kwaw
While de Gebelin may have been wrong about the Egyptian origins of the Tarot, IMHO he eas reporting a tradition and not just 'inventing' as some have claimed.
'The Hieroglyphica of Horus Appollo', generally known as the 'Horappollon', was discovered on the Greek Island of Andros by a monk in 1419. Manuscript copies were in circulation among Florentine humanists by 1422. The two parts of the Horapollon contain interpretations of 189 hieroglyphics. The first part contains 70, all of which are authentic Egyptian hieroglyphics. The second part contains 119, about a third of which are authentic hieroglyphs, the rest being allegorical interpretation of animals similar to those that can be found in Aristotle and Pliny. It claims to be a Greek translation of an Egyptian book on the interpretation of Hieroglyphs, though the author/translator admits to including non-Egyptian hieroglyphs (eg, such as the animals noted above). It is dated 5th century, Alexandria.
The hieroglyphs are interpreted in an allegorical manner, as pictorial symbols of moral and metaphysical principles. This manner of Hieroglyphic reinterpretation was common in the late Hellenistic period among pagan Greek philosophers in Alexandria trying to decipher the mysterious Hieroglyphics and Ancient Egyptian relics to which the key to understanding had been lost. Fragments of similar texts, such as the Chairemon, had also survived and were known to the Renaissance humanists, but the Horapollon provided the only complete text.
The discovery of the Horapollon was a cause of great excitement among the circle of North Italian humanists. They saw in hieroglyphic representation a means of symbolic communication of divine truths that was more whole, total and immediate than the written or spoken word. Inspired by the Horapollon and using it as a model Francesco Colonnas wrote the 'Hypnoerotomachia Polophilii', which was circulating in manuscript form in 1467 and published in 1499. The Horapallon itself was published in 1505 and underwent over thirty editions during the 16th century. Among the later translators of the Horapollon was Nostradamus, who supplied Horus Apollo with fantastic pedigree, describing him as a King of Egypt and Son of Osiris. Most of the 'hieroglypics' of the Poliphilii were of greaco-roman origin rather than Egyptian.
One of the greatest, most voluminous and influential of the genre inspired by the Horapollon was the 'Hieroglyphica' of Giovanni Piero Valeriano. Though first published in 1556 manuscript copies are known to have been in circulation by 1529, and it is thought that he had completed the work some time prior to 1527. While modeled at its core by the Horapollon the Hieroglyphica does not constrain itself to real or imagined 'Egyptian' hieroglyphs but gives reign to signs and pictures from all areas of knowledge that are amiable to an allegorical form of exegesis. While Valerino maintains Egyptian heritage for his 'hieroglyphics' and the authority of the Horapollon and graeco-latin tradition for his method of exegesis, it is in fact a synthesis of genuine Egyptian hieroglyphs with symbols of Greek, Latin , Jewish, Kabbalistic and Astrological origin. There is therefore an assimilation of a variety of traditions assumed under the heading of 'Egyptian' Hieroglyphica. It is such an assimilation I believe that the roots of the tradition, such as which in my opinion de Gebelin reports and does not 'invent', that the Tarot is of Egyptian origin derives.
Another literary form inspired and modeled upon the Horapollon, and one from which I believe it is possible to draw parallels with the Tarot, is the Emblematic Tradition. The 'emblemata' were essentially 'mutus liber', picture books. A typical emblem book contains a picture with a poem explaining its allegorical meaning. Popular up until the 18th century, the first book that started the form was the 'Emlemata Liber' [The Book of Emblems] by Alciati, which was reprinted over 130 times between 1532 and 1790. It may or may not be relevant to tarot studies that he produced his emblems at the request of a Visconti:
quote:
Alciato's earliest mention of his emblem book is in a letter to Francesco Giulio Calvi, a bookseller, 9 January 1523.
