DOVE GODDESS
Sophia, Shekinah,
Sophia, Shekinah,
In the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean world, the dove became an iconic symbol of the mother goddess. The Sumerian mother-goddess Ishtar is often portrayed as holding a pigeon. The ancient Phoenicians associated Astarte, the goddess of love and fertility, with the dove. The Greek goddess Aphrodite and the Roman goddess Venus were both symbolically represented by doves. The Spirit of the Dove, Shekenah--Holy Spirit--lives in this tale.
Small clay shrines from the Iron Age Levant depict doves perched atop the doorways of these mini-temples. On one example from Cyprus, the entire exterior of the goddess’s shrine is covered with dovecotes. The doves represented feminine fertility and procreation, and came to be well-recognized symbols of the Canaanite goddess Asherah and her counterpart Astarte, as well as her Phoenician and later Punic embodiment, Tanit. First-century B.C. coins from Ashkelon bore a dove, which represented both the goddess Tyche-Astarte and the city mint. In Rome and throughout the Empire, goddesses such as Venus and Fortunata could be seen depicted in statues with a dove resting in their hand or on their head.
There is strong evidence in the Hebrew Bible, as well as the archaeological record, that many ancient Israelites believed the goddess Asherah was the consort of their god Yahweh. Perhaps it is not so surprising, then, that the heirs of this Israelite religion incorporated the “feminine” symbol of the dove to represent the spirit of God (the word for “spirit,” ruach, is a feminine word in Hebrew). The Babylonian Talmud likens the hovering of God’s spirit in Genesis 1:2 to the hovering of a dove. Indeed, this same “hovering” language is used to describe God’s spirit in the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as the New Testament. In Greece a dove is said to have inaugurated the oracle of Dodona, a mother-goddess.
Small clay shrines from the Iron Age Levant depict doves perched atop the doorways of these mini-temples. On one example from Cyprus, the entire exterior of the goddess’s shrine is covered with dovecotes. The doves represented feminine fertility and procreation, and came to be well-recognized symbols of the Canaanite goddess Asherah and her counterpart Astarte, as well as her Phoenician and later Punic embodiment, Tanit. First-century B.C. coins from Ashkelon bore a dove, which represented both the goddess Tyche-Astarte and the city mint. In Rome and throughout the Empire, goddesses such as Venus and Fortunata could be seen depicted in statues with a dove resting in their hand or on their head.
There is strong evidence in the Hebrew Bible, as well as the archaeological record, that many ancient Israelites believed the goddess Asherah was the consort of their god Yahweh. Perhaps it is not so surprising, then, that the heirs of this Israelite religion incorporated the “feminine” symbol of the dove to represent the spirit of God (the word for “spirit,” ruach, is a feminine word in Hebrew). The Babylonian Talmud likens the hovering of God’s spirit in Genesis 1:2 to the hovering of a dove. Indeed, this same “hovering” language is used to describe God’s spirit in the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as the New Testament. In Greece a dove is said to have inaugurated the oracle of Dodona, a mother-goddess.
The Dove
By Norman A. Rubin
The Dove was, by far, one of the most important birds in the Bible. For it was the poor man’s sacrifice and widely kept as a domestic bird. Various cultures and religions conceived of birds, the denizens of the heavens, as divine revelations, and the bearers of heavenly messages of guidance. The bird was man’s soul or spirit as it was released from the body in ecstasy or in death. It was seen as the embodiment of liberty and the transcendence of the soul, the victory spirit over matter. Thus, birds were often associated with godliness, immortality, power, victory, and kingship. (The affinity between birds and sacred places is seen to this day, as is evidence in the large numbers of cooing pigeons at mosques throughout the Levant and North Africa.)
In the Ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman world, birds ... mainly doves (1) ... were charged with complex symbolic significance as manifestations of the Godhead. In the Ancient Near East, the dove was a symbol of a female deity of love and fecundity: Ishtar, Astarte, Tanit, Anat, ‘Ata, and Atargis. To the Ancient Greeks, the dove was perceived as Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, and thus also invested with erotic connotations. As an attribute of the fertility goddess, the dove became a symbol of love between human beings, and between the deity and the worshipers. The Cyprians believed that Aphrodite (Anadomyne) rose from the sea, as she was born from an egg, brooded by a dove, and finally pushed ashore by a fish.
White doves were well regarded during the Roman period, and were depicted in various forms of mosaics. The Romans sacrificed doves to Venus, the goddess of love and fertility. Ovid and others wrote about riding in a dove-drawn chariot. Roman worship of Venus was, to a large extent, derived from the Phoenician sanctuary Eryx, where the dove was revered by the goddess Astarte. The dove was also considered sacred to Adonis and Bacchus as the "First Begotten of Love." In later history, Giovana de Medici adopted two caged turtle-doves as her symbol to represent conjugal fidelity.
