by Bill Nacopoulos
A study of the significance of the Omphalos Stone in the ancient world and its influence on Masonic and Rosicrucian Esoteric studies.
As a young man, I recall being part of a group of students that were invited on a field trip to the Art Institute of Chicago. I was the furthest thing from an art critic, but this was a chance to really impress Laura, a girl taking the trip along with me and the others in the class. I would really pour it on thick. All I had to do was pretend to speak on the colors chosen and the light and shadows, it would be perfect. We arrived at the museum and the teachers started guiding the students around the various exhibits.
Here were works of some of the greatest masters assembled in one place. I looked at each with a wise expression, making sure that Laura noticed that. And then, suddenly, I noticed a painting that jumped out to me. The curious look on my face was no act. I noticed something on the painting that, for some reason, looked odd and out of place. There in front of me was a painting of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
It wasn’t the subject matter that intrigued me. There was something in the image that did. Many have seen the typical medieval motif of the pair together with or without the fig leaves as the woman is just about to offer the apple that would change history. Typical to this theme, many of the paintings are very similar. Wiry lines that create an evocative atmosphere with the leering serpent observing.
What caught my attention that day was that they had navels. Perhaps my naiveté on how to
really look at art caused this to be my first reaction but, there they were – belly buttons. “Why would they have belly buttons” I said. The teacher heard this and looked at me. “What was that you said?” “They shouldn’t have belly buttons, should they?” “Why did he draw them with belly buttons when one was made of the dust of the ground and the other from his rib bone?” “That is not the point at all” he said and left down the wing of the museum along with Laura and the rest of the class leaving me feeling foolish for even mentioning it.
But perhaps there is more to it than that. Perhaps there is a point after all. It seems that the ancient sages were very interested in the imagery of the navel and wanted to convey how important it was. To understand why that could be, we will first describe and detail the very curious Omphalos stone.
The Ancient and Modern Greek word for Navel is ὀμφᾰλός (Omphalos) pronounced Ohm-FA-Los with the stress on the last “o”. The connotation of the word is also appropriate for center or middle. To the ancient Greeks, as the navel was the middle of the body, so too then was this stone considered as representing or marking the Middle of the world. There is an ancient myth recounting exactly where the stone came from and how it eventually wound up where it did.
Kronos was married to Rhea his wife. According to a prophecy, it was destined that one of the offspring of Kronos would eventually war with him and take over the role of supreme ruler of the heavens and earth. Knowing that this could befall him, Kronos would devour every child born to the couple as soon as delivered. Five children were born to Kronos which he promptly swallowed. Planning to save the sixth, Rhea enlisted the help of the earth (Gaia ) in order to save the child.
The plan was in motion, Gaia forced Zeus to be born and then immediately hid him in a cave on Mount Ida in Crete where he would be safe. As soon as this was done, she gave Rhea a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes which Kronos took to be his sixth child and devoured it whole. When Zeus grew up, he confronted his father forcing him to vomit up everything he had consumed. The stone came out first followed by the five siblings. With the eventual help of these siblings, Zeus led a revolt against the Titans overthrowing them and becoming the new rulers of the gods. So, in effect, we have the representation of time (Kronos) devouring his living offspring one by one until his son (Zeus) stops him and prevails over him becoming the Lord of the earth (Gaia ) who had initially made all these things come to pass.
Having now become the ruler of the world, Zeus set up his throne on Mt Olympus along with his siblings. He then decides to find where the exact center of the world is. Having thus determined, he took two eagles and released them at the opposite ends of the world ordering them to both land at the center. The eagles follow the course of the sun flying due east and due west respectfully and both wind up landing exactly at a place called Delphi.
Delphi had another interesting circumstance to the ancients. For at this very spot, a monstrous serpent was said to live which was called Python (Πύθωνος). This serpent lived underground and was said to be Gaia’s son. It was not Zeus that dealt with this serpent but another Olympian god -Apollo. Python, being a terror to the population, had to be eliminated and it was Apollo, the god of the sun and knowledge, that slew it.
The corpse of the serpent was buried underground in a cavern and the omphalos stone was placed on top marking the site of both the center of the world as well as the tomb of Python. It was the fumes from the rotting body of this great snake that enabled the priestess of the Oracle of Delphi to divine the future. A whole series of research could be done on this sacred site, but for our purposes, we want to establish the idea that the navel or belly button stones were in effect marking out the center of the world. The question now is, have other cultures also used these markers for similar purposes?
We will find the answer a resounding yes.
