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Tag Archives: symbols and emblems

The Phoenix: on the Importance of Symbols & Myths

12 Monday Sep 2016

Posted by michelinewalker in Bestiaries, Myths, Symbols and Emblems

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Aberdeen Bestiary, Ave Phœnice, Évangéline, Job, Lactantius, mythology, myths, pays de Québec, symbols and emblems

Phoenix_detail_from_Aberdeen_Bestiary
“The Phœnix,” The Aberdeen Bestiary
(Photo credit: Wikipedia) 
 

Aberdeen Bestiary

If the myth of the phœnix did not exist, we would probably invent it. Mythical creatures are usually born of a human need, which, in this case, is the need for rebirth. Moreover, given that the Phœnix is a transcultural and nearly universal figure, we can presume that the need for rebirth is widely and profoundly rooted in the human imagination.

Our phœnix is the mythical singing bird that is reborn from its ashes. It [le phénix] is associated with a 170 elegiac-verse poem written by Lucius Cæcilius Fiminature  Lactantius, an early Christian author (c. 240 – c. 320) and an advisor to the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine I. The Ave Phœnice is about the death and rebirth of a mythical bird, a bird that rises from its own ashes. This poem was retold in English as The Phœnix, an anonymous Old English poem composed of 677 lines, based on Lactantius’s Ave Phœnice.

Given that the phœnix rises from its ashes, it constitutes a powerful symbol that one can associate with survival, as is the case with Évangéline and Maria Chapdelaine‘s mythic “pays de Québec.” The phœnix is a source of hope to the inhabitants of lands decimated by wars or natural disasters. As a symbol of rebirth, the phœnix also brings hope to those who, like Job, who have lost everything. This is how it appears in the Hebrew Bible:

 I thought I would end my days with my family/ And be as long-lived as the phœnix. (Job.29:18) [i]

Mythical and Mythological Animals

Although it appears in the Bible, I am tempted to consider the phœnix as a mythical rather than mythological figure. Mythological figures have ancestors and descendants, or a lineage, which can hardly be the case with the immortal phœnix. However, given that it can rise from its ashes and is therefore immortal and godlike, this distinction may be rather artificial and insignificant. In other words, whether mythical or mythological, the phœnix is a more powerful symbol than the dragon, the unicorn and the griffin, creatures that also lack a lineage, or mostly so.

In beast literature, he is zoomorphic in that he combines features borrowed from many animals, except obviously human features. Remember that Machiavelli’s centaur was half human and half horse. Our phœnix is an animal, albeit legendary.

In Greece, the phœnix (purple) was an “Arabian bird, the only one of its kind, which according to Greek legend lives a certain number of years, at the end of which it makes a nest of spices, sings a melodious dirge, flaps its wings to set fire to the pile, burns itself to ashes and comes forth with new life.”[ii]

The Phoenix (Bestiary.ca)

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica “in ancient Egypt and in Classical antiquity, [the phœnix] was a fabulous bird associated with the worship of the sun. The Egyptian phœnix was said to be as large as an eagle, with brilliant scarlet and gold plumage and a melodious cry.[iii] Besides, it had a life span of no less than 500 years and “[a]s its end approached, the phœnix fashioned a nest of aromatic boughs and spices, set it on fire, and was consumed in the flames. From the pyre miraculously sprang a new phœnix, which, after embalming its father’s ashes in an egg of myrrh, flew with the ashes to Heliopolis (“City of the Sun”) in Egypt, where it deposited them on the altar in the temple of the Egyptian god of the sun, Re.”[iv] The Egyptian phœnix symbolized immortality.

Phoenix depicted in the book of mythological creatures by F. J. Bertuch (1747-1822).

F. J. Bertuch (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In Islamic mythology the phœnix was identified with the ‘anqā,’ also a bird, but one that “became a plague and was killed.”[v]

Fantasy Literature and elsewhere

The phœnix was used by J. K. Rowling in the fifth book of the Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phœnix, 2003. It is also featured in Jean de La Fontaine, “Le  Corbeau et le Renart,” (Book I.2), or the “Raven and the Fox,” where the Fox tells the crow that because of its beautiful voice, it is a phœnix among the guests of forests:  “Vous êtes le phénix des hôtes de ces bois.”  In French, blackmail is translated by le chantage. The fox makes the corbeau sing and the cheese drops.

Even the ageless Cinderella narrative has phœnix-like dimensions. The word Cinderella (Cendrillon) is derived from ashes: cinders and cendres. Through the mediation of her fairy godmother, the ash-girl, reduced to that role by jealous sisters and a mean stepmother, a second wife, becomes the princess of fairy tales.

Christian Symbolism

Moreover, we cannot leave aside the phœnix as a Christian symbol. For Christians, the immortal bird represents the resurrection of Christ. On the third day, Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead as the phœnix rises from his ashes. In the liturgical year, Christians go from Ash Wednesday to the Resurrection: Easter.

Mere Mortals

We cannot escape death as we are mere mortals, but life is nevertheless perpetuated.  Outside my window there are naked trees, but they will again be adorned. And even if one’s land is a paper land, a literary homeland, that too is a land. In 1889-1890, Henri-Raymond Casgrain, the author of Pèlerinage au pays d’Évangéline was President of the Royal Society of Canada and quite lucid. Yet there is no “real” Évangéline. She was created by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in 1847.

