This thread is excellent, and the subject is one of the misteries of Tarot: what is the House of God?
Here is some more stuff to think about:
Bible - Genesis:
28:10 And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.
28:11 And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.
28:12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
28:13 And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD
God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou
liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 28:14 And thy seed
shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the
west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee
and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
28:15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places
whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I
will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to
thee of.
28:16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD
is in this place; and I knew it not.
28:17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is
none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
28:18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that
he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil
upon the top of it.
28:19 And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of
that city was called Luz at the first.
Bible - The Second Book of the Chronicles:
36:19 And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of
Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed
all the goodly vessels thereof.
For the following text, also see the attached image.
Bible - Book of Revelation
20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed
out of his prison, 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which
are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them
together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the
camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down
from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
I looked for the text by Pliny quoted in the wiki text in Robert's first post (Pliny, Nat. Hist. xvii. 9). I could find it only in latin, and it does not seem to be relevant.
I found this passage (in latin and English) which could be what was meant by the wiki author (
latin text here):
Plinius, Natural History Book II
Chap. LVIII.
Of Stones falling downe from the skie.
AMONG the Greekes there is much talke of Anaxagoras Clazomenius, who by his learning and skill that he had in Astronomie, foretold in the second yeere of the 78 Olympias, what time a stone should fall from out of the Sunne: and the same happened accordingly in the day time, in a part of Thracia neere the river Aegos; which stone is shewed at this day as bigge as a waine load, carrying a burnt and adust colour: at what time as a comet or blazing starre also burned in those nights. Which if any man beleeve that it was fore-signified, must needs also confesse, that this divinitie or fore-telling of Anaxagoras was more miraculous and wonderfull than the thing it selfe: and then farewell the knowledge of Natures workes, and welcome confusion of all, in case we should beleeve that either the Sunne were a stone, or that ever any stone were in it. But, that stones fall often times downe, no man will make any doubt. In the publicke place of Exercise in Abydos, there is one at this day upon the same cause preserved and kept for to be seene, and held in great reverence: It is but of a meane and small quantitie, yet it is that which the selfesame Anaxagoras (by report) fore-signified that it should fall in the mids of the earth. There is one also at Cassandria, which was in old time usually called Potidæa, a colonie from thence deducted. I my selfe have seene another in the territorie of the Vocantians, which was brought thither but a little before.
My impression is that the TdM tower card really is about meteorites. Pliny has a scientific, modern approach. When speaking of meteorites, he finds it strange that somebody could foretell their coming, but he is not surprised by meteorites as a natural phenomenon. But Pliny's point of view was an exception: the ancient world usually did not consider meteorites a natural phenomenon, and thought they were a sign of God (or the gods). Traces of such belief can be found in ancient texts such as the Bible, but also in authors as recent as Shakespeare, as written by Baba-Prague.
In my opinion, the cards we are considering are about "fire coming down from God out of heaven": a concept that could well have been indistinguishable from "meteorites" in ancient times.
Marco
