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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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The puzzle I keep trying to solve: Why is Salmon linked with Wisdom?
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DPCrisp
In: Bedfordshire
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Because it represents a bronze sword?
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Sorry if this is obvious or been said already but couldn't the link be the more obvious, and less signficant, salmon=solomon=wisdom.
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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| Mick Harper wrote: | | Sorry if this is obvious or been said already but couldn't the link be the more obvious, and less signficant, salmon=solomon=wisdom. |
Solomon and Salmon appear to be the same word. So too with (Greek) Solon and then there's the Arabic Suleiman. There are many such names it seems. Was the fish named for Solomon or Solomon for the fish. Either way, the mystery remains.
And it appears to run deeper.
For I believe the ancient Babylonians claimed they learned their wisdom from creatures who came out of the sea.
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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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Sounds like some bloke called Solomon arrived in a (bronze) submarine (embellished in the form of a fish?) to pass his wisdom on to the ancients.
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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| Chad wrote: | | Sounds like some bloke called Solomon arrived in a (bronze) submarine (embellished in the form of a fish?) to pass his wisdom on to the ancients. |
Quite.
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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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I doubt I'm the first to notice, but:
Solomon=Sol-Amen=Amen-Ra
So are there any Egyptian fishy connections? (Other than the ankh.)
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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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This is from Ishmael's link regarding the ancient Babylonians:
| ...mythical being who taught mankind wisdom... having the body of a fish but underneath the figure of a man. |
Sounds a lot like the Egyptian deity Hatmehit.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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It is not surprising that ankh-users go fishing--the ankh is a cross-staff for measuring latitude.
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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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Seems to be a rather common religious theme... sticking a fish on your head.
Here's a priest of the Philistine/Babylonian fish god Dagon, sporting a nice fishy little number:
And here's the Roman mother goddess Cybele trying on a rather fetching fish-head titfor:
In fact the exact same hat is still very much in fashion:
Definitely looks like there's a "fish=wisdom" thing going on here.
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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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| Mick Harper wrote: | | --the ankh is a cross-staff for measuring latitude. |
It's also the Christian 'fish symbol' (Ichithys)... with a stick up its arse.
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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Chad. This is amazing.
But what kind of fish could be so large? Would it not be a tuna?
Did some ancient shaman literally wear the head of a salmon on their heads?
Why? Why a salmon? Why are fish associated with wisdom?
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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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Must admit, I was just looking for people with fish on their head... somebody else had already made the Dagon/Cybele/Pope headgear connection.
I think there must have been a general connection between fish and wisdom (maybe because those who brought wisdom to the ancients had an association with fish) not originally specific to salmon. The Egyptian sacred fish was the Nile pike and neither the Babylonians nor the Romans would have been particularly familiar with salmon.
But to the Atlantic Celts and the Norse, the North Atlantic salmon was probably regarded as the king of fish, in much the same way as the eagle was king of the birds, and may have been named for King Solomon who was already associated with wisdom (as one of the general fishy bringers of wisdom perhaps.)
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Hatty
Site Admin
In: Berkshire
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| Chad wrote: | | I think there must have been a general connection between fish and wisdom (maybe because those who brought wisdom to the ancients had an association with fish) not originally specific to salmon. |
I agree, the knowledge of how humans manage animals is wisdom, not the animal itself. A skill once admired as god-like then seen as fishy by those lacking the knowledge.
| But to the Atlantic Celts and the Norse, the North Atlantic salmon was probably regarded as the king of fish, in much the same way as the eagle was king of the birds, and may have been named for King Solomon who was already associated with wisdom (as one of the general fishy bringers of wisdom perhaps.) |
Add eagles to the menagerie of (semi-)domesticated creatures?
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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I think you guys are plastering an easy solution over this to avoid the risk of further thought.
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