BOOK of MORMON RESOURCES

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Art and Iconography 4

This post is a continuation of the material developed in the articles "Art and Iconography 1," "Art and Iconography 2," and "Art and Iconography 3." V. Garth Norman, the active Latter-day Saint Mesoamericanist most experienced at Izapa, contributed to this article.

The tree of life as a type of Christ and a tree as a symbol of the house of Israel are important themes in the Book of Mormon. This article will explore the complex iconography of Izapa Stela 5 and compare it with details in Popol Vuh, the Book of Mormon, and other ancient artistic portrayals. First, though, since Izapa Stela 5 has been controversial within Book of Mormon studies circles, we need to document the accuracy of our images.

Izapa Stela 5
1941 Matthew W Stirling Expedition Photo

The original of the image above is a large format black and white print of a photo taken on the 1941 Matthew W. Stirling National Geographic - Smithsonian expedition that examined Stela 5 in situ in the Izapa Group A plaza associated with Altar 36. The large stone had only been dug out of the ground in 1939 and in this photo was not yet severely eroded through weathering as it is today. Stirling himself gave this print to BYU Professor M. Wells Jakeman in 1961 and it lay in his (Jakeman's) files for decades. Notice the crease marks where the paper was folded. When Jakeman died in 1998, his papers passed to V. Garth Norman and Bruce W. Warren of Ancient America Foundation (AAF), successor to Jakeman's Society for Early Historic Archaeology (SEHA). I (Kirk Magleby) took this digital image of the print at Garth Norman's home in American Fork, Utah on May 24, 2011. I used it once before in the blog article entitled "V Garth Norman in Mexico City."

Stirling's Note Explaining his Gift to Jakeman

This is the image Stirling published in 1943.

Izapa Stela 5
Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 138 Plate 52

This is the NWAF image with tracing Garth Norman published in 1973.

Izapa Stela 5
New World Archaeological Foundation Paper No. 30 Part 1 Plate 10

And this is an RTI (Reflective Transformation Imaging) photo Jason Jones made in 2012 as part of the Izapa 3D digital imaging project. See the article "Imaging Izapa." This advanced visualization technique confirms the accuracy of the NWAF 1973 drawings.

Izapa Stela 5 RTI Image
Norman, Izapa Sacred Space: Sculpture Calendar Codex p. 272

For context on the seriously flawed 1999 Clark, Moreno "new artistic rendering" of Izapa Stela 5 see the articles "V Garth Norman in Mexico City," and especially "Partake of the Fruit." This article will follow the mainstream Stirling - Norman - Jones imagery and eschew the aberrant Clark, Moreno "re-interpretation." Izapa specialist Julia Guernsey took the same approach. See her 2006 Ritual & Power in Stone: The Performance of Rulership in Mesoamerican Izapan Style Art (Austin: University of Texas Press) fig. 1.3.

Current scholarship dates Izapa Stela 5 to ca. 300 BC.

Popol Vuh imagery. After their deaths in Xibalba, the Hero Twins' bones were ground up and scattered along a river. The boys resurrected as catfish before their apotheosis which transformed Hunahpu into the sun and Xbalanque into the moon. Twin terrestrial fish are facing up, each with a fruit of the tree in their mouth. After divinization they are looking down from the sky panel as gods often do in Mesoamerican pre-classic sculpted scenes. As with all images on this blog, click to enlarge.

Twin Fish Before and After Apotheosis

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Lehi 1 Nephi 8:10, Nephi 1 Nephi 11:8, Isaiah 2 Nephi 16:13, Jacob Jacob 4:6, Zenos Jacob 5:3, Mormon Mosiah 18:5, Alma Alma 5:62, Ammon Alma 26:36, Jesus Christ 3 Nephi 14:18, and Moroni Ether 2:17 all mention trees. The word "tree" occurs 119 times in the text.

A Central Tree Dominates the Scene on Izapa Stela 5

This sacral tree connects heaven and earth. Its roots are in the ground panel and its branches reach into the sky panel. Nephi associates the tree with God 1 Nephi 11:25 who explicitly reigns in the heavens above and the earth beneath Mosiah 4:9.

The Book of Mormon describes the tree of life 1 Nephi 8:10 and the tree representing Israel Jacob 5:8 as fruit-bearing.

