The following text was an appendix to the 2004 draft of what became The Sacred History of Being. Some informative texts from antiquity (such as this one) survive in part as quotations by other writers. In this case the original author was Porphyry, and it was quoted in an extensive work (the Preparation for the Gospel) by the industrious christian apologist Eusebius in the 4th century C.E. As I've shown elsewhere, Porphyry knew about the doctrine of wholes and totalities also understood by Pythagoras and Plato and others, and so he was well informed, and so gives an insight into the real significance of the practice of idolatry in the ancient world.
I first read this text around 1993, and it gave shape to a good deal of the writing which went into The Sacred History of Being during the next ten or so years. Eusebius' purpose in quoting the text was to show that much of the nature of earlier religion was a mere foreshadowing of the Christian revelation. My purpose in including the text as an appendix was to show that there was still much known of the nature of 1st millennium idolatry up until the closure of the philosophical schools in 529 C.E., and that their knowledge pointed to quite a different understanding of polytheism than the one we commonly associate with the history of Israel and its religious struggles, and the later Christian objections to the 'abomination' of polytheism.
The appendix was removed while I was writing the final draft of the book between 2011 and 2014, in order to keep the text within manageable limits.
TY, July 22, 2017
Appendix E: Concerning Cult Images
(Porphyry) – extracts preserved in Eusebius’ the Preparation for the Gospel
fr. 1 Eusebius, Preparation for the Gospel 3.7.1
I speak to those who lawfully
may hear:
Depart all ye profane, and close
the doors.
The thoughts of a wise theology, wherein men indicated God and God's powers by
images akin to sense, and sketched invisible things in visible forms, I will
show to those who have learned to read from the statues as from books the
things there written concerning the gods. Nor is it any wonder that the utterly
unlearned regard the statues as wood and stone, just as also those who do not
understand the written letters look upon the monuments as mere stones, and on
the tablets as bits of wood, and on books as woven papyrus.
fr. 2 Eusebius, Preparation
for the Gospel 3.7.2-4
As the deity is of the nature of light, and dwells in an atmosphere of ethereal
fire, and is invisible to sense that is busy about mortal life, He through
translucent matter, as crystal or Parian marble or even ivory, led men on to
the conception of his light, and through material gold to the discernment of
the fire, and to his undefiled purity, because gold cannot be defiled.
On the other hand, black marble was used by many to show his invisibility; and
they moulded their gods in human form because the deity is rational, and made
these beautiful, because in those is pure and perfect beauty; and in varieties
of shape and age, of sitting and standing, and drapery; and some of them male,
and some female, virgins, and youths, or married, to represent their diversity.
Hence they assigned everything white to the gods of heaven, and the sphere and
all things spherical to the cosmos and to the sun and moon in particular, but
sometimes also to fortune and to hope: and the circle and things circular to
eternity, and to the motion of the heaven, and to the zones and cycles therein;
and the segments of circles to the phases of the moon; pyramids and obelisks to
the element of fire, and therefore to the gods of Olympus; so again the cone to
the sun, and cylinder to the earth, and figures representing parts of the human
body to sowing and generation.
fr. 3 Eusebius, Preparation for the Gospel
3.9.1-5
'Now look at the wisdom of the Greeks, and
examine it as follows. The authors of the Orphic hymns supposed Zeus to be the
mind of the world, and that he created all things therein,containing the world
in himself. Therefore in their theological systems they have handed down their
opinions concerning him thus:'
Zeus
was the first, Zeus last, the lightning's lord,
Zeus
head, Zeus centre, all things are from Zeus.
Zeus
born a male, Zeus virgin undefiled;
Zeus
the firm base of earth and starry heaven;
Zeus
sovereign, Zeus alone first cause of all:
One
power divine, great ruler of the world,
One
kingly form, encircling all things here,
Fire,
water, earth, and ether, night and day;
Wisdom,
first parent, and delightful Love:
For
in Zeus' mighty body these all lie.
His
head and beauteous face the radiant heaven
Reveals
and round him float in shining waves
The
golden tresses of the twinkling stars.
On
either side bulls' horns of gold are seen,
Sunrise
and sunset, footpaths of the gods.
