This Figure represents Assyrian priests offering in the presence of what
is supposed to be Baal--or the representative of the sun god and of the
grove. The first is typified by the eye, with wings and a tail, which
make it symbolic of the male triad and the female unit. The eye, with
the central pupil, is in itself emblematic of the same. The grove
represents mystically le verger de Cypris. On the right stands the king;
on the left are two priests, the foremost clothed with a fish's skin,
the head forming the mitre, thus showing the origin of modern Christian
bishops' peculiar head-dress. Arranged about the figures are, the sun;
a bird, perhaps the sacred dove, whose note, coa or coo, has, in the
Shemitic, some resemblance to an invitation to amorous gratification;
in Latin coi, coite; the oval, symbol of the yoni; the basket, or bag,
emblematic of the scrotum, and apparently the lotus. The trinity and
unity are carried by the second priest.
Figure 2 is copied from an ancient copper vase, covered with Egyptian
hieroglyphic characters, found at Cairo, and figured in a book entitled
Explication des divers monument singuliers, qui ont rapport a la
religion des plus anciens peuples, par le R. P. Dom.......a Paris, 1739.
The group of figures represents Isis and Horus in an unusual attitude.
They are enclosed in a framework of the flowers of the Egyptian bean,
or of the lotus. This framework may be compared to the Assyrian "grove,"
and another in which the Virgin Mary stands. The bell was of old a
symbol of virginity, for Eastern maidens wore them until marriage (see
Isa. iii. 16). The origin of this custom was the desire that every
maiden should have at her marriage, or sale, that which is spoken of in
the Pentateuch as "the token of virginity." It was supposed that this
membrane, technically called "the hymen" might be broken by too long a
stride in walking or running, or by clambering over a stile or wall.
To prevent such a catastrophe, a light chain or cord was worn, under or
over the dress, at the level of the knees or just above. Its length only
permitted a short step and a mincing gait. Slight bells were used as a
sort of ornament, and when the bearer was walking their tinkling was a
sort of proclamation that the lady who bore them was in the market as a
virgin. After "the flower" had been plucked, the bells were no longer of
use. They were analogous to the virgin snood worn on the head of Scotch
maidens. Isis bears the horns of a cow, because that animal is equally
noted for its propensity to seek the male and its care to preserve the
offspring. As the bull with a human head, so a human being with cow's
horns, was made to represent a deity. The solar orb between the horns,
and the serpent round the body, indicate the union with the male;
an incongruous conjunction with the emblem of the sacred Virgin,
nevertheless a very common one. In some of the coins pictured by E. P.
Knight, in Worship of Priapus, etc., a cow caressing her sucking
calf replaces Isis and Horus, just as a bull on other coins replaces
Dionysus. The group is described in full in Ancient Faiths, second
edition, Vol. i., pp. 53, 54.
Figures 3, 4, are taken from Ginsburg's Kabbalah, and illustrate that in
the arrangement of "potencies" two unite, like parents, to form a third.
Sometimes we see also how three such male attributes as splendour,
firmness, and solidity join with beauty to form the mystic arba, the
trinity and unity.
Figures 5, 6, are copies from figures found in Carthage and in Scotland,
from Forbes Leslie's Early Races of Scotland, vol. i., plate vi., p. 46
(London, 1866). This book is one to which the reader's attention should
be directed. The amount of valuable information which it contains is
very large, and it is classified in a philosophical, and, we may add,
attractive manner. The figures represent the arbor vitae.
Figure 7 is from Bonomi, page 292, Nineveh and its Palaces (London,
1865). It apparently represents the mystic yoni, door, or delta; and it
may be regarded as an earlier form of the framework in Plate iv. It will
be remarked, by those learned in symbols, that the outline of the hands
of the priests who are nearest to the figure is a suggestive one, being
analogous to the figure of a key and its shank, whilst those who stand
behind these officers present the pine cone and bag, symbolic of Ann,
Hea, and their residence.
It is to be noticed, and once for all let us assert our belief, that
every detail in a sculpture relating to religion has a signification;
that the first right hand figure carries a peculiarly shaped staff; and
that the winged symbol above the yoni consists of a male archer in a
winged circle, analagous to the symbolic bow, arrow, and target. The bow
was an emblem amongst the Romans, and arcum tendere was equivalent to
arrigere. In the Golden Ass of Apuleius we find the metaphor used in
his account of his dealings with amorous frolicsome Fotis, "Ubi primam
sagittam saevi cupidinis in ima procordia mea delapsam excepi, arcum,
meum et ipse vigore tetendi."