The Gnostics and Their Remains: Part IV. The Figured Monuments of Gnosticism: Talismanic Leaden Scrolls
TALISMANIC LEADEN SCROLLS.
The only classical notice of the employment of these engines for moving the invisible world (not, however, for good, but for evil) is to be found in the Annals of Tacitus (ii. 69), who thus enumerates them amongst the means, real or imaginary, whereby Livia's agent, Piso, occasioned, or aggravated, the final illness of the too popular Germanicus. "The severity of the attack (a fever) was heightened by the suspicion of poison on the part of Piso: and in fact there were discovered, hidden in the house-walls, fragments of human corpses, spells and curses and the name of Germanicus engraved upon plates of lead; also ashes half-burnt and soaked in blood, and other pieces of witchcraft by means whereof it is believed that souls are made over unto the Infernal Gods." A very remarkable example of the practice of this malevolent superstition has been published by Visconti (Op. Var. iii. 256). It is a sheet of lead found, folded up, within a tomb opened at the Hippotade Gate of Athens; and a copy of which he had received from M. Fauvel. The inscription, full of blunders both in spelling and grammar, is arranged in ten lines, seemingly meant for trochaic tetrameters, and may be read thus:
2. καὶ πρὸς τὴν Φερσεφόνην.
3. Φερσεφόνη καταδῶ Δεξίαν.
4. πρὸς τούτους ἅπαντας.
5. καὶ Κλεοφραδὲς.
6. καταδῶ πρὸς τοὺς αὔτους ἴοσι.
7. καὶ Ναυβάτην καταδῶ πρὸς τοὺς αὔτους.
8. Τληπόλεμον καταδῶ.
9. καὶ τοὺς μετὰ Κτησίου ἅπαντας.
10. καταδῶ. *
"Infernal Hermes, imprisoning Earth, and also Persephone! I lay a spell upon Dexias before all these deities, also upon Cleophrades, Naubates, Ctesias with all his family."
Sic liquat com aqua olla . . . ta
Ni qui eam salvavit . . . vinna vel
Exsupersus Verrianus Servianus
Itianus Sagarbalis Cubus
Minianus cum Sovina
Ceramanilli."
This reading is not satisfactory in many places. The lost object is written ΜΑΤΗV ΜΑΤΕΗV, to be read backwards, like all the rest, and therefore bears no resemblance to "mantelium."
The malignity of the Greek character is exemplified in nothing more strongly than in the open toleration of the use of such engines of spite. In the great Temple of Demeter at Cnidus, Mr. Newton found many of these leaden scrolls invoking the vengeance of the goddess of the place, her daughter, and the other infernal gods, upon individuals specified by name. It will be remarked that this "dira detestatio" was not contingent upon the refusal of a just demand, as in the case of the worthy
In the same strain we Lave the commination, sounding to us so jocular, but doubtless in its own time intended for something very serious, addressed to Nodens, discovered amidst the ruins of his not much frequented temple in Lydney Park, Gloucestershire. "Devo Nodenti Silvianus anilum perdedit, demediam (sic) partem donavit Nodenti inter quibus nomen Seniciani nollis permittas sanitatem donec perferat usque Templum Nodentis." Whereby the half-civilized Silurian, as his name betrays, in artless grammar and orthography, beseeches the local deity never to allow Senicianus or any of his family to enjoy health, until he brings back the ring, the loss of which Silvianus ascribes to him, and restores it to the rightful owner at the temple of Nodens: in which case one half its value is promised to the god for his assistance in recovering the stolen property. These thank-offerings to "Neddyn diw" (perhaps identical with the Etruscan "Nethunos") were made in coppers, the very "stipes" out of which the tesselated pavement of his temple was paid for, as the inscription thereon yet testifies. They were found plentifully strewed over the floor, of every date down to Honorius; then some sudden raid of barbarians gave the whole establishment to the flames. The idea of "binding" is practically carried out in Spell VII. of Atanasi's 'Mag. Papyrus,' which directs you to lay the link of a chain (κρίκος) upon a leaden plate, and having traced its outline, to write thereon, round the circumference, the common Gnostic legend (reading both ways) continuously:
ΑΕϒΕΑΡΙΦΙΚΡΑΛΙΘΟΝϒΟΜΕΝΕΡΦΑΒΑΩΕΑΙ
Within the circle must be written the nature of the thing it is desired to prevent. The operation is entitled the "Ring of Hermes."
