From  Horizon to Wreath, Ring, Diadem and Crown                    

                     5000 years retaining an early symbol meaning?                               

Problem: Why did a king wears something ´round´ at his haed ? A status symbol ?
Probably, but whereby justified ? The wide-spread probably sacral  use of  the ring
gives a covered reference.
 The RING is proven along four millennia in variation in Egypt,Sumer, Indus, Greece,
                                                    Skytian and Germany

                                          
Zeus (Athen, 500 b. The highest prince of the Olympic Games was a materially
 worthless wreath of leaves of an  apple  tree  (Pindar) and  later on of a  bay  tree.
 Greek and  Romans priests and  those who  make a  sacrifice  wore  a 'corona ',
 originally reserved to the gods such as Jupiter. Later the Romans limited the use
 of a wreath of oak leaves to the emperors

Egyptian princess, so-called Blue Head.18. Dyn.(1340 B.C..) At the original head
a  golden ring with the Uraeus Serpent was missing .Both  parts were added.
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A pyramid´s name could be the key. It´s the so far mysterious name of the
 Cheops-Pyramid named     -- Achti Chufu´-- i.e.
                         "Cheops (Chufu)  belongs to the Horizon"(Goyon)
 
              Obviously most important to the Pharaoh to link closely
                     his name and thereby himself with the horizon.
  According to the Pyramidtext the reason might be obvious. The king believed
to meet the Gods at the horizon on the other side of the *Winding waterway *
and thereby become immortal. (What believed Beowolf/Scyld ?)
 Pyr.T..1705 The reed floats of the sky are set down for RH, that he may cross
there on to the horizon, on the place where the gods were fount.

(317 ,508b. to the places of satisfaction, with green fields, which are in the horizon,
509a. that N. may make green the herbs in both lands of the horizon,)


Problem : Almost  nothing  is  known  about a corresponding neolithic belief in
 Europe,.but for a  naive  coastal  viewer  might be  the  question " What  hides
behind the horizon at the other side of the Atlantic Ocean ? Being out of  reach
even for daring seafarer.
 
Hypothesis: If Gods were born in a ´devine´environment then  the horizon-area
should be a countryside like a ´paradise´ .

So far a speculation  but  there is a hidden reference, an Egyptian *head band*
made  of flowers

The  daughters  of  Djehut  ihotep with ' Bluetenhaar- schmuck'.
(Hair  ornaments  made of  flowers)  12. Dynasty ~    1900 BC.
 and with arm-rings (the  originally pale colours  of the picture
strengthened )
 "in addition with three of the four diademe the Anch indication
  was taken as a further ornamental element. In the sense of  a
 combination  of  signs   of  life,   the  "Ach-birds"  standing  for
 transfigure as well  as  the  papyrus, which should  guarantee  prospering  and
 freshness of the daughters in the other world and a lucky living on was awarded
." (Seyfried)
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                    a  b  c

a.) Bronze plate forehead  ring.Transylvania. Possible  human forms with a round
body, legs slightly spread and outstretched arms. Urnfield time. ~900 BC.
b.) Athena. On forehead ring with four olive leaves, YCIAN DYNASTS (410-390BC). 
c) Lilienkrone.(Lilies-crown)  Hungary third  quarter of  the 13th century, The crown
was added for burial of a  member of the Hungarian royal family
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             A  ´flowered´ horizon  symbol  of  later  Elysium of  the Greeks. *
                The  islands of the blessed ones at the west edge of the earth *
The so fara  more indefinite mythological   background  of the laurel  wreath  of  the
Olympic games   would make  sense.  The winner was allowed to wear  the wreath
/ ring for one day.Thereby  being  accepted by  gods borne  at  the  horizon ? 

                                                                                                                                                                                 Athen, Games 2004

                                   All in all could be a > vivied< horizon
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 Hypothesis: In early Pharaonic rites a ring, a circlet or a head-band symbolized the
                                                   devine horizon.

CT. 586  *Hail to you, O Re, wearing your circlet! May  you   proceed to  the councel
chamber and reckon up  your  fathers  who  whatch  for  him  who  destroys  doubles.
 O Blue-eyed one who freshens eyes, whose power is severe.—Re  in his circlet Re
will stand up, for I have my circlet  which is in my hand".
Faulkner "´determined with crown appears in fact to have been a head-band or circlet")

Facit :                                      Wearing  a ring 
demonstrates  that one belongs indirectly to the gods.The king  being a  minor deity
            and thereby in Egypt the pharaoh being a son of the sun god.
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Somehow problematic, a ring is  provable  in  variation  in  Egypt,  Sumer,  Greece,
                   Middle and North Europa (torques) Meaning unknown.           

                                 Sumer 2200 b.

          

                                                             Head-band/ring 

                                 

a) Helmet of the Meskalamdug from Ur II (2600-2400 BC) Gold. Hair at the back of
of the head bind together by a knot.(like b,e !) Hair played a special role ? Bagdad
b) Bronze head from  Ninive,  perhaps  king  Sargon  (2350-2150 b.) The  hair is
twisted sumeric in kind (Iraqmuseum, Bagdad)
c) Thutmosis III, 18. Dynasty.
d) so-called ' priest   king,  Mohenjo  Daro   (Indus, 2400-1700 b.), white  steatite.
e) head of a bronze statue of  Zeus,  520 b.. Hair tied together by a knot.
 

                                          Diadem
                                                       (gr. diado > tied around<)

                 klick                                                                                                  Indus, Mohenjo-Daro ..            Egypt wife of a wesir           Goddess Isis          Tutanchamun        
                                            2400-2000 b.                                   2300b.                               1250 b.                      1323 b.      

