The Religious Symbolism of Gold

 

This crescent-shaped gold collar (lunula) was found in Cornwall, England. The Penwith Lunula is dated to the Early Bronze Age (2500-1550 BC). It was worn by a ruler in England around the same time Abraham became established as a ruler in ancient Edom.

From ancient times, gold has been a highly prized commodity. Gold is mentioned over 400 times in the Bible. The word for gold is similar in these Afro-Asiatic languages: Ancient Egyptian - nub (nwb); Akkadian - dahh-ubu; Arabic - dha-hab; and Hebrew - za-hab.

There is evidence that the finest gold was named for Horus, "the Golden One." The HR root is found in the Assyrian word for gold hur-asu and in the Hebrew words for refined or purified gold - haruz. 

Gold was highly valued among the Nilotic Hebrew for whom it represented the sun, the symbol of the High God and his son HR (Horus in Greek). In the ancient world, kings and judges were believed to be appointed by the High God, and Horus was their patron.

The Egyptian word HR means "the One on high." The Turin Canon, which provides important information on Egypt's early history, describes the predynastic rulers as "Followers of Horus" and many had Horus names. The Horus name (HR, Hor, Hur, Har) is the oldest known among the Nilotic rulers, even before Egypt emerged as a political entity. 

Many early Hebrew rulers had Horus names. Hur is an example. According to Midrash, Hur was Moses’ brother-in-law, the husband of Miriam. Hur’s grandson was one of the builders of the Tabernacle. 1 Chronicles 4:4 lists Hur as the "father of Bethlehem," an early Horite Hebrew settlement.

A chief of the tribe of Asher holds the Horus name Harnepher (1 Chron. 7:36).

Another Horus name is Na-Hor, the name of Abraham's older brother. Nahor ruled over his father's territory in Paddan Aram when Terah died. In ancient Akkadian, Na is a modal prefix indicating service to, affirmation, or affiliation. Na-Hor indicates that this man was a devotee of HR, which in ancient Egyptian refers to the Most High God.

A prayer addressed to Horus says, "For you are he who oversees the gods, there is no god who oversees you!" (Ancient Pyramid Texts, Utterance 573)

One of the most famous images related to Horus was found at Nekhen. This is a gold artifact of Horus under the sign of his totem, the falcon. This great gold plumed falcon represents the son of the Father (Re in Ancient Egyptian). Nekhen was named for Horus of the Falcon: Nekheny.

Horus of Nekhen, the oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship (c.4000 BC).

The Hebrew Lived in Regions Rich in Gold

Abraham was a very wealthy Hebrew. This is attested by Genesis 13:2 which states that Abraham was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold. Genesis 24:22 says that Abraham's servant delivered a gold ring and two gold bracelets to Rebekah as a gift from her future husband, Isaac.

Some of Abraham's ancestors lived in regions where gold was found both on the surface and in tunnels. Genesis 2:11 designates Ha'vilah as a gold rich area. It was where the waters of the Upper Nile form a V, suggesting the branching of the White and Blue Nile. The land was later known as Nubia, which means "land of gold." Genesis 2 also mentions that the region has Bdellium, a semi-transparent oleo-gum resin extracted from Commiphora wightii and from Commiphora africana. These trees grow in Ethiopia, Eritrea and other parts of East Africa.

In 2007, archaeologists from the Oriental Institute discovered a 4000-year gold-processing center along Nile. The site is called Hosh el-Guruf and is located about 225 miles north of Khartoum. More than 55 grinding stones made of granite-like gneiss were found at the site. The ore was ground to recover the gold, and water was used to separate the flakes from the particle residue. Similar grinding stones have been found at Timnah in southern Israel.

A temple dedicated to Hathor, the mother of Horus, was discovered at the southwestern edge of Mt. Timnah by Professor Beno Rothenberg of Hebrew University. In his book Timna, Rothenberg concluded that the peoples living in the area were "partners not only in the work but in the worship of Hathor." (Timna, p. 183)

Another area described in the Bible as being rich in gold is Ophir. Ophir was in southwest Arabia. This is the territory of Sheba and Ramah (see map below). Every three years Solomon received tribute of gold, silver, sandalwood, precious stones, ivory, apes and peacocks from Ophir. Solomon's navy traveled to Ophir, taking "four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there" (1 Kgs. 9:26-28; 22:48; 2 Chron. 8:17-18; 9:10).

This gold of Ophir was mined heavily and became scarce. This is attested in Isaiah13:12, which says, "I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold and mankind than the gold of Ophir."

The Religious Symbolism of Gold

In ancient times high kings, rulers, and judges were noted by some association with the sun. Many rulers among Abraham's ancestors were believed to be appointed by God as the Creator's representatives of earth. The sun symbol appears as the initial Y (a solar cradle) in the names of these Hebrew chiefs and priests: Yaqtan (Joktan); Yishmael (Ishmael); Yishbak; Yitzak (Isaac); Yacob (Jacob); Yosef (Joseph); Yetro (Jethro); Yeshai (Jesse) and Yeshua (Joshua/Jesus).

The letter Y in Ancient Egyptian is represented by two upright feathers. That symbol also designated one with authority to judge.

