In Abraham in Egypt, Dr. Hugh W. Nibley wrote about ancient belemnites and thunderbolts. According to an online magazine:
Belemnites are probably the most well known extinct cephalopod after the ammonites. They are quite common fossils and have a worldwide distribution. They are a very characteristic and easily recognisable fossil usually resembling a bullet in shape, although this only represents the extreme ‘tail’ of the animal.
The name ‘Belemnite’ is derived from the Greek word belemnon which means javelin or dart due to the obvious resemblance in the shape of the fossil. It was a common folklore tale that belemnites were formed from the point of strike of lightning bolts into the ground; hence they are frequently referred to as ‘thunderbolts’.1
A few months ago I blogged about the name-title Boanerges which Mark records as meaning “sons of thunder.” This may have some connection with belemnites and thunderbolts. For example, these thunderstones seem to have quite a history. A quote from that post states:
Besides the conventional flint axes and celts, which commonly pass as thunder-missiles all over the world, the Danes regard the fossil sea-urchin as a thunderstone, and give it a peculiar name. Such stones are named in Salling, sebedaei-stones or s’bedaei; in North Salling they are called sepadeje-stones. In Norbaek, in the district of Viborg, the peasantry called them Zebedee stones! At Jebjerg, in the parish of Cerum, district of Randers, they called them sebedei-stones . . . The name that is given to these thunderstones is, therefore, very well established, and it seems certain that it is derived from the reference to the Sons of Zebedee in the Gospel as sons of thunder.
Dr. Nibley traced these concepts back to a prehistoric Egyptian milieu:
The story opens with Re in heaven commissioning his daughter, regularly designated as his “Eye,” to go down and finish up the liquidation of the human race in the flood. As in the book of Enoch, we hear a good deal of comings and goings between heaven and earth in preparation for the flood; we see Shu, the inspired contact man between the two worlds, depart from earth in disgust. So does Re himself, who up until then had consorted with men on earth; now he withdraws his presence from them and calls a council in heaven to decide what is to be done with the unruly human race. He tells the assembly that he is about to send a flood and that all things, are to return to the primal ḥuḥu of the great waters of Nun, even as it was before the creation, in the beginning. Ḥuḥu is the primordial chaos, the tōhû-wā-bōhû of Genesis 1:2. So even as in Abraham 1:24, the Egyptian story of earthly dominion begins with the flood. And there can be little doubt that it was the flood, and not the seasonal inundation, that even so was regarded as but a repetition of the original.
As the curtain rises we see all nature in upheaval as the skies darken and the waters descend. The turmoil of nature is ritually represented as the work of Seth, who throws all things into confusion. The personification of violent atmospheric disturbances and world disorder, his thunderbolt emblem, the belemnite, which is found at prehistoric shrines throughout the land and in many other parts of the world, attests the reality of those early catastrophes. But human depravity contributes its full share to the vast calamity, for mankind had turned against is loving creator (Moses 5:28-34). It sounds very much like the Enoch literature, and Shu, in order to accomplish his mission between heaven and earth, must move through the same cosmic storms as those faced by Enoch and the other holy messengers.2
Perhaps there is more to these concepts than is apparent. Future posts will explore their significance in relationship to water and fire (these belemnite thunderbolts were formed in the ocean) and as an emblem of Min, who is prominently displayed in the Book of Abraham, Facsimile 2, Figure 7.
Sources:
- Eyden, Phil. “Belemnites: A Quick Look”. The Octopus News Magazine Online. 17 May 2009.↩
- Nibley, Hugh W. “A Pioneer Mother”. Abraham in Egypt. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2000. 468-469.↩
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Tags: Book of Abraham, Fire, Hugh W. Nibley
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Anthony E. Larson
on May 18, 2009 at 12:28 am
You may wish to investigate the appearance of the thunderbolts the Greeks depicted in the hands of their gods, especially Apollo, who is their version of the Old Testament Ba’al (A-ba’al-o). Those are likely the true source of the belemnon (Ba’al-im-non), not the small chephalopods. They have that classic shape, but are more elaborate. Ironically, they look nothing like the electric discharges we see in storm darkened skies today. But the Greeks were adamant: This was the appearance of the “thunderbolts” the ancient gods threw. They repeatedly illustrated them in their art and sculpture. Still more remarkable is that modern plasma physicists insist that they have seen these same plasma structures in laboratory experiments. They speculate that these were part of astral displays of light and sound seen by all ancient cultures during theomachy.
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Greg
on May 18, 2009 at 8:28 am
Hi Anthony. Thanks for pointing this out. There are many interesting similarities between belemnites/thunderbolts and other ancient cultures. However, for this post I hoped to connect the concept of Boanerges with these thunderstones. Perhaps in future posts on this subject I may draw upon the ideas you mention above. Min is mentioned because he is a figure that appears in pre-dynastic Egyptian culture and may be a common source for some of the later cultures’ thunder gods. At least this is something that may be worth exploring.
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