                         
                                       Hittite                coin of  Emporer Constantin I       Lothar II Cross          Mithra
                                    Ankara                              together with Jesus.,                 Aachen            Gregory XVI         
                                   1400  b.                                    306-337 AD                             1000                       1831   

Problem  : In the course of 4000 years  headbands some with with long lappets
                        Mythical background of headbands and lappets unknown.´
                         (The lappets  part of the ´horizon stand for the way to the gods ?)

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Facit:
 If  the ring / circlet of  the pharaoh really symbolizes the horizon, then the primary 
meaning might be:

      those who wore Circlet / Ring / Torques / Crown demonstrate
                                     that they belong to the Gods

                 Goyon, G.,  Die Cheopspyramide 1987
                  Seyfried, F (germ.) http:// www.uni-leipzig.de/~egypt/Rundgang/Slideshow/Bild16.htm
                         
                   1-horizon-crown 10.12.03- 01.08.04 update

Index

next The myth of the devine horizon in Egypt and north of the Alps
The ´Ring/Torque of the Eyptian,Greek, Georgian, Roman, German and Celt

P.S
.Diadem  (gr. diado  > tied around<) .  A  forehead  decoration  of  gold  or  jewels.
A symbol  of dignity, the precursor of the  later  king´s crown. The dadem consists
of a more or less  decorated  circlet , whose origin goes back far  into history. The 
word  is first  known  in  Greece as  a  part   of  the   Persian  kings´s  ornat. On the
occasion of the fusion of  Oldpersia and  Media  Kyros adapted part of the Median
official robe .A circular band made of cloth and knotted in the neck..

Alexander put  on  a diadem to  demonstrate  his claim  to rule over  the  occupied
Orient  In  Hellenistic  times the  diadem  was considered - even still  under Roman
rule- to be a handed down symbole of Macedonian kings. Later in Rom the diadem
is  known since  Augustus, not clearly differend  symbolically from  a laural   wreath.

Since  Constantin I  the decorated  diadem or headband was worn as a symbol of
sovereignity, can be considered as an actual  emperor character, which substantially
 contributes  to  developments of crowns in  the Middle  Ages. (Brockhaus)

In Roman Catholicism, a triple crown, the tiara worn by the pope or
carried in front of him, used at some nonliturgical functions such as
processions. Beehive-shaped, it is about 15  inches  (38 cm)  high
and  is  made  of  silver cloth  and  ornamented with  three diadems,
with two streamers, known as lappets, hanging from the back.

The tiara  probably developed from the Phrygian cap, or frigium, a
conical cap worn in the Greco-Roman world. In the 10th century the
tiara  was   pictured  on  papal  coins.  By  the 14th  century  it  was
ornamented  with  three  crowns .The tiara  of  Renaissance popes
were especially  ornate  and  precious , but those  worn  by  some
popes contained no precious stones.  A  tiara  is  also  a  semicircular  headband of
jewels of rornate material worn by   women  (Encyclopaedia Brtannica.2003)

Encylopaedia Britannica 2003
"Mithra also spelled Mithras, Sanskrit Mitra,  in  ancient I ndo-Iranian  mythology, the
god of light, whose  cult spread from India in the  east to as  far west as Spain, Great
Britain, and  Germany. (See Mithraism.) The first written  mention  of  the Vedic Mitra
dates to 1400 BC. His worship spread to Persia and, after the defeat of the Persians
by  Alexander the Great,  throughout the Hellenic  world.  In  the 3rd and  4th centuries
AD, the cult of Mithra, carried and  supported  by  the soldiers of  the  Roman Empire,
was the chief rival to the newly developing religion of Christianity.
The Roman emperors Commodus and Julian  were initiates of Mithraism, and in 307
Diocletian consecrated a temple on  the  Danube  River  to  Mithra,  “Protector of the
Empire.”

According to myth, Mithra was born, bearing a torch and armed  with a  knife, beside
a sacred stream and under a sacred tree, a child of  the  earth  itself.  He   soon rode,
and  later   killed , the   life-giving  cosmic  bull, whose  blood  fertilizes  all vegetation.
Mithra's slaying of  the bull was a  popular  subject of  Hellenic  art and  became  the
 prototype for a bull-slaying ritual of fertility in the Mithraic cult.


As god of light, Mithra was associated with the Greek sun god, Helios, and the Roman
Sol Invictus. He is often paired with Anahita, goddess of the fertilizing waters.

Problem: If realy a cult spreading from India in the east to as far west as Spain, Great
Britain, and  Germany .(See Mithraism.)  then  a problem  how  to  explain  the 3th
millennium headbands in Old Egypt 2300 and Dohenjo-Daro 2200 B.C.

index

507a. To say: N. is come forth to-day at the head of the inundation of the flood.

507b. N. is a crocodile god, with green feather, with vigilant countenance, with forehead erect;

507c. effervescent, proceeding from leg and tail of the Great (One) who is in splendour.

508a. N. is come to his watercourses, which are in the land of the flood, in Mḥ.t-wr.t,

508b. to the places of satisfaction, with green fields, which are in the horizon,

509a. that N. may make green the herbs in both lands of the horizon,

509b. (and) that N. may bring the green to the great eye which is in the midst of the field.

509c. N. takes his throne which is in the horizon;

510a. N. appears as Sebek, son of Neit;

510b. N. eats with his mouth, N. urinates, N. cohabits with his phallus;

510c. N. is lord of semen, which women receive from their husband.
etr