Fruit in the Tree

Some people partook of the fruit of the tree 1 Nephi 8:16.

Figure Holding Fruit of the Tree

Others did not partake of the fruit of the tree 1 Nephi 8:35.

Figure without Fruit

Mockers pointed fingers toward people partaking of the fruit 1 Nephi 8:27.

Person Pointing Fingers toward Figure Partaking of the Fruit

The tree symbolizing the House of Israel was extensively grafted 1 Nephi 10:14, Jacob 5:8.

Grafts in the Tree

The tree represented the house of Israel 1 Nephi 10:12 with its twelve tribes 1 Nephi 12:9.

Twelve Tree Roots

Isaiah associated clouds with rain 2 Nephi 15:6.

Cloud with Rain

A fountain of water was associated with the tree 1 Nephi 8:20, 1 Nephi 11:25 and with the river 1 Nephi 12:16.

Source of River Water

Lehi and Nephi saw a river of water running near the tree 1 Nephi 8:13, 1 Nephi 12:16.

River of Water Running Near the Tree

A similar water motif adorns a stone basin on display in the Israel Museum.

Stone Basin, Israel Museum
Photo by Kirk Magleby, June 22, 2016

The Book of Mormon describes water under the earth Mosiah 13:12 as a river representing the depths of hell 1 Nephi 12:16.

River of Water Flowing under the Ground Panel

In Lehi's and Nephi's visions, some of the people associated with the tree were blinded 1 Nephi 12:17 by a mist of darkness 1 Nephi 8:23.

Hood over Head of Blinded Person

The text describes people catching hold, clinging 1 Nephi 8:24 and feeling their way 1 Nephi 8:31.

Person Clinging, Feeling their Way

Both Lehi 1 Nephi 8:5-6 and Nephi 1 Nephi 11:21 were guided to the tree by angelic ministrants.

Winged Divine Beings Attending the Tree

Tree of Life depictions from the ancient Near East also show dual supernatural beings.

Stylized Date Palm Tree of Life Flanked by Winged Genies
Calah (Nimrud) Assyria 883-859 BC Alabaster, Reign of Ashurnasirpal II
Israel Museum, Photo by Kirk Magleby June 22, 2016

After beholding the tree, Nephi was instructed to bear witness of deity 1 Nephi 11:7.

Deity's Foot Connected to Priest's Mouth via Reverse Speech Scroll

Nephi wrote about his father's vision of the tree 1 Nephi 8:30.

Priest Holding a Brush, Chisel, or Stylus in Left Hand

Nephi engraved his record on plates 1 Nephi 9:2.

Plate or Tablet

Nephi founded a kingly dynasty Jacob 1:11.

Parasol or Canopy, Ancient Mesoamerican Royal Emblem

A similar parasol or canopy symbol represented royalty in the ancient Near East.

Bronze Coin of King Agrippa I Minted in Jerusalem ca. 42 AD
Jerusalem Archaeological Park, Photo by Kirk Magleby June 23, 2016

Royal parasol over the head of Shalmaneser III of Assyria. Shalmaneser III reigned immediately after Ashurnasirpal II referenced above.

Black Obelisk, ca. 841 BC, British Museum

This is a well-known classic Maya example of a broken parasol in a captive's right hand as he is dominated by Bird Jaguar IV.

Yaxchilan Lintel 16 from Structure 21 ca. AD 752

A strait (the Yale 2009 text reads "straight") and narrow path led by the head of the fountain and to the tree 1 Nephi 8:20-22.

Path Leading from the Fountain to the Tree

The path also led by a rod of iron 1 Nephi 8:20 which extended along the bank of the river and led to the tree 1 Nephi 8:19.

Rod a) by Path, b) along River, c) Leading to the Tree

Lehi offered sacrifice and burnt offerings unto the Lord 1 Nephi 2:7, 1 Nephi 5:9, 1 Nephi 7:22.

Aged Priest Tends Flaming Altar or Incensario

Isaiah associated flaming fire and smoke with deity 2 Nephi 14:5.

Flaming Fire and Smoke Rising from Altar or Incensario

Alma taught the curious notion that humans and trees can grow together Alma 32:42. For more on this topic, see the article "Anthropomorphic Trees."

