DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0852
772 Modifications in the shape
sun in particular was associated with the lotos in Egyptian1, if not
ax/Mr/, Prokl. in Flat. Parm. ii (p. 596 f. Stallbaum) = Kroll op. cit. p. 25 5e<r/x<?"Epwros
dyrjTou, 8s e/c vbov gudope TrpCiTos \ eaaapievos iripi (so Kroll for nvpl) wvp crvvdiffpLLov, 6<pp<x
Kepaoari I Trrjyaiovs Kparrjpas eov nvpbs dvdos eTriaxuv, Paulus Silentiarius ¥K<ppa<ris rod
dpfiiovos 195 f. Friedlander 17s 'tin TrvpaoKbpvp^a Trenrj-yoTa devdpea Srjeis, j dpyvpeuiv
<jt pair tout a xv§W irvpbs avdos bpapvuv], Lucr. 1. 900 flammai fulserunt flore coorto, 4.
450 lucernarum florentia lumina flammis, Stat. Theb. 2. 276 arcano florentes igne
zmaragdos, Apul. met. 8. 15 sole florido, Tertull. apol. 11 vani erunt homines, nisi certi
sint a primordio et pluvias de caelo ruisse et sidera radiasse et lumina floruisse et
tonitrua mugisse et ipsum Iovem quae in manu eius inponitis fulmina timuisse, de
patient. 2 qui florem lucis huius super iustos et iniustos aequaliter spargit, adv. Marcion.
4. 42 caelum luminibus fioruisset magis sol radiis insultasset, Mart. Cap. 206 his diu-
tissime florem ignis atque illam existentem ex non existentibus veritatem toto pectore
deprecata turn visa se cernere apotheosin sacraque meruisse, [571 glaucam dant volucrem
quod lumina concolor igni es, | tuque ignis flos es cluis et y\avK<2nn.s 'Af^er;].
Primitive belief and, its first cousin, poetic imagination still share the same idea.
A. du Bois-Reymond in Jacobsthal op. cit. p. 10 n. 6 adduces Rudyard Kipling The
Jungle Book London 1898 p. 21 "'Get the Red Flower." By Red Flower Bagheera
meant fire, only no creature in the jungle will call fire by its proper name.' So A. C.
Swinburne Atalanta in Calydon London 1896 p. 13 'I dreamt, and saw the black brand
burst on fire | As a branch bursts in flower, and saw the flame | Fade flower-wise,' R.
Browning The Heretic' s Tragedy 9 ' Ha ha, John plucketh now at his rose | To rid him-
self of a sorrow at heart! | Lo,—petal on petal, fierce rays unclose ; j Anther on anther,
sharp spikes outstart; | And with blood for dew, the bosom boils ; | And a gust of sulphur
is all its smell; | And lo, he is horribly in the toils | Of a coal-black giant flower of hell !'
1 On the lotos in its various aspects see the collections of A. de Gubernatis La mytho-
logie des plantes Paris 1882 ii. 202—211, 255, R. Folkard Plant Lore, Legends, and
Lyrics London 1884 pp. 418—422, 463, J. Murr Die Pflanzenwelt in der griechischen
Mythologie Innsbruck 1890 pp. 281—283, and especially W. H. Goodyear The Grammar
of the Lotus London 1891.
The religious significance of the plant was immediately derived from its habits.
According to Theophrastos, the white lotos closes its bell and sinks at sunset, but reopens
and comes up again at sunrise (Theophr. hist, plant. 4. 8. 9, cans, plant. 2. 19. 1, cp.
Plin. nat. hist. 13. 108, Dioskor. 4. 112 (114) p. 601 f. Sprengel), and Proklos suggests
that in so doing it is virtually adoring the sun (Prokl. de sacrificio et magia ed. M. Ficinus
Leyden 1607 p. 276). In point of fact, the white lotos (nymphaea lotus) appears to be
night-blooming, since it is said to open just after sunset and to close on the following
morning about ten o'clock ; whereas the rose lotos {nelumbium speciosum) opens at dawn
and closes soon after mid-day, and the blue lotos (nymphaea caerulea) opens soon after
sunrise and closes an hour or two before sunset : see Goodyear op. cit. p. 18 n. 81. The
lotos therefore naturally stood for reproduction, resurrection, and rebirth.
As a symbol of reproductive power it surmounts the shrine of the ithyphallic Khem
(Lanzone Dizion. di Mitol. Egiz. p. 945 f. pi. 333, 2 ; p. 946 f. pi. 334, Goodyear op. cit.
p. 10 pis. 1, 10; 4, 13, 16) and of Amen-Ra in his ithyphallic form (Lanzone op. cit.
p. 40 f. pi. 20, 1). Androgynous figures depicting the two Niles, Hapi Kema and Hapi
Mehit, have lotos-plants springing from their heads (Lanzone op. cit. p. 521 ff. pis. 198
and 199, A. Erman Life i?i Ancient Egypt trans. H. M. Tirard London 1894 p. 425 fig.).
A. de Gubernatis op. cit. ii. .211 says : ' En Egypte, on trouve le lotus dans les parties
sexuelles des momies de femmes.'
Again, the lotos symbolised resurrection. It is constantly associated with the mummy
(Goodyear op. cit. p. 10 pis. 2, 12 ; 4, 14, E. A. Wallis Budge The Gods of the
Egyptians London 1904 ii pi. 26) and with the guardians of its viscera (Lanzone op. cit.
pi. 295, 1, Goodyear op. cit. p. 10 pis. 2, 3 ; 5, 1, 4, E. A. Wallis Budge op. cit. ii pi. 27).