The manner in which humanity copes with its condition often leads to mythification and once the myth is in place, it can be as real and powerful as is Évangéline to Acadians and her “pays de Québec” to Maria Chapdelaine.  

 

Phoenix, from Aberdeen Bestiary


[i] Donald Ray Schwartz, Noah’s Ark: an Annotated Encyclopedia of Every Animal Species in the Hebrew Bible (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson Inc., 2000), p. 400, p. 405, pp. 408-409.

[ii] “phœnix,” in Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, revised by Adrian Room (London: Cassel House, 2001[1959]).

[iii] “phœnix.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 31 Jan. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/457189/phoenix>.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] Ibid.

composer: Igor Stravinsky (17 June 1882 – 6 April 1971)
piece: “The Firebird”  first performed for Sergei Diaghilev‘s Ballets Russes (1910)
performers:  Vienna Philharmonic (Salzburg Festival, 2000) 
conductor: Valery Gergiev
photograph: Igor Stravinsky
 

Igor Stravinsky©Micheline Walker
1 February 2012
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The Great Seal of the United States

01 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, History, Symbols and Emblems, United States

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

a Coat of Arms, a synecdoche, E pluribus unum, Flag of the United States, Francis Hopkinson, heraldry, Pierre-Eugène du Simitière, symbols and emblems, The Great Seal of the United States, the Obverse

 
Coverlet (Skinnerinc.com) Chris Barber

Coverlet (skinnerinc.com) (Chris Barber)

All images, except the Coverlet above, are Wikipedia’s.

In my last post, entitled Heraldry and Vexillology: designing the Great Seal of the United States, I used the Bayeux Tapestry as an example of “heraldic” devices because of its “emblazoned” or “charged” shields.

Heraldry is a rather complex discipline. For instance, when asked to design the insignia of the American Society of the Cincinnati and its French branch, La Société des Cincinnati de France, Pierre-Charles L’Enfant, the veteran of the American War of Independence who designed the Washington National Mall, was sent to Europe to gather the information he needed to design the insignia of the Society.

Similarly, members of the first committee appointed by Congress to design the Great Seal of the United States called on the services of an expert, Geneva-born Pierre Eugene du Simitière, whose original name was Pierre-Eugène du Cimetière (cemetery). The second and third teams appointed to design the Great Seal of the United States also hired experts, two of whom are William Barton and Charles Thomson.

Another contributor was Francis Hopkinson, who designed the American flag in 1777.

The Great Seal of the United States

Given the complexity of the subject of heraldry, I will limit this post to essential information. For instance, I will not discuss animal symbolism. But we will look at the various parts of a seal, or Coat of Arms, using the image below:

Parts of a Seal or Crest or Coat of Arms

Parts of a Seal or Crest or Coat of Arms, etc.

The National Animal: The Bald Eagle

The bald eagle was “chosen June 20, 1782 as the emblem of the United States of American, because of its long life, great strength and majestic looks, and because it was then believed to exist only on this continent.” So the “supporter” in the Great Seal of the United States is the emblematic bald eagle itself. The eagle stands behind the “arms” (vertical stripes [pales] with azure chief) (See Bald Eagle, US National Emblem [symbol], Wikipedia.) But the obverse side of the Great Seal also shows a motto: E pluribus unum (Out of many, One); talons: an olive branch and arrows; a “glory” of mullets (stars).

Flag  of the United States

Current flag (ensign) of the United States

The Great Seal vs the Flag of the United States

“The seal or shield, though sometimes drawn incorrectly, has two main differences from the American flag. First, it has no stars on the blue chief[.]” The chief is one of the ordinaries of a Coat of Arms (called “arms” for short). “Second, unlike the American flag, the outermost stripes (pales) are white, not red; so as not to violate the heraldic rule of tincture.”

Obverse side of the Great Seal
Obverse side of the Great Seal
Reverse side of the Great Seal
Reverse side of the Great Seal

Obverse and Reverse Sides of the Great Seal

The Motto

The motto E pluribus Unum is displayed inside a banner on the obverse (the front side as opposed to the reverse) of The Great Seal of the United States. E pluribus unum seems a de facto motto. It was not adopted through an act of Congress. However, it is a statement attributed to Thomas Jefferson (see Bald Eagle) and a motto suggested by Pierre Eugene du Simitière, a member of the first committee appointed to design the Great Seal. E pluribus  unum remains one of the mottoes of the United States, but its official motto is In God We Trust. It was voted into law in 1956.

The “Arms” or Escutcheon

  • The thirteen stripes of the flag, or ensign, represent the Thirteen Colonies.  These are “displayed” on the Great Seal. We see them on the “arms” placed in front of the eagle. They consist of thirteen paleways in argent (renamed white) or gules (red). The chief or chef is the azure (blue) horizontal line that constitutes the uppermost part of the arms.

The “Glory” or Crest

  • At the very top of the seal, above the banner, we see a “glory” with 13 mullets (stars) on a blue, called azure, field (background). The thirteen mullets represent the thirteen original states.

