Hieroglyphs of Pine Cone and Peacocks and myth-making in the Vatican
The pine-cone and peacock sculptures in bronze in the Vatican are a memorial for the departed ancestors. There ain’t no need to indulge in mythological excursus to explain the vividly pictorial memorial which is traced to the days of the Temple of Isis.
The thesis is that the peacock, as a hieroglyph, is associated with funerary events in Indus-Sarasvati (Meluhha) civilization and contact areas in Ancient Near East. The presence of pine-cone and peacocks in the context of mausoleums of ancient Rome can be explained within the Meluhha hieroglyphic framework and related to sacredness associated with remembrance of the departed ancestors. The presence of cinnamon ca 10th century BCE in Israel reinforces the presence of traders who had contacts with Meluhha
Peacock as a Meluhha hieroglyph
Hieroglyph pine-cone is kandə Rebus: khaṇḍa. A portion of the front hall, in a temple Hieroglyph peacock is maraka 'Rebus: maraca ‘death’, māraka‘god of death’; smāraka, 'memorial for ancestors'.' smará ʻ remembrance ʼ(CDIAL 13861).
See:
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/11/pine-cone-vatican-and-peacocks-samarra.htmlPine-cone (Vatican) and peacocks (Samarra bowl, Harappa) as hieroglyphs
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/11/maize-and-pine-cone-meluhha-hieroglyphs.htmlMaize and pine-cone Meluhha hieroglyphs of ancient Indo-Eurasia
Pavo cristatus, Indian peacocks are native to South Asia. The Indian Peafowl is probably the oldest known ornamental bird. It was first introduced into the Mesopotamian cultures more than 4,000 years ago and then Into the Mediterranean area. If the blue peacock was from Meluhha, there is a possibility that the knowledge about peacock in the Ancient Near East came from Meluhha, that is Indus-Sarasvati civilization. Haia (or Haja) birds (peacocks) were exotic imports into Sumeria from Meluhha. “Meluhha…was a land of seafarers whose boats are mentioned in later third-millennium BCE Mesopotamian texts. Its exports included timber and wooden furniture, copper, gold dust, lapis lazuli, cornelian, birds (including the peacock), and such manufactured objects as multi-coloured ivory birds, a cornelian monkey, and a ‘red dog’. People from Meluhha were also settled in Mesopotamia.” (Moorey, Peter Roger Stuart, 1999, Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries: the archaeological evidence, Eisenbrauns, p. xxii).
Male in display, Pavo muticus imperator
Found in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. Close relative of Indian peafowl, Pavo cristatus, native to South Asia.
Indian peafowl had reached Athens by 450 BC and may have been introduced even earlier. (Nair, P. Thankappan (1974). “The peacock cult in Asia”, Asian Folklore Studies 33 (2): 93–170.)
The link with India is suggested by the use of Hebrew word koph for ape (cognate Sanskrit kapi); Hebrew word for peacock tukki (cognate Tamil tōkai , ‘tail of peacock’). The Hebrew word tuki (plural tukkiyim) is also traced to the Egyptian tekh.
Munda etyma: So. mara/ mar`peafowl'. Kh. mara `peafowl'. Sa. mara? `peafowl'. Mu. mara? `peafowl'. Ho mara? `peafowl'. Ku. mara`peafowl'. pincar marak = peacock; matu marak = peahen; marak rak = peacock crow; marak ṭikli = the disc on the tail feathers of the peacock; korkot. marak = common peafowl. (Santali)
Tulu: mair, Ma. Ta.: mayil (Tamil: payilpūñcōlai mayiler..untālavum-- Puṛanā. 116); Tamil: mayilam, mayiṛpīli = peacock feather; mayilai = fish; ash colour, grey.
J.Bloch saw the older lexeme to be Dravidian (BSL 76,16); J. Przyluski saw it as Austro-as. (BSL 79,100); Morgensteierne noted Savara mārā = peacock; HW Bailey (BSOAS xx 59, IL 21,18) noted a link with Khot. murāsa as orig. 'Indo-ir. colour word'OAw. mam.jūra, mora; Nepali. mujur; Pkt. maūla, maūra; Pali. mōra (CDIAL 9865).
