The origins of the custom of Bell-Bearers, Greece, in Pan

There is a particular custom observed in several places around modern Greece where men get up as Satyrs or Bell-Bearers⁽¹⁾ (picture), many times ram-formed, to pour into and roam the streets around displaying a lustful behaviour and strong sexual suggestiveness during the Carnival (late winter).

It is actually mainly practised over the last Sunday or weekend of the Carnival, albeit there could be exceptions, and particularly over insular places such as Chios, Naxos, Ikaria, Lesbos and Skyros whilst it is also found in the region of Chalchidiki on the mainland.

Although there is awareness that the tradition is very old with roots in deep antiquity, in some instances erroneously viewed as medieval nonetheless, I would say that it is evident that its meaning and what it illustrates has been lost in time and is practised more out of a ‘blurry memory’ of the long past.

What these dressed up men actually imitate is none else than the Pans or Paniskoi⁽²⁾ who were copies (replicas) that Pan, ram-form god from Anatolia and most likely coming from the Phrygians, would multiply into that would roam around displaying exactly this lustful behaviour seeking to engage the erotic attention of the nymphs.

Pan was a god of the wild, the pasture, shepherds and flocks, woods and wooden glens as well as rustic music, a companion of the nymphs at that, as he was associated with the earth and nature along with all activities connected with them` just as was his name that didn’t originally mean ‘all’ (mainly used as a prefix) but has wound up so through time.

For that matter, he was considered older than the Olympians (although ‘Olympians’ here apparently regards the Olympus, a name that comes therefrom, of Phrygia) while he might as well have entertained even deeper roots in ancient Egypt, where he was known as Mendes whilst identified/associated with their own very ancient gods (Per-)Banebdjedet και Min.

Looking closer, I would argue that the name Mendes doesn’t seem Egyptian but instead strikes me most likely as Phrygian breaking down as ‘ΜΗΝ’ (voiced as ‘men’) ‘ΔΕ(Υ)Σ’ (rendered as ‘de(u)s,’ meaning ‘god’), the Phrygian lunar god that presided over the (lunar) months and whose name shapes the deep origin of the Greek word ‘μήνας’ (month).

Which, in turn, implies a connection between Men (MHN) and Pan, who was connected by means of a love affair with goddess of the moon Selene⁽³⁾. It is particularly intriguing, come to that, the great similarity in the names of Phrygian god Men and Egyptian Min⁽⁴⁾, whose nature and overall outlook resembles that of Pan a great deal.

The Phrygian identity of Pan before he crossed the Aegean and came over to the southern Balkans can be further established since he was associated with Phrygian supreme goddess Cybele, attested by Pindar as such for instance, as well as among the retinue of Phrygian god Sabazios who was venerated as main deity in many places around nowadays Greece including Athens (as Zeus).

There shouldn’t be ruled out, however, that the god could have born deeper origins with the Caucones⁽⁵⁾, a very ancient Caucasian peoples of Anatolia, whom the Phrygians conquered at some point when they started shaping up as a major force in the region.

Especially seeing that the emergence of Pan in the wider area of nowadays Greece was regarded to have been in the region of Arcadia, which was mainly occupied by them (Caucones) and Pelasgians (descendants of Egyptian, Lybian, and maybe even Phoenician, settlers).

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(1) Dubbed as ‘koudounatoi,’ ‘koudounades’ or ‘koudounoforoi’ in Greek.

(2) The outlook of the ‘Bell-Bearers’ definitely fits that of Pan.

(3) Selene was also called MHNH, rendered as ‘Me`ne,’ which shapes the feminine form of the name of Phrygian lunar god Men (MHN) and therefore looks most definitely Phrygian, very likely her original name for that matter.

Furthermore, she bore the epithet ‘Pan-dia’ (voiced as ‘Pan Dia’) or ‘Pan-deia’ (rendered as ‘Pan-dea’) where ‘dia/deia’ simply spells ‘goddess’ and the first component ‘Pan’ seems to connect her with the god, on the one hand, as well as nature that he represented, on the other.

Which, by implication, come to further associate the two gods between them, who might have been the same.

(4) His name was likely pronounced as ‘Menu’ or ‘Men’ for that matter.

(5) Caucones were responsible for carrying over and spreading the cult of Hermes in what is nowadays Greece come to that.

Ipet (or Ipy), a forgotten goddess

Although rather largely unknown today, Ipy was a very ancient Egyptian goddess that appeared to be held in high esteem and prominence in Upper Egypt with her cult carrying particular weight in the Theban realm.

