Ancient Egyptian Martial Arts Part 2

7/27/2019 Ancient Egyptian Martial Arts Part 2

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Ancient Egyptian Martial Arts Part 2by Brian Burgin

Originally Published in: August 1, 1999

As stated in my previous article, ancient Egypt had its own early martial arts of wrestling, stick

fighting, and boxing. Most likely, these arts influenced the later arts of Greece, India, and China.However, inspiration for these later arts did not come from the Egyptian arts alone. Egyptianconcepts those not necessarily related to ancient Egyptian martial arts fundamentallyinfluenced modern martial arts. This article will reach back to and before Egypt and explore theorigins of two of these concepts.

To begin, it is important to first discuss the extent and manner of borrowing from early martial artsby those later. Not surprisingly, the later martial arts were different from the arts of old - they werenot simply copies of the old arts. There are many reasons for this. One, any art's lineage andsuccession can be easily broken with age. Over thousands of years, there is a reasonablechance that sometimes a master will die with no true successor. Two, teaching to outsiders isclassically forbidden. As martial arts provide a means to kill, there was great risk in teachingoutsiders who could become future enemies. Three, martial arts must undergo gradual adaptation

and evolution to survive. Since the peoples and environments changed over the years, the martialarts of later days had to be different. New enemies and environments required new techniques.Thus, the techniques of the early arts were not likely useful to the later arts. Considering whatcould be borrowed effectively from the early arts, one may conclude that the later arts borrowedconcepts rather than techniques. These concepts, to be incorporated into the later arts, wouldfurther have to be applicable across and last thousands of years. Thus, the concepts chosenwere those representing the foundations of the later arts rather than those on the periphery those on the periphery being those applicable only to a specific age. Here, concepts on theperiphery are too specialized, are dependent on the environment, and do not last through theages. There are many foundations found in modern martial arts, but most exist as symbols.Symbols are especially important and were used extensively because they can represent manyconcepts at once. Moreover, they are not exact and can be applied and reapplied differentlydepending on the situation. This dynamism is exactly what the later arts needed and wanted in

borrowing from early arts. A dynamic symbol can vary in application yet still retain its originalmeaning. Thus, a symbol of old could be fitted to the periphery concepts and yet at the same timeremain intact. In fact, the pairing of the symbol with the periphery completed the symbol'smeaning. In this way, whole arts evolved based on the same core concepts with all just aseffective in their own ways and environments. The dragon, as seen in the previous article, wasone of these foundation symbols. Its power to influence later arts lied, as stated here, in itsincompleteness. As a mythological animal, it was a symbol and thus was not fully defined. Itscharacteristics and what it represented were slightly altered over time to match necessarysituations. The core meanings of the dragon symbol have remained, however, to be used againand again throughout history.

Modern Chinese martial arts contain two important foundation symbols. These symbols are thedragon and the phoenix. While the two occur in other modern cultures, their Chinese versions arethe most important to the study of the Chinese arts. The Chinese dragon is a large beast with along snake-like body. It has no wings yet can fly and swim well. The Chinese phoenix is a rarerimmortal bird.

Figure 1:A Chinese Dragon and Phoenix

The two animals are placed above the other animals in the Chinese martial tradition. A simplereason for this lies in the fact that the two are mythological and exist as more complex beingsthan the other animals. Another reason is that the two are associated with things beyond the


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corporeal world and are thus given a higher status. The dragon of the Chinese martial arts is thesame as the dragon of Chinese culture. In China, the dragon, a symbol of wisdom and divinepower, was associated with the emperor. The phoenix, an elegant bird of great spiritual strength,was associated with the empress. Although these two animals are mythological and appear to notexist in our time, references to them span many cultures throughout history and around the world.The Egyptian, Greek, Indian, Chinese, Arabian, and Mayan civilizations all included dragon andphoenix myths.

As stated previously, the dragon and the serpent were synonymous in many ancient cultures. But,as one moves forward in time, diversification of the unified symbol can be seen. This is consistentwith the trend in the evolution of the martial arts as stated earlier. In China, there are threesymbols for the serpent - the mythological dragon, the mythological hsiai-chai, and the snake.The mythological dragon is further divided according to whether it has horns or not and by itsfunction in Chinese myth. The hsiai-chai has a single horn and walks on four legs. It is most akinto the crocodile. The mythological dragon surfaced as a symbol in China as early as the Shangdynasty, 1600-1100 BC. Evidence comes from Chinese hieroglyphs of this period. This is theperiod of the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt. As argued in the previous article, the crocodile is thedragon of ancient Egypt. Worship of this dragon dates to 2400 BC. Here, the crocodile god,Sobek, was worshipped at Faiyum in upper Egypt.Figure 2:

