3. It can hardly be a coincidence that another of our stars, Zibal, also is connected with the Phoenix: ... Phoenix, the French Phénix, the German Phönix, and the Italian Fenice, is one of Bayer's new figures, between Eridanus and Grus, south of Fornax and Sculptor, - its α, κ, μ, β, ν, and γ in a line curving toward the south like that of a primitive Boat, by which figure, as Al Zaurak, the Arabs knew them. Al Sufi cited another name, - Al Ri'āl, the Young Ostriches, - which Hyde wrongly read Al Zibal, perhaps a synonymous title; and Kazwini used Al Sufi's term in describing some stars of Al Nahr, the River, in which our Phoenix was then included by Arabian astronomers ... In Gb8-15 the tagata with no head but instead with symmetric (fire) hands in each direction ought to indicate the fulfillment of a period, and it could be a kind of Great Year:
... Others changed the figure to that of a Griffin, or Eagle, so that the introduction of a Phoenix into modern astronomy was, in a measure, by adoption rather than by invention. But, whether Bayer knew it or not, his title is an appropriate one, for with various early nations - at all events, in China, Egypt, India, and Persia - this bird has been 'an astronomical symbol of cyclic periods', some versions of the well-known fable making its life coincident with the Great Year of the ancients beginning at noon of the day when the sun entered among the stars of Aries; and, in Egypt, with the Sothic Period when the sun and Sirius rose together on the 20th of July ... The Stag (cfr at Schedir) was another symbol for the new fire, and in myth he may have arrived by boat in order to steal it: ... A man had a daughter who possessed a wonderful bow and arrow, with which she was able to bring down everything she wanted. But she was lazy and was constantly sleeping. At this her father was angry and said: 'Do not be always sleeping, but take thy bow and shoot at the navel of the ocean, so that we may get fire.' The navel of the ocean was a vast whirlpool in which sticks for making fire by friction were drifting about. At that time men were still without fire. Now the maiden seized her bow, shot into the navel of the ocean, and the material for fire-rubbing sprang ashore. Then the old man was glad. He kindled a large fire, and as he wanted to keep it to himself, he built a house with a door which snapped up and down like jaws and killed everybody that wanted to get in. But the people knew that he was in possession of fire, and the stag determined to steal it for them. He took resinous wood, split it and stuck the splinters in his hair. Then he lashed two boats together, covered them with planks, danced and sang on them, and so he came to the old man's house. He sang: 'O, I go and will fetch the fire.' The old man's daughter heard him singing, and said to her father: 'O, let the stranger come into the house; he sings and dances so beautifully.' The stag landed and drew near the door, singing and dancing, and at the same time sprang to the door and made as if he wanted to enter the house. Then the door snapped to, without however touching him. But while it was again opening, he sprang quickly into the house. Here he seated himself at the fire, as if he wanted to dry himself, and continued singing. At the same time he let his head bend forward over the fire, so that he became quite sooty, and at last the splinters in his hair took fire. Then he sprang out, ran off and brought the fire to the people ... Perhaps tagata with 'fire hands' in Gb8-15 (at Zibal) is meant to be a picture of a man with the antlers of a stag? No, the 'antlers' sign belongs in the same entity as the man and if they are antlers then the man should be a stag. The position is 457 = 19 * 24 + 1 and we maybe should compare with Gb2-1, 200 glyphs earlier:
On Easter Island the delivery of 'fire' could have been associated with the Sooty Tern: ... Manu-tera, the Easter Island name for the sooty tern, means literally 'sunbird'. From this we take it as very likely, though there is no proof, that the tern would have been seen as a symbol of the sun - just as the falcon and the phoenix were symbols of the sun in ancient Egypt. The latter, the mythical Bennu bird, was associated with Heliopolis ('the City of the Sun') and with the pyramid-shaped Benben sunstone, and was famously linked to an egg: As its end approached the phoenix fashioned a nest of aromatic boughs and spices, set it on fire, and was consumed in the flames. From the pyre miraculously sprang a new phoenix, which, after embalming its father's ashes in an egg of myrrh, flew with the ashes to Heliopolis where it deposited them on the altar in the temple of the sun god Ra. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the birdman cult of Easter Island may have expressed ideas such as these. 'If one were to propose antecedents to the practice', comments the historian R. A. Jairazbhoy: the thought of the Egg of the Egyptian sun god (the cosmic egg) would have to come to mind. The Book of the Dead says that this egg was laid by Kenkenur, or 'the Great Cackler' (an alias of the phoenix), and the deceased watches and guards it. This is declared in the Chapter headed 'Having Dominion over the Water in the Underworld'. And again the journey on the reed float across the sea is reminiscent of the journey of the Egyptian sun god Ra to the horizon on reed floats ... In the Babylonian zodiac there is a boat at the beginning of the journey, beneath the front feet of Pabilsag:
Perhaps the boat goes across the night sky to the 'new land' where the 'river' of the Milky Way reaches the ecliptic again, and in the center of this journey the Stag could be stealing the fire. ... Cargo-Boat (Pisces Australis) The mythic function of the Cargo-Boat is probably to transport the souls of new-born children from the ancestral realms towards the realms of living. The 'Cargo' refers to various objects carried in the boat that symbolize the sex of the child - boys are represented by throwing sticks and axes, girls by spindles, hair-clasps and needles. Pabilsag (Sagittarius) Pabilsag is the direct forerunner to the centaur-archer that we know today as Sagittarius. His name can be translated as the 'Chief Ancestor' or 'Forefather', and he can be best compared to the Wild Hunter of western folklore who guides the souls of the dead to the afterlife over the course of the winter months. Goatfish (Capricorn) The Goatfish rises after the winter solstice, when it announces the welcome return of the sun. I believe that the Goatfish is one of the relatively new constellation figures and can be best understood in terms of two older constellations - the Stag which announces the returning sun, and the Fish which guides the sun through the darkness of winter ... It seems to make sense. However, Eridanus is not high up in the sky but low down (where water should go). It is a female constellation. Perhaps there is a female archer (Bow) who ignites the fire down there (where time seems to move in the other direction, following Moon). Before the old man had fire he needed sticks and these were in the hands of his daughter and she had brought them from the navel of the ocean. Venus comes earlier than Saturn. ... Arrow (Sirius & probably other adjacent stars in Canis Major) Although closely associated with the constellation of the Bow, the Arrow is always treated separately in Babylonian tradition. The annual rising of the Arrow marked the summer solstice when the sun was at its maximum height above the horizon. The Arrow was probably chosen for this role as it is the man-made object that can reach highest into the heavens. Similarly, the bird on a high perch, which is often seen besides the Arrow in ancient artwork, can also be thought of as representing the sun at its highest station ... Evidently an arrow is needed to bring the fire-sticks down from the 'navel of the ocean' (presumably a place high up in the sky to which all flames are drawn), and we can guess it refers to the north pole around which the stars revolve. Once upon a time fire could have fled into wooden sticks revolving there: ... But fire was saved for the world. When the waters reached her tikitiki, or the topknot of her head, the last seeds of fire fled from it to the rata, the hinau, the kahikatea, the rimu, and certain other trees. These trees would not admit them, and so they went to the mahoe, the totara, the patete, the pukatea, and the kaikomako, where they were cherished. These are the trees from whose dry wood fire can be obtained by friction. The others are of no use for this purpose ... (Cfr at Tapa Mea.) |