So much so that she was directly associated by name with both major temple complexes of Karnak, known as ‘Ipet-Isut’ (likely spelling ‘Sacred place of Ipet’), and Luxor, called ‘Ipet Resyt’ (meaning ‘the ‘Sanctuary of Ipet’)⁽¹⁾.

Further known as Opet or Apet, her cult is attested as early as the Pyramid era and the Old Kingdom regarded as protector of the Pharaoh oneself as well as the very mother of Osiris in the Theban theology.

She was usually portrayed as a hippopotamus but could also be depicted as a blend of hippo, crocodile, lion and human – maybe hinting at her being a shape-shifter…? – while holding the Ankh (symbol of life).

On top of that, she can be further seen holding a symbol reminiscent of the Tyet, also known as the Knot of Isis, but without the arms. The latter symbol is attested considerably before Isis herself so it may have not been originally attached to her.

Consequently, could have Ipy shaped a forerunner of Isis, consort and sister of Osiris, as well as potentially been linked to the underworld?

For that matter, her name might as well suggest itself as a likely root of the word ‘hippo.’

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(1) All the same, her name is controversially omitted in the modern interpretations of the names of both.

Khepri, god of the morning sun and renewal of life

Khepri (ḫprj in ancient Egyptian) is a very ancient solar god of the Egyptians, attested as early as the Predynastic era (pre 3100 BC), that represents the morning or rising sun as well as, by extension, creation and renewal of life (re-incarnation).

His name apparently derives on the ancient Egyptian verb ḫpr which means ‘develop,’ ‘arise,’ ‘come into being’ or ‘create’ and is further transliterated as Khepra, Chepri, Kheper or Khepera at that.

Interestingly, he is often depicted as a scarab-headed man carrying a was-sceptre (signifying power, dominion) and an ankh (key of life) in his hands or as a (Scarabaeus sacer) scarab holding aloft the morning sun and often in a solar barque (picture) held by Nun (or Nu), the personification of the primordial watery abyss in the creation of the world.

The ancient Egyptians observed that young dung beetles emerge fully formed out of their eggs in a dung ball as if out of nothingness and since they held that the sun is reborn out of nothing every day they connected the two into Khepri, who moved the newly-born sun across the sky just as a beetle pushes large balls of dung along the ground.

Linked also with the creation of the world, there was no cult committed to Khepri as a deity secondary to and also often seen as aspect, just as Atum, of great sun god Ra. In order of rank, Khepri would come out as the morning sun, Ra would take over on the crown of the day with Atum wrapping up affairs in the evening.

At the same time, Khepri was also protector and god of resurrection which accounts for the many scarab amulets (and even mummified beetles) placed in Egyptian tombs and graves, even in Predynastic times, as well as being worn as jewelry and used in the form of administrative or personal impression seals widely.

The likely meaning and origin of ‘horizon’

Generally, the word ‘horizon’ is given as spelling the visible horizontal line in all directions where the sky appears to meet the earth around, deriving on Hellenic ‘Οριζών’ (‘horiz’un’) meaning ‘separating circle.’

However, looking at the word earlier on there struck me a different and rather more likely meaning and origin of the word.

I am feeling confident, therefore, that ‘horizon’ actually comes out of the Hellenic rendering of ‘Ὧρος’⁽¹⁾ (aspirated, pronounced as hɔ̂ːros/hu:ros) for the name of the ancient Egyptian god of the sun and the sky Hor-us⁽²⁾ (also Her or Hor).

Horus, recorded as ‘ḥr’ in hieroglyphs, was associated with the horizon as his forms of ‘Her-em-akhet’ (Horus in the Horizon) or ‘Hor-akhty’ (Horus of the Two Horizons) clearly indicate, where ‘akhet’ means ‘horizon’ (where the sun rises) and ‘akhty’ spells ‘two horizons (where the sun rises and sets) respectively.

His name apparently meant, among others, ‘the one who is above/over’ but also ‘scope of vision,’ an equivalent to ‘horizon,’ so the substitution of the suffix ‘-izon’ (‘-ιζών΄)⁽³⁾, which is likely Anatolian in origin, for ‘-os’ in Hellenic ‘Hɔ̂ːr-os’ would add up to ‘Hɔ̂ːriz’un’ (pronunciation, Ωριζών in Hellenic) conveying ‘that of Hor(-us),’ ‘the (designated) realm of Hor(-us)’ (which was the sky and the horizon).

Therefore, there you have it, ‘horizon’ comes out of ‘Hor-us’ and not out of ‘oros’⁽⁴⁾ (boundary) as, after all, it first and foremost regards the sky as a term.