A Statue of Sobek

Hence, the Egyptian worship of the dragon pre-dates the Chinese symbol. Now, the Egyptiansymbol further pre-dates its worship. In other words, the dragon had to develop first as a symbolin ancient Egypt before it could be worshipped. Evidence of the dragon as a symbol withinEgyptian culture dates to the pre-dynastic era. Crocodiles lived in the Nile River most likely beforehumanity ever populated the region. Thus, the ancient Egyptians must have known of thecrocodile even before the unification of kingdoms before 3000 BC. Therefore, the dragon as asymbol within ancient Egypt most likely developed well before Egyptian martial arts. In fact, thedragon, as a symbol, pre-dates ancient Egypt.

The cultures of old Mesopotamia had a dragon symbol. The Sumerians, predecessors to theBabylonians, and other Semites had a serpent symbol matching closely to that of a moderndragon. One web page describes their serpent as a winged being, dragon-like, supposedly a life-giver worthy of worship. Although the physical representation is slightly different, this symbolslife-giving character is paralleled in the Egyptian symbol. Here, the Egyptian crocodile god,Sobek, was associated with water, fertility, and life. In Hebrew, the word seraph means aburning one. The seraphim were the guardians of the throne of God as stated in The Bible. Ofparticular interest is the fact that the word seraph is equivalent to the Semite word for serpent.Thus, there is a strong correlation between the dragon and the angels of ancient texts. It hasalways seemed puzzling that the modern dragon symbols of western civilization werecharacteristically evil while those of the east were characteristically good. It may well be that,taking into consideration this angelic connection, the difference lies in the difference betweengood and evil angels. A fallen angel has been portrayed as a serpent in many ancient texts. Aslegend states, the serpent of old brought knowledge to Adam and Eve. Hence forth, the dragonwas the symbol of wisdom. So too, the good angels brought wisdom to man. The Aramaic texts

state that Enoch was the first among the children of men born of the Earth and had learnedwriting, science, and wisdom from the angels. The good dragons of the east and the evil of thewest are not angels and devils in physical form. The modern dragon has evolved in physical formover time - the Egyptian dragon was the crocodile and the Chinese dragon is more like a serpent.Most likely, the modern dragon symbols evolved into their present forms as a mixture of thecharacteristics of both good and evil angels - the wings of angels, the fire of the seraphim, andthe scales and body of the serpent. Further references were most likely made to physical forms ofcommon animals within the domain of these civilizations the snake and crocodile in particular.While their physical forms are a combination of the good and evil, their core meanings remained


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true. Therefore, modern dragons represent a middle ground between the fallen and faithful angelin physical representation yet are split in meaning. Each culture, then, chose to represent thedragon as good or evil. In some cases, there was more than one dragon within a culture witheach representative of either good or evil.

Of interest to Chinese martial artists are the dragons representative of good for these are the

most associated with the Chinese martial dragon. The Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, and Mayancivilizations had dragons representative of good. In Babylon, eight shining copper dragonsguarded the gates. The guardian aspect of the dragon exists throughout Egyptian, Greek, andChinese cultures. In Egypt, Sobek was guardian of the pharaoh in the Thirteenth Dynasty. InGreece, the great and wise serpent, called Ladon, guarded the tree of golden apples of theHesperides. Other than the Biblical connection to angels of old, the dragon has been associatedwith dinosaurs. While seemingly hard to believe, ancient man may have come across dinosaursor dinosaur remains and devised the concept of the dragon from such encounters. The dinosaurand the dragon seem closely akin both were large and powerful lizards. So too, the accounts ofthe Leviathan, a dragon referenced in The Bible, convey remarkably an image of an aquaticdinosaur. Regardless of its origin, the dragon as a symbol is wonderfully ancient.

Being a modern symbol, the Chinese dragon has developed into a compound being. Chinese

texts describe the dragon as having the antlers of a deer, the head of a camel, the eyes of a hare,the neck of a serpent, the belly of a crocodile, the claws of an eagle, the paws of a tiger, and theears of a buffalo.Figure 3:

A Chinese Dragon

This fusion of the greatest qualities of numerous animals into one supreme animal demonstratesclearly the strength and station of the dragon in Chinese culture. So too, the dragon is describedas having the ability to alter its form to morph into any form it chooses with ease. This shape-shifting quality can be seen in the gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt. As depicted in ancienthieroglyphs, the same Egyptian deity could appear in many varied forms.

