Footstool, doomring, altarstone, thingstone

oldest rostrum in Europe, Akitus Festival, Enuma Elish, Voluspa, Edda, Three Thursa Maiden, footstool, fodepald, megalith, king, Doom ring, hult, lund, rock-carvings, alderman, yearman, ring, pairhood, septemvir, collegium of seven, nemeton,

The lament for Nibru

I suppose that these lines are not popular in all camps. But I think and write in terms of the Future Child and no one dictate my opinions and scares me off when it comes to truth. In my mind the Sumerian humanity lies in this verse about the idol of nursing called Nanshe:

Footstool or rostrum

On the Law rock there are a pair of naked footprints in two places. Those on the top of the rock should maybe be called the Oldest Rostrum in Europe, since they surely have been used as the rostrum for the priestess as law-reader in the ritual society.

One pair is in the protection formula showing that the concept "naked" should be protected in every aspect. The law and the places of court or similar should naturally be holly and protected to make the decisions and manners more than ordinary life. A law should be more than the individual and more than the assembly should be, since even officials are under the law. Only the fair intention to justice can keep law and order in the assembly of people.

The other footprints are in the beginning of the law of season as if the priestess stood there reading the law when it was given and every spring after that. We know the usage from later thing customs. Naturally she was a naked young woman showing that she needed clothes and protection … some fundamentalists of our time maybe have other thoughts and then the bad thing is in their thoughts and not in our ancestors will to see the naked woman as sacred.

It asks for our pretending to set a body on the naked footprints. We should also see the proportions of culture in sparsely populated places like at Dal those days. Written evidence we get only from well-developed cultures like Sumer and later Babylon. We should pretend the priestess reciting a long poem about creation and resurrection. Best known reference is the Babylonian poem Enuma Elish written down around 1200 BC but it is maybe 2000 years older and there are several variants of it since every city state had its special deities but used the same sources.

The Babylonian Akitu Festival was the New Year celebrating and surely correlated to the spring equinox and moon in March/ April in the month Nisan (as it is still in the Jewish calendar). The festival started at 4^th Nisan and went on for a week. The king went to the temple of Nabu got the royal scepter and spent the night in the temple. At the same time the high priest of Marduk's temple Esagila recited Enuma Elish.

The poem has two parts. It begins with creation and my version has around 400 lines about the very beginning and first some introducing words

From Voluspa in the Edda we get this beginning

Silence I ask of the sacred folk,
Silence of the kith and kin of Heimdal:
At your will Valfather, I shall well relate
The old songs of men I remember best.

I tell of giants from times forgotten.
Those who fed me in former days:
Nine worlds I can reckon, nine roots of the tree.
The wonderful ash, way under the ground

.

When Ymir lived long ago
Was no sand or sea, no surging waves.
Nowhere was there earth nor heaven above.
Bur a grinning gap and grass nowhere.

The sons of Bur then built up the lands.
Moulded in magnificence middle-Earth:
Sun stared from the south on the stones of their hall,
From the ground there sprouted green leeks.

Sun turned from the south, sister of Moon,
Her right arm rested on the rim of Heaven;
She had no inkling where her hall was,
Nor Moon a notion of what might he had,
The planets knew not where their places were.

.

The high gods gathered in council
In their hall of judgement. all the rulers:
To Night and to Nightfall their names gave,
The Morning they named and the Mid-Day,
Mid-Winter, Mid-Summer, for the assigning of years.

At Ida's Field the Aesir met:
Temple and altar they timbered and raised,
Set up a forge to smithy treasures,
Tongs they fashioned and tools wrought;

Hard to tell if it is the nature of the matter that creates similar introduction and star up at the chaos and no-order. The gods come together and bring order. In practice it is naturally the elders council at every time. It is like hubris when they tell they created it all. The right word should be that they describe and decode some rules for life from reality. In Enuma Elish we get the feeling of that they created the Animal Round as virtual lead.