The Y-solar cradle also appears as bull horns. The mother of Horus is the only woman in ancient history to be shown wearing the horns to indicate her appointment by divine overshadowing.


Hathor the Overshadowed

Hathor was appointed to bear the "son"of God, Horus. In this image she is shown overshadowed by the sun, the emblem or symbol of the Creator. Hathor foreshadows the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Messiah. When Mary asked the angel how she would conceive a child, seeing that she "knew" no man, Gabriel explained, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." (Lk. 1:25)

Hathor's is often associated with cattle, so it is not surprising that her offspring, Horus, was sometimes portrayed as the golden calf.

Exodus 32:2 says that Aaron fashioned the golden calf from the gold rings worn by the Israelites. We note that Aaron is never criticized or chastened by God for fabricating this Messianic image.


Related reading: The Gold of Ophir; Minoan Golden Bee; Kushite Gold; Nubia in Biblical History; The Golden Calf in Anthropological Context

The Messianic Symbolism of the Horned Altar

Horned altar at Beersheba.

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

The Hebrew offered prayers with sacrifice upon horned altars. The curved basin represents the lower edge of the sun's orb and is an apophatic or negative image.

The idea of God's presence "between the horns" predates the emergence of Judaism as a world religion. It is evident in the name Yesu which is clearly related to the name Yeshua (Jesus). In ancient Egyptian, the name Yesu is comprised of the following hieroglyphs:

The feather represents the letter Y and also stands for one who judges or measures or weights. The next symbol represents horns. Then there is the royal staff and finally the chick the symbol of new life.

This horned altar shown above was excavated by a team led by Yohanan Aharoni in 1973 at Beersheba. The photograph is of the original reassembled altar when it was still at the site. Beersheba is where Abraham spent his last years. However, this altar was constructed about 1000 years after Abraham's time. 

Before 1000 B.C. the Horite and Sethite Hebrew priests had dispersed out of the Nile Valley into Canaan, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia. They had a custom of building stone altars with horns along the Nile. The space between the horns was a negative (apophatic) solar image representing the High God. In ancient Egyptian tst represented horns or a horned animal.

Exodus 27:2 gives this instruction for the construction of a horned altar by the Israelites (Jacob's clan).

You shall make horns for it on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze.

Exodus 30:2 reiterates that the horns shall be of one piece. 

It shall be one cubit long, and one cubit wide; it shall be square, and shall be two cubits high; its horns shall be of one piece with it.

Exodus 38:2 reiterates that the horned altar was to be covered with bronze.

He made horns for it on its four corners; its horns were of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with bronze.

Leviticus 4:7 indicates that there was a smaller horned altar upon which incense was burned. It explains how the blood was to be put on the horns of this altar.

The priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is in the tent of meeting before the Lord; and the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

Leviticus 4:18 explains where the rest of the blood is to be poured.

He [the priest] shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is before the Lord in the tent of meeting; and the rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

The Celestial Bull appears on a coffin.

Leviticus 4:25 describes how the blood of the sacrificed bull (a Messianic image) is to be put on the horns of the altar of sacrifice.

The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering.

Psalm 118:27 describes the procession to the horned altar in preparation for the sacrifice.

The LORD is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar.

According to the Pyramid Texts the Great Bull smites the enemies of his father Ra (Utterance 205). This is expressed again in Utterance 388: "Horus has shattered (tbb, crushed) the mouth of the serpent with the sole of his foot." Those words are echoed in Genesis 3:1, the first messianic prophesy of the Bible.

Golden bull found in King Tut's tomb

The bull is to be sacrificed so that the deceased king may eat the foreleg and haunch in the heavens (Pyramid Texts, Utterance 413). By forbidding the consumption of the thigh tendon attached to the hip (Gen. 32:32) Judaism distances itself from the Faith of the early Hebrew who believed in God Father and God Son. Judaism is not the Faith of Abraham the Hebrew.

The king is urged to rise, to "gather his bones together, shake off your dust" and enter into immortality. By eating the sacrifice, the deceased king becomes one with the sacred bull. The Eucharist echoes this ancient belief that the believer becomes one with Messiah when partaking by faith.

The early Hebrew believed that the rising of a righteous ruler would bring salvation to the people. Heavenly recognition for the early Hebrew was never an individual prospect. Heavenly recognition came to the people through the righteousness of their ruler-priest. The ascending king would lead his people to immortality.  

In the Egyptian Coffin Texts, the king is to be immortal in his flesh, expressed by his eating and drinking. The kmhw bread of Horus which I have eaten" (Pyramid Texts, Utterance 338) is the food of immortality. The Egyptian word km means to bring to an end, to complete, or fulfill, and hw refers to the heavenly temple or mansion of the firmament above. The Akkadian variant is khenfu cakes which are mentioned in the ancient Code of Ani.

It appears that the "kmhw bread of Horus" is what the Church Fathers regard as the Bread which is the medicine of immortality and the antidote against death. Horus is the Greek for the ancient Egyptian HR, meaning Most High One.

Concerning himself, Jesus said that "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day" (John 6:53-54).