The link was then to be folded up on the leaden plate, and thrown into the grave of one dead before his time, or else into a disused well. After the formula above given was to follow, in Greek, "Prevent thou such and such a person from doing such and such a thing"--a proof that the long string of epithets all referred to the same Power.
We now come to relics of the same sort, but of diverse intention; being those passports to eternal bliss, so frequently mentioned in the course of the preceding dissertation. Of these the most complete example is the Leaden Book formerly belonging to the celebrated Father Kircher, in whose collection it first made its appearance, but concerning the provenance of which nothing is known, although Matter suspects it to be the same that Montfaucon gave to Cardinal Bouillon, who died at Rome in 1715. But this identification is entirely ungrounded, as shall presently be shown. The same writer has given facsimiles, in his 'Excursion Gnostique,' of the seven pages composing the book, now deposited in the Museum Kircherianum. These leaves are of lead, 3 × 4 inches square, engraved on each side, with a religious composition for heading, under which are, in every case, five lines of inscription, that mystic
number having doubtless been purposely adopted by the spell-maker. These lines are written in large Greek capitals, square-shaped, and resembling the character commonly used on Gnostic gems. Intermixed are other forms, some resembling the hieroglyphs still current for the Signs and Planets; others Egyptian Demotic and Pehlevi letters. The language does not appear to be Coptic, but rather some Semitic tongue, many words being composed entirely of consonants, showing that the vowels were to be supplied by the reader. The chief interest, however, of the relic lies in the designs heading each page, in which we recognise the usual figures of Gnostic iconology, together with others of a novel character, all touched in with a free and bold graver with the fewest possible strokes. The purport of the writing underneath may be conjectured, on the authority of the 'Litany of the Dead' * and the 'Diagramma of the Ophites,' to be the prayers addressed by the ascending soul to these particular deities, each in his turn. The very number of the pages, seven in all, comes to support this explanation. The Astral Presidents to be propitiated in the heavenward journey are represented in the following manner:--
1. A nude female figure, in which the navel (the "circle of the Sun") is strongly defined: she makes a gesture of adoration to a genius in a conical cap and short tunic, armed with a trident, Siva's proper weapon, and consequently appropriated afterwards by the mediæval Ruler of Tartarus.
Reverse. Palm within a circle or garland, and a large Caduceus.
2. Female in flowing robes, addressing a gigantic fowl, much too squat, apparently, in its proportions for the ibis of Thoth: perhaps intended for the yet more divine bird, the phoenix.
Reverse. Nude female adoring a certain undefined monster, furnished with large ears, and placed upon a low altar. The first line of the accompanying prayer seems to begin with the Pehlevi letters equivalent to S, P, V.
3. Horus, leaning upon an instrument of unknown use, regarding a huge tortoise, better drawn than the rest, which is crawling towards him.
Reverse. Female in long flowing robes, holding up her hands to a naked child (Horus?), who is in the act of leaping down to her from a lofty pedestal.
4. Anubis attired in a short mantle (reminding one of Mephistopheles) attentively contemplating a lofty hill, the apex whereof has the form of an eagle's head.
Reverse. Female in rags leaning on a staff advancing towards another richly clothed and crowned, who lifts up her hands as though terrified at the apparition.
5. Abraxas in his proper form, looking towards a female fully draped, who offers him some indistinct symbol, much resembling an Ε turned upside down. The prayer below opens with the word ΙΑΩ; whence it may be fairly conjectured that the first characters in each of the other pages give the name of the deity pictured above.