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(1) The letter ‘Ω’ (omega) was for long part of only the Ionian alphabets and dialects carrying the sound of a long ‘o’ but even more so that of ‘u,’ in many cases supplanting ‘Y’ (pronounced as ‘u’) when adopted into other dialects/languages.

(2) In Old Latin, it would have been ‘Hor-os’ as well.

(3) Most likely deriving on Phrygian suffix ‘-I𐰀EN’ (‘-izen’) with very much the same meaning.

(4) here has got to be said that ‘oros’ (boundary) in Hellenic bore a daseian notation so was pronounced as ‘hó.ros,’ almost identical to the name of the Egyptian god.

The Lotus Chalice

This is the magnificent Lotus Chalice or Alabaster Chalice, carved out of a single piece of alabaster in the shape of white lotus in full bloom, that was found in the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun (14^th century BC) in the Valley of the Kings in November 1922.

The lotus was of special significance in Egyptian mythology and religion as it was the very first thing that arose shining out of the primeval waters of Nu, the deity that personified the primordial watery abyss of the Ogdoad cosmogony.

The flower came to symbolize the sun, since the sun god Nefertum (perfect Atum) himself rose out of it, as well as creation and rebirth as it retracts into the water at night and re-emerges fresh in the morning just like the sun disappears in the night only to return in the sky the next day.

Οι Ρίζες του Εθίμου των ‘Κουδουνάτων’

Υπάρχει ένα συγκεκριμένο έθιμο σε αρκετά μέρη γύρω στη σημερινή Ελλάδα όπου άνδρες ντύνονται ως σάτυροι και ‘κουδουνάτοι’ ή ‘κουδουνάδες’ (φωτογραφία) όπως αποκαλούνται, αρκετές φορές και ‘τραγόμορφοι,’ οι οποίοι ξεχύνονται και γυρνούν στους δρόμους γύρω επιδεικνύοντας μια σεξουαλικά τολμηρή και προκλητική συμπεριφορά κατά τη διάρκεια των Αποκριών.

Λαμβάνει χώρα μάλιστα κυρίως γύρω από την τελευταία Κυριακή και σαββατοκύριακο των Αποκριών, αν και υπάρχουν κάποιες εξαιρέσεις, και κατά πρώτο λόγο σε νησιωτικές περιοχές όπως η Χίος, η Νάξος, η Ικαρία, η Λέσβος και η Σκύρος ενώ αναφέρεται και στη Χαλκιδική σε ό,τι αφορά την ενδοχώρα.

Αν και υπάρχει η γνώση ότι το έθιμο είναι πολύ παλιό και με ρίζες στην αρχαιότητα, σε κάποιες περιπτώσεις ωστόσο θεωρούμενο λανθασμένα ως μεσαιωνικό, θα έλεγα ότι είναι ξεκάθαρο ότι η σημασία του αλλά και το τι αναπαριστά έχει λησμονηθεί μέσα στο χρόνο και γίνεται περισσότερο μέσα από μια ‘θολή μνήμη’ του μακρινού παρελθόντος.

Αυτό που λοιπόν υποδύονται αυτοί οι ‘μασκαρεμένοι’ άνδρες δεν είναι τίποτα άλλο από τους Pans ή Πανίσκους⁽¹⁾ που ήταν σωσίες (ρέπλικες) στους οποίους πολλαπλασιαζόταν ο Παν, τραγόμορφος θεός από την Ανατολία και πολύ πιθανώς προερχόμενος από τους Φρύγες, και που επιδείκνυαν αυτή ακριβώς τη συμπεριφορά προσπαθώντας κυρίως να τραβήξουν την ερωτική προσοχή των νυμφών.

Ο Παν ήταν θεός των αγριότοπων, των λειβαδιών, των βοσκών και κοπαδιών αλλά και των δασών όπως και της υπαίθριας μουσικής, σύντροφος επίσης των νυμφών, καθώς συνδεόταν με τη γη και τη φύση αλλά και τις δραστηριότητες που συνδέονται με αυτές` όπως αντίστοιχα και το όνομά του το οποίο δεν σημαίνει ‘όλος/όλοι’ (κυρίως ως πρόθεμα) όπως παρεφθαρμένα έχει καταντήσει μέσα στο χρόνο.

Μάλιστα θεωρούνταν αρχαιότερος όλων των Ολύμπιων θεών (αν και το ‘Ολύμπιοι’ εδώ προφανώς αφορά τον Όλυμπο, όνομα που προέρχεται επίσης από εκεί, της Φρυγίας) ενώ ίσως να έχει και ακόμη βαθύτερες ρίζες στην Αίγυπτο, όπου ήταν γνωστός με το όνομα Mendes και ταυτιζόταν με τους πανάρχαιους θεούς της (Per-)Banebdjedet και Min.

