outline of chapter in anthropos mss

7/30/2019 Outline of Chapter in Anthropos mss.

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fOutline of Ixion Chapter Part Two

Introduction: Frances Yates and the Ubiquity of the Vitruvian

Man

I. Abraham Seidenberg and the Ritual Origin of Mathematics

II. Ixion: The Great WorshipperIII. Interlude: The Pythagorean Mysteries UnlockedIV. A Return to Origins: Joseph P. Farrell, Ancient Religion,

and the Nergal-Mars ComplexV. Vitruvius, Leonardo, and After: The Persistence of the

Cosmic Man Icon


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I. Seidenberg

Abraham Seidenberg. The Geometry of Vedic Rituals. 2.95-126in Frits Staal, ed. Agni: The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar. 2vols. Berkeley, CA: Asian Humanities Press, 1983.

(98-99) The idea in the Baudhayana of converting an oblong intothe difference between two squares, followed by converting thedifference into a square, is the same as that found in EuclidsElements, Book II.

(100-101) The builder of a fire altar was called an agnicit.According to one of the sacred works, the Taittiriya Samhita(5.2.5.5-6), an agnicit should live upon what is obtained freelyfrom nature; even the products of sowing are forbidden. In

particular the flesh of birds is forbidden. / The Theorem ofPythagorasused to be attributed to Pythagoras (c. 550 B.C.),but is no longer the general opinion, since, as we now know, thetheorem was known in Old Babylonia some 1200 years earlier.Similarly, it would appear, the role of the agnicit was imposed onPythagoras.

(102) In Greece sacrifice could be used to harm an enemy(Republic 364c); in India the same was true (TS 5.4.11), and itmay be that disease was considered as an enemy, or as the

instrument of an enemy, to be fought with sacrifice.

(110) The circulature of the square preceded the squaring of thecircle.

(110) In the Sulvasutras the circulature of the square is done asfollows. In square ABCD, let M be the intersection of thediagonals. Draw the circle with M as center and MA as radius;and let ME be the radius of the circle perpendicular to the side

AD and CuttingAD at G. Let GN = 1/3 GE. Then MN is the radius

of a circle having an area equal to the squareABCD.This circulature of the square involves no arithmetic. Onemay imagine an ancient ritualist starting from the square,observing that the inscribed circle is too small, the circumscribedcircle too large, and guessing that one should take GN = 1/3 GE.


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(114) In the SB (7.1.1.37) the garhapatya is said to measureone vyama (a vyama is the same as a purusa). Professor Staalhas translated the passage for me as follows: It [i.e. thegarhapatya] measures one vyama, for man measures one vyama,and man is Prajapati, and Prajapati is Agni. Therefore he makes

the womb in equal measure. It is circular for the womb iscircular. And the garhapatya is this world for this world is indeedcircular.

W. Crooke. The House in India from the Point of View ofSociology and Folklore. Folklore 29.2 (June 29, 1918): 113-145.

(115) Even at the present day [in parts of India] the hut roofedwith straw or reeds is the normal type of house, and there is a

remarkable taboo in some places against the use of bricks or tilesfor building.

1* Purusha Skta

W. Norman Brown. The Sources and Nature of p rusha in the Purusas kta (Rigveda 10. 91). Journal of the AmericanOriental Society51.2 (June 1931): 108-118.

(113-114) Purusa seemsto be a blend of characteristics of (1)

Agni, as the typical male, as the essence of plants, waters, allthat moves and stands, and the sacrifice, as the lord ofimmortality, as the lord of the sacrifice and the sacrifice itself; (2)S rya, as rising above the worlds to the place of immortality; (3) Visnu, as the / encompasser of earth, air, and sky. Purusa is boththe essence of creatures and also the inclusive principle, the firstprinciple, the ruler, the immortal, the eternal. He is neither Agni,S rya, nor Visnu alone, nor is he a combination of the three. He is a combination of characteristics derived from them, fused in arather shadowy way in a new unity, with especial reference to the

sun. (-) The emphasis in the hymn is not on the man-like natureof Purusa, but on his qualities of universality and his functioningas the sacrifice, which last is of predominant importance.

(114) Verse one: Having covered the earth on all sides, he ruledthe ten-finger place (the highest point of heaven). Ftnote 3: I have followed the usual interpretation, which sees in the place


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that is ten fingers broad the heart. See G.W. Brown, The HumanBody in the Upanishads (Jubbulpore, 1921).

(118) When they divided Purusa, into how many parts did theyseparate him? What was his mouth? What were his arms? What

were the thighs and feet called? Footnote: Purusa, being afusion of elements taken from Agni, S rya, and Visnu, and then being translated to a more exalted plane than that occupied bythose deities individually, becomes the source of those deitiesthemselves. In vs. 12 men are derived from parts of Purusa, invs. 13 deities, in vs. 14 part of the universe.

J. Gonda. Vedic Gods and the Sacrifice. Numen 30, Fasc. 1 (July1983): 1-34.

(8) Just as the primeval Person (Purusa) of RV. 10, 90, Prajapati,identified with him, is sacrificed and dismembered, and this eventwhich took place at that archetypal sacrifice represents thetransition of the One who was the primeval Totality into theplurality of the phenomenal universe; that is, that sacrifice wasthe creation of the universe. Of this first creative act everysacrifice is a repetition. But in the ritual of the agnicayana, theconstruction of the great fireplace, the god, who is the sacrifice,is restored to a unity, his several forms and members are re-

integrated and consolidated. That is to say, the fireplace'symbolizes' the combining of the scattered and uncoordinatedelements of the phenomenal universe into one single organicstructure.

J. Muir. Progress of the Vedic Religion towards Abstract

Conceptions of the Deity. Journal of the Royal AsiaticSociety of Great Britain and Ireland. No. 1/2 (1865): 339-391.

(354)


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(365) He who knows the golden reed standing in the waters isthe mysterious Prajpati.

Left at sl. 28

2* Ixionic precursors in the Rig Veda

Willard Johnson. Poetry and Speculation of the Rg Veda. Berkeley,CA: University of California Press, 1980.

(77-78) Johnson cites from Warrens translation of the BuddhistIntroduction to the J taka Tales an interesting passage that linksthe cosmic tree wheel to heaven-hell journey, to encompassingall space in the four directions, to asceticism (skeletonization)and the ultimate fixity in a cross-legged unconquerable position,

from which not even the descent of a hundred thunderbolts atonce could have dislodged him (78, orig. citation Henry ClarkeWarren. Buddhism in Translations. New York: Atheneum, 1963[1896], 76).

(83-84) A major Rg Vedic brhman sequence occurs in 1.152, ahymn dedicated to Mitr -Varunas dispensation of order. The poem begins amid the ceremonial oblation to the hymnspatrons, celebrating the victory of creation over chaos:

1.

You two are clothed with fatty vestments (the sacrificialoblation),

Your unbreakable thoughts are create things.You overcame all disorders (nrta)You are one with order (rt), O Mitr -Varun !

2.Many a one (contestant) has not understood this of them.,

/This Truthfulpowerful mantra, proposed (in contest) by

the poet-seer:The fierce four-pointed defeats the three-pointed!Indeed, the god-mockers aged first.

[1.152.1-2]

(84) The enigmatic abstraction of the four- and the three-pointed is the basic enigmatic vehicle whose tenor is rtas victory


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over chaos. This enigma is the Truthful mantra (i.e., brhman)that represents symbolically the Truth of established order whichprevails over disorder and those who mock the gods. The hymncomes from a primal stage of Sanskrit speculation.