The Talons: dexter (right) and sinister (left)

  • the eagle holds an olive branch in its dexter talon (claw);
  • the eagle holds thirteen arrows in its sinister talon.

The meaning of the talons resembles that of the proverbial Si vis pacem, para bellum (If you want peace, prepare for war).

The Reverse

The reverse, or back side, of the seal features:

  • two mottoes: Annuit Cœptis, meaning that Providence has approved (of independence), and Novus ordo seclorum, meaning “new order of the ages,” taken from Latin poet Virgil‘s Eclogues (Bucolics). It was proposed by Latin expert Charles Thomson;
  • an unfinished pyramid (see the statement by Charles Thomson, at the foot of this post);
  • in its zenith, the Eye of Providence (suggested by Pierre Eugene du Simitière);
  • at the bottom of the pyramid is the year: 1776.

Terminology: A Blazon, or to Blazon

A Blazon, or to blazon
Badges, banners and seals, as blazons
Synonyms
Synecdoche
 

As I noted, in my last post, heraldic terminology is confusing because, in many instances, the name of a “part” is used to denote the entire coat of arms. Naming a “part” when referring to the “whole,” or the “whole” when referring to a “part,” is a figure of speech called synecdoche. Wikipedia’s example is “hired hands.”[i] (See Synecdoche, Wikipedia.)

For instance, the word “blazon” may be used to denote a specific graphic element in heraldry, but it may also be used to describe the process of giving meaning to an otherwise meaningless field, such as a naked shield. One emblazons a shield or gives it a “charge.”

Moreover, we have synonyms. Badges, banners and seals may be called “blazons.” As well, coats of arms may be used to identify a nation, a corporation, an association, a university, a college, scouts, various groups, an individual, etc. Scouts wear a badge as do police officers. And my mother used to make me wear medals representing the Blessed Virgin.

Coats of Arms may also be used for decorative purposes. That is the role given the coverlet shown at the top of this post. It features an “escutcheon.”

However, as I noted in my last post, if a shield is no more than the device used by combatants to protect themselves, it is just a shield. It has not been personalized or emblazoned and, therefore, it has no symbolic meaning.

A Plethora of Terms

ordinaries may be chiefs, pales, bends
chiefs (a line running across the field and sitting at the top of the field)
pales (vertical bands)
bends (mostly diagonal bands)
a pallium (ecclesiastical vestment) 
 
Bend Chief

Bend Chief

Pale

Pale (vertical)

  

We also have a plethora of terms.

  • The bend is the band running across a coat of arms. (See Chief [heraldry], Wikipedia). The Chief Bend is a band (a pale) crossing the field horizontally, at the very top. A bend is not vertical
  • The chief is one of the ordinaries of a coat of arms: bend, chevron, fess, and pale.
  • “A pale (vertical bend) is a term used in heraldic blazon and vexillology to describe a charge (an emblem) affixed to a coat of arms (or flag, or shield), that takes the form of a band running vertically down the center of the shield.” (See Pale (heraldry), Wikipedia.)
  • “In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon (shield).” (See Charge, Wikipedia.)
  • Heraldry also has the divisions of the “field,” the field being the “background,” or naked shield.
  • Ordinaries are displayed under Family Names Online (just click on the link).
  • But there is an ecclesiastical pallium, a vestment, that reminds me of a pale or a bend.
Arthur Lee's Family's Coat of Arms

Dr Arthur Lee‘s Coat of Arms

On the Lee family Coat of Arms, we have mantling (frilly grey and black), a crest (the squirrel), a helmet, and a divided shield (the arms).

The committees

First Committee

Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams (Simitière, heraldist), appointed on 4 July 1776

Second committee

James Lovell, John Morin Scott, and William Churchill Houston, (Charles Thomson and Francis Hopkinson, heraldists), appointed on 25 March, 1780

Third Committee

John Rutledge, Arthur Middleton, and Elias Boudinot (Dr. Arthur Lee replaced Rutledge) (William Barton, heraldist), appointed on 4 May 1782

To know the contribution of each member or heraldist, see The Great Seal of the United States (scroll down). 

Pope Innocent III depicted wearing the pallium in a fresco at the Sacro Speco Cloister

Pope Innocent III depicted wearing the pallium in a fresco at the Sacro Speco Cloister (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Charles Thomson’s explanation of the Great Seal of the United States

The Escutcheon is composed of the chief & pale, the two most honorable ordinaries. The Pieces, paly, represent the several states all joined in one solid compact entire, supporting a Chief, which unites the whole & represents Congress. The Motto alludes to this union. The pales in the arms are kept closely united by the chief and the Chief depends upon that union & the strength resulting from it for its support, to denote the Confederacy of the United States of America & the preservation of their union through Congress.

The colours of the pales are those used in the flag of the United States of America; White signifies purity and innocence, Red, hardiness & valor, and Blue, the colour of the Chief signifies vigilance, perseverance & justice. The Olive branch and arrows denote the power of peace & war which is exclusively vested in Congress. The Constellation denotes a new State taking its place and rank among other sovereign powers. The Escutcheon is born on the breast of an American Eagle without any other supporters to denote that the United States of America ought to rely on their own Virtue.

