As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughout history in all forms of art to illustrate or convey complex ideas and concepts in ways that are comprehensible or striking to its viewers, readers, or listeners.
53-578: Hiram Abiff (also Hiram Abif or the Widow's son ) is the central character of an allegory presented to all candidates during the third degree in Freemasonry . Hiram is presented as the chief architect of King Solomon's Temple . He is murdered inside this Temple by three ruffians, after they failed to obtain from him the Master Masons' secrets. The themes of the allegory are the importance of fidelity, and
106-410: A blank wall (514a–b). The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows, using language to identify their world (514c–515a). According to the allegory, the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to viewing reality, until one of them finds his way into the outside world where he sees the actual objects that produced
159-676: A paper in the journal of Quatuor Coronati Lodge, the Ars Quatuor Coronatorum , which argues that John Theophilus Desaguliers likely authored the Hiram Abiff legend in the early 1720s and introduced it into the Master Mason degree. In his research, Powell notes how Desaguliers also introduced the "lost word" aspect of the Royal Arch degree which he likely read in a book he owned titled "The Temple of Solomon, portrayed by Scripture-light." If
212-662: A plot-driven fantasy narrative in an extended fable with talking animals and broadly sketched characters, intended to discuss the politics of the time. Yet, George MacDonald emphasized in 1893 that "A fairy tale is not an allegory." J. R. R. Tolkien 's The Lord of the Rings is another example of a well-known work mistakenly perceived as allegorical, as the author himself once stated, "...I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history – true or feigned – with its varied applicability to
265-451: A senatorial priestly aristocracy, which like Rome resisted monarchy. Thus, in an attempt to make the Jewish history more palatable to his Greco-Roman audience, the great figures of the biblical stories are presented as ideal philosopher-leaders . In another example, apparently due to his concern with pagan antisemitism, Josephus omitted the entire episode of the golden calf from his account of
318-460: A shallow grave marked with a sprig of acacia . As the Master is missed the next day, Solomon sends out a group of fellowcraft masons to search for him. The loose acacia is accidentally discovered, and the body exhumed to be given a decent burial. The hiding place of the "three ruffians" is also discovered, and they are brought to justice. Solomon informs his workforce that the secret word of a master mason
371-721: A short account of his personal life, Vita , as an appendix to the Judean Antiquities . Antiquities of the Jews contains a good deal of valuable, sometimes unique, historical material. This applies, for example, to the history of the Hellenistic states, Parthia , Armenia , the Nabatean kingdom , and the Roman Empire . In the Middle Ages and up to modern times the book was considered one of
424-583: A tyrant. The extant copies of this work contain two passages about Jesus and James the Just . The long one has come to be known as the Testimonium Flavianum . Scholars usually agree on the authenticity of the second passage, while the first one is considered to be authentic, but to have been subjected to Christian interpolation . The earliest Greek manuscript of Books 11–20 of the Antiquities dates from
477-418: Is a figurative approach, relying on a set of concepts associated with key terms in order to create an allegorical decoding of the text." Allegory has an ability to freeze the temporality of a story, while infusing it with a spiritual context. Mediaeval thinking accepted allegory as having a reality underlying any rhetorical or fictional uses. The allegory was as true as the facts of surface appearances. Thus,
530-505: Is complex, since it demands we observe the distinction between two often conflated uses of the Greek verb "allēgoreīn," which can mean both "to speak allegorically" and "to interpret allegorically." In the case of "interpreting allegorically," Theagenes appears to be our earliest example. Presumably in response to proto-philosophical moral critiques of Homer (e.g., Xenophanes fr. 11 Diels-Kranz ), Theagenes proposed symbolic interpretations whereby
583-527: Is dismissed by most Masonic scholars, some of whom have described the theory as "highly imaginative" but ultimately one with "no historical validity." In his book The Sufis , the Afghan scholar Idries Shah suggested that Dhul-Nun al-Misri might have been the origin of the character Hiram Abiff in the masonic Master Mason ritual . The link, he believes, was through the Sufi sect Al-Banna ("The Builders") who built