In this description they are already like demons since the scribe do not understand that they are originally asterism/ idols from the Animal Round. But they also describe evil demons that could be rationalised to "unknown objects/ conditions" opposite to our planned actions, while the abstract objects got names like the stars and asterisms. Then it is maybe easier to see that they are not real and have existence only in the determined use. Perhaps they knew that mankind has difficulties in separating idea/ idol and reality.

Voluspa is 2500 years younger and part of the creation is nonsense names

Motsognir was their mighty ruler,
Greatest of dwarves, and Durin after him :
The dwarves did as Durin directed,
Many man forms made from the earth.

Nyi and Nidi, Nordri, Sudri, Austri and Vestri, Althjof, Dvalin, Bivor,
Bavor Bombur, Nori, An and Anar, Ai, Mjodvitnir, Veignr and Gandalf,
Vindalf, Thorin, Thror and Thrain, Thekkur, Litur, Vitur, Nar and Nyradur,
Fili, Kili, Fundin, Nali Hefti, Vili, Hanar, Sviur, Billing, Bruni, Bildur,
and Buri, Frar, Hornbori Fraegur, Loni, Aurvangur, Jari, Eikinskjaldi:

Still there are also intelligible verses about creation. They remind us about the times when they gave name to things. We see the same in Sumerian literature. At the same time they gave order to things, made hierarchies and delegated jobs in the real word.

The high gods gathered in council
In their hall of judgement. all the rulers:
To Night and to Nightfall their names gave,
The Morning they named and the Mid-Day,
Mid-Winter, Mid-Summer, for the assigning of years.

At Ida's Field the Aesir met:
Temple and altar they timbered and raised,
Set up a forge to smithy treasures,
Tongs they fashioned and tools wrought;

Played chess in the court and cheerful were;
Gold they lacked not, the gleaming metal
Then came three, the Three Thursa Maidens,
Rejoicing in their strength, from Giant-home.

The Babylonian ritual went on with the king sailing to Borsippa 17 kilometres downstream and we could compare that to Egyptian rituals on the Nile. The animating was underlined by worshipping statues of Marduk and other deities implied in the season. We do not know all parts of the festival but the people participated with songs and festivities while the king fulfilled the rituals. They were all preparing for the new season that began at 11^th Nisan.

So we can pretend that the priestess of Haugsbyn stood in the footprints at the Law Rock and recited the poem "Inanna steps down". Maybe she also recited some law codes about fencing the field and other things. They adapted it all to the climate and size of population and the needs. The "stepping down" ritual surly implied ritual bath.

Law they made

life they chose

for mans child

and fortune of man

The following notes about footstools are from Bronze Age and later. I pretend that during Ritual Age the lead was priestkings and priestesses reciting the canonical laws once made by the elderly council. In time grew the worldly male administrative lead and in some symbolism we see the split in ritual lead by a priestess in some place and the male lead including defence of settlement. Even a worldly leader needed the rostrum above his people to set the hierarchy and give the psychological authority.

My request on Internet:

However in practice I think that smaller communities had their own footstool when choosing a leader for instance ... most known is naturally Lia Fail on Ireland. The doom circles with 7 or 9 stones are common here around. Some of them have a stone in the middle. Maybe it was meant as a footstool? Please tell me if they had the same custom elsewhere in Europe.

Exodus

021:012 He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.

021:013 And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee.

021:014 But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.

....

This idea from Exodus may have come to Scandinavia and elsewhere from the Levant long before Christianity. We find it also on a runic stone from Oklunda East Gautland:

.

To those folk memories on the theme "kingston" I think the right solution is that local leaders were elected when standing on a Fodepald mentioned as concept in the Anglo-Saxon chronicle. Our earliest known connections to England are Horsa and Hengest in fifth century and culture may have gone in both directions.

Observe in the seal that the king stands on a leg, which is symbol for the nobility while the two feet is the people. In some other seals we see a footstool called fodepald in Anglo-Saxon texts.

Once something is separated from the underground it is above the normal. It need not be high or luxurious since it is the principle that counts and the symbolic ritual acts.