Reverse. The pyramid signifies Strength and Duration: The Eye over it & the Motto allude to the many signal interpositions of providence in favour of the American cause. The date underneath is that of the Declaration of Independence and the words under it signify the beginning of the new American Æra, which commences from that date.

Conclusion: 20 June 1782

The Great Seal of the United States was presented to Congress and adopted by Congress on 20 June 1782.

The Great Seal is the United States’ signature. It is used about 2,000 to 3,000 times a year and the press is in the custody of the United States Department of State. It is an authenticating device often associated with the conclusion of a process. I should think that every treaty signed by the United States bears its Great Seal. Technically, a seal is “impressed” on a document.

There is more to say, but the above and my last post provides sufficient information. If you navigate the Internet, you will find businesses that supply families and individuals with a Coat of Arms or an insignia. There is in fact considerable interest in heraldry.

However, this was my second and last post on heraldry. Yet, given its purpose, identification and authentication, a simplified heraldry persists in the form of logos and labels.

My kindest regards to all of you and my apologies for being a little slow. I haven’t been very energetic for the last few months, but I am confident my energy will return. Spring has come.

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Heraldry and Vexillology: designing the Great Seal of the United States (29 May 2014)
  • Designing Washington, DC (cont’d) (25 May 2014)
  • Designing Washington, DC: Pierre-Charles L’Enfant (23 May 2014)
  • Americans in Paris: George Washington (22 May 2014)
  • Americans in Paris: Thomas Jefferson (17 May 2014)
  • Americans in Paris: Benjamin Franklin (14 May 2014)

Sources and Resources

  • The Great Seal of the United States (Wikipedia)
  • Symbolism of the Great Seal
  • The Bald Eagle – An American Emblem
  • Americana Gallery Walk
  • Ordinaries (chief or chef, bend, chevron, fess, and pale [pale, paly, paleways]) (Wikipedia)
  • Escutcheon (Coat of Arms, Surcoat, Tabard) (Wikipedia)
  • Seal of the President of the United States (Wikipedia)

____________________

[i] I removed this information from my last post. It had to be shortened.

Congress voting Independence

Congress voting Independence

A field divided by a diagonal pale

A field divided by a diagonal bend showing the lion rampant, its charge.

© Micheline Walker
May 31, 2014
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Heraldry & Vexillology: designing the Great Seal of the United States

29 Thursday May 2014

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, History, United States

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

authentication, Battle of Hastings, heraldry, Opus Anglicanum, symbols and emblems, the Bayeux Tapestry, The Great Seal of the United States, William the Conqueror

 
The Bayeux Tapestry thegardiancom (Photographer Getty Images)

The Bayeux Tapestry (thegardian.com) (Photographer: Spencer Arnold/Getty Images)

As I was researching the story of the Great Seal of the United States, it came to my attention that the first team appointed by Congress to design the afore-mentioned Great Seal of the United States had to hire Geneva-born expert Pierre Eugene du Simitière (originally Pierre-Eugène du Cimetière [cemetery]).

It was an élite team: Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, the 2nd President of the United States, and Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States, but heraldry is for specialists. The second and third teams would also require the services of experts Charles Thomson and William Barton.

After the Declaration of Independence (4 July 1776), the Thirteen Colonies were no longer thirteen colonies, but a country that would be named the United States of America as of the day it won its independence. The new country would need its coat of arms, its seal, and its flag, the purpose of which would be authentication and identification. These disciplines are called heraldry (coat of arms) and vexillology (flags) and use “symbols” and “emblems.” Symbols are called a “forest” by French poet Charles Baudelaire (9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) in a poem entitled “Correspondances.” (See Les Fleurs du mal or The Flowers of Evil).

Heraldry and Vexillology 

“Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on question of rank or protocol as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from the Anglo-Norman herald [le héraut] and from the Germanic harja-waldaz, “army commander.” The word, in its most general sense, encompasses all matters relating to the duties and responsibilities of an officer of arms. To most, though, heraldry is the practice of designing, displaying, describing, and recording coats of arms and heraldic badges.” (See Heraldry, Wikipedia)

In Wikipedia’s definition of heraldry we see the word badges. Police officers and scouts wear badges, which indicates that heraldic terms have gone beyond the world of arms. A badge is an authenticating device, as are passports, license plates, etc.

As for vexillology, from the Latin “vexillum [flag],” it is the “scientific study of the history, symbolism and usage of flags or, by extension, any interest in flags in general.” (See Vexillology, Wikipedia.)

A flag that displays a coat of arms/ seal/ insignia, i.e. a graphic design, has meaning. Without its “colours” (its graphic design), a flag is a mere piece of cloth.