(84-85) [T]he powerful / four-pointed is the sun. But becausecatura ri (four-pointed) in its only other Rg vedic appearancemodifies lightning (v sandhim ctura rim , 4.22.2a), it isassociated with the term vajra (thunderbolt, both the lightningand subsequent thunder, the familiar weapon of Indra) andsecond as an image with the circular discus shape. Its four-pointed character is later represented in iconography by the vajraand in solar symbolism by the svastika ([Indras] emblem of well-being [eudaemonia]). Their numerical symbolism meanscompleteness, wholeness.

(85) The term svastika is not Rg Vedic, though its source,svasti, is frequent and is the goal of Vedic religion. Its four-armed symbolism represents the sun on its daily fourney, eacharm indicating a subsequent position of the sun.

(85) [Insert figure of the vajra Xs, which are Ixionic, or ratherthey show that Ixion is vajraic.]

(85) The forces of the three-pointed assail human aspirations for

well-being and mar life with incompletenessshortness of life,desease, infertility [!].

Frits Staal. Agni: The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar. Vol. 1.Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press, 1983.

(1) The larger Vedic rituals were primarily dedicated to Agni andSoma. Agni was not only a god in his own right, but the divinemessenger and intermediary. The offerings, primarily of clarified

butter (ghee), were poured into sacrificial fires installed on altars,and Agni transmitted them to the gods. (-) The ceremonies wereaccompanied by recitations from the Rgveda and chants from theS maveda. (-) One of the most elaborate of these ceremonies was called Agnicayana, the piling of Agni, or, simply, Agni. Thisritual originated around 1,000 B.C. (-) Unlike the Rgveda, whichremains curiously alien to India, the Yajurveda occupies the


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center of Vedic culture. It constitutes the foundation of the ritualand of the edifice of the Vedic schools.

(2) [A]round 550 B.C. Vedic culture began to decline.

(4) By the time the Vedic rituals had reached their greatestelaboration, these reiterated wishes receded into thebackground. Their place was taken by a codification of the twokinds of rites we have already met: the grhya or domestic ritesand the rauta rites.

(9) Vedic ritual is the largest, most elaborate, andbestdocumented among the rituals of man.

(11) Though vedic ritual is generally no related to myths, the

construction of the fire altar from a thousand bricksis probablyrelated to a hymn in the Rgveda that refers to a Man with athousand heads, eyes, and feet.

(65) According to ndilyas teaching in the atapatha Br hmana, the construction of the Agnicayana altar is essentially the restoration of Praj pati, the creator god, who created the world through self-sacrifice, viz., through his owndismemberment. Since Praj pati became the universe, his restoration is at the same time the restoration of the universe.

Thus, piling up the altar means putting the world together again.Just as Praj pati was the original sacrificer, Agni is the divine sacrificer, and the yajam na is the human sacrificer. The designation of the fire altar as Agni indicates the identity of Agniand Praj pati. Agni, Praj pati, and the yajam na are all identified with each other, with the offering altar, and with the fire installedon it.

(65, 67) Praj pati is also identified with the man ( purusa) in thesun, which is also both the man in the (right) eye and the golden

man (hiranmayapurusa) buried under the first layer, whorepresents Agni- Praj pati and the yajam na. Above this golden man are the naturally perforated (svayam trnn ) pebbles, in the first, third, and fifth layers, which enable him to breathe, andwhich represent the three worlds (earth, air, and sky) throughwhich he will have to pass on his way to the fourth, invisibleworld of immortality. All the bricks of the altar are animated by


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Praj pati putting breath in them. Thus the bird comes to life, and with the restoration of Agni-Praj pati, the yajam na gains immortality.

Praj pati is Soma. Soma was brought from heaven by a bird of prey ( yena). Accordingly, Praj pati and Purusa, both

generally conceived of in the shape of a man, also assume theshape of a bird. This is further explained by the doctrine of theoriginal seven seers (rsi), identified with the vital airs (pr na ),i.e., with life, each in the shape of a purusa. These seven purusaswere combined into one Purusa, which is Praj pati and has the shape of a bird. (-) The four squares in the middle are togethercalled tman , body / (p. 67) or self. (-) The atapatha Br hmanamentions ancient authorities who adhered to the view that the altar has the shape of a bird in order to carry theyajam na to heaven. ndilya disagreed with this and insisted

on a more roundabout interpretation: the vital airs becamePraj pati by assuming the shape of a bird; by assuming that form, Praj pati created the gods; by assuming that form, the gods became immortal; and what thereby the vital airs, and Praj pati, and the gods became, that indeed he (the yajam na) thereby becomes ( atapatha Br hmana 6.1.2.36).

Praj pati has many other forms. One of his animal manifestations is the tortoise, which represents juice. When thetortoise is buried under the altar, juice is bestowed on Agni, andrain and fertility are induced. (-) He is time, and is in particular

identified with the year. Hence the Agnicayana takes a year tocomplete.

(67) In the Soma rituals, the original enclosure with its threefires represents the world of men, and the mah vedi, newly constructed to its east, is the world of the gods. The chants andrecitations are the weapons of Praj pati.

(68) The yajam nas identity with Praj pati and with the fire altar, the center of which is called its body or self ( tman), was

generalized into the identity of tman and Brahman in every human being, which is one of the cornerstones of Indianphilosophy.

(68) Staal cites atapatha Br hmana 10.6.3.1-2, Eggelings translation: even as a grain of rice, or a grain of barley, or agrain of millet, or the smallest granule of millet, so is this golden


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Purusa in the heart; even as a smokeless light, it is greater thanthe sky, greater than the ether, greater than the earth, greaterthan all existing things;--that self of the spirit is my self: onpassing away from hence I shall obtain that self.

(71) In the Maitr yan ya Upanisad, Praj pati, having made himself as the wind, he entered [the unconscious beings he hadmade]. He did not enter as one. He divided himself into five[breaths]. (-) Praj pati is mortal and immortal: his body ( ar ra) is mortal and his breaths (pr n h) are immortal (10.1.4.1). The same text speaks of Praj pati as the foundation of all things, hearkening back perhaps to the Rgveda 10.81.4 (Doniger): Youdeep thinkers, ask yourselves in your own hearts, what base didhe stand on when he set up the worlds?

(75) [T]he entire Vedic mythology was reshaped, or at anyrate reorientated, as a setting for Agni and Soma, and all theother divinities became counterparts or reflections of them. Agniand Soma, the sacred fire and the sacred drink, and in any casethe main deities of the Vedic ritual.

(113) Eggeling was probably the first to suggest that theAgnicayana is connected with a late hymn of the Rgveda, thePurusa-s kta or Hymn of the Cosmic Man (Rgveda 10.90).

(115) In other cultures, similar primeval giants are regarded asthe origin and material cause of the universe. Within the Indo-European family, such a giant occurs in Norse mythology, wherehe is called Ymir, and in Iran, where he is called Gay mart. Zaehner (1955, p. 137) sees an Indian influence on Iranianreligion with the Purusa-Gay mart connection.

(115) The idea of a cosmic sacrifice, in which a primeval personcreates the world through his own sacrifice and dismemberment,is the basic theory of ritual adopted in the Br hmanas. Here

Praj pati takes the place of Purusa. When the golden purusa is laid down on the first layer of the altar, the Purusa-s man is sung, which repeats the Rgveda 10.90 association of purusa andthousand: You are the measure of a thousand (Taittir ya samhit 4.4.11.3o).


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(116) Also, following Rgveda 10.90.15, the number of beans putin the openings of the human head is also twenty-one. Also,Praj patis creative activity is generally expressed by the verb srj/sarj, emit, discharge, and often by nir-ma, mete out,measure, build. [Is nir related to ner in ner-gal?]