Reverse. Frog and serpent facing each other: ancient emblems of Spring, but probably used here in their mediæval sense as types of the Resurrection of the body.
6. A headless man with rays issuing from his shoulders, and holding out a torch, appears falling backwards with affright on the approach of a winged dragon.
Reverse. A squat personage with radiated crown stands in front face in the attitude of the Egyptian Typhon. On the other side stands a very indistinct figure, resembling a Cupid, having square-cut wings, his back turned to the spectator.
7. Female with robe flying in an arch over her head, as Iris is commonly pictured, extends her hand to an approaching bull: the drawing of the latter being vastly superior to any of the other figures. One is led to discover in this group Venus and her tutelary sign, Taurus.
Reverse. Female reclining on the ground, towards whom advances a large bird, seemingly meant for a pigeon.
In the sacred animals figuring in these successive scenes it is impossible to avoid discovering an allusion to the forms the Gnostics gave to the planetary Rulers. A legend of theirs related how the Saviour in his descent to this lower world escaped the vigilance of these Powers by assuming their own form as he traversed the sphere of each, whence a conjecture may be hazarded that similar metamorphoses of the illumined soul are hinted at in these inexplicable pictures.
We now come to the consideration of a second relic of the same kind, known as "Card. Bouillon's Leaden Book." How Matter could have supposed this to be the same with Kircher's (supposing him ever to have compared his own facsimiles with Montfaucon's) is a thing totally beyond my comprehension. For Montfaucon, in his Plate 187, has given every leaf of the former, apparently copied with sufficient fidelity: the pictures on which I shall proceed to describe for the purpose of comparison with those in the Kircherian volume; for the general analogy in the designs attests the similar destination of both monuments, whilst at the same time the variation in details proves the existence of two distinct specimens of this interesting class.
The leaves within the two covers, connected by rings secured by a rod passed through them, are only six in number; whilst the inscriptions, though in much the same lettering as the Kircherian copy, fill only four lines on a page, and only four pages in all: the other eight pages having pictures alone.
Now to describe these pictures, which seem in better drawing than those of the former set. * Page 1. Man, nude, standing up. 2. Female fully draped, walking. 3. The same figure, extending one hand. 4. Anubis in a short mantle. 5. The usual figure of the Abraxas god. 6. Bird-headed man surrounded with rays (Phre?). 7. Bust of Serapis. 8. Female reclining. 9. Terminal figure in the form of a cross. 10. Frog. 11. Ibis, or Phoenix. 12. Female holding above her head a star-spangled veil.
Montfaucon supposes all these figures represent the genii who preside over the hours of the day--the first being expressive of rising, the last of night; and calls attention to the fact that the seventh page is assigned to Serapis, who sometimes receives the title of ἑπταγράμματος θεός. But in his Plate 188, Montfaucon copies from Bononi's 'Museum Kircherianum' another leaden book "found in a sepulchre," which actually has seven pages, and two figures heading each, in the specimen pages: and this may possibly be the one since published in its entirety by Matter; although at present the leaves are separate, not connected into a book, which may be the result of accident during the century and a half that has elapsed since it was first noticed.
Another discovery of the same nature has been made in our own times, and investigated with the greatest care. In the year 1852, whilst excavating the ruins of a tomb in the Vigna Marini, near the Porta Pia, a marble sarcophagus was brought to light, ornamented with a bas-relief representing either the Adoration of the Magi, or else the prototype of that scene, the "Birth of the New Sun." The floor of the tomb was paved with a mosaic equally ambiguous in subject, whether a Madonna and Child, or, what the concomitants render more probable, Isis suckling the infant Harpocrates. Several minor sarcophagi in terra-cotta surrounded the larger one; and in these were found many leaden plates, rolled up into scrolls, not bound-up like books. Eleven of these can still be deciphered. Matter publishes facsimiles of three of the best preserved, but none of them present any legends like the examples above described.
