IN MODVM ROTAE

Posted 20 August 2012

IN MODVM ROTAE = in the shape of a wheel

From "Camillus ~ A Study of Indo-European Religion as Roman History"
by George Dumezil, 1980:



Note: I have seen those cookies in India, they made them for Christmas and they were 6-spoke wheel-shaped.

From "A Companion to the prologue of Apuleius' Metamorphoses"
by Kahane & Laird (eds.), 2001:

Et iniecta dextera senex comissimus ducit me protinus ad ipsas fores aedis amplissimae rituque sollemni apertionis celebrato ministerio ac matutino peracto sacrificio de opertis adyti profert quosdam libros litteris ignorabilibus praenotatos, partim figuris cuiusce modi animalium concepti sermonis compendiosa verba suggerentes, partim nodosis et in modum rotae tortuosis capreolatimque condensis apicibus a curiositate profanorum lectione munita."

APVLEI METAMORPHOSEON LIBER XI-22

>=> Writing/ script 'in the shape of a wheel'.

Apuleius was mentioning the JOL (6-spoke wheel) script.

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 also see #2067 Posted 18 December 2010 (here )
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Posted 21 August 2012 - 07:43 AM

Abramelin, on 20 August 2012 - 07:52 PM, said:

Whatever translator or translation you use, it still is about the ENDINGS or EXTREMITIES of the letters , not about the shape of the letters themselves.

What word in the Latin original makes you think it's about the endings or extremities of the letters? It is an interpretation of the translator. The original text does not say so.

"... libros litteris ignorabilibus praenotatos, partim figuris cuiusce modi animalium concepti sermonis compendiosa verba suggerentes, partim nodosis et in modum rotae tortuosis capreolatimque condensis apicibus a curiositate profanorum lectione munita."

partim nodosis = partly knotted
in modum rotae = like a wheel
tortuosis capreolatimque = serpentine and curled
condensis apicibus = wijnrankachtig verstrengeld

Compare the Dutch translation by Vincent Hunink (2012):

"... boeken met teksten in een niet te ontcijferen schrift. Deels waren het allerlei dierfiguren ter aanduiding van uitvoerige rituele formules, deels ook verknoopte, in wielvorm gedraaide en wijnrankachtig met elkaar verstrengelde tekens die het geschrevende moesten beschermen tegen de nieuwsgierigheid van buitenstaanders."

And better still, this one:

"... books written in unknown characters. Some of these represented various animals and were shorthand for formulaic expressions, and some were in the form of knots or rounded like a wheel or twisted at the ends, to guard their meaning against the curiosity of the uninitiated." (Translation used in video "Ancient Mystery Religions - The Book of Isis, Metamorphoses", 2010.)

It is plausible that various mysterious writings were meant, in stead of one that has all characteristics:
Some scripts had animal-figures, others knots, yet others were wheel-shaped, and others were serpentine and curled.

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Posted 21 August 2012 - 10:11 AM

One can also look at it like this:

The Romans knew what round is, they also had words for that.
They did not need the image of a wheel to describe 'round'.

If the author had meant 'round' or 'curly', he could have just used those words.

In the example picture you gave, the letters were rounded and curled, but not "like a wheel", as a wheel is a perfectly round circle, without an opening.

"litteris [...] in modum rotae" = letters [...] in the mode/ fashion of the wheel (or: modeled after the wheel).

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Posted 21 August 2012 - 10:43 AM

Abramelin, on 21 August 2012 - 10:32 AM, said:

The OLB script is BASED on Jol wheels, but they don't look like wheels, except for maybe a couple of them, like the -O- .

The Latin text by Apuleius does not say the letters look like wheels, but they are "in modum rotae"; in wheel-mode or based on the wheel.

This may have been a more commonly known phenomenon, than it is now.

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Posted 21 August 2012 - 11:45 AM

Abramelin, on 21 August 2012 - 11:05 AM, said:

And if Apuleius had indeed seen the OLB script, why would he say it's 'rounded like wheels' or your 'based on a wheel'?

The answer could not be more obvious.
Because the OLB script IS (as no other known script) 'in modum rotae' (in wheel-mode, in wheel-fashion).

 ~

Translator Vincent Hunink (2012) p.355 (Nawoord):

"Apuleius laat zijn Romeinse lezers genieten van allerlei literaire spelletjes, via citaten, toespelingen, spiegelingen en parodieen. Voor wie zijn klassieken kent is de roman een feest van herkenning en verbazing. En dan te bedenken dat we ongetwijfeld nog heel veel missen, omdat Apuleius natuurlijk ook verwijst naar teksten die niet bewaard zijn gebleven."

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Posted 22 August 2012 - 01:12 PM

For the record, to show that "ROTA" in Apuleius' "The Golden Ass" (a.k.a. Metamorphoses) is also used to refer to the 'solar wheel':

Liber IX-28

"cum primum rota solis lucida diem peperit"

"with the first light the solar wheel gave birth to the day" (?)

Hunink, Dutch (2012): "zodra het lichtende zonnewiel de dag baarde..."

(Kenney, 1998: "As soon as it was light".)