THE HORAI (Horae) were the goddesses of the seasons and the natural portions of time. They presided over the revolutions of the heavenly constellations by which the year was measured, while their three sisters, the Moirae (Moirae) spinned out the web of fate. The Twelve Horae (or Horai) were goddesses of the hours of the day and possibly even the twelve months of the year. Their duty was to oversee the path of Helios, the sun god. They are the daughters of Chronos, the personification of time. Auge - the first light Anatolia - sunrise Musica - the morning hour of music and study Gymnastica - the morning hour of exercise Nymphe - the morning hour of.
They are three very beautiful and talented daughters of Zeus and Themis who look after these particular stretches of time. The Horae are highly regarded despite bearing the almost unbearable names of Eunomia, Dike and Eirene. At least this was an improvement on their earlier ghastly names of Thallo, Carpo and Auxo.
Their numbers are often exaggerated. Some scholars feel there must be a dozen or so, one for each month. This is because they went partying a lot with the Graces and could do chorus girl routines. On the other hand, their name means ‘The Hours’ and there are twelve hours in a day.
Amongst many other things, they look after the Gates of Heaven. When undesirables approach, they slide a cloud in front so no-one can get through or get hurt. So much nicer than a board proclaiming ‘Trespassers Will Be Thunderbolted’.
The Horae do lots of fruity and blossomy things, and also offer services such as babysitting for the Gods and feeding the horses. Later they became associated with Natural and Moral Law.
No-one has a word to say against them, and we certainly don’t wish to hear any such thing.
Name: Horae
Pronunciation: Coming soon
Alternative names: Horai
Gender: Female
Type: Goddesses
Celebration or Feast Day: Unknown at present
In charge of: Seasons
Area of expertise: Seasons
Good/Evil Rating: Unknown at present
Popularity index: 2135
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Article last revised on September 06, 2018 by Rowan Allen.
Editors: Peter J. Allen, Chas Saunders
References: Coming soon. Play amr files.
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The complete fifth edition of E. B. Elliott’s Horae Apocalypticae is now available in PDF format on the Harvest Herald site. Emirates post.
You can get it here. And the release notes here.
Be warned, this is a large file (189 meg) and may take a while to download.
This PDF edition was created from high quality scans made available at archive.org. It contains extensive bookmarking, and a pdf pagination scheme which corresponds with the original page numbers making it easy to quickly jump to any page throughout the four volumes. Also included are all of the original ‘plate’ illustrations, plus the apocalyptic chart. Extensive hyperlinking of the comprehensive index is underway but is not complete at this time.
From Wikipedia:
Horae Apocalypticae is an eschatological study written by Edward Bishop Elliott. The book is, as its long-title sets out, “A commentary on the apocalypse, critical and historical; including also an examination of the chief prophecies of Daniel illustrated by an apocalyptic chart, and engravings from medals and other extant monuments of antiquity with appendices, containing, besides other matter, a sketch of the history of apocalyptic interpretation, the chief apocalyptic counter-schemes and indices.”
“Horae Apocalypticae (Hours with the Apocalypse) is doubtless the most elaborate work ever produced on the Apocalypse. Without an equal in exhaustive research in its field, it was occasioned by the futurist attack on the Historical School of interpretation. Begun in 1837, its 2,500 pages are buttressed by some 10,000 invaluable references to ancient and modern works. It ran through five editions (1844, 1846, 1847, 1851 and 1862).”
For those who may not be familiar with this work, Eliott’s Horae Apocalypticae is the greatest, most detailed, and most scholarly exposition on the Book of Revelation ever written from the historicist perspective of interpretation. Sadly, it was also to be the last of its kind. Beginning in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the historicist approach to the Apocalypse was increasingly abandoned as the futurist school of interpretation gained popularity.
While I do not agree with all of Elliott’s conclusions, it’s hard for me to believe that some of the interpretations brought to light in this work could have ever fallen out of favor.
Horae Ad Usum Romanum Folio 161v
His masterful exposition of the fifth and sixth trumpet judgments (Revelation 9), representing the invasions of Western Christendom by the Saracens and the Turks respectively, is absolutely jaw-dropping. I remember vividly the first time I read it. Why had I never heard this information before? Why in all my years as a Christian had I never been shown this interpretation by those who professed to be Bible teachers? If this could not convince a skeptic of the divine inspiration of the Apocalypse then nothing could. Here, it seemed, was proof, absolute proof that God had revealed history beforehand. How could something so profound and so obviously true have been lost in favor of the wild speculations and sensationalist fantasies that pass for ‘prophetic teaching’ in our day?
Horae Irene
Most Christians have never even heard of this work, much less read it. It’s nearly impossible to find anywhere except in the libraries of theological seminaries. I present it here as a link to the past and a reminder of the height from which we have fallen.