The Enigmata Stellarum

Dark imaginings of that which lies hidden behind the veil of reality, terrible tales of woe and horror of those to whom the true nature of the universe was revealed, or revelations of the times when the stars are right? Fiction or Fact? This forum is for Cthulhu and Horror fan fiction. Do you have a story to share?
User avatar
Yigcredible
Initiate
Initiate
Posts: 51
Registered for: 10 years 7 months
10
Contact:

The Enigmata Stellarum

Post by Yigcredible »

The Enigmata Stellarum

Few facts can be stated with conviction concerning the legendary grimoire known as the Enigmata Stellarum, other than its title can be translated from Latin to “The Riddles of the Stars.” Its earliest references can be found in the work of the Roman historian Pliny the Elder, specifically in his Natural History, published in 77-79 CE. Pliny attributes its authorship to Ostanes, a Persian magus responsible for “introducing the dark arts to the Greek and Roman worlds.” The veracity of this is dubious, however, as the Greeks and Romans frequently ascribed to foreign personages masteries of magic due to their association with the unfamiliar and unknown. While it cannot be disputed that the contents of the Enigmata Stellarum are indeed alien in nature, Ostanes’ credit as the author may have more to do with traditional xenophobia rather than actual historical truth. Moreover, if Ostanes originally penned the Enigmata Stellarum, he would have done so in Persian, suggesting that Pliny referred by its contemporary name rather than whatever designation it bore at the time of Ostanes’ alleged writing.

At any rate, Pliny’s account has Ostanes bringing the text with him during the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BCE. There, Pliny says, it passed into the hands of various unidentified owners, all of whom attempted to unlock the secrets of its “monstrous craft,” inspiring a “lust” (aviditatem) and even “madness” (rabiem) for its secrets, although why a conquering Persian would want to share esoteric knowledge with an understandably hostile Greek population, the brotherhood of scholars notwithstanding, is not explained. It is possible that Pliny misunderstood his primary sources, confusing a metaphorical criticism of Greek sages for imitating Persian academia as a neutral version of events. The Enigmata Stellarum, in this instance, could have served as a symbol for Persian teachings imported to ancient Greece in whatever treatises Pliny researched in the compilation of his signature contribution to world history.

We know, however, that the Enigmata Stellarum itself was more than metaphor, as it surfaces again in Appian’s record of the Third Punic War, mentioned in passing as one of several “sacred texts” smuggled out of Carthage on the eve of the city’s destruction at Roman hands in 146 BCE. Diodorus Siculus refers to religious scripture “Eastern” in origin as the basis for Carthage’s infamous practice of child sacrifice. It should be noted that whether the Carthaginians truly murdered children has been disputed, given our dependence on Roman accounts for this particular narrative and the obvious interest the Romans had in spreading such propaganda about their enemies. Still, in addition to growing archaeological evidence that these sacrifices did indeed occur, the Enigmata Stellarum does indeed contain sections describing in graphic detail how one might placate malignant spirits through the ceremonial slaughter of preadolescent boys and girls in various ways. More than a few academic theses have been devoted to finding consistencies between the sacrifices outlined in the Enigmata Stellarum and the Codex Ixtlilxochitl, the 17th century codex fragment describing the festivals and rituals of the Aztecs, including human sacrifice.

The Enigmata Stellarum next appears in the Pinakes, the library catalog composed by Callimachus (310/305-240 BCE), listing the holdings of the Library of Alexandria. Ammianus Marcellinus names the Enigmata Stellarum specifically as having survived Julius Caesar’s fire in the Alexandrian War of 48 BCE, but laments that it was one of many tomes lost in the third century when the library was damaged by Emperor Aurelian when he stormed the city to suppress a revolt. From here, the notorious book vanishes from history, not remarked upon again until a passing mention in the Cairo Geniza collection of Jewish manuscripts. Apparently, the Jewish philosopher and physician Maimonides procured a copy of the Enigmata Stellarum with some effort, after he had been appointed leader of the Egyptian Jewish community around 1171. After becoming court physician to Saladin, Maimonides allegedly sent his copy to his home city of Córdoba, fearing that direct ownership of such a blasphemous book would mean his execution at the hands of the caliph.