Related reading: Belief in the High God; Horus, King of the Universe; The Sky Bull as a Messianic Image; Sky Bull Eaten to Gain Immortality; Righteous Rulers and the Resurrection; Funerary Rites and the Hope of Resurrection

Zodiacs in Synagogues

In December 1928 a work crew from kibbutz Beth Alpha was digging a drainage canal when a worker's shovel started picking up pieces of mosaic. Soon after, Eliezer Lippa Sukenik and Nahman Avigad of Hebrew University began to excavate the site. They uncovered an almost complete mosaic on the floor of an ancient synagogue. When it was exposed, the mosaic measured 28 meters long (91.8 feet) and 14 meters wide (45.9 feet).

In the square panel of the Beth Alpha mosaic was a zodiac with 12 symbols, surrounded by four female figures at the corners, representing the seasons of the year. (Credit: Art Resource, NY)

In the center, a man is pictured driving a four-horse chariot through the heavens. He represents the annointed of the High God whose symbol was the sun. Among the ancient Horite Hebrew, the High God was said to have a son who rode his solar barque or solar chariot. This explains why rays of the sun radiate from the man's head.

Similar zodiacs with solar symbolism have been found in nunerous synagogues, testifying to the importance of solar symbolism in Judaism. The Jewish Sun blessing (Birka Hachama) is performed every 28 years.

Related reading: Solar Symbolism Among the R1 Peoples; Jewish Worship, Pagan Symbols; Zodiacs in Synagogues; Solar Imagery of the Proto-Gospel; The Sun and Celestial Horses; Astronomical Ceiling Diagrams

The Sign of Mt. Moriah

Sir Leonard Woolley dubbed this statuette the ram caught in a thicket, alluding to the story of Abraham sacrificing a ram on Mount Moriah.

Alice C. Linsley

Notice that this ram has wings. It represents a deity. The only ram-headed deity of the ancient world was Horus whose name HR in ancient Egyptian means "Most High One." He was called the son of God the Father.

The appearance and sacrifice of the Ram on Mount Moriah foreshadows the sacrifice of Jesus Messiah. Abraham is said to be justified because he obeyed God in going to Mt. Moriah and he believed the sign God gave him. 

"Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God." (James 2:21-24) 

"For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that He would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith." (Rom. 4:13)

Ram-headed Horus faces West

As Abraham and Isaac ascended Mount Moriah, Isaac asked his father, "Where is the lamb for the sacrifice? Abraham replied that God would provide the lamb. Instead, God provided a ram. 

To understand what this meant to Abraham, we must be investigate the Horite Hebrew beliefs concerning the expected Righteous Ruler who would die and overcome death on the third day.

For Abraham the Horite Hebrew, the lamb was associated with the east and the rising of the sun. The sun was the emblem of God Father (Ra/Ani) and God Son (Horus/Enki). As the day advanced, the lamb matured into a ram. The ram was associated with the west, the setting sun, and the future. The period of the morning hours was called Mandjet, and the period of the evening hours was called Mesektet. While Horus was on the Mesektet, he was in his ram-headed form. So Abraham is given a sign concerning a future event involving the son of God as a sacrifice.

Related reading: Jesus: From Lamb to Ram; What Abraham Discovered on Mt. Moriah; Ram Symbolism in the Ancient World; The Ra-Horus-Hathor Narrative; The Substance of Abraham's Faith; The Horite High Places

Houses in Iron Age Beersheba

Photo: The Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University/Courtesy Ze’ev Herzog.

Iron Age settlements excavated in Judah and Edom reveal that the houses were oriented to the rising sun. This is what Avraham Faust, Professor of Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University, noticed in his excavation at Beersheba, the southern boundary of Abraham's territory in Edom. The arrangement, as show in the photo above indicates that a westerly orientation was avoided.

Abraham's territory extended between the settlements of his two wives. Sarah resided in Hebron and Keturah resided in Beersheba to the south. This was his territory about 1000 years before the Iron Age (c.1200-550 BC).

The Iron Age settlement at Beersheba demonstrates its ancient residents preferred their houses oriented to the east. Of the houses excavated at the site only one in 29 doorways was built facing west. Abraham Faust argues that Israelite cosmology is responsible for this pattern. However, the pattern is found among other peoples in settlements that are even older. The Sun was a sacred symbol for many biblical peoples among whom the Hebrew were living. It represented the Creator who was known by many names: Ra, Ani, Azu, YHWH, El, etc.

Both Edomite and Midianite pottery have been discovered at Beersheba. A four-horned brazen altar identical in structural to the altar used later by the Israelites was uncovered in 1973. This discovery was made by a team under the direction of Yohanan Aharoni and Ze'ev Herzog of Tel Aviv University.

The team encountered an ancient storage wall that contained the stones of the altar. Three of the stones still had large horns projecting from them, but the horn of the fourth stone had been broken off. Yet still another stone had the carved image of a serpent, probably indicating Kenite construction. The stones, which had been incorporated into a wall, were reassembled to assume their former shape and dated to the time of the Patriarchs. The altar may have been destroyed during Hezekiah’s attempts to eradicate all shrines outside Jerusalem.