The homonym, mara = world of death (AitUp.); maraka = epidemic (Skt.) may explain the depiction of the pictorial on a funerary pot.
māraka at end of cmpds. ʻ killing ʼ Kathās. (m. ʻ god of death ʼ Śaṁk.) [√mr̥]
Pa. -- māraka -- ʻ id. ʼ; Pk. māraya -- m. ʻ killer ʼ; Sh. (Lor. l*lc̣o -- māro ʻ butcher ʼ (l*lc̣o gen. ʻ goat ʼ); K. môru (usu. in cmpds.) m. ʻ killer ʼ, S.māro m.; N. -- mārā in agent cmpds. ʻ being active in ʼ e.g. bhāt -- mārā ʻ a great eater ʼ; Mth. mariyā ʻ hammer ʼ (semant. cf. ghaná -- 1); G. mārɔm. ʻ killer ʼ; Si. maru ʻ fatal, deadly ʼ.(CDIAL 10064)
Pa. -- māraka -- ʻ id. ʼ; Pk. māraya -- m. ʻ killer ʼ; Sh. (Lor. l*lc̣o -- māro ʻ butcher ʼ (l*lc̣o gen. ʻ goat ʼ); K. môru (usu. in cmpds.) m. ʻ killer ʼ, S.māro m.; N. -- mārā in agent cmpds. ʻ being active in ʼ e.g. bhāt -- mārā ʻ a great eater ʼ; Mth. mariyā ʻ hammer ʼ (semant. cf. ghaná -- 1); G. mārɔm. ʻ killer ʼ; Si. maru ʻ fatal, deadly ʼ.(CDIAL 10064)
In Pali (Rhys Davids' lexicon), jīvan-jīvaka (poss. onomatopoetic) means a bird, a sort of pheasant which utters a note sounding like jīvanjīva (Di_gha III.201)... Also cited is a Jain phrase: jīvanjīveṇa gacchai jīvanjīvenan ciṭṭhai [Weber Bhagavati_ pp. 289,290 with doubtful interpretation "living he goes with life"? or "he goes like the j. bird"?]
The Munda word for peacock marak/mara"cryer, peacock", later Sanskrit māra (and Pali etc) 'death, God Death', the Munda peacock symbol = death, and the Cemetery H peacock pictures on urns with cremated bodies. Peacock and heaven (marak = peacock; merxā_ = sky, heaven ?may the soul go to heaven)
Parji. marp- (mart-)= to lighten; Kurux. merxā_ = sky, heaven; Malto. mergu = sky, heaven; see Te. merūmu = flash of lightning.
Large burial urn. Late Harappan Period large burial urn with ledged rim for holding a bowl-shaped lid. The painted panel around the shoulder of the vessel depicts flying peacocks with sun or star motifs and wavy lines that may represent water. Cemetery H period, after 1900 BC. These new pottery styles seem to have been introduced at the very end of the Harappan Period. The transitional phase (Period 4) at Harappa has begun to yield richly diverse material remains suggesting a period of considerable dynamism as socio-cultural traditions became realigned.
Dish or lid. Late Harappan Period dish or lid with perforation at edge for hanging or attaching to large jar. It shows a Blackbuck antelope with trefoil design made of combined circle-and-dot motifs, possibly representing stars. It is associated with burial pottery of the Cemetery H period, dating after 1900 BC.
The Late Harappan Period at Harappa is represented by the Cemetery H culture (190-1300 BC) which is named after the discovery of a large cemetery filled with painted burial urns and some extended inhumations. The earlier burials in this cemetery were laid out much like Harappan coffin burials, but in the later burials, adults were cremated and the bones placed in large urns (164). The change in burial customs represents a major shift in religion and can also be correlated to important changes in economic and political organization. Cemetery H pottery and related ceramics have been found throughout northern Pakistan, even as far north as Swat, where they mix with distinctive local traditions. In the east, numerous sites in the Ganga-Yamuna Doab provide evidence for the gradual expansion of settlements into this heavily forested region. One impetus for this expansion may have been the increasing use of rice and other summer (kharif) crops that could be grown using monsoon stimulated rains. Until late in the Harappan Period (after 2200 BC) the agricultural foundation of the Harappan cities was largely winter (rabi) crops that included wheat and barley. Although the Cemetery H culture encompassed a relatively large area, the trade connections with the western highlands began to break down as did the trade with the coast. Lapis lazuli and turquoise beads are rarely found in the settlements, and marine shell for ornaments and ritual objects gradually disappeared. On the other hand the technology of faience manufacture becomes more refined, possibly in order to compensate for the lack of raw materials such as shell, faience and possibly even carnelian.
