The White Goddess by Robert Graves

Author:Robert Graves [Graves, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Non-Fiction, Mythology, Literature, 20th Century, Britain, Literary Studies, Amazon.com, Mysticism, Retail
ISBN: 9780571265510
Amazon: B004N3CBBQ
Publisher: Faber and Faber Ltd
Published: 1997-02-02T15:00:00+00:00

We can go further: with the help of the names given to the tribes by their mothers in Genesis XXIX and XXX, and of the prophetic blessings or curses bestowed on them by Jacob in Genesis XLVIII and XLIX, we can assign a letter and month to each tribe. To Ephraim (‘fruitful’) and Manasseh (‘forgetfulness’), the two sons of Joseph who was a ‘fruitful vine’ we can assign the months C and M; and B to Reuben the first-born, who had Edomite connections. To Reuben’s four full-brothers, Gad (‘a robber band’) Levi (‘set apart’) Asher (‘royal dainties are on his plate’) and Simeon (‘the bloody brother whose anger is fierce’), the months of S, H, D and T. Gad has the month of the razzia when the corn is invitingly ripe; Levi has the H month because it is the month of peculiar holiness; Asher has the important royal D month because his name is connected with the Ashera, the terebinth groves of the midsummer sacrifice; Simeon has T, the murderous month when the sun is at its fiercest. To Issachar, ‘the strong ass between two burdens’, we can assign L, the month of rest between sowing and harvest. To Zebulon, ‘among the ships’, belongs the sea-voyage month of N; to Judah (‘lion’s whelp’), the Spring solstice month of F; to Naphta’i, ‘he strove’, the ploughing month, R. And to ‘Little Benjamin their ruler’ belongs New Year’s Day, the day of the Divine Child. When we have assigned to Dan, ‘like a serpent’, the serpentine month of G, we naturally fill the Ng month, which alone remains vacant, with the tribe of Dinah: for Dinah, the female twin of Dan, was another tribe that disappeared early (see Genesis XXXIV), and since the Ng month marks the beginning of the rains and the resumption of the seasonal cycle of growth, a woman naturally belongs there.

In my King Jesus I have tentatively reconstructed the hymn to Hercules Melkarth on which ‘Jacob’s Blessing’ seems to be based. It combines the words of the Blessing with the traditional meanings of the tribal names and begins with Hercules swaying to and fro in his golden cup. I take this opportunity of correcting my misplacement of the brothers Levi, Gad and Asher:

Reuben – B

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