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Terence Duquesne – Black and Gold BLACK AND GOLD GOD Oxfordshire Communications in Egyptology V BLACK AND GOLD GOD colour symbolism of the god Anubis with observations on the phenomenology of colour in Egyptian and comparative religion Terence DuQuesne DA'TH SCHOLARLY SERVICES DARENGO PUBLICATIONS London 1996 first published in 1996 Oxfordshire Communications in Egyptology V Da'th Scholarly Services Darengo Publications 3 1b N orbury Crescent London SW16 4JS UK Copyright © Terence DuQuesne 1996 All rights reserved 299'.31 ISBN 1-871266-22-X Erik Hornung in Dankbarkeit und Freundschaft gewidmet Er ist einer der bleibenden Bo ten, der nach weit in die Tiiren der Toten Schalen mit ruhmlichen Fruchten halt. Contents page Introductory 7 I PIDLOSOPIDCAL, PHYSICAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF COLOUR (§§1-9) 9 11COLOURS IN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN LIFE AND SYMBOLISM (§§10-27) u.i Colours in a para-logical society (§§10-14) 14 n.z The colour black (§§15-23) 18 ll.3 Osiris km(y) (§§24-27) 22 ill A DARKER SHADE OF BLACK: COLOUR ASSOCIATIONS OF ANUBIS (§§28-67) Ill. 1 Kenningar (§§28-33) 24 Ill.2 The Ancient of Nights (§§34-41) 26 Ill.3 Le bel horizontal (§§42-45) 29 ill.4 ...and other mythical beasts (§§46-48) 32 ill.5 Stirbt der Fuchs ... (§§49-54) 34 m.s Spirits of the West (§§55-57) 37 ill.7 Greco-Egyptianmagic (§§58-61) 38 Ill.8 Zoology: colouring injackals (§§62-67) 40 IV COLOUR SYMBOLISM AND CANIDS IN COMP ARATIVE RELIGION (§§68-97) IV. I Africa (§§68-72) 42 IV.2 Asia: Semitic cultures (§§73-76) 44 IV.3 Asia: India and Persia (§§77-8I) 46 IV.4 Asian and Amerindiancultures(§§82-85) 48 IV.5 Classical Greece and Rome (§§86-94) 50 IV.6 European folklore,magic, and alchemy(§§95-97) 54 V THE GOD THAT SUCCEEDED: VERSUCH ElNER DEUTUNG (§§98-111) 56 ANNEX I ANCIENTEGYPTIANPIGMENTSANDFAIENCES Ahmed El Goresy and Solveig Schiegl 63 ANNEX2 COLOURSOFXXIstDYNASTYCOFFINS Andrzej Niwinski 65 Abbreviations 67 Bibliography 69 Indexlocorum 98 Indexverborum lOO Index nominum et rerum 102 INTRODUCTORY Inone ofbis most touching poems, addressed to a beloved dog, Rilke asked 'Wer zeigt mitFingern aufeinen Geruch?' * Aromas are difficult to describe intelligently, and so too are colours. Even apparently basic physical properties of colour do not lend themselves to easy discussion, and with averyfew notable exceptions philosophers have left the subject safely alone. When one attempts to dealwith the symbolism of colours, the problems are compounded. Yet the field is so rich that, however inadequate one's consideration of it, interesting findings will emerge. The present work focusses on certain aspects of colour use and symbolism in ancient Egypt, concentrating on black and gold, the hues particularly associated with the god Anubis. A good deal ofcomparative material- philosophical, anthropological, archaeological, psychological, and biological- is cited in the hope of illuminating the significance ofthese and other colours, both in theEgyptian context and for ourselves. As a poet, I make no apology for the inclusion of a number of poetic quotations, which I hope will inform and engage the reader. This book is part of my ongoing research into the jackal gods ofEgypt, to whom I am devoting a substantial volume which isnow in active preparation. Colour symbolism in ancient Egypt has received the attention of very few scholars. Some useful work on usage of colours has been done," and there are valuable, if very brief, accounts by Hermann and Cagiano de Azevedo (1969), by Brunner -Traut (1977), and by Wilkinson (1994), which include discussion of symbolic aspects. The essay by Kees, Farbensymbolik in agyptischen religiosen Texten (1943), has remained the only extended treatment and is indispensable, but it is confined strictly to the matter indicated by the title. There is, of course, a fascinating large-scale book to be written on Egyptian colour symbolism. Here I have been obliged to concentrate on the colours of Anubis.It would have been desirable to amplify this work in many places, as a number of colleagues have suggested, but such proj ects can easily get out of hand, and the constraints of time, space, and printing costs have had to be considered. One of the problems the author has encountered in researching this book is the absolute unavailability in the UKof many important references. He has been very fortunate in enlisting the helpof a number of scholars internationally, both in tracking down such references and in providing equally crucial peer review. *Rilke Sonette an Orpheus I 16. °Inparticular, by Ransom Williams (1932), Reutersward (1958), Schenkel (1963), Baines (1985), El Goresy (1986), Schiegl (1991), and Germer (1992). For full citations, see Bibliography. 