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vol. title: Vol Four of The Theosophical Society of The Arya Samaj of Arya-wart vol. period: Sept 1878 – Sept 1879 pages in vol.: 350 |
< The Great Dionysiak Myth (continued from page 8-97) >
Nysa in Arabia Felix, and named from his father and the place, “Dio-Nysos,” or the Jove of Nysa. In this very district, it is recorded that “Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-Nissi.” But Mr. Brown, while admitting the full force of such testimonials, does not rest his case upon them. Pushing the inquiry further, he treats us to a perfect surfeit of Dionysiac symbolism; showing us Bacchus in a hundred characters: the Horned God, the Satyr, Taurosphinx, Dragon, Leopard, Thyrsus-bearer, etc.; the Sun-God, the God of life, moisture, generation, geniality, love, violence, the underworld, etc. But one fact appears patent: Bacchus is foreign everywhere. His worship was introduced into Greece a little before Homer, and he never gained a footing in the Pantheon of Olympus. Even Nysa was in a score of places, from Thrace and Mount Parnassus to Arabia and even India. The Orphic hymn represents him as the one hastening across the heavens. As Osin’s Rot-Amenti he was the judge of the dead. He then was the Pluto or Hades, as well as the Zeus or Jove of Nysa. Indeed Adonis or Dan, signifies a judge or lord. So Bacchus was the Hercules performing the twelve labors in the sight of the Zodiac, the Adam or husband of Hebê or Eve, the mother of all that live, Adar-Moloch, or King of Fire. We have but to find where the real Nysa and the God is fully revealed. Curiously enough it is not a region or place. It is always near, always remote. Nor was it Sinai, the Moon-Mountain. Philostratus, who wrote the life of Apollonius of Tyana, terms him “the Assyrian stranger.” Was he then the companion of Venus Architis, the Astartê or Great Mother, whose worship Makrobios tells us was originally from Assyria? We remember that Theokritos denominated Adonis an Assyrian youth, and Adonis was Bacchus. Mr. Fox Talbot, whom Mr. Brown has cited, has given a full answer:
“This point then seems fully proved,” says he, “that the Sun received the spirits of just men into a heavenly abode of happiness. The great name of the Sun in Assyrian mythology was Daian-Misi or Dian-nisi, ‘the judge of men.’ Some years ago I ventured to affirm that this name is the same with the Dionysus of the Greeks. All know that the worship of Dionysus was derived from the East in very ancient times. In the early mythologies the name of Dionysus signified the Sun, for Herodotus says that the only God worshipped by the Arabians was Dionysus; now it is certain that the Arabians worshipped the Sun, and the Assyrian records confirm this by saying that tribute was brought by the Queen of the Arabians, who used to worship the Sun. Osiris and Dionysus were the same according to the judgment of Plutarch. And he quotes from Heroditus that Dionysus was Hades. But Hades or Pluto was fabled to be the judge of departed souls.”
Mr. W. St. Cloud Bascawen observes: “The Sun was also called Dayan nisi, ‘judge of men.’” The name Dian or Dayan appears in the Hebrew, as Dan, a judge, and Mr. Talbot quotes an inscription of Nebuchadnezzar or Nabukuduruzur: “Ana Shems Dainu tsiri Bit Dian-nisi bit-zu in Babilim shakigh ebus”—to the Sun, the judge supreme, the temple of Dian-nisi, his temple grandly I built.”
Here then at Babylon, in the very focus of Ethiopic civilisation, began a Dionysiac worship. The Greeks derived it from Assyria in its primitive form, and it must be added, with all its bloody rites. “They slew their children in sacrifices, or used secret (arcane) ceremonies, or made frantic revellings (komoses) of foreign origin.” Mr. Brown justly remarks: “We must follow him to his eastern home if we desire to penetrate further into the recesses of the Great Dionysiak Myth.” It was not invented on the Phœnician sea-board, any more than on the shores of the Aigaian, but can be traced to Kaldea and its vicinity—a region, the cradle of nations, and nurse and fountain head of the civilisation and religions of the world.