Κοιτάζοντας πιο προσεκτικά, θα έλεγα ότι το όνομα Mendes δεν δείχνει να είναι αιγυπτιακό και ότι είναι αντιθέτως σίγουρα φρυγικό που αναλύεται ως ΜΗΝ (προφερόμενο ως ‘Μεν’) ΔΕ(Υ)Σ (‘Ντέ(ου)ς,’ σημαίνοντας ‘θεός’), ο Φρύγας σεληνιακός θεός που πρέσβευε τους (σεληνιακούς) μήνες και που από το όνομά του προέρχεται και η λέξη ‘μήνας.’

Που με τη σειρά του, δείχνει να υπονοεί σύνδεση μεταξύ του Μην και του Παν, ο οποίος συνδεόταν ερωτικά με τη Σελήνη⁽²⁾. Είναι ιδιαίτερα ενδιαφέρουσα, μάλιστα, η μεγάλη ομοιότητα του ονόματος του Φρύγα Μην με τον Αιγύτπιο Min⁽³⁾, του οποίου η φύση και γενικότερη συμπεριφορά μοιάζει πολύ με αυτή του Παν.

Η Φρυγική ταυτότητα του Παν πριν περάσει το Αιγαίο και έρθει στα Βαλκάνια από την Ανατολή φαίνεται και από το γεγονός ότι αφενός συνδέεται με την Φρυγική μέγιστη θεά Κυβέλη, κάτι που πιστοποιείται από τον Πίνδαρο για παράδειγμα, ενώ ήταν ακόλουθος του Φρύγα θεού Σαμπάζντιου που λατρευόταν ως κύρια θεότητα και σε πολλές περιοχές της σημερινής Ελλάδας, μεταξύ των οποίων (ως Ζευς) και στην Αθήνα.

Δεν θα πρέπει να αποκλειστεί, πάντως, να έχει ακόμη βαθύτερες ριζες στους Καύκονες⁽⁴⁾, πανάρχαιος Καυκάσιος λαός της Ανατολίας, τους οποίους οι Φρύγες κατέκτησαν επίσης κάποια στιγμή όταν άρχισαν να αναπτύσσονται ως δύναμη.

Δεδομένου μάλιστα ότι η εμφάνιση του θεού στο χώρο της σημενινής Ελλάδας αναφέρεται στην περιοχή της Αρκαδίας, η οποία κατοικούνταν κύρια από αυτούς (Καύκονες) και Πελασγούς (Αιγύπτιοι και Λύβιοι, ίσως και Φοίνικες, άποικοι).

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(1) Η εμφάνιση των ‘Κουδουνάτων’ ή ‘Κουδουνάδων’ ταιριάζει απόλυτα σε αυτή του Παν.

(2) Η Σελήνη ονομαζόταν και ΜΗΝΗ, προφερόμενο ως Μενέ, που αποτελεί τη θηλυκή μορφή του ονόματος του Φρύγα σεληνιακού θεού ΜΗΝ (προφερόμενο ως ‘μεν’) και που είναι ξεκάθαρα Φρυγικό, πιθανώς και το αυθεντικό όνομά της.

Επιπλέον, έφερε και το επίθετο ‘Παν-Δία’ (προφερόμενο ως ‘Παν Ντία’) ή Παν-Δεία (‘Παν-Ντέα) όπου ‘Δία/Δεία’ σημαίνει ‘θεά’ ενώ το ‘Παν’ αφενός δείχνει να την συνδέει με το δεδομένο θεό αλλά και με τη φύση στη γη που αυτός αντιπροσωπεύει.

Τα οποία παραπάνω, επαγωγικά, συνδέουν και τους δύο θεούς μεταξύ τους που ίσως να είναι και ένας.

(3) Tο όνομά του πιθανώς προφερόταν είτε ως ‘Menu’ ή ‘Men’ μάλιστα.

(4) Οι Καύκονες ήταν μάλιστα ‘υπεύθυνοι’ για την έλευση και διάδοση της λατρείας του Ερμή στο χώρο της σημερινής Ελλάδας.

Nekhbet, the guardian goddess of Upper Egypt

Nekhbet, or alternatively Nekhebet, was an early predynastic goddess depicted as a griffon vulture who was initially the patron deity of the city of Nekheb (El Kab), hence her name meaning ‘She of Nekheb,’ on the east bank of the Nile and eventually became the guardian of the entire Upper Egypt.