Beersheba had strategic importance because it was the largest settlement in the Negev. It guarded the trade routes between Mesopotamia and Egypt and between the Nile Delta and Southern Arabia. Its fortifications in the late Iron Age were impressive and included a moat that encircled the city and a steeply-sloped earthen rampart. Beyond the rampart the city was surrounded by thick stone walls. The gate was a chambered type, and inside the gate archaeologists found an incense altar at the high place, just as described in II Kings 23:8.

The miners of this region venerated Hathor, the mother of Horus, called the "son" of God.

Related reading: The Antiquity of the Edomite Rulers; A Tent for the Sun; Why Cows Were Sacred in the Ancient World; The Serpent of Moses's Staff: Horned Altars and Horned Sacred Vessels

The Sun and Celestial Horses



This gold Scythian belt title was found at Mingachevir. It dates to the 7th century BC.

Alice C. Linsley

In the ancient world, horses were associated with the power of the Supreme Deity whose emblem was the Sun. The Supreme Deity or Most High God was known by many names. The High God Re and his son Horus rode in a solar barque. Helius had a son named Phaeton, which means the "shining one." Phaeton declared, "My father is the Sun God Helius who drives the horses of the day and the golden chariot. He lights up the sky." One day Phaeton asked his father, "let me drive the horses of the Sun..."

Consider Revelation 19:11-13. "..there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God."

Horses were buried with rulers as early as 9000 years ago. The Saudi Arabian Department of Museums and Antiquities reported the discovery of a 9,000-year-old horse burial at al-Maqar, along with a 3-foot-tall bust of a horse.

Ali al-Ghabban reports that a Neolithic site at al-Maqar in Asir province has revealed the earliest evidence of horse domestication. “This discovery shows that horses were domesticated in the Arabian Peninsula for the first time more than 9,000 years ago,” said al-Ghabban. “Previous studies estimated the domestication of horses in Central Asia dating back 5,000 years.” 

Celestial horses and the solar chariot carried Elijah to heaven. Consider 2 Kings 2:11 - "As they [Elijah and Elisha] were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind."

Consider also Isaiah 66:16 - "For behold, the Lord will come in fire and His chariots like the whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire."

The kings of Judah had constructed horses at the entrance to the temple in dedication to the sun, the symbol of the High God. (2 Kg. 23:11)

Psalm 92:2 describes the Lord as “a sun and a shield.” The Victory Tablet of Amenhotep III describes Horus as “The Good God, Golden [Horus], Shining in the chariot, like the rising of the sun; great in strength, strong in might…” (Tablet of Victory of Amenhotep III, J.H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Two, p. 854).


Krkava stone or Triglav stone

The divinely appointed ruler is often shown with the sun as a halo. An example is the Krkava or Triglav Stone (shown right). This depicts the Righteous Ruler who overcomes suffering and death and wins victory over his enemies. This is the basic plot of the Messianic narrative. The divine hero is a rider with the sun as a halo surrounding him. This was a sign of divine appointment.

The victor is called the "Good God" because he gives gifts to his people. Paul makes reference to this received tradition when, alluding to Psalm 68:28, he writes, This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives and gave gifts to his people." (Ephesians 4:8)

Other names for the divine hero include Hor, Horus, Hromi Daba, Crom Dubh, Grom Div. All of these names are associated with the sun and the sky. As early as 2000 BC there is an association with the spoked wheel, another solar image. Votive wheels were offered at shrines, buried in royal tombs, or worn as amulets. Bronze Age wheel pendants or sun crosses usually had four spokes. These are a variation of the 6-prong solar symbol found on archaic rock shelters dating to the oldest period of Vinča culture (6th-5th millennia BC).



The spoked solar image was found among the Hittites who buried great warriors in their chariots. It was found among the ancient peoples of Gaul, as shown on this southern Chalcolithic anthropomorphic stele with an eight prong solar symbol. This was discovered during an archaeological excavation on the Rocher des Doms, Avignon.



As the wheel rumbles across rough terrain, so the sky rumbles with thunder. That is why the divine hero is some tines associated with thunder, as in the case of Perun, and the Hittite/Luwian Teshub who is depicted holding a triple thunderbolt. The connection between celestial horses and a mighty voice in heaven is expressed in Psalm 68:33 - "To Him who rides upon the highest heavens, which are from ancient times; Behold, He speaks forth with His voice, a mighty voice."

Teshub's animal totem was the bull and throughout Anatolia he is shown wearing cow horns as a sign of divine appointment. His horses, named Seri and Hurri, drew his chariot. He is a divine hero of the Anu/Ainu, whose point of origin is the Nile Valley.


The 3,000-year-old Uffington White Horse

The Horites (Hurri/Hurrians) of Anatolia were known for breeding and training of horses. The name of a region with a large concentration of Hurri was called "horse land" or Ishuwa. 

A text discovered at Hattusa deals with the training of horses. The man called Kikkuli was responsible for the horse training. Kikuli is a common name among Nilotic peoples. It refers to one who subdues or tames a horse. Kikuli is derived from the Akkadian kikuli and kikildu which is to intimidate or to train a horse/camel, etc.