"During this Saturnalia, at the behest of the illustrious Ambrogio Visconti, I composed a little book of epigrams, which I entitled emblems: in separate epigrams I describe something which, from history or from nature, signifies elegantly (libellum composui epigrammaton, cui tituli feci Emblemata: singulis enim epigrammatibus aliquid describo, quod ex historia, vel ex rebus naturalibus aliquid elegans significet) after which painters, goldsmiths, and metal-workers could fashion the kind of thing we call badges and which we fasten on hats, or use as trademarks, like the anchor of Aldus, the dove of Froben, and the elephant of Calvus, which is long pregnant, but produces nothing."
end quote from:
http://www.mun.ca/alciato/comm.html
Alciati's emblem book was directly inspired and modeled upon the hieroglyphic genre:
Quote:
"Alciato's words from his Commentary on the rubric 'On the meaning of things and words'. He says: 'Words signify; things are signified. But things too can sometimes signifiy, such as the hieroglyphs in Horus and Chaeremon. In this genre I too have composed a little book in verse whose title is Emblemata.'
End Quote.
Alciato's book, Emblemata, composed at the suggestion of a member of the Visconti family during, as he put it, 'Saturnalia', was the start of a form of literature [and divination] that was popular up until the eighteenth century. I think it interesting, in respect of some of the similarities to be found between emblematic and tarot images, that he clearly states here that they composed in the genre of Egytptian hieroglyphics. According to Mario Praz, emblems were generally regarded as contempory equivalents of the sacred signs of the Egyptians throughout this period. While de Gebelin may have been wrong about the Egyptian origin of the tarot, is it possible that the Tarot too, like Alciato's emblems, were composed in the genre of what then was understood by 'Egyptian' hieroglyphics? I think it possible that, given the parallels between tarot and the emblematic tradition, the tarot images too could also have been percieved as 'contempory equivalents of the sacred signs of the Egyptians'. [The above quote by Alciato is quoted in Claude Mignault of Dijon's "Theoretical Writings on the Emblem: a Critical Edition, with apparatus and notes" first published in 1573. Which might be of interest to anyone here curious of how symbols, images, emblems were percieved and interpreted at the time and how they were thought to have originated among the chaldeans, Egyptians and Hebrews. The full text, in Latin and English, can be found here:]
http://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/Mignault_syntagma.html
Of the similarities and parallels that can be drawn between the images of the tarot and emblemata traditions some examples. You might wish to explore the sites and links they provide and you will find many more examples. Here for example is an interesting picture of Fortune from an old book of English emblems which may be of interest:
http://emblem.libraries.psu.edu/withe174.htm
This figure looks very similar to me to that in the TdM 'World' card.
It is very lunar too. The Hebrew letter Tau is also attributed to luna in most of the pre-ari/gra versions of the SY that follow the Chaldean ordering of the planets. If there is a connection between this portayal of 'Fortuna ut Luna' and the TdM world card there is the problem of the four kerubic animals. I would suggest that in this context they could be interpreted as representing the 'four winds', as the figure is accompanied by the 'winds of change' or 'fortune' as represented by her windswept hair and billowing scarf?
Also interesting about this (17th cent) book of emblems is its connection with divination. The emblems are divided into four 'lotteries' [each with 56 lots], and one uses a method of casting a lot to pick an emblem/poem and divine a moral to be interpreted according to one's present circumstance. Each of the four lotteries is attributed to one of the four directions/winds, and these are symbolised by our winged faces in the lottery table at the back of the book.
As well as the connection with the 'World' of the Tdm and the emblematic 'fortuna', there is also I think a connection with the 'World' of the Minchiate and the emblematic 'fama', which you can check out on Uri Raz's site here:
http://www.tarot.org.il/Minchiate/Trumps.html
Then compare this with the image here:
http://emblem.libraries.psu.edu/withe146.htm
Note the figure on the world in the Minchiate is standing on a globe surrounded by four winged faces, very similar to those at the end of Withers book of emblems used as a lottery table to pick a lot to divine from, Here:
http://emblem.libraries.psu.edu/withee09.htm
The fact that in the minchiate the Globe is surrounded by four winged putti faces that have an [IMHO] unambiguous relationship to the winds/directions I believe gives some credence to the interpretation of the four kerubic animals in the TdM also being interpreted as winds/directions. However, the four holy creatures are a more complex symbol and one may draw possible other meanings as well, for example, that they may also symbolise the bounds of God's providence in which fortune is restrained, a common theme of the time.