Distinguishing “Friend” from “Foe”

The Great Seal is a heraldic device and heraldry is probably as old as the world. However, for Europeans, the use of heraldic symbols dates back to the 12th century and “originated when most people were illiterate but could easily recognize a bold, striking, and simple design. The use of heraldry in medieval warfare enabled combatants to distinguish one mail-clad knight from another and thus to  distinguish between friend and foe.”[i]

Identification and authentication (through an inscription or engraving) was the original purpose of heraldry. The graphic design and the words could be affixed to the shield, or “escutcheon,” and would be the shields identifying element. Therefore, without a coat of arms, a seal, an insignia, or another sigh, the shield would not mean anything. An unidentified shield would be no more than an object, or device, used by combatants to protect themselves.

A modern example of identification and authentication can be found in sports. Members of hockey, soccer, football or other team wear a uniform on which a number is printed. This is how spectators can tell teams and players apart. They have their “colours,” so to speak.

Parts of a Seal or Crest

Parts of a Seal or Coat of Arms (Photo credit: Google images)

The Bayeux Tapestry

The Bayeux Tapestry is interesting because it is fabric, linen to be precise, unto which an embroidered graphic design has been affixed. In heraldry the graphic design—a coat of arms or other symbol—is usually affixed on an element other than fabric.

However, according to Wikipedia “[f]rom the beginning of heraldry, coats of arms have been executed in a wide variety of media, including on paper, painted wood, embroidery, enamel stonework and stained glass.” (See Heraldry, Wikipedia.)

 Shield or Escutcheon

Shield or Escutcheon

The Bayeux Tapestry is also interesting in that it is the first work of art portraying combatants using a shield or escutcheon (un écusson), that has been emblazoned. It tells the story of the conquest of England, by William the Conqueror (Guillaume le conquérant), at the Battle of Hastings, which took place on October 14, 1066, almost a thousand years ago. Without the embroidery and the tituli, the linen would be meaningless. The same is true of the Great Seal of the United States. Without its graphic design: the eagle, etc., it too would be meaningless. So we have entered the field a semiotics or semiology. Yes, it is that simple.

A segment of the Bayeux Tapestry depicting Odo, Earl of Kent rallying Duke William's troops at the Battle of Hastings (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A segment of the Bayeux Tapestry depicting Odo, Earl of Kent rallying Duke William‘s troops at the Battle of Hastings (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Bayeux Tapestry, King Harold is Killed Photo credit: Goggle Images)

Bayeux Tapestry, King Harold is Killed (Photo credit: Goggle Images)

An Embroidery, not a Tapestry

To be exact, the Bayeux tapestry is not a tapestry. Tapestries are woven using coloured wool or thread. Our tapestry is an embroidery or, to be precise, crewel work (wool yarns) on linen. It is kept at Bayeux, Normandy, but may have been woven in England. It was probably commissioned by Odo, Bishop of Bayeux and Earl of Kent. Odo was a half-brother to William the Conqueror. Harold is the last Anglo-Saxon king of England. The tapestry is housed at Bayeux, a lovely small town in Normandy.

Moreover, adding to its significance, the Bayeux tapestry is the combination of “mottoes,” words called tituli (labels), and pictorial elements, or its graphic design. The same is true of the Great Seal of the United States.

The use of distinguishing symbols is an ancient practice that probably predates recorded history. As noted above, the Bayeux tapestry may constitute the first European work of art displaying the use of shields as emblems or symbols. The Bayeux tapestry dates back to the Norman conquest of Britain, or the Battle of Hastings (14 October 1066). It is 70 meters (230 ft.) long and presents 70 “scenes,” but this figure could be an approximation. Some scenes may have been lost.

Rumour has it that Mathilda, William’s wife, and ladies-in-waiting, embroidered the Bayeux tapestry, but it was probably embroidered in England by nuns and would be an example of Opus Anglicanum, the best form of British embroidery.

In 1792, during the French Revolution, the tapestry “was confiscated as public property to be used for covering military wagons,” but was rescued by a lawyer and returned to the state when it was no longer threatened. During World War II, it was again threatened. Himmler asked that it be taken to Berlin, but he did so when the Nazis were leaving Paris. (See Bayeux Tapestry, Wikipedia.) All segments of the tapestry can be seen if one clicks on Bayeux Tapestry Tituli.

Conclusion

Having defined heraldry and vexillology, we can return to the subject of designing the Great Seal of the United States, which was created between 1776 and 1782, and was completed when the Treaty of Paris of 1883 was signed. Moreover, the four signatories: Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, John Adams, representing the United States, and David Hartley, representing Britain, each left an imprinted wax seal.

My kindest regards to all of you.

Treaty of Paris 1883

Treaty of Paris 1883 (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Designing Washington, DC (cont’d) (25 May 2014)
  • Designing Washington, DC: Pierre-Charles L’Enfant (23 May 2014)
  • Americans in Paris: George Washington (22 May 2014)
  • Americans in Paris: Thomas Jefferson (17 May 2014)
  • Americans in Paris: Benjamin Franklin (14 May 2014)

____________________

[i] “heraldry“. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 27 May. 2014
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/262552/heraldry>.

[ii] Ibid.