In the Book of the Dead cap. 81 A the deceased says: 'I am the pure lotus, which
sun in particular was associated with the lotos in Egyptian1, if not
ax/Mr/, Prokl. in Flat. Parm. ii (p. 596 f. Stallbaum) = Kroll op. cit. p. 25 5e<r/x<?"Epwros
dyrjTou, 8s e/c vbov gudope TrpCiTos \ eaaapievos iripi (so Kroll for nvpl) wvp crvvdiffpLLov, 6<pp<x
Kepaoari I Trrjyaiovs Kparrjpas eov nvpbs dvdos eTriaxuv, Paulus Silentiarius ¥K<ppa<ris rod
dpfiiovos 195 f. Friedlander 17s 'tin TrvpaoKbpvp^a Trenrj-yoTa devdpea Srjeis, j dpyvpeuiv
<jt pair tout a xv§W irvpbs avdos bpapvuv], Lucr. 1. 900 flammai fulserunt flore coorto, 4.
450 lucernarum florentia lumina flammis, Stat. Theb. 2. 276 arcano florentes igne
zmaragdos, Apul. met. 8. 15 sole florido, Tertull. apol. 11 vani erunt homines, nisi certi
sint a primordio et pluvias de caelo ruisse et sidera radiasse et lumina floruisse et
tonitrua mugisse et ipsum Iovem quae in manu eius inponitis fulmina timuisse, de
patient. 2 qui florem lucis huius super iustos et iniustos aequaliter spargit, adv. Marcion.
4. 42 caelum luminibus fioruisset magis sol radiis insultasset, Mart. Cap. 206 his diu-
tissime florem ignis atque illam existentem ex non existentibus veritatem toto pectore
deprecata turn visa se cernere apotheosin sacraque meruisse, [571 glaucam dant volucrem
quod lumina concolor igni es, | tuque ignis flos es cluis et y\avK<2nn.s 'Af^er;].
Primitive belief and, its first cousin, poetic imagination still share the same idea.
A. du Bois-Reymond in Jacobsthal op. cit. p. 10 n. 6 adduces Rudyard Kipling The
Jungle Book London 1898 p. 21 "'Get the Red Flower." By Red Flower Bagheera
meant fire, only no creature in the jungle will call fire by its proper name.' So A. C.
Swinburne Atalanta in Calydon London 1896 p. 13 'I dreamt, and saw the black brand
burst on fire | As a branch bursts in flower, and saw the flame | Fade flower-wise,' R.
Browning The Heretic' s Tragedy 9 ' Ha ha, John plucketh now at his rose | To rid him-
self of a sorrow at heart! | Lo,—petal on petal, fierce rays unclose ; j Anther on anther,
sharp spikes outstart; | And with blood for dew, the bosom boils ; | And a gust of sulphur
is all its smell; | And lo, he is horribly in the toils | Of a coal-black giant flower of hell !'
1 On the lotos in its various aspects see the collections of A. de Gubernatis La mytho-
logie des plantes Paris 1882 ii. 202—211, 255, R. Folkard Plant Lore, Legends, and
Lyrics London 1884 pp. 418—422, 463, J. Murr Die Pflanzenwelt in der griechischen
Mythologie Innsbruck 1890 pp. 281—283, and especially W. H. Goodyear The Grammar
of the Lotus London 1891.
The religious significance of the plant was immediately derived from its habits.
According to Theophrastos, the white lotos closes its bell and sinks at sunset, but reopens
and comes up again at sunrise (Theophr. hist, plant. 4. 8. 9, cans, plant. 2. 19. 1, cp.
Plin. nat. hist. 13. 108, Dioskor. 4. 112 (114) p. 601 f. Sprengel), and Proklos suggests
that in so doing it is virtually adoring the sun (Prokl. de sacrificio et magia ed. M. Ficinus
Leyden 1607 p. 276). In point of fact, the white lotos (nymphaea lotus) appears to be
night-blooming, since it is said to open just after sunset and to close on the following
morning about ten o'clock ; whereas the rose lotos {nelumbium speciosum) opens at dawn
and closes soon after mid-day, and the blue lotos (nymphaea caerulea) opens soon after
sunrise and closes an hour or two before sunset : see Goodyear op. cit. p. 18 n. 81. The
lotos therefore naturally stood for reproduction, resurrection, and rebirth.
As a symbol of reproductive power it surmounts the shrine of the ithyphallic Khem
(Lanzone Dizion. di Mitol. Egiz. p. 945 f. pi. 333, 2 ; p. 946 f. pi. 334, Goodyear op. cit.
p. 10 pis. 1, 10; 4, 13, 16) and of Amen-Ra in his ithyphallic form (Lanzone op. cit.
p. 40 f. pi. 20, 1). Androgynous figures depicting the two Niles, Hapi Kema and Hapi
Mehit, have lotos-plants springing from their heads (Lanzone op. cit. p. 521 ff. pis. 198
and 199, A. Erman Life i?i Ancient Egypt trans. H. M. Tirard London 1894 p. 425 fig.).
A. de Gubernatis op. cit. ii. .211 says : ' En Egypte, on trouve le lotus dans les parties
sexuelles des momies de femmes.'
Again, the lotos symbolised resurrection. It is constantly associated with the mummy
(Goodyear op. cit. p. 10 pis. 2, 12 ; 4, 14, E. A. Wallis Budge The Gods of the
Egyptians London 1904 ii pi. 26) and with the guardians of its viscera (Lanzone op. cit.
pi. 295, 1, Goodyear op. cit. p. 10 pis. 2, 3 ; 5, 1, 4, E. A. Wallis Budge op. cit. ii pi. 27).
In the Book of the Dead cap. 81 A the deceased says: 'I am the pure lotus, which