Artifacts

The First and Oldest Temple in the World? – Göbekli Tepe

9 Comments
One of the excavated enclosures at Göbekli Tepe, Turkey, with massive T-shaped megaliths forming ancient stone circles thought to be up to 12,000 years old. (Click for a larger view)

One of the excavated enclosures at Göbekli Tepe, Turkey, with massive T-shaped megaliths forming ancient stone circles thought to be up to 12,000 years old. (Click for a larger view)

Grandpa Enoch over at Pronaos wrote a few days ago that Archaeology Magazine‘s latest issue has a cover article by Sandra Scham entitled “The World’s First Temple” ((Archaeology Magazine, Volume 61 Number 6, November/December 2008, abstract)).  The magazine Science also did an article on the same subject back in January 2008 ((Science, Vol. 319. no. 5861, p. 280, abstract)).  There are many articles that are being published, all focused on one archeological dig in southeast Turkey (see this map) which has come to be known as Göbekli Tepe, a Turkish name meaning “navel hill/mountain” or “hill with a belly” ((Wikipedia – Göbekli Tepe.)).

What makes this excavation so unique?  Why all the hype?  Because evidence is showing that this may be the world’s first man-made monumental structure ever built, even before agriculture developed.  Archeologists didn’t believe that Neolithic hunter-gatherers were capable of building such an enormous complex at such an early date, but this site is starting to redefine our understanding of the beginnings of mankind.  What else is interesting is that this appears to have been some sort of ritual center or ceremonial complex – a temple.  [Read more…]

16th Century Sculpture of the Marriage of Adam and Eve

5 Comments
The Garden of Eden or Love by Guillielmus Paludanus. 1567. Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels.

The Garden of Eden or Love by Guillielmus Paludanus. 1567. Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. (click image for a larger view)

Just a couple days ago I came across a sculpture that caught my attention.  Although unsigned and undated, it is widely believed that it was created by the Flemish sculptor and medallist Guillielmus Paludanus in 1567 as part of a chimney mantelpiece at his home in Antwerp, Belgium.  It is described as espousing the virtue of love:

In the centre of the elongated relief stands God the Father, dressed in a long robe, between Adam and Eve. He is blessing the naked human pair and placing their hands together. The scene takes place in the garden of Eden. . . This scene is a prefiguration of the sacrament of marriage. Not only the hieratic gesture of the God the Father, and Adam and Eve’s joined hands [known in antiquity as the dexiosis or dextrarum iunctio], but also the depiction of the paradise animals, two by two, refer to the God-willed lifelong community between husband and wife. (Web Gallery of Art)

I think this is a beautiful depiction of the first marriage, between Adam and Eve, as solemnized by God the Father.  It recalls the moment in the Garden when it was said, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Gen. 2:24; see also Gen. 3:12).

As it was in the beginning, so it continues today, that marriage is between a man and a woman.  It was divinely ordained so by God, for “neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord” (1 Cor. 11:11).  It cannot be defined otherwise without serious repercussions on our society as a whole, and on our families and religious freedoms.  For that reason, I am in support of traditional marriage, particularly Proposition 8 in California (see my sidebar).  Watch apostles Elder Ballard and Elder Cook discuss the issue, or apostle Elder Bednar answer questions on the Proposition.  Hear people discuss their reasoning of support for the initiative.  Or check out the Church’s new website in support of Proposition 8 – PreservingMarriage.org.  Read the Church’s explanation for why this is important, and the First Presidency’s letter asking members to support this amendment in California.

Now is the time to make a difference by supporting marriage only between a man and a woman.  Vote yes on Proposition 8!  Visit ProtectMarriage.com for more information on how you can support this cause.

Nüwa and Fuxi in Chinese Mythology: Compass & Square

37 Comments
An ancient painting of Nüwa and Fuxi unearthed in Xinjiang.

An ancient painting of Nüwa and Fuxi unearthed in Xinjiang, holding the tools of creation - compass and square.

