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 122 is copied from Bryant's Ancient Mythology, third edition,
vol. iii., p. 193. That author states that he copied it from Spanheim,
but gives no other reference. It is apparently from a Greek medal, and
has the word CAMIUN as an inscription. It is said to represent Juno,
Sami, or Selenitis, with the sacred peplum. The figure is remarkable
for showing the identity of the moon, the lozenge, and the female. It
is doubtful whether the attitude of the goddess is intended to represent
the cross.
As in religious Symbolism every detail has a signification, we naturally
speculate upon the meaning of the beads which fringe the lower part of
the diamond-shaped garment. We have noticed in a previous article that
the Linga when worshipped was sometimes adorned with beads, which were
the fruit of a tree sacred to Mahadeva; in the original of fig. 4, plate
xi. supra, the four arms of the cross have a series of beads depending
from them. On a very ancient coin of Citium, a rosary of beads, with a
cross, has been found arranged round a horse-shoe form; and beads
are common ornaments on Hindoo Divinities. They may only be used for
decoration and without religious signification; if they have the last, I
have not been able to discover it.
Figure 128 is a composition taken from Bryant, vol. iv., p. 286. The
rock, the water, the crescent moon as an ark, and the dove hovering
over it, are all symbolical; but though the author of it is right in his
grouping, it is clear that he is not aware of its full signification.
The reader will readily gather their true meaning from our articles upon
the Ark and Water, and from our remarks upon the Dove in Ancient Faiths,
second edition.
Figure 124 is copied from Maffei's Gemme Antiche Figurate, vol. 8, plate
xl. In the original, the figure upon the pillar is very conspicuously
phallic, and the whole composition indicates what was associated with
the worship of Priapus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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