Whether we make Hiram Abif the chief Builder and the Operative Grand Master of Solomon's Temple, or whether we assign that position to Anon, Amon, or Ajuon, as it is in the Old Legend, or to Adoniram, as it is done in some Masonic Rites, the symbolism will remain unaffected, because the symbolic idea rests on the fact of a Chief Builder having existed, and it is immaterial to the development of the symbolism what was his true name.
The instruction intended to be conveyed in the legend of the Third Degree must remain unchanged, no matter whom we may identify as its hero; for he truly represents neither Hiram nor Anon nor Adoniram nor any other individual person, but rather the idea of man in an abstract sense,. It is, however, important to the truth of history that the real facts should be eliminated out of the mythical statements which envelop them.
We must throw off the husk, that we may get at the germ. And besides, it will add a new attraction to the system of Masonic ritualism if we shall be able to trace in it any remnant of that oldest and most interesting of the myths, the Legend of the Smith, which, as I have said, has universally prevailed in the most ancient forms of religious faith.
Before investigating this Legend of the Smith in its reference to Freemasonry and to this particular Legend of Hiram Abif which we are now considering, it will be proper to inquire into the character of the Legend as it existed in the old religions and in the mediaeval myths. We may then inquire how this Legend, adopted in Freemasonry in its stricter ancient form of the Legend of Tubal Cain, became afterward confounded with another legend of a Temple-Builder.
If we go back to the oldest of all mythologies, that which is taught in the Vedic hymns, we shall find the fire-god Agni, whose flames are described as being luminous, powerful, fearful, and not to be trusted. The element of fire thus worshipped by the primeval Aryans, as an instrument of good or of evil, was subsequently personified by the Greeks: the Vedic hymns, referring to the continual renovation of the flame, as it was fed by fuel, called it the fire-god Agni; also Gavishtha, that is, the ever young.
From this the Greeks got their Hephaestus, the mighty workman, the immortal smith who forged the weapons of the gods, and, at the prayer of Thetis, fabricated the irresistible armor of Achilles. The Romans were indebted to their Aryan ancestors for the same idea of the potency of fire, and personified it in their Vulcan, a name which is evidently derived from the Sanskrit Ulka, a firebrand, although a similarity of sound has led many etymologists to deduce the Roman Vulcan from the Semitic Tubal Cain.
Indeed, until the modern discoveries in comparative philology, this was the universal opinion of the learned. Among the Babylonians an important god was Bil-can. He was the fire-god, and the name seems to be derived from Baal, or Bel, and Cain, the god of smiths, or the master smith. George Smith, in his Chaldaen Account of Genesis, thinks that there is possibly some connection here with the Biblical Tubal Cain and the classical Vulcan.
From the fragments of Sanchoniathon we learn that the Phoenicians had a hero whom he calls Chrysor. He was worshipped after his death, in consequence of the many inventions that he bestowed on man, under the name of Diamichius; that is, the great inventor. To him was ascribed the invention of all those arts which the Greeks attributed to Hephaestus, and the Romans to Vulcan. Bishop Cumberland derives the name of Chrysor from the Hebrew Charatz, or the Sharbener, an appropriate designation of one who taught the use of iron tools.
The authorized version of Genesis, which calls Tubal Cain " an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron," is better rendered in the Septuagint and the Vulgate as a sharpener of every instrument in brass and iron.
Tubal Cain has been derived, in the English lectures of Dr. Hemming, and, of course, by Dr. Oliver, from a generally received etymology that Cain meant worldly possessions, and the true symbolism of the name has been thus perverted.
The true derivation is from kin, which, says Gesenius, has the especial meaning to forge iron, whence comes Kain, a spear or lance, an instrument of iron that has been forged.
Goldziher attempts to identify mythologically Cain the fratricide with the son of Lamech. Whether he be correct or not in his theory, it is at least a curious coincidence that Cain, which I have shown to mean a smith, should have been the first builder of a city, and that the same name should have been assigned to the first forger of metals, while the old Masonic Legend makes the master smith, Hiram of Tyre, also the chief builder of Solomon.
It will, I think, be interesting to trace the progress of the myth which has given in every age and every country this prominent position among artisans to the smith. Hephaestus, or Vulcan, kindling his forges in the isle of Lemnos, and with his Cyclops journeymen beating out and shaping and welding the red-hot iron into the forms of spears and javelins and helmets and coats of mail, was the southern development of the Aryan fire- god Agni.
The Scandinavians, or northern descendants of the Aryan race, brought with them, in their emigration from Caucasus, the same reverence for fire and for the working of metals by its potent use.