http://www.harappa.com/indus2/index.html Slides162, 164
Pine-cone as a Meluhha hieroglyph
Sgh. kaḍol mangrove. Ash. piċ -- kandəʻ pine ʼ, Kt. pṳ̄ċi, piċi, Wg. puċ, püċ (pṳ̄ċ -- kəŕ ʻ pine -- cone ʼ), Pr. wyoċ, Shum. lyēwič (lyē -- ?).(CDIAL 8407). Cf. Gk. peu/kh f. ʻ pine ʼ, Lith. pušìs, OPruss. peuse NTS xiii 229. The suffix –kande in the lexeme: Ash. piċ-- kandəʻ pine ʼ may be cognate with the bulbous glyphic related to a mangrove root: Koḍ. kaṇḍe root-stock from which small roots grow; ila·ti kaṇḍe sweet potato (ila·ti England). Tu. kaṇḍe, gaḍḍè a bulbous root; Ta. kaṇṭal mangrove, Rhizophora mucronata; dichotomous mangrove, Kandelia rheedii. Ma. kaṇṭa bulbous root as of lotus, plantain; point where branches and bunches grow out of the stem of a palm; kaṇṭal what is bulb-like, half-ripe jackfruit and other green fruits; R. candel. (DEDR 1171). Rebus: kaṇḍa‘tools, pots and pans of metal’. kanda m. ʻ bulbous root ʼ MBh., n. ʻ garlic ʼ lex. [Prob. with gaṇḍa -- 1 ← Drav. T. Burrow BSOAS xii 369 and EWA i 152 with lit.] Pa. kanda -- m. ʻ bulb, bulbous root ʼ; Pk. kaṁda -- m. ʻ bulbous root ʼ, °dī -- f. ʻ radish ʼ; Or. kandā ʻ edible bulbous root; OMth. kã̄da ʻ bulb ʼ(CDIAL 2723).
Myths in Vatican to invent explanations for the pine-cone and peacocks and the context of Temples for Isis
Jenny Uglow has rendered a remarkable historical account. (Uglow, Jenny, 2012, The Pinecone, Faber & Faber). The book narrates the story of the builder Sarah Losh of the magical church in Wreay, near Carlisle, Victorian England. She was heiress to an industrial fortune. Everywhere in this church are pinecones, her signature in stone, making the church a rendering of the power of myth ‘and the great natural cycles of life and death and rebirth’. The book provides Sarah’s travel to Rome: “Death, as well as beauty, marched the streets. And the processions were matched by the panoply of symbols, on ancient columns and new buildings, in temples and market squares. Among these were plenty of pinecones: the Pope carried a carved cone on his staff; a pinecone fountain stood outside the old church of St Mrco, and the largest cone in the world, flanked by two peacocks, was found at the Vatican. This was the only original Roman fountain remaining in Rome, the Fontana della Pigna, dating from the first century AD, which had once stood next to the Temple of Isis in the Forum, spouting water from the top.”
Name of Publius Cincius Slavius appears on the base of the sculpture. He is the builder of the Pine Cone monument in 1st century CE.
The cone was originally in the temple of Isis in Campo Martius next to the Pantheon.
The site of the Temple of Isis is now occupied by the Biblioteca Casanatense but the area is still to this day called Pigna.
In that location, water flowed copiously from the top of the pine cone. It was moved to the courtyard of the old St. Peter's Basilica during the Middle Ages and then moved again, in 1608, to its present location. (Official history on the Vatican website.) “The fountain is described as having water gushing from the holes in the scales of the cone similar to the Meta Sudans (the sweating rock that was also topped by a pine cone according to some) that still stands outside the Coliseum. The Pine Cone was then moved to the hall of St Peter’s Basilica in the 8th century in the time of Popes John VI, John VII or Zachary (Pope Zachary seems the most likely as he did more than the other two to “Christianize” Rome by building churches over the old Roman temples). One of them moved the Pine Cone from the Temple of Isis to St Peter’s Basilica (the original built by Constantine the Great) where it was covered by a baldachin (it is recreated in this state in the game Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood where it houses a Piece of Eden). In 1608, when St Peters was being enlarged to its present form the Pine Cone was moved to its current location by Pope Paul V.”