The Bayeux Tapestry
 
  
 
Comete_Tapisserie_Bayeux
 
© Micheline Walker
29 May 2014
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 The Comet, Bayeux Tapestry

 

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Anthropomorphism and Zoomorphism

25 Sunday Aug 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Beast Literature, Myths, Symbols and Emblems

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

anthropomorphism, Bestiaries, heraldry, La Fontaine, mythical animals, mythological animals, symbols and emblems, the Griffin, The Physiologus, zoomorphism

Knossos_fresco_in_throne_palace

Griffin fresco in the “Throne Room,” Palace of Knossos, Crete, Bronze Age.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 528PX-~1The Griffin

 

The red Griffin “rampant” (crawling) was the coat of arms of the dukes of Pomerania and survives today as the armorial of West Pomeranian Voivodeship (historically, Farther Pomerania) in Poland. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When the griffin or other mythical/mythological animal is featured on a crest in a climbing position, he is called “rampant.”

 

Anthropomorphism

  • Æsopic, Libystic and Sybaritic fables

Anthropomorphism was defined in my post on Vaux-le-Vicomte. Moreover, Milo Winter’s illustrations for “The North Wind and the Sun” provide examples of elements disguised as human beings. Fabulist Jean de La Fontaine used anthropomorphism: animals, elements, vegetation, mountains. In some fables, he featured humans and who were viewed as morally inferior to animals. The Man and the Snake (The Man and the Adder or L’Homme et la Couleuvre [X.1]) is an example of the use of an inferior human being in a fable. Fables featuring beasts only are called Æsopic. Those featuring human beings interacting with beasts are called libystic, and those featuring humans only are sybaritic fables.[I] 

The Use of Anthropomorphism

  • a fox is a fox is a fox

The word Æsopian refers to a language that can only be understood by people other than  insiders. Nineteenth-century Russian satirist Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedri  was the first to use the term æsopian language. Animals speak and do no speak. In the end, as eloquent as he may be, a fox is a fox is a fox. Gertrude Stein’s “a rose is a rose is a rose” captured the spirit of anthropomorphism. Whether they are used as a carpe diem or a memento mori, roses are roses are roses.  

In 1997, in his review of Marc Fumaroli‘s Le Poète et le Roi, Jean de La Fontaine en son temps, Charles Rosen wrote that “[w]ith La Fontaine’s Fables, we do not have to burrow far under the surface to recognize a discreet opposition to the grandeur of style and the servile obedience wanted by the court, an opposition never openly expressed but manifest on every page.” (The New York Review of Books, “The Fabulous La Fontaine,” (18 December 1997.)[II] Fables feature speaking animals, but readers know that animals do not speak just as Louis knows he is not a lion. Therein lies the wizardry of beast fables.

Animals as Types

In the preface to his translation of Aesop’s fable, Townsend writes that

“The Fox should be always cunning, the Hare timid, the Lion bold, the Wolf cruel, the Bull strong, the Horse proud, and the Ass patient” and all of this, “by mutual consent.”

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21/21-h/21-h.htm#link2H_PREF

500px-Centaur_lekythos_Met_51_163

 

 

Zoomorphism: Hybrid Anthropomorphic Creatures

However, certain legendary or mythical animals as well as mythological animals are hybrid creatures who combine the features of humans and those of an animal or combine the features of several animals. Zoomorphic animals are also anthropomorphic, or humans in disguise.

Well-known animals that combine human and animal features are centaurs and the Minotaur. Centaurs have the torso of a man or a woman, but their lower body is that of a horse. The Minotaur, he is the son of Pasiphaë and a bull. He is therefore a hybrid animal that is kept in a labyrinth built by Dædalus. The Minotaur is slain by Theseus who finds his way through the labyrinth using Ariadne‘s thread. Theseus also slays a centaur. Zoomorphic animals may belong to a mythology, in which case they have lineage and ancestors. Interestingly, angels have wings, but they are otherwise identical to human beings.

Usually, mythologies tell a story that explains origins. They are etiological  narratives. In children’s literature, etiological narratives are called “pourquoi” (why) stories. Rudyard Kipling‘s Just So Stories (1902) are “pourquoi” narratives. However, some legendary creatures, such as the phoenix, appear to straddle both categories, the mythical and the mythological. The distinguishing factor could be the degree of symbolism attributed to the animal. The more symbolic the animal, the more mythical. By and large, mythical animals are zoomorphic and have no lineage. Relatively few are not featured in etiological narratives, such as the Bible and and many inhabit the medieval bestiary. Bestiaries are allegorical.

Zoomorphic Beasts

The dragon, the griffin, and the unicorn are zoomorphic animals combining the features of many animals. They are legendary or mythical animals, rather than mythological beasts. However, both the griffin and the phoenix do belong to certain mythologies. It may be legitimate to separate the dragon, the griffin, the phoenix and the unicorn from other zoomorphic animals in that all four are likely to appear as symbols, but so do other legendary animals. The phoenix, who rises from his own ashes, is a symbol of rebirth. The unicorn appears in the Bible, but he is not listed in Donald Ray Schwartz’s Noah’s Ark, the Hebrew Bible.[III] The Western unicorn cannot be captured by a person other than a virgin. He is therefore emblematic of chaste love. In children’s literature, he is often described as an animal who missed the boat: Noah’s Ark. (See Unicorn, Wikipedia.)