Observe that the concept king meant a local ritual leader in those days, since big nations were not invented yet. Europe before the Romans was filled with small tribes.

When standing in the footsteps in Ritual Age it meant that the leader took place for the virtual image.

I have a sketched on this series for months and I let the "fiery cross goes around" if anyone knows more on this theme.

Doom ring

Maybe we can learn something from this Phoenician temple. In the Levant and in Anatolia they often used temple in the free just as a place fenced by engraved stones as for instance in Karatepe. Exceptions are bigger cities of the time. It seems to be the case also in Scandinavia and we have hult and lund, i.e. the grove as a ritual place. Law code of Christianity forbade such things.

The important parts are the altar stone; the stone with the hands and the new moon; the sitting Tinia and the rest of the stones. That gives us the idea that we should see it as symbols for the growing season. Only the important hand-symbol for "going beneath at New Moon". In the tongue of management of today we should say, "it is the delegating of the work in society".

To this we should add the "time wheel" of around 1159 BC as we know it from Egypt. The Phoenician version is more European and it was spring equinox in Cetus the Whale below Aries. Cancer was a Hand and here we see the crescent moon above. That means their "go beneath" ritual was then. Libra is the "sitting" Tinia. Aquila/Eagle was the caduceus with two snakes seen on many tombstones in Cartage.

We know the snakes as defender of the larder and the symbol is for the harvest season and storing. In the doombook of 17^th century there is a note about a farmer that hide a snake under the doorstep to the cow-house.

These asterisms are seen in our rock-carvings and we can define influence and date some topics. In Scandinavia we are fortunate with all our rock-carvings, but surely the trading Phoenicians visited all the coasts in northern Europe too. The "Handman" Cadmos set his signature from India to the Atlantic. In Haugsbyn there are also the hand symbol and other signs of Phoenician influence after 1000 BC.

The megalith formations follow the development in that area of manifestation and together with rock-carvings it complete the picture of culture during 6000 years. There are also signs of that moon calendar was in use with finds of crescent symbols and shrines. There are circles and half circles of stones. Some of them have a stone in the middle and others have some stone that is chosen as symbol for the local idol or maybe as above incarnation of an asterism.

When analysing the slab cists I found that ritual items are spread on Dal as if it was divided in parishes already in third millennium BC. The remaining cists are spread with natural distance for farmers with cattle and then maybe also some little field for growing vegetables and corn.

In the Scandinavian carvings are many suites with seven of a kind. Only in a few cases they have individual members. We know the "septemvir" or "the seven men" from the Roman culture. They were responsible for the activity in the seven months of growing season. In September "seventh month" they showed their account.

About the Anglo-Saxons they tell that the tribes were lead by their aldermen. The term is still in use at least in Denmark and in some ritual societies. It seems reasonable to think that the smaller units the village had counsel with an alderman or year-man. His job was to keep track of time and ritual and know what to do next. The same principle was then in practise used as the thing for a folkland consisting of several villages.

Then the conclusion is near that our small doom rings are the manifestation of the principle of the village counsel, which often consisted of seven different archetypes for the season. I have note on TV that in Africa they still today in some villages has stones with elderly men sitting and discussing common matters.

The logic concept is that in a ring everyone is equal and the ring is the closed unit while a row has beginning and end. If some is in the ring he may be the speaker, entertainer or the accused. If you are outsides you are just out and do not belong to what the circle represent. Once a ring is made it is a sacred manifestation that becomes institution and memory of what to do.

In Swedish they normally use the word Doomring but even Thingring is in use. In German I also use Faith-ring since it describe just that the men were deciding about the future for the people in the village. Crime was the smallest part of it since the villages were small and crime was a rare thing. German Kreis is also a good word and still in use

Direct democracy need not be too formal. The oldest known term in Greece is "geronsia" meaning just a village counsel of elderly people, i.e. men. Women have always their own counsel when working together. Young men have other things to do but surely some listen to the counsel. The old Anglo-Scandinavian word for this is RAAD or RAT.