One explanation is that the pine cone symbolizes Christian concept of the fruit of the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden. “It represents eternal life and enlightenment and the literal biblical translation is ‘the face of God’.The pineal gland in the brain (named for its similar shape) is the geometric centre of the brain and is considered the third eye or the seat of the soul. The Pope’s staff features a pine cone symbolizing the illumination of the church. The symbolism of the pine cone is similar in many religions and was obviously absorbed by the Christians like many aspects of the Greco-Roman and Egyptian religions. The fact that it stood in the Temple of Isis (a goddess revered by the early Christians as he Virgin Mary and often used as a disguise in the days of persecution) explains the reason behind the reverence of this sculpture. The peacocks at the base of the Pine Cone are the Christian symbol of eternal life stemming from the legend that their flesh did not decay (St Augustine believed that peacock flesh had anti-septic qualities). This, added to the symbolism of the shedding of the feathers and replacing them with brighter ones, alludes to the resurrection of Christ. The eyes on the tail feathers were also seen as the all-seeing eyes of God. This of course all comes from earlier Greco-Roman religions and was adopted when Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire. Both the pine cone and the peacock were synonymous with the Roman god Sol Invictus (the unconquerable sun) who was used as a substitute for the Christian God by Constantine on his coins who sought to keep both the Christians and pagans happy by using a symbol that was appropriate to both sections of society. The Christian day of rest was even placed on the day of Sol Invictus, Sun-day. The bronze peacocks, however, were not part of the original sculpture but are thought to be originally taken from Hadrian’s mausoleum (now Rome’s fortress, the Castel St. Angelo). Thus as a whole the Pine Cone is meant to be a symbolic fountain of life. Even in its present form the symbolism still points to the Pine Cone as an emblem of renewal in the Eternal City.” (Notes by Yamatosaxon, September 8, 2013; http://thedailybeagle.net/2013/09/08/the-pigna-and-the-apollo-belvedere-two-treasures-of-the-vatican/)
Dante had seen the Pine Cone in the portico of Old S. Pietro and compared it to Nimrod, a giant:
La faccia sua mi parea lunga e grossa/Come la pina di San Pietro a Roma (His face appeared to me as long and large/As is at Rome the pine-cone of Saint Peter’s – Divina Commedia – Inferno XXXI – translation by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).
Isis was worshipped in the entire Greco-Roman world.
The Temple of Isis in Pompeii. The cult of Isis is said to have arrived in Pompeii ca. 100 BCE. (Nappo, Salvatore. "Pompey: Guide to the Lost City", White Star, 2000, p.89) “Its role as a Hellenized Egyptian temple in a Roman colony was fully confirmed with an inscription detaled by Francisco la Vega on July 20, 1765.” This was the second structure. Original structure under Augustan was damaged in an earthquake of 62 CE.
Isis with her headdress personifying a throne, represented Pharaoh’s power. She was also goddess of motherhood, magic and fertility.
A temple for her was at Behbeit El-Hagar in Nile delta.
Ruins of the Temple of Isis in Delos a Doric. Delos is the birthplace of the Greek gods Artemis and Apollo who had temples of their own on the island long before the temple to Isis was built.
The origins of the cult of Isis point to her as an independent and popular deity in predynastic times, prior to 3100 BCE, at Sebennytos in the Nile delta. (Veronica Ions, Egyptian Mythology, Paul Hamlyn, 1968)
Rare terracotta image of Isis lamenting the loss of Osiris (eighteenth dynasty) Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Peacocks. Braccio Nuovo Museum, Vatican.
The use of spolia from the tomb in the post-Roman period was noted in the 16th century — Giorgio Vasari writes:
“...in order to build churches for the use of the Christians, not only were the most honoured temples of the idols [pagan Roman gods] destroyed, but in order to ennoble and decorate Saint Peter's with more ornaments than it then possessed, they took away the stone columns from the tomb of Hadrian, now the castle of Sant'Angelo, as well as many other things which we now see in ruins.” Giorgio Vasari's "Preface" to The Lives of the Artists http://members.efn.org/~acd/vite/VasariPreface.html
Egyptian; Abydos, Cemetery D, Tomb 33. Jasper. Gift of Egypt Exploration Fund, 1900 (00.4.39). This symbol illustrates a knotted piece of cloth whose early meaning is unknown, but in the New Kingdom it was clearly associated with the goddess Isis, the great magician and wife of Osiris. By this time, the tyet symbol was referred to as the "blood of Isis" and scholars have suggested that it might depict the cloth a woman used during menstruation. Knots were widely used as amulets because the Egyptians believed they bound and released magic. The tyet sign was considered a potent symbol of protection in the afterlife and the Book of the Dead specifies that the tyet be made of blood-red stone, like this example, and placed at the deceased's neck.