The Chinese phoenix is the compliment to the dragon. While the dragon is a lizard, the phoenix is

a bird. Thus, as lizards are akin to yet different than birds, so too are the dragon and the phoenix.As a lizard, the dragon is of the earth abiding there. The phoenix, however, is a bird and is moreakin to the skies and to heaven. As an immortal bird, the phoenix is not of earth and is said toabide in the immortal lands. Through the phoenix, one may find spiritual enlightenment. Throughthe dragon, one may find earthly strength. Thus, the dragon is associated with the earthlyqualities of wisdom, physical strength, life, war, and adaptation. The phoenix, in contrast, isanalogous to the qualities of heaven - virtue, peace, prosperity, rebirth, and renewal. Both thedragon and the phoenix are seen as the most powerful beings in Chinese culture. Both representthe attainment of the highest levels of all three Taoist qualities jing, qi, and shen. As the Chinesedragon was given the best qualities of numerous animals, so too was the phoenix. However, theanimal bases are different. The Chinese phoenix was depicted as having the forehead of a crane,bill of a fowl, the throat of a swallow, the neck of a snake, the shell of a tortoise, the stripes of adragon, and the tail of a fish.Figure 4:

A Chinese Phoenix

The legend of the phoenix was known throughout history. Put simply, the legend speaks of thesingular bird that lives for five hundred years in the immortal lands, journeys to mortal lands todie, and is reborn in fire. Evidence of the legend and the phoenix symbol has been found in theancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, Greece, India, and Central America. Theancient Egyptians phoenix was the Bennu or sacred heron symbolizing resurrection andimmortality.Figure 5:


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The Egyptian Bennu

The Greek and Arabian myths represented the phoenix as type of great eagle yet associated itwith the same legend and meanings.Figure 6:

An Eagle-like Phoenix

As seen before with the dragon symbol, the phoenix is modified in physical form across thedifferent cultures yet remains intact in meaning. Evidence of the phoenix as a symbol in ancientEgypt dates to as early as 3100 BC. At this time, Ptah, the creator god, was worshipped. He isdepicted carrying a phoenix-headed scepter called an Uas that was symbolic of mastery.Sometimes, the Egyptians drew the phoenix with the body of a man and the wings of a bird.Figure 7:

An Egyptian Bipedal Phoenix

This representation seems to lend human attributes to the phoenixs god-like self. Moreover, theSumerians and Phoenicians associated the phoenix with Enoch who was the seventh from

Adam. Enoch, it is said, did not die but was translated (made immortal) by God and taken up toabide in heaven. Thus, as a new immortal human being, Enoch represented the ability of man to

be reborn as immortal and to rise to heaven. This symbolism matches that within the phoenixlegend and the modern phoenix today. Among other things, the modern phoenix in China todayrepresents the same potential for spiritual rebirth. Furthermore, the modern phoenix symbol, it isnot surprising, represents the same qualities of good character associated with Enoch in ancienttexts wisdom, perseverance, harmony, and peace.

As can be seen, the phoenix, like the dragon, pre-dated ancient Egypt. These two symbols werepervasive in both ancient cultures and martial arts. One can speculate why martial artists selectedsuch symbols over other symbols. It seems that the truth has always been that martial artstraditions have been selected from existing traditions. Thus presumably, the dragon and thephoenix, given their age and associations, were chosen recurrently due to their worth as symbolsof a continuum or tradition of tradition. In this way, they may have been used to mirror that samecontinuum aspect found within martial arts.

This article, I hope, has brought the reader more insight into the origins of modern martial arts. Ascan be seen, history can be quite profound and yet obscure at the same time. One mustremember that history is not something to be feared. Instead, history is something quite theopposite a thing to be sought. Alluding to this idea, I close now with a quote from the Tao TeChing: Just realize where you come from: this is the essence of wisdom.

References:

Image References:Figure 1: Lycos PicturesFigure 2: SobekFigure 3: Chinese DragonsFigure 4: Zee Stone GalleryFigure 5: The Legend of the PhoenixFigure 6: The Gods and Other Mythical CreaturesFigure 7: The Philosophical Research Society

Other References:Cultural Diffusion


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Chinese DragonThe Reptilians: Humanity's Historical Link to the Serpent RaceEve's Experiences in the Garden of EdenThe Serpent as DivinityMythology of the PhoenixPtah, the Universal Architect GodThe Secret DoctrineEncyclopedic Theosophical GlossaryOther Various webpages

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Ancient Egyptian Martial Arts Part 2