  • The dragon‘s characteristics change from culture to culture. He is feared in the West, but not in China.
  • The griffin, shown at the top of this post, a lion mostly, with the head of an eagle, is a guardian. In antiquity, he was a symbol of divine power and a guardian of the divine.
  • The unicorn has one horn and plays various roles from culture to culture. In Western culture, he is, as mentioned above, “emblematic of chaste love and faithful marriage.”
  • Given that he rises from his own ashes, the phoenix is a symbol of rebirth and very popular.
Dragon_order_insignia
The Order of the Dragon was created to defend Europe against the invading Ottoman Turks in the 15th century. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
 
Phoenix-Fabelwesen
A phoenix depicted in a book of mythological creatures by F. J. Bertuch (1747-1822).
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
 

Other Zoomorphic Animals

Other relatively well-known zoomorphic animals, combining animal features only, are Pegasus, the winged horse of Greek mythology, or Cerberus/Kerberos, the three-headed dog who guards the entrance to the underworld. In The Tale of Cupid and Psyche, Psyche is told how to avoid him, which enables her to fetch beauty from Persephone without dying. Locksmiths and businesses that provide alarm systems often name their store or company Cerberus/Kerberos.

There are medieval love bestiaries, such as Richard de Fournival‘s Bestiaire d’amour (ms 12469 Bibliothèque nationale de France). In medieval bestiary, animals are used allegorically. In fact, animals inhabiting medieval bestiaries are allegorical figures and they are usually the same from author to author. They are as described by Pliny the Elder (23 CE – 25 August 79 CE), Isidore of Seville, etc. or as described in the 2nd century CE Physiologus. (See Physiologus, Wikipedia.) However, the unicorn and the griffin are often featured on coats of arms, shields, helmets, and blazons in heraldry. (See Zoomorphism, Wikipedia.)

High Fantasy Literary Works and other Literary Works

The phoenix appears in J. K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix  (2003), in which we also find the griffin Albus Dumbledore. As well, the Harry Potter series features Cerberus/Kerberos. The griffin, however, had been used previously. For instance, he appears in Dante Alighieri‘s (c. 1265–1321) Divine Comedy and in John Milton‘s Paradise Lost. In C. S. Lewis‘ popular Chronicles of Narnia, we find a centaur.

They are also featured in children’s literature. Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows is a children’s novel, but such works are best understood by adults if poorly illustrated.

Werwolf.png

Werewolf by Lucas Cranach the Elder (Gotha, Herzoglishes Museum)

 Other Roles

  • metamorphosis
  • the werewolf, le loup garou
  • animal ancestry

Therianthropic animals, humans that transform themselves into beast and vice versa can be looked upon as zoomorphic creatures. There are therianthropic beings in fairy tales, which is usually the result of a curse. A fine example is Beauty and the Beast. Enchantment is central to fairy tales. But shapeshifting animals bring to mind the werewolf (le loup-garou), a lycanthrope, rather than fairy tales.

Beast literature is not an animal counterpart of fairy-tales.

The above shows, among other factors, to what extent humans see commonality with animals, but not as in Darwinism.

_________________________
[I] Jan M. Ziolkowski, Talking Animals: Medieval Latin Beast Poetry, 750 – 1150 (The University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), p. 18.
[II] Marc Fumaroli, Le Poète et le Roi, Jean de La Fontaine en son siècle (Éditions de Fallois, 1997).
[III] Donald Ray Schwartz, Noah’s Ark, an Annotated Encyclopedia of every Animal Species in the Hebrew Bible (Jason Aron Inc.: Northvale, New Jersey, Jerusalem, 2000). 
Oftheunicorn

Camille Saint-Saëns (9 October 1835 – 16 December 1921) 

Le Carnaval des animaux   
Camille Saint-Saëns (Thomas/Doumène)
physiologus

The Yale, The Bern Physiologus 

© Micheline Walker
25 August 2013
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The Phoenix: on the Importance of Symbols & Myths

01 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Beast Literature, Bestiaries, Medieval Bestiary, Mythology, Myths, Symbols and Emblems

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Aberdeen Bestiary, Ave Phœnice, Évangéline, Job, Lactantius, legengary animals, mythology, myths, pays de Québec, symbols and emblems

Phoenix_detail_from_Aberdeen_Bestiary
“The Phœnix,” The Aberdeen Bestiary
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
 

Aberdeen Bestiary

If the myth of the phœnix did not exist, we would probably invent it. Mythical and legencreatures are usually born of a human need, which, in this case, is the need for rebirth. Moreover, given that the Phœnix is a transcultural and nearly universal figure, we can presume that the need for rebirth is widely and profoundly rooted in the human imagination.

Our phœnix is the mythical singing bird that is reborn from its ashes. It [le phénix] is associated with a 170 elegiac-verse poem written by Lucius Cæcilius  Fiminature  Lactantius, an early Christian author (c. 240 – c. 320) and an advisor to the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine I. The Ave Phœnice is about the death and rebirth of a mythical bird, a bird that rises from its own ashes. This poem was retold in English as The Phœnix, an anonymous Old English poem composed of 677 lines, based on Lactantius’s Ave Phœnice.

