Sacred Images & Talismans in the Greco-Egyptian World
Hephaestion of Thebes was a Hellenized Egyptian astrologer born around 380 AD in Roman Egypt, not long after Emperor Julian’s short but dramatic reign. In 415, he wrote a three-volume work on astrology called Apotelesmatika. Volume 3 contains a set of instructions for choosing astrological elections for ensouling images (eikons) of seventeen gods, along with formulas for selecting times to perform ritual petitions and divination. In 2013 Eduardo Gramaglia translated book three and it was published by Cazimi Press and edited by Benjamin Dykes.
His system is rooted heavily in the works of Dorotheus of Sidon (1st Century BCE) and also utilizes the Sothic cycle that dates back to predynastic times, which measures cycles of time based on the heliacal rising of Sirius. In the two millennium that has passed, Canis Major or the Dog Star now occupies the rising degree of the Thema Mundi, 14’24 Cancer.
Hephaestion’s writings on astrology are among the oldest known sources of instructions for crafting sacred or talismanic images and maintaining shrines of the gods. He provides astrological configurations for crafting images of seventeen specific gods and goddesses, and a formula for ritual petitions. Each divinity has at least two signs that can be used.
Like Julianus of Laodicia, he considers the triplicity rulers one of the most important factors. A trine aspect between the significator planet and the Moon is optimal. For example, images of Tyche are made when the Moon is in Taurus (her own trigon and domicile of Venus) but Capricorn is also suitable, as well as Cancer.
Furthermore, Hephaestion sheds light on the astrological requirements for maintaining or adding to the images, only doing so when the Moon returns to the sign under which the image was made. This rule for using the image’s lunar (or solar) return is also found in Book of the Treasure of Alexander.
Historical Context
Hephaestion says that these instructions are “handed down from the wise Egyptians and other ancients” and doesn’t elaborate further (perhaps a reference to texts attributed to Nechepso and Petosiris) Whatever its origin, it provides specific astrological instructions that Proclus, Porphyry and others didn’t include in their writings on the use of images, statues and shrines.
In his Apotelesmatics, Hephaestion presents astrology as it was used in Egyptian temples of the time. In Hermetic and Platonic philosophy, the gods dwell within the celestial spheres, and the planets serve as their vehicles. The motions of every planet and sign is a living link between the divine intellect (nous) and the material world.
Ancient people viewed the sky as a living hierarchy of gods that connected in some way to everything in the earth. Exact astronomical timing, images, prayers, and other rites could be used to establish links to the celestial world. Iamblichus called this theurgy or divine work, which sought to raise the human soul with the order of the cosmos.
After Alexander the Great’s conquest that spread the Greek language from the Mediterranean to India, the star lore of the Hellenized world was consolidated. Greek, Egyptian, Babylonian, Indian and Persian astronomy could use the same technical language with the tropical zodiac. places heavy emphasis on sacred numbers and prioritizes the equinoxes and solstices. The Greek gods were syncretized with the Egyptian pantheon during the reign of the Ptolemies, and their Greek names are used by Hephaestion with the notable exception of Osiris.
Hephaestion of Thebes, Apotelesmatica (On Elections) III 7.13-18
(13) “In the temples one must set up the statues, after they have been made in their form,
(14) and likewise of suitable material, as the wise Egyptians and the rest of the ancients have transmitted,
(15) when the Moon is full and has appeared in her phase; for the powers of such images, when they are completed in harmony with the cosmic motion,
(16) are produced more ‘theōdéstera’ (more divine-filled) and ensouled.
(17) And each of the sacred objects and statues is advantageous to fashion and consecrate (ensoul) while the Moon is in Jupiter’s trigon (triplicity) and Jupiter is harmonious with her, in the same trigon, and likewise when the Sun has been configured in the same way, and Saturn in his own trigon.
(18) And for the rest of the stars one must in the same way prepare both the sacred objects and the statues; it is auspicious when they themselves are in their exaltations and domiciles, to fashion them, and none of the malefic stars is opposing.
One must dedicate Tyche (Fortuna) when the Moon is in her own trigon and in that of Aphrodite (Taurus), and it is also fitting in Capricorn and in Cancer.
The Mother of the Gods when the Moon is in Leo and Taurus and Capricorn;
Demeter and Kore and Ploutos in Virgo and Taurus;
Osiris in Pisces, Aquarius, Taurus;
Nike in Virgo, Cancer;
Serapis in Taurus, Leo, Sagittarius;
Asclepius and Hygieia in Sagittarius and Pisces;
Dionysus in Virgo and Capricorn;
Heracles in Gemini and Leo;
Eros and the Graces in the signs and the exaltation of Aphrodite;
Nemesis in the signs of Kronos (Saturn).
