Name:dashinvaine •
Title: The Templars and the Rosette symbol. •
Date posted: 11/12/08 18:14
Q: Aside from the chevron, there's another symbolic association between the Templars and the Talpiot tomb ossuaries. This is the rosette, six leaf-shapes radiating from the centre of a circle. This wheel-like symbol appears frequently on first century Jewish ossuaries, including the 'Mariamne' ossuary. It also appears on a lead weight which was found in the HQ of the rebels from the Bar Kokhba revolt, which was displayed in the recent exhibition on the Emperor Hadrian in the British Museum.
The symbol was used very often by the medieval Templars and Cistercians. These examples are from a mosaic once in a Cistercian abbey: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/high-light_image.aspx?image=ps339959.jpg&retpage=20766
I-t- features over and over again on the painted ceiling of the Templar chapel of Montsaunes in southern France, for example. http://www.insolite.asso.fr/templiers/montsaunes-021.jpg
As you can see, a triangle and circle symbol also features, though here the circle is above the triangle rather than within it.
I don't actually believe that the Templars entered the Talpiot tomb as there's no compelling evidence of that. (They actually hardly ever included skulls in their imagery either, and it's unlikely they would have left the skulls there.) A simpler explanation would be that they copied the rosette symbol from other ancient monuments encountered in the Holy Land. Incidentally some first-century ossuaries also contain a symbol reminiscent of the fleur-de-lys, which also features in the Templar fresco. See here for an example on an ossuary: http://198.62.75.1/www1/ofm/sbf/escurs/Ger/13ossuarioDFBig.jpg
The rosette also featured commonly on Templar grave slabs, along with an elongated cross rising from the top of a pyramid. Somtimes, with the rosettes, only four leaf shapes featured, so that the spaces between formed a Templar cross, the croix pattee. There is another six-leaf rosette in the crypt of Rosslyn Chapel, incidentally, not that Rosslyn has anything to do with the Templars...
Name:Mykelbelievs •
Date: 01/27/09 9:13
A: Hey Dashinvaine:
I think their IS evidence that the Templar DID enter the tomb...
1st: the "Jesus Family Tomb" book does say they found evidence that the original seal stones were missing and replaced prior to discovery and that the Ossuary niches were NOT sealed when they were discovered.
2nd: all burial artifacts, typical of the Jewish custom, (Bowls, Cups) were not present.
3rd: the Skulls oriented in a chevron toward the Temple mount.
I believe all of this points to Templar Grail Legend... Mainly the cups and Bowls are an obvious link, which stands to reason from which the Grail legends first diverged from Mariamne's ossuary itself.
And I remember an old story made famous in the "Indiana Jones...and the Last Crusade" movie about Three Brothers sworn to protect the Grail forever, which makes me think of the Three skulls. And my assumption is that this legend has evolved from an actual event in which Three Templar Brothers, who's last wishes were for their skulls to be placed on the tombs floor, in a chevron shape oriented to point toward the Temple Mount, identifying them as Knights of the Temple of Solomon.
In the belief that their souls would protect the secret, a ritual that would never be copied.