As Joseph Campbell discovered, horse narratives involving a celestial rider are wide spread, and often involve a hero who dies and rises, leading his people to victory. Some interpret this as reflecting solar and seasonal changes that mark public occasions such as harvest festivals, solstice celebrations, etc. Campbell considered this a "monomyth" because of the wide distribution of the common elements and themes. 

Campbell believed that all mythic narratives are variations of a single great story. He based this on his many years of critical analysis of myths from around he world. Campbell observed that a common pattern exists beneath the narrative elements of most great myths, regardless of their origin or time period.

A principle of anthropology holds that the more widely dispersed a narrative, the older it is. By this principle it is possible to identify the Messianic narrative as extremely ancient. The point of origin appears to be among the Nilotic peoples and their dispersed descendants for whom the Sun was the Creator's emblem.

The Nilotes were known for their breeding and training of quality horses, as is evident in Deuteronomy 17:16 - "Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, 'You shall never again return that way.'"

In 2003, the frozen remains of a horse more than half a million years old were discovered in the permafrost of Canada’s west-central Yukon Territory.

An estimated 70 drawings were found in the Atxurra cave in northern Basque Spain. The engravings and paintings feature horses and date to about 14,000 years ago.

Horses are a prominent motif on this gold pectoral from a royal kurgan in Tolstaya Mogila, Ordzhonikidze, Ukraine. This Scythian artifact dates to the second half of the 4th century BC.

The Trundholm sun chariot (shown above) was discovered in Denmark. It is a representation of the sun chariot, a bronze statue of a horse and a large bronze disk, which are placed on a device with spoked wheels. It dates to between 1800 to 1600 BC.

In Modhera, India there is a temple with the images of the Sun deity and seven horses. Among the Vedic rulers the horse became a symbol of fertility and the ruler's principal wife was to copulate with the selected horse. The Ashvamedha yajna was a year-long process offered by kings seeking to gain strength, male heirs, or to expand their territories. The horse chosen for the sacrifice was to have the Krittika (the Pleiades) on his forehead. The horse was selected at the beginning of the year and allowed to wander freely while guarded by royal soldiers. Everywhere the horse wandered was claimed to be under the king’s jurisdiction. If the horse entered the territory of another ruler, that ruler had to submit or engage in combat. During the year the horse was not allowed to mate and at the end of the year it was returned to the city where it was sacrificed. After the horse was sacrificed, the carcass was cut into sections and the priests burned the sections on outdoor altars. The entire ceremony lasted three days.


Reaction to horse idolatry

The Ashvamedha yajna was contrary to the Biblical injunction against bestiality and idolatry. This may explain why Josiah removed the horses dedicated to the Sun.

"And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire." (II Kings 23:11)

 

Related reading: The Sun and the Sacred; 7000 BC Horse Burial Linked to Sheba; 700,000-Year-Old Horse Found in Yukon; Solar Imagery of the Proto-Gospel; The Urheimat of the Canaanite Y; The Solar Horseman; The Horse in Egyptian Hieroglyphs; "Some Trust in Horses": Horses as Symbols of Power in Rhetoric and Reality. In Warfare, Ritual, and Symbol in Biblical and Modern Contexts, (eds.) Brad E. Kelle, Frank Ritchel Ames, and Jacob L. Wright

The Brentford Shard: Chi Rho or Solar Symbol?

The pottery shard was found in 1970 during excavations at Brentford High Street in London. The excavations discovered the route of the Roman road heading out from Londinium to the west of Britain. Volunteers at the Museum of London's Archaeological Archive decided that the symbol on the bottom is a monogram of chi (Χ) and rho (Ρ) - the first two letters of the Greek Khristos. That may be, as there were Celtic Christians and Hebrew Christians living throughout the Isles in Roman times. Joseph of Arimathea is an example. It is likely that the early Christians appropriated an archaic solar symbol to represent Jesus Christ.

There is no reason to doubt the historicity of Joseph Arimathea's connection to Cornwall in spite of the dubious legends from the Middle Ages. He was among those early followers of Jesus in Cornwall, where He had business as a metal tradesman and a mining expert. From the time of the earliest pharaohs mining and tomb construction were the work of ruler-priests. Joseph was likely engaged in both, even as he was responsible for the tomb where the Lord Jesus was laid to rest. As a high ranking priest of the Sanhedrin, he had authority to ordain priests. As a follower of Jesus Messiah, he is the key to understanding the continuity between the ancient priesthood of the Habiru/Hebrew and the priesthood of the Church.

If the symbol is a Chi-Rho, this isn't big news. Christians lived in Roman Britain. However, I have doubts that the mark is a Chi-Rho. The symbol more closely resembles the six-prong star found on archaic rock shelters dating to the oldest period of Vinča culture (6th-5th millennia BC).

The mark was found among the Hittites who buried great warriors in their chariots. It was found among the ancient peoples of Gaul, as shown on this anthropomorphic stele that dates to the late Copper Age and the Early Bronze Age. It was discovered during an archaeological excavation on the Rocher des Doms, Avignon.

The 6-prong solar symbol was one of the images found among the Celts of the northern Iberian Peninsula (northern Portugal, Galicia, western Asturias and north western León). It is seen here on these 9th century BC artefacts found at the archaic high places.