In ancient Levant, doves were sacred to all great Mothers and Queens, and of Heaven, the mother of all, who nourished the earth. "In the heavens I take my place and send rain, on the earth I take my place and cause the green to spring forth." From Mesopotamia to the Greco-Roman world, the Great Mother was seen as the symbol of fertility, the renewal of life for both man and the fruits of the earth. Babylon was the city of the dove. There, the goddess Semiramis was symbolized as a dove ... the form she was supposed to have assumed on leaving the earth.
The dove, like other birds with religious associations, came to be regarded as oracular. The poet Virgil tells how two doves guided the god Aeneas (the Trojan warrior) to the gloomy vale in whose depths the Golden Bough grew on a holm oak(also known as the "holly oak"): The doves alighted upon the tree "whence shone a flickering gleam of gold ..." At Dadona in Greece, poetic oracles were listened for in the oak groves and prophetic trances initiated by the "Black-Dove" priestess. It was the dove that whispered in the ear of the prophet Mohammed and was his oracle.
In Judaism, the dive signified the love of God for His Chosen People, the Israelites. White doves, signs of purity, were sacrificial offerings offered for purification at the Temple in Jerusalem. The Old Testament symbolized the dove in various forms. The dove was frequently used in the "Song of Songs," largely to convey terms of endearment: in their behavior, the doves paired for a long time. "Oh how beautiful, your eyes are like doves ..." (Songs 1: 15). "Oh that I had wings of a dove to fly away and be at rest ..." (Psalm 55: 6).
The Hebrew word for dove is Yonah (2), coming from the root meaning of a moaning sound, "I moan like a dove" (Is 38: 14). This would explain the call of many species of doves. The turtle-dove (Tor in Hebrew) (3) is by far the most common of the dove species. In April, the shepherds of ancient Israel noted their passage in their annual migration. "And the turtle-dove, swift and crane, keep the time of coming ..." (Jer. 8:7). (In late April and May, the turtle-dove, along with other birds, fly from Africa to Europe via Israel, and in the late Fall, they make their return to Africa.)
"My dove, that hides in holes in the cliff or in crannies on the high ledges" (Songs 2: 14) is a confirmation of their nesting habits. Doves make nests of twigs and scraps of debris, sometimes on rocks or in holes in cliffs, but mostly in trees and bushes. Jeremiah’s simile in the "Judgment of Moab," telling the people "to be like a ‘dove’ that makes its nest inside the hole’s mouth," confirms the nesting habit of the bird in ancient times.
In Christian lore and tradition (4), the dove is usually the symbol of the Holy Spirit or "heavenly messenger," particularly found in portrayals of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary. It is also seen denoting the Holy Spirit descending on Christ at His Baptism: "He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove to alight upon Him ..." (Matt. 3: 16-17). Later on, in Matt. 10: 16, "be wary as serpents, innocent as doves," seems to imply the meaning of gentleness.
Christian art depicts the dove as hovering over the Virgin Mary’s head, symbolizing Mary’s submissive innocence. Numerous saints have also been depicted with hovering doves (sign of Divine inspiration), such as St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Fabian, St. Gregory the Great, St. Louis, and St. Dustan. In early Christian paintings, the dove’s head is surrounded by a "Golden Nimbus," frequently seen in the form of a corss or of seven rays terminating in seven stars to symbolize the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The dove also became the Christian symbol of "Peace" as seen in the catacombs of Rome. Figured on tombs and sarcophagi, the dove also represented grief and martyrdom.
All such conceptualizations were derived from close observation and familiarity of (pigeons) doves, and from an intimate understanding of its physiological characteristics. The dove was probably the earliest creature to be domesticated by man, for they were easy to raise. From historical records, it was clear that they were domesticated in several, independently different, places in the ancient world. The dove was found in the early Dynasties of ancient Egypt. The first record of its use as a table bird was found in the IV Dynasty (2500 BC). Evidence of an earlier period is seen in the terra cotta dove of Mesopotamia (4500 BC). Some authorities speculated that the dove (pigeon) was first domesticated for food. Leter, it cebame important for sacrificial rites. The Talmud (Commentaries on the Bible) stated that no birds were more persecuted that turtle doves and young pigeons — yet the Bible regarded them as worthy of being offered upon the altar (BK 93A).
Doves (pigeons) were also the only domesticated birds kept in large numbers by the Israelites. It became fashionable, at the time, to build huge dovecotes on the ledges inside the walls. King Herod was referred to as a breeder of doves, as recorded by Josephus the Jewish Historian. During the Roman period, historical references mentioned that these dovecotes sometimes housed as many as 5000 birds. Even large caves were adapted for this purpose. E.g. An example can still be seen in the Judean Hills near Beit Guvrin.
Relationship of doves within the flock, as well as with man, inspired images of love. The representation of lovers clearly was a reflection of the monogamous faithfulness of a dove couple that jointly raised their brood. The homing instincts of doves (pigeons) suggested the image that the bird was a harbinger of good tidings — like the dove in the story of the Flood. "She came back to him towards evening with a newly plucked olive leaf in her beak ..." (Gen. 7: 11).
This characteristic is why pigeons (doves) served both as navigational functions as well as message bearers. The earliest records showed that four doves or pigeons were sent in different directions to mark to coronation of Rameses III in 1204 BC. (It was not suggested that they might have carried messages.) The birds were widely used by the Romans in sending messages. Emperor Nero even used them to send results of the games to his friends.