On the first is seen Anubis wearing a long tunic and buskins, and holding out a scroll; at his feet are two female busts: below all are two serpents entwined about the same object as in the second scroll, where also the same busts appear, viz. a corpse swathed up like a mummy. In the second scroll these busts are set on each side of the Anubis, a large figure much mutilated, but attired as above, and holding out a cross, the "Sign of Life." Under his feet lies the corpse, encircled in the numerous folds of a huge serpent, the Agathodæmon, guardian of the deceased. And this last type supplies the motive for so frequently placing upon gems the serpent-girt mummy. In the
olden creed the serpent watched over tombs as well as over buried treasure. When Æneas is offering sacrifice at his father's grave (v. 84)--
Septem ingens gyros, septena volumina, traxit,
Amplexus placide tumulum, lapsusque per aras;
Coeruleae cui terga notae, maculosus et auro
Squamam incendebat fulgor, ceu nubilus arcus
Mille jacit varios adverso sole colores.
Obstupuit visu Æneas. Ille agmine longo
Tandem inter pateras, et lœvia pocula serpens,
Libavitque dapes, rursusque innoxius imo
Successit tumulo, et depasta altaria liquit.
Hoc magis inceptos genitori instaurat honores;
Incertus geniumne loci famulumve parentis
Esse putet."
In the third scroll, the most valuable of all, the same Anubis bears on his arm an oblong object, perhaps the Roman scutum, held so as to convert the outline of the figure into a complete Latin cross. Across this shield and the field run a number of Gnostic symbols, conspicuous amongst which is the sigil prescribed by Alexander Trallianus as a cure for the colic.
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creed, it may well stand for that "True and perfect Serpent" who "leads forth the souls of all that put their trust in him out of the Egypt of the body, and through the Red Sea of Death into the Land of Promise, saving them on their way from the serpents of the Wilderness, that is, from the Rulers of the stars."
As for the symbols so largely used here and in other Gnostic monuments, their frequent construction out of lines terminated by dots or heads irresistibly suggests a theory for their origin. In this respect, and in general form, they strikingly resemble certain characters in the oldest Babylonian alphabet. This alphabet, simple in construction, long preceding the elaborate nailhead, is allowed to have been pictorial, i.e. hieroglyphic, in its nature. It is very conceivable that, revered for antiquity, this primitive character was preserved in sacred usages long after it had grown obsolete in common life. The cuneiform continued the national alphabet of Persia down to the Macedonian conquest, and doubtless was the one generally employed by the natives (very few of whom probably learnt the language of the new masters) until it was replaced by its last modification the early Pehlevi. And as for the primitive hieroglyphic letters, it was natural that certain of their forms, expressing peculiarly sacred ideas (as the
signifying "God"), should retain a mystic, perhaps thaumaturgic, value in the practice of the Magi long after their original meaning was forgotten. And these very Magi were the teachers of the talisman-makers of Gnostic times. * This explanation is strongly supported by the recent discovery, that in the Assyrian inscriptions every deity has a certain numeral assigned him, which said numeral frequently stands in the place of his full name. For example, the numeral for Anu (Pluto) is 60; for Baal (Jupiter) 50; for Hoa (Neptune) 40; the same
rule holding good for the sun, moon, and planets. Hence is it more than probable that our Gnostic talismans exhibit to us those very "numeri Babylonii" which Horace dissuades the fair Leuconöe from consulting in her unadvised desire to learn the Future. Such relics of old Chaldean lore would, it may well be supposed, never cease to be reproduced as they were originally shapen; the current Pehlevi would have carried on its face too recent a stamp to impose upon superstition.
