-
Articles/Ads
Article Untitled Article ← Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
to Plutarch , the scaraboeus amongst fighting men was engraved on their signets . " * * " The same custom seems to have passed over into Italy , either having been first adopted in Sicily , where the usages of Egypt prevailed from the earliest ages , or through the doctrines of Pythagoras * f whose philosophy , being veiled by
symbols , was copied from that of the Egyptians . There is every reason to suppose that the warriors of Italy held this same opinion respecting the scaraboeus , since the figure of some hero was generally engraved on the flat surface of the stone j J and ifc was probably not only considered as an amulet , hut from , the image ¦ representing' some person connected with religious veneration , it was classed and
deposited amongst the household gods . Hence it follows , that as the style of engraving in many instances is exceedingly rude and unfinished , it is to be supposed that these scarabcei were in use with the soldiery of the lower grades , since such as are more delicately and highly executed are far less numerous , "
The earliest mention in the Old Testament of religious worship rendered to any divinity connected with an insect , occurs in the 1 st chapter of the 2 nd Book of Kings , 2 nd and 3 rd verses , where " Ahaziah king of Israel , having fallen down through a lattice in his
upper chamber , and having received some dangerous injury , sent to consult Baalzebub , the god of Ekron , to know whether he should recover of the disease . The name of this deity is translated in the $ eptuagint _ as _ " the god My of the Ekronites , " § who were the inhabitants of a district belonging to the Philistines , situated near the Mediterranean , and which was originally allotted to the tribe of
Judah . ( Josh , xv ., v . 45 , 46 . ) Calmet , in his dictionary , under the word Baalzebub , says ( and the same opinions are to be found in Buxtorf ' s Chaldee Dictionary under the word BaalV
/ 7 " This deity was called trie G-od of the Flies , either because he was supposed to defend the people from the flies which were attracted in great numbers by the sacrifices , or because the idol itself was represented by the figure of a fly or beetle , and thus became an object of adoration . "
According to Pliny , as before mentioned , the Egyptians , who lay so near the Philistines , paid divine honours to the beetle ; and it is observed that there are beetles in the pictures of Isis , on which Pignorius has a comment . ||
" The author of the Book of Wisdom having said that God sent flies and wasps to drive the Canaanites and Ammonites by degrees out of their country , adds , that
* De Iside et Osir , p . 355 . The scaraboeus was an emblem of the sun , because , no females being found in the species , the male enclosed the new germ , in a round ball , and then pushed it backwards , whilst he really advanced from east to west . Vide Kenrick ' s Ancient Egypt , vol . ii . p . 21 . + Plutarch , de Iside et Osir , p . 354 . X The name of Thothmes III . was held in high veneration by posterity ,
and is found on a great number of scarabcei used as amulets , many of which were probably engraved in subsequent times . Vide Kenrick's Ancient Egypt , vol . ii . p . 229 . § Baal , Beel , or Eel , signifying " Lord / ' or " Master , " and " Zebub or Zevuv" a fly . II Pignorius Laurentius of Padua , a canon of Treviso , died 1631 . He wrote the Mensa Isiaca , to illustrate Egyptian antiquities . Vide p . 43 .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
to Plutarch , the scaraboeus amongst fighting men was engraved on their signets . " * * " The same custom seems to have passed over into Italy , either having been first adopted in Sicily , where the usages of Egypt prevailed from the earliest ages , or through the doctrines of Pythagoras * f whose philosophy , being veiled by
symbols , was copied from that of the Egyptians . There is every reason to suppose that the warriors of Italy held this same opinion respecting the scaraboeus , since the figure of some hero was generally engraved on the flat surface of the stone j J and ifc was probably not only considered as an amulet , hut from , the image ¦ representing' some person connected with religious veneration , it was classed and
deposited amongst the household gods . Hence it follows , that as the style of engraving in many instances is exceedingly rude and unfinished , it is to be supposed that these scarabcei were in use with the soldiery of the lower grades , since such as are more delicately and highly executed are far less numerous , "
The earliest mention in the Old Testament of religious worship rendered to any divinity connected with an insect , occurs in the 1 st chapter of the 2 nd Book of Kings , 2 nd and 3 rd verses , where " Ahaziah king of Israel , having fallen down through a lattice in his
upper chamber , and having received some dangerous injury , sent to consult Baalzebub , the god of Ekron , to know whether he should recover of the disease . The name of this deity is translated in the $ eptuagint _ as _ " the god My of the Ekronites , " § who were the inhabitants of a district belonging to the Philistines , situated near the Mediterranean , and which was originally allotted to the tribe of
Judah . ( Josh , xv ., v . 45 , 46 . ) Calmet , in his dictionary , under the word Baalzebub , says ( and the same opinions are to be found in Buxtorf ' s Chaldee Dictionary under the word BaalV
/ 7 " This deity was called trie G-od of the Flies , either because he was supposed to defend the people from the flies which were attracted in great numbers by the sacrifices , or because the idol itself was represented by the figure of a fly or beetle , and thus became an object of adoration . "
According to Pliny , as before mentioned , the Egyptians , who lay so near the Philistines , paid divine honours to the beetle ; and it is observed that there are beetles in the pictures of Isis , on which Pignorius has a comment . ||
" The author of the Book of Wisdom having said that God sent flies and wasps to drive the Canaanites and Ammonites by degrees out of their country , adds , that
* De Iside et Osir , p . 355 . The scaraboeus was an emblem of the sun , because , no females being found in the species , the male enclosed the new germ , in a round ball , and then pushed it backwards , whilst he really advanced from east to west . Vide Kenrick ' s Ancient Egypt , vol . ii . p . 21 . + Plutarch , de Iside et Osir , p . 354 . X The name of Thothmes III . was held in high veneration by posterity ,
and is found on a great number of scarabcei used as amulets , many of which were probably engraved in subsequent times . Vide Kenrick's Ancient Egypt , vol . ii . p . 229 . § Baal , Beel , or Eel , signifying " Lord / ' or " Master , " and " Zebub or Zevuv" a fly . II Pignorius Laurentius of Padua , a canon of Treviso , died 1631 . He wrote the Mensa Isiaca , to illustrate Egyptian antiquities . Vide p . 43 .