Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism Part 5

It is to be noticed, and once for all let us a.s.sert our belief, that every detail in a sculpture relating to religion has a signification; that the first right hand figure carries a peculiarly shaped staff; and that the winged symbol above the yoni consists of a male archer in a winged circle, a.n.a.lagous to the symbolic bow, arrow, and target. The bow was an emblem amongst the Romans, and _arc.u.m tendere_ was equivalent to _arrigere_. In the _Golden a.s.s_ of Apuleius we find the metaphor used in his account of his dealings with amorous frolicsome Fotis, "Ubi primam sagittam saevi cupidinis in ima procordia mea delapsam excepi, arc.u.m, meum et ipse vigore tetendi."

Again, we find in Petronius--

Astra igitur mea mens arc.u.m dum tendit in ilia.

Ex imo ad summum viva sagitta volat.

Figures 8 to 14 are representations of the G.o.ddess mother, the virgin and child, Ishtar or Astarte, Mylitta, Ceres, Rhea, Venus, Sacti, Mary, Yoni, Juno, Mama Ocello.

Fig. 8 is a copy of the deified woman or celestial mother, from Idalium, in Cyprus. Fig. 9 is from Egypt, and is remarkable for the cow's horns (for whose signification see Vol. i., p. 54, Ancient Faiths, second edition), which here replace the lunar crescent, in conjunction with the sun, the two being symbolic of hermaphroditism, whilst above is a seat or throne, emblematic of royalty.

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The two figures are copied from Rawlinson's _Herodotus_, vol. ii., p.

447, in an essay by Sir Gardiner Wilkinson, wherein other ill.u.s.trations of the celestial virgin are given. Fig. 10 is a copy of plate 59, Moor's Hindu Pantheon, wherein it is ent.i.tled, "Crishna nursed by Devaki, from a highly finished picture." In the account of Crishna's birth and early history, as given by Moor (Op. Cit., pp. 197, et seq.), there is as strong a resemblance to the story of Christ as the picture here described has to papal paintings of Mary and Jesus. Fig. 11 is an enlarged representation of Devaki. Fig. 12 is copied from Rawlinson's _Ancient Monarchies_, vol. iii., p. 899. Fig. 13 is a figure of the mother and child found in ancient Etruria at Volaterra; it is depicted in Fabretti's Italian Glossary, plate xxvi., figure 349.

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It is described as a marble statue, now in the Guarnacci Museum. The letters, which are Etruscan, and read from right to left, may be thus rendered into the ordinary Latin characters from left to right, MI: GANA: LARTHIAS ZANL: VELKINEI: ME - SE.; the translation I take to be, "the votive offering of Larthias (a female) of Za.n.a.l, ( = Zancle = Messana in Sicily), (wife) of Velcinius, in the sixth month." It is uncertain whether we are to regard the statue as an effigy of the celestial mother and child, or as the representation of some devout lady who has been spared during her pregnancy, her parturition, or from some disease affecting herself and child. a.n.a.logy would lead us to infer that the Queen of Heaven is intended. Figure 14 is copied from Hislop's _Two Babylons_; it represents Indranee, the wife of Indra or Indur, and is to be found in Indur Subba, the south front of the Caves of Ellora, Asiatic Researches, vol. vi., p. 893.

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Indra is equivalent to Jupiter Tonans, and is represented as seated on an elephant; "the waterspout is the trunk of this elephant, and the iris is his bow, which it is not auspicious to point out," Moor's _Pantheon_, p. 260. He is represented very much as if he were a satyr, Moor's _Pantheon_, p. 264; but his wife is always spoken of as personified chast.i.ty and propriety. Indranee is seated on a lioness, which replaces the cow of Isis, the former resembling the latter in her feminine and maternal instincts.

Figures 15, 16, are copies of Diana of the Ephesians; the first is from Hislop, who quotes Kitto's _Ill.u.s.trated Commentary_, vol. v., p. 250; the second from Higgins' _Anacalypsis_, who quotes Montfaucon, plate 47.

I remember to have seen a figure similar to these in the Royal Museum at Naples.

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The tower upon the head represents virginity (see _Ancient Faiths_, second edition, Vol. i., p. 144); the position of the hand forms a cross with the body: the numerous b.r.e.a.s.t.s indicate abundance; the black colour of Figure 16 indicates the ordinary tint of the feminine _lanugo_, the almost universal colour of the hair of the Orientals being black about the yoni as well as on the head; or, as some mythologists imagine, "Night," who is said to be one of the mothers of creation. (See _Ancient Faiths_, second edition, Vol. n., p. 882.) The emblems upon the body indicate the attributes or symbols of the male and female creators.

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Figure 17 is a complicated sign of the yoni, delta, or door of life. It is copied from Bonomi's _Palaces of Nineveh_, p. 809.