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#1733085049258636-547: Is interwoven with that of Solomon and Balkis, the Queen of Sheba . The ruffians who kill him are under the instruction of Solomon himself. De Nerval relates the story as having been told in an Eastern coffee house over a two-week period. A similar account is given in Charles William Heckethorn 's The Secret Societies of all Ages and Countries , where Solomon plots to destroy Hiram because of the mutual love between Hiram and
689-518: Is now lost. He replaces it with a substitute word which is considered a secret by Masons. In Continental Freemasonry , the tale is slightly different: a large number of master masons, and not just Hiram, are working on the Temple, and the three ruffians are seeking the passwords and signs that will give them a higher wage. The result is the same, but this time, it is Master Masons who find the body. The secrets are not lost, but Solomon orders them buried under
742-485: The Antiquities and the Wars . This volume amounted to over 800 pages. The first printed edition of Antiquities of the Jews in Greek appeared in 1544. Other publications followed—1553 ( Antwerp ), 1611 and 1634 ( Cologne ), 1687 ( Oxford ), 1691 ( Leipzig ), 1700 (Oxford), 1726 ( Leiden ), and so on. Already in the 15th–16th centuries, Jewish Antiquities was translated into Dutch, French, Italian, German and Spanish. The book
795-903: The Jami Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. This fraternity could have influenced some early masonic guilds which borrowed heavily from the Oriental architecture in the creation of the Gothic style . Others, such as, German orientalist Annemarie Schimmel , are critical of the work of Shah. She has claimed that The Sufis , along with his other books, "should be avoided by serious students". Allegory Writers and speakers typically use allegories to convey (semi-) hidden or complex meanings through symbolic figures, actions, imagery, or events, which together create
848-429: The early Christian period . Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews is a vital source for the history of the intertestamental period and the Jewish war against Rome. Antiquities of the Jews is separated into twenty volumes: In the preface of Antiquities of the Jews , Josephus provides his motivation for composing such a large work. He writes: Now I have undertaken the present work, as thinking it will appear to all
901-667: The " Song of the Sea " sung by Moses and the people of Israel after their deliverance at the Red Sea is completely omitted in Josephus's text. He does mention, however, that Moses composed a song to God in hexameter —a rather unusual (and Greek) metrical scheme for an ancient Hebrew. Josephus also writes that Abraham taught science to the Egyptians , who in turn taught the Greeks , and that Moses set up
954-465: The 12th-century works of Hugh of St Victor and Edward Topsell 's Historie of Foure-footed Beastes (London, 1607, 1653) and its replacement in the study of nature with methods of categorisation and mathematics by such figures as naturalist John Ray and the astronomer Galileo is thought to mark the beginnings of early modern science. Since meaningful stories are nearly always applicable to larger issues, allegories may be read into many stories which
1007-625: The Gods of the Iliad actually stood for physical elements. So, Hephestus represents Fire, for instance (for which see fr. A2 in Diels-Kranz ). Some scholars, however, argue that Pherecydes cosmogonic writings anticipated Theagenes allegorical work, illustrated especially by his early placement of Time (Chronos) in his genealogy of the gods, which is thought to be a reinterpretation of the titan Kronos, from more traditional genealogies. In classical literature two of
1060-714: The Greeks worthy of their study; for it will contain all our antiquities, and the constitution of our government, as interpreted out of the Hebrew Scriptures. Josephan scholar Louis Feldman highlights several of the misconceptions about the Jewish people that were being circulated in Josephus's time. In particular, the Jews were thought to lack great historical figures and a credible history of their people. They were also accused of harboring hostility toward non-Jews, and were thought to be generally lacking in loyalty, respect for authority, and charity. With these harsh accusations against
1113-635: The Israelites at Mount Sinai. It has been suggested that he was afraid that the biblical account might be employed by Alexandrian antisemites to lend credence to their allegation that the Jews worshiped an ass's head in the Temple (cf. Apion 2:80, 114, 120; Tacitus, Histories 5:4). He also stated that the Ancient Egyptians forced the Jewish slaves to build the pyramids, writing "They [the Egyptian taskmasters] set them also to build pyramids." Josephus also adds
