DOCSLIB.ORG

Terence Duquesne – Black and Gold

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

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.
Recommended publications
  • Alchemical Culture and Poetry in Early Modern England

    Alchemical Culture and Poetry in Early Modern England

    Alchemical culture and poetry in early modern England PHILIP BALL Nature, 4–6 Crinan Street, London N1 9XW, UK There is a longstanding tradition of using alchemical imagery in poetry. It first flourished at the end of the sixteenth century, when the status of alchemy itself was revitalised in European society. Here I explain the reasons for this resurgence of the Hermetic arts, and explore how it was manifested in English culture and in particular in the literary and poetic works of the time. In 1652 the English scholar Elias Ashmole published a collection of alchemical texts called Theatrum Chymicum Britannicum, comprising ‘Several Poeticall Pieces of Our Most Famous English Philosophers’. Among the ‘chemical philosophers’ represented in the volume were the fifteenth-century alchemists Sir George Ripley and Thomas Norton – savants who, Ashmole complained, were renowned on the European continent but unduly neglected in their native country. Ashmole trained in law, but through his (second) marriage to a rich widow twenty years his senior he acquired the private means to indulge at his leisure a scholarly passion for alchemy and astrology. A Royalist by inclination, he had been forced to leave his London home during the English Civil War and had taken refuge in Oxford, the stronghold of Charles I’s forces. In 1677 he donated his impressive collection of antiquities to the University of Oxford, and the building constructed to house them became the Ashmolean, the first public museum in England. Ashmole returned to London after the civil war and began to compile the Theatrum, which was intended initially as a two-volume work.
  • Alchemical Journey Into the Divine in Victorian Fairy Tales

    Alchemical Journey Into the Divine in Victorian Fairy Tales

    Studia Religiologica 51 (1) 2018, s. 33–45 doi:10.4467/20844077SR.18.003.9492 www.ejournals.eu/Studia-Religiologica Alchemical Journey into the Divine in Victorian Fairy Tales Emilia Wieliczko-Paprota https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8662-6490 Institute of Polish Language and Literature University of Gdańsk [email protected] Abstract This article demonstrates the importance of alchemical symbolism in Victorian fairy tales. Contrary to Jungian analysts who conceived alchemy as forgotten knowledge, this study shows the vivid tra- dition of alchemical symbolism in Victorian literature. This work takes the readers through the first stage of the alchemical opus reflected in fairy tale symbols, explains the psychological and spiritual purposes of alchemy and helps them to understand the Victorian visions of mystical transforma- tion. It emphasises the importance of spirituality in Victorian times and accounts for the similarity between Victorian and alchemical paths of transformation of the self. Keywords: fairy tales, mysticism, alchemy, subconsciousness, psyche Słowa kluczowe: bajki, mistyka, alchemia, podświadomość, psyche Victorian interest in alchemical science Nineteenth-century fantasy fiction derived its form from a different type of inspira- tion than modern fantasy fiction. As Michel Foucault accurately noted, regarding Flaubert’s imagination, nineteenth-century fantasy was more erudite than imagina- tive: “This domain of phantasms is no longer the night, the sleep of reason, or the uncertain void that stands before desire, but, on the contrary, wakefulness, untir- ing attention, zealous erudition, and constant vigilance.”1 Although, as we will see, Victorian fairy tales originate in the subconsciousness, the inspiration for symbolic 1 M. Foucault, Fantasia of the Library, [in:] Language, Counter-Memory, Practice: Selected Essays and Interviews, D.F.
  • Egyptian Religion a Handbook

    Egyptian Religion a Handbook

    A HANDBOOK OF EGYPTIAN RELIGION A HANDBOOK OF EGYPTIAN RELIGION BY ADOLF ERMAN WITH 130 ILLUSTRATIONS Published in tile original German edition as r handbook, by the Ge:r*rm/?'~?~~ltunf of the Berlin Imperial Morcums TRANSLATED BY A. S. GRIFFITH LONDON ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & CO. LTD. '907 Itic~mnoCLAY B 80~8,L~~II'ED BRIIO 6Tllll&I "ILL, E.C., AY" DUN,I*Y, RUFIOLP. ; ,, . ,ill . I., . 1 / / ., l I. - ' PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION THEvolume here translated appeared originally in 1904 as one of the excellent series of handbooks which, in addition to descriptive catalogues, are ~rovidedby the Berlin Museums for the guida,nce of visitors to their great collections. The haud- book of the Egyptian Religion seemed cspecially worthy of a wide circulation. It is a survey by the founder of the modern school of Egyptology in Germany, of perhaps tile most interest- ing of all the departments of this subject. The Egyptian religion appeals to some because of its endless variety of form, and the many phases of superstition and belief that it represents ; to others because of its early recognition of a high moral principle, its elaborate conceptions of a life aftcr death, and its connection with the development of Christianity; to others again no doubt because it explains pretty things dear to the collector of antiquities, and familiar objects in museums. Professor Erman is the first to present the Egyptian religion in historical perspective; and it is surely a merit in his worlc that out of his profound knowledge of the Egyptian texts, he permits them to tell their own tale almost in their own words, either by extracts or by summaries.
  • Egyptian Magic Publishers’ Note