In this place have been five doom rings according to 19th century folklorists. There was two in the same king size and remains of the smaller are the stones in the foreground of the picture. The road divides the ritual field and in east a big gravel pit has eaten some of the place and the same is the case on the other side of the big doom ring. The railroad took much of it in late 19th century.

Folk memory tells that at the doom ring some peasant was punished for stealing corn. For long time I made my round to the place and took a break there. Once sitting on one of the stones they spoke to me, while the ants discovered me. The stones remembered the time when the railroad came. Everyone was looking upon and none knew what to do. The language sounded like Old Danish maybe due to old connections with the Danes.

Another time I was at other doom rings and they told me about the dancing customs when they made eight-figures. There were certain rules how it should be done and every turn was important with own meaning. I have danced such folk dances in my younger days but this was much more complex. … Dreamtime is timeless.

To the place belong also two stony mounds of the medium size 12 metres in diameter made of head-size stones. One of them had perhaps a risen stone since there is a sunken part in the middle. It seems to have been usage that ritual mounds had one or two standing stones on the top. At least one of the mounds had also a stone border with wings. This place must have been a ritual place for several villages since there have originally been five doom rings and now are only two lefts.

In 1931 Claes Claesson saw that there are seven doom-rings here and some of them have a stone or two in common. This is what I mean with the Woods as the Big Eater. Another is the big machinery they use in forestry works. Once I walked in a path and could not step out of the deep ditches made by the wheels. We cannot expect that the man sitting high on the machine should see some stones in a ring, when there are plenty of stones in our Scandinavian forests.

The doom-rings give seldom finds of any kind. In some they have found a fireplace in the middle. Has it been for the sacred place of funerals or for fire offers? We will never know. The fire as cult become frequent during Bronze Age and naturally the hard thinking men needed some food too from a cooking place.

The nobility in India celebrated fire offer to Agni offering a horse and it was cooked in a cauldron. The Cauldron was almost sacred in some places as for instance the one from Gundestrup Jutland that must have been for ritual purposes only.

On East Dal they have normally seven stones, while they on West Dal at the other side of the big ridge Kroppefjaell have nine stones. In West Sweden circles wit more stones occur such as 9, 10, 11, 12 and maybe 5, but seven seem to be the normal. Then they are rings with clear separate stones. On East Dal we find many doom-rings in pair that shows some pairhood. Maybe that cattlers and growers had their own or that the villages were in pair. Such things we can only speculate about.

It is much the same with the calendar symbolism in our rock-carvings that the half year with seven symbols is normal. In some places we even see cupmarks in a circle and there may have been discussion about this. Maybe we should se some rock-carvings without order as blackboards where they sketched their society or told about what they have seen on journeys.

The meaning of a seven stone circle is surely the same as the known Roman septemvir = "seven men". They were responsible each for one month of summer with inquisition in September. In some of our rock-carvings we see seven different footprint enclosed, which means the unity called collegium of seven in Rome.

Sometimes it is difficult to say if it is a doom-ring or a ship like the one with eight stones in ship shape at Steneby on Dal. Maybe they thought they were sailing on the Time River. The doom-ring must be the most spread ritual arrangement in Sweden. In some places they have used very big or long stones. But many of these have surely been taken away.

This doom-ring has a diameter of around 20 metres and there are eight stones and some are two metres high. There are many sizes of doom-rings and some may have been used for other purposes. The ordinary size is less than ten metres in diameter and looks like a common ritual construction. It occurs in many places like ritual rostrum for ancient "parishes".

But there are places like Smaalandstenar a place with six doom-rings in sizes from 9 to 20 metres diameter and with 6 to 20 stones. There are also places with stones or slabs in square or rectangle shape. These have surely been used as outdoor temples, which was the normal in Anatolia and the Levant. The Celts too preferred temples in open nature or in woods in Celtic called nemeton. In Scandinavia hult and lund are small groves.

This part is only about the local doom ring for a settlement. Bigger stone circles and ships have surely been used as place for thing concerning several settlements

See also Olympos of Nordal for a typical local ritual place