• Title/Summary/Keyword: Egypt, Ancient

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A Study on the Relationships between the Palmette Patterns on Carpets of Sassanid Persia and Silla Korea

  • Hyunjin, CHO
    • Acta Via Serica
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    • v.7 no.2
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    • pp.153-178
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    • 2022
  • This study analyzes the traces of East-West cultural exchange focusing on the palmette pattern expressed on Sassanid Persian and Silla Korean carpets. The results of the study are as follows. The palmette, which originated in ancient Egypt, is an imaginary flower made up of the transformation of a lotus, which combined with the Mesopotamian quadrant (四分法) and expanded to a four-leaf palmette and further to an eight-leaf palmette by applying the octant (八分法). The palmette, which was brought to Assyria, Achaemenid Persia, Parthia, Greece, and Rome, can be seen lavishly decorated with plant motifs characteristic of the region. Sassanid Persia inherited the tradition of the palmette pattern, which applied the quadrant and octant seen in several previous dynasties. On the one hand, it has evolved more splendidly by combining the twenty or twenty-one-leaf palmette and the traditional pearl-rounded pattern decoration of Sassanid Persia. These Sassanid Persian palmette patterns can be found through the palmette patterns depicted on the ceilings of the Dunhuang Grottoes located on the Silk Road. The palmette pattern of the Dunhuang Grottoes was expressed in the form of a fusion of Persian Zoroastrianism, Indian Buddhism, and indigenous religions. In the Tang Dynasty, it shows the typical palmette pattern of four and eight leaves in the medallion composition, which were mainly seen in Persian palmettes. The palmette pattern handed down to Silla can be found on a Silla carpet, estimated to be from around the 8th century, in the collection of Shoso-in (正倉院), Japan. The Silla carpet shows a unique Silla style using motifs such as peonies and young monks, which were popular in Silla while following the overall design of the Persian medallion.

Mysteries and truth of the Major Bibliocaust in the East and West (동서양 주요 비블리오코스트의 미스터리와 진상)

  • Hee-Yoon, Yoon
    • Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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    • v.56 no.4
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    • pp.29-49
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    • 2022
  • The book is a footnote of life and memory, a sign of knowledge and intelligence, including divinity and reason, idols and destruction, praise and curse, arrogance and prejudice, truth and falsehood. The past emperors, monarchs, priests, and rulers have been controlled or slaughtered by censorship and prohibition, burning and destruction, etc. In ancient history, archaeology, war history, cultural history, and library and information science, many studies have been conducted on the burning and destruction of books, but the Western perspective is dominant, and there are nationalistic approaches and logical leaps. This study traced the truth about the destruction of the Royal Library of Alexandria in Egypt, destruction of the Baghdad libraries by the Mongol Empire, and burning more than 200,000 volumes of Korean historical documents of Japanese Government-General in Korea among the major bibliocausts with many mysteries and controversial issues in the East and West. As a result, the Royal Library of Alexandria is most likely destroyed under the rule of the Roman Empire. The massacre of the Baghdad library by the Mongolian army is a historical fact, not the manipulation and extreme exaggeration of western society. And Korean historical documents have been stolen and burned by the Government-General of Chōsen for 35 years and should be recognized as '200,000 + α'. Lastly, On the premise of excavating historical materials, research to investigate the truth behind the blibiocaust or libricide should be continued.

An Investigation of Local Naming Issue of Phoenix dactylifera (대추야자나무(Phoenix dactylifera)의 명칭문제 고찰)