Given that the phœnix rises from its ashes, it constitutes a powerful symbol that one can associate with survival, as is the case with Évangéline and Maria Chapdelaine’s mythic “pays de Québec.” The phœnix is a source of hope to the inhabitants of lands decimated by wars or natural disasters. As a symbol of rebirth, the phœnix also brings hope to those who, like Job, who have lost everything. This is how it appears in the Hebrew Bible:

 I thought I would end my days with my family/ And be as long-lived as the phœnix. (Job.29:18) [i]

Mythical, Mythological and Legendary Animals

Because of his features, the phœnix is a zoomorphic. It combines features borrowed from other animals. Given that he is not a real animal, one is tempted to call it a mythical creature, but it appears in the Bible, and Greek mythology. Mythological figures have ancestors and descendants, or a lineage, which can hardly be the case with the immortal phœnix. However, given that it can rise from its ashes and is therefore immortal and godlike, the phœnix is a more powerful symbol than the dragon, the unicorn, the griffin, creatures that lack a lineage, or mostly so. See List of Legendary Creatures, Wikipedia)

In beast literature, he is zoomorphic in that he combines features borrowed from many animals, except obviously human features. Remember that Machiavelli’s centaur was half human and half horse. Our phœnix is an animal, albeit legendary.

In Greece, the phœnix (purple) was an “Arabian bird, the only one of its kind, which according to Greek legend lives a certain number of years, at the end of which it makes a nest of spices, sings a melodious dirge, flaps its wings to set fire to the pile, burns itself to ashes and comes forth with new life.”[ii]

The Phœnix (Photo credit: Bestiary.ca)

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica “in ancient Egypt and in Classical antiquity, [the phœnix] was a fabulous bird associated with the worship of the sun. The Egyptian phœnix was said to be as large as an eagle, with brilliant scarlet and gold plumage and a melodious cry.[iii] Besides, it had a life span of no less than 500 years and “[a]s its end approached, the phœnix fashioned a nest of aromatic boughs and spices, set it on fire, and was consumed in the flames. From the pyre miraculously sprang a new phœnix, which, after embalming its father’s ashes in an egg of myrrh, flew with the ashes to Heliopolis (“City of the Sun”) in Egypt, where it deposited them on the altar in the temple of the Egyptian god of the sun, Re.”[iv] The Egyptian phœnix symbolized immortality.

Phœnix depicted in the book of mythological creatures by F. J. Bertuch (1747-1822) (Photo credit: Wikipadia)

In Islamic mythology the phœnix was identified with the ‘anqā,’ also a bird, but one that “became a plague and was killed.”[v]

Fantasy Literature and elsewhere

The phœnix was used by J. K. Rowling in the fifth book of the Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phœnix, 2003. It is also featured in Jean de La Fontaine, “Le  Corbeau et le Renart,” (Book I.2), or the “Raven and the Fox,” where the Fox tells the crow that because of its beautiful voice, he is a phœnix among the guests of forests:  “Vous êtes le phénix des hôtes de ces bois.”  In French, blackmail is translated by le chantage. The fox makes the corbeau sing and the cheese drops.

Even the ageless Cinderella narrative has phœnix-like dimensions. The word Cinderella (Cendrillon) is derived from ashes: cinders and cendres. Through the mediation of her fairy godmother, the ash-girl, reduced to that role by jealous sisters and a mean stepmother, a second wife, becomes the princess of fairy tales.

Christian Symbolism

Moreover, we cannot leave aside the phœnix as a Christian symbol. For Christians, the immortal bird represents the resurrection of Christ. On the third day, Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead as the phœnix rises from his ashes. In the liturgical year, Christians go from Ash Wednesday to the Resurrection: Easter.

Mere Mortals

We cannot escape death as we are mere mortals, but life is nevertheless perpetuated.  Outside my window there are naked trees, but they will again be adorned. And even if one’s land is a paper land, a literary homeland, that too is a land. In 1889-1890, Henri-Raymond Casgrain, the author of Pèlerinage au pays d’Évangéline was President of the Royal Society of Canada and therefore lucid. Yet there is no “real” Évangéline. She was created by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in 1847.

The manner in which humanity copes with its condition often leads to mythification and once the myth is in place, it can be as real and powerful as is Évangéline to Acadians and her “pays de Québec” to Maria Chapdelaine.

 

Phoenix, from Aberdeen Bestiary


[i] Donald Ray Schwartz, Noah’s Ark: an Annotated Encyclopedia of Every Animal Species in the Hebrew Bible (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson Inc., 2000), p. 400, p. 405, pp. 408-409.

[ii] “phœnix,” in Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, revised by Adrian Room (London: Cassel House, 2001[1959]).

[iii] “phœnix.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 31 Jan. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/457189/phoenix>.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] Ibid.

composer: Igor Stravinsky (17 June 1882 – 6 April 1971)
piece: “The Firebird”  first performed for Sergei Diaghilev‘s Ballets Russes (1910)
performers:  Vienna Philharmonic (Salzburg Festival, 2000) 
conductor: Valery Gergiev
photograph: Igor Stravinsky
 

Igor Stravinsky©Micheline Walker
1 February 2012
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