Figure 18 signifies the same thing; the priests adoring it present the pine cone and basket, symbolic of Ann, Hea, and their residence. Compare the object of the a.s.syrian priest's adoration with that adored by a Christian divine, in a subsequent figure. (See _Ancient Faiths_, second edition, Vol. I., p. 88, et seq., and Vol. n., p. 648.)

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Figure 19 is copied from Lajard (Op. Cit.), plate xxii., fig. 5. It is the impression of an ancient gem, and represents a man clothed with a fish, the head being the mitre; priests thus clothed, often bearing in their hand the mystic bag, are common in Mesopotamian sculptures; two such are figured on Figs. 63, 64, infra. In almost every instance it will be recognised that the fish's head is represented as of the same form as the modern bishop's mitre.

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Figure 20 represents two equilateral triangles, infolded so as to make a six-rayed star, the idea embodied being the androgyne nature of the deity, the pyramid with its apex upwards signifying the male, that with the apex downwards the female. The line at the central junction is not always seen, but the shape of the three parallel bars reappears in Hindoo frontlet signs in conjunction with a delta or door, shaped like the "grove" in Fig. 17; thus showing that the lines serve also to indicate the masculine triad. The two triangles are also understood as representing fire, which mounts upwards, and water, which flows downwards. Fire again is an emblem of the sun, and water of the pa.s.sive or yielding element in nature. Fire also typifies Eros or Cupid. Hymen is always represented carrying a torch. It is also symbolic of love; e.g., Southey writes.

"But love is indestructible, Its holy flame for ever burneth; From heaven it came, To heaven returneth."

And again, Scott writes--

"It is not phantasy's hot fire Whose wishes, soon as granted, fly," &c.

Figures 21, 22, are other indications of the same fundamental idea. The first represents Nebo, the Nahbi, or the navel, characterised by a ring with a central mound.

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The second represents the circular and upright stone so common in Oriental villages. The two indicate the male and female; and a medical friend resident in India has told me, that he has seen women mount upon the lower stone and seat themselves reverently upon the upright one, having first adjusted their dress so as to prevent it interfering with their perfect contact with the miniature obelisc. During the sitting, a short prayer seemed flitting over the wors.h.i.+ppers' lips, but the whole affair was soon over.

Whilst upon this subject, it is right to call attention to the fact that animate as well as inorganic representatives of the Creator have been used by women with the same definite purpose. The dominant idea is that contact with the emblem, a mundane representative of the deity, of itself gives a blessing. Just as many Hindoo females seek a benefaction by placing their own yoni upon the consecrated linga, so a few regard intercourse with certain high priests of the Maharajah sect as incarnations of Vishnu, and pay for the privilege of being spouses of the G.o.d. In Egypt, where the goat was a sacred animal, there were some religious women who sought good luck by uniting themselves therewith.

We have heard of British professors of religion endeavouring to persuade their penitents to procure purity by what others would call defilement and disgrace. And the "cord of St. Francis" replaces the stone "linga."

Sometimes with this "cord" the rod is a.s.sociated; and those who have read the trial of Father Gerard, for his seduction of Miss Cadiere under a saintly guise, will know that Christianity does not always go hand in hand with propriety.

With the Hindoo custom compare that which was done by Liber on the grave of Prosumnus (_Arn.o.bius adverma Gentes_, translated by Bryce and Campbell, T. and T. Clark, Edinburgh, pp. 252, 258), which is far too gross to be described here; and as regards the sanct.i.ty of a stone whose top had been anointed with oil, see first sentence of paragraph 89, ibid, page 81. The whole book will well repay perusal.

Figures 28, 24, are discs, circles, aureoles, and wheels, to represent the sun. Sometimes the emblem of this luminary is a.s.sociated with rays, as in Plate iii., Fig. 8, and in another Figure elsewhere. Occasionally, as in some of the ancient temples in Egypt discovered in 1854, the sun's rays are represented by lines terminating in hands. Sometimes one or more of these contain objects as if they were gifts sent by the G.o.d; amongst other objects, the _crux ansata_ is shown conspicuously. In a remarkable plate in the Transactions of the _Royal Society of Literature_ (second series, vol. i., p. 140), the sun is identified with the serpent; its rays terminate in hands, some holding the handled cross or _tau_, and before it a queen, apparently, wors.h.i.+ps. She is offering what seems to be a lighted tobacco pipe, the bowl being of the same shape as that commonly used in Turkey; from this a wavy pyramid of flame rises. Behind her, two female slaves elevate the sistrum; whilst before her, and apparently between herself and her husband, are two altars occupied by round cakes and one crescent-shaped emblem.