We can presume the book endured the journey across the Mediterranean, as the Enigmata Stellarum returned to Europe in 1223 thanks to Michael Scot, the medieval expert on astrology, alchemy and the occult sciences who translated so many of the Arabian commentaries ancient works from Arabic into Latin. A decade later, Pope Gregory IX condemned the book as heretical in the Vox in Rama, a papal bull issued sometime between 1232 and 1234. Despite this decree, we know that the the Enigmata Stellarum was reprinted in Latin at least three times afterward: in 1358 at the University of Bologna; in 1407 in Wiltshire, England; and in 1498 in Nuremburg. The “Bologna” copy was destroyed in 1595 during the persecution of its owner, Giordano Bruno, by the Roman Inquisition (for, it should be said, not devil worship but for arguing that the Sun was a star and that the universe contains infinite inhabited worlds populated by other intelligent beings). To date, the “Wiltshire” and “Nuremburg” copies, along with the “Maimonides” original are the only known existing copies of the Enigmata Stellarum in existence.

Precious little is known about the “Nuremburg” copy. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa boasted of obtaining it in correspondence he sent in 1520, after which it is written about only surreptitiously and not in any source considered reliable. Heinrich Himmler, the head of Hitler’s SS and an occult devotee, claimed to have recovered it in Arnhem in a private library following the conquest of the Netherlands in 1940. Whether this was the true “Nuremburg” copy is open to debate, and even if it were established it were so, it is unlikely that it survived the war. It has been rumored that it is now featured in the collection of a reclusive Russian billionaire with an interest in ancient mysticism.

The “Wiltshire” copy knew a variety of owners in the United Kingdom, ranging from John Dee to Elias Ashmole to Sir Thomas Browne. In 1947, it came into the possession of Carl Anthon, who would go on to become professor of history at American University in Washington, D.C. in 1961. After his death, Anthon left his works to the American University library, along with works by Aristotle, Boccaccio, Josephus, Suetonius, and Martin Luther. Viewing the Enigmata Stellarum is a rare privilege, ostensibly because of the rarity and value of the book, but purportedly not impossible if one has the right connections.

The original “Maimonides” copy of the Enigmata Stellarum was believed destroyed. It was recently learned, however, that al-Azhar University was in custody of an Arabic version, believed to have been the copy Maimonides sent to Córdoba in the 12th century, having somehow made its way back to Cairo. Al-Azhar University, a madrasa founded circa 971 CE by the Fatimids, notified the world in early 2013 that its copy had gone missing – stolen in the night during the recent tumult caused by the political situation there. Naturally, speculation has abounded on news sites and message boards around the world as to what motives the thieves might have had for this occult text, ranging from the mundane to the truly fantastic and terrible…
"Save during infrequent local scares, only wonder-loving grandmothers and retrospective nonagenarians ever whispered of beings dwelling in those hills..."
User avatar
Tabs
Oracle
Oracle
Posts: 6046
Registered for: 15 years 2 months
15
Contact:

Re: The Enigmata Stellarum

Post by Tabs »

That is very good.

The "historical fact" got a little bit too indigestable . . . which parts are fact and which fiction?--I don't know, but you are very well informed, Yigcredible.
the persecution of its owner, Giordano Bruno, by the Roman Inquisition (for, it should be said, not devil worship but for arguing that the Sun was a star and that the universe contains infinite inhabited worlds populated by other intelligent beings).
I've read that Giordano Bruno was burned as a heretic for saying the Earth was not the center of the Universe, and orbited the Sun.

Got any more stuff?
User avatar
Yigcredible
Initiate
Initiate
Posts: 51
Registered for: 10 years 7 months
10
Contact:

Re: The Enigmata Stellarum

Post by Yigcredible »

This was just something I churned out while at work. I was inspired by Lovecraft's history of his Necrocomicon, plus other fictional grimoires from the Mythos like Bloch's De Mysteriis Vermis.
"Save during infrequent local scares, only wonder-loving grandmothers and retrospective nonagenarians ever whispered of beings dwelling in those hills..."
User avatar
Priest
Keeper
Keeper
Posts: 3281
Registered for: 11 years 2 months
11
Location: Somerset, England
Contact:

Re: The Enigmata Stellarum

Post by Priest »

Amazing stuff. :D
We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are.
- Anais Nin
User avatar
carnage_lee
Admin
Admin
Posts: 2324
Registered for: 18 years 4 months
18
Location: Orpington, Kent, UK
Contact:

Re: The Enigmata Stellarum

Post by carnage_lee »

That's a good example of a scholarly treatment of an historical reference for a Mythos Tome - thanks for posting :)
Post Reply

Return to “Terrible Tales, Horrible Revelations and Dreams of Dark Days (Fan Fiction)”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests