iconoclasm:

belief in the importance of the destruction of icons & other images or monuments, most often for religious or political reasons; may also refer to aggressive statements or actions against any well-established status quo; a frequent characteristic of major political or religious changes.

 

iconoclasm of Byzantium:* see Endnote <A>

a dispute over the use of religious images (icons) in the Byzantine Empire, 8th & 9th centuries. The Iconoclasts objected to icon veneration & cited the 10 Commandments prohibition & the dangers of idolatry.  The defenders, the iconophiles, insisted on the symbolic nature of images & on the dignity of created matter.  The First Iconoclasm (726-787 AD), initiated by Leo III’s ban on religious images.  This triggered widespread destruction of images & persecution of supporters of the veneration of images.  The Second Iconoclasm (814 -42) continued this policy until Empress Theodora (regent) presided over the restoration of icon veneration in 843.

Spengler mistakenly dates this in the 7th century AD.

 

iconoclasm of Islam (7th century): * see Endnote <B>

Aniconism is a proscription in Islam against the creation of images of sentient beings; it forbids images of God, depictions of Muhammad & Islamic prophets & relatives of Muhammad. The Hadith (words, acts & approval of Muhammad; initially oral, documented in 11th century) discourages any depiction of humans & animals.  This is also established by long tradition of Islamic authorities, especially Sunni ones.

 

iconoclasm of Protestant North: * see Endnote <C>

in the 16th & 17th centuries the Calvinist Reformation churches, in the newly Reformed Protestant cities (in Switzerland, parts of Germany, England, Scotland & France) following Zwingli & Calvin, promoted the removal of religious images by invoking the Decalogue's prohibition of idolatry and the manufacture of graven (sculpted) images of God.  Individuals attacked statues & images although in most cases, civil authorities removed images in an orderly manner

 

Descartes (analysis of space):

Spengler argues that Descartes conceived an anti-Euclidean space.  Aristotle posited that whatever possessed dimensionality was body; as “space” had dimension it was therefore a type of body or material, hence the Crystallinum sphere of heaven.  All in all he used 44 spheres to explain his Classical universe.  Descartes equated the defining property of material substance with 3-dimensional spatial extension: length, breadth & width.  Therefore the extension in length, breadth & depth which constitutes space is exactly the same as that which constitutes the body.  It is anti-Euclidean because he dismisses extension as a characteristic or essence peculiar only to matter.

 

Bachofen (quoted):

see Chapter I, Introduction, page 28

 

Gothic thrust system: * see Endnote <D>

this architectural style represented a progression away from the previous, relatively basic Romanesque which relied on heavy pier systems to contain thrust.  Prosperity & peace allowed several centuries of cultural development & great building schemes; from 1000 to 1400, many significant cathedrals & churches were built, particularly in England & France, giving architects & masons chances to work out new designs & solve ever more complex problems.  Gothic architecture is defined by 3 new elements: the pointed arch, the rib vault and the flying buttress.

and see page 184, vaults (of Gothic naves): *

 

consecutives (Church music diaphonic chant of 11-12th century):

aka consecutive 5ths, or parallel 5ths, progressions in which the interval of a perfect 5th is followed by a different perfect 5th between the same 2 musical parts: for example, from C to D in 1 part along with G to A in a higher part.  In the medieval period, large church organs were often be permanently arranged for each single key to speak in a consecutive fifth.  Gregorian music frequently uses parallel 5ths & sometimes parallel major 9ths above the 5ths. There are 2 sets of parallel 5ths, one directly on top of the other.  Consecutive 5ths (as well as 4ths & octaves) are used to mimic the sound of Gregorian plainsong. This practice is well-founded in early European musical traditions.  Plainsong was originally sung in unison, not in 5ths, but by the 9th century there is evidence that singing in parallel intervals (5ths, octaves & 4ths) commonly ornamented the performance of chant.

 

Book of the Dead:

Egyptian funerary text used from early New Kingdom (1550 BC) to 50 BC, written by priests; original Egyptian name is the Book of Coming Forth by Day or Book of Emerging Forth into the Light.  There was no single Book of the Dead but rather a loose collection of texts composed of a number of magic spells to assist a dead person's journey through the underworld, into the afterlife; placed in the coffin of the deceased.  Part of a tradition which includes earlier Pyramid Texts & Coffin Texts painted onto objects (not papyrus).  Some of the spells included were drawn from these older works dating from the 3rd millennium BC while others were composed later in the Third Intermediate Period (11th to 7th centuries BC).