(117) Praj pati created the gods, who subsequently put him together again through sacrifice. Agni is born first, fromPraj patis mouth. But since Agni is the eater of food, viz., the devourer of everything, Praj pati reflected: there is no other food here but myselfbut surely he would never eat me. ButAgni, the ungrateful child, turned to him with wide open mouthand Praj pati, terrified, could only save himself by reproducing himself.

(118) One Vedic rite is called Purusamedhahuman sacrifice.

(119) In the SB, When the human victim is killed, its juice (rasa)flows into the earth, which grows the rice out of which thepurod a cakes are prepared. In the White Yajurveda, the heads of the five victims of the Agnicayana are kept in the sacrifice, butthe bodies are thrown into water that is mixed with the clay fromwhich some of the bricks for the altar are made. (-) In thePravargya and in the Agnicayana there survives a tendency topreserve the body of the victim, so that the sacrificer can absorb

its powerful rasa juice. This liquid is subsequently related to andidentified with sacrificial beverages such as Soma and gharma,the boiled milk of the Pravargya.

(120) According to Mus, the myth of the dismemberment ofPurusa/ Praj pati is not of Aryan origin. There are no references to it in the earlier Veda, but it is common in the religiousethnography of South East Asia and its pacific dependencies.Mus also observed that there is attested, parallel to the myth,the practice of putting to death a human being for the collective

profit of those who offered him, a sacrifice which is followed by adismemberment, or even the dismemberment of the victim whilehe is still alive. He adds:

The cruel form which the sacrifice of meriah used totake, hardly more than a century ago among certain primitivetribes of India, is well known. The man was bound to the stakeand each person tore off a piece of his flesh until there was


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nothing left of him. Then the participants would each go andbury his own portion in his best field. [Citation P. Mus.Barabudur: esquisse dune hisoire du bouddhisme fonde sur lacritique archologique des textes. I. Hanoi, 1935, p. 116]

Left at p. 120

J. Muir. On Manu, the Progenitor of the Aryyan Indians, asRepresented in the Hymns of the Rigveda. Journal of theRoyal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 20 (1863):406-430.

(410) [T]he authors of the [Vedic] hymns regarded Manu as

the progenitor of their race. Butthey also looked upon him asthe first person by whom the sacrificial fire had been kindled, andas the institutor of the ceremonial of worship.

(411) RV 2.10.1: When Agni, the invoker, like a first father (is)kindled by Manush (or man) on the place of sacrifice.

(412) 7.2.3: Like Manush, let us continually invoke to thesacrifice, Agni who was kindled by Manu. Muir notes: S yana explains the last words as meaning formerly kindled by the

Praj pati Manu.

(414) RV 10.53.6: Be a Manu, and generate the divine race.[In Vedic religion, the Cosmic Man is associated with creation ofall things and with sacrifice, which re-creates and re-constitutesthe cosmos and its law (rta). The main god of the Rigveda, Indra,is the creator of the cosmos and the ruler of the gods throughsoma. Who is a god and who is not? This ambiguity is thebackground for the Ixion story perhaps.]


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II. Ixion: The Great Worshipper

S. Mahdihassan. The Genesis of the Four Elements: Air, Water,Earth and Fire. 251-256 in H.K. Sherwani, ed. Dr. GhulamYazdani Commemoration Volume. Hyderabad, A.P.: Maulana

Abul Kalam Azad Oriental Reserch Institute, 1966.

(255)

Jeanine Miller. The Vision of Cosmic Order in the Vedas. London:

Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985.

(12) The contemplative exertion whereby the divine creativeflame is released (tapas)this in itself being the sacrificialoffering of Deity (yaja), the giving up of blissful homogeneity sothat a world of heterogeneity may beis itself the primordialstep, the origin of all. The One thereby becomes two: the


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absolute beyond conception shrouded in darkness and remainingin darkness even in the period of manifestation, and the CreativeDeity (the demiurge) born of the dire of divine contemplation(tapas), personified in Agni, in Varuna, in Visvakarman andPraj pati. Here may be glimpsed the original idea of the

unfoldment from within without, the first step, hence theprojection. (-) The colourful language of myth expressed all thisas the dragon of chaos (more and more anthropomorphized astime went one) being rent asunder, dismembered, by thedemiurgein this case personified as Indraas a result of whichthe waters of life are let loose, the sun is set on high, thedarkness of chaos is changed into a world with division, spheres,realms, numbers. (-) At the terrestrial level, creation isrepeated in a similar way, buthere the great personification ofnatures creativity, the god Tvastr, is depicted as presiding over

all births and shaping all forms.

W. Norman Brown. The Creation Myth of the Rg Veda. 20-33 inW. Norman Brown. India and Indology: Selected Articles. Ed.Rosane Rocher. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1978. [Orig.published in Journal of the American Oriental Society 62(1942): 85-98.]

(23) Though the dityas represent dynamism, freedom, and

liberation, their triumph behind Indra is in the context of law, ofrta, which is a rule to be followed. [Paradoxically, Vedic sacrificeis the basis of cosmic order, though it is the only real liberation,the only real freedom. See W. Norman Brown. Man in theUniverse: Some Continuities in Indian Thought. Berkeley and LosAngeles: University of California Press, 1966: p. 10 Behavior faroutweighs dogma in Hinduism. p. 11 To keep out universeoperating smoothly, every being in it has a function. (-) Eachgod and each human must assiduously devote himself to hisfunction. If he fails in performing it, to that extent the operation

of the universe is impaired. Liberation is ascent through thedome of the heavens to immortality at the top of the Sat (p.19).] [Paradox: Freedom is performance of cosmic duty.Freedom is fixity in ritual, both public and private sacrifice,alongside external and internal asceticism, individual vow-holding.]


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(29) Evidently the place of the gods, for the moment of theirbirth, was on high. But Indra, as though with consciousness of amission before him, refuses to join the gods, and he answers inthe second verse of the hymn: I shall not go [straight] forth todangers here. Let me go forth from the side to avoid them.

Many deeds not done before must I do. I have both to fight andto question. (-) [W]hen he had been born up, he saw hismother leaving him. I must follow her, the hymn continues, Ishall go with her. Then in Tvastrs house Indra drank the soma,which in other passages (3.48.4; cf. 1.61.7) he stole. [Interiorcitations: RV 4.18]

(29) The drinking of soma was the most important thing thatever happened to Indra, and presumably he knew beforehandthat it would be. As soon as he drank it he was filled with heroic

might (4.18.5); he swelled to a terrifying size and filled to twoworlds, that is, Sky and Earth (3.36.3), and acquired the vastnessfor which he is noted (10.89).

(30) At some point, Indra fights the gods who had left him. SeeRV 4.18.11; 8.96.7)

(31) Victorious, Indra became lord of the cosmos (3.30). Hesupported the sky, spread out Mother Earth (6.72.2; cf. 10.62.3;2,13,5). He created by setting the worlds apart and starting

the sun on its revolution (6.30.5; 8.36.4; 10.29.6; 10.54.3;9.63.7). See footnote 65 (!): This is stated metaphorically asIndra fixing earth and sky to his car, like wheels on an axle(10.89.4). He is called father of the sky etc., who is after all hisown father, but the paradoxical epithet seems based upon thefact that he gave the sky its present function, and thus is itsfather.

(31) His mighty deed is that he gains the sun (10.43.5), which heset in the sky after slaying Vrtra; he set its wheel in motion

(1.130.9); he rolls the suns disk (4.16.12). (-) He made thesun shine. With the sun he makes a pathway trough thedarkness (6.21.3). It is possible that here belongs the touch ofIndra conquering the Sun and stealing his wheel (10.43.5;1.175.4; 4.30.4). It may have moved too fast.