His
eyes the Sun, the Moon's responsive light;
His
mind immortal ether, sovereign truth,
Hears
and considers all; nor any speech,
Nor
cry, nor noise, nor ominous voice escapes
The
ear of Zeus, great Kronos' mightier son:
Such
his immortal head, and such his thought.
His
radiant body, boundless, undisturbed
In
strength of mighty limbs was formed thus:
The
god's broad-spreading shoulders, breast and back
Air's
wide expanse displays; on either side
Grow
wings, wherewith throughout all space he flies.
Earth
the all-mother, with her lofty hills,
His
sacred belly forms; the swelling flood
Of
hoarse resounding Ocean girds his waist.
His
feet the deeply rooted ground upholds,
And
dismal Tartarus, and earth's utmost bounds.
All
things he hides, then from his heart again
In
godlike action brings to gladsome light.
Zeus, therefore, is the whole world, animal of animals, and god of gods; but
Zeus, that is, inasmuch as he is the mind from which he brings forth all
things, and by his thoughts creates them. When the theologians had explained
the nature of god in this manner, to make an image such as their description
indicated was neither possible, nor, if any one thought of it, could he show
the look of life, and intelligence, and forethought by the figure of a sphere.
But they have made the representation of Zeus in human form, because mind was
that according to which he wrought, and by generative laws brought all things
to completion; and he is seated, as indicating the steadfastness of his power:
and his upper parts are bare, because he is manifested in the intellectual and
the heavenly parts of the world; but his feet are clothed, because he is
invisible in the things that lie hidden below. And he holds his sceptre in his
left hand, because most close to that side of the body dwells the heart, the most
commanding and intelligent organ: for the creative mind is the sovereign of the
world. And in his right hand he holds forth either an eagle, because he is
master of the gods who traverse the air, as the eagle is master of the birds
that fly aloft - or a victory, because he is himself victorious over all
things.
fr. 8 Eusebius, Preparation for the Gospel
3.11.22-44
The whole power productive of water they called Oceanus, and named its symbolic
figure Tethys. But of the whole, the drinking-water produced is called
Achelous; and the sea-water Poseidon; while again that which makes the sea,
inasmuch as it is productive, is Amphitrite. Of the sweet waters the particular
powers are called Nymphs, and those of the sea-waters Nereids.
Again, the power of fire they called Hephaestus, and have made his image in the
form of a man, but put on it a blue cap as a symbol of the revolution of the
heavens, because the archetypal and purest form of fire is there. But the fire
brought down from heaven to earth is less intense, and wants the strengthening
and support which is found in matter: wherefore he is lame, as needing matter
to support him.
Also they supposed a power of this kind to belong to the sun and called it
Apollo, from the pulsation (palsis) of his beams. There are also nine
Muses singing to his lyre, which are the sublunar sphere, and seven spheres of
the planets, and one of the fixed stars. And they crowned him with laurel,
partly because the plant is full of fire, and therefore hated by daemons; and
partly because it crackles in burning, to represent the god's prophetic art.
But inasmuch as the sun wards off the evils of the earth, they called him
Heracles (Heraklês) (from his clashing against the air (klasthai pros
ton aera) in passing from east to west. And they invented fables of his
performing twelve labours, as the symbol of the division of the signs of the
zodiac in heaven; and they arrayed him with a club and a lion's skin, the one
as an indication of his uneven motion, and the other representative of his
strength in "Leo" the sign of the zodiac.
Of the sun's healing power Asclepius is the symbol, and to him they have given
the staff as a sign of the support and rest of the sick, and the serpent is
wound round it, as significant of his preservation of body and soul: for the
animal is most full of spirit, and shuffles off the weakness of the body. It
seems also to have a great faculty for healing: for it found the remedy for
giving clear sight, and is said in a legend to know a certain plant which restores
life.
But the fiery power of his revolving and circling motion, whereby he ripens the
crops, is called Dionysus, not in the same sense as the power which produces
the juicy fruits, but either from the sun's rotation (dinein), or from
his completing (dianuein) his orbit in the heaven. And whereas he
revolves round the cosmical seasons (hôras) (and is the maker of
"times and tides,") the sun is on this account called Horus.
