medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Is this the creature who greeted us in the Louvre when
it was still the Louvre?
MG
--- Stephanie Budin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval
> religion and culture
>
> Greetings,
>
> For anyone who might be interested in the
> (very) early possible
> origins of this motif, Prof. Otmar Keel has
> suggested that imagery in
> Revelations, et al. probably derives from the
> Mesopotamian Lahamu, a
> guardian spirit/creature with the body of either a
> bull or lion, the face
> (or faces, up to 4) of a man, and eagle wings. The
> protectiuve and
> divine qualities of this creature(s) may have been
> the inspiration for
> the Old Testament imagery in Ezekiel, then
> translated into the New
> Testament. The one composit creature dividing into
> four may account for
> the variations of the textual description in the
> earlier literature.
>
> For what it's worth,
> Stephanie
>
> > On the iconology of the beasts, I think we may
> need to notice the differences
> > as well as the similarities. In Ezekiel's vision,
> he sees four living
> > creatures, each of whom has four faces, described
> as below.
> >
> > Ezek 1:10 As for the likeness of their faces,
> they four had the face of a
> > man, and the face of a lion, on the right side:
> and they four had the face of
> > an ox on the left side; they four also had the
> face of an eagle.
> >
> > In Revelation, there are several variations. The
> passage is about four
> > creatures, not four faces. Also, although this
> isn't widely recognized, we
> > aren't really told what the creatures look like.
> The first, for example, is
> > not a lion, but is only "like a lion," which has a
> somewhat different meaning
> > (lionlike?).
> >
> > Rev 4:7 And the first beast was like a lion, and
> the second beast like a
> > calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and
> the fourth beast was like
> > a flying eagle.
> >
> > pat sloane
> >
>
>
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