Longinius and the spear of destiny

[Dirigible]

This is about history and mythology, not religion, people. Let's keep it inside the rules, please?

A TV prog (Roar, the celtic equivalent of Hercules and Xena, as it happens) that used to be on featured a character, Longinius - supposedly the centurion that stabbed Jesus while he was fixed to the cross.

On the prog, he was cursed with immortality, able only to finally rest if slain by the spear he used on golgotha. Is there a basis on history or myth for this aspect of the tale?

 

[RangerWickett]

I've always heard of it as 'Longinus,' not 'Longinius.'

Anyway, L and his spear crop up all over the place. In at least three movies and one video game, Hitler was looking for the Lance of Longinus during World War II. In Neon Genesis Evangelion, apparently the Japanese have it as a defense against giant space aliens, and it's, like, 300 ft. long.

I don't know about Longinus himself being cursed. From what I recall of the legend, he repented and ended up wandering Rome and trying to make up for stabbing Jesus by spreading word of him. No doubt he was eventually stoned to death.

Interestingly, I have a pair of immortal air elemental wizards in my home campaign, named Longinus and Pilus. A pilus, as any Roman history buff can tell you, is a spear.

 

[Shemeska]

As I recall, Longinus eventually repented, converted, and became Bishop of Cappadocia. There's a statue of Saint Longinus in Saint Peters Cathedral as well.

So Roar's take on 'ol Longinus was a bit different from the path that the historical figure himself followed according to tradition. Still it was a kick ass show.

 

[shilsen]

I've always heard of it as 'Longinus,' not 'Longinius.'

Anyway, L and his spear crop up all over the place. In at least three movies and one video game, Hitler was looking for the Lance of Longinus during World War II.

Actually, Hitler found it. Or one of them, since there were a couple of different ones in Europe at the time which were claimed to be the spear of Longinus. IIRC, the one Hitler obtained (and which coincidentally was recovered by the Allies very shortly before his death) was the one which was supposedly owned by Frederick Barbarossa.

As for the Roar version, I always saw it as a conflation of the story of Longinus and that of the Wandering Jew (who has various names, such as Malchus or Ahasuerus), who is doomed to immortality till Judgement Day.

 

[Cam Banks]

Legends of individuals connected to the death of Christ being cursed to walk the earth (and becoming known as the Wandering Jew) until Judgment Day exist in a number of forms and often involve different people. The story of Ahasverus comes from such a tradition, in which the character is the shoemaker who doesn't help Jesus as he carries the cross but tells him to move faster, or the Roman, Cartaphilus, who strikes Jesus on his way through the gate in Jerusalem for loitering. Malchus, who may or may not be the man who gets his ear cut off by Peter, is another candidate.

Cartaphilus and Longinus are often the same person in these medieval stories, so it's not that surprising that Roar identifies him as the Wandering Jew.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Dirigible]

...a conflation of the story of Longinus and that of the Wandering Jew (who has various names, such as Malchus or Ahasuerus), who is doomed to immortality till Judgement Day...

Aha! Now we're getting somewhere!

[engage google-fu]

Yes. I need an immortal character, preferably one who was around at the year Dot for an NPC background... being able to use the naught legionnaire would ahve been better, but I can adapt the wandering jew.

Thanks for helping me celar that up, everyone.

 

[nikolai]

Just to chime in with the above posters, there are plenty of mythic characters who are doomed to walk the earth forever in return for their blasphemies. The program conflates these with the person who wielded the Spear of Destiny (on a side note: how does he know the spear will slay him?).

On a side note: the Spear of Destiny (aka the Holy Lance, the Bleeding Lance) is one of the big relics, second only to the Grail. There are legends that it is a terrible weapon that should not be used. Striking someone with it is sacrilege and incurs divine wrath. In Arthurian legends it was used to deal the Dolorous Stroke. This caused a wound which would not heal, rendered the wielder of the lance unconscious for days, set off an earthquake, and turned three kingdoms into a Wasteland.

 

[WayneLigon]

Additional sightings. In Pre-Crisis DC continuity, the Spear of Destiny weilded by Hitler was the thing that kept the American superheroes from simply going over there and kicking Hitler's butt to the Moon; any Allied superpowered person who entered Axis-dominated territory immediately turned evil.

 

[Zhure]

Barry Sadler (a Green Beret who allegedly wrote the song the Ballad of the Green Beret) was the author* of a pulp series about Casca the immortal. If memory serves the character's name was Casca Rufius Longinus, and he was cursed with immortality because of his use of the spear against Jesus.

(*Some sources I've read cite Sadler as a ghost author and the publisher was only cashing in on Sadler's fame at the time to boost sales. From my own analysis of the writing I'm fairly certain Keith Bulmer was the author of at least three of the circa nineteen books (1, 2, and 19) but in personal interviews Bulmer neither confirms nor denies it, instead claiming he doesn't recall. As Bulmer is in his eighties and had a stroke since then, he might not just be prevaricating. There are also those who claim Sadler didn't write Ballad of the Green Beret but was given the song as part of a PR movement during the Viet Nam conflict.)

Greg

 

[diaglo]

and of course, Barry Sadler is dead so you can't ask him.

i have all of the Casca books.