Hugh Nibley gave a lecture in 1975 on “Sacred Vestments” which was later transcribed and included in the collected works volume Temple and Cosmos (pgs. 91-132).  The entire paper is fascinating, and highly recommended reading.  One of the things he wrote about were certain Chinese artifacts which had been found depicting two mythological gods, Nüwa and Fuxi, and the tools they hold:

Most challenging are the veils from Taoist-Buddhist tombs at Astana, in Central Asia, originally Nestorian (Christian) country, discovered by Sir Aurel Stein in 1925… We see the king and queen embracing at their wedding, the king holding the square on high, the queen a compass. As it is explained, the instruments are taking the measurements of the universe, at the founding of a new world and a new age. Above the couple’s head is the sun surrounded by twelve disks, meaning the circle of the year or the navel of the universe. Among the stars depicted, Stein and his assistant identified the Big Dipper alone as clearly discernable. As noted above, the garment draped over the coffin and the veil hung on the wall had the same marks; they were placed on the garment as reminders of personal commitment, while on the veil they represent man’s place in the cosmos. (pg. 111-12)

Nibley included drawings of this depiction found on veils in the Astana Tombs in Xinjiang, China, with a caption that reads:

In the underground tomb of Fan Yen-Shih, d. A.D. 689, two painted silk veils show the First Ancestors of the Chinese, their entwined serpect bodies rotating around the invisible vertical axis mundi.  Fu Hsi holds the set-square and plumb bob … as he rules the four-cornered earth, while his sister-wife Nü-wa holds the compass pointing up, as she rules the circling heavens.  The phrase kuci chü is used by modern Chinese to signify “the way things should be, the moral standard”; it literally means the compass and the square. (pg. 115)

See the photos at the end of the post for more examples of this icon.  The veil redrawn in Temple and Cosmos is shown photographed in the second row, fourth from the left.  [Read more…]

The Rainbow – A Token of the Covenant

14 Comments
Noah's Thanksoffering (c.1803) by Joseph Anton Koch. Noah builds an altar to the Lord after being delivered from the Flood; God sends the rainbow as a sign of his covenant (Genesis 8-9). (click for larger view)

Noah's Thanksoffering (c.1803) by Joseph Anton Koch. (click image for larger view)

This morning I was listening to the ABC News report on the incoming hurricane Ike, which is heading straight towards the Galveston/Houston area of Texas, and the forecast of widespread destruction that it is provoking.  The news anchor was reporting from Galveston Island, Texas, where the brunt of the storm is said to be bearing down quickly.  The reporter ended his news clip by saying that there was a rainbow directly over Galveston Island.

It is destructive times like these that cause us to reflect on God, and His place in our world.  It seems like cruel irony that the rainbow was placed as a sign of the covenant that God made with man that He would not flood the earth again.  But then again, that was surely a deliberate decision, that each time we witness these horrific natural events like hurricanes we remember God is still there, and that He knows our trials and tribulations (cf. Hel. 12:3).  Yes, even “if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good” (D&C 122:7).  Events like these turn us back to God, and remind us to worship Him who is the Creator of heaven and earth.  It is only by obeying God’s commandments and enduring trying times such as these that we can “triumph over all [our] foes” (D&C 121:7-8):  [Read more…]

The Seal of Melchizedek – Part 4

38 Comments
Satellite Photo of the San Diego California Temple with the "Seal of Melchizedek" overlayed 13 times

Satellite photo of the San Diego California Temple with the “Seal of Melchizedek” overlayed 13 times.  I particularly like the symbol used in the skylight of the atrium in the center of the temple.

(Continued from Part 3)

To continue my research I wanted to know as accurately as possible the story about this symbol, the “seal of Melchizedek,” as it was used in the San Diego Temple.  I couldn’t find a good account online, so I decided to go to the source.  Who better would know than the design architect of the temple?  So I gave him a call.  [Read more…]