Threshing floors were sacred sites at "high places" where the wind could carry away the chaff. Araunah, a Jebusite ruler, sold David a threshing floor upon which David constructed an altar. The threshing floors also had a solar pattern, as is seen with the threshing floor below.

The 6-prong star or rosette symbol is a merkaba, or a solar chariot, associated with the Hebrew priests. It is found on the ossuaries of many of the priests and their family members. The symbol appeared on Jewish ossuaries, often inside a circle as shown on this 2000-year ossuary of Miriam, daughter of Yeshua.

The same image appears on this ossuary of Joseph Caiaphas, the high priest (shown below).

This was the solar chariot of the Creator, the merkaba, vehicle of Light to carry the dead to the place of rest from which they hoped to rise again. In the Ethiopian Church a replica of the Ark, called ta-bot, is decorated with this 6-pointed star inside a circle at the center of the ark. The very image appears in the grave chancel of St. Magnus in Kirkwall, Orkney.

This solar rosette is also found on this marker stone at Banias in Northern Israel (shown above). The mark is found on the Magdala Stone (shown below.)

When I asked Jodi Magness, who has been studying the iconography of early synagogues, about the solar imagery on the Magdala Stone, she responded that "at least 1-2 archaeologists have suggested that the imagery on it should be understood in connection with the idea of the divine chariot."

There is an ancient association of the merkaba with trees as shown on the Magdala Stone. This is a Messianic image. This 4th century Nativity image shows the Christ resting between two trees, a pine and an oak.

In Old Church Slavonic drievo refers to a tree or wood. The Serbian drvo is from the Proto-Indo-European drew-o, with the affix O being a solar symbol. The root deru- means to be firm or solid. The word druid is a compound of two words: drvo, dervo, derevo - tree in Slavic and vid, ved - to see, to know, to teach. In Old Irish the druid was a tree-seer. The word for "ancient, primeval" in Slavic languages is drevan. The word literally means as old as a tree.

Seers or judges sat under trees in the ancient world. Deborah sat under her tamar tree (Judges 4:4-6). A tamar is a date nut palm and was associated with the female principle. This was located between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim (a north-south axis). Genesis 12 that tells us that the moreh or prophet/seer consulted by Abraham sat under an oak between Bethel and Ai (an east-west axis). The oak was associated with the male principle. The oak leaf often appears on the tops of Serbian and Irish loaves, as shown below.

On this traditional Serbia cake the solar rosette is surrounded by oak leaves. The Giving God, sometimes called Hesus (the primitive Horus archetype) was crucified on an oak tree. The hope of his third-day resurrection was enacted by the sowing of grain in the fields. In antiquity, this annual ritual was overseen by Horite priests who led the people in procession to the fields, much as Anglican priests officiate at Rogation Day ceremonies.

The ancients Celts placed a similar mark on the tops of ceremonial bread loaves. The 6-prong rosette is found to this day on Irish Maslin bread (shown below).

Maslin bread is the oldest known bread eaten by the Celts. It was the bread of common folks, containing a blend of wheat and rye flours. The rosette is a solar symbol that speaks of the Creator whose emblem was the Sun. It spoke of hope of rising from the dead as the Sun rises each morning.

All this to say that even if the mark on the Brentford shard is a Chi-Rho, that symbol itself emerged from the solar imagery of the Proto-Gospel and reflects the dispersion of the R1b Horite Habiru priests throughout the ancient world. It appears that early Christians adapted an ancient solar symbol to represent Jesus Christ and it was very fitting that they should have done so.

Related Reading: The Priesthood in England, Conclusion; Threshing Floors and Solar Symbols; Brentford High Street Excavations; Was Constantine a Saka Ruler?; Hanged on a Tree

Reading the Magdala Stone

Alice C. Linsley

A carved stone found in 2009 in Magdala, in northern Israel may explain why Jesus was accused of blasphemy by the High Priest. The stone was unearthed at what was subsequently identified as a first-century synagogue.

The stone depicts the oldest image of the Second Temple’s menorah found to date.

According to the Gospel of Mark, Jesus was sentences to die for blasphemy. He said that people would one day see him "seated at the right hand of power and coming with clouds of glory." This is an allusion to Daniel 7, and the High Priest Caiaphas understood perfectly what what Jesus was claiming. Psalm 104 describes God as a chariot driver who rides the clouds. Daniel 7 speaks of the Ancient of Days. The name in Aramaic, as it appears in Daniel, is Atik Yomin.

I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. (Daniel 7:9)

Solar images depicting the Creator surrounded by the constellations appear in several early synagogues. When I asked Jodi Magness, who has been studying the iconography of early synagogues, about the solar imagery on the Magdala Stone, she responded that "at least 1-2 archaeologists have suggested that the imagery on it should be understood in connection with the idea of the divine chariot."

Aspects of the ancient solar symbolism are found in the Bible and in historical texts. Psalm 92:2 describes the Lord as “a sun and a shield.” Psalm 104 describes YHWH as a chariot driver who rides the clouds. The Victory Tablet of Amenhotep III describes Horus as “The Good God, Golden [Horus], Shining in the chariot, like the rising of the sun; great in strength, strong in might…” (Tablet of Victory of Amenhotep III, J.H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Two, p. 854).

