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A Brief History of the Morningstar

EtuMalku

Abn Iblis ابن إبليس
History of the Morningstar
Horus the Elder (3200 BC) is usually identified as a solar deity, some scholars associate him with Venus, and others with the star Sirius. He is experienced as a Falcon-God and later as a Star.

Titles given to Horus were;
“Horus risen as a star”, “Horus, the star of souls”, “Horus, star at the front of the sky”.

Horus is clearly not the sun as this has been clearly established through the many hymns identifying Re with the Sun. Here a deceased king is brought up to the heavens by the Sun god Re;
"Re summons you into the zenith of the sky as the Jackal, the Governor of the Two Enneads, and as Horus Ônty‑mnit.f; may he set you as the Morning Star in the midst of the Field of Reeds.”

Egyptologist Raymond Faulkner concludes that the Morning Star is the planet Venus;
"As regards the identification of the Morning Star and the Lone Star with actual celestial bodies, there can be little doubt that, as elsewhere, the Morning Star is Phosphorus, Venus as seen at dawn.”

Egyptologist Rolf Krauss in his detailed study of the Egyptian Star Religion also identifies Horus with Venus;
“As early as the beginning of dynastic times Horus seems to be identified with the planet Venus. The names of the so‑called royal vineyards describe Horus as a star. The name of Djoser’s vineyard reveals that Horus is a particular star ‘at the front of the sky’. The identification of Horus with Venus as known from the Pyramid Texts suggests itself… Royal ideology and ideas about the Hereafter seem to have had cosmological and stellar foundations which may well go back to pre-dynastic times."

The Egyptian word Duat is commonly referred to as the 'Netherworld' and derived from the root 'dwå' meaning 'morning'. Here Horus as the Morning Star is also Lord of the Netherworld.

Pyramid Texts: “O Morning Star, Horus of the Netherworld, divine Falcon, wådåd‑bird whom the sky bore"

In ancient Babylon the Sumerian king Etana is driven by pride to acquire a seat beside the Star Gods of the Northern Mountain but is defeated and 'falls'. To the Canaanites he was 'Shaher' the Morning Star who each day announced the birth of the Sun and his brother 'Shalem' the Evening Star announcing the death of the Sun.. Their mother being Asherah and her womb referred to as the 'pit', an aspect of the word 'Helel'. Asherah (Helel) attempts to dethrone the Sun god El is defeated and cast from the heavens. This becomes the Phoenician myth called the 'Fall of the Day Star' (7th Century B.C). This story becomes the Sumerian myth of Ishtar and Inanna's descent into the Underworld.

"The actual name, "Lucifer," goes back to the Greeks, before the Romans. Socrates and Plato talk about this "god of light"; surprisingly, not in the context of Eos (god of Dawn), but ‑‑ as a morning star ‑‑ juxtaposed with the sun (Helios) and Hermes. This information can be found in Plato's Timaeus (38e) and in Edith Hamilton's
Mythology."
- The Polytheism Of The Bible And The Mystery Of Lucifer by F.T. DeAngelis

Plato referred to the Morning Star as Aster which he at the time believed to also be the evening Star (he would be correct), Aster being a form of a dying-resurrecting god;
"Aster, once, as Morning‑Star, light on the living you shed. Now, dying, as Evening‑Star, you shine among the dead."

Plato aside, the Greeks knew Hesperus as the Evening Star and Phosphorus as the Morning Star, both personifications of Venus. Phosphorus also called Eosphorus meant 'bearer of the dawn / light' and would be translated into Latin as the word 'Lucifer'.

By 382 A.D. Pope Damasus I commissioned St. Jerome to write a revision of the Latin translation of the Bible. The Hebrew translation used the word 'Helel' and St. Jerome replaces this with the word 'Lucifer':
"Et habemus firmiorem propheticum sermonem : cui benefacitis attendentes quasi lucernæ lucenti in caliginoso donec dies elucescat, et lucifer oriatur in cordibus vestries"

The Roman god Lucifer is found in the poet Publius Ovidius Naso's "Metamorphoses" (8th century A.D.), the poet Virgil mentions him in 29 B.C. and the first mention of the Roman god Lucifer comes from Plato's dialogues from 360 B.C., where he is associating Venus with Lucifer and Mercury with Hermes.