Archeology is a very tedious and exact discipline. The more that is uncovered about this planet’s past, the more knowledge can be gleaned. Over many years, archeologists have discovered an array of different sites which have revealed navel stones indicating a specific place where that civilization considered as the center or origin of their country or world. Considering the next step of our research -other locations of navel stones- it would be well to understand how these stones were used by the various ancient peoples. The list we will present will reveal that not only were these navel stones used as topographical markers, but they evolved into major religious centers the omphalos stones themselves becoming objects of veneration and worship.
The umbilical cord is a very significant part of the birthing process for mammals and held obvious reverence for humanity. This was a physical link to one’s mother and severing the umbilical cord upon one’s birth was a very poignant moment. It is significant that the religious aspect evolved from the notion that these stones not only were placed in specific areas but that they also represented a connection between society and the earth itself- the nurturing point. We may note here that in Masonic teaching, the Cable tow is symbolic of the rebirth of an individual into the brotherhood and thus represents a kind of umbilical cord that binds the man to the fraternity.
Karnak (Thebes) Egypt
Once the largest sacred center in the then known world.
Thebes (Luxor today) was considered the capital of the Egyptian middle and new kingdoms. Within this was built the temple complex known as Karnak. Let us look further into this fascinating site. The modern name for the temple complex is Karnak which was given to the site by Arab invaders of Egypt as “Ka-ranak” which means “fortified village” because of the large number of buildings at the location. But this was not the original name for the ancient Egyptians. The original name that was given was “Ipt-Swt” which translates as “the most select of places.”
This original name has great significance because to the ancient Egyptians, Thebes was the exact site where a mound came up out of the waters of chaos at the beginning of the world. The Egyptian god Amun stood on this mound and started the act of creation and order out of disorder. To the Egyptians, this was the center of the world, the very place where it all started. It was therefore a natural location to raise the first temple to Amun to signify this event.
It was in the Sanctum Sanctorum that a navel stone was found by archeologist G.A Reisner. Shown here below is an image of a navel stone believed to be the oldest found in Egypt. It has the familiar dome shape as well as the images of birds standing upon it. As we will note further along our study, these doves or eagles have a significant role to play for the founding of other oracle sites.
Delphi Greece
Center of Greek world and the most famous oracle sites of antiquity. In his famous work Sketch of Geography, Agathemerus proclaimed:
The ancients drew the earth (oikoumene) in a circular way. They placed Greece in the middle, and in the middle of that, Delphi, for this they believed to be the navel (omphalos) of the earth.
Delphi is considered a younger oracle site than Karnak but, we can still see by the image that the familiar indicators are still present specifically the bird/dome shaped stone.
Dodona Greece
The Greek historian Herodotus in his “Histories” states this in his recounting of the Oracle site in Donona.
“But about the oracles in Hellas, and that one which is in Libya, the Egyptians give the following account. The priests of Zeus of Thebes told me that two priestesses had been carried away from Thebes by Phoenicians; one, they said they had heard was taken away and sold in Libya, the other in Hellas; these women, they said, were the first founders of places of divination in the aforesaid countries.
When I asked them how it was that they could speak with such certain knowledge, they said in reply that their people had sought diligently for these women, and had never been able to find them, but had learned later the story which they were telling me.
That, then, I heard from the Theban priests; and what follows, the prophetesses of Dodona say: that two black doves had come flying from Thebes in Egypt, one to Libya and one to Dodona; the latter settled on an oak tree, and there uttered human speech, declaring that a place of divination from Zeus must be made there; the people of Dodona understood that the message was divine, and therefore established the oracular shrine.
The dove which came to Libya told the Libyans (they say) to make an oracle of Ammon; this also is sacred to Zeus. Such was the story told by the Dodonaean priestesses, the eldest of whom was Promeneia and the next Timarete and the youngest Nicandra; and the rest of the servants of the temple at Dodona similarly held it true.”
We here have a direct connection of the oracle center in Thebes Egypt with another oracle site in Greece which was considered as older than Delphi. While no physical omphalos stone has been discovered in the ruins of Dodona, it appears that there was a venerated center where a sanctuary was placed. The sanctuary of Zeus at Dodona, already known in the Homeric epics, was traditionally the home of the earliest oracle in Greece. Early to Late Bronze Age finds have been excavated at the site, but the earliest archaeological evidence for cult activity dates to the 8th century B.C.
At this early date the sanctuary consisted of a sacred oak tree (or grove) possibly surrounded by a ring of bronze tripods. At the end of the 5th century B.C. or early in the 4th, the first stone temple was constructed, and the sacred oak was enclosed in a stone peribolos wall.