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(32) The waters [released by Indras action from the embryo ofthe sun] made their may to the ocean, which is the atmosphericocean. (-) At Varunas prayer the cosmic order (rta) was born.[Indra is the son of Tvastrs house, Sky (Dyaus, the original Zeus)and Earth. Indra steals fire (soma) from Tvastr, who is a

Hephaestus figure. Indras expansion has to be seen as theoriginal microcosm-macrocosm. It is the missing archetype, thenarrative complement to the altar-Purusa theme and the RV10.90 Purusa sukta.]

H.D. Griswold. The Religion of the Rigveda. London: HumphreyMilford, Oxford University Press, 1923.

(24) Rta is a concept binding together an order at once 1) moral,

2) liturgical, and 3) cosmic. [One might add a fourth realm, thehereafter of the gods in their blissful heaven.]

(98) It is not difficult to see how the Greek Zeus tradition wouldhave difficulty coming to terms with the Vedic Dy us, who is a mere worshipper of the mid-air solar track, Indras realm:

These two [Dy us and Prithiv ] To all beneficent, support the mid-airs sage (RV

1.160.1)

(99) Later in the hymn, we see Agni/Indra the great sage ascosmic measurer: He who with insight measured out the spacestwain, / With props unaging (RV 1.160.4)

James L. Boyce. Ixion: Origins and Meanings of a Myth.Unpublished Ph.D. diss. Chapel Hill, 1974.

(8) The first reference to Ixion is in the Iliad: This passage

contains only the briefest reference to a wife of Ixion who by herunion with Zeus bears Peirithous.

(11) Pindars Second Ode contains little information about Ixionsinitial crime. He says that Ixion was the first among mortals tomurder a kinsman. [M]ore detail is addedby the tragedianAeschylus. According to his version Ixion became a suppliant


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seeking absolution from his crime of murder and was finallycleansed by Zeus.

(12-13) Didorus Siculuss account: Now the other of the sons ofLapithes, Periphas, married Astygyia the daughter of Hypseus

and had eight sons, the eldest of whom was Antion. Antionmarried Perimela the daughter of Amythaon and had a son Ixion.Ixion, so the tradition goes, promising that he would give manywedding-gifts to Esioneus married Isioneus daughter Dia bywhom he had a son Peirithous.

Later when Ixion did not deliver the wedding-gifts for hiswife, Esioneus took his mares instead as security. But Ixionsummoned Esioneus, promising that he would comply in everyway, and threw Esioneus once arrived into a pit full of fire.Because of the enormity of the transgression no one was willing

to purge away the murder. Finally, however, he was purified byZeus, according to the mythical accounts. But Ixion becameenamored of Hera and brazenly spoke to her about a liaison.

Then Zeus fashioned a cloud in the likeness of Hera andsent it to Ixion who lay with the cloud and begot the creatures ofhuman form called Centaurs. / Finally, the myths continue, Ixionbecause of the enormity of his sins was bound by Zeus on awheel, and after he died suffered eternal punishment[Bibliotheca 4.69.3-5.]

(17) In a lexical reference the Etymologicum Genuinumdescribes the ancient practice of murderers mutilating the corpsein order to purify themselves from the blood of the victim. There,too, the Perrhaebides, as well as the Laius, of Aeschylus are citedas authorities for the fact that such murderers also sought topurify themselves by first tasting and then spitting out the bloodof the victim. The actual verse from Aeschylus is very likelypreserved in Plutarchs comment that according to Aeschyluspeople say, (-)The other fragment which may come from the last part of the

Perrhaebides derives from Eustathius remark that for theancients the blood of a pig was thought necessary forpurification.

(19) TheAnecdota Graeca notes that Zues is called the alastor,avenger, of those who do evil, and further that Aeschylus in the


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Ixion applied to him the epithet preumenes alastoros, mercifulavenger.

(22) In the Philoctetes [of Sophocles] the chorus describe thesuffering of the hero of that drama as being surpassed in sadness

only by the fate of Ixion, who as the chorus comment, once daredapproach the bed of Zeus and now is held prisoner on a whirlingwheel by the mighty son of Cronus.

(22-23) Aeschylusincorporated in his version a profound moraltone and assigneda certain moral stature to Ixion. In contrastEuripides / brings on the stage an Ixion who appears as a kind ofboaster of sophistic reasoner, perversely defending his crimesand coming near to disputing the very existence of duty andvirtue.

(23) Ixion was evidently characterized by Euripides as a tyrantwho capitalized on his opportunities and as a result gained thehatred of his oppressed subjects.

(27) A scholion to Iliad 1.268 says that Ixion was [d]riven madafter his initial crime was committed. A scholion to Odyssey21.303 called Ixion the son of Zeus. But not only was he notcareful to repay kindness to Zeus, but in his natural wickednesshe made an attempt at union with Hera. But the goddess

suspected and reported to Zeus the madness of Ixion.[Interesting, for the madness that Ixion was supposedly cured ofreappears in the Hera incident.] (-) Then Zeus, greatly angeredat him, visited upon him a punishment equal to death. For sincehe had tasted of ambrosia he was not able to die. But Zeusfashioned winged wheels, bound Ixion to the spokes of thewheels and compelled him to be borne along beneath thecelestial sphere shouting that it is proper to do benefactors goodin return.

From the cloud, however, was born to Ixion a son of hybrid

form; the lower portion had the shape of his mother, for cloudslook like horses; and the upper portion from the navel to the headhad the shape of his father Ixion. This son roamed throughMagnesia with an uncontrollable urge for intercourse; for he waslike his father in his intemperance. And many times heapproached the mares on Pelion. From this it is said that the raceof Centaurs was sprung.


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(27-28) From comments by the scholiasts on several lines ofPindars / Second Pythian the following version can beconstructed: [A]lthough he had received a pleasant existencewith the children of Cronus who were kindly disposed towards

him, he was not strong enough to bear the course of life amongthe gods and the lengthy bliss which transcended his nature,when in his demented state he lusted after Hera. (-) Zeusordered him to say that it was proper to repay benefactors withgood things and not to harm them with the opposite.

(29) The scholiast to Euripides Phoenissae 1185: Some say thathe cast him into Tartarus; others that the wheel was also fiery.

(30) Apolloduros: Zeus bound him to a wheel on which he was

borne by winds through the air. Such is the penalty he pays.

(33) A turning point in the tradition about Ixion is represented byApollonius Rhodius. Up to his time all of the accounts know onlyof the punishment of Ixion as located in the upper world or in theair. (-) Apolloniushas Hera describe how she would rescueJason even if he should sail to hades to free Ixion from hisbondsand thus becomes the first known author to locate thepunishment in the underworld. Thus Ixion becomes associatedwith Tantalus, Sisyphus and Tityus as Hades-dwellers.

(33-34) Vergils version of the Ixion in Hell theme introducesthe idea of Ixions wheel being entwined with snakes. In the

Aeneid, Ixion has no wheel, but rather has a rock poised abovehis head about to fall and has a banquet around him that hecannot touch.

(36-38) Lucians humorous treatment:Hera: This Ixion fellow, Zeus; what kind of a character do

you think he is?

Zeus: Why hes a good man, Hera, and great at a party; forhe wouldnt be here with us if he werent worthy of ourentertainment.

Hera: But he isnt worthy; indeed hes insolent. So dont lethim stay any longer.