Of his power over agriculture, whereon depend the gifts of wealth (Plutus), the
symbol is Pluto. He has, however, equally the power of destroying, on which
account they make Sarapis share the temple of Pluto: and the purple tunic they
make the symbol of the light that has sunk beneath the earth, and the sceptre
broken at the top that of his power below, and the posture of the hand the
symbol of his departure into the unseen world.
Cerberus is represented with three heads, because the positions of the sun
above the earth are three-rising, midday, and setting.
The moon, conceived according to her brightness, they called Artemis, as it
were (aerotemis), "cutting the air." And Artemis, though
herself a virgin, presides over childbirth, because the power of the new moon
is helpful to parturition.
What Apollo is to the sun, that Athena is to the moon: for the moon is a symbol
of wisdom, and so a kind of Athena.
But, again, the moon is Hecate, the symbol of her varying phases and of her
power dependent on the phases. Wherefore her power appears in three forms,
having as symbol of the new moon the figure in the white robe and golden
sandals, and torches lighted: the basket, which she bears when she has mounted
high, is the symbol of the cultivation of the crops, which she makes to grow up
according to the increase of her light: and again the symbol of the full moon
is the goddess of the brazen sandals.
Or even from the branch of olive one might infer her fiery nature, and from the
poppy her productiveness, and the multitude of the souls who find an abode in
her as in a city, for the poppy is an emblem of a city. She bears a bow, like
Artemis, because of the sharpness of the pangs of labour.
And, again, the Fates are referred to her powers, Clotho to the generative, and
Lachesis to the nutritive, and Atropos to the inexorable will of the deity.
Also, the power productive of corn-crops, which is Demeter, they associate with
her, as producing power in her. The moon is also a supporter of Kore. They set
Dionysus also beside her, both on account of their growth of horns, and because
of the region of clouds lying beneath the lower world.
The power of Kronos they perceived to be sluggish and slow and cold, and
therefore attributed to him the power of time (chronou): and they figure
him standing, and grey-headed, to indicate that time is growing old.
The Curetes, attending on Chronos, are symbols of the seasons, because time
(Chronos) journeys on through seasons.
Of the Hours, some are the Olympian, belonging to the sun, which also open the
gates in the air: and others are earthly, belonging to Demeter, and hold a
basket, one symbolic of the flowers of spring, and the other of the wheat-ears
of summer.
The power of Ares they perceived to be fiery, and represented it as causing war
and bloodshed, and capable both of harm and benefit.
The star of Aphrodite they observed as tending to fecundity, being the cause of
desire and offspring, and represented it as a woman because of generation, and
as beautiful, because it is also the evening star -
"Hesper, the fairest star that shines in heaven." *
And Eros they set by her because of desire. She veils her breasts and other
parts, because their power is the source of generation and nourishment. She
comes from the sea, a watery element, and warm, and in constant movement, and
foaming because of its commotion, whereby they intimate the seminal power.
Hermes is the representative of reason and speech, which both accomplish and
interpret all things. The phallic Hermes represents vigour, but also indicates
the generative law that pervades all things.
Further, reason is composite: in the sun it is called Hermes; in the moon
Hecate; and that which is in the All Hermopan, for the generative and creative
reason extends over all things. Hermanubis also is composite, and as it were
half Greek, being found among the Egyptians also. Since speech is also
connected with the power of love, Eros represents this power: wherefore Eros is
represented as the son of Hermes, but as an infant, because of his sudden
impulses of desire.
They made Pan the symbol of the universe, and gave him his horns as symbols of
sun and moon, and the fawn skin as emblem of the stars in heaven, or of the
variety of the universe.
fr.10 Eusebius, Preparation
for the Gospel 3.11.45-.13.2
The Demiurge, whom the Egyptians call Cneph, is of human form, but with a skin
of dark blue, holding a girdle and a sceptre, and crowned with a royal wing on
his head, because reason is hard to discover, and wrapt up in secret, and not
conspicuous, and because it is life-giving, and because it is a king, and because
it has an intelligent motion: wherefore the characteristic wing is put upon his
head.
This god, they say, puts forth from his mouth an egg, from which is born a god
who is called by themselves Phtha, but by the Greeks Hephaestus; and the egg
they interpret as the world. To this god the sheep is consecrated, because the
ancients used to drink milk.