Human/Tree Fusion

Isaiah talked about a rod or branch symbolic of the Savior growing from a tree stem or roots 2 Nephi 21:1.

Rod or Branch Extending from Tree Trunk

In the Book of Mormon, deity is described with avian characteristics 2 Nephi 4:25, 2 Nephi 25:13, 3 Nephi 10:4-6, 3 Nephi 25:2.

Supernatural Beings with Bird Beaks and Wings

The Book of Mormon explicitly mentions six mortals associated with the tree of life: Sariah, Lehi, Laman, Lemuel, Nephi, and Sam 1 Nephi 8:14-17.

Six Humans Seated on the Ground Panel

In Lehi's dream narrative, two antagonists are disinterested in the tree and its fruit 1 Nephi 8:35-36.

Two Humans Facing Away with Backs to the Tree

The Book of Mormon records significant discourses by both Lehi and Nephi 2 Nephi 1:1.

Index Finger Gesture, Ancient Mesoamerican Speech Symbol

Lucia Henderson in her dissertation entitled "Bodies Politic, Bodies in Stone: Imagery of the Human and the Divine in the Sculpture of Late Preclassic Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala, UT Austin, 2013" discusses this pointed finger gesture on pages 215, 216. Scholars such as Julia Guernsey, Karl Taube, William Saturno, and David Stuart describe it as a convention denoting approbation, speech and discourse. This is what the motif looks like on Kaminaljuyu Monument 65.

Index Finger Gesture, Enthroned Rulers, Kaminaljuyu Monument 65
Museo Miraflores, Guatemala City, Photo by Kirk Magleby, December 27, 2015

The Book of Mormon describes girdles about loins 2 Nephi 15:27, 2 Nephi 21:5.

Girdles about Loins

We see a similar girdle or sash about the loins of Jehu, King of Israel.

Black Obelisk, ca. 841 BC, British Museum

Other similarities between Stela 5 and the Black Obelisk are obvious. For example, fringed garments as in Numbers 15:38-39, Deuteronomy 22:12.

Fringed Garments

Fringed apparel from ancient Israel.

Black Obelisk, ca. 841 BC, British Museum

We also see similar headgear consistent with Leviticus 10:6, Leviticus 21:10.

Conical Hats on Aged Priest and Acolyte

Conical Hat on Jehu, King of Israel.

Black Obelisk, ca. 841 BC, British Museum

Finally, the forward swept beards are similar cf. 2 Nephi 17:20.

Forward Swept Beard on Aged Priest

Forward swept beard on Jehu, King of Israel.

Black Obelisk, ca. 841 BC, British Museum

Additional insights into the complex symbolism on Izapa Stela 5 are found in the articles "Partake of the Fruit" and "Mesoamerican Speech Gesture."

Monday, May 23, 2016

Art and Iconography 3

This post is a continuation of the material developed in the articles "Art and Iconography 1" and "Art and Iconography 2." A dominant theme in the Book of Mormon is resurrection of the dead.

The term "resurrection" appears 75 times in the text e.g. Mosiah 15:21, Alma 12:25.
Some variant of the phrase "rise from the dead" occurs 16 times e.g. 2 Nephi 25:13. Alma 40:9.
The idea of victory over the grave is expressed 8 times e.g. Mosiah 16:8, Helaman 14:25.
Some variation on the theme of breaking or loosing the bands of death appears 44 times e.g. Alma 11:42, Mormon 9:13.
Being born again or born of God is mentioned 15 times e.g. Mosiah 27:25, Alma 22:15.

Izapa monuments portray some of the most striking resurrection images ever created. Stela 1 has birth imagery in a heavenly setting.

Izapa Stela 1
Sky Panel with Celestial Umbilical Cord
Norman 1973 Plate 2

Stela 3 depicts a journey toward post-mortality.

Izapa Stela 3
Dis-embodied Figure Ascending in a Boat
Norman 1973 Plate 6

Stela 9 also shows a figure ascending.

Izapa Stela 9
Winged Deity Bearing a Human Heavenward
Norman 1973 Plate 18

Stela 50 is unmistakable.