Tyet, knot of Isis in hieroglyphs
Red jasper tit amulet of Nefer. The tit amulet was one of several which was placed on the neck of the deceased at the time of burial. It is first mentioned in funerary papyri and first appears on mummies in the mid-Eighteenth Dynasty (about 1550-1295 BC). http://www.bmimages.com/preview.asp?image=00033225001
Finds of cinnamon in Israel dated ca. 3000 years ago suggesting trade-links with Meluhha
“Small ceramic flasks with thick walls and narrow openings were produced in Phoenicia.
These flasks were common in Phoenicia, the southern Levant and Cyprus in the early Iron Age, namely in the 11th–mid-9th centuries BCE. Their shape, size, decoration and findcontexts suggest that they contained some precious materials and were part of a commercial network operating in these regions. We analyzed the lipid contents of 27 such containers from 5 archaeological sites in Israel using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The organic extractions of 10 of these flasks contained cinnamaldehyde (C9H8O), a major component of cinnamon. In antiquity the cinnamon tree grew only in South and South East Asia. As cinnamaldehyde is found in small quantities in some modern potential contaminants, possible contamination of the small flasks with this compound was carefully assessed. Significantly, two recently excavated small flasks that were not handled directly contained relatively high concentrations of cinnamaldehyde. Other vessel types from the same archaeological sites and in some cases the same contexts did not contain cinnamaldehyde. Thus it is unlikely that the presence of cinnamaldehyde in the flasks results from contamination. This finding raises the intriguing possibility of long distance trade in the early Iron Age, assuming that the extracted cinnamaldehyde is indeed derived from the bark of the cinnamon tree. This is consistent with other suggestions that trade from South/South East Asia to the West took place at such an early date.” (Namdar, Dvory, et al, 2013, Cinnamaldehyde in early iron age Phoenician flasks raises the possibility of Levantine trade with southeast Asia, in: Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 1-19)
దాల్చిని [ dālcini ] dālchini. [H.] n. Cinnamon. दारु dāru -सिता Cinnamon in sticks (Mar. दालचिनी) (Skt.) தாளிசபத்திரி tāḷica-pattiri , n. < tāliša- patrin. 1. Wild-cinnamon, m. tr., Cinnamomum iners; மரவகை. (M. M. 882.) 2. Cassia cinnamon, m. tr., Cinnamomum macrocarpum; பெரியலவங்கப்பட்டை மரம். (L.) Cinnamon: Latin word cannella, a diminutive ofcanna, "tube", from the way it curls up as it dries. சின்னி ciṉṉi Cinnamon, cinnamomum; இலவங்கம். (மலை.)
கருவா karuvā , n. 1. Cinnamon tree, m. tr., Cinnamomum zeylanicum; இலவங்கப் பட்டைமரம். 2. Cassia Cinnamon, Cinnamomum macrocarpum; மரவகை. 3. Clove tree, m. tr., Eugenia caryophyllata; கிராம்புமரம். (L.) kurundu (කුරුඳු) (Sinhala) In Java and Sumatra, it is called kayu manis("sweet wood").
cōca-- n. ʻ cinnamon bark ʼ Suśr. (CDIAL 5918).
Tel Dor is located about 19 miles (30 kilometers) to the south of Haifa, in Israel. Phoenician flasks from this site, dating back around 3,000 years, were among those that contained cinnamaldehyde, the compound that gives cinnamon its flavor. These finds indicate the existence of trade that brought cinnamon from the Far East to the area of modern-day Israel.
[quote]Biblical account of King Solomon’s Ophir: ‘And King Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-Geber, which is beside Elath on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom; and Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servant of Solomon. And they came to Ophir and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to King Solomon (I Kings 9: 26-28. Revised Standard Version)… For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks.(I Kings 10:22). [unquote]
Ezion-geber is perhaps Tell el-Kheleifeh, in Gulf of Aqaba where copper and iron nails, gobules of tar and segments of rope were uncovered pointing to ship construction.
Tarshish is likely to be a Phoenician colony of Tartessos in southern Spain.
The find of cinnamon in Israel dated to ca. 3000 years ago, leads to the possibility that Ophir was an ancient maritime mart on the west coast of India. (Hornell, J., 1941, Sea-trade in early times’, Antiquity 15 (1941) 244).