(urth) vanished people=Hieros

[David Stockhoff]

On 11/10/2011 3:42 PM, Gerry Quinn wrote:
> *From:* Lee Berman <mailto:severiansola at hotmail.com>
>
> > I think The Hunter is Orion and the Noose of Light is the Big 
> Dipper. The Sultan's
> > Tower is just that. A tall structure in Omar Kayaam's field of 
> vision as he gazes
> > at the star-spangled early dawn sky. Also could be an astronomy 
> connection. Kayaam
> > was an astronomer as well as poet and the Persians used their towers 
> for that purpose.
> It seems to me that the Hunter of the East is more likely to be the 
> dawn Sun, which is in the East (Orion can be in different 
> directions).  Besides, the stars have been put to flight!
> The noose of light around the turret would then be the dawn sunshine 
> lighting the top part of a tower (before the sun rises further and 
> lights the rest).  Of course the noose image is necessary to making 
> the Sun a hunter; the two metaphors only work together.
> I agree with James that the stone is Venus in the original, though I 
> think Wolfe is referring to the White Fountain.
> - Gerry Quinn
>
>
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Orion, when it is visible in the autumn in the northern hemisphere, 
rises in the east, but sometimes before and sometimes after the sun. So 
it's possible to imagine the two almost visible at the same time. Thus 
the more literal Hunter (though not usually seen as armed with a net) 
could become a more figurative one as its hunting ability transfers to 
the sun.

The Dipper is higher in the sky than Orion and could appear behind the 
tower. If so, that's 2 similes that are combined to make a metaphor, 
suggesting that the sun brings with it a completely new way of looking 
at the world.

I'd have to look at charts to go any further.