Lake Tritonis Libya
We now see to the other of the landing sites of these doves mentioned by Herodotus. As stated above, one of the doves instructed the Libyans to construct a sacred oracle there. The Greeks considered the whole portion of north central and northwestern Africa as “Libya” and called it as such in their writings. However, there is a more ancient name for this area which from earliest times was known as Nit. There was also here a shrine built to the goddess Neith similarly called Tannit or Ta-Nit meaning “the land of Nit” and she was the very personification of the primordial waters of creation itself.
As such, she is also associated with knowledge, wisdom, and law. She is also associated with the power of prophecy and the keeper of the cosmic order. Her symbol, known as the symbol of Tannit, is a triangle representing the human body, surmounted by a circle representing the head, and separated by a horizontal line which represents the hands. The worship of the goddess Tannit emerged after the 5th century BC.
It is thus the goddess Tannit, gifted with the powers of prophecy, that is asked to act as an arbiter in the dispute between Horus and Seth. In her message of reply, Neith/Tannit selects Horus, and says she will “cause the sky to crash to the earth” if he is not selected.5
Let us now also consider a further tie in with the oracle of Delphi and Lake Tritonis which will prove important as we consider why these sites were chosen as Navel / oracle centers. Herodotus also informs us that Jason and his famous ship the Argo in searching for the Golden Fleece (which voyage was incidentally initiated by the oracle) came to Lake Tritonis while carrying the actual tripod of the Phythian priestess from Delphi. Herodotus tells us that the winds:
“Carried him out of his course to the coast of Libya; where, before he discovered the land, he got among the shallows of Lake Tritonis. As he was turning it in his mind how he should find his way out, Triton (they say) appeared to him, and offered to show him the channel, and secure him a safe retreat, if he would give him the tripod. Jason complying, was shown by Triton the passage through the shallows; after which the god took the tripod, and, carrying it to his own temple, seated himself upon it, and, filled with prophetic fury, delivered to Jason and his companions a long prediction. “When a descendant,” he said, “of one of the Argo’s crew should seize and carry off the brazen tripod, then by inevitable fate would a hundred Grecian cities be built around Lake Tritonis.” The Libyans of that region, when they heard the words of this prophecy, took away the tripod and hid it. “
While no omphalos stone has been found at this site, the mentioning of the tripod from Delphi gives strong indication that the area was used for divination. It is also interesting to note that the locals hid the tripod to spoil the fulfilment of the prophecy that their land would be colonized.
Delos Greece
Delos, the center of the Cyclades Islands, was the birthplace of Apollo and his twin sister Artemis and is located off the southeastern coast of Greece. The name Cyclades comes from the word kyklos the Greek word for “circle” the other Cyclades forming a ring around her. Delos was said to have been called by other names, one of which was Asteria a maiden who also happened to be the sister of Leto, Apollo’s mother.
At the time of Apollo’s birth, Asteria rooted herself to the bottom of the Aegean hence the name Delos was given to the island in honor of Apollo -Delos meaning “visible”. According to mythology, Leto, pursued by the incensed and jealous goddess Hera, wandered from place to place seeking some corner of the earth in which to give birth to her children, the fruit of her union with Zeus, father of the Gods. But all the Islands and cities refused to receive her, afraid of the vengeance of Zeus’ deceived wife. It was Asteria who allowed her sister to give birth on this island which she anchored and set firm in the ocean.
The only thing Leto’s sister asked in return was that Apollo’s first temple be built on Delos and serve as a holy oracle for humanity. The oracle was only consulted once a year during the summer as it was said that Apollo made the island his residence there during this season. In time, this island became a hub of sacred worship to this god and was second only to Delphi for the fame of its oracle sanctuary. Several “purifications” were executed by the city-state of Athens to render the island fit for the proper worship of the Gods. The first took place in the 6th century BC, and was directed by Pisistratus, who ordered that all graves within sight of the temple be dug up and the bodies moved to another nearby island.
We learn from an original account of Thucydides in his History of the Peloponnesian War that such was the importance of the island that In the 5th century, during the 6th year of the Peloponnesian war and under instruction from the Delphic Oracle, the entire island was purged of all dead bodies and it was decreed that no one should be allowed to either die or give birth on the island due to its sacred importance and to preserve its neutrality in commerce, since no one could then claim ownership through inheritance. Immediately after this purification, the first festival of the Delian games was celebrated there.