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#17330850492581166-505: The Jews Antiquities of the Jews ( Latin : Antiquitates Iudaicae ; Greek : Ἰουδαϊκὴ ἀρχαιολογία , Ioudaikē archaiologia ) is a 20-volume historiographical work, written in Greek , by historian Josephus in the 13th year of the reign of Roman emperor Domitian , which was 94 CE . The book contains an account of the history of the Jewish people for Josephus's gentile patrons. In
1219-451: The Jews fluttering about the Roman empire, Josephus, set out to provide a Hellenized version of the Jewish history. Such a work is often called an " apologia ," as it pleads the case of a group of people or set of beliefs to a larger audience. In order to accomplish this goal, Josephus omitted certain accounts in the Jewish narrative and even added a Hellenistic "glaze" to his work. For example,
1272-737: The Jews" circulated widely, mainly in Latin translation (e.g Antiquities of the Jews from 1466 in the National Library of Poland ). This work of Joseph Flavius was translated into Old Bulgarian at the Preslav Literary School in the beginning of the 10th century during the time of Simeon the Great . In the 9th–10th centuries, the so-called " Josippon ", written in Hebrew , appeared in Italy. It described
1325-491: The Papal Bull Unam Sanctam (1302) presents themes of the unity of Christendom with the pope as its head in which the allegorical details of the metaphors are adduced as facts on which is based a demonstration with the vocabulary of logic: " Therefore of this one and only Church there is one body and one head—not two heads as if it were a monster... If, then, the Greeks or others say that they were not committed to
1378-610: The Promised Land. Also allegorical is Ezekiel 16 and 17, wherein the capture of that same vine by the mighty Eagle represents Israel's exile to Babylon. Allegorical interpretation of the Bible was a common early Christian practice and continues. For example, the recently re-discovered Fourth Commentary on the Gospels by Fortunatianus of Aquileia has a comment by its English translator: "The principal characteristic of Fortunatianus' exegesis
1431-519: The Queen of Sheba. Meanwhile, in 1862, the whole adventure of Adoniram's love for Balkis and his murder by three workmen in the pay of Solomon had been set to music in Charles Gounod 's opera, La reine de Saba . According to authors Robert Lomas and Christopher Knight , the prototype for Hiram Abiff was the Egyptian king Seqenenre Tao II , who (they claim) died in an almost identical manner. This idea
1484-533: The Temple, inscribed on Hiram's grave, and the same substitution is made as a mark of respect. The secrets "lost" in the other tradition are here given to new Master Masons as part of their ritual. In this version, Hiram is often renamed Adoniram. There have been many proposals for the origin of the Masonic Hiram Abiff story that are dismissed by most historical-critical Masonic scholars. The leading theory supported by many scholars of historical Freemasonry
1537-452: The assembly", which originates from ἀγορά ( agora ), "assembly". Northrop Frye discussed what he termed a "continuum of allegory", a spectrum that ranges from what he termed the "naive allegory" of the likes of The Faerie Queene , to the more private allegories of modern paradox literature . In this perspective, the characters in a "naive" allegory are not fully three-dimensional, for each aspect of their individual personalities and of
1590-429: The author may not have recognized. This is allegoresis, or the act of reading a story as an allegory. Examples of allegory in popular culture that may or may not have been intended include the works of Bertolt Brecht , and even some works of science fiction and fantasy, such as The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis . The story of the apple falling onto Isaac Newton 's head is another famous allegory. It simplified
1643-511: The best-known allegories are the Cave in Plato's The Republic (Book VII) and the story of the stomach and its members in the speech of Menenius Agrippa ( Livy ii. 32). Among the best-known examples of allegory, Plato 's Allegory of the Cave , forms a part of his larger work The Republic . In this allegory, Plato describes a group of people who have lived chained in a cave all of their lives, facing
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1696-651: The book would not have ended with the Ring being destroyed but rather with an arms race in which various powers would try to obtain such a Ring for themselves. Then Tolkien went on to outline an alternative plot for "Lord of The Rings", as it would have been written had such an allegory been intended, and which would have made the book into a dystopia . While all this does not mean Tolkien's works may not be treated as having allegorical themes, especially when reinterpreted through postmodern sensibilities, it at least suggests that none were conscious in his writings. This further reinforces