On the top of the Magdala Stone there is a 6-prong star inside a circle, a solar image like that which appears on ancient Jewish ossuaries. This is the merkaba, a solar chariot of the Creator, the vehicle of Light that would carry the dead to the place of rest. They hoped to rise on the Last Day. In the Iron Age this merkaba was shown as a chariot. The spokes within a circle are both the rays of the sun and the spokes of the chariot wheel. This symbol likely appeared on the Ark of the Covenant. In the Ethiopian Church a replica of the Ark, called ta-bot, is displayed in the churches. It is decorated with the 6-pointed star inside a circle at the center of the ark.

The same image appears on tomb stones, at threshing floors, and on bread, suggesting a connection between the idea of sowing seed in the ground (burial) and new life.

Tomb at Banais, Israel

Ossuary of Miriam, daughter of the priest Yeshua

Threshing floors were sacred places at high level elevations where the wind could carry away the chaff. Araunah, a Jebusite ruler, sold David a threshing floor upon which David constructed an altar. These were places of worship in the ancient world.

Threshing floor 

Among the Habiru Horite priests there was a commemoration of the death of Horus, the "son" of God. On the third day the priests led processions to the fields where grain was sowed. St. Augustine noted that the Egyptians took great care in the burial of their dead and never practiced cremation, as in the religions that seek to escape physical existence. Abraham's ancestors believed in the resurrection of the body and their ceremonies and solar symbolism express their yearning for a deified king who would rise from the grave and deliver his people from death.

The 6-prong rosette is found on Irish Maslin bread (shown above). Maslin bread is the oldest known bread eaten by the Celts. It was the bread of common folks, containing a blend of wheat and rye flours. The rosette is a solar symbol. 

Caiaphas understood what Jesus was saying about himself. Jesus was claiming to be the fulfillment of Messianic expectation, the divine Seed of Genesis 3:15 who tramples the serpent and overcomes death. Jesus referred to Himself as the promised "Seed" when He foretold his death in Jerusalem. He said, "Unless a seed fall into the ground and die, it cannot give life." (John 12:24)

Related reading: Is This Stone the Clue to Why Jesus Was Killed?; Threshing Floors and Solar Symbols; Righteous Rulers and the Resurrection; The Gourd in Biblical Symbolism; Genesis in Anthropological Perspective

The Gourd in Biblical Symbolism

A despondent Jonah facing east under a gourd plant

Alice C. Linsley

Gourds were a sacred symbol among Abraham's Horite Hebrew people. They represented fertility, new life, the arousal of the High God (whose emblem was the Sun), the rising of the Sun and, as with the pomegrante, the hope for bodily resurrection. 

Gourds carved into cedar decorated the inner sanctuary of the temple.

The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long. There was cedar on the house within, carved in the shape of gourds and open flowers; all was cedar, there was no stone seen. 1 Kings 6:18

Gourds also decorated the bronze sea, a circular basin which held a supply of water for ritual use.

Now he made the sea of cast metal ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits, and thirty cubits in circumference. Under its brim gourds went around encircling it ten to a cubit, completely surrounding the sea; the gourds were in two rows, cast with the rest. It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; and the sea was set on top of them... 1 Kings 7:24

In the story of Jonah, the LORD prepares a gourd plant to shelter Jonah. This pleases Jonah, but a worm destroys the plant. The gourd represents the new life to be enjoyed by the people of Ninevah after repentance and deliverance from destruction. The worm is Jonah's bitterness that his enemies should be saved, just as he feared, knowing that the LORD is gracious and merciful.

The LORD said, "Do you have good reason to be angry?" Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. So the LORD God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant.… Jonah 4:4-6

The gourd is a solar symbol. As it matures, the gourd swells. It is a reference to the Creator God whose emblem, the sun, swells as it rises in the morning. There is a connection to the ancient Egyptian root bn, meaning to swell, and to the the Proto-Dravidian root brih, which means to swell or enlarge. The Egyptian word for the rising sun is wbn, and that which is enlarged or swollen to its limits is designated by the reduplication bnbn.

The Old Arabic word for the swelling of the sun is yakburu, meaning “he is getting big” and with the intensive active prefix: yukabbiru, it means "he is enlarging." This it is related to the Proto-Dravidian word for an east-facing Sun temple, which is O-piru. The caste of priests who served in the sun temples were called Hapiru, Habiru, 'Apiru or Abru, from which the English word "Hebrew" is derived. The priests' morning ritual involved greeting and blessing the rising sun and offering prayers as it swelled on the horizon. 

This practice of venerating the sun is very ancient. It continues today in the morning ritual of devout Hindus (Agnihotra) and in the Jewish Sun Blessing ritual (Birkat Hachama) that is performed every 28 years. 

Similarly, the Horite Hebrew priests of Nekhen (c. 4000 BC) placed invocations to Horus at the summit of the fortress at dawn. The priests faced the eastern horizon to greet the rising sun, the emblem of Re and his son Horus. Prayers were offered at dawn and dusk. One of the Chief Inspectors of the Horite priests of Nekhen was Horemkhawef. His tomb has been identified.