(-)


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Hera: He would sigh and whimper, and whenever Ihanded the cup back to Ganymede when I hadfinished drinking, he would ask to drink from the samecup, and when he got it, he would stop in the middleof a drink and kiss it and bring it up to his eyes and

stare at me again. / [Surely this lovesickness isout of place for the original Ixion as true worshipper.It is a residue of his great piety.]

(-)Zeus: Is he so drunk on nectar? But I guess its our own

fault; weve been too nice to men in even invitingthem up to drink with us. They cant be blamedthenif, after theyve drunk the same as we and seenheavenly beauties like theyve never seen on earth,they fall in love and want to enjoy them. For loves a

powerful thing and gets control no only of men, butsometimes of us gods.

Hera: Its your master all right, and completely! And itdrags you along, leading you by the nose, they say,and you follow wherever it leads you and changereadily into whatever form it commands. Really,youre just a possession and plaything of love. And asfor Ixion I know why youre feeling sympathy for him;because you yourself once seduced his wife, when shebore Peirithous for you. /

(-)Zeus: For what harm can you suffer from the replica, if

Ixion makes love to a cloud?Hera: But I will seem to be the cloud and he will be doing

the shameful thing to me because of the resemblance.[This whole discourse surely speaks of the theme ofthe man who resembles the gods. Is it shameful, or isit praiseworthy to be deified? Perhaps we see a Greekresponse to shamanism or other developed ancestorcults that preceded the Olympian religion.]

(-)Zeus: Well then, if he says that, hell be sent down to Hadesand bound to a wheel, the scoundrel, and hell bewhirled around on it forever, and suffer endlesstorment in payment, not for his passionfor nowthats not so terriblebut for his boasting. [Here wehave a further developmentthree separate crimes of


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Ixion. 1) First he kills a kinsman, 2) next he haspassion for Heras divine beauty, and last 3) he goesback down to Earth and brags that he has becomeZeus in every way, having been with Hera. Illustratedhere is the ambivalent status of Ixion. Each crime

seems to be excusable and necessitates the additionof another crime.]

(43) Hyginus account has Mercury appearing to carry outIxions underworld punishment. Servius says Ixion was aclose friend or ally of Zeus, amicissimus Iovi.

(44) A scholion by Lactantius Placidus to Statius Thebaidintroduces the notion that Zeus struck Ixion with athunderbolt before sending him to Hades.

(50) A scholiast, commenting on Lucian Piscator 12,explains Centaurus as penetrating (kentein) the air(aura).

(92) The neck-amphora from Cumae (Plate 5) by the Ixionpainter, the tongues of flame radiate, not outwardbutinward as if to lick at the body of Ixion (93).Immediately below the wheel rises as the symbol ofpunishment a winged Erinys (93). The upward glances

of Hermes and Hephaestus together with the figure of theErinys emerging beneath the wheel would seem to indicatethat the punishment of Ixion here depicted takes place inthe air. This conception is further strengthened by thepresence of the two winged female figures who sit on eitherside of the wheel and grasp its outer rim with their righthands as if to set it in motion. These figures have beenvariously identified, but they are most commonlyinterpreted as Nephelae, personifications of the clouds,through whom reference is perhaps made to the crime of

Ixion and among whom the punishment is taking place. Bya different but still similar interpretation they would bepersonifications of the Aurae who are setting the wheel inmotion through the air.

(101) The engraved bronze mirror in the British Museum(Plate 10), has an ivy-wreath border.


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(128) To be notedis a relief from around 1100 foundbetween the Duomo and the Baptistry at Torcello nearVenice, on which Ixion appears stretched supine around theexternal circumference of a wheel. To the right and left of

him stand two Erinyes dressed in long attire and holdingtorches in their hands.

(129-130) Note an illustration of the winged Aer (Plate 22)stretched Ixion-fashion over the circle of the universe. Thewheel of the heavens is kept in motion by the four winds,one blowing from each corner. Through them, inrecollections of the Aurae on the Cumae vase and the windon the Side relief, the clockwise revolution of the wheel issymbolically expressed.

(155) [T]he material under consideration iscomparatively meager. The primary literary andmythographic references with any substantial detail orlinking of motifs number no more than about twenty; theartistic representations number about seventeen.

(193) In this later tradition [Latin, of Ixion as amongst thegreat sinners Tantalos, Sisyphus, etc.], the apparent focusof the myth alters from that in the earlier tradition, namely

that Ixion, in addition to his whirling punishment on thewheel, was compelled by Zeus to cry a message for all tohear: It is unnecessary to honor benefactors. [Is the realsin of Ixion the shamanic-Hermetic religion oftranscendence, with its cosmotheanthropic rhythm andconcomitant individualism?]

(222) Boyce notes the cosmic character of the image ofthe wheel which points beyond its symbolic expression ofthe duty of thankfulness to the thought presented at the

conclusion of the myth and developed more broadly in theconcluding praises of the victor, namely the omnipotence ofZeus.

(225-6) The interpretations of Bowra and Burton that Pindarwas passed over by Hieron for Bacchylides to celebrate hisOlympic chariot victory of 468 B.C. (225).


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(234) Boyce believes that Pindar organized the Ixionmaterial around the maxims 1) one must be gracious toones benefactors, and 2) one must know oneself and thusdischarge the human duty to moderation. This focus is not

the original context of the material, but is a reflection ofPindars purpose in the Odes.

(239) Pindars interpretation of the origin and character ofthe Centaurs shows his design to change the ambiguous orpositive associations of Ixion, for the wildness and incivilityof the Centaurs is emphasized, but the technological,medical, and gnoseological virtues of Chiron afre notmentioned. Boyce thinks that Pindar invented the Ixionicorigin of the centaurs, but we think it much more likely that

Pindar merely reinterpreted the material to suit his purposeof showing Ixion to be a great sinner, period.

(269) On the subject of the etymology of Ixion, F.G.Welcker saw the point of contact in Ixion the iktes,suppliant, an aspect to which, he argued, Aeschylus alsoalludes when he has Athena compare Orestes suppliantstatus with Ixions. Welcker sought added support for thisderivation in two of the various names offered for Ixionsfather, Antion and Peision, respectively from antian, to

request of ask, andpethein, to gain by request. [CitationF.G. Welcker, Die Aeschylische Trilogie Prometheus un dieKabirenweihe zu Lemnos nebst winken ber di Trilogie des

Aeschylos berhaupt. Darmstadt: E.W. Leske, 1824, p. 549.]

(272) Though he otherwise followed a one-sidedinterpretation of Ixion as a great sinner, Weizsckerassociated the name Ixion with ischus, the powerful one.[Citation P. Weizscker. Ixion. Ausfhrlickes Lexikon dergriechischen und rmischen Mythologie. Vol. II, 766-772. No

page number cited.]

left at sl. 284

Edgar Wind. The Criminal-God.Journal of the Warburg Institute1.3 (January 1938): 243-245.


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Is it possible that Ixion is taken to heaven and then crucifiedbecause he is a hold over from an earlier scapegoat custom?

David M. Knipe. The Heroic Theft: Myths from Rgveda IV and theAncient Near East. History of Religions 6.4 (May 1967):328-360.

(338) Turning to Snorri's Edda we find inn two manifestationsused by Zeus. In Skldskaparml 4-6 inn as an eagle steals thegiant Suttung's mead, not from the heavens, but from the depthsof a rock, the mountain Hnitbjrg. With the help of Suttung'sbrother, Baugi, inn bores a hole with an auger called Rati,changes into a serpent to gain entrance, and sleeps for three

nights with Suttung's giantess daughter, Gunnl. She grants himthree draughts of mead, and he changes into an eagle and fliesoff with the prize in his beak, Suttung (also now in eagle form) insuch close pursuit that inn spills some of the mead. The magicdrink is presented by inn to the sir and to men of poeticgenius. The tale has an abbreviated parallel in the poetic Edda,Hvaml 104-10 (where we also have in the Rnatals ttr[strophes 138-45] inn's other famous means of acquiring themead that makes him fertile and fluentthe ordeal of hanging inthe wind-whipped tree for nine nights through, a sacrifice to

himself).

