Archaic England : $b an essay in deciphering prehistory from megalithic monuments, earthworks, customs, coins, place-names, and faerie superstitionsBayley, Harold
History
Archaic England : $b an essay in deciphering prehistory from megalithic monuments, earthworks, customs, coins, place-names, and faerie superstitions
Bayley, Harold
Archaeology; England -- Antiquities
The Arabic form of Constantinople is Kustantiniya, which compares
curiously with Kystennyns, one of the old variants of the Cornish
village named Constantine. There is a markedly Byzantine style about the
group of British coins here reproduced, and Nos. 45 and 46 manifestly
illustrate the Dioscuri, Twins, or Cabiri. The Greek word for _brothers_
or twins is _adelphi_, and as according to Bryant the Semitic _ad_ or
_ada_ meant first we may translate _adelphi_ into First Elphi or First
Fay-ther. The head of No. 49, which is obviously an heraldic or symbolic
figure, consists of the three circles, intricate symbolism underlies the
Byzantine reliquary cross here illustrated, and the same fantastic
system is behind the Gnostic paper-mark represented on Fig. 203. In
this it will be noted the eyes are represented by what are seemingly two
feathers: the feather was a symbol of the Father, and will be noted in
the Alephant emblem illustrated on page 160.
[Illustration: FIG. 204.--The Trinity, in Combat with Behemoth and
Leviathan. From _Christian Iconography_ (Didron).]
In Fig. 204 the Celestial Invictus is depicted as a Trinity; three
feathers are the emblem of the British Prince of Wales, and there is
evidently some recondite meaning in the legend that St. Barbara insisted
upon her father making three windows in a certain building on the
grounds that "_three_ windows lighten all the world and all creatures".
Upon Dioscorus inquiring of his daughter why she had upset his
arrangements for two windows, Barbara's reply is reported to have been:
"These three fenestras or windows betoken clearly the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost, the which be three persons and One Very God". The
word _person_ is radically the same as _appear_ and _appearance_, and
the portrayal of the Supreme Power as One, Two, or Three seems evidently
to have been merely a matter of inclination: Queen Vera or Virtue may be
regarded as One or as the Three Graces or Virtues. The mythic mother of
St. David is said to have been Gwen of the Three Paps, and this St. Gwen
Tierbron, or Queen of the Three Breasts, may be equated with the Lady
Triamour, and with the patron of Llandrindod or St. _triune dad_ Wells.
On the horse ornament illustrated _ante_ (No. 14, Fig. 134, p. 286),
three hearts are represented: on Fig. 205 three circles, together with a
palm branch,[374] associated with the national horse.
[Illustration: FIG. 205.--British. From Barthelemy.]
[Illustration: FIG. 206.--Decoration on British chalk drum. From _A
Guide to Antiquities of Bronze Age_ (B.M.).]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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