The representation of the world itself they figured thus: the statue is like a
man having feet joined together, and clothed from head to foot with a robe of many
colours, and has on the head a golden sphere, the first to represent its
immobility, the second the many-coloured nature of the stars, and the third
because the world is spherical.
The sun they indicate sometimes by a man embarked on a ship, the ship set on a
crocodile. And the ship indicates the sun's motion in a liquid element: the
crocodile potable water in which the sun travels. The figure of the sun thus
signified that his revolution takes place through air that is liquid and sweet.
The power of the earth, both the celestial and terrestrial earth, they called
Isis, because of the equality (isotêta), which is the source of justice:
but they call the moon the celestial earth, and the vegetative earth, on which
we live, they call the terrestrial.
Demeter has the same meaning among the Greeks as Isis amongs the Egyptians:
and, again, Kore and Dionysus among the Greeks the same as Isis and Osiris
among the Egyptians. Isis is that which nourishes and raises up the fruits of
the earth; and Osiris among the Egyptians is that which supplies the
fructifying power, which they propitiate with lamentations as it disappears
into the earth in the sowing, and as it is consumed by us for food.
Osiris is also taken for the river-power of the Nile: when, however, they
signify the terrestrial earth, Osiris is taken as the fructifying power; but
when the celestial, Osiris is the Nile, which they suppose to come down from
heaven: this also they bewail, in order to propitiate the power when failing
and becoming exhausted. And the Isis who, in the legends, is wedded to Osiris
is the land of Egypt, and therefore she is made equal to him, and conceives,
and produces the fruits; and on this account Osiris has been described by
tradition as the husband of Isis, and her brother, and her son.
CHAPTER XII
At the city Elephantine there is an image worshipped, which
in other respects is fashioned in the likeness of a man and sitting; it is of a
blue colour, and has a ram's head, and a diadem bearing the horns of a goat,
above which is a quoit-shaped circle. He sits with a vessel of clay beside him,
on which he is moulding the figure of a man. And from having the face of a ram
and the horns of a goat he indicates the conjunction of sun and moon in the
sign of the Ram, while the colour of blue indicates that the moon in that
conjunction brings rain.
The second appearance of the moon is held sacred in the city of Apollo: and its
symbol is a man with a hawk-like face, subduing with a hunting-spear Typhon in
the likeness of a hippopotamus. The image is white in colour, the whiteness
representing the illumination of the moon, and the hawk-like face the fact that
it derives light and breath from the sun. For the hawk they consecrate to the
sun, and make it their symbol of light and breath, because of its swift motion,
and its soaring up on high, where the light is. And the hippopotamus
represents, the Western sky, because of its swallowing up into itself the stars
which traverse it.
In this city Horus is worshipped as a god. But the city of Eileithyia worships
the third appearance of the moon: and her statue is fashioned into a flying
vulture, whose plumage consists of precious stones. And its likeness to a
vulture signifies that the moon is what produces the winds: for they think that
the vulture conceives from the wind, and declares that they are all hen birds.
In the mysteries at Eleusis the hierophant is dressed up to represent the
demiurge, and the torch-bearer the sun, the priest at the altar the moon, and
the sacred herald Hermes.
Moreover a man is admitted by the Egyptians among their objects of worship. For
there is a village in Egypt called Anabis, in which a man is worshipped, and
sacrifice offered to him, and the victims burned upon his altars: and after a
little while he would eat the things that had been prepared for him as for a
man.
They did not, however, believe the animals to be gods, but regarded them as
likenesses and symbols of gods; and this is shown by the fact that in many
places oxen dedicated to the gods are sacrificed at their monthly festivals and
in their religious services. For they consecrated oxen to the sun and moon.
CHAPTER XIII
The ox called Mnevis which is dedicated to the
sun in Heliopolis, is the largest of oxen, very black, chiefly because much
sunshine blackens men's bodies. And its tail and all its body are covered with
hair that bristles backwards unlike other cattle, just as the sun makes its
course in the opposite direction to the heaven. Its testicles are very large,
since desire is produced by heat, and the sun is said to fertilize nature.
To the moon they dedicated a bull which they call Apis, which also is more
black than others, and bears symbols of sun and moon, because the light of the
moon is from the sun. The blackness of his body is an emblem of the sun, and so
is the beetle-like mark under his tongue; and the symbol of the moon is the
semicircle, and the gibbous figure.
