The first thing that occurred to him was that, just as the world’s religious myths had been very similar over a geographically widespread area, so had been the use of crowns to symbolize royalty — someone with power over ordinary man. A power purportedly granted by God. The Egyptians, Celts, Romans, and the dynasties of China all used the crown as a symbol of power.
He knew the experts would say this was logical — the widespread use of crowns as a symbol of power and authority. In much the same way they explained how the practice of pyramid building had begun at relatively the same time in history across the far reaches of the globe. From an engineering standpoint, it was the simplest and most logical way for the ancients to build upward. Our ancestors had been fascinated with the night sky and the heavens; it was logical that they would want to try and touch the sky with their buildings and monuments. The fact that different societies just happened to start this practice at approximately the same time in history never struck the experts as odd or difficult to reconcile.
He also knew what the argument would be regarding imperial crowns. An object placed on the head was easy to see above the masses. It was the most obvious way to distinguish a “royal” from the average citizen.
The practice of wearing a royal headdress was still being observed to this day. Henry recalled watching a documentary of the televised 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey.
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…And as Solomon was anointed king
by Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet,
so be thou anointed, blessed, and consecrated Queen
over the Peoples, whom the Lord thy God
hath given thee to rule and govern…
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Another thought occurred to him. Even Jesus had been given a crown, albeit a symbolic one — The Crown of Thorns. It was all very intriguing.
Still pondering Jesus’ symbolic crown, another idea popped into his head. He pushed himself away from the cold wall of his prison and stood up in his excitement.
All forms of art depicted Jesus and the saints, and often royalty, with halos surrounding their heads. A halo was a symbol of divinity, of being all-knowing. Had our ancestors witnessed something they could not understand and, in their limited knowledge, misinterpreted it? It wouldn’t have been the first time.
Perhaps Doug’s discovery would shed light on some of the things that Henry found to be so paradoxical in the history of man’s development. Just as Galileo’s studies — that helped prove Earth was not flat — had changed mankind’s view of the world around him, the Halo might change mankind’s view of its place in the universe.
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