Just like Horus, she was also often shown to grasp the Shen (Spheres), standing for eternal protection, in her claws hovering with her wings spread, many times over a royal image, while later she would often appear together with her counterpart Wadjet of Lower Egypt as the Two Ladies (Nebty), the two guardians of Egypt once unified.

Thereby, the two guardian goddesses appeared in a combined, double uraeus as a vulture (Nekhbet) and a cobra (Wadjet) respectively on top of the crown or headdress of the Pharaoh representing union while they oversaw the keeping of the laws, protected both the rulers and the land as well as promoting peace thereover.

Nekhbet was often called as ‘Hedget,’ namely the White Crown of Upper Egypt, and would also take the shape of a woman, or a woman with the head of a vulture, wearing the White Crown further holding a lotus flower (rebirth), wreathed with a cobra, along with an ankh (symbol/key of life). As a vulture, she could also be seen bearing Ma’at’s Feather, representing truth.

The shrine of Nekhbet at Nekheb was among the earliest known temples across the entire Egypt as the city was a companion to Nekhen, standing on the west bank of the Nile, which shaped the political and religious capital of Upper Egypt towards the end of the Predynastic Era (pre c. 3150 BC) and likely into the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150 – 2686 BC).

Nekheb actually carried the exonym Eileithyiapolis, spelling ‘the city of goddess Eileithyia,’ among the Helenes (or Hellenes) et al which means that they identified Eileithyia, associated particularly with the island of Crete, with Nekhbet as the latter was also held as a (originally royal) mother goddess, occasionally depicted as a wet-nurse suckling the Pharaoh himself, as well as protector of (initially royal) pregnant women, childbirth and children.

Sometimes, Nekhbet appeared as consort to god Hapi, since a patron of Upper Egypt himself, but was also associated with Horus, whose cult centre was Nekhen for that matter, alongside whom she fought in the shape of a winged cobra against Seth. But she was also linked with Mut, a mother goddess in her own right, as well as bovine goddess Hathor, divine mother of both Horus and Ra.

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The above pictured pendant in the shape of Nekhbet is part of Tutankhamun’s treasure which was found in the tomb of the famous Egyptian Pharaoh (ruled between roughly 1332 and 1323 BC), suspended from his very neck, in the Valley of the Kings by Howard Carter in 1922.

The Shen Rings (or rather Shen Spheres/Orbs?)

As I have mentioned before, the Shen Rings were a potent symbol that represented eternity as well as eternal protection and featured particularly with depictions of falcon god Horus, here seen more precisely as Ra-Horakhty (image 1), and vulture goddess Nekhbet (image 2) in ancient Egypt.

Yet, judging by the way the Shen are grasped between the talons of either deity and that vibrant scarlet colour within, I am adamant that the Shen are erroneously taken for rings and are most certainly spheres/orbs instead that contained some sort of force/energy inside that shaped the source of that protection.

The name ‘Shen’ seems to derive on the Egyptian verb ‘sheni’ (šnj) which spells ‘encircle’ but can also expand into ‘enclose’ or ‘be/come round’ towards the above maintained effect of spheres/orbs whilst that scarlet ‘filling’ clearly indicates there was something ‘encircled’ or ‘enclosed’ rather than a gap within.

Furthermore, there should be noted that the Shen carried by Horus usually have each an ankh (symbol/key of life) attached on top of them, unlike Upper Egypt patron Nekhbet, which potentially signified a connection as well as the orb and its content/energy shaping the source of life.

Very likely, they represented a celestial body and more precisely the sun in the east and west respectively as further noticeable comes that both avian deities, Horus and Nekhbet, hold out the Shen evenly underneath their outstretched wings that signal dominion over the two horizons.

It is also interesting that there is a similar Hebrew word ‘shani’ that means (among others) ‘scarlet’ or ‘crimson,’ matching the colour of the inside of the Shen, while a Hindu god of the same name (Shani) is associated with Saturn, a planet encircled by a ring.

In an elongated form, the Shen, which appeared as early as the Third Dynasty of the Old Kingdom (c. 2686 – 2613 BC), expanded as ‘shenu’ into the cartouche that enclosed and protected the name of a royal person in ancient Egypt.

Having talked about the Shen Spheres, have a look at what Charlemagne is often depicted holding in his left hand as a protector of the Roman Catholic Church – Christianity has borrowed an awful lot from ancient Egypt!

Glossary (ancient Egyptian)

Sheni (verb) – encircle, enclose, come/be round

Shenu (noun) – cartouche