J. Muir. Contributions to a Knowledge of the Vedic Theogony andMythology. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britainand Ireland, New Series 1.1-2 (1865): 51-140.

(60) Yska proceeds in the latter part of his work to divide thedifferent deities, or forms of the same deities, specified in the

fifth chapter of the Naighantuka or Vocabulary, which is prefixedto his work, into the three orders of terrestrial (Nirukta vii. 14ix.43), intermediate or atmospheric (x. 1xi. 50), and celestial (xii.1-40).


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(61) There are 33 gods referred to in the Rg Veda, eleven foreach levelearth, atmosphere, and sky. Sataphatha Brhmana11.6.3.5 lists Indra as Heaven and Prajpati as Earth.

(63) The deities are often depicted as children of the earth and

sky and as great worshippers who attained their divinity throughasceticism (tapas).See John Muir, ed. and trans. Original Sanskrit Texts On theOrigin and History of the People of India, their Religion andInstitutions. Vol. 4. General Books (reprint), 2010, pp, 47-53.

(73) When, gods, ye moved, agitated, upon those waters, then aviolent dust issued from you, as from dancers. 7. When, gods,ye, like strenuous men, replenished the worlds, then ye drewforth the sun which was hidden in the (ethereal?) ocean. 8. Of

the eight sons of Aditi who were born from her body, sheapproached the gods with seven, and cast out Mrttnda (theeighth). [I think the eight sons are planets and the eighth isMars, but I do not remember the reference at the moment. Later,the sons (the Adityas) are always said to be twelve for the twelvemonthsproto-zodiac?]

(77) Mitra and Varuna are day and night, a binary. Mitra is thesun. Varuna is the setting sun (black sun?). Rg Veda 1.25.18:I beheld [Varunas] chariot upon the ground. Both gods are

associated with untold power and martial strength (79). Varunaupholds heaven and earth (80).

(81) 6. May thy destructive nooses, O Varuna, which are castseven-fold, and three-fold, ensnare the man who speaks lies, andpass by him who speaks truth [This is the Atharva Veda, book 4,hymn 16. How does this relate to the Enuma Elishs nets ofMarduk?].

(83) Varunas laws are daily transgressed by sinful creation, and

much is heard of the nooses and nets he uses to seize andpunish transgressors (Rg Veda 1.24.15, 4.74.4, 10.85.24).

(88) Varuna corresponds in name to the Ouranos of theGreeks.


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(89) In the Purusha Skta (R.V. x. 90, 13) Indra is said to havesprung, along with Agni, from the mouth of Purusha. In one ofthe latest hymns (x. 167, 1) he is declared to have conqueredheaven by austerity (tapas).

(90) Indra is invested with the ruddy luster of the sun (x. 112,3). He casts down those who attempt to scale the sacredmountains (R.V. 1.32.2, etc.) or hurls them back when theyattempt to scale the heavens (ii. 12, 12; viii. 12, 14.)

(96-97) The growth of much of the imagery thus described isperfectly natural, and easily intelligible, particularly to personswho have lived in India, and witnessed the phenomena of theseasons in that country. At the close of the long hot weather, /when every one is longing for rain to moisten the earth and cool

the atmosphere, it is often extremely tantalizing to see the cloudscollecting and floating across the sky day after day, withoutdischarging their contents. And in the early ages when the Vedichymns were composed it was an idea quite in consonance withthe other general conceptions which their authors entertained, toimagine that some malignant influence was at work in theatmosphere to prevent the fall of the showers of which theirparched fields stood so much in need. It was but a step further topersonify both this hostile power and the beneficent agency bywhich it was at length overcome. Indra is thus at once a terrible

warrior and a gracious friend, a god whose shafts dealdestruction to his enemies, while they bring deliverance andprosperity to his worshippers. The phenomena of thunder andlightning almost inevitably suggest the idea of a conflict betweenopposing forces: even we ourselves, in our more prosaic age,often speak of the war or strife of the elements.

(98) R.V. 2.17.5: He has supported the earth, the universalnurse. By his skill he has propped up the sky from falling.(114-115) Srya, a Vedic solar deity, may be the prototype for

Ixion. He is the preserver and soul of all things stationary andmoving / and the vivifier of men. He is far-seeing, all-seeing;beholds all creatures and the good and bad deeds of mortals. (-)He upholds the sky. (-) In x. 170, 4, the epithets visvakarman,the architect of the universe, and visvadevyarat, the sovereigndeity, are applied to him. (-) In vii. 60, 1, and vii. 62, 2, he issaid to declare men sinless to Mitra, Varuna, etc.


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(115-116) In many passagesthe dependent position of Srya isasserted. Thus he is said to have been produced, or caused toshine, or to rise, or to have his path prepared, etc., by Indra; byIndra and Soma. (-) He is declared to be god-born (x.37, 1), to

be the son of the sky (ibid.), to have been drawn by the godsfrom the ocean where he was hidden (x. 72, 7), to have been /placed by the gods in heaven (x.88, 11); and to have sprung fromthe eye of Purusha (x. 90, 13). He is also said to have beenovercome by Indra (x. 43, 5; iv. 30, 6), who carried off one of thewheels of his chariot (i. 175, 4) [further citation: 4.17.14,6.56.3]

(116) Ushas is in one place said to be his wife (vii. 75, 5); whilein another passage (vii. 78, 3) the Dawns are by a natural figure

declared to produce him, and in a third passage to re veal him(vii. 80, 2). The Atharva Veda contains a long hymn to Srya, xiii.2. The Mahabharata (iii. 166 ff.) has a hymn to the same god, inwhich he is styled the eye of the world, and the soul of allembodied beings (v. 166); and his divine chariot is referred to (v.170).

(122) Agni is the god of sacrifice: He is the domestic priest[Brahmin] appointed both by men and gods, who performs in ahigher sense all the various sacrificial offices which the Indian

ritual assigned to a number of different functionaries.

(124) Agni was generated by Indra between two clouds (ii. 12, 3). [Is this the origin of the idea that Ixion generates Centaurusfrom a cloud?]

(130) In one place (viii. 44, 23), the worshipper naively says toAgni: If I were thou, and thou wert I, thy aspirations should befulfilled; and again, viii. 19, 25 f.: If, Agni, thou wert a mortal,and I an immortal, . . . . I would not abandon thee to wrong or to

penury. My worshipper should not be poor, nor distressed, normiserable. All gods are comprehended in him (v. 3, 1); hesurrounds them as the circumference of a wheel does the spokes(i. 141, 9 ; v. 13, 6).

(131) Tvashtr is the Indian Vulcan, the artist par excellencewho is versed in all magical devices. He forges the thunderbolts


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of Indra, which are described as formed of gold, or of iron, with athousand points and a hundred edges.

