Tanki Picture of the Day - Have any?

[I.EatMyBullets 497]

Please my name meaning so big I put it in spoiler

 

SERPENT-WORSHIP IN AFRICA.

1. EGYPT.--Of all the nations of antiquity, none was so infamous for idolatry, as Egypt. She was the alma mater of every superstition; conveying, with her colonists, wherever they were settled, some corruption of the truth, which, under the fostering care of her established priesthood, assumed a form of consistency and allurement. Among the rest, the worship of the serpent was in her early history an important and conspicuous part of her idolatry. The serpent entered into the Egyptian religion under all his characters, of AN EMBLEM OF DIVINITY, A CHARM, AN ORACLE, and A GOD.

1. As an emblem of divinity, the sacred serpent was particularly symbolical of the gods CNEPH and THOTH, and of the goddess ISIS: though he entered, more or less, into the symbolical worship of all the gods.

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HARPOCRATES, a very ancient god of the Egyptians, was symbolized by the serpent. He is generally represented with his left hand on a staff, surmounted by a cornucopia: round the staff is twined a serpent 1. He is the god of silence; to denote which the forefinger of the right hand is on his mouth. He is supposed by some to be the same as HORUS.

CNEPH was considered by the Egyptian priests as "the architect of the universe," and was adored as "the good dæmon." He was sometimes represented as A SERPENT WITH AN EGG IN HIS MOUTH. The egg denoted the mundane elements as proceeding from him. The serpent in a circle, passing diametrically and horizontally from circumference to circumference, was his hieroglyphical emblem. This became the ninth letter of the Egyptian alphabet, and was called Thita 2; from which the Greeks borrowed both the form and name of their Theta. The name of this letter was derived from that of its inventor THOTH, the reformer of the religion and manners of Egypt, and the supposed author

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of the hieroglyphic system. He is said by Sanchoniathon to have introduced ophiolatreia; and was, as we observed in a former part of this volume, most probably the founder of the first colonies after the flood which were established in Phœnicia and Egypt. He taught the Egyptians (or rather that part of his colony which was settled in Egypt) a religion, which partaking of Zabaism and Ophiolatreia, had some mixture also of primeval truth. The divine Spirit he denominated CNEPH, and described him as "the original, eternal Spirit, pervading all creation 1," whose symbol was a SERPENT.

For his many services to the people, in teaching them letters, hieroglyphics, astronomy, and morals, TAAUTUS or THOTH was deified after death as "the god of health," or of "healing," and became the prototype of the god ÆSCULAPIUS 2. He was also identified with HERMES or MERCURY.

As "the god of healing," THOTH was himself symbolized by the serpent, which he had taught the Egyptians to consider as a general emblem of divinity. The seventh letter of the

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[paragraph continues] Egyptian alphabet, called zeuta, or "life," was sacred to him 1, and expressed by a serpent standing upon his tail. Hence the name and the form of the corresponding letter in the Grecian alphabet, Ζ ζ.

THOTH, as the god of healing, is represented leaning upon a knotted stick, which is enfolded by a serpent: and a female deity, corresponding with the Grecian goddess Hygeia, is encircled by a serpent who drinks out of a chalice in her hand 2.

The serpent was also symbolical of Isis, and formed a conspicuous feature in her mysteries. The Isiac table 3, which describes these mysteries, is charged with serpents in every part, as emblems of the goddess.

The species of serpent peculiarly dedicated to Isis was the asp. This is seen on the heads of her statues, and on the bonnets and sashes of her

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priests. The tiara of the kings of Egypt was ornamented with the figures of the same reptile. "When the Egyptians wished to represent Isis as an angry avenger of crimes, they placed an asp on her head, which was designated by the peculiar name of Thermuthis, i.e. deadly 1." We learn also from Ælian 2: "The asp, to which the Egyptians gave the name of Thermuthis, they say is sacred, and worship it there; and they crown the images of Isis with it, as with a royal diadem." There is a fragment in the Elgin collection of marbles in the British Museum, which appears to be a leonine head of Isis, crowned with a coronet of asps. Ovid, (Met. ix. 690, &c.) describing the dream of Telethusa, the mother of Iphis, represents Isis as appearing with her constant companion the serpent; which he thus characterizes:--

"Plena que somniferi serpens peregrina veneni."

[paragraph continues] A character which answers to that of the Thermuthis. The same poet again mentions the asp of Isis, when he imprecates that goddess in the following words:--

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Per tua sistra precor, per Anubidis ora verendi,

(Sic tua sacra pies semper Osiris amet,

PIGRAQUE LABATUR CIRCA DONARIA SERPENS 1--)

From which we may infer that LIVING ASPS were kept in the temples of Isis, and employed, perhaps, to glide about the offerings, to sanctify them. This will throw a light on the practice of the Syrian ophites mentioned in the pre-ceding chapter; namely, the hallowing of the Eucharist by the gliding of the sacred serpent about the bread. This custom obtained also, as we shall observe in the sequel, among the Britons and Scandinavians in their most solemn mysteries.

