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Axis of Symbols |
by David Bowman
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| Adoration of the Lamb |
Below the iconic Rex Mundi are vertically aligned carefully chosen symbols, representing the middle pillar of this mystical composition. From the crown on the floor before Rex Mundi descends a radiant dove and below on an altar of offering is a mystical lamb. The foundation of this symbolic pillar represents the octagonal baptistery with the Water of Life.
The source of the iconography may be found again in the First Epistle of John:
1 John 5:8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
The dove is a traditional symbol of the Holy Spirit, the blood of the Lamb is caught in the cups, and water flows into the baptismal pool. Both a dove and a lamb were the two animals that were particularly important sacrifices in the rituals of the Mandaeans. Altogether, these are quite a lot of coincidences gathered along the main axis, a dove, a lamb, and a baptistery pool that are all closely related to the teachings of the Mandaeans. Even the crown before Rex Mundi (or Manda d’Hia / Ptahil of the Mandaeans), at the top of the axis of symbols reminds on a klila, a small crown of myrtle put at the top of drabša. Perhaps this indicates that van Eycks were not unfamiliar with the teachings of the Mandaeans and used it as the main inspiration of the painting. However, the Mandaeans consider John the Baptist as one of their own, and Jesus as a fake and there are strong indications that Van Eycks did not paint just an ordinary Christian iconography however complex.
The octagonal baptismal fountain is standing in between the two concepts of the Synagogue and the Church. The left side of the composition belongs to the Old Testament while to the right are the representatives of the New Testament. A group of people to the right of the baptismal fountain is beginning with a group of fourteen men , recognized by scholars as the apostles dressed in white . The number fourteen could be associated with the myth of Osiris as described by Plutarch and confirmed by the Pyramid Texts. His body was torn apart by Set/Typhoon, but all pieces were found by his sister and wife Isis except the fourteenth, the phallus. She replaced the missing phallus with the substitute and after copulating with reassembled Osiris she gave birth to Horus. Note that 14 is also the number of waning and waxing days in the cycle of the moon.
In suggested alternative reading of the context they could also look like the ganzibria, the Mandaean great priests, bishops, wearing their typical rastas. They are not painted as pure white, but appear light brown as stained with mud, which is an appearance of a practicing Mandean. The nature of these elders dressed in white robes is explained also in Apocalypse 7 but mentioning nothing of a possible Mandaean link:
Revelation 7:13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? 14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
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