All numerals were at first letters of an alphabet. Some amongst the unknown characters and "Masons’ Marks" found on talismans cannot but be numerals, considering the essential part the properties of numbers play in several divisions of the Gnostic family. This notion is strongly supported by what Hippolytus (Egyptian Theology) says of a certain numeral, lost in the text, but from a subsequent passage clearly the Ten. "Which is a sacred Number, and which is written down and tied about the necks of sick people as a means of cure. In like manner a certain plant which terminates in the same number (of leaves) being similarly hung around the patient produces the same effect, in consequence of the virtue of that Number. Moreover a physician cures his patients when they amount to that particular number, but when the number of them is against him he does so with great difficulty. The Egyptians attend much to such numerals, and calculate all similar matters according to this rule; some reckoning by the vowels alone, others by all the letters in the Word." The plant meant may have been the Agnus castus, still regarded by the Turks as a potent amulet, and called Kef Marjam, "the hand of Mary," on account of its digitate form. The same hand made of blue glass is tied round children's necks, or on the part of the body to be protected against the stroke of the Evil-eye. Again, that important sect the Marcosians are shown by Hippolytus to teach no better doctrine than "a mere patchwork of scraps, stolen from the notions of Astrology, and from the Pythagorean art of numbers." In their theosophy the sacred numerals were the 30, the sum of the letters constituting the Ineffable Name, and the constituents of the same. viz. 8, 10, 12: expressed in Greek by Η, Ι, ΙΑ: or, again, by an intricate combination of these
numerals giving the sum 99, written in Greek ρ. In another place (iv. 51) Hippolytus observes that "almost every heresy is indebted to the science of arithmetic for its invention of the Hebdomads, and its emanation of the Æons; although the different teachers divide them variously, and change their names, doing in reality nothing more: in all which way of proceeding Pythagoras is their true master, he who first brought with him out of Egypt the use of numbers in such matters."
The so-called "Pythagorean Numerals" of unknown antiquity, whether or not due to the Samian sage, are said to be preserved to us by Boethius, "the last of the Romans," in his treatise on Arithmetic. That they would be the true parents of our Arabic numerals is at once apparent by inverting the figures standing for 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 0. Their forms look like certain Palmyrene letters slightly modified. The Palmyrene is a very ancient Syriac alphabet, totally different in origin from either Punic or Pehlevi. The ancient importance of this character is apparent from what Epiphanius notices (Hær. lxvi.). "Manes divided his work into 22 books, being the number of the letters in the Syriac alphabet. For most of the Persians use the Syriac character as well as the Persian, just as with us many nations, although having a national alphabet of their own, yet employ the Greek. Others again pride themselves upon using the most cultivated dialect, viz. that current in Palmyra, both the dialect itself and its letters; and these are 22 in number."
In this affectation of the learned in Persia, a sufficient reason presents itself for the occasional appearance of Palmyrene letters in spells composed and sold by the Magi or their semi-Grecian disciples under the Roman Empire. The practice went back far beyond the epoch of the great heresiarch, for many Babylonian cylinders are known inscribed, instead of the cumbrous cuneiform, with a Semitic lettering, sometimes more resembling the Palmyrene than the Punic. And even when the Pehlevi had become the national alphabet of Persia there was very good reason why the cultivators of polite literature should prefer the Palmyrene alphabet for its superior copiousness, their own possessing no more than fifteen distinct characters. And, lastly, the remark of Epiphanius deserves attention as to certain
The curious question of these Numerals, and the deep ideas involved therein, has led us far away from the proper object of this chapter--sepulchral scrolls. Their use was carried on by the Christians down to comparatively recent times. Fauno describes amongst the innumerable bijoux of all kinds deposited in the coffin * of the infant imperial bride Maria Honorii "a small plate of gold on which were written, or rather scratched, the words, in Greek, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel." And the Abbé Cochet has figured in his very interesting researches † in the old Norman cemeteries many leaden plates, cross-shaped, inscribed with prayers, placed regularly upon the breast of the buried body. Out of four examples found in the old cemetery of Bouteilles, Dieppe, the most complete formula, written in a character that cannot be later than the thirteenth century, runs as follows: "Dñs ΙΗC ΧΡC qui dixit discipulis suis quodcunque ligaveritis super terram erit ligatum et in celis quodcunque solveritis super terram erit solutum et in celis de quorum numero licet nos indignos nos esse voluit ipse te absolvet per ministerium nostrum quodcunque fecisti cogitatione locutione negligenter atque necibus omnibus absolutum perducere dignetur in regnum celorum qui vivit et regnat Deus per secula saeculorum amen. Omnipotens Deus misereatur animo Mesaline condonet peccata tibi preterita presentia et futura liberet te ab omni malo conservet et confirmet itinere bono et perducat te Christus filius Dei ad vitam eternam et ad sanctorum consortium absolutione et remissione penitentia tribuat tibi Masaline omnipotens pius et misericors ΙΗC Amen." The Abbé states that it is still the custom in the Russian Church for the popa at a funeral, after reading the form of absolution, to place the paper in the hand of the corpse to accompany him into the grave.
