John Champlin Portrait 1998

Here's another of my sketch portraits from 1998. This informal gentleman was John Champlin, who moved in many circles. He was a veteran, an academic, a family man, writer, esotericist, and scholar of Greek and Latin classics. I met him at a small scholarly conference at Yale University in New Haven. This convention was  "Mithracon," devoted to exploring the ancient Roman men's cult of Mithras the Bull-Slayer and related topics. It was not sponsored by Yale but it used the library and the museum. The group I attended was only a few people, maybe seven, but we had a great time being academics for a day. Saturday had study visits to the Library, with a presentation on our topic on Saturday night. Sunday was a visit to the Mithraeum, the temple of Mithras at the Yale Museum. My presentation was on the relations between Mithraism and Zoroastrianism.

With such a little group we all got to know each other. We listened to each others' stories and adventures, and John was a master storyteller - especially about himself. He revealed to us that he had performed spying and "black ops" actions in Russia and Eastern Europe. He was an Army veteran. And he had been captured and held in the notorious Lubyanka prison in Russia for many years.

We other scholars knew of Champlin's reputation as a fabricator of history and we didn't try to disprove him; it was just, "OK, interesting if true." Mithras was more important, a god whom Roman soldiers revered as their protector. Of course, John claimed direct descent from Mithraic Romans, and that there was a "chapter" of Mithras in the Army which he led, where the ancient traditions had remained unbroken. Other scholars, including me, said, "Right. Uh huh." No evidence! John didn't mind being contradicted; he assumed that his claims were going to be disbelieved, so why not talk about it unsecured?

John Champlin died of an infection a few years later, so his stories will remain unsubstantiated.  But many years later, I was reading a "reputable" newspaper and I found an article about American operatives held in Lubyanka prison. I immediately thought of Champlin and his fabulizing. Was he really imprisoned? What else was true that we assumed were only shadow stories? Light a candle to the Bull-slayer in the underground temple and maybe the ghosts  will speak.

Black tech pen on sketchbook page, 5" x 8", March 13, 1998.