Longinius and the spear of destiny

[Wombat]

This is one of those matters that gets tied up with a lot of pseudo-history and legends; the tale is often interwoven with both the tales of the Holy Grail (a procession involving the Grail in Chretien de Troye's Parsival is led by a spear that constantly drips blood) and with many tales of the Crusades (certain histories declare the Spear was re-discovered on the First Crusade, but some say in a later Crusade). And since the Grail is connected in many people's minds with earlier Celtic tales of cauldrons, so too is the Spear connected by association with the Spear of Lugh of the Long Arm, at least in supposed powers.

The Spear has been connected with the Barvarian Illuminati, the Thule Society, and hundreds of other groups.

In the end it is one of the most obscure and fruitful areas for legends and the crossovers with history, pseudo- and otherwise. It can be the center of quests for dozens of different types of games. I'm pretty sure Ken Hite worked it into GURPS: Cabal; I know it appears in Chaosium's Pendragon. The nice thing with it is that you could place either the Spear or its wielder in any era on Earth, thus connecting almost any two acts, conspiracies, or cabals together. Talk about ultimate flexibility!

 

[Shemeska]

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.

There's several major roman era spears held by some to be -the- Spear of Destiny. The one that Hitler had possession of was a roman spear head, bound with wire to a nail said to be from the crucifixion. The spear was then before Hitler invaded Austria, and is now in the Royal Hapsburg Treasure House on display. The spear there, even if not the spear used on Christ, has a colorful enough history by itself to warrent a place in history. There's a colorful history behind it of European rulers who had possession of it, or are claimed to have had possession of this particular spear. However I should note that it's a modern urban legend that Hitler committed suicide at roughly the same time that the spear, or at least the location it was held at, was captured by Allied troops. Also an urban legend is the rumors that Gen. George Patton was similarly obsessed by The Spear and sought to bring it back with him to the US.

The second spear claimed by some to be -the- spear is one in the possession of the Vatican. It was a roman era spear that was gifted to the Church by one of the Turkish emperors. I'm not familiar enough with the tale here to say much about it, or vouch for the authenticity of its claim.

There's also another spear somewhere in the Ukraine with some claims of authenticity behind it. Again, I'm not familiar enough with its claims to vouch for it.

There's others as well with their own colorful legends that aren't held in as much regard, or well enough known by myself, to include here. Oh, and a google search on the Hapsburg spear should get you some pictures of it.

 

[Frostmarrow]

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

I love those books. Sadly I only have number 1 and number 4. (The Eternal Mercenary and Panzer Soldier). The cool thing about Casca is that in each episode he has to endure a fate worse than death. Since he cannot die. So along the way he has been dehydrated completely, eaten by crabs, entombed, had his heart removed, spent a lot of time in an oubliette, and so on. Still he remains good and he knows the difference between right and wrong (even though he is not much of a philosopher). I even had a St Bernhard named Casca - a great name for a dog!

 

[Frostmarrow]

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

Pär Lagerkvist, a Nobel Prize-winner, wrote a novel on the topic of Ahasverus. It's called The Death of Ahasverus. I haven't read it but I'm sure it's worth it. You can find it here: Amazon.com

 

[Dogbrain]

The pretty story:

Centurion Longinus stabs Christ in the side during the Cruicifixion, sanctifying the spear by means of Holy Blood. Centuries later, under the reign of Maximianus, the spear found its way into the hands of "St Morris" (St Victor the Moor -> St Moorish -> St Morris -> San Moritz), who refused to slaughter fellow Christians and thus set an example as the "First Christian Knight". (St Victor's hagiography underwent quite a bit of alteration). It was then had by Constantine the Great, Theodosius, Theodoric, Alaric, and Justinian. Then Charles Martel got it, and it was held by that branch of the Carolingians who got the "Holy Roman Emperor" title. It was in the possession of the Holy Roman Emperors up to that state's dissolution, after which it was a possession of the Habsburgs and then Austria. Great powers, yadda yadda yadda, Hitler, secret occult uses, yadda yadda crappa, General Patton, crappa yadda crappa, lots of other New Agey conspiracy theory nutso stuff.


The boring reality:

A recent and extensive examination of the Spear of Destiny showed that the spear head was of a type made during the rule of Friederich Barbarossa (1152-1190), with many later embellishments. In its center was a crucifixion nail that looked like it was most likely an authentic Roman nail, although it had been altered.

 

[Asmor]

In Tech Romancer (a.k.a. Choukosenki Kikaioh), a surprising little gem of a fighter for the Dreamcast made by Capcom, one of the characters who's modelled after Evangelion (all the characters are modelled after different mech animes, some even mixes) has a weapon called the Longinus Spear.

 

[Klaus]

In Post-Crisis DC cronology, Hitler _still_ used the Spear of Destiny to keep the Allied superheroes out of Europe and the Pacific battlegrounds. Any superpowered beings who entered would fall under Hitler's command. That;s why non-powered heroes like the Americommando, the Manhunter, Sgt. Rock, the Losers and the Haunted Tank could still fight. But imagine Dr. Fate or the Spectre under the Axis' thrall?

In one of the possible origins for DC's Phantom Stranger, he was the Wandering Jew. Others said he was an angel who didn't take either Michael's or Lucifer's side, or a scientist from the future who accidentaly teleported himself to the Big Bang and received the power of the universe itself. Other claims he's the son of Superman and Wonder Woman from the Kingdom Come universe, but that's lame...

Oh, and ROAR was an amazing series, and I'm sad it never caught on, being so much better than Herc or Xena... Plus Heath Ledger was a better actor...

 

[Umbran]

I've also seen two disparate interpretations of how and why the spear was used, which can drastically alter the latery mythology. One is that Longinus stabs Christ on the cross, causing pain. The other is that Longinus actually stabs in mercy, to try to end Christ's suffering. In the latter case, the Big Guy is somewhat elss upset, and the spear is somewhat more safe to use.

 

[Rackhir]

In Post-Crisis DC cronology, Hitler _still_ used the Spear of Destiny to keep the Allied superheroes out of Europe and the Pacific battlegrounds. Any superpowered beings who entered would fall under Hitler's command. That;s why non-powered heroes like the Americommando, the Manhunter, Sgt. Rock, the Losers and the Haunted Tank could still fight. But imagine Dr. Fate or the Spectre under the Axis' thrall?

Slight change. There was a Japanese Sorcerer who had the holy grail that kept the Allied Superheroes out of the Pacific theater. Also according to this web site.

http://ourworld.cs.com/argentprime/spear.htm

The mind control effect was against "Heroes vunerable to Magic", what ever that means. Though as we all know Sups has no defenses vs magic.

 

[Rackhir]

In Post-Crisis DC cronology, Hitler _still_ used the Spear of Destiny to keep the Allied superheroes out of Europe and the Pacific battlegrounds. Any superpowered beings who entered would fall under Hitler's command. That;s why non-powered heroes like the Americommando, the Manhunter, Sgt. Rock, the Losers and the Haunted Tank could still fight. But imagine Dr. Fate or the Spectre under the Axis' thrall?

Slight change. There was a Japanese Sorcerer who had the holy grail that kept the Allied Superheroes out of the Pacific theater. Also according to this web site which seems to be a very good summary of the history of the Spear in the DC universe.

http://ourworld.cs.com/argentprime/spear.htm

The mind control effect was against "Heroes vunerable to Magic", what ever that means. Though as we all know Sups has no defenses vs magic.