(133) In x. 17, 1 f. Tvashtr is said to have given his daughterSaranyu in marriage to Vivasvat: Tvashtr makes a wedding for

his daughter. (Hearing) this the whole world assembles. Themother of Yama, the wedded wife of the great Vivasvat,disappeared. 2. They concealed the immortal (bride) frommortals. Making (another) of like appearance (savarnm), theygave her to Vivasvat. Saranyu bore the two Asvins, and whenshe had done so, she deserted the two twins. These two versesare quoted in the Nirukta, xii. 10 f., where the followingillustrative story is told: Saranyu, the daughter of Tvashtr, boretwins to Vivasvat the sun. She then substituted for herselfanother female of similar appearance (savarnm), and fled in the

form of a mare. Vivasvat in like manner assumed the shape of ahorse, and followed her. From their intercourse sprang the twoAsvins, while Manu was the offspring of Savarn (or the female oflike appearance). (See Roth's interpretation of R.V. x. 17, 1 ff.and remarks thereon, in the Journal of the German OrientalSociety, iv. 424 f.; and the same writer's translation, in hisIllustrations of the Nirukta, p. 161, of a passage of theBrhaddevata, given by Sayana on R.V. vii. 72, 2, relating thesame story about Vivasvat and Saranyu which is given in theNirukta). [On the A vins, see Spess, Soma, p. 43: In Sanskrit

the word a vin , derived from a va (horse), means literallypossessed of horses or horse-headed, (-) They are describedin the hymns as continually drinking their soma mixture aboardtheir chariot yet never becoming intoxicated. The asvins arelotus-crowned (44) and the lotus may have been imported fromIndia to Egypt, where the pharaohs are shown with plant-crowns(see Berlant). Also see 44ff. for the important notion that theAsvin twins represent the most primal sets of energy-generatingopposites.]

(133) Tvashtr is represented as having for his most frequentattendants the wives of the gods.

(135) In the Mrkandeya Purana, section 77, Tvashtr is identifiedwith Visvakarman and Prajpati. Compare verses 1, 10, 15,16,34, 36,38, and 41. Weber (Omina und Portenta, p. 391 f.)refers to a passage of the Adbhutdhyya of the Kausika Stras,


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where Tvashtr is identified with Savitr and Prajpati. Soma isdescribed as the Indian Bacchus.

Louis Renou. The Vedic House. RES: Anthropology andAesthetics 34 (Autumn 1998): 142-161.

(147) The shape of the site [for building a house] is either that ofa brick ( d ) [sic, should read l ] or of a circle(mandaladv pa ), according to some texts. Other texts speak ofsquare or rectangular shapes (147-148).

(151) According to Baud yana's ulbas tra, a l forms a rectangle that is 16 or 12 feet in length, 12 or 10 feet wide[Citation Bal. Sut. 4].

(159) If we rely on Vedic texts, we are in the presence of a typeof house that is extremely rudimentary, composed of anarmature of posts, connected at the summit by transverse beamsonto which a thatched covering is attached. The walls are wovenmats. Neither stone nor brick are used.

Brick, however, is well known in the tradition of theYajurveda, but its use there is limited to the "stacking" of the firealtar (agnicayana) and of accessory annexes.

John Robert Gardner. The Developing Terminology for the Self inVedic India. Ph.d. diss. University of Iowa, 1998.

(295-296) Most of the fifteen occasions ofprusa in the later RVare found in RV 10, and seven of these are in the Purusa Skta.[I]t is safe to assume it is a later inclusion in the Vedicliterature. This does not mean, however, that it is a laterdevelopment or idea. Accounting for the relatively sudden andisolated appearance of / prusa in the literature is not an easymatter, and one which scholarshave not examined in any

detail.

(296) If, as Elizarenkova suggests, the prusa represents aborrowing from another language (1995: 67), there could bereasons of hegemony of the Vedic priesthood in thisdevelopment. The ascendant power of Agni over the wrathful

pareseya in 8.71.2a suggests this as well, considering that this


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could well be a later hymn. If the use ofprusa reflected aborrowing from another language, it would serve to promote thesupremacy of the Vedic gods over the people of that language tounderscore Agnis power over their wrath.

[Citation Tatyana J. Elizarenkova. Language and Style of theVedic Rsis. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995.]

In many references in RV, prusa denotes a mortal individualrather than an essence or subtle being.

(299) Gardner follows Brown in definingprusa as essence.(302) Purusa is elevated beyond human statusthe only suchdeclaration of universal totalityassociated with the prusa in

the RVand one which is not made of tmn either.

(303) At 5.12.1a,prusa is the sacrificial presser.

(304) As a word for the self, the model of the micro-macrocosmic equivalencies begins with this hymn. Suchsignifications for any other element of the vocabularyis amarked contrast. The prusa literally begins as an abstractsignifier of the metaphysical integration of the universe. At bestthe atman is the essence or animator of the sacrifice or its fee.

(-) purusa arrives alreadydeveloped with a quite complexnotion of self.

(334) [P]rusa proves to be a containerin which the tmn isplaced. That container, the social person, is comprised ofbreaths, mind, heart, etc.

(346) That verily is the share of Varuna, which is the barleycorns. With his own share he satisfies (propitiates) Varuna. Hebecomes one of the size of one span (distance between

outstretched index and thumb). That big is the indeed theprusa, as great as his pr ns . As much/big as is (his) tmn ,that one he releases from Varuna. Agni is the year [KS 10.4look up in abbreviations] [Relate to the Greek notion of thebrick/palmspan association in the pentadoron, etc.]


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David L. Spess. Soma: The Divine Hallucinogen. Rochester, VT:Park Street Press, 2000. [Other notes associated withasvins above]

(58) The origin of the English word man is derived from theSanskrit name Manu, the first man.

(59) Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador to the court ofChandragupta in India for the Seleucid Empire, tells us that theGreek myth of the Hyperboreans was of Indian origin. Hementions that these Indian Hyperboreans live a thousand years.He also says that wine was never drunk by the Indians except atsacrifices when soma juice was consumed. This indicates that atthis time soma was a fermented drink.

(62) [L]egends, such as those of Prester John, the mythicalEastern Christian king, also describe paradise as being in India.The paradise of Prester John contained a fountain of youth whichpreserves health for three hundred and three years, threemonths, three weeks, and three days.

(63-64) A number of Rg Vedic / hymns clearly state that at onetime the gods gained immortality through drinking soma. Butthrough supernormal means, the Atharvans (soma priests)

discovered the gods ancient secret of the preparation of theentheogenic soma drink that allowed human beings to obtain thesame immortal status as the gods.

(64-65) Soma was believed to grant its users paranormalabilities such as psychogen- / esis (mind-born creations ortransmutations). Current research has suggested that elixiralchemy was first developed in China among the Taoists. It canbe shown, however, that Chinese elixir theories were derivedfrom the elixir theory in India that came from the Rg Veda. The

notion of a rejuvenation elixir appears to have been transmittedto China from India at a very early date and from the Chinese andIndians to the Arabs, from which it was transmitted throughArabic alchemical and scientific writings to Jewish philosophersand to Roger Bacon.


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(66) Another early ascetic group, called the vr tyas , were weregreat miracle workers. (-) Their ascesis involveda practicebased on the internal vibrations (vipra) within the matrix(hrdyakasa, or space within the heart), the universal womb ofcreation associated with the Anthropos. (-) They entered

ecstatic states and cosmicized their subtle bodies into replicas ofthe universe.

(68) Within the matrix of the heart-cave-womb in the somaceremony a golden embryo is generated that becomes theinternal body of light or Anthropos. [See Staal]

(71) As the Rg Veda reflects, The Pole Star and Big Dipper figurein the archaic myths of most cultures, but their use as the sourceand holder of the elixir of immortality in a developed cosmogony

and cosmology comes from the soma ceremony of the Rg Veda.