Izapa Stela 50
Winged Figure Rises on Umbilical Cord from Skeleton
Norman 1973 Plate 50

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Art and Iconography 2

This post is a continuation of the theme developed in the article "Art and Iconography 1." The story of Moses raising the brazen serpent as a type of Christ was important enough to Book of Mormon peoples that a variant of it appears at least seven times in the text. Eight narrative motifs are standardized across these relevant passages.

1 Nephi 17:41
a. flying serpents
b. bitten
c. healed
d. look, labor
h. rod of Moses

1 Nephi 19:10
b. crucified
e. lifted up
f. three days

2 Nephi 25:13
a. wings
b. crucify
c. healing, saved
e. rise from the dead
f. three days

2 Nephi 25:20
a. poisonous serpents
b. bitten
c. heal the nations
d. cast eyes upon
e. raise up
g. serpent

Alma 33:19-23
c. live, heal
d. look, casting about your eyes, behold
e. raised up
h. tree, springing up in you

Helaman 8:14-15
c. live
d. look
e. lifted up
g. brazen serpent

3 Nephi 27:14-15
d. draw men unto Christ, stand before Christ
e. lifted up
h. cross

Izapa Stela 25 has a fascinating version of all eight motifs blended with Popol Vuh mythology.

Izapa Stela 25
Norman 1973 Plate 42

First, the Popol Vuh connection. 1 is Seven Macaw, aka Principal Bird Deity. 2 is Hunahpu, one of the Hero Twins. 3 & 4 are Hunahpu's severed arm and the bleeding shoulder from which it was torn.

Izapa Stela 25 with Popol Vuh Motifs Identified

Next, the Book of Mormon connection. The letters a - h are the eight narrative motifs itemized above.

Izapa Stela 25 with Book of Mormon Motifs Identified

a. wings, feathers, serpent

b. figure is wounded, bitten, sacrificed

c. conch shell represents life, breath, birth, power over the earth monster

d. figure is looking at, drawn to, standing before the raised bird serpent

e. figure is raising, lifting up the bird serpent

f. three branches

g. serpent

h. crocodile morphs into a tree, rod, cross

Other aspects of this correlation:

The twined serpent evokes a vine as in 1 Nephi 15:15 and Alma 16:17. The arboreal green vine snake oxybelis fulgidus is native to the forests of Central America.
The headpiece on the Moses figure evokes the bird deity's tail implying a god/man relationship.
The "m" emblem inside a cartouche attached to the raised serpent's body is generally regarded as a Venus symbol as in Revelation 22:16.
Crocodile represents the earth, evil, and death as in 2 Nephi 9:10, 19, 26.
The crocodile's snout is under the ground panel denoting that he is a denizen of the waters under the earth as described in Mosiah 13:12.
The upward ascending scrolls above the small bird's head evoke the idea that the tree leads to eternal life as in Alma 32:41 and Alma 33:23.
The crocodile tree and the raised staff are parallel tracks, one temporal and the other spiritual as in 1 Nephi 15:32, Alma 12:16, etc. Ten passages in the Book of Mormon discuss temporal/spiritual duality. See also the article "Kaminaljuyu" point no. 27.
The Book of Mormon links a rod and a tree 1 Nephi 8:19 as does the Pentateuch Numbers 17:8.
Jesus Christ has avian characteristics as in 3 Nephi 10:4-6 and 3 Nephi 25:2.

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Art and Iconography 1

Texts shed the most light on the ancient world. They reconstruct to a small degree the words and word patterns that fell from the lips of the people who lived and died in that world. The next most important source of information from antiquity is art and iconography. Graphical and symbolic representations give us a visual picture of ancient life and belief systems. Artifacts offer the fewest insights. They are often quotidian rather than elite. Much of what they tell us comes from context which is frequently uncontrolled or even unknown. Important questions such as occurrence frequency and spatial distribution depend on large enough sample sizes to achieve statistical significance. Function is often ambiguous. Recall the famous quip among archaeologists that "if you don't know what something was used for, call it a ritual object."

Given the fragmentary nature of archaeological data, find frequencies are in inverse proportion to importance. In the Maya world, for example, we have millions of artifacts, tens of thousands of art objects, and only a few thousand texts. Those same ratios are typical of ancient high cultures worldwide.