In Central America, there is an orchid called the dove-plant (or Holy Ghost plant), revered by the pious natives because of its resemblance to a dove with outstretched wings ... the symbol of the Holy Ghost.
The image of the dove in iconography evolved from the cultures of the ancient Near East and spread to western cultures (5). The Dove, with time became a powerful symbol in religious traditions. It was used as a messenger, for sporting purposes, even becoming a well loved pet.
NOTES:
(1) Doves (order of Columbiformes, family of Columbidae) are medium-sized, rather heavy birds with pointed wings and rather long tails. Their plumage varies in color from the olive-brown body, bluish-grey wings of the ‘rock-dove,’ to the speckled brown wing feathers and stripped neck pattern of the ‘turtle-dove’ (genus-Streptopelia). White varieties are known and are presented symbolically.
(2) The Hebrew word ‘Yonah’ is mentioned twenty times in the Scriptures, meaning ‘dove,’ and ten times referring to ‘pigeons.’
(3) "and the turtle-dove’s cooing will ne heard in the land ..." The turtle dove’s mating season begins in early May. Then the male produces a very peculiar sound - "tirrr, tirrr" - which sounds like ‘tor,’ the Hebrew word for turtle. Hence, the English word, turtle dove.
(4) The figure of a dove with a palm branch in its beak is a symbol of victory over death. Christian tradition depicts a white dove as a saved soul, the purified. The black raven, just the opposite, is cast as sin.
(5) To Western tradition, the ‘dove’ symbolizes innocence, a love messenger, gentleness, and a harbinger of peace.
© copyright 1999
The Dove in Symbolism
Here's an informative and reader-friendly article on the meaning of the dove, a very ancient symbol for the Mother Goddess, in ancient cultures in the Middle East from Biblical Archaeology online. Image: Walters Art Museum, Baltimore In addition to its symbolism for the Holy Spirit, the dove was a popular Christian symbol before the cross rose to prominence in the fourth century. The dove continued to be used for various church implements throughout the Byzantine and medieval period, including the form of oil lamps and this 13th-century altar piece for holding the Eucharistic bread. The Enduring Symbolism of Doves From Ancient Icon to Biblical Mainstay by Dorothy D. Resig Few symbols have a tradition as long and as rich as the dove. A particular favorite in art and iconography, the dove often represents some aspect of the divine, and its use has been shared, adapted and reinterpreted across cultures and millennia to suit changing belief systems. From the ancient world to modern times, this simple bird developed layer upon layer of meaning and interpretive significance, making it a complex and powerful addition to religious texts and visual representations. Image: Naos, Ardon Bar Hama. A dove and two bird-like female figures perch atop this clay house shrine from the Iron Age. The dove was widely recognized throughout the Ancient Near Eastern world as a symbol of the mother goddess Asherah and her counterparts Astarte and Tanit. In the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean world, the dove became an iconic symbol of the mother goddess. Small clay shrines from the Iron Age Levant depict doves perched atop the doorways of these mini-temples. On one example from Cyprus, the entire exterior of the goddess’s shrine is covered with dovecotes. The doves represented feminine fertility and procreation, and came to be well-recognized symbols of the Canaanite goddess Asherah and her counterpart Astarte, as well as her Phoenician and later Punic embodiment, Tanit. First-century B.C. coins from Ashkelon bore a dove, which represented both the goddess Tyche-Astarte and the city mint. In Rome and throughout the Empire, goddesses such as Venus and Fortunata could be seen depicted in statues with a dove resting in their hand or on their head.
Dove Goddess
by Dr Alena Trckova-Flamee, Ph.D.
Without doubt birds, and especially doves, played an important role in Minoan belief. According to a current interpretation, doves could be understood as embodiment (epiphany) of a divinity, a representation of a goddess in a bird form nearby her sacred place - a shrine or on a tree. This idea can be supported with literature: according to Homer the goddess was able to take on the shape of a bird. From the Early Minoan period the libation vases and amulets or models in a bird form existed in Crete and they were used for a ritual reason. We can observe a shape of bird even among the signs on the famous Phaistos Disc. The clay models of birds and their images on the ritual vessels are also amongst the regular furnishings of the shrines like those at Knossos, Gournia or at Karphi. The type of these birds has been a subject of long discussions between scholars, but usually they are considered as representing doves.From the Old Palace of Knossos a model of the so-called "Dove Shrine Deposit" shows three pillars with capitals and beams, on which three doves are sitting. Two doves are incised in a stone vessel used as an offering table in Phaistos and some doves are pictured also sitting on the double axes at a sacrifice scene on the sarcophagus from Hagia Triada. Finally, the doves with the other sacred symbols are surrounding the clay figurines with upraised hands and cylinder-shaped bodies from the Late Minoan civic and rural shrines from Gortyn, Gournia, Knossos and Karphi. Some of these figurines with the birds sitting on their head or perching near of their body are called as a representation of the Dove Goddess. The doves are interpreted as an emblem of a celestial goddess and are a symbol of her heavenly power, contradictory to a snake, which has been regarded as an underworld aspect of the goddess and a symbol of her earthly power. But mainly in the Late Minoan period the sacerdotal symbols are mixed as the ritual objects and figurines, discovered from the shrines, are proving. The models of birds were found on the same places together with the snake tubes. One of the figurines from the shrine at Gortys is represented with a bird flying close to her cheek, while she is holding the snakes in her hands.
