Does the Capital Dome symbolize the entrance to Hades?

I was looking at a website about the Capital Building in D.C., and I found some bizarre symbolism throughout the building.

It is full of Roman statues for one thing. But the most disturbing is the dome itself.

The Apotheosis of Washington in the eye of the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol was painted in the true fresco technique by Constantino Brumidi in 1865.

Brumidi (1805-