As usual Kirby chooses just the right name. "Shag" (also translated "shab") meant "assistant king" in ancient Mesopotamia.
",,,the names on many of these fresh seals are those of the crown princes of Mesopotamia of Sargon's dynasty who latterly became emperors, the title which these bear in many of their seals is not " king " or " emperor," but " Under-King Companion," in the form of Shag-man, Shab-man, or Sha-man.
The first element in this title, namely, Shag, Shab or Sha, is very interesting. Its pictograph [,,,] represents and means " Heart " ; and its secondary meaning is " interior, midst, within," and also " below, lower, under " (source)"Shag" is also a part of very ancient Sumerian king names like Lugal-shag-engur (ruler of Lagash, 2500 BC) and En-shag-kushana (ruler of Uruk around the same time). Often translated "Shak" which would explain the double "g" in Kirby's version. The sphinx is generally dated to this time (2500 BC) although some argue that is is much older. The meanings "heart" and "below" fit nicely with Kirby's story of a stone icon having secret life, and being the true hidden power behind any throne, The previous quote went on to discuss how the name was linked to the Persian Gulf, which would add the meaning of being from somewhere else, somewhere that affected all nations.
Why am I discussing Mesopotamia and not Egypt? There were sphinxes on ancient Babylonian walls, as well as in ancient Greece, Crete, and elsewhere. Mesopotamia had the oldest cities, and they claimed that kingship "descended from heaven" so this fits Kirby's story of Shagg being from a distant galaxy. Kirby was writing just after Velikovsky became famous publishing his ideas that planets had collided within recorded history, and that the Egyptian chronology was wrongly interpreted.
As usual I am not claiming that Kirby knew details like this, I am just pointing out that Kirby read very widely and his ideas and names, no doubt chosen "at random", were no doubt influenced by what he read.
Comments
Post a Comment