Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism: With an Essay on Baal Worship, on the Assyrian Sacred "Grove," and Other Allied Symbols — John Shaqi
Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism: With an Essay on Baal Worship, on the Assyrian Sacred "Grove," and Other Allied SymbolsInman, Thomas
Religion
Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism: With an Essay on Baal Worship, on the Assyrian Sacred "Grove," and Other Allied Symbols
Inman, Thomas
Christian art and symbolism; Symbolism
The group of figures represents Isis and Horus in an unusual attitude.
They are enclosed in a framework of the flowers of the Egyptian bean,
or of the lotus. This framework may be compared to the Assyrian "grove,"
and another in which the Virgin Mary stands. The bell was of old a
symbol of virginity, for Eastern maidens wore them until marriage (see
Isa. iii. 16). The origin of this custom was the desire that every
maiden should have at her marriage, or sale, that which is spoken of in
the Pentateuch as "the token of virginity." It was supposed that this
membrane, technically called "the hymen" might be broken by too long a
stride in walking or running, or by clambering over a stile or wall.
To prevent such a catastrophe, a light chain or cord was worn, under or
over the dress, at the level of the knees or just above. Its length only
permitted a short step and a mincing gait. Slight bells were used as a
sort of ornament, and when the bearer was walking their tinkling was a
sort of proclamation that the lady who bore them was in the market as a
virgin. After "the flower" had been plucked, the bells were no longer of
use. They were analogous to the virgin snood worn on the head of Scotch
maidens. Isis bears the horns of a cow, because that animal is equally
noted for its propensity to seek the male and its care to preserve the
offspring. As the bull with a human head, so a human being with cow's
horns, was made to represent a deity. The solar orb between the horns,
and the serpent round the body, indicate the union with the male;
an incongruous conjunction with the emblem of the sacred Virgin,
nevertheless a very common one. In some of the coins pictured by E. P.
Knight, in Worship of Priapus, etc., a cow caressing her sucking
calf replaces Isis and Horus, just as a bull on other coins replaces
Dionysus. The group is described in full in Ancient Faiths, second
edition, Vol. i., pp. 53, 54.
Figures 3, 4, are taken from Ginsburg's Kabbalah, and illustrate that in
the arrangement of "potencies" two unite, like parents, to form a third.
Sometimes we see also how three such male attributes as splendour,
firmness, and solidity join with beauty to form the mystic arba, the
trinity and unity.
Figures 5, 6, are copies from figures found in Carthage and in Scotland,
from Forbes Leslie's Early Races of Scotland, vol. i., plate vi., p. 46
(London, 1866). This book is one to which the reader's attention should
be directed. The amount of valuable information which it contains is
very large, and it is classified in a philosophical, and, we may add,
attractive manner. The figures represent the arbor vitae.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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