Timaeus
by Plato (360 B.C.E)
Time, then, and the heaven came into being at the same instant in order that,
having been created together, if ever there was to be a dissolution of them, they
might be dissolved together. It was framed after the pattern of the eternal nature,
that it might resemble this as far as was possible; for the pattern exists from
eternity, and the created heaven has been, and is, and will be, in all time. Such
was the mind and thought of God in the creation of time. The sun and moon and
five other stars, which are called the planets, were created by him in order to
distinguish and preserve the numbers of time; and when he had made-their
several bodies, he placed them in the orbits in which the circle of the other was
revolving-in seven orbits seven stars. First, there was the moon in the orbit
nearest the earth, and next the sun, in the second orbit above the earth; then
came the morning star and the star sacred to Hermes, moving in orbits which
have an equal swiftness with the sun, but in an opposite direction; and this is the
reason why the sun and Hermes and Lucifer overtake and are overtaken by each
other. To enumerate the places which he assigned to the other stars, and to give
all the reasons why he assigned them, although a secondary matter, would give
more trouble than the primary. These things at some future time, when we are at
leisure, may have the consideration which they deserve, but not at present.

Conclusion:
The word Lucifer can be traced to the ancient ideals surrounding the myths associated with the Morningstar and his brother the Evening Star. Early on these myths place the Morningstar into the role of attempted usurper who is defeated and becomes a ‘fallen’ deity. It would not be until the Gnostics of the 1st century
A.D. and Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ (1667 A.D.) found Lucifer to be the Serpent in the Garden of Eden and transformed the myth of the Fallen Morningstar into that of the angel Lucifer the principle of compassion for life and creation, defiance of corrupt authority and the current of spiritual evolution.


Etu Malku HH ☿ D
 

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Tumah

Veteran Member
In ancient Babylon the Sumerian king Etana is driven by pride to acquire a seat beside the Star Gods of the Northern Mountain but is defeated and 'falls'. To the Canaanites he was 'Shaher' the Morning Star who each day announced the birth of the Sun and his brother 'Shalem' the Evening Star announcing the death of the Sun.. Their mother being Asherah and her womb referred to as the 'pit', an aspect of the word 'Helel'. Asherah (Helel) attempts to dethrone the Sun god El is defeated and cast from the heavens. This becomes the Phoenician myth called the 'Fall of the Day Star' (7th Century B.C). This story becomes the Sumerian myth of Ishtar and Inanna's descent into the Underworld.
I can't speak about the mythological aspect of the account you've brought here, but two things I'd like to point out:
1. Hilel ben Shachar means that Hilel is the son of Shachar, not mother. If Hilel is meant to be associated with Asherah then Shachar would need to be her father according to this verse. It would also mean that Asherah was a male.
2. The root of the word Hilel (הילל) comes from the word for shining. Words stemming from a shared root are found in a number of places, including Isaiah 13:10 יהלו (they will shine). It may also be a play on words, using the הלל root to imply foolishness as in Psalms 75:5 (הוללים, תהולו).
I could not find any source for linking this word to a root of pit (which in this passage is בור - bor).
 

EtuMalku

Abn Iblis ابن إبليس
I can't speak about the mythological aspect of the account you've brought here, but two things I'd like to point out:
1. Hilel ben Shachar means that Hilel is the son of Shachar, not mother. If Hilel is meant to be associated with Asherah then Shachar would need to be her father according to this verse. It would also mean that Asherah was a male.
2. The root of the word Hilel (הילל) comes from the word for shining. Words stemming from a shared root are found in a number of places, including Isaiah 13:10 יהלו (they will shine). It may also be a play on words, using the הלל root to imply foolishness as in Psalms 75:5 (הוללים, תהולו).
I could not find any source for linking this word to a root of pit (which in this passage is בור - bor).
Thank you Tumah, I'll look into that and update the document
 

EtuMalku

Abn Iblis ابن إبليس
I'm afraid my brief summary may be too brief and consequently confusing, even to myself!
Apparently Helel was a Mesopotamian deity. In a Mesopotamian myth the god Helel tries to overthrow the great god El. The Canaanites called the Morningstar, Shaher, the Hebrews Shaharit, “Morning Service” commemorating him. In Canaanite legend Shaher is the son of the great mother Asherah.