They did not, however, bring with them such recollections of Agni as would invent a god of fire Eke the Hephaestus and Vulcan of the Greeks and Romans. They had, indeed, Loki, who derived his name, it is said by some, from the Icelandic logi, or flame. But he was an evil principle, and represented rather the destructive than the creative powers of fire.
But the Scandinavians, interpolating, like all the northern nations, their folk-lore into their mythology, invented their legends of a skillful smith, beneath whose mighty blows upon the yielding iron swords of marvelous keenness and strength were forged, or by whose wonderful artistic skill diadems and bracelets and jewels of surpassing beauty were constructed.
Hence the myth of a wonderfully cunning artist was found everywhere, and the Legend of the Smith became the common property of all the Scandinavian and Teutonic nations, and was of so impressive a character that it continued to exist down to mediaeval times, and traces of it have ex- tended to the superstitions of the present day.
May we not justly look to its influence for the prominence given by the old Masonic legendists to the Master Smith of King Hiram among the workmen of Solomon? Among the Scandinavians we have the Legend of Volund, whose story is recited in the Volunddarkvitha, or Lay of Volund, contained in the Edda of Saemund. Volund pronounced as if spelled Wayland was one of three brothers, sons of an Elf-king; that is to say, of a supernatural race.
The three brothers emigrated to Ulfdal, where they married three Valkyries, or choosers of the slain, maidens of celestial origin, the attendants of Odin, and whose attributes were similar to those of the Greek Parcae, or Fates. After seven years the three wives fled away to pursue their allotted duty of visiting battle-fields. Two of the brothers went in search of their errant wives; but Volund remained in Ulfdal. He was a skillful workman at the forge, and occupied his time in fabricating works in gold and steel, while patiently awaiting the promised return of his beloved spouse.
Niduth, the king of the country, having heard of the wonderful skill of Volund as a forger of metals, visited his home during his absence and surreptitiously got possession of some of the jewels which he had made, and of the beautiful sword which the smith had fabricated for himself Volund, on his return, was seized by the warriors of Niduth and conducted to the castle.
There the queen, terrified at his fierce looks, ordered him to be hamstrung. Thus, maimed and deprived of the power of escape or resistance, he was confined to a small island in the vicinity of the royal residence and compelled to fabricate jewels for the queen and her daughter, and weapons of war for the king. It were tedious to recount all the adventures of the smith while confined in his island prison. It is sufficient to say that, having constructed a pair of wings by which he was enabled to fly by which we are reminded of the Greek fable of Daedalus , he made his escape, having by stratagem first dishonored the princess and slain her two brothers.
This legend of " a curious and cunning workman " at the forge was so popular in Scandinavia that it extended into other countries, where the Legend of the Smith presents itself under various, modifications. In the Icelandic legend Volund is described as a great artist in the fabrication of iron, gold and silver.
It does not, however, connect him with supernatural beings, but attributes to him great skill in his art, in which he is assisted by the power of magic. The Germans had the same legend at a very early period. In the German Legend the artificer is called Wieland, and he is represented as the son of a giant named Wade. He acquires the art of a smith from Minner, a skillful workman, and is perfected by the Dwarfs in all his operations at the forge as an armorer and gold smith.
He goes of his own accord to the king, who is here called Nidung, where he finds another skillful smith, named Amilias, with whom he contends in battle, and kills him with his sword, Mimung. For this offense he is maimed by the king, and then the rest of the story proceeds very much like that of the Scandinavian legend. Among the Anglo-Saxons the legend is found not varying much from the original type.
The story where the hero receives the name of Weland is contained in an ancient poem, of which fragments, unfortunately, only remain. The legend had become so familiar to the people that in the metrical romance of Beowulf the coat of mail of the hero is described as the work of Weland; and King Alfred in his translation of the Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius, where the author allude,, to the bones of the Consul Fabricius, in the passage "ubi sunt ossa Fabricie?
In the old French chronicles we repeatedly encounter the legend of the skillful smith, though, as might be expected, the name undergoes many changes. Thus, in a poem of the 6th century, entitled Gautier a la main forte, or Walter of the strong hand, it is said that in a combat of Walter de Varkastein he was protected from the lance of Randolf by a cuirass made by Wieland. Another chronicle, of the 12th century, tells us that a Count of Angouleme, in a battle with the Normans, cut the cuirass and the body of the Norman King in twain at a single stroke, with his sword Durissima, which had been made by the smith Walander.
A chronicle of the same period, written by the monk John of Marmontier, describes the magnificent habiliments of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Duke of Normandy, among which, says the author, was " a sword taken from the royal treasury and long since renowned. Galannus, the most skillful of armorers, had employed much labor and care in making it. Whether the name was given as Volund, or Wieland, or Weland, or Galans, it found its common origin in the Icelandic Volund, which signifies a smith.