Kwaw
'The Hieroglyphica of Horus Appollo', generally known as the 'Horappollon', was discovered on the Greek Island of Andros by a monk in 1419. Manuscript copies were in circulation among Florentine humanists by 1422. The two parts of the Horapollon contain interpretations of 189 hieroglyphics. The first part contains 70, all of which are authentic Egyptian hieroglyphics. The second part contains 119, about a third of which are authentic hieroglyphs, the rest being allegorical interpretation of animals similar to those that can be found in Aristotle and Pliny. It claims to be a Greek translation of an Egyptian book on the interpretation of Hieroglyphs, though the author/translator admits to including non-Egyptian hieroglyphs (eg, such as the animals noted above). It is dated 5th century, Alexandria.
The hieroglyphs are interpreted in an allegorical manner, as pictorial symbols of moral and metaphysical principles. This manner of Hieroglyphic reinterpretation was common in the late Hellenistic period among pagan Greek philosophers in Alexandria trying to decipher the mysterious Hieroglyphics and Ancient Egyptian relics to which the key to understanding had been lost. Fragments of similar texts, such as the Chairemon, had also survived and were known to the Renaissance humanists, but the Horapollon provided the only complete text.
The discovery of the Horapollon was a cause of great excitement among the circle of North Italian humanists. They saw in hieroglyphic representation a means of symbolic communication of divine truths that was more whole, total and immediate than the written or spoken word. Inspired by the Horapollon and using it as a model Francesco Colonnas wrote the 'Hypnoerotomachia Polophilii', which was circulating in manuscript form in 1467 and published in 1499. The Horapallon itself was published in 1505 and underwent over thirty editions during the 16th century. Among the later translators of the Horapollon was Nostradamus, who supplied Horus Apollo with fantastic pedigree, describing him as a King of Egypt and Son of Osiris. Most of the 'hieroglypics' of the Poliphilii were of greaco-roman origin rather than Egyptian.
One of the greatest, most voluminous and influential of the genre inspired by the Horapollon was the 'Hieroglyphica' of Giovanni Piero Valeriano. Though first published in 1556 manuscript copies are known to have been in circulation by 1529, and it is thought that he had completed the work some time prior to 1527. While modeled at its core by the Horapollon the Hieroglyphica does not constrain itself to real or imagined 'Egyptian' hieroglyphs but gives reign to signs and pictures from all areas of knowledge that are amiable to an allegorical form of exegesis. While Valerino maintains Egyptian heritage for his 'hieroglyphics' and the authority of the Horapollon and graeco-latin tradition for his method of exegesis, it is in fact a synthesis of genuine Egyptian hieroglyphs with symbols of Greek, Latin , Jewish, Kabbalistic and Astrological origin. There is therefore an assimilation of a variety of traditions assumed under the heading of 'Egyptian' Hieroglyphica. It is such an assimilation I believe that the roots of the tradition, such as which in my opinion de Gebelin reports and does not 'invent', that the Tarot is of Egyptian origin derives.
Another literary form inspired and modeled upon the Horapollon, and one from which I believe it is possible to draw parallels with the Tarot, is the Emblematic Tradition. The 'emblemata' were essentially 'mutus liber', picture books. A typical emblem book contains a picture with a poem explaining its allegorical meaning. Popular up until the 18th century, the first book that started the form was the 'Emlemata Liber' [The Book of Emblems] by Alciati, which was reprinted over 130 times between 1532 and 1790. It may or may not be relevant to tarot studies that he produced his emblems at the request of a Visconti:
quote:
Alciato's earliest mention of his emblem book is in a letter to Francesco Giulio Calvi, a bookseller, 9 January 1523.
