Off With Their Heads!

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You may recall last spring/summer I was actively researching Mithraic mysteries and Cilician pirates. Well, the research led me to some interesting places in my new MS -- places I'd always wanted to go, but never knew how to utilize.

Nemrut is one of those places. Search the word hierothesion, and you won't find an easy definition. What you'll find is a link pointing over to UNESCO world heritage site, Nemrut.

To paraphrase what I learned:

Nemrut is believed to be the burial site of King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene, high on the mountain top overlooking his kingdom. Hierothesion refers to the way the statues of the gods are arranged at the site. (see restoration below)

Now here's where I go off track a bit.

The statues are enormous (8–9 m/26–30 ft). Depictions of Hercules/Vahagn, Zeus/Oromasdes, Apollo/Mithra, Tyche, plus paired eagles and lions, flank the king. To confuse me some more, the statues wear Persian style dress/hair, but were carved with Greek faces. (And why are all the guys identified in Greek/Persian, but Tyche, the goddess of fortune, is only Tyche? I'm voting to call her Tyche/Mah, but what do I know?) It seems the hierothesion falls at some sort of midpoint between the two belief systems, circa 62 BC.

http://fararheill.is/risastytturnar-i-nemrut



Something so big and so important draws attention. When religious ideas of the area shifted to monotheism, the statues were beheaded, lest they be used for idol worship. No one knows when or how it happened, but the heads are now located down the hill from their respective torsos.
Maybe that isn't such a travesty after all. The statues are interesting, but I think the detached heads are what make the site unique.

The image on the right of a restored Nemrut is from an Icelandic source that I couldn't really translate well. (Feel free to follow the link and try for yourself.)

For a long time, not many people made it out to Nemrut. It's out past Malatya, near Adiyaman in eastern Turkey. Read: very far from the beach.

Tourists are coming much more consistently these days. Now Malatya and Adiyaman are fighting for road access rights, airports, and hotels. I think before they worry about the tourists, they should worry about the statues. More people means more deterioration of the site.

Controversy over Mt Nemrut spreads

And PS - No spoilers in the comments, LTM! ;)


Scorpion



Image via Wikipedia

House of the Evil Eye, Antakya, Turkey



The scorpion, aka the akrep (Turkish) or aqrab (Arabic), is a lot like the snake. It has a dual meaning.

An akrep can be a symbolic embodiment of evil or sexuality. (I'll let you extrapolate what a woman might mean when she claims to be "stung by a scorpion".) Yet the akrep is also protective design embroidered into the hem of a women's dress, or worn as an amulet to keep general evil at bay.

I suppose it's like fighting fire with fire. For example, in the mosaic at right, the evil eye is being attacked by all sorts of things associated with badness - snake, dog, pitchfork, centipede, jackal (I think), crow, and of course, the scorpion. Even the little demon is pointing a strategic part toward the eye. KAI CY means "and you", so the message is : If you put your evil eye on me, I'm sending the evil back out after you.

Remember in the depictions of Mithras, there's a scorpion grabbing the sacrificial bull by his - Well, I guess evil and sexually are intertwined in both of these examples. Let's try another.
 
Sufi mystics like to use the akrep as a symbol of their mastery over evil. Some Sufis even claim immunity, treating bite victims and performing ritual-like scorpion handling demonstrations.

Yeah...Some people may treat scorpions like pets, but I'm still not keeping any around. Where's my lavender?

Related articles

• Scorpion venom - bad for bugs, good for pesticides (scienceblog.com)

Secret Rites of Mithras

Image via WikipediaI'm up to my ears researching Cilician Pirates and any possible ways I can connect them to the Cilician djinn in my story. Last week, a footnote about Mithraism tickled my synapses and sent me off looking for info on that and... Violá! I was at a book swap, when out of only a handful of books what should appear? A hardbound copy of "A History of Pagan Europe" with a blurb on the back about Constantine. Thinking I might find some interesting tidbit about Vanadis or Byzantium, I tucked it under my arm and went on my merry way.

At home later, I randomly opened the book to an underlined passage on Mithraism! Uh...something is pointing me in that general direction.

So today we have: The Secret Rites of Mithras! Or what I can make sense of it. Remember when I connected the djinn to Zoroastrianism? Well, Mithraism is somehow connected to Zoroaster, and guess what - to the Cilician pirates too!

Here's where I started to make two columns -
What I Know and What I Need to Find Out (and a WTF column too, but nevermind that one.)

What I Know:

• Mithra was one of the deities of the syncretic Graeco-Iranian royal cult founded by Antiochus I, king of the small, but prosperous "buffer" state of Commagene, in the mid 1st century BC (wikipedia)




wikipedia


• The first Cilician pirate was supposedly Seleucid, which is right next door to Commagene.
• Indo-Persian Mithras was born from a rock. He struck water from stone with an arrow. He killed a sacred bull. His pal was the god Sol. He and Sol feasted on the bull. Then Mithras ascended to heaven in a chariot.
• Mithras was portayed as a young hero with a dagger and he wore a Phyrigian hat (something to do with liberty which I don't fully understand yet.)
• In the depiction of the feast, a follower points the caduceus (decidedly Platonic and yet related to Kundalini) at a flame near the base of the altar. (The flame is very significant to a djinn - so is Kundalini.)
• Mithraists worshipped in underground caves or rooms, usually near a spring or water source. There was usually a basin in the temple. Evidence points to a constellation mural on the ceiling.
• This guy on the right (a leontocephaline) had something to do with them and only them. (separate post next week - I hope!)
• There are lots of caves in the rock faces of Cilicia Trachea.

What I Don't Know:

• Was Mithraism founded by Zoroaster? Lots of clues point to him, but there isn't a smoking gun.
• Was there something to do with equinox and a shift in the way people perceived astronomy? Did someone create a new religion? OK...but why use an avestan (persian, for lack of a better explanation) name?
• Is Mithras another name for Perseus? Perseus is above Taurus in the stars and the stories share ideas.
• What does Mithraism have in common with summer solstice? Records indicate a celebration then, which would make sense if Sol was important. Aside - December 25th is an important day for Mithras - his birthday. World religion and spirituality is so intertwined it's hard to find the thread I need.
• How can I tie in to the djinn world better? Notice there are lots of links to past posts today, so it shouldn't be that difficult, and yet...there's sooo much info I'm in a quagmire. Which is how I felt with Sybil last time I was plotting, so it can only be a good thing...right?

And lastly...Why do I always find the MOST obscure things to research?? I used to think this stuff was so awesome when I was in college....Sigh.

Rudyard Kipling:

MITHRAS, God of the Morning, our trumpets waken the Wall!
' Rome is above the Nations, but Thou art over all!'
Now as the names are answered, and the guards are marched away,
Mithras, also a soldier, give us strength for the day!

Mithras, God of the Noontide, the heather swims in the heat,
Our helmets scorch our foreheads ; our sandals burn our feet.
Now in the ungirt hour; now ere we blink and drowse,
Mithras, also a soldier, keep us true to our vows !

Mithras, God of the Sunset, low on the Western main,
Thou descending immortal, immortal to rise again !
Now when the watch is ended, now when the wine is drawn,
Mithras, also a soldier, keep us pure till the dawn!

Mithras, God of the Midnight, here where the great bull dies,
Look on Thy children in darkness. Oh take our sacrifice !
Many roads Thou hast fashioned: all of them lead to the Light,
Mithras, also a soldier, teach us to die aright!


Related articles

• The Pagan Origins of Modern Christianity (aleksandreia.wordpress.com)

• Mithraic temple open to visitors (Todays Zaman)