Unfortunately, we cannot identify the so-called Minoan Dove Goddess from Crete explicitly as a celestial goddess, having not enough material supporting this idea. But this is sure that the Dove Goddess was linked to the Snake and Poppy Goddesses, who are connected with the household role in Crete. All of these divinities were worshipped in the Late Minoan civic and rural shrines, where the traditional Minoan religious cults were kept alive.
It is not clear if the dove was only a symbol of a divinity or an attribute for a certain goddess in the Pre-Hellenic mythology. As well, we have no evidence if in the Minoan religion only one universal goddess was worshipped with various aspects, or if many goddesses shared a spiritual realm and governed over the sacred world of these people. The symbol of the dove spread out from Crete to the mainland of Greece and to Cyprus and to the other Aegean places.
In the Mycenaean iconography the doves appear as early as in the second half of the 16th century BCE. But the unique golden ornaments of a naked goddess and a tripartite shrine, surrounded by the doves from Mycenae, are interpreted as foreign imports. Bird pictures exists in the Mycenaean iconography more often from the end of 14th century BCE and were becoming a common decoration in the 12th century BCE. This motif is interpreted mostly as the symbol of epiphany of a goddess, similarly like in Crete. But we have no prove that in the Mycenaean mythology the same believing existed as in Crete and we can not attribute a dove to some Mycenaean goddess. Also it has to be mentioned that many different kinds of birds are represented in the Mycenaean memories, in which specially the water animals have a priority. Concluding we have to point out that the dove is connected with the sacred places and used as an offering, created from an expensive material in the Elamic culture in ancient Iran. So, we can suppose, that all of these sources mentioned here -- the Minoan, the Mycenaean and the Oriental played a role, when a dove came into the Greek and Roman mythology as one of the attributes of the goddess of Love - Aphrodite.
Sophia is often symbolized by the Dove of Aphrodite, which later became the dove representing the Holy Spirit.
The dove appeared to the Virgin Mary in the form of the Virgin of Light, entered her and conceived Jesus. In this sense, Sophia attempted again, in to form of a man, to be united with the mortals she so loved.
By Norman A. Rubin
The Dove was, by far, one of the most important birds in the Bible. For it was the poor man’s sacrifice and widely kept as a domestic bird. Various cultures and religions conceived of birds, the denizens of the heavens, as divine revelations, and the bearers of heavenly messages of guidance. The bird was man’s soul or spirit as it was released from the body in ecstasy or in death. It was seen as the embodiment of liberty and the transcendence of the soul, the victory spirit over matter. Thus, birds were often associated with godliness, immortality, power, victory, and kingship. (The affinity between birds and sacred places is seen to this day, as is evidence in the large numbers of cooing pigeons at mosques throughout the Levant and North Africa.)
In the Ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman world, birds ... mainly doves (1) ... were charged with complex symbolic significance as manifestations of the Godhead. In the Ancient Near East, the dove was a symbol of a female deity of love and fecundity: Ishtar, Astarte, Tanit, Anat, ‘Ata, and Atargis. To the Ancient Greeks, the dove was perceived as Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, and thus also invested with erotic connotations. As an attribute of the fertility goddess, the dove became a symbol of love between human beings, and between the deity and the worshipers. The Cyprians believed that Aphrodite (Anadomyne) rose from the sea, as she was born from an egg, brooded by a dove, and finally pushed ashore by a fish.
White doves were well regarded during the Roman period, and were depicted in various forms of mosaics. The Romans sacrificed doves to Venus, the goddess of love and fertility. Ovid and others wrote about riding in a dove-drawn chariot. Roman worship of Venus was, to a large extent, derived from the Phoenician sanctuary Eryx, where the dove was revered by the goddess Astarte. The dove was also considered sacred to Adonis and Bacchus as the "First Begotten of Love." In later history, Giovana de Medici adopted two caged turtle-doves as her symbol to represent conjugal fidelity.
In ancient Levant, doves were sacred to all great Mothers and Queens, and of Heaven, the mother of all, who nourished the earth. "In the heavens I take my place and send rain, on the earth I take my place and cause the green to spring forth." From Mesopotamia to the Greco-Roman world, the Great Mother was seen as the symbol of fertility, the renewal of life for both man and the fruits of the earth. Babylon was the city of the dove. There, the goddess Semiramis was symbolized as a dove ... the form she was supposed to have assumed on leaving the earth.
