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
Figure 87 indicates the solar wheel, emblem of the chariot of Apollo.
This sign is a very common one upon ancient coins; sometimes the rays or
spokes are four, at others they are more numerous. Occasionally the tire
of the wheel is absent, and amongst the Etruscans the nave is omitted.
The solar cross is very common in Ireland, and amongst the Romanists
generally as a head dress for male saints.
Figure 88 is copied from Hyslop, who gives it on the authority of Col.
Hamilton Smith, who copied it from the original collection made by
the artists of the French Institute of Cairo. It is said to represent
Osiris, but this is doubtful. There is much that is intensely mystical
about the figure. The whip, or flagellum, placed over the tail, and the
head passing through the yoni, the circular spots with their central
dot, the horns with solar disc, and two curiously shaped feathers (?),
the calf reclining upon a plinth, wherein a division into three is
conspicuous, all have a meaning in reference to the mystic four.
I have long had a doubt respecting the symbolic meaning of the scourge.
Some inquirers have asserted that it is simply an emblem of power
or superiority, inasmuch as he who can castigate must be in a higher
position than the one who is punished. But of this view I can find no
proof. On the other hand, any one who is familiar with the effect
upon the male produced by flagellation, and who notices that the
representations of Osiris and the scourge show evidence that the deity
is in the same condition as one who has been subjected to the rod, will
be disposed to believe that the flagellum is an indication or symbol
of the god who gives to man the power to reproduce his like, or who can
restore the faculty after it has faded. It is not for a moment to be
supposed that a deity who was to be worshipped would be depicted as
a task-master, whose hands are more familiar with punishment than
blessing.
Figure 89 is taken from Lajard's Culte de Venus, plate i., fig. 14, and
is an enlarged impression of a gem. A similar figure is to be found in
Payne Knight's work On the Worship of Priapus. In both instances the
female is fringed with male emblems. In the one before us a fish,
apparently a dolphin, is borne in one hand. In the other the woman is
bearded. These are representations of Ashtaroth--the androgyne deity in
which the female predominates.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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