The Chamber of Venus
| | The Chamber of Venus | |
It is at the top of the caldera, on the very top lip. And my suspicion is that the room is physically moving in this regio (and the other, most probably). The room is incomplete, being perfectly cutoff at the level of the top of the caldera. The very bottom of the room (which is the only part visible to us currently) is centered around an alter. The bottom is an ornate plinth about 2 paces wide, and 1 ½ paces tall, upon the plinth is a female form cut off at mid torso. She is arrayed in strange garb, with trappings of both armor and sexual femininity. There is some sort of alter in front of her. To either side of the woman, there are lions (5-footed, if carefully studied). The motif of the lions is very similar to that of the bearded ones that guard the Lion Gate of the Covenant. The room is quite fascinating in that it is the first room discovered that seems to be not of Grecian artistry. While, the entire caldera is layers upon layers, this room seems not to have been covered in the last layer of Grecian civilization.
| Ancient hymns celebrating the planet Venus -or the goddess identified with that planet,
Inanna/Ishtar- describe it as being in close proximity to the ancient sun-god. Thus, Inanna is
repeatedly brought into connection with the site where the sun-god rises (ki-utu-e-a). In the
ancient hymn known as Inanna's Descent to the Underworld, for example, the goddess is
introduced as follows: "I am Inanna of the place where the sun makes his rising." According
to this view, the phrase ki-utu-e-a marks a metaphorical expression for the east or eastern
horizon.
Various hymns describe Venus/Inanna as intimately associated with a celestial mountain. Texts from archaic Uruk invoke Inanna-kur, "Inanna of (or from) the Kur," the latter word signifying "mountain." The epic Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta describes Inanna as the "great lady of heaven" who "dwells on the top of the mountain." The Exaltation of Inanna reports that the goddess "resides in the mountain." Yet another hymn reports that Inanna "fills the mountain." In the hymn Inanna and Ebih, the mountain is described as "the pure place of your [Inanna's] birth." Early hymns to the planet-goddess place her various adventures on or about this mountain, alternatively described as kur or kur-suba, "the pure shining mountain." In the Exhaltation of Inanna, for example, Inanna is compared to a "flood descending from its mountain [kur]." A related passage states that the mountain flood (kur-a-ma-ru) lies at her feet. Inanna is elsewhere described as a dragon raining fire or venom across the mountain/land: "Like a dragon you have deposited venom on the land [kur-ra]." The kur also figures in various epithets celebrating Inanna's supreme status: Nin-kur-kur-a -"Lady of all the lands." The epithet kur-ra diri-ga signifies "she who dominates the kur." Yet another epithet -Kur-gul-gul, "Devastatrix of the lands"- celebrates Inanna's role in the destruction of this celestial mountain. Venus' intimate association with a celestial mountain would also appear to be represented in ancient art. The wings which she wears on rare occasions and the stars which sometimes top the weapons emerging from her shoulders confirm her celestial character... The image of the new goddess corresponds exactly to what is known of the Ishtar of the Semites, personification of the planet Venus. One of the most difficult groups of concepts to identify and interpret is that represented by the Sumerian word kur. That one of its primary meanings is 'mountain' is attested by the fact that the sign used for it is actually a pictograph representing a mountain. From the meaning 'mountain' developed that of 'foreign land,' since the mountainous countries bordering Sumer were a constant menace to its people. Kur also came to mean 'land' in general; Sumer itself is described as kur-gal, 'great land'. But in addition the Sumerian word kur represented a cosmic concept. Thus it seems to be identical to a certain extent with the Sumerian ki-gal, 'great below.' Like ki-gal, therefore, it has the meaning 'nether world'; indeed, in such poems as 'Inanna's Descent to the Nether World,' and 'Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Nether World,' the word regularly used for 'nether world' is kur. Kur thus cosmically conceived is the empty space between the earth's crust and primeval sea. |
|
The alter bears remains (very old) of dried human blood. Around the centerpiece on the floor in a mysterious mosaic with an inscription which is in a language that is unfamiliar to the magi. The some script does resemble the writings upon the pectoral that was recoverd from Issil. The inscription spirals outwards from the centerpiece in a clockwise manner. The dating of many of the objects in the room, with Intellego Terram, inform one that the subjects here are much older than the old Gauntlet of the Four Quarters. |  |
The higher regio is the chariot of Venus/Ishtar. Literally, the entire regio above that in the base room is the interior of a gigantic vehicle. A most wondrous piece of work. The observer will view many images at they pass the chariot. All of them vaguely familiar and yet not completely identifiable or rationally intelligible. The statue on the higher level is even more amazing than on the base regio. Although essentially the same (though complete), its quality is such that the surfaces take on a near life-like quality. It does not move, though is watching you. Additionally, the statue is always facing in the direction of the travel. Within the hands of the statue's outstretched right hand is a pair of simple leather reins entwined with golden thread. The inside walls of this great chariot are the chased with gold and a number of inscriptions. All of them are on a deep blue mosaic background. The passage of the outside world is only discernible through vision and sound, no motion is detected by the sensation of touch or by any rocking within the room. One can discern sounds of travel, and if one listens attentively to passages in the room, faint roars of the attendant lions and even the creaking of movement may be gleaned from the whispering on the winds.
INITIATION INTO THE MYSTERIES OF CYBELETHE TAUROBOLIUM(Prudentius, 'Peristephanon,' X, 101 1-50) The high priest who is to be consecrated is brought down under ground in a pit dug deep, marvellously adorned with a fillet, binding his festive temples with chaplets, his hair combed back under a golden crown, and wearing a silken toga caught up with Gabine girding. Over this they make a wooden floor with wide spaces, woven of planks with an open mesh; they then divide or bore the area and repeatedly pierce the wood with a pointed tool that it may appear full of small holes. Hither a huge bull, fierce and shaggy in appearance, is led, bound with flowery garlands about its flanks, and with its horns sheathed; Yea, the forehead of the victim sparkles with gold, and the flash of metal plates colours its hair. Here, as is ordained, the beast is to be slain, and they pierce its breast with a sacred spear; the gaping wound emits a wave of hot blood, and the smoking river flows into the woven structure beneath it and surges wide. Then by the many paths of the thousand openings in the lattice the falling shower rains down a foul dew, which the priest buried within catches, putting his shameful head under all the drops, defiled both in his clothing and in all his body. Yea, he throws back his face, he puts his cheeks in the way of the blood, he puts under it his ears and lips, he interposes his nostrils, he washes his very eyes with the fluid, nor does he even spare his throat but moistens his tongue, until he actually drinks the dark gore. Afterwards, the flamens draw the corpse, stiffening now that the blood has gone forth, off the lattice, and the pontiff, horrible in appearance, comes forth, and shows his wet head, his beard heavy with blood, his dripping fillets and sodden garments. This man, defiled with such contagions and foul with the gore of the recent sacrifice, all hail
and worship Notes(1) All hail and worship. The consecrated priest, emerging from the blood bath with the gift of divine life (drawn from the sacred bull) himself becomes divine and is therefore worshipped. Those who received the 'taurobolium could be described as 'born again for eternity' (renatus in aeternum, C.I.L., VI, 510; many other inscriptions refer to the taurobolium and prove the rite to have been in use early in the second century A.D). (2) Profane blood. It must be remembered that Prudentius was a Christian and that to him the blood was profane (vilis) and the whole rite not only repulsive but blasphemous. Translation and notes by C. K. Barrett, The New Testament Background (London, SPCK 1956), pp. 96-7 |
Last modified: Mon Nov 30, 1998 / Jeremiah Genest