<Untitled> (Olcott, the colonel...)
Olcott, the colonel and hierophant, Has gone to the Land of the White Elephant, To Arya Samaj, in the place called Bombay, Where cruel priestess Blavatsky will stay. This nation should blush at the sad taking off Of the neglected, reviled, abused Theosoph.
The Ceramic Art
The Ceramic Art: A Compendium of the History and Manufacture of Pottery and Porcelain. By Jennie J. Young. Harper & Bros., New York. $5.
This elegant volume gives a remarkably attractive presentation of the subject it treats of. It is a concise, comprehensive, and well-arranged treatise, affording a judicious and proportionate discussion of the leading principles and development of the ceramic art. It aims, according to the author's preface, “to answer as tersely and lucidly as possible the more important questions in connection with the history and manufacture of pottery and porcelain, and to bring the results of recent research to bear upon some of the unsolved problems of the science of ceramics.” The author has shown great ability in accomplishing this end, while, at the same time, she has introduced into her volume great fullness of statement and careful attention to detail.
The volume consists of four books, the first relating to nomenclature and methods, the second to the Orient, the third to Europe and the fourth to America. In an introductory chapter is considered the primeval origin and progress of the ceramic art, after which the author proceeds with some observations on the intricate subject of the proper classification of all kinds of pottery and porcelain, explaining some of the methods heretofore proposed, and pointing out their merits and defects. The chemical composition of the wares and glazes next receives notice, with a brief but entertaining account of the various implements and processes of manufacture and decoration. In the second book are considered the several countries which have given the greatest impulse to ceramic art, such as Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Judea, India, Central Asia, China, Corea, Japan, and Persia. Europe being the theme of the third book, we are introduced to the ceramic treasures of Greece, the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, France, Germany, Central Europe, Russia, Denmark, Scandinavia, Great Britain, Ireland, and the fountain of European art in general. The fourth book, and in the fullness and novelty of its contents the most valuable one, deals with America, including under this head South America, Central America, the Mound Builders, Indian Pottery, and the United States. The history of American art, though not extending much beyond a century, shows remarkable progress. It is estimated that there are upward of seven hundred pottery establishments in the United States, including those for all kinds of ware, from terra-cotta to porcelain. Nearly all these have originated within twenty-five years, and many of them since the civil war. The capital invested by the forty firms composing the Potters' Association is upward of $4,000,000. The productions of the Etruria pottery at Trenton, called ivory porcelain, a hard, semi-translucent ware, with a clear, smooth, boracic glaze, are equal in point of utility and appearance to the average china, and may be said to mark the first stage on the way to a true American porcelain. The contributions to American art of Mr. Isaac Broome and of Mr. Smith's porcelain works at Greenpoint, L. I., are also worthy of special note.
The author has unquestionably succeeded in her design of classifying the multifarious material which the subject furnished, and has shown a great deal of logical sequence in the mode she has constructed her treatise. She has, of course, compiled freely, and has, as her preface states, “brought the results of recent research to bear upon some of the unsolved problems of the ‘science of ceramics.’” In selecting the subjects for engraving, preference, where possible, was given to specimens from American collections; in this matter both public institutions and private individuals have been heavily laid under contribution. Of the illustrations, she says, “a threefold aim has been kept in view: the elucidation of the text, the representation of the greatest number of different wares by characteristic examples, and the introduction of as many beautiful works of art as possible consistently with the accomplishment of the two previous objects. The requirements of the student of decorative art have been fully considered, and due weight has been given to the fact that these requirements can be better met by the pencil than the pen.” The neat and animated biographical sketches of persons who have figured in the advancement of the art are a very pleasing feature. The work has all the typographical excellence one has a right to expect in a work on such a theme, and is illustrated with 464 very fine engravings. It contains a large table of contents and a full index. Mr. Wimbridge's design for the cover—in black, red and gold, with a green spray running over it—is deserving of special notice.
Editor's notes