1749-423: The building, demanding the secrets of a master mason. Hiram is challenged by each in turn and, at each refusal to divulge the information, his assailant strikes him with a mason's tool (differing between jurisdictions). He is injured by the first two assailants, and struck dead by the last. His murderers hide his body under a pile of rubble, returning at night to move the body outside the city, where they bury it in
1802-608: The care of Peter and his successors, they necessarily confess that they are not of the sheep of Christ." This text also demonstrates the frequent use of allegory in religious texts during the Mediaeval Period, following the tradition and example of the Bible. In the late 15th century, the enigmatic Hypnerotomachia , with its elaborate woodcut illustrations, shows the influence of themed pageants and masques on contemporary allegorical representation, as humanist dialectic conveyed them. The denial of medieval allegory as found in
1855-602: The certainty of death. The legend of Hiram Abiff as related in Anglo-American Masonic jurisdictions underpins the Third Degree and first appeared in the early 1720s. It generally starts with his arrival in Jerusalem , and his appointment by Solomon as chief architect and master of works at the construction of his temple. As the temple is nearing completion, three fellowcraft masons from the workforce ambush him as he leaves
1908-679: The descendants of Cyrus the Great . The most elaborate version of the legend occurs in Gérard de Nerval's 1851 account, Voyage en Orient , where he relates the tale, inserting all the masonic passwords, as part of the story of Balkis , the "Queen of the Morning" and " Soliman ", Prince of the Genii . This is an elaboration of the second version above, where the Master Craftsman is named Adoniram . Before his death, he undergoes mystical adventures as his tale
1961-599: The eleventh century, the Ambrosianus 370 (F 128); preserved in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan . However, the manuscript tradition is complex and many manuscripts are incomplete. The works of Josephus Flavius were popular in late antiquity. Then appeared the translation of "Antiquities of the Jews" into Latin . It is attributed to either Jerome or his contemporary Tyrannius Rufinus . In medieval Europe, "Antiquities of
2014-632: The events of world and Jewish history from the time of the construction of the Tower of Babel to the capture of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD. Essentially, this chronicle was an abbreviated translation of Jewish Antiquities and The Jewish War , but Joseph ben Gorion was named the author. Josippon gained no less popularity than Antiquities of the Jews. With the advent of printing, it was published even before this major work of Josephus Flavius in 1476. In 1602, Thomas Lodge published an English translation of both
2067-405: The events that befall them embodies some moral quality or other abstraction; the author has selected the allegory first, and the details merely flesh it out. The origins of allegory can be traced at least back to Homer in his "quasi-allegorical" use of personifications of, e.g., Terror (Deimos) and Fear (Phobos) at Il. 115 f. The title of "first allegorist", however, is usually awarded to whoever
2120-575: The first ten volumes, Josephus follows the events of the Hebrew Bible beginning with the creation of Adam and Eve . The second ten volumes continues the history of the Jewish people beyond the biblical text and up to the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE). This work, along with Josephus's other major work, The Jewish War ( De Bello Iudaico ), provides valuable background material for historians wishing to understand 1st-century CE Judaism and
2173-474: The idea of forced allegoresis, as allegory is often a matter of interpretation and only sometimes of original artistic intention. Like allegorical stories, allegorical poetry has two meanings – a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning. Some unique specimens of allegory can be found in the following works: Some elaborate and successful specimens of allegory are to be found in the following works, arranged in approximate chronological order: Antiquities of
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2226-475: The idea of gravity by depicting a simple way it was supposedly discovered. It also made the scientific revelation well known by condensing the theory into a short tale. While allegoresis may make discovery of allegory in any work, not every resonant work of modern fiction is allegorical, and some are clearly not intended to be viewed this way. According to Henry Littlefield's 1964 article, L. Frank Baum 's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , may be readily understood as
2279-592: The information a fifth-century upper-class male needed to know into an allegory of the wedding of Mercury and Philologia , with the seven liberal arts the young man needed to know as guests. Also, the Neoplatonic philosophy developed a type of allegorical reading of Homer and Plato. Other early allegories are found in the Hebrew Bible , such as the extended metaphor in Psalm 80 of the vine and its impressive spread and growth, representing Israel's conquest and peopling of
