The Lions Den

[caldrail]

The Sphinx is something of a mysterious relic. A lion with the head of a man, on guard outside the pyramids. As I understand it, the human head is a later addition, carved from the original to represent the Pharoah Chephren.

 

There's been some debate over its age in recent years as one archaeologist pointed at what seemed to be water erosion on the sides, a sign of rainfall in an area now condemned to dry desert. Certainly the Sahara as a whole is drier than it was in the past, as the discarded millstones dating from the neolithic era suggest, and potentially, the location may not have been arid at all when the Sphinx was ostensibly carved out of the rock. Nowhere are there as many rock paintings in the world as found in the Sahara Desert.

 

I'm going to discount the more fanciful rumours about the Sphinx. Tales of secret chambers and hidden treasure are easily dismissed in a region that once once had a thriving industry in tomb-robbing, and arguably, still does. The wilder assertions I won't even bother to mention.

 

Something has gotten me thinking however. I see from a documentary series on tv that human beings were spreading into Europe 45,000 years ago. Thats based on archaeological finds, and it also seems certain that some form of society existed in Turkey in that era. Indeed, modern wheat descends from that found growing naturally in modern Anatolia.

 

Found there is a religious site of that time, with extraordinary reliefs of aninals and such carved into stone plinths. Evidence then, of an organised society at work and prayer. The interesting thing is that the humans wandering into southeast Europe brought with them some form of religion signified by figurines of lion headed men. An animistic faith of some sort, but a part of me wonders if this isn't related in some way to the Sphinx. Perhaps not chronogically - the Sphinx was carved later - but perhaps a 'cult of the lion' was the inspiration for it?

I've always said there may well have been older civilisations we're not aware of. Forget Atlantis, before anyone mentions it, because that is based purely on a story and whatever origin the tale had, there's no evidence. What I'm talking about is an early civilisation, something we would see as quite primitive in many respects but without doubt a precursor to what we usually picture as civilisation. Even as long ago as 8,000 years a small city was built at Catal Huyuk in Turkey, with temples dedicated to animal gods. In this case, the bull is prevalent, a potent symbol that survived into Roman times and beyond if you include modern bull-fighting.

 

Early animistic beliefs revolve around the idea that spirits of these creatures should be respected. This was of course to do with hunting. If the animal spirit was willing, the hunter would be successful, and the sacrifice of an animal for the good of the community was something to be observed with some reverence. Once these people had evolved toward a more settled existence, with less emphasis on hunting, what would they naturally worship? The old animal spirits would remain part of folklore persistently, but perhaps the animals they worshipped would then tend to be those they either admired (as in the bull), or for it's ever present danger (as in the lion, which existed in Europe until Roman times)

 

At any rate, the lion figurines are widely found in southeast Europe during the period of the migrations of Homo Sapiens out of Africa. You can't help but wonder if their religion spread with them.

 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2009 by caldrail