And for the rest of the gods one must make the statues or images or carved rings, and consecrate each of them and renew it when the Moon is in the aforesaid signs.
Sources
- Hephaistio, Apotelesmatics III 7.16-18: Moon-sign rules for consecrating statues (Dionysus placed in Virgo and Capricorn).
- David Pingree, ed., Hephaestionis Thebani Apotelesmaticorum libri tres, vol. II (Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1974), Book III, chapter 7, §§13–18, pp. 258–259.
- Porphyry, De statuis “On Cult Images”
Further Reading:
Aurelio Pérez Jiménez, “Hephaestion and the Consecration of Statues,” Culture and Cosmos 11, nos. 1–2 (2007)
Porphyry of Tyre, “On Cult Images”
Manilius, Astronomica
Original Greek:
Ἐν δὲ τοῖς ναοῖς καθιδρυτέον τὰ ἀγάλματα σκευασθέντα τῷ προσφόρῳ εἴδει, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ὕλῃ, καθὼς οἱ σοφοὶ Αἰγύπτιοι καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ ἀρχαῖοι παραδεδώκασιν,
Σελήνης πληθούσης ἐπὶ φάσεως· θεωδέστεραι γὰρ καὶ ἐμψυχοπεποιημέναι αἱ δυνάμεις αὐτῶν οὕτω τελεσθέντων ἐκ τῆς κοσμικῆς κινήσεως ἀποτελοῦνται.
Ἕκαστον δὲ τῶν ἱερῶν καὶ ἀγάλματος κατασκευάζειν καὶ ἱεροῦν σύμφορον ἐν τῷ τριγώνῳ τῆς Διὸς τῆς Σελήνης οὔσης καὶ τοῦ Διὸς συμφώνου πρὸς αὐτὴν ὄντος, τουτέστιν ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ τριγώνῳ, καὶ Ἡλίου ὁμοίως ἐσχηματισμένου, τοῦ δὲ Κρόνου ὁμοίως τυγχάνοντος ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ τριγώνῳ.
καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀστέρων οὕτω κατασκευαστέον τὰ τε ἱερά καὶ τὰ ἀγάλματα· ἔτι μὴν καὶ ὄντων αὐτῶν ἐν τοῖς ὑψώμασι τε καὶ οἴκοις κατασκευάζειν αἴσιον μηδενὸς τῶν κακούντων ἀστέρων ἐναντιουμένου.
ἀφιεροῦν δὲ Τύχην χρὴ τῆς Σελήνης οὔσης ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ τριγώνῳ καὶ τῆς Ἀφροδίτης, καὶ ἐν Αἰγοκέρωτι δὲ καὶ Καρκίνῳ εὔθετον,
Μητέρα δὲ θεῶν ἐν Λέοντι καὶ Ταύρῳ καὶ Αἰγοκέρωτι, ἐν δὲ Παρθένῳ καὶ Ταύρῳ Δήμητρα καὶ Κόρην Πλοῦτον, Ὄσιριν δὲ Ἰχθύσιν,
Ὑδροχόῳ, Ταύρῳ, Νίκην δὲ ἐν Παρθένῳ, Καρκίνῳ, τὸν δὲ Σάραπιν Ταύρῳ, Λέοντι,
Τοξότῃ, ἐν Τοξότῃ δὲ καὶ Ἰχθύσιν Ἀσκληπιὸν καὶ Ὑγίειαν, ἐν δὲ Παρθένῳ καὶ
Αἰγοκέρωτι Διόνυσον, ἐν Διδύμοις καὶ Λέοντι Ἡρακλέα,
Ἔρωτα δὲ καὶ Χάριτας ἐν τοῖς τῆς Ἀφροδίτης ζῳδίοις καὶ ὑψώματι,
Νέμεσιν δὲ ἐν τοῖς τοῦ Κρόνου.
καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν λοιπῶν θεῶν ὁμοίως δεῖ ποιεῖν τὰ ἀγάλματα ἢ τὰς εἰκόνας ἢ ἐκτυπώματα ἐπὶ σφραγίδων καὶ τελεῖν ἕκαστον καὶ ἀνανεοῦν προσφόρως ἐν τοῖς προλελεγμένοις ζῳδίοις τῆς Σελήνης οὔσης.