The dove, like other birds with religious associations, came to be regarded as oracular. The poet Virgil tells how two doves guided the god Aeneas (the Trojan warrior) to the gloomy vale in whose depths the Golden Bough grew on a holm oak(also known as the "holly oak"): The doves alighted upon the tree "whence shone a flickering gleam of gold ..." At Dadona in Greece, poetic oracles were listened for in the oak groves and prophetic trances initiated by the "Black-Dove" priestess. It was the dove that whispered in the ear of the prophet Mohammed and was his oracle.
In Judaism, the dive signified the love of God for His Chosen People, the Israelites. White doves, signs of purity, were sacrificial offerings offered for purification at the Temple in Jerusalem. The Old Testament symbolized the dove in various forms. The dove was frequently used in the "Song of Songs," largely to convey terms of endearment: in their behavior, the doves paired for a long time. "Oh how beautiful, your eyes are like doves ..." (Songs 1: 15). "Oh that I had wings of a dove to fly away and be at rest ..." (Psalm 55: 6).
The Hebrew word for dove is Yonah (2), coming from the root meaning of a moaning sound, "I moan like a dove" (Is 38: 14). This would explain the call of many species of doves. The turtle-dove (Tor in Hebrew) (3) is by far the most common of the dove species. In April, the shepherds of ancient Israel noted their passage in their annual migration. "And the turtle-dove, swift and crane, keep the time of coming ..." (Jer. 8:7). (In late April and May, the turtle-dove, along with other birds, fly from Africa to Europe via Israel, and in the late Fall, they make their return to Africa.)
"My dove, that hides in holes in the cliff or in crannies on the high ledges" (Songs 2: 14) is a confirmation of their nesting habits. Doves make nests of twigs and scraps of debris, sometimes on rocks or in holes in cliffs, but mostly in trees and bushes. Jeremiah’s simile in the "Judgment of Moab," telling the people "to be like a ‘dove’ that makes its nest inside the hole’s mouth," confirms the nesting habit of the bird in ancient times.
In Christian lore and tradition (4), the dove is usually the symbol of the Holy Spirit or "heavenly messenger," particularly found in portrayals of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary. It is also seen denoting the Holy Spirit descending on Christ at His Baptism: "He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove to alight upon Him ..." (Matt. 3: 16-17). Later on, in Matt. 10: 16, "be wary as serpents, innocent as doves," seems to imply the meaning of gentleness.
Christian art depicts the dove as hovering over the Virgin Mary’s head, symbolizing Mary’s submissive innocence. Numerous saints have also been depicted with hovering doves (sign of Divine inspiration), such as St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Fabian, St. Gregory the Great, St. Louis, and St. Dustan. In early Christian paintings, the dove’s head is surrounded by a "Golden Nimbus," frequently seen in the form of a corss or of seven rays terminating in seven stars to symbolize the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The dove also became the Christian symbol of "Peace" as seen in the catacombs of Rome. Figured on tombs and sarcophagi, the dove also represented grief and martyrdom.
All such conceptualizations were derived from close observation and familiarity of (pigeons) doves, and from an intimate understanding of its physiological characteristics. The dove was probably the earliest creature to be domesticated by man, for they were easy to raise. From historical records, it was clear that they were domesticated in several, independently different, places in the ancient world. The dove was found in the early Dynasties of ancient Egypt. The first record of its use as a table bird was found in the IV Dynasty (2500 BC). Evidence of an earlier period is seen in the terra cotta dove of Mesopotamia (4500 BC). Some authorities speculated that the dove (pigeon) was first domesticated for food. Leter, it cebame important for sacrificial rites. The Talmud (Commentaries on the Bible) stated that no birds were more persecuted that turtle doves and young pigeons — yet the Bible regarded them as worthy of being offered upon the altar (BK 93A).
Doves (pigeons) were also the only domesticated birds kept in large numbers by the Israelites. It became fashionable, at the time, to build huge dovecotes on the ledges inside the walls. King Herod was referred to as a breeder of doves, as recorded by Josephus the Jewish Historian. During the Roman period, historical references mentioned that these dovecotes sometimes housed as many as 5000 birds. Even large caves were adapted for this purpose. E.g. An example can still be seen in the Judean Hills near Beit Guvrin.
Relationship of doves within the flock, as well as with man, inspired images of love. The representation of lovers clearly was a reflection of the monogamous faithfulness of a dove couple that jointly raised their brood. The homing instincts of doves (pigeons) suggested the image that the bird was a harbinger of good tidings — like the dove in the story of the Flood. "She came back to him towards evening with a newly plucked olive leaf in her beak ..." (Gen. 7: 11).
This characteristic is why pigeons (doves) served both as navigational functions as well as message bearers. The earliest records showed that four doves or pigeons were sent in different directions to mark to coronation of Rameses III in 1204 BC. (It was not suggested that they might have carried messages.) The birds were widely used by the Romans in sending messages. Emperor Nero even used them to send results of the games to his friends.
In Central America, there is an orchid called the dove-plant (or Holy Ghost plant), revered by the pious natives because of its resemblance to a dove with outstretched wings ... the symbol of the Holy Ghost.