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The aureole was used in ancient days by Babylonian artists or sculptors, when they wished to represent a being, apparently human, as a G.o.d. The same plan has been adopted by the moderns, who have varied the symbol by representing it now as a golden disc, now as a terrestrial orb, again as a rayed sphere. A writer, when describing a G.o.d as a man, can say that the object he sketches is divine; but a painter thinks too much of his art to put on any of his designs, "this woman is a G.o.ddess," or "this creature is a G.o.d"; he therefore adds an aureole round the head of his subject, and thus converts a very ordinary man, woman, or child into a deity to be reverenced; modern artists thus proving themselves to be far more skilful in depicting the Almighty than the carpenters and goldsmiths of the time of Isaiah (xl. 18, 19, xli. 6, 7, xliv. 9-19), who used no such contrivance.

Figure 24 is another representation of the solar disc, in which it is marked with a cross. This probably originated in the wheel of a chariot having four spokes, and the sun being likened to a charioteer. The chariots of the sun are referred to in 2 Kings xxiii. 11 as idolatrous emblems. Of these the wheel was symbolic. The identification of this emblem with the sun is very easy, for it has repeatedly been found in Mesopotamian gems in conjunction with the moon. In a very remarkable one figured in Rawlinson's _Ancient Monarchies_, vol. ii., p. 249, the cross is contrived as five circles. It is remarkable that in many papal pictures the wafer and the cup are depicted precisely as the sun and moon in conjunction. See Pugin's Architectural Glossary, plate iv., fig.

5.

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Figures 25, 26, 27, are simply varieties of the solar wheel, intended to represent the idea of the sun and moon, the mystic triad and unit, the "arba," or four. In Figure 26, the mural ornament is introduced, that being symbolic of feminine virginity. For explanation of Figure 27, see Figures 85, 86.

Figure 28 is copied from Lajard, Op. Cit., plate xiv. F. That author states that he has taken it from a drawing of an Egyptian stele, made by M. E. Prisse (_Monum. Egypt_., plate x.x.xvii.), and that the original is in the British Museum. There is an imperfect copy of it in Rawlinson's _Herodotus_, vol. ii.

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The original is too indelicate to be represented fully. Isis, the central figure, is wholly nude, with the exception of her head-dress, and neck and breast ornaments. In one hand she holds two blades of corn apparently, whilst in the other she has three lotus flowers, two being egg-shaped, but the central one fully expanded; with these, which evidently symbolise the mystic triad, is a.s.sociated a circle emblematic of the yoni, thus indicating the fourfold creator. Isis stands upon a lioness; on one side of her stands a clothed male figure, holding in one hand the _crux ansata_, and in the other an upright spear. On the opposite side is a male figure wholly nude, like the G.o.ddess, save his head-dress and collar, the ends of which are arranged so as to form a cross. His hand points to a flagellum; behind him is a covert reference to the triad, whilst in front Osiris offers undisguised homage to Isis.

The head-dress of the G.o.ddess appears to be a modified form of the crescent moon inverted. It is not exclusively Egyptian, as it has been found in conjunction with other emblems on an a.s.syrian obelisc of Phallic form.

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Figures 29, 80, 31, 32, represent the various triangles and their union, which have been adopted in wors.h.i.+p. Figure 29 is said to represent fire, which amongst the ancient Persians was depicted as a cone, whilst the figure inverted represents water.

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Figure 83 is an ancient Hindoo emblem, called Sri Iantra. The circle represents the world, in which the living exist; the triangle pointing upwards shows the male creator; and the triangle with the apex downwards the female; distinct, yet united. These have a world within themselves, in which the male is uppermost. In the central circle the image to be wors.h.i.+pped is placed. When used, the figure is placed on the ground, with Brahma to the east, and Laksmi to the west. Then a relic of any saint, or image of Buddha, like a modern papal crucifix, is added, and the shrine for wors.h.i.+p is complete. It has now been adopted in Christian churches and Freemasons' lodges.

It will be noticed that the male emblem points to the rising sun, and the female triangle points to the setting sun, when the earth seems to receive the G.o.d into her couch.

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Figure 84 is a very ancient Hindoo emblem, whose real signification I am unable to divine. It is used in calculation; it forms the basis of some game, and it is a sign of vast import in sacti wors.h.i.+p.

A coin, bearing this figure upon it, and having a central cavity with the Etruscan letters SUPEN placed one between each two of the angles, was found in a fictile urn, at Volaterrae, and is depicted in Fabretti's _Italian Glossary_, plate xxvi., fig. 858, bis a. As the coin is round, the reader will see that these letters may be read as Supen, Upens, Pensu, Ensup, or Nsupe. A search through Fabretti's _Lexicon_ affords no clue to any meaning except for the third. There seems, indeed, strong reason to believe that _pensu_ was the Etruscan form of the Pali _panca_, the Sanscrit _panch_, the Bengalli _panch_, and the Greek _penta_, i. e., five. Five, certainly, would be an appropriate word for the pentangle. It is almost impossible to avoid speculating upon the value of this fragment of archaeological evidence in support of the idea that the Greeks, Aryans, and Etruscans had something in common; but into the question it would be unprofitable to enter here.