The remarkable properties of Numerals captivated the fancy
of Man as soon as the science of arithmetic was invented. From their powers of infinite multiplication the ancients gave them sexes: making the odd the males, the even the females of the species. This assumption plays a great part in the theosophy of Marcus. From this idea, the next step was a very easy one--the attribution of mystic virtues to certain combinations of numerals that produced curious results by their addition. Of such, the most striking example is the Magic Square; the grand mediæval charm against the plague, and therefore conspicuous in Albert Durer's picture of 'Melancholy,' where the dull goddess sits in gloomy abstraction, surrounded by the emblems of all the arts and sciences. This, which however
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added, gives the same result, viz., 34.
The celebrated Caireen magician of forty years ago, employed a diagram constructed on the same principle, but with different numerals, into the middle of which, traced on a sheet
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of paper, he poured the little pool of ink which served for mirror to exhibit the spectres of the persons called for by his dupes. And, to conclude this subject in an appropriate manner, a fifteenth century MS. in the library of this college, amongst a number of charms, gave this "for procuring favour with all men;" always carry about you written down--
Α . Χ . Η . Β . Χ . U . Υ . ΙΙΙ . Κ . Ο
Footnotes
359:* κατάδεσις κατάδεσμος are used by Plato for witchcraft: and the Hebrew "Chabar," to bewitch, properly signifies to bind.
363:* In the pictures to which the disembodied spirit "before his journey addresses his prayers to the various gods, and then enters upon his labours. He attacks with spear in hand the crocodiles, lizards, scorpions and snakes which beset his path; and passing through these dark regions he at length reaches the land of the Amenti, whose goddess is a hawk standing upon a perch. Here the sun's rays cheer his steps, and he meets amongst other wonders the head of Horus rising out of a lotus-flower, the god Pthah, the phoenix, his own soul in the form of a bird with a human head, and the goddess Isis as a serpent of goodness. The soul then returns to the mummy and puts life into its mouth."--(Sharpe, 'Egypt. Mythol.,' p. 65.)
365:* The improvement is probably only due to the French copyist.
368:* This conjecture of mine has at last been verified by that high authority in Assyrian literature, Professor Sayce. He finds in the assemblage of siglæ on the back of the Mithraic gem (Pl. Ll. 1) the regular cuneiform characters, somewhat depraved, for God, and Heaven for BI and RI. Besides these, he recognises at least three out of the Cypriote syllabary; some of the rest remind him of the cypher alphabets of the East as given by that old author Ibn Wahaby, of which Von Hammer has made a translation.
371:* Discovered Feb., 1544, in digging the foundations of the Chapel of the Kings of France, in St. Peter's, Rome; and fully described by M. L. Fauno in his 'Antichità di Roma,' p. 151 published 1553.
371:† 'Sépultures Gauloises,' chap. xiii.