The Book of Mormon is a text. It sheds vast light on the ancient world. It reconstructs to a small degree the words and word patterns that fell from the lips of remarkable people such as Nephi, Alma, Helaman, Mormon, and Moroni. Some articles on this blog have productively compared it with other ancient texts. See for example:

Notable for its absence on the list above is Popol Vuh, generally recognized as the most important ancient Maya text currently available. Stay tuned. One of the reasons Popol Vuh is so highly regarded is that echoes of and references to its creation myth are found widely throughout Mesoamerica. See the article "Iconographic Corroboration of Quichean Texts."

In the last 40 years, decipherment of written Mayan has advanced rapidly. Fundamental resources in this effort have been the Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions (CMHI) at Harvard and Justin Kerr's database of rollout photography. Epigraphers' ability to read Maya texts has enabled art historians to interpret carved monuments, painted pottery, sculpted figurines, etc. with increasing confidence.

This series of articles will not compare the Book of Mormon text with other texts. It will compare the Book of Mormon text with the second most important category of ancient data - artistic and iconographic images. You can read a National Geographic article, or you can look at the images and read the captions. This presentation is like the latter.

Sources for the images are listed in order of first publication.

1973 V. Garth Norman, Izapa Sculpture Part 1: Album, Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation No. 30 (Provo, UT: BYU NWAF)

1976 V. Garth Norman, Izapa Sculpture Part 2: Text, Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation No. 30 (Provo, UT: BYU NWAF)

1986 Lee Allen Parsons, The Origins of Maya Art: Monumental Stone Sculpture of Kaminaljuyui, Guatemala, and the Southern Pacific Coast, Studies in Pre-Columbian Art & Archaeology No. 28 (Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection)

2006 Julia Guernsey, Ritual & Power in Stone: The Performance of Rulership in Mesoamerican Izapan Style Art (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press)

2010 Julia Guernsey, John E. Clark, Barbara Arroyo, editors, The Place of Stone Monuments: Context, Use, and Meaning in Mesoamerica's Preclassic Transition (Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection)

2012 V. Garth Norman, Izapa Sacred Space: Sculpture Calendar Codex (American Fork, UT: ARCON, Inc.)

2013 Lucia Ross Henderson, Bodies Politic, Bodies in Stone: Imagery of the Human and the Divine in the Sculpture of Late Preclassic Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala (PhD dissertation, UT Austin). Dozens of parallels between the Book of Mormon and Henderson's excellent description of ancient life are in the article "Kaminaljuyu."

1 Nephi 10:8 Shoes had latchets which are thongs or laces.

Shoes with Latchets Kaminaljuyu Sculpture 67
Henderson 2013 p. 621

--
2 Nephi 9:26 Breath symbolized life and resurrection.

Breath Bead by Nose Symbolizing Life and Resurrection
Kaminaljuyu Sculpture 10
Parsons 1986 Fig. 175

--
2 Nephi 13:21 Some people wore nose ornaments.

Nose Ornament Kaminaljuyu Sculpture 24
Henderson 2013 p. 612

--
2 Nephi 17:20 In the genetic population from which Book of Mormon peoples migrated men grew full beards.

Heavily Bearded Figure Kaminaljuyu Sculpture 8
Henderson 2013 Fig. 25 b

--
Enos 1:20 Lamanites wore a short skin girdle about their loins.

Girdle Kaminaljuyu Sculpture 65
Henderson 2013 p. 619

--
Enos 1:20 Weapons included axes and clubs Mosiah 9:16.

Ax or Club Kaminaljuyu Sculpture 24
Henderson 2013 p. 612

--
Mosiah 2:3 Nephites made burnt offerings in a sacral context.

Burnt Offerings on Incensarios Izapa Stela 24
Norman 1973 plate 40

Another representation.

Burnt Offering on Bound Altar
Kaminaljuyu Sculpture 169
Henderson 2013 p. 648

--
Mosiah 8:10 Book of Mormon peoples wore breastplates in battle.

Breastplate Kaminaljuyu Sculpture 54
Henderson 2013 Fig. 13 e

--
Mosiah 17:13 Abinadi was bound, his skin was scourged (the Yale 2009 text reads "scorched") with burning faggots, and this excruciating torture resulted in his death.