The image of the dove in iconography evolved from the cultures of the ancient Near East and spread to western cultures (5). The Dove, with time became a powerful symbol in religious traditions. It was used as a messenger, for sporting purposes, even becoming a well loved pet.
NOTES:
(1) Doves (order of Columbiformes, family of Columbidae) are medium-sized, rather heavy birds with pointed wings and rather long tails. Their plumage varies in color from the olive-brown body, bluish-grey wings of the ‘rock-dove,’ to the speckled brown wing feathers and stripped neck pattern of the ‘turtle-dove’ (genus-Streptopelia). White varieties are known and are presented symbolically.
(2) The Hebrew word ‘Yonah’ is mentioned twenty times in the Scriptures, meaning ‘dove,’ and ten times referring to ‘pigeons.’
(3) "and the turtle-dove’s cooing will ne heard in the land ..." The turtle dove’s mating season begins in early May. Then the male produces a very peculiar sound - "tirrr, tirrr" - which sounds like ‘tor,’ the Hebrew word for turtle. Hence, the English word, turtle dove.
(4) The figure of a dove with a palm branch in its beak is a symbol of victory over death. Christian tradition depicts a white dove as a saved soul, the purified. The black raven, just the opposite, is cast as sin.
(5) To Western tradition, the ‘dove’ symbolizes innocence, a love messenger, gentleness, and a harbinger of peace.
© copyright 1999
The Dove in Symbolism
Here's an informative and reader-friendly article on the meaning of the dove, a very ancient symbol for the Mother Goddess, in ancient cultures in the Middle East from Biblical Archaeology online. Image: Walters Art Museum, Baltimore In addition to its symbolism for the Holy Spirit, the dove was a popular Christian symbol before the cross rose to prominence in the fourth century. The dove continued to be used for various church implements throughout the Byzantine and medieval period, including the form of oil lamps and this 13th-century altar piece for holding the Eucharistic bread. The Enduring Symbolism of Doves From Ancient Icon to Biblical Mainstay by Dorothy D. Resig Few symbols have a tradition as long and as rich as the dove. A particular favorite in art and iconography, the dove often represents some aspect of the divine, and its use has been shared, adapted and reinterpreted across cultures and millennia to suit changing belief systems. From the ancient world to modern times, this simple bird developed layer upon layer of meaning and interpretive significance, making it a complex and powerful addition to religious texts and visual representations. Image: Naos, Ardon Bar Hama. A dove and two bird-like female figures perch atop this clay house shrine from the Iron Age. The dove was widely recognized throughout the Ancient Near Eastern world as a symbol of the mother goddess Asherah and her counterparts Astarte and Tanit. In the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean world, the dove became an iconic symbol of the mother goddess. Small clay shrines from the Iron Age Levant depict doves perched atop the doorways of these mini-temples. On one example from Cyprus, the entire exterior of the goddess’s shrine is covered with dovecotes. The doves represented feminine fertility and procreation, and came to be well-recognized symbols of the Canaanite goddess Asherah and her counterpart Astarte, as well as her Phoenician and later Punic embodiment, Tanit. First-century B.C. coins from Ashkelon bore a dove, which represented both the goddess Tyche-Astarte and the city mint. In Rome and throughout the Empire, goddesses such as Venus and Fortunata could be seen depicted in statues with a dove resting in their hand or on their head.
Dove Goddess
by Dr Alena Trckova-Flamee, Ph.D.
Without doubt birds, and especially doves, played an important role in Minoan belief. According to a current interpretation, doves could be understood as embodiment (epiphany) of a divinity, a representation of a goddess in a bird form nearby her sacred place - a shrine or on a tree. This idea can be supported with literature: according to Homer the goddess was able to take on the shape of a bird. From the Early Minoan period the libation vases and amulets or models in a bird form existed in Crete and they were used for a ritual reason. We can observe a shape of bird even among the signs on the famous Phaistos Disc. The clay models of birds and their images on the ritual vessels are also amongst the regular furnishings of the shrines like those at Knossos, Gournia or at Karphi. The type of these birds has been a subject of long discussions between scholars, but usually they are considered as representing doves.From the Old Palace of Knossos a model of the so-called "Dove Shrine Deposit" shows three pillars with capitals and beams, on which three doves are sitting. Two doves are incised in a stone vessel used as an offering table in Phaistos and some doves are pictured also sitting on the double axes at a sacrifice scene on the sarcophagus from Hagia Triada. Finally, the doves with the other sacred symbols are surrounding the clay figurines with upraised hands and cylinder-shaped bodies from the Late Minoan civic and rural shrines from Gortyn, Gournia, Knossos and Karphi. Some of these figurines with the birds sitting on their head or perching near of their body are called as a representation of the Dove Goddess. The doves are interpreted as an emblem of a celestial goddess and are a symbol of her heavenly power, contradictory to a snake, which has been regarded as an underworld aspect of the goddess and a symbol of her earthly power. But mainly in the Late Minoan period the sacerdotal symbols are mixed as the ritual objects and figurines, discovered from the shrines, are proving. The models of birds were found on the same places together with the snake tubes. One of the figurines from the shrine at Gortys is represented with a bird flying close to her cheek, while she is holding the snakes in her hands.