"During this Saturnalia, at the behest of the illustrious Ambrogio Visconti, I composed a little book of epigrams, which I entitled emblems: in separate epigrams I describe something which, from history or from nature, signifies elegantly (libellum composui epigrammaton, cui tituli feci Emblemata: singulis enim epigrammatibus aliquid describo, quod ex historia, vel ex rebus naturalibus aliquid elegans significet) after which painters, goldsmiths, and metal-workers could fashion the kind of thing we call badges and which we fasten on hats, or use as trademarks, like the anchor of Aldus, the dove of Froben, and the elephant of Calvus, which is long pregnant, but produces nothing."
end quote from:
http://www.mun.ca/alciato/comm.html
Alciati's emblem book was directly inspired and modeled upon the hieroglyphic genre:
Quote:
"Alciato's words from his Commentary on the rubric 'On the meaning of things and words'. He says: 'Words signify; things are signified. But things too can sometimes signifiy, such as the hieroglyphs in Horus and Chaeremon. In this genre I too have composed a little book in verse whose title is Emblemata.'
End Quote.
Alciato's book, Emblemata, composed at the suggestion of a member of the Visconti family during, as he put it, 'Saturnalia', was the start of a form of literature [and divination] that was popular up until the eighteenth century. I think it interesting, in respect of some of the similarities to be found between emblematic and tarot images, that he clearly states here that they composed in the genre of Egytptian hieroglyphics. According to Mario Praz, emblems were generally regarded as contempory equivalents of the sacred signs of the Egyptians throughout this period. While de Gebelin may have been wrong about the Egyptian origin of the tarot, is it possible that the Tarot too, like Alciato's emblems, were composed in the genre of what then was understood by 'Egyptian' hieroglyphics? I think it possible that, given the parallels between tarot and the emblematic tradition, the tarot images too could also have been percieved as 'contempory equivalents of the sacred signs of the Egyptians'. [The above quote by Alciato is quoted in Claude Mignault of Dijon's "Theoretical Writings on the Emblem: a Critical Edition, with apparatus and notes" first published in 1573. Which might be of interest to anyone here curious of how symbols, images, emblems were percieved and interpreted at the time and how they were thought to have originated among the chaldeans, Egyptians and Hebrews. The full text, in Latin and English, can be found here:]
http://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/Mignault_syntagma.html
Of the similarities and parallels that can be drawn between the images of the tarot and emblemata traditions some examples. You might wish to explore the sites and links they provide and you will find many more examples. Here for example is an interesting picture of Fortune from an old book of English emblems which may be of interest:
http://emblem.libraries.psu.edu/withe174.htm
This figure looks very similar to me to that in the TdM 'World' card.
It is very lunar too. The Hebrew letter Tau is also attributed to luna in most of the pre-ari/gra versions of the SY that follow the Chaldean ordering of the planets. If there is a connection between this portayal of 'Fortuna ut Luna' and the TdM world card there is the problem of the four kerubic animals. I would suggest that in this context they could be interpreted as representing the 'four winds', as the figure is accompanied by the 'winds of change' or 'fortune' as represented by her windswept hair and billowing scarf?
Also interesting about this (17th cent) book of emblems is its connection with divination. The emblems are divided into four 'lotteries' [each with 56 lots], and one uses a method of casting a lot to pick an emblem/poem and divine a moral to be interpreted according to one's present circumstance. Each of the four lotteries is attributed to one of the four directions/winds, and these are symbolised by our winged faces in the lottery table at the back of the book.
As well as the connection with the 'World' of the Tdm and the emblematic 'fortuna', there is also I think a connection with the 'World' of the Minchiate and the emblematic 'fama', which you can check out on Uri Raz's site here:
http://www.tarot.org.il/Minchiate/Trumps.html
Then compare this with the image here:
http://emblem.libraries.psu.edu/withe146.htm
Note the figure on the world in the Minchiate is standing on a globe surrounded by four winged faces, very similar to those at the end of Withers book of emblems used as a lottery table to pick a lot to divine from, Here:
http://emblem.libraries.psu.edu/withee09.htm
The fact that in the minchiate the Globe is surrounded by four winged putti faces that have an [IMHO] unambiguous relationship to the winds/directions I believe gives some credence to the interpretation of the four kerubic animals in the TdM also being interpreted as winds/directions. However, the four holy creatures are a more complex symbol and one may draw possible other meanings as well, for example, that they may also symbolise the bounds of God's providence in which fortune is restrained, a common theme of the time.
Kwaw