Kythera Greece
An island in Greece situated opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula and once the center of the most ancient cult worship of the goddess Aphrodite in the world. We learn from Pausanias in his Descriptions on Greece:
“Cythera lies opposite Boeae; to the promontory of Platanistus, the point where the island lies nearest to the mainland, it is a voyage of forty stades from a promontory on the mainland called Onugnathus. In Cythera is a port Scandeia on the coast, but the town Cythera is about ten stades inland from Scandeia. The sanctuary of Aphrodite Urania (the Heavenly) is most holy, and it is the most ancient of all the sanctuaries of Aphrodite among the Greeks. The goddess herself is represented by an armed image of wood.
For the wooden image, which is now here, once stood in Delos. Delos was then a Greek market, and seemed to offer security to traders on account of the god; but as the place was unfortified and the inhabitants unarmed, Menophanes, an officer of Mithridates, attacked it with a fleet, to show his contempt for the god, or acting on the orders of Mithridates; for to a man whose object is gain what is sacred is of less account than what is profitable.”
We have here a physical link between the sanctuary in Delos and the sanctuary of Kythera namely the palm associated with both locations according to Pausanias. In his book “The Sirius Mystery” Robert Temple quotes from Professor Cyrus H. Gordon’s “The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations” which at the end of Chapter II tells us:
“Sometimes cultic centers attracted people from remote areas. Probably the most common cause for such magnetism was an efficacious priesthood, that earned a reputation for helping people in need of practical advice, psychological guidance or medical aid. Cythera began to attract foreigners as early as the Pyramid Age.
A stone cup, with the name of a Fifth Dynasty [the chronology of Richard A. Parker gives the dates 2501-2342 B.C. for the Fifth Dynasty] solar temple [of Pharaoh Userkaf at Abusir] (sp-rc) inscribed in Egyptian hieroglyphs, has been found on Cythera. Early in the second quarter of the second millennium, a Babylonian inscription of Naram-Sin, King of Eshnunna, was dedicated on Cythera ‘for the life’ of that Mesopotamian monarch.
The interesting thing is that both texts found on Cythera are religious in character. Herodotus (1:105) relates that the Phoenicians erected a temple on Cythera to the goddess of the heavens. Finally in classical times, Cythera was a great center of the cult of Aphrodite. The ancient temples were built in the vicinity of Palaiopolis around the middle of the eastern shore. I visited the site in 1958 and found it extensive and promising for excavation. . .. Egyptians, Babylonians and Phoenicians came to worship the great goddess there.
Ancient cultic installations, carved out of the living rock, can still be seen on a high place at the north end, near the shore. A well, cleared some years ago, had, at its bottom, ancient statuary . . . [there are] ancient stone walls. . .. The whole area is covered with ceramics that show the site was occupied in Middle Minoan III (c. 1700-1570), Late Minoan I—III (c. 1570-1100.”
Thenea Crete/ Omphalian plain Greece
We recall in the beginning of this paper that I mentioned the drama surrounding the birth of Zeus and how his mother Rhea had to steal him away from the sight of his father Kronos. It was also related that Zeus was taken to mount Ida in Crete. It is here now that we give some more detail regarding this peculiar site which even to this day is called the omphalian plains. We quote from Diodorus in his
“Library of History” book V regarding the birth of Zeus that:
“[5.70.3] And the Nymphs nurtured the child on a mixture of honey and milk and gave him upbringing at the udder of the goat which was named Amaltheia. And many evidences o the birth and upbringing of this god remain to this day on the island.
[5.70.4] For instance, when he was being carried away, while still an infant, by the Curetes, they say that the umbilical cord (omphalos) fell from him near the river known as Triton, and that this spot has been made sacred and has been called Omphalus after that incident, while in like manner the plain about it is known as Omphaleium. And on Mount Idê, where the god was nurtured, both the cave in which he spent his days has been made sacred to him, and the meadows round about it, which lie upon the ridges of the mountain., have in like manner been consecrated to him.
[5.70.5] But the most astonishing of all that which the myth relates has to do with the bees, and we should not omit to mention it: The god, they say, wishing to preserve an immortal memorial of his close association with the bees, changed the color of them, making it like copper with the gleam of gold, and since the region lay at a very great altitude, where fierce winds blew about it and heavy snows fell, he made the bees insensible to such things and unaffected by them, since they must range over the most wintry stretches.” 10
Thus, here we have a place specifically named after the umbilical cord of Zeus which was identified as consecrated ground. We also have another reference to a river named Triton, so it is well worth the speculation regarding a navel site in which history recorded.
to be continued…