7 Thanks are especially due to Dr Ian Astley, Marburg; Dr Sydney Aufrere, Montpellier; Professor John Baines, Oxford; Mark Angelo de Brito, London; Salmaan Dalvi, London; Dr Eckhard Eichler, Heidelberg; Professor Ahmed El Goresy, Heidelberg; Peter Harrington, Billericay; Dr Leo de Hartog, Apeldoom; Professor Matthieu Heerma van Voss, Amsterdam; Dr Edmund Hermsen, Marburg; Professor ErikHomung, Basel, to whom I have the honour to dedicate this book; Professor JeanLeclant, Paris; Professor Geoffiey T Martin, Cambridge; M DimitriMeeks, Camoules; Professor Edmund SMeltzer, Wisconsin Rapids; Dr Alessandra Nibbi, Oxford; Dr Andrzej Niwiriski, Warsaw; Professor MohamedNurel-Din, Cairo; DavidPennell, London; Dr MaartenJRaven, Leiden; Dr Mohamed Saleh, Cairo; Liesbeth Sewalt, Ryswyk; Dr BH Stricker, Leiden;ProfessorTheo Sundermeier, Heidelberg; andProfessor ElemireZolla, Rome. The author acknowledges with gratitude the assistance ofthe Fondation Michela SchiffGiorgini. By the grace ofthe gods, so may it be. TDuQ Samhain 1996 8 IPIllLOSOPIDCAL, PHYSICAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF COLOUR Was einmal war in allem Glanz und Schein, Es regt sieh dort; denn es will ewig sein. Und ihrverteilt es, allgewaltige Machte, ZumZelt des Tages, zum Gewolb der Nachte. Die einen fafst des Lebens holder Lauf, DieandernsuchtderkUhneMagierauf Goethe Faust 6431-6436. §1It seems appropriate to begin this study with a quotation from Goethe, who not only employed colour symbolism with great sophistication in his poetry! but contributed a book on the theory of colours.iHewasfighting a rearguard action to refuteNewton 'sfinding that colour was a property oflightrather than a blend ofbrightness and darkness, and in effect modifiedAristotle 'sdefinitions. Goetheclaimed, with apparent arrogance, that the philosophy of colours should be considered independently of optics. 3 According to this non-mechanistic view, whichNewton himself shared, colour is a sensation rather than an objective phenomenon, and modern physicists have not succeeded in removing subjectivities such as 'chromatic contrast' .4 §2Perhaps what Goethe meant was not so much a denial of scientific principles as an affirmation that science must be predicated on philosophy. In our own time, Maurice Merleau-Ponty has come to the conclusion that "la couleur reelle demeure sous les apparences comme le fond continue sous la figure, c'est-a-dire non pas a titre de qualite vue ou pensee, mais dans une presence non sensorielle."? In other words, he is accepting that colours have an ontological status which is not wholly dependent on the findings ofmodem physics. 'H Pangs Die Lichtsymbolik in der Dichtung seit der Renaissance (Il), Studium Genera1e 13 (1960) 682-706. On the strong background in Iamblichus and other Neop1atonists: B Nasemann Theurgie und Philosophie in Jamblichsde Mysteriis (Leipzig 1991) 269-273. Cfnow JF Finamore Iamblichus on light and the transparent, inThe divine Iamblichus: man of gods, ed HJ Blumenthal & EG Clark (London 1993) 55-64. 2JW van Goethe Zur Farbentheorie (1810), in his Sammtliche Werke XV (Stuttgart 1881). Cf W Malsch Farben1ehre,in Historisches Worterbuch der Philosophie, ed J Riuer (Darmstadt 1972) 910-911; M Brusatin Histoiredes cou1eurs (Paris 1986) 71-76. 3Ib§725. On colour and allegory, cf §§668-715, §§915-920. 4L Van Norden The black feet of the peacock (Lanham MD 1985) 1-17; 0 Flanagan Consciousness reconsidered (Cambridge MA 1992) 87-89, cf 7lf; DB Judd Introduction, Goethe's Theory of Colours (CambridgeMA 1970)ix-x, xvi;D GradyThe vision thing: mainly in the brain, Discover (New York) 14n06 (June 1993)66 [56-66];JGage Colour and culture (London 1993) 7/1,23311 ,20511-2,268/2, 302n166. 5MMerleau-Ponty Phenomenologie de la perception? (Paris 1945) 352, tr(London 1962) 305; cfnowJAssmann DieMachtder Bi1der, Visible Religion 7 (1990) 1-20. 9 §3 Part of the purpose of this essay is to discover whether the ancients have anything still to teach us on this subject. In particular, I shall briefly examine a few of the uses and symbolic penumbras of colours in a number of cultures, concentrating on black and yellow, the emblematic colours of the jackal-god Anubis, in ancient Egypt. In the course of preparing the current study I am constantly reminded of the Hebrew Qabalah, with its elaborate scales of colours corresponding to the four letters of the Tetragrammaton and the four worlds described by the Sefer Y esirah. 6 Does this intricate and self-consistent symbolic system, one wonders, reflect only the phenomena of physical light rather than the forms oflight disclosed by the three veils ofthe Tree?' The qabalistic tree also, according to some traditions, includes a complementary sphere called run Da 'at('knowledge '), 8 which is the mystical equivalent of a black hole and which represents the gateway between the worlds - a limen of which Anubis, black and gold god, is the guardian. 9 §4 Contemporary philosophers have had little to add on the nature of colour, tending to rely on evidence from the physical sciences. 10 However, Wittgenstein did wonder whether there was a natural history of colours and asked "wieweit ist sie analog einer Naturgeschichte der Pflanzen? 1st diese nicht zeitlich.jeneunzeitlich?'"! In his posthumous notes on the subject he also observed that black mirrors appeared to him as tief( deep) rather than schmutzig( dirty), 12 recalling the interesting difference in the Latin use of ater andniger, 13 and suggested that there might be a more fundamental colour concept than that of surface hue.
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