08-16-2006, 10:58 AM
Team,
Has any one read the book "Sacred Geography of the Ancient Greeks
Astrological Symbolism in Art, Architecture, and Landscape" by Jean Richer and translated from the French into the English by Christine Rhone.
The author calls Sacred Geography of the Ancient Greeks "a long meditation on the forms of religion and art of Greek antiquity" (p. xxi). It is not only a description and analysis of his findings concerning astrological symbolism, but also a narrative of his investigations. (This book is the first of three volumes dealing with astrological/geographical symbology; the other two are currently not available in English. The second discusses the subject in the Mediterranean regions of the Roman Empire, and the third in Christian art from the fourth to eighteenth centuries. The first and third volumes earned the author awards from the Academie Française.) Very often the alignments had predictive ability: if he looked where the lines indicated, he often found something with the expected archeological or mythic connection.
Sacred Geography of the Ancient Greeks has two impressive chapters relating to shields: Chapter 15. Shield Devices. The Commons Origins of Blazons and Monetary Symbols. The Complementarity of Opposites. Plaques from Delphi. Study of Vases and Chapter 16. The Horoscopic Meaning of the Armlets of Shields.
In his studies the author uncovered the existence of many calendars; "Each city and every region of Greece had its own calendar" (p. xxxii). These were of different ages, and derived from seasonal changes, or from stellar, lunar, or solar cycles. They had varying numbers of divisions and began at different times of the year, generally at one of the solstices or equinoxes. Many Greek calendars show evidence of an ancient knowledge of the precession of the equinoxes, the slow process in which the sun seems to move backward through the zodiacal signs relative to the solar year. His main point is that the decoration of everything from shields to vases and temples is not random but constructed using precise rules. The closest thing I can think of resembling this is the Chinese art of Fung Shui !!
A review article of book appears here:
[url:thmlmp13]http://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/world/med/me-sbd2.htm[/url]
If anyone has read it I would be interested in their opinions.
Has any one read the book "Sacred Geography of the Ancient Greeks
Astrological Symbolism in Art, Architecture, and Landscape" by Jean Richer and translated from the French into the English by Christine Rhone.
The author calls Sacred Geography of the Ancient Greeks "a long meditation on the forms of religion and art of Greek antiquity" (p. xxi). It is not only a description and analysis of his findings concerning astrological symbolism, but also a narrative of his investigations. (This book is the first of three volumes dealing with astrological/geographical symbology; the other two are currently not available in English. The second discusses the subject in the Mediterranean regions of the Roman Empire, and the third in Christian art from the fourth to eighteenth centuries. The first and third volumes earned the author awards from the Academie Française.) Very often the alignments had predictive ability: if he looked where the lines indicated, he often found something with the expected archeological or mythic connection.
Sacred Geography of the Ancient Greeks has two impressive chapters relating to shields: Chapter 15. Shield Devices. The Commons Origins of Blazons and Monetary Symbols. The Complementarity of Opposites. Plaques from Delphi. Study of Vases and Chapter 16. The Horoscopic Meaning of the Armlets of Shields.
In his studies the author uncovered the existence of many calendars; "Each city and every region of Greece had its own calendar" (p. xxxii). These were of different ages, and derived from seasonal changes, or from stellar, lunar, or solar cycles. They had varying numbers of divisions and began at different times of the year, generally at one of the solstices or equinoxes. Many Greek calendars show evidence of an ancient knowledge of the precession of the equinoxes, the slow process in which the sun seems to move backward through the zodiacal signs relative to the solar year. His main point is that the decoration of everything from shields to vases and temples is not random but constructed using precise rules. The closest thing I can think of resembling this is the Chinese art of Fung Shui !!
A review article of book appears here:
[url:thmlmp13]http://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/world/med/me-sbd2.htm[/url]
If anyone has read it I would be interested in their opinions.
Peter Raftos
