Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism Part 12

Under Christianity, the Virgin Mary, who, as Queen of Heaven, stands on the crescent moon, is pictured beneath the mystic doorway, with (the G.o.d as) a male child in her arms. See Plate xviii., copied from the woodcut t.i.tle to the _Psalter of the Blessed Virgin_, printed at Czenna, in old Prussia, 1492. Like Isis, she is the mother and yet the spouse of G.o.d, "clothed with the sun, and having the moon under her feet" (Rev. xii.

1). The upper half of the picture is very like the a.s.syrian scenes.

On either side is a king, Frederick III. and his son the Emperor Maximilian, at their devotions. The alcove is of roses, an emblem of virginity. The famous Mediaeval "Romaunt de la Rose" turns upon this.

Among the many t.i.tles given to "the Virgin" in Mediaeval times, we find _Santa Maria della Rosa_, that flower being consecrated to her. Hence it is often represented in her hand. Dante writes

"Here is the Rose, Wherein the Word Divine was made incarnate."

In Plate xviii., the Virgin G.o.ddess is seated with the G.o.d-child in a bower, exactly the shape of the a.s.syrian, composed of fruits highly significant of s.e.x, as has already been explained. In some Hindoo pictures, the child is naked, having the member erect, and also making the phallic hand, with the right forefinger erected. (Plate xiv., Fig.

14.)

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In other conventional forms we have male symbols only within the female O. This is a very numerous cla.s.s. In the Fig. 3, Plate xvii., we see the fir-tree or pine take the place of the palm-tree, and in Fig. 6, Plate xvii., the cone. On this remarkable medal of Cyprus is a representation of the temple of Venus at Paphos, famous even in the days of Homer.

(Odyss. viii. 862.) The wors.h.i.+p of that divinity is said to have been imported into Cyprus from the East. The G.o.ddess united both s.e.xes in her own person, and was served by castrated priests. We see here, within the innermost sanctum of the temple, a cone as emblem of the male; and the meaning is further pointed by the sun-emblem above, inserted within the crescent moon.

Let us next examine how the cone came to be used as a masculine emblem.

If we turn to Figs. 174 and 175, it will be seen that the "glans" was particularly honoured as the head of the phallus; it was also the part dedicated to G.o.d by effusion of blood in the rite of circ.u.mcision. This "acorn" is conical or dome-shaped, and thus--a part being taken for the whole--the cone or pyramid was used as a conventional symbol of the male creator. Placed on a stem it is frequently represented as wors.h.i.+pped on a.s.syrian bas reliefs. See Fig. 177. It was also a symbol of fire, the sun, and life; as such it formed a fitting monument for the Egyptian kings. Our word pyramid is from the Greek _puramis_, itself derived from pur, Jire, and puros, wheat, because pyramid-shaped cakes of wheat and honey were used in the Bacchic Fig. 177. rites. It played an important part in sun-wors.h.i.+p. The emperor Heliogabalus (who, as his name implies, had been a priest of Baal, the sun-G.o.d, in Syria,) established the Syrian wors.h.i.+p at Rome. He himself drove the golden chariot of the sun, drawn by six white horses, through the streets of Rome to a splendid new temple on the Palatine mount, the G.o.d being represented by a conical black stone, said to have fallen from heaven; and which the emperor removed from a temple of the sun, at Emesa, in Syria. At a subsequent period, an image of the moon-G.o.ddess, or Astarte, was brought by his orders from a celebrated fane at Carthage to Rome, and there solemnly married with licentious rites to the sun-G.o.d, amidst general rejoicing.*

* In Astrology, the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus was considered the most fortunate of all; such as kings and princes should be born under.

A curious parallel to these mystic nuptials of the a.s.syrian G.o.d and G.o.ddess may be found in some of the religious ceremonies of the modern Hindoos. Fergusson tells us that "the most extraordinary buildings connected with Hindu temples are the vast pillared colonnades or choultries. By far their most important application is when used as nuptial halls, in which the mystic union of a male and female divinity is celebrated once a year."

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Again, in Indian mythology, the pyramid plays an important part. It belongs to Siva, = the sun, = fire, = the phallus, = life. By one complex symbol, very common on ancient Hindoo monuments in China and Thibet, the universe was thus represented. Notice the upward gradation.

Earth + water = this globe. The creator-G.o.d, whose emblem, flame, mounts upwards, is the author and representative of all life upon it; he is the connecting link, united by the crescent moon with heaven. The arrow- or spear- head inserted within the crescent is an earth emblem of Siva; like the lingam it typified the divine source of life, and also the doctrine that perfect wisdom was to be found only in the combination of the male and female principles in nature. It decorates the roofs of the Buddhist monasteries in Thibet, and like the sacred lotus flower and the linga, both of which became emblems of Buddha, was derived from older faiths. Other interpretations may suggest themselves. This will enable us to understand the remarkable sculptures of the second or third century, from the Amravati Tope, Plate xix., which present so many points in common with the religious symbols of the Chaldeans. In Fig. 2 we see a congregation of males and females, the s.e.xes being separated, wors.h.i.+pping a linga, or stone conical pillar, on the front of which is sculptured the sacred tree, with branches like flames; three symbols of life in one. It rises from a throne, on the seat of which are placed the two emblems of earth and water. In the other figure, the sacred tree takes the place of the linga, rising above the throne, as if from the trisul or trident, male emblems of Siva. Winged figures, Garudas, attend it above, floating over the heads of the wors.h.i.+ppers. An intrusion of the newer faith is also to be recognised, as the feet of Buddha are sculptured before the throne.

In the mysteries of Mithra, the symbols in Fig. 178 were also employed.

They represented the elements to which the soul ought to be successively united in pa.s.sing through the new birth.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 221]

We will add but two more emblems, culled from medieval heraldry, Figs.

179 and 180, in both of which the Asherah, the "grove" of Baal-wors.h.i.+p, will be at once recognised; the arrow and the cross, symbols of the male creator, taking the place of the mystic palm-tree.

In all these, from the rudest to the most complex, we are thus able to trace a common idea, viz., a feeling after G.o.d, as the Life and Light of the Universe, and an attempt to express a common hope in visible forms.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 222]