called "Agnostos Theos"; that is: "Unknown God", which Norden called "Un-Greek".[1] In Athens, there was a temple specifically dedicated to that god and very often Athenians would swear "in the name of the Unknown God" (Νὴ τὸν Ἄγνωστον, Nē ton Agnōston).[2] Apollodorus, Philostratus[3] and Pausanias wrote about the Unknown God as well.[4]

In Ancient Egypt[edit]

The idea of an unknown god, however, seems to predate the Greek. For in Ancient Egypt, Amun was an unknowable god, not only in the sense of his name being unknown, but also his identity or essence.

Si deus si dea

Primum Movens

Dii involuti

General revelation

. Translated by Max Mueller

"Vedic Hymn To the Unknown God"