Unfortunately, we cannot identify the so-called Minoan Dove Goddess from Crete explicitly as a celestial goddess, having not enough material supporting this idea. But this is sure that the Dove Goddess was linked to the Snake and Poppy Goddesses, who are connected with the household role in Crete. All of these divinities were worshipped in the Late Minoan civic and rural shrines, where the traditional Minoan religious cults were kept alive.
It is not clear if the dove was only a symbol of a divinity or an attribute for a certain goddess in the Pre-Hellenic mythology. As well, we have no evidence if in the Minoan religion only one universal goddess was worshipped with various aspects, or if many goddesses shared a spiritual realm and governed over the sacred world of these people. The symbol of the dove spread out from Crete to the mainland of Greece and to Cyprus and to the other Aegean places.
In the Mycenaean iconography the doves appear as early as in the second half of the 16th century BCE. But the unique golden ornaments of a naked goddess and a tripartite shrine, surrounded by the doves from Mycenae, are interpreted as foreign imports. Bird pictures exists in the Mycenaean iconography more often from the end of 14th century BCE and were becoming a common decoration in the 12th century BCE. This motif is interpreted mostly as the symbol of epiphany of a goddess, similarly like in Crete. But we have no prove that in the Mycenaean mythology the same believing existed as in Crete and we can not attribute a dove to some Mycenaean goddess. Also it has to be mentioned that many different kinds of birds are represented in the Mycenaean memories, in which specially the water animals have a priority. Concluding we have to point out that the dove is connected with the sacred places and used as an offering, created from an expensive material in the Elamic culture in ancient Iran. So, we can suppose, that all of these sources mentioned here -- the Minoan, the Mycenaean and the Oriental played a role, when a dove came into the Greek and Roman mythology as one of the attributes of the goddess of Love - Aphrodite.
Sophia is often symbolized by the Dove of Aphrodite, which later became the dove representing the Holy Spirit.
The dove appeared to the Virgin Mary in the form of the Virgin of Light, entered her and conceived Jesus. In this sense, Sophia attempted again, in to form of a man, to be united with the mortals she so loved.
DOVE OF THE CHURCH
Not to be confused with Columbanus, the Irish missionary monk who founded monasteries in France and Italy.
For other uses, see Columba (disambiguation) and Saint Columba (disambiguation).
Saint Columba
Saint Columba, Apostle to the Picts
Apostle of the Picts
Born7 December 521
Gartan, County Donegal, Ireland
Died9 June 597 (aged 75)
Iona, Scotland
Venerated inOrthodox Church
Roman Catholic Church
Lutheran Church
Anglican Communion
Presbyterian Church
Major shrineIona, Scotland
Feast9 June
Attributesmonk's robes, Celtic tonsure and crosier.
PatronageDerry, floods, bookbinders, poets, Ireland, Scotland.Saint Columba (Irish: Colm Cille, 'church dove';[a][1][2] 7 December 521 – 9 June 597) was an Irish abbot and missionary credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey on Iona, which became a dominant religious and political institution in the region for centuries. He is the Patron Saint of Derry. He was highly regarded by both the Gaels of Dál Riata and the Picts, and is remembered today as a Christian saint and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.[3]
Columba reportedly[by whom?] studied under some of Ireland's most prominent church figures and founded several monasteries in the country. Around 563 he and his twelve companions crossed to Dunaverty near Southend, Argyll in Kintyre before settling in Iona in Scotland, then part of the Irish kingdom of Dál Riata, where they founded a new abbey as a base for spreading Christianity among the northern Pictish kingdoms[4][5] who were pagan. He remained active in Irish politics, though he spent most of the remainder of his life in Scotland. Three surviving early medieval Latin hymns may be attributed to him.In 563, he travelled to Scotland with twelve companions (said to include Odran of Iona) in a wicker currach covered with leather. According to legend he first landed on the Kintyre Peninsula, near Southend. However, being still in sight of his native land, he moved farther north up the west coast of Scotland. The island of Iona was made over to him by his kinsman Conall mac Comgaill King of Dál Riata, who perhaps had invited him to come to Scotland in the first place.[11] However, there is a sense in which he was not leaving his native people, as the Irish Gaels had been colonising the west coast of Scotland for the previous couple of centuries.[13] Aside from the services he provided guiding the only centre of literacy in the region, his reputation as a holy man led to his role as a diplomat among the tribes.[14] There are also many stories of miracles which he performed during his work to convert the Picts, the most famous being his encounter with an unidentified animal that some have equated with the Loch Ness Monster in 565. It is said that he banished a ferocious "water beast" to the depths of the River Ness after it had killed a Pict and then tried to attack Columba's disciple (see Vita Columbae Book 2 below). He visited the pagan King Bridei, King of Fortriu, at his base in Inverness, winning the Bridei's respect, although not his conversion. He subsequently played a major role in the politics of the country. He was also very energetic in his work as a missionary, and, in addition to founding several churches in the Hebrides, he worked to turn his monastery at Iona into a school for missionaries. He was a renowned man of letters, having written several hymns and being credited with having transcribed 300 books. One of the few, if not the only, times he left Scotland was towards the end of his life, when he returned to Ireland to found the monastery at Durrow.