It is a generic term, from which the mythical name has been derived. So the Greeks called the skillful workman, the smith of their folk-lore, Daedalus, because there is a verb in their language daidallo, which means to do skillful or ornamental work. Here it may not be irrelevant to notice the curious fact that concurrently with these legends of a skillful smith there ran in the Middle Ages others, of which King Solomon was the subject.
In many of these old romances and metrical tales, a skill was attributed to him which makes him the rival of the subordinate artisan. Indeed, the artistic reputation of Solomon was so proverbial at the very time when these legends of the smith were prevalent, that in the poems of those days we meet with repeated uses of the expression " l'uevre Salemon," or "the work of Solomon," to indicate any production of great artistic beauty.
So fully had the Scandinavian sagas the German chronicles, and the French romances spoken of this mythical smith that the idea became familiar to the common people, and was handed down in the popular superstitions and the folk-lore, to a comparatively modern period.
Two of these, one from Germany and one from England, will suffice as examples, and show the general identity of the legends and the probability of their common origin. Herman Harrys, in his Tales and Legends of Lower Saxony, tells the story of a smith who dwelt in the village of Hagen, on the side of a mountain, about two miles from Osnabruck.
He was celebrated for his skill in forging metals; but, being discontented with his lot, and murmuring against God, he was supernaturally carried into a cavernous cleft of the mountain, where he was condemned to be a metal king, and, resting by day, to labor at night at the forge for the benefit of men, until the mine in the mountain should cease to be productive. In the coolness of the mine, says the legend, his good disposition returned, and he labored with great assiduity, extracting ore from its veins, and at first forging household and agricultural implements.
Afterward he confined himself to the shoeing of horses for the neighboring; farmers. In front of the cavern was a stake fixed iii the ground, to which the countryman fastened the horse which he wished to have shod, and on a stone near by he laid the necessary fee.
On returning in due time he would find the task completed; but the smith, or, as he was called, the Hiller, i. Suddenly he heard a strange voice coming from above and crying, 'Hiram, Hiram, Hiram;' He raised his eyes and beheld a gigantic human figure. The artist felt the most lively joy. The Queen exulted. They mutually confessed their love. Solomon now hinted to the fellow-crafts that the removal of his rival, who refused to give them the master's word, would be acceptable unto himself; so when the architect came into the temple he was assailed and slain by them.
They wrapped up his body, carried it to a solitary hill and buried it, planting over the grave a sprig of acacia. The body was found by three masters, and they, suspecting that he had been slain by the three fellow-crafts for refusing them the master's word, determined nevertheless for greater security to change the word.
The three fellow-crafts were traced, but rather than fall into the hands of their pursuers, they committed suicide, and their heads were brought to Solomon. Based as it obviously was on this legend of the Temple, the question still remains, why was the story of the death of Hiram engrafted with so much detail upon Freemasonry?
The postulant is taught that the peculiar object of the Third Degree is to teach the heart to seek for happiness in the consciousness of a life well-spent, and invited to reflect upon death and to realise that to the just and virtuous man death has no terrors equal to the stain of falsehood and dishonour. All excellent moral teaching, but not illustrated in any way by the career of Hiram Abiff concerning whose life and conduct we know absolutely nothing.
And it seems that we must look for an explanation in some other direction. Many writers - chiefly non-Masons - have sought to throw light upon the subject, and with one voice they agree that the story of the death of Hiram is simply the Masonic way of serving up an ancient mystery. Mr John Fellows, who brings a mass of knowledge to a study of the subject, says that "the story of Hiram is only another version, like those of Adonis and Astarte, and of Ceres and Prosperine, of the fable of Osiris and Isis.
The likeness throughout," he adds, "is so exact as not to admit of doubt. The search for the body of Hiram; the enquiries made of a wayfaring man, and the intelligence received; the sitting down of one of the party to rest and refresh himself, and the hint conveyed by the sprig over the grave; the body of Hiram remaining fourteen days in the grave prepared by the assassins before it was discovered, all have allusion to, and comport with, the allegory of Osiris and Isis.
The condition even in which the grave of Hiram is found, covered with green moss and turf, corresponds very much with that in which Isis found the coffin of Osiris. Assuming that Mr Fellows and those who agree with him are correct what is the reason why the. The question is not easy to answer, and at most one can but hazard a guess.
May it not be that those who were anxious to build up the degree found their starting point in the anagram familiar to the Rosicrucians which, by a very striking coincidence, agreed with the name of the principal architect of the Temple?
Thus directed to Hiram they, decided to turn that craftsman to account and found much material ready to their hands in the Legend of the Temple. But the love story of the Queen of Sheba and the jealousy of Solomon were of no dramatic value to them in developing the degree, and consequently they had to adapt the story to their particular needs.