    Egyptian Magic Publishers’ Note

    S.V. JBooftg on Bagpt anft Cbalfta?a VOL. II. EGYPTIAN MAGIC PUBLISHERS’ NOTE. In the year 1894 Dr. Wallis Budge prepared for Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner & Co. an elementary work on the Egyptian language, entitled “First Steps in Egyptian,” and two years later the companion volume, “ An Egyptian Reading Book,” with transliterations of all the texts printed in it, and a full vocabulary. I he success of these works proved that they had helped to satisfy a want long felt by students of the Egyptian language, and as a similar want existed among students of the languages written in the cuneiform character, Mr. L. W. King, of the British Museum, prepared, on the same lines as the two books mentioned above, an elementary work on the Assyrian and Babylonian languages (“First Steps in Assyrian”), which appeared in 1898. These works, however, dealt mainly with the philological branch of Egyptology and Assyriology, and it was impossible in the space allowed to explain much that needed explanation in the other branches of these subjects—that is to say, matters relating to the archaeology, history, religion, etc., of the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. In answer to the numerous requests which have been made, a series of short, popular handbooks on the most important branches of Egyptology and Assyriology have been prepared, and it is hoped that these will serve as introductions to the larger works on these subjects. The present is the second volume of the series, and the succeeding volumes will be published at short intervals, and at moderate prices.
  • Alchemical Reference in Antony and Cleopatra

    Alchemical Reference in Antony and Cleopatra

    SYDNEY STUDIES Alchemical Reference in Antony and Cleopatra LYNDALL ABRAHAM Lepidus: Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your sun: so is your crocodile. (II.vii.26-7) The phrase "the operation of your sun" is a distinctly alchemical term. It refers to the opus alchymicum as a whole and is first known to occur in one of the oldest and most famous alchemical documents, the Emerald Table: "What I have said concerning the operation of the Sun is finished."1 The Tabula Smaragdina or Emerald Table, ascribed to Hermes Tris­ megistus or the Egyptian Thoth, was not only one of the most important sources of medieval alchemy, but continued to be considered as the basis of alI alchemical law by alchemists right through to the seventeenth cen­ tury. The earliest known version was discovered by E. J. Holmyard in an eighth-century Arabic text, and it was translated into Latin around the time of the thirteenth century. The first English translation appears as a part of Roger Bacon's The Mirror of Alchimy (London 1597). The con­ tents of the influential Table occur repeatedly in both Renaissance and seventeenth-century alchemical treatises, including John Dee's Monas Hieroglyphica (1564: reprinted in 1591 and included in the alchemical anthology Theatrum Chemicum in 1602), the De Alchemia (1541-Table included in full), George Ripley's The Compound of Alchymie (1591), William Bloomfield's Bloomfield's Blossoms, Thomas Norton's Ordinal of Alchemy (1477), and Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens (1617).2 In Euphrates or The Waters
  • The Philosophers' Stone: Alchemical Imagination and the Soul's Logical

    The Philosophers' Stone: Alchemical Imagination and the Soul's Logical

    Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fall 2014 The hiP losophers' Stone: Alchemical Imagination and the Soul's Logical Life Stanton Marlan Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Recommended Citation Marlan, S. (2014). The hiP losophers' Stone: Alchemical Imagination and the Soul's Logical Life (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/874 This Immediate Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE PHILOSOPHERS’ STONE: ALCHEMICAL IMAGINATION AND THE SOUL’S LOGICAL LIFE A Dissertation Submitted to the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Stanton Marlan December 2014 Copyright by Stanton Marlan 2014 THE PHILOSOPHERS’ STONE: ALCHEMICAL IMAGINATION AND THE SOUL’S LOGICAL LIFE By Stanton Marlan Approved November 20, 2014 ________________________________ ________________________________ Tom Rockmore, Ph.D. James Swindal, Ph.D. Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Professor of Philosophy Emeritus (Committee Member) (Committee Chair) ________________________________ Edward Casey, Ph.D. Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Stony Brook University (Committee Member) ________________________________ ________________________________ James Swindal, Ph.D. Ronald Polansky, Ph.D. Dean, The McAnulty College and Chair, Department of Philosophy Graduate School of Liberal Arts Professor of Philosophy Professor of Philosophy iii ABSTRACT THE PHILOSOPHERS’ STONE: ALCHEMICAL IMAGINATION AND THE SOUL’S LOGICAL LIFE By Stanton Marlan December 2014 Dissertation supervised by Tom Rockmore, Ph.D.
  • The Alchemy of Sexuality in Early Modern English Lyric Poetry Lisa Gay Jennings

    The Alchemy of Sexuality in Early Modern English Lyric Poetry Lisa Gay Jennings

    Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2015 The Alchemy of Sexuality in Early Modern English Lyric Poetry Lisa Gay Jennings Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES THE ALCHEMY OF SEXUALITY IN EARLY MODERN ENGLISH LYRIC POETRY By LISA GAY JENNINGS A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2015 © 2015 Lisa Gay Jennings Lisa Gay Jennings defended this dissertation on February 4, 2015. The members of the supervisory committee were: Bruce Boehrer Professor Directing Dissertation Charles Upchurch University Representative Anne Coldiron Committee Member David Johnson Committee Member Daniel Vitkus Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii For my father, Dalrick Jennings, who never saw the end, but who always believed in my beginning. Death is just “a pageant to keep us in false gaze.” iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In Matthew 17 of the Gospels Jesus performs a miracle where he casts out a demon from a little boy. His disciples inspired and a little envious of this show of power demanded why they were not able to cast out the demon. Jesus responds, “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” This dissertation came about much in the same manner. It did not materialize out of a moment of envy or frenzied inspiration but by an excruciating amount of sweat, tears, hard work, and some amount of dare I say, blood.
  • Michael Maier’S Atalanta Fugiens

    Michael Maier’S Atalanta Fugiens

    The Secret Teachings of Western Alchemy are Basically Eastern Cultivation Teachings in Disguise … An Analysis of Michael Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens According to Zen, Taoism, Buddhism and Esoteric Teachings by Master Nan Huai-Chin A Workbook to Accompany the Audio Course by William Bodri www.MeditationExpert.com Atalanta Fugiens The Secret Teachings of Western Alchemy are Basically Eastern Cultivation Teachings in Disguise An Analysis of Michael Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens, According to Zen, Taoism, Buddhism and Esoteric Teachings by Master Nan Huai-Chin As Related to William Bodri Copyright © 2005, William Bodri All Rights reserved in all media First edition 2005 Top Shape Publishing, LLC 1135 Terminal Way Suite 209 Reno, Nevada 89502 No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, including but not limited to electronic, mechanical, digital copying, printing, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without written permission from the authors. www.MeditationExpert.com 2 Atalanta Fugiens Thanks Thanks go to the many people who made this work possible: Master Nan Huai-Chin for agreeing to give the lectures on these emblems. Zhao Hai-ying for her work in translating his teachings. Neil Tarvin for his ebook production of this text. John Newtson for editing this ebook. And finally, Nicholas-Hays for their kind permission to reprint the English translations of the Emblems found in Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens: Sources of an Alchemical Book of Emblems by H. M. E. de Jong. 3 Atalanta Fugiens Introduction Michael Maier was one of the few Renaissance alchemists who actually revealed genuine spiritual cultivation teachings in his writings.
  • Rituals Related to Animal Cults

    Rituals Related to Animal Cults

    UCLA UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology Title Rituals Related to Animal Cults Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6wk541n0 Journal UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, 1(1) Author Dodson, Aidan Publication Date 2009-07-16 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California RITUALS RELATED TO ANIMAL CULTS الطقوس المتعلقة بطوائف الحيوانات Aidan Dodson EDITORS WILLEKE WENDRICH Editor-in-Chief University of California, Los Angeles JACCO DIELEMAN Editor Area Editor Religion University of California, Los Angeles ELIZABETH FROOD Editor University of Oxford JOHN BAINES Senior Editorial Consultant University of Oxford Short Citation: Dodson, 2009, Rituals Related to Animal Cults. UEE. Full Citation: Dodson, Aidan, 2009, Rituals Related to Animal Cults. In Jacco Dieleman, Willeke Wendrich (eds.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, Los Angeles. ttp://digital2.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/zz001nf7d0 1027 Version 1, July 2009 http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/zz001nf7d0 RITUALS RELATED TO ANIMAL CULTS الطقوس المتعلقة بطوائف الحيوانات Aidan Dodson Tierkulte Cultes des animaux Two kinds of cult animal existed in ancient Egypt: specific faunal representatives of a given deity that lived in a temple and were ceremonially interred, and creatures killed and mummified to act as votive offerings. The former are attested from the earliest times, while the latter date from the Late Period and later. عرف نوعان من طوائف الحيوانات بمصر القديمة: فكانت تمثل الحيوانات اﻵلھة وتسكن بالمعبد وتدفن بشكل مراسمي. وعرف ھذا من أول العصور المصرية، والنوع الثاني ھو قتل الحيوانات وتحنيطھا لتكون قرابين نذرية وھي عادة ظھرت بالعصر المتأخر وما بعده. hile there continues to be debate which reflected the deities’ iconic over precise definitions (cf.
  • Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens

    Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens

    Michael Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens Peter Bindon, FRC In this article, Peter Bindon presents some of the fascinating symbolism and history behind Emblem 21 in Michael Maier’s intriguing work, Atalanta Fugiens. n the second volume of De Alchimia opuscula complura veterum Iphilosophorum, published in Frankfurt in 1550, an unknown Philosopher says: “Make a round circle of the man and woman, and draw out of it a quadrangle, and out of the quadrangle a triangle, make a round circle and thou shalt have the Stone of the Philosophers.” Our illustration demonstrates this statement, but appears as Emblem 21 in Michael Maier’s 1618 publication Atalanta Fugiens, in English “Atalanta Fleeing.” This title refers to the well -known Greek myth, but the myth is poorly integrated with the alchemical iconography so we will ignore the myth itself and concentrate on the illustration and accompanying text that try to interpret some of the many layers of apparently refers directly to the formula meaning in this alchemical illustration. given about seventy years previously in Maier lived between 1568 and 1622, De Alchemia… (known more familiarly as but published most of his work in the last Rosarium Philosophorum or The Rosary of the decade of his life. He had been a physi- Philosophers). Although it is illustrated with cian and private secretary to the Emperor twenty fascinating woodcuts of alchemical Rudolph II and probably assisted him in and Rosicrucian interest, it does not depict collecting items for his museum, one of the theme of our symbol. Michael Maier’s the first known. Maier had visited England Atalanta Fugiens text accompanying this and it is likely that he was some kind of illustration repeats the quotation from roving ambassador or perhaps a spy for his Rosarium Philosophorum, and then presents master in Prague.
  • Esoteric Knowledge

    Esoteric Knowledge

    esôterikos CORBIN ON THE INNER CHURCH FOWDEN ON HERMETIC SECRETS FRANCIS PETERS ON THE OCCULT PARPOLA ON MESOPOTAMIA Novalis 1 We are close to waking, when we dream that we're dreaming." Rilke: “I am too alone in the world, and yet not alone enough to make every moment holy. I am too tiny in this world, and not tiny enough just to lie before you like a thing, shrewd and secretive. I want my own will, and I want simply to be with my will, as it goes toward action; and in those quiet, sometimes hardly moving times, when something is coming near, I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone. 2 P.D. Ouspensky: “Gurdjieff further claimed that knowledge, especially esoteric knowledge, . is finite and cannot be freely distributed to everyone. This higher knowledge, to be 1 HKA II, p. 416 2 Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God effective as a spiritual nutrient, needs to be concentrated and “preserved among a small number of people and not dispersed among the masses.” 3 This view is diametrically opposed by Robert A.F. Thurman: SAMAYA GYA GYA GYAH! “This expression reminds us that this teaching is esoteric, sealed by a vow and protected by angelic beings. The reason it has been traditionally kept a secret is not because of some elitism or stinginess on the part of enlightened teachers. It has been kept secret because it can easily be misunderstood by the uneducated, misunderstood as meaning that there are no efforts to be made towards freedom, that all ethical restraint, virtue, and mental development are really unnecessary, and that anything goes.
  • The Apis Cult from the New Kingdom to the Ptolemaic Period

    The Apis Cult from the New Kingdom to the Ptolemaic Period

    Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia The Apis cult from the New Kingdom to the Ptolemaic Period Ida Kingo Fig. 1. Apis bull statuette. BA thesis 15 credits in Egyptology Spring term 2020 Supervisor: Andreas Dorn Abstract Kingo, I. 2020. The Apis cult from the New Kingdom to the Ptolemaic Period. Kingo, I. 2020. Apiskulten från det Nya Riket till den Ptolemaiska perioden. In this thesis the main goal is to present a general overview of the development of the cult of Apis in a chronological perspective from the New Kingdom until the end of the Ptolemaic Period, as this has not been done in a condensed form with the different aspects of the cult and the venerated animal present. Classical theories, such as those used in archaeology, is not very applicable for this thesis, instead it will address and connect several aspects such as time, geographical space, religion and ideology of kingship to the Apis cult. The Apis cult is interesting because it was one of the more important animal cults in ancient Egypt. The time period chosen is the c. 1500 years between the New Kingdom and the Ptolemaic Period, because it was during this time that the cult experienced the most developments and had its golden era. The Apis cult ties together several important aspects of the ancient Egyptian society; the political, religious, ideology of kingship and the cultural sphere. The cult of Apis was one strongly connected to the ruling power, one such example is during the Persian conquer by king Cambyses II in c. 526 B.C.E., when his role as the regent in Egypt was not seen as entirely legitimate by the Egyptians until he had participated in the burial ceremonies of the Apis bull.