http://www.museenkoeln.de/museum-schnue ... aspx?s=533
They have collected in the exhibition 127 objects, some rather old (Roman time), some rather small, others rather big. There's a pleasant catalog with good pictures (39 Euro; well, too much, I didn't buy it).
The Phrygian caps of the kings or Magi, which we detected once at a very early mosaic in Ravenna ....
... isn't a rare attribute of the Magi in the early time (I saw them variously on the early objects). The crowns developed later, likely by the influence of German emperors (?).The number "3" and the crowns aren't part of the text of Matthew, who was the only evangelist, who told about them. I was interested in this detail "Phrygian caps".
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Phrygia (according German wiki) is this location ...
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygien
... in other words, a greater part of Turkey. This I found a little curious, cause I imagined from the general descriptions, that the 3 magi were considered to come from the East of Bethlehem, not from the North. "Phrygian caps" might indicate, that they came from Phrygia.
I found Attis (son of Cybele, which is Phrygian cult), but also Mithras (which is generally given as belonging originally to Persia) with Phrygian caps ...
Attis
Mithras
from this webpage ...
http://www.truthbeknown.com/attis.html
... which arguments similarities between Attis cult and early Christianity:
Attis was born on December 25th of the Virgin Nana.
He was a shepherd, as Christ was called the "Good Shepherd."
He was considered the "only begotten son," the Logos/Word and the savior slain for the salvation of mankind.
His cult had a sacrificial meal, at which, it is contended, his body as bread was eaten by his worshippers.
His priests were "eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 19:12).
Attis served as both the Divine Son and the Father.
On "Black Friday," he was "crucified" on a tree, from which his holy blood ran down to redeem the earth.
He descended into the underworld.
After three days, Attis was resurrected on March 25th (as tradition held of Jesus) as the "Most High God."
The Mithras cult is generally seen as in competition with early Christianity
About the Phrygians I read (I summarize a few things)...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygia
The Phrygians possibly came from the region of Macedonia and invaded Anatolia after the break down of the Hittite kingdom.
In the Iliad Priamos, king of Troja, married Hekuba, a Phrygian princess. The Phrygians helped in the war against the Greek.
"According to the Iliad, the homeland of the Phrygians was on the Sangarius River, which would remain the centre of Phrygia throughout its history. Phrygia was famous for its wine and had "brave and expert" horsemen."
Wiki:
Wiki "Sakarya" = Sangarius"Sangarius (/sæŋˈɡɛriəs/; Ancient Greek: Σαγγάριος) was a Phrygian river-god of Greek mythology.[1] He is described as the son of Oceanus and Tethys, and as the husband of Metope, by whom he became the father of Hecuba.[2][3] He is also the father of Nana and therefore the grandfather of Attis.[4] The Sakarya River (in Phrygia-Turkey) itself is said to have derived its name from one Sangas, who had offended Rhea, and was punished by her by being changed into water.
Likely the river region was excellent for wine production. Turkey has still a lot of wine, though in the more Islamic times it was used more for the production of Sultaninen ("Sultana" in contrast to "raisin").
"During the 8th century BC the Phrygian kingdom with its capital at Gordium in the upper Sakarya River valley expanded into an empire dominating most of central and western Anatolia and encroaching upon the larger Assyrian Empire to its southeast and the kingdom of Urartu to the northeast."
see wiki: "Gordium"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordium
King Midas was a Phrygian king. Known for his ass ears, one wonders, if the "Phrygian cap" might have given reasons for this mythological joke.
Anway, king Midas stands for the height of the development of the Phrygian culture. Gordium was destructed at a not clear date, around 700-800 BC, the precise date is debated.
Phrygian cults had been Cybele, Attis and Zeus Zagreus, also called Sabazios:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabazios
Zeus Zagreus had a strong connection to the general Dionysos cult. owonder, the Phrygians lived in a wine region.
Zeus Zagreus (a child god later, but possibly as Sabazios a horse riding god originally) became victim to the Titans, who hunted him. They cut him to pieces. But he returned back.
Well, the Romans knew this:
Wiki: HypsistariansThe first Jews who settled in Rome were expelled in 139 BCE, along with Chaldaean astrologers by Cornelius Hispalus under a law which proscribed the propagation of the "corrupting" cult of "Jupiter Sabazius," according to the epitome of a lost book of Valerius Maximus:
Gnaeus Cornelius Hispalus, praetor peregrinus in the year of the consulate of Marcus Popilius Laenas and Lucius Calpurnius, ordered the astrologers by an edict to leave Rome and Italy within ten days, since by a fallacious interpretation of the stars they perturbed fickle and silly minds, thereby making profit out of their lies. The same praetor compelled the Jews, who attempted to infect the Roman custom with the cult of Jupiter Sabazius, to return to their homes."[17]
By this it is conjectured that the Romans identified the Jewish YHVH Tzevaot ("sa-ba-oth," "of the Hosts") as Jove Sabazius.
This mistaken connection of Sabazios and Sabaos has often been repeated. In a similar vein, Plutarch maintained that the Jews worshipped Dionysus, and that the day of Sabbath was a festival of Sabazius.[18] Plutarch also discusses the identification of the Jewish God with the "Egyptian" Typhon, an identification which he later rejects, however. The monotheistic Hypsistarians worshipped the Most High under this name, which may have been a form of the Jewish God.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypsistarians
Well, a sort of early Monotheism. Possibly Phrygians, sitting in Minor Asia. Possibly people with Phrygian caps.
.... another aspects:
Dionysos, son of Zeus and Semele, and Semele was the daughter of Kadmos and Harmonia, and Kadmos was a Phoenician and brought the alphabet to Greece.
The Phoenicians came from the region, where the early Jews distributed.
Noah, who made a big ark to save mankind and animals, stranded at the mount Ararat, a high mountain (about 5100 meters). That's not precisely there, where the Phrygians produced their wine, but somehow nearby, and Noah (he was the first who planted a vineyard according Genesis) became acquainted to vine with some bad results ...
... which caused, that Ham (= Canaan), who saw his naked father, was cursed, and his sons had to become slaves to the other descendents.
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Well, there's a riddle about the Phrygian caps of the 3 Magi.
Lorredan recently wrote at another place ...
Lydia was a neighbor to Phrygia ....Hmmm The Pope with Donkey......
Silenus is an old man with a bald head and a snub nose, who is generally to be seen riding on a donkey; he is of Lydian extraction. Assembly of Gods or Gods Council by Lucian spoken by Momus.
Silenus is used as a sort of father figure for Dionysos. Well, it was Noah, who had build the first vineyard according the biblical mythology, somehow it has some mythological logic, that he, cause he had seen so much water, that he invented the vine. A specialist for fluid matters.
The donkey (Silenus attribute) was often used in Jewish contexts, occasionally in an attacking manner.
So the figure "Silenus" is possibly a Greek mockery reference to Noah and his claim to have invented the first vineyard?