Columba died on Iona and was buried in 597 by his monks in the abbey he created. In 794 the Vikings descended on Iona. Columba's relics were finally removed in 849 and divided between Scotland and Ireland.[15] The parts of the relics which went to Ireland are reputed to be buried in Downpatrick, County Down, with St. Patrick and St. Brigid or at Saul Church neighbouring Downpatrick. (Names of Iona), Inchcolm and Eilean Chaluim Chille.
Not to be confused with Columbanus, the Irish missionary monk who founded monasteries in France and Italy.
For other uses, see Columba (disambiguation) and Saint Columba (disambiguation).
Saint Columba
Saint Columba, Apostle to the Picts
Apostle of the Picts
Born7 December 521
Gartan, County Donegal, Ireland
Died9 June 597 (aged 75)
Iona, Scotland
Venerated inOrthodox Church
Roman Catholic Church
Lutheran Church
Anglican Communion
Presbyterian Church
Major shrineIona, Scotland
Feast9 June
Attributesmonk's robes, Celtic tonsure and crosier.
PatronageDerry, floods, bookbinders, poets, Ireland, Scotland.Saint Columba (Irish: Colm Cille, 'church dove';[a][1][2] 7 December 521 – 9 June 597) was an Irish abbot and missionary credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey on Iona, which became a dominant religious and political institution in the region for centuries. He is the Patron Saint of Derry. He was highly regarded by both the Gaels of Dál Riata and the Picts, and is remembered today as a Christian saint and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.[3]
Columba reportedly[by whom?] studied under some of Ireland's most prominent church figures and founded several monasteries in the country. Around 563 he and his twelve companions crossed to Dunaverty near Southend, Argyll in Kintyre before settling in Iona in Scotland, then part of the Irish kingdom of Dál Riata, where they founded a new abbey as a base for spreading Christianity among the northern Pictish kingdoms[4][5] who were pagan. He remained active in Irish politics, though he spent most of the remainder of his life in Scotland. Three surviving early medieval Latin hymns may be attributed to him.In 563, he travelled to Scotland with twelve companions (said to include Odran of Iona) in a wicker currach covered with leather. According to legend he first landed on the Kintyre Peninsula, near Southend. However, being still in sight of his native land, he moved farther north up the west coast of Scotland. The island of Iona was made over to him by his kinsman Conall mac Comgaill King of Dál Riata, who perhaps had invited him to come to Scotland in the first place.[11] However, there is a sense in which he was not leaving his native people, as the Irish Gaels had been colonising the west coast of Scotland for the previous couple of centuries.[13] Aside from the services he provided guiding the only centre of literacy in the region, his reputation as a holy man led to his role as a diplomat among the tribes.[14] There are also many stories of miracles which he performed during his work to convert the Picts, the most famous being his encounter with an unidentified animal that some have equated with the Loch Ness Monster in 565. It is said that he banished a ferocious "water beast" to the depths of the River Ness after it had killed a Pict and then tried to attack Columba's disciple (see Vita Columbae Book 2 below). He visited the pagan King Bridei, King of Fortriu, at his base in Inverness, winning the Bridei's respect, although not his conversion. He subsequently played a major role in the politics of the country. He was also very energetic in his work as a missionary, and, in addition to founding several churches in the Hebrides, he worked to turn his monastery at Iona into a school for missionaries. He was a renowned man of letters, having written several hymns and being credited with having transcribed 300 books. One of the few, if not the only, times he left Scotland was towards the end of his life, when he returned to Ireland to found the monastery at Durrow.
Columba died on Iona and was buried in 597 by his monks in the abbey he created. In 794 the Vikings descended on Iona. Columba's relics were finally removed in 849 and divided between Scotland and Ireland.[15] The parts of the relics which went to Ireland are reputed to be buried in Downpatrick, County Down, with St. Patrick and St. Brigid or at Saul Church neighbouring Downpatrick. (Names of Iona), Inchcolm and Eilean Chaluim Chille.
Columbanus (Irish: Columbán, 543 – 21 November 615), also known as St. Columban,[1] was an Irish missionary notable for founding a number of monasteries on the European continent from around 590 in the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms, most notably Luxeuil Abbey in present-day France and Bobbio Abbey in present-day Italy. He is remembered as a key figure in the Hiberno-Scottish mission, or Irish missionary activity in early medieval Europe.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbanus
Columbanus taught a Celtic monastic rule and Celtic penitential practices for those repenting of sins, which emphasised private confession to a priest, followed by penances levied by the priest in reparation for the sins. Columbanus is one of the earliest identifiable Hiberno-Latin writers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbanus
Columbanus taught a Celtic monastic rule and Celtic penitential practices for those repenting of sins, which emphasised private confession to a priest, followed by penances levied by the priest in reparation for the sins. Columbanus is one of the earliest identifiable Hiberno-Latin writers.