Nekhen is where the oldest life-sized human statue was found: a priest from the temple of Horus, c.3000 BC. Votive offerings at the Nekhen temple were ten times larger than the normal mace heads and bowls found elsewhere, suggesting that this was a very prestigious shrine city.

The Horite Hebrew priests of Nekhen were among Abraham's ancestors. By the time of Abraham the Horite Hebrew were widely dispersed throughout the ancient Near East. The peoples with whom they came into contact regarded them as outsiders. They preserved their customs and religion by practicing endogamy: The Hebrew Horites/Hurrians/Hittites/Hethites married within their related clans. Esau the Elder married Adah and Basemath, daughters of the Hittite chief Elon. Esau the Younger married Oholibamah, a Horite Hebrew bride (Gen. 36), and Judith, daughter of the Hittite chief Beeri (Gen. 26:34). The Hittites of Hebron recognized Abraham the Hebrew as "a great prince" among them. (Gen. 23:6).

Related reading:  Easter Eggs in Antiquity; The Solar Imagery of the Proto-Gospel; The Dung Beetle and Heavenly Lights; The Fig Tree in Biblical Symbolism; Threshing Floors and Solar Symbolism

Threshing Floors and Solar Symbols

Alice C. Linsley

This ancient sun circle was used as a threshing floor.

In the ancient world, daily activities like cooking, sowing, harvesting, and threshing grain had religious significance. The threshing floor was at a high elevation where the wind could carry away the chaff. 

Threshing floors were associated with the sun and with solar cycles. They were used to determine times and seasons. A center post served to cast a shadow, on the same principle as a sundial. Some threshing floors, such as the one shown above, resemble solar images.

The threshing floor ("guran") was a sacred place at a high elevation. High places such as these were places of worship in the ancient world. The Jebusite ruler Araunah sold David a threshing floor upon which David constructed an altar.

In the Bible, divine encounters (theophanies) often occur at high places such as mountain tops or in the hill country. The Horite Hebrew of Edom were known to prefer the "hill country" (Gen. 14:6; Gen. 36). They grew their grain in the valleys below, but their threshing floors and granaries were at higher elevations.

There is some evidence that threshing floors were the sites of the hieros gamos or sacred marriage, during harvest times. Judah's intercourse with a shrine qadesh took place at Timna, which had a temple dedicated to Hathor. Timna was directly north of Abdullum in Jebusite territory. Judah went to Timna to visit with his friend from Abdullum and to help with the harvest. 

Among the Canaanite populations the hieros gamos may have represented a hope or expectation concerning the Divine Son. However, among the Hebrew devotees of God Father, God Son, and Hathor, the conception of the Divine Son did not involve sexual intercourse. Instead, a virgin of their ruler-priest caste was expected to conceive by solar overshadowing (Luke 1).

Hathor is shown on ancient monuments wearing the solar cradle: long cow horns in which the Sun rests as a sign of divine appointment. She was the patroness of the Horite Hebrew metal workers of Edom.

Hebrews 4:2 states that the message concerning the risen Lord was preached to the Apostles' ancestors. From this we may assume that Abraham and Moses shared the faith of their ancestors to whom God first revealed the "Proto-Gospel" concerning the Seed of God who would be born of the Horite ruler-priest lines. He was expected to pass through death to life and lead his people from the grave to eternal life. He is often called "the Bread of Life."

There is a connection between the sowing and harvesting of grain and the making of bread in solar circles. The most common solar symbol was the 6-prong symbol which is found to this day on Irish Maslin bread (shown here). 

Some Maslin loaves are decorated with an oak leaf on top. Maslin bread is the oldest known bread eaten by the Celts. It was the bread of common folks, containing a blend of wheat and rye flours. The rosette is a solar symbol, and it is found wherever the early Hebrew dispersed. 

On this traditional Serbia cake (shown right) the solar rosette is surrounded by oak leaves. Hesus (fulfilling the primitive Horus archetype) was crucified on an oak tree. The hope of his third-day resurrection was enacted by the sowing of grain in the fields. In antiquity, this annual ritual was overseen by Horite Hebrew priests who led the people in procession to the fields, much as Anglican priests officiate at Rogation Day ceremonies in late May.

Anglican priest blessing the fields in Hever, Kent

Among the Horite Hebrew, the seed that was sown spoke of the long-expected Righteous Ruler who would trample the serpent under his feet (Gen. 3:15). Jesus referred to himself as the "Seed" when he foretold his death in Jerusalem. He explained to his disciples, "Unless a seed fall into the ground and die, it cannot give life." (John 12:24)

The Apostle Paul makes a reference to the Seed also. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy Seed, which is Christ… And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:16, 29)

The rosette on the Maslin bread and the Serbian cake is identical to the solar symbol found on the tombs and ossuaries of Hebrew. The symbol is associated with the hope of life after death or bodily resurrection.

Tomb at Banais, Israel

Ossuary of Miriam, daughter of the priest Yeshua

Related reading: Is It Possible to Speak of the Proto-Gospel?; Solar Imagery and the Proto-Gospel; Goran Pavlovic on Oaks; Horite and Sethite Mounds; Threshing Floors in Ancient Israel: Their Ritual and Symbolic Significance, by Jaime L. Waters, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015)