The asp of Isis was not a reptile of Egyptian production. Ovid, we may remark, describes her as accompanied by a "peregrina Serpens," a foreign serpent; and all the representations of the asp describe it as having a large expanded head, unlike any snake which has ever been found in Egypt. It was probably the hooded serpent of India, which is invariably the sacred snake of that country. But how it became an emblem of divinity in Egypt it is not easy to prove; for the native two-horned snake of the

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temple of Jupiter at Thebes, was also held in great reverence. It is possible that the worship of Isis may find its prototype in the adoration of the Indian ISI. The sacred asp of the hieroglyphics, is different from the common asp of Egypt, which was merely a viper.

The serpent, however, was not confined to Cneph, Thoth and Isis, though more peculiarly consecrated to their worship. There is scarcely an Egyptian deity which is not occasionally symbolized by it. Several of these deities are represented with their proper heads terminating in serpents' bodies. In Montfaucon, vol. 2, plate 207, there is an engraving of SERAPIS, with a human head and serpentine tail. Two other minor gods are also represented, the one by a serpent with a bull's head, the other by a serpent with the radiated head of the lion. The second of these, which Montfaucon supposes to be an image of APIS, is bored through the middle: "probably," remarks that learned antiquary, "with a design to hang about the neck, as they did many other small figures of Gods, by way of ornaments or charms."

The figure of Serapis, encircled by serpents, is found on tombs. The appearance of serpents

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on tombs was very general. On an urn of Egnatius Nicephoras, and of Herbasia Clymene, engraved in Montfaucon, vol. 5, a young man entwined by a serpent is described as falling headlong to the ground. In the urn of Herbasia Clymene the corners are ornamented with figures of serpents. It is a singular coincidence that the creature by whom came DEATH into the world should be consecrated by the earliest heathen idolaters to the receptacles of the dead. It is remarkable also, that SERAPIS was supposed by the Egyptians "to have dominion over evil dæmons 1," or in other words, was the same as PLUTO or SATAN.

As an emblem of dedication to the service or honour of THE DEITY, the serpent was sculptured with a GLOBE and WINGS on the porticoes of most of the Egyptian temples, and on the summits of some of the obelisks. The temples of LUXORE, ESNAY, KOMOMBU, DENDARA, and APOLLINOPOLIS, are surmounted by this favourite symbol of consecration 2; and it appears on the top of each compartment of the Pamphylian

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obelisk

 

 

 

 

U can find more information in the link below if u wanna read stuff u will never need in your life.http://www.sacred-texts.com/etc/wos/wos05.htm.

 

Edited October 30, 2014 by I.EatMyBullets

[Klankill804 753]

Andra, the Mr.StealYoGirl

 

 

Also, I met several players today...

 

 

 

 

Starting with TomRed and PARD

 

 

 

 

 

And my Big Bro Remaine... who seems to be upside down in this picture...

 

[CaIeb 638]

I'm thinking of changing my name to Doflamingo for the lols and start a fight with Issho. 

Nice onepiece ok

[canadarules 1,938]

 

than

http://prntscr.com/51grtx

interesting

[Yisroel.Rabin 16,224]

[Gangham_Style 213]

Some 2v2 and a 6-6 with Dangerous-Virus and friends ;))

Big kill steals in this one ;c

[Gangham_Style 213]

Delete

Edited October 31, 2014 by Gangham_Style

[Thordaran 416]

Halloween!

[Gangham_Style 213]

delete

Edited October 31, 2014 by Gangham_Style

[Thordaran 416]

Halloween!

[Therider 2,034]

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[Therider 2,034]

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[Therider 2,034]

triple post

Edited October 31, 2014 by Therider

[Thordaran 416]

Everyone in the same map...

 

[Therider 2,034]

triple post

Edited October 31, 2014 by Therider

[Thordaran 416]

Edited October 31, 2014 by Thordaran

[Gangham_Style 213]

New gold <3

[dogm45 10,593]

Edited October 31, 2014 by dogm45

[dogm45 10,593]

Edited October 31, 2014 by dogm45

[I.Devastation 2,053]

Merry Christmas !!!

[Thordaran 416]

Woooo Hoooo!!!

 

I got the 3k Gold, it looks like a punkin!

 

I was so happy i forgot to take pic xD

[I.Devastation 2,053]

parkour k

 

[Sr.I3oSS 2,546]

parkour k

 

Whose the seksi tank at the bottom??

[I.Legendary 18]

Whose the seksi tank at the bottom??

Seems to be a noob

[GeneralPie 603]

Merry Christmas !!!

Sorry to break it to you... It's Easter.