2332-522: The moral, spiritual, or political meaning the author wishes to convey. Many allegories use personification of abstract concepts. First attested in English in 1382, the word allegory comes from Latin allegoria , the latinisation of the Greek ἀλληγορία ( allegoría ), "veiled language, figurative", literally "speaking about something else", which in turn comes from ἄλλος ( allos ), "another, different" and ἀγορεύω ( agoreuo ), "to harangue, to speak in
2385-696: The most important sources in ancient Roman history, along with the works of Titus Livius , Tacitus , Suetonius , and Jerome . Because of this, Josephus is sometimes called the "Titus Livius of the Greeks". The Jewish Encyclopedia speculates that much of Josephus's writings on Herod the Great and his sons draw from the work of Nicolaus of Damascus , a personal friend of Herod's, whose writings remain largely missing; once Nicolaus's narrative on Herod Archelaus ends, Josephus's narrative becomes less detailed. Josephus admitted being familiar with Nicolaus's work but also rebuked Nicolaus for exaggerating Herod's royal claims and benevolence, where Josephus treated Herod as
2438-444: The newly created Master Masonic degree, for which there is no evidence before 1720. In the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament , there are three separate instances of people named Hiram that were involved in the construction of the temple of Solomon: Flavius Josephus in his Antiquities of the Jews (Chapter 8:76) refers to Hiram as τεχνίτης, tekhnítēs , artificer, craftsman. "Now Solomon sent for an artificer out of Tyre, whose name
2491-507: The shadows. He tries to tell the people in the cave of his discovery, but they do not believe him and vehemently resist his efforts to free them so they can see for themselves (516e–518a). This allegory is, on a basic level, about a philosopher who upon finding greater knowledge outside the cave of human understanding, seeks to share it as is his duty, and the foolishness of those who would ignore him because they think themselves educated enough. In Late Antiquity Martianus Capella organized all
2544-421: The thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse applicability with allegory, but one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author." Tolkien specifically resented the suggestion that the book's One Ring , which gives overwhelming power to those possessing it, was intended as an allegory of nuclear weapons . He noted that, had that been his intention,
2597-455: The word was to be found, it would need to be first lost, hence the Hiram Abiff story. According to Powell, Desaguliers as a Frenchman living in England, would have known the chanson de geste legend, and used it as a base for the legend of Hiram Abiff. However instead of being used as a ritual since the 12th century, Powell argues that Desaguliers used this existing myth to create a central story for
2650-553: Was Hiram: he was by birth of the tribe of Naphtali , on his mother's side (for she was of that tribe); but his father was Ur, of the stock of the Israelites." The Targum Sheni , an Aramaic commentary on the Book of Esther written sometime between the fall of Rome and the Crusades , credits Hiram with the construction of a miraculous throne for Solomon, which in Esther's time is being used by
2703-539: Was advanced by the French masonic historian Paul Naudon who, in 2005, highlighted the similarity between the death of Hiram and the murder of Renaud de Montauban in the late 12th Century chanson de geste , The Four Sons of Aymon . Renaud, like his prototype Saint Reinold , was killed by a hammer-blow to the head while working as a mason at Cologne Cathedral , and his body hidden by his murderers before being miraculously re-discovered. In 2021, Christopher Powell published
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#17330850492582756-540: Was published both in modern languages and in Latin. The first Russian translation of Jewish Antiquities appeared in 1781. First Italian translation dates to 1549 in Venice. One of the best known translations of this work was provided by William Whiston in 1737, which has been in print continuously since then. The Loeb Classical Library published a 1926 translation by Henry St. John Thackeray and Ralph Marcus, normally preferred academically. A cross-reference apparatus for
2809-416: Was the earliest to put forth allegorical interpretations of Homer. This approach leads to two possible answers: Theagenes of Rhegium (whom Porphyry calls the "first allegorist," Porph. Quaest. Hom. 1.240.14–241.12 Schrad.) or Pherecydes of Syros, both of whom are presumed to be active in the 6th century B.C.E., though Pherecydes is earlier and as he is often presumed to be the first writer of prose. The debate
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