(78) During the formulation of alchemy in Greco-Roman Egypt inthe first and second centuries C.E., there were direct trade linkswith India. A statuette found at Pompeii of the Hindu goddessLaksm , who is associated with the lotus plant, has been dated to this time. According to Greek sources, the Persian mystic andmagus Ostanes (500 B.C.E.) was the first to explain both magicand alchemy to the Greco-Egyptians. According to Pliny, he wasthe first writer on magic and a direct pupil of Zoroaster. Ostanes

was obviously an Indo-Iranian well acquainted with themagical/alchemical rituals of the entheogenic haoma/somaceremonies.

left sl. 94

Eivind Lorenzen. Canon and Thumbs in Egyptian Art (Review ofErik Iverson, Canon and Proportions in Egyptian Art).

Journal of the American Oriental Society 97.4 (October-December 1977): 531-539.

(532) 4 small cubits constitute the fathom-unit, equalling thedistance between the thumbs with the arms outstretched. It isfurthermore claimed that the fathom corresponds to a heightfrom the sole of the foot to a measuring point at the hairline. It is


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also postulated that the length of the forearm from elbow to thetip of the medius is identical with the royal cubitwhich equals 7handbreadths.

(536) See figure that compares Vitruvius to Egyptian art! And

538 (print out and scan!).(537) If Hultsch's Xylon, equalling 3 royal cubits, turns out tohave something to do with the height to the mouth on a lst-canonfigure in the Vitruvian circle, the result would be that 2/3 of themouth-height would correspond to the radius, as the logicaldetermination (and unit) of the measurement-circle itself (see fig.3). Since mouth-opening rituals were celebrated whenever astatue had been finally completed, there can scarcely be anydoubt that the height to the mouth reflected more than mere

metrological interest. The purpose of this technical drawingexperiment is to demonstrate that the original Ukh-Hotepdivisions can be used directly on the 1st- and the 2nd-canongrids, and that Vitruvius' man in the circle, which has beenquestioned by so many, may lead to new knowledge with regardto the mechanics of the Egyptian modules.

W. Crooke. The House in India from the Point of View of

Sociology and Folklore. Folklore 29.2 (June 29, 1918): 113-145.

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III. Interlude: Pythagorean Mysteries Unlocked

Adam Drozdek. Greek Philosophers as Theologians: The DivineArche. Hampshire, UK: Ashgate, 2007.

(53-54) All of human conduct should be in agreement with thedivine. This is the principle; all of life is so ordered as to followGod (137 = 58D2, 86-87). The principle means that God is notonly / the guardian of the world order, but also can becomesomeone to be approached and imitated. [Citation LeopoldSchmidt. Die Ethik der alten Griechen. Berlin: Hertz, 1882, 167]

(54) Pythagorean notions of natural human imperfection and theability of a select few to become master worshippers has as itscorollary the idea of constant piety and worship of the divine

whereby one can always keep in mind that God watches overhuman progress (Iamblicus Life of Pythagoras 175 = 58D3).

(54) But no explicit theology was left by Pythagoras or by hisimmediate followers.

(55) The tetraktys is the source and the root of everflowingnature (SE 7.94; Aetius De placitis philosophorum 1.3.8). [It is] asystem of the first four positive integers. It is no doubt thatEmpedocles knew the old oath, otherwise he would not refer to

the four roots (31B6.1) and the source of all mortal things(31B23.10). The tetraktys was considered to contain the natureof the universe and was called kosmos, ouranos, pan (Plutarch,De Is. et Os. 75). (-) It is also called the oracle of Delphi (Iambl.,VP 85). (-) [T]he tetraktys refers to the harmonious nature ofthe world. The world is ordered on all levels. It was also theharmony in which the Sirens sing (Iambl., VP 82), thus linkingPythagoreanism to the notion of a music of the spheres.

(58) For Philolaus, the limiters and unlimiteds always existed,

and they were used to create the cosmos.

(59) Unlimiteds are continua, like air or water, and limiteds arediscrete, like the limit-setter fire. Things can be purely one or theother, like void, which is pure unlimited(s). Also, of course, thingscan be harmonies of limiteds and unlimiteds.


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(61) For Philolaus, there are odd, even, and odd-even numbers.They are ontological entities, and without limit, no thought orknowledge would be possible.

(62) In a short cosmogonic statement, Philolaus says that the

first thing fitted together (harmonized), the one in the center ofthe sphere, is called the hearth (44B7). The first act of creationwas the creation of the one, an act of harmonia which usedlimiters and unlimiteds to that end. Then, one becomes thesource of all numbers. [W]hen the one had been formedinstantly the nearest parts of the infinite were drawn in [as abreath] and defined by the definite (Aristotle, Met. 1091a15-18).Void is the bounded breath that comes in the unbounded breath(ouranos) and separates individual natures and creates numbers.

(63) The one does not incorporate all the limiters andunlimiteds. The one is a fulcrum of the cosmos and its core, thecentral lace around which the cosmos is spun. It becomes largerand more elaborate by including the unlimiteds and fusing themwith limiters. In this process, unlimited void fills the spacebetween things and this filling function endows it with a positive,limiting aspect: an unlimited plays the role of a limiter due to thepresence of limiters or limited things.

(63) Alexander Polyhistor: [T]he beginning of all things is the

monad. From the monad there arises the indeterminate dyadwhich then serves as passive material to the monad, while themonad serves as active cause. From the monad andindeterminate dyad there arise numbers; from numbers, points;from points, lines; from lines, plane figures; from plane figures,solid figures; from solid figures, perceivable bodies compoundedof the four elements, fire, water, earth, air. (DL 8.25 [DiogenesLaertius, Vitae Philosophorum]).

(63) But what about the four elements? They may be assumed

to pre-exist as unlimiteds. The monad, or the one, is the arche ofall things, but not in the absolute sense. The monad itself iswoven out of unlimiteds and limiters.

(64) Four principles define a rational animal, according toPhilolaus: Brain, heart, navel, and genitals.


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The head [is the principle] of intellect, the heart ofsoul and sensation, the navel of rooting and firstgrowth, the genitals of depositing of seed andgeneration. The brain [is] the principle of man, theheart that of animal, the navel that of plant, the

genitals that of all together, for all things flourish andgrow from seed (Theol. arith. 25.17-26.3).

The seed appears to be a package that incorporates theunlimiteds, the limiters, and the harmonia. Each living beingsgrowth and development is incorporated in nuce in the seed.

(65) Notice that harmony is referred to in the singular, and thuscould be a world-soul for Pythagoras and his followers.

(66) Ascesis: Self-control is self-limitation, and limit is good.

(67) Aetius, 2.4.15: Philolaus locates the hegemonikon in thecentral fire, which the demiurgic God set down under the sphereof the whole like a keel. Here is a blatant statement ofPythagoras theism.

(68) For Philolaus, limiters and unlimiteds are uncreated. Also,eternal harmonia is fitting them together. [I]t is possible thatfor Philolaus harmonia is simply God, or at least an attribute ofGod. The harmonia aspect in the divine is what is Pythagorean in

the two great Pythagoreans.

(69) Anaximander: The universe is not created ex nihilo, butseparated from the substance of God. (-) Pythagoreans rectifiedthe concept of divinity even further. God is not infinite and,although not the source of infinity, he is independent of it. God isneither infinite nor finite, God surpasses the limitations of thetwo: God is beyond the finite and the infinite. (-) Could God beinfinite if infinity was evil? Pythagoreans retain Anaximandersidea that God is source of moral law, but reverse the idea of God

as infinite.


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IV. A Return to Origins: Joseph P. Farrell, Ancient Religion, and theNergal-Mars Complex

Frothingham sl. 26, p. 199 (!)

outline of chapter in anthropos mss

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