What the ultimate origin of Freemasonry was may never be discovered, but much of the elaborate ceremonial his a close affinity to early sun-worship and where, therefore, would the Authors more readily turn than to one of the solar myths. In the legend of Osiris they found something that fitted in exactly with their scheme, and just as the H.
The three fellow-crafts, as the ceremonial of the degree takes form, are stationed at the west, south and east entrances, and these are regions illuminated by the Sun. Twelve persons play an important part in the tragedy; the number, no doubt, alludes to the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and it has been suggested that the three assassins symbolise the three inferior signs of winter, Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius.
The Sun descends in the west, and it is at the west door that Hiram is slain. The acacia which typifies the new vegetation that will come as "a result of the Sun's resurrection, and is found in many ancient solar allegories, and is therefore quite naturally introduced into the Masonic story.
According to one statement, Hiram's body is found in a state of decay, having lain fourteen days; the body of Osiris was cut into fourteen pieces. Another statement insists that the body was found on the seventh day, and this again may allude to the resurrection of the Sun, "which actually takes place in the seventh month after his passage through the inferior signs, that passage which is called his descent into hell.
It is through the instrumentality of Leo - the Lion - that Osiris is raised, for when he re-enters that sign, he regains his former strength. Hiram was raised by the Lion's grip, and it is by that grip that the Freemason is raised from a figurative death to a reunion with the companions of his former toil. The parallel is wonderfully complete. An early catechism of the Craft says that Masonry is "a system of morality, veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbols.
The first degree accords with the definition; but the second degree is largely concerned with the erection of a Temple to the Lord, and, the Third Degree points the Craftsman to the Grand Lodge above to which he may hope to ascend after he has passed through the valley of the shadow of death. All this is religion - not morals; and it is as part of our common faith in immortality that Hiram's death is used as an illustration in the high and sublime degree.
Home Library Archive Links. Professor Buhle, in his "Historico-Critical Enquiry into the Origin of the Rosicrucians and Freemasons, says: - - "The building of Solomon's Temple had an obvious meaning as a prefiguration of Christianity. During this period, the traditional history wasenlarged, the ceremony rearranged, and what was formerly the Second Degree, expandedand then divided to form the degrees of Fellow Craft and Master Mason.
They were Dr. John Theophilus Desaguliers, an Episcopalian clergyman. Who actually attached Hiram Abiff to Freemasonry is undetermined, although it may be assumed that BrothersDesaguliers and Anderson were prominently involved. Hiram became a central figure inMasonic ritual during their years of involvement. WHY:The next point to consider is the source of the material. Obviously based on the story ofthe building of the Temple, the question remains, why was the story of the death of Hiram Abiff impressed with such detail upon Freemasonry?
We are talking about the western world prior to the 19th century. There was brutality among people and between countries. Poverty was prevalent to sucha degree as can only be found in 4th and 5th world countries today. The publication ofwhat was going on in the world was determined by what stories would sell, be they factor fiction.
The story of the death of our Grand Master is simply the Masonic way of serving up anancient mystery. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the western world was absorbed withsecret societies and spirituality. The ancient mysteries of Egypt and Greece and Romewere as much a part of that world as are the stories of Star Wars or E. The menof learning had the teachings of these ancient fables as a part of their general knowledgebase and culture.
Certainly, Anderson and Desaguliers, as educated gentlemen andclergymen, would be well acquainted with both the fables and the secret societies thatsurrounded them. The central component of the ancient mysteries always revolved about a man whoperishes as the victim of an evil power, and then rises again into a more gloriousexistence.
In these ancient mysteries, we constantly run into the story of a sad event, acrime that plunges nations into strife and grief, followed by some incident that results in arestoration to an even better existence. The murder, the search for the body, the sitting down of one of the party of searchers torest and refresh himself, the hint of the sprig over the grave, the body remaining in agrave previously dug by the assassins before it was discovered, are all exact componentsof the ancient Egyptian story of Osiris and Isis.
This is one of the reasons the story of our Craft descending from the ancient Egyptianscontinues to persist. With the construction of the Temple as the basic theme, the story of Hiram , an obscureindividual barely mentioned in scripture, was expanded to fit the ancient fable model. The authors developed a morality play to inculcate the desired final teachings as a part ofthe Third Degree.
Wherever Craft Masonry is practised, the candidate represents our Grand Master Hiram Abiff , not only to show that death is preferable to dishonour, but to impress upon theFraternity that the just and upright man may hope to be received as a worthy Brother intothe Grand Lodge above, where the Great Architect lives and reigns forever.
Brethren, this is the end of our talk on the Hiram ic Legend. Being the last person tospeak, I would like to continue with some of the thoughts just expressed.
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