Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

DENDERA Sir,-I am pleased to discover that my article on Dendera has interested at least one reader sufficiently to induce him to give his own con- jectures as to the reason for the dedication to Aphrodite. Mr. Bell's surmisal that the word Aphrodite is a mere translation of the word Hathor may be true enough, but I still believe that it signifies more than that. When it is remembered that in the time of the Empire it was a fashion among the Romans to adopt as their own the gods and goddesses of other countries and that in those far times people seem to have realised more keenly even than we to-day the close relationship between the various religions of the world, it is quite probable that Tiberius, who possessed as much commonsense as the best of the Romans, ordered the dedication of the vestibule to Aphro- dite and her fellow gods, not only because he realised the resemblance between Hathor and Aphrodite, Isis, the Egyptian goddess of the earth, and Demeter, the Greek goddess of the earth, Osirus the father of Egyptian civilisation, and perhaps Apollo, to whom is largely owed the ancient civilisation of Greece, Horus the Egyptian god of the sun, and Helios, but also because he desired to make this resemblance more significant in order to bind more closely to- gether the various elements that formed the Roman Empire. How many of us to-day are aware of the debt we owe to pagan religions our surplices and altars, and above all our belief that an earthly mother, Mary, after intercourse with God, gave birth to a son who was half man, half God? Greek mythology is full of such in- cidents as the latter. Mr. Bell doubts whether there was a Roman temple at Dendera, because it is not mentioned in the dedication. The inscription says nothing about the repairing of the city walls by the Rom- ans. They repaired them nevertheless. Mr. Bell seems to have missed this statement which I made in the course of the article "In front of the Great Temple was a small crude erection em- bossed with the Roman eagle," which, in a foot- note, I concluded was a. temple built for the wor- ship of the Roman Emperors by the Egyptian priests. According to historians on Rome, such worship was customary. And finally, Mr. Bell still hesitates to attribute unreservedly to Christians the mutilation of the carvings, saying the Arabs might have been re- sponsible. To judge from the knowledge of the Arab character, as impetuous in hospitality as in cruelty, which I have gathered from teaching Arabs, and even dining with them, I think it extremely doubtful whether they would have been sufficiently patient quietly to chip away CORRESPONDENCE carvings. If they objected to them, they would have sooner destroyed the whole temple in the manner that they destroyed in A.D. 651, under orders from the Caliph Omar, the famous library of Alexandria; although, strangely enough, there are historians who maintain fanatic Christi- ans were the culprits 250 years previous For mv part, I am convinced that the Christians cer- tainly perpetrated the Dendera mutilation. Such acts were a practice of theirs, as is shown by their handiwork at Deirel Bahri, and which Mr. Bell points out, at Abydos- Incidentally, the Dendera Christians do not seem to have been so puritanical as those at Abydos. In the chamber of Resurrection where the soul flies from the midst of a man, the carving is quite intact. The Christians appear to have sacrificed their moral susceptibilities to their own idea of resurrection which they there saw portrayed in embryo. Fur- thermore, I have a distinct recollection that, when I visited Abydos I saw a perfectly intact figure of Osirus in what some might call an im- moral posture. However, since this carving was in a part of the temple which had only just been excavated out of the desert, Mr. Bell's very in- teresting suggestion may still hold p-ood — am, sir, Yours truly, EDWARD K. PROSSER. THE NEW LONDON WELSH Sir,-As a Welsh woman, who has always lived in London, may I be allowed to correct a state- ment made by the writer of the article under the above heading which appeared in your July issue ? He states that "the London Welsh are rot easily attracted by national movements." Does he know that Wales is indebted to the London Welsh for the National Eisteddfod in its present form? A meeting was held at the 'Freemasons Tavern' on June 24th, 1821, to re-constitute the Cymmrodorion Society, and owing to its efforts the Eisteddfod was held in 1822. Also the Welsh Intermediate Education Act, of 1889 originated in the minds of Welshmen of London, who soon gathered round them "a bodyguard of enthusiasts," among whom was the late Sir Hugh Owen. The idea of a Welsh University was discussed at a meeting of the Cymmrodorion Section con- nected with the Eisteddfod in London in 1887, and to quote the words of an educationist present, "Some of us felt that the foundation stone of the University was laid that day." The London Welsh claim to have been, and still are, zealous supporters of their nation. In an address, delivered by the Rev. G. Hart- well Jones, M.A., D.D., D.Litt., at the Eistedd- fod held in Liverpool in 1929, he stated "that the widening of the mental horizon and enlarged