Isaiah 14:12‑15: "Thou shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." Some scholars have the 'pit' symbolizing Helel (Asherah), the Mother‑bride's womb . . . but that may be stretching it.
 
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crossfire

LHP Mercuræn Feminist Heretic ☿
Premium Member
Plato's Timaeus didn't use the actual word "Lucifer." That is the translation. The Greek word Plato used was ἑωσφόρος

http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/physis/plato-timaeus/time.asp?pg=2

The Earliest Latin (Latin writers wrote in Greek in earlier times) text I can find mentioning Lucifer is in 1st Century BC: Varro's De Re Rustica Book III, section 5, verse 17, about the Morning Star and the Evening Star decorations in the rotunda of the birdhouse at Casinum that he designed and built.
Birdhouse_at_Casinum.jpg


English:
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Varro/de_Re_Rustica/3*.html
Latin:
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Varro/de_Re_Rustica/3*.html#5
 

Tumah

Veteran Member
I'm afraid my brief summary may be too brief and consequently confusing, even to myself!
Apparently Helel was a Mesopotamian deity. In a Mesopotamian myth the god Helel tries to overthrow the great god El. The Canaanites called the Morningstar, Shaher, the Hebrews Shaharit, “Morning Service” commemorating him. In Canaanite legend Shaher is the son of the great mother Asherah.

Isaiah 14:12‑15: "Thou shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." Some scholars have the 'pit' symbolizing Helel (Asherah), the Mother‑bride's womb . . . but that may be stretching it.
I guess that makes a little more sense.
Only the prayer service Shaharit שחרית comes from the word for 'morning' Shahar שחר (which presumably is where the deity name is derived from as well). The word is found in a number of places. Because its the morning service, its called by the name for morning. Similarly, the evening service Ma'ariv מעריב or Aravit ערבית is derived from the word for evening ערב. I don't think there is any reason to assume that the prayer service was made in commemoration of the Canaanite deity.

When it comes to Canaanite deities, the name of the deity is basically the name of what it is the deity over.
 

EtuMalku

Abn Iblis ابن إبليس
Plato's Timaeus didn't use the actual word "Lucifer." That is the translation. The Greek word Plato used was ἑωσφόρος

http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/physis/plato-timaeus/time.asp?pg=2

The Earliest Latin (Latin writers wrote in Greek in earlier times) text I can find mentioning Lucifer is in 1st Century BC: Varro's De Re Rustica Book III, section 5, verse 17, about the Morning Star and the Evening Star decorations in the rotunda of the birdhouse at Casinum that he designed and built.
Birdhouse_at_Casinum.jpg


English:
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Varro/de_Re_Rustica/3*.html
Latin:
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Varro/de_Re_Rustica/3*.html#5
Cool find!
5:17 Inside, under the dome of the rotunda, the morning-star by day and the evening-star at night circle around near the lower part of the hemisphere, and move in such a manner as to show what the hour is.

5:17 Intrinsecus sub tholo stella lucifer interdiu, noctu hesperus, ita circumeunt ad infimum hemisphaerium ac moventur, ut indicent, quot sint horae.
 

crossfire

LHP Mercuræn Feminist Heretic ☿
Premium Member
History of the Morningstar
Horus the Elder (3200 BC) is usually identified as a solar deity, some scholars associate him with Venus, and others with the star Sirius. He is experienced as a Falcon-God and later as a Star.

Titles given to Horus were;
“Horus risen as a star”, “Horus, the star of souls”, “Horus, star at the front of the sky”.

Horus is clearly not the sun as this has been clearly established through the many hymns identifying Re with the Sun. Here a deceased king is brought up to the heavens by the Sun god Re;
"Re summons you into the zenith of the sky as the Jackal, the Governor of the Two Enneads, and as Horus Ônty‑mnit.f; may he set you as the Morning Star in the midst of the Field of Reeds.”

Egyptologist Raymond Faulkner concludes that the Morning Star is the planet Venus;
"As regards the identification of the Morning Star and the Lone Star with actual celestial bodies, there can be little doubt that, as elsewhere, the Morning Star is Phosphorus, Venus as seen at dawn.”

Egyptologist Rolf Krauss in his detailed study of the Egyptian Star Religion also identifies Horus with Venus;
“As early as the beginning of dynastic times Horus seems to be identified with the planet Venus. The names of the so‑called royal vineyards describe Horus as a star. The name of Djoser’s vineyard reveals that Horus is a particular star ‘at the front of the sky’. The identification of Horus with Venus as known from the Pyramid Texts suggests itself… Royal ideology and ideas about the Hereafter seem to have had cosmological and stellar foundations which may well go back to pre-dynastic times."

The Egyptian word Duat is commonly referred to as the 'Netherworld' and derived from the root 'dwå' meaning 'morning'. Here Horus as the Morning Star is also Lord of the Netherworld.

Pyramid Texts: “O Morning Star, Horus of the Netherworld, divine Falcon, wådåd‑bird whom the sky bore"

Interestingly the hieroglyph for duat resembles the transit of Venus...
symbol-duat-underworld%20(2).png

The 5 pointed star without the circle, seba, can mean star, teacher, or gateway, as well.
 

crossfire

LHP Mercuræn Feminist Heretic ☿
Premium Member
<...>
Egyptologist Rolf Krauss in his detailed study of the Egyptian Star Religion also identifies Horus with Venus;
“As early as the beginning of dynastic times Horus seems to be identified with the planet Venus. The names of the so‑called royal vineyards describe Horus as a star. The name of Djoser’s vineyard reveals that Horus is a particular star ‘at the front of the sky’. The identification of Horus with Venus as known from the Pyramid Texts suggests itself… Royal ideology and ideas about the Hereafter seem to have had cosmological and stellar foundations which may well go back to pre-dynastic times."

The Egyptian word Duat is commonly referred to as the 'Netherworld' and derived from the root 'dwå' meaning 'morning'. Here Horus as the Morning Star is also Lord of the Netherworld.

Pyramid Texts: “O Morning Star, Horus of the Netherworld, divine Falcon, wådåd‑bird whom the sky bore"

<...>

Etu Malku HH ☿ D
Interestingly the hieroglyph for duat resembles the transit of Venus...
symbol-duat-underworld%20(2).png

The 5 pointed star without the circle, seba, can mean star, teacher, or gateway, as well.
The "star at the front of the sky" also points to the transits of Venus across the sun, with Venus being in front of the sun.

Are you aware of any special Egyptian celebrations surrounding the transits of Venus?
 

EtuMalku

Abn Iblis ابن إبليس
Venus and Mercury are usually depicted as superior planets (stars) that stand apart from the other celestial bodies. They incorporated dual natures that were associated with being morning and evening stars.

Venus in Egyptian religion was the 'god of the morning star' or 'the star that crosses' being that it is observed only in the east and west horizons. It was depicted as a two headed falcon

Mercury, god of the evening star, had a more malevolent presence and was associated with the god Set. The Evening Star (Mercury) personified the darkness, the abyss, all things inexplicable. Its name was Sbg (Sebegu), 'unknown', "Seth in the evening twilight, a god in the morning twilight".
 

crossfire

LHP Mercuræn Feminist Heretic ☿
Premium Member
Cool find!
5:17 Inside, under the dome of the rotunda, the morning-star by day and the evening-star at night circle around near the lower part of the hemisphere, and move in such a manner as to show what the hour is.

5:17 Intrinsecus sub tholo stella lucifer interdiu, noctu hesperus, ita circumeunt ad infimum hemisphaerium ac moventur, ut indicent, quot sint horae.
Interesting how Varro uses the Greek "hesperus" here instead of the Latin "vesper." (Perhaps I'm mistaken here?)
 

crossfire

LHP Mercuræn Feminist Heretic ☿
Premium Member
The "star at the front of the sky" also points to the transits of Venus across the sun, with Venus being in front of the sun.

Are you aware of any special Egyptian celebrations surrounding the transits of Venus?
I found this image today:
Egyptian Venus Transit hieroglyphs.jpeg
 
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