  • Kim, Young-Sook
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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    • v.36 no.1
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    • pp.34-44
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    • 2018
  • In the Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Judas, Greece, and Rome, Phoenix dactylifera was planted in gardens or orchards to signify life, blessing, and victory. Branches of Phoenix dactylifera, likened to high and precious, were referred to one of the gifts to the king in the second century BC and have been used in the Feast of Tabernacles. And they were engraved on the walls of the temple and along with cherub. Besides, Phoenix dactylifera is compared with a righteous person in the Bible since it grows straight despite strong winds. And, it was used as a symbol of honesty, justice, and right. Churches call the week before Easter Palm Sunday since the crowd laid the leaves of date palm trees on the road and shouted "Hosanna" while waving the date palm branches when Jesus entered Jerusalem. Moreover, pilgrim in the Middle Ages was called 'Palmer' in English due to custom of returning with the leaves and branches of date palm trees as a memorial of the Holy Land pilgrimage. This study analyzes naming issue of Phoenix dactylifera through the old literature and 27 versions of the most influential Bibles in History of Bible Translation in Korea, China, and Japan. Phoenix dactylifera is translated into Chinese as '棕櫚(Trachycarpus fortunei)', a native tree of China. 棕櫚 is similar to Phoenix dactylifera, but its fruit and leaf are quite distinct. This being so, translating Phoenix dactylifera as 棕櫚 has a limit to convey symbolic meaning adequately. In the Japanese Bible, on the other hand, Phoenix dactylifera is translated as 'なつめやし(Natsumeyashi)' meant date palm tree. Most of Protestant Bible in Korea use 'Jongryeo' like Chinese Bible while translation in Korean Catholic Bible(2005) varies from one scripture to another: 'Yaja Namu (Palm Tree)' - 38 times, 'Jongryeo Namu' - 5 times, and 'Daechu Yaja Namu (Date Palm Tree)' - 3 times. Date Palm Tree, 'Jongryeo Tree', and Palm Tree don't grow in Korea. However, they had long been recognized as Haejo(海棗), Jongryeo(?櫚), and Yaja(椰子) respectively through China and Japan. Each of them called by a distinct name correspond with its own characteristic and used separately in Korean Classics as Jongryeo and Haejo were identified in ancient Chinese literatures. It seems that more confusion was raised since 'Palm' was translated as 'Jongryeo' in several books including "?藤和英大辭典 (1915)", "Modern 朝鮮外來語辭典(1938)", and "Latin-Korean Dictionary(1995)". However, the Latin term 'Palmae' is translated into English as either palm tree or date palm. The results of this study suggest that more accurate translation of Phoenix dactylifera in the Bible would be 'Daechu Yaja Namu (Date Palm Tree)' and using different name fit for its own characteristic would be more appropriate.

An Investigation of Local Naming Issue of Tamarix aphylla (에셀나무(Tamarix aphylla)의 명칭문제에 대한 고찰)

  • Kim, Young-Sook
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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    • v.37 no.1
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    • pp.56-67
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    • 2019
  • In order to investigate the issue with the proper name of eshel(Tamarix aphylla) mentioned in the Bible, analysis of morphological taxonomy features of plants, studies on the symbolism of the Tamarix genus, analysis of examples in Korean classics and Chinese classics, and studies on the problems found in translations of Korean, Chinese and Japanese Bibles. The results are as follows. According to plant taxonomy, similar species of the Tamarix genus are differentiated by the leaf and flower, and because the size is very small about 2-4mm, it is difficult to differentiate by the naked eye. However, T. aphylla found in the plains of Israel and T. chinensis of China and Korea have distinctive differences in terms of the shape of the branch that droops and its blooming period. The Tamarix genus is a very precious tree that was planted in royal courtyards of ancient Mesopotamia and the Han(漢) Dynasty of China, and in ancient Egypt, it was said to be a tree that gave life to the dead. In the Bible, it was used as a sign of the covenant that God was with Abraham, and it also symbolized the prophet Samuel and the court of Samuel. When examining the example in Korean classics, the Tamarix genus was used as a common term in the Joseon Dynasty and it was often used as the medical term '$Ch{\bar{e}}ngli{\check{u}}$(檉柳)'. Meanwhile, the term 'wiseonglyu(渭城柳)' was used as a literary term. Upon researching the period and name of literature related to $Ch{\bar{e}}ngli{\check{u}}$(檉柳) among Chinese medicinal herb books, a total of 16 terms were used and among these terms, the term Chuísīliǔ(垂絲柳) used in the Chinese Bible cannot be found. There was no word called 'wiseonglyu(渭城柳)' that originated from the poem by Wang Wei(699-759) of Tang(唐) Dynasty and in fact, the word 'halyu(河柳)' that was related to Zhou(周) China. But when investigating the academic terms of China currently used, the words Chuísīliǔ(垂絲柳) and $Ch{\bar{e}}ngli{\check{u}}$(檉柳) are used equally, and therefore, it appears that the translation of eshel in the Chinese Bible as either Chuísīliǔ (垂絲柳) or $Ch{\bar{e}}ngli{\check{u}}$(檉柳) both appear to be of no issue. There were errors translating tamarix into 'やなぎ(willow)' in the Meiji Testaments(舊新約全書 1887), and translated correctly 'ぎょりゅう(檉柳)' since the Colloquial Japanese Bible(口語譯 聖書 1955). However, there are claims that 'gyoryu(ぎょりゅう 檉柳)' is not an indigenous species but an exotics species in the Edo Period, so it is necessary to reconsider the terminology. As apparent in the Korean classics examples analysis, there is high possibility that Korea's T. chinensis were grown in the Korean Peninsula for medicinal and gardening purposes. Therefore, the use of the medicinal term $Ch{\bar{e}}ngli{\check{u}}$(檉柳) or literary term 'wiseonglyu' in the Korean Bible may not be a big issue. However, the term 'wiseonglyu' is used very rarely even in China and as this may be connected to the admiration of China and Chinese things by literary persons of the Joseon Dynasty, so the use of this term should be reviewed carefully. Therefore, rather than using terms that may be of issue in the Bible, it is more feasible to transliterate the Hebrew word and call it eshel.

"A Study on Hebrews Clothing in the Old Testament" - Especially on Hair Styles, Headgears, Footwear and Personal Ornaments - (구약성서(舊約聖書)에 나타난 히브리인의 복식(服飾) - 두식(頭飾), 신발 및 장신구(裝身具) 중심(中心)으로 -)

  • Park, Chan-Boo
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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    • v.10
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    • pp.63-80
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    • 1986
  • The Old Testament cotains mention of the history of creation and clothing in ancient Hebrew. This study dealt with Hebrew dress customs especially aimed at the manners of their hair styles, headgears, footwear and personal ornaments. References are Korean Revised Version, English King James Version and Revised Standard Version. There is little mention of hair styles and headgears in the Old Testament. Some sort of turban was worn by priests, and soldiers protected themselves with helmets, but most Israelitish men went bareheaded except on special occasions and often wear simple headbands. It was more common for women to use headwear of some type-turbans, scarves, and veils concealing the face. The veil was the distinctive female wearing apparel. All females, with the exception of maidservants and women in a low condition of life, wore a veil. It was the custom for women to wear a veil entirely covering their head in the public. Through most of the Old Testament periods long and thick hair was admired on men and women alike. The Hebrews were proud to have thick and abundant long hair, and they gave much attention to the care of their hair. The caring of hair was deeply related to their rituals. Nazirites never took a razor to their hair during his vow-days, but instead let it grow long, as an offering to God. Men would not cut their beards, but allow them to grow long. The Israelites' standard footwear was a pair of simple leather sandals. This was one of the items of clothing not highly prized. In a colloquial saying of the time, a pair of shoes signified something of small value, and to be barefoot except in times of mourning or on holy place, was a sign either of extreme poverty or humiliation, as in the case of war prisoners. Because precious stones were not mined in the Palestine-Syria region, Hebrews imported them from foreign country. They were consumer-to a large degree limited by their very modest standard of living-but not producers. Hebrews liked the precious stones and were motivated to acquire and wear jewels. Besides their use for adornment and as gifts, the precious or semiprecious stones were regarded by Jews of property. The Hebrews were not innovators in the field of decorative arts. The prohibition of the Law against making any "graven image" precluded the development of painting, sculpture, and other forms of representational art. Jewish men did not indulge in extravagances of dress, and there was little ornamentation among them. Men wore a signet ring on their right hand or sometimes suspended by a cord or chain around the neck. The necklaces, when worn by a male, also bore any symbol of his authority. Bracelets were extremely popular with both men and women, men usually preferring to wear them on their upper arms. The girdle was a very useful part of a man's clothing. It was used as a waist belt, or used to fasten a man's sword to his body, or served as a pouch in which to keep money and other things. Men often carried a cane or staff, which would be ornamented at the top. Among the women there was more apt to be ornamentation than among the men. Hebrew women liked to deck themselves with jewels, and ornamentation of the bride were specially luxurious and numerous. They wore rings on their fingers or On toes, ankle rings, earrings, nosering, necklace, bracelets. Their shapes were of cresent, waterdrops, scarab, insect, animal or plant. Sometimes those were used as amulets. They were made of ceramics, gold, silver, bronze, iron, and various precious stones which were mostly imported from Egypt and Sinai peninsular. Hebrews were given many religious regulations by Moses Law on their hair, headgears, sandals and ornamentation. Their clothing were deeply related with their customs especially with their religions and rituals. Hebrew religion was of monotheism and of revealed religion. Their religious leaders, the prophets who was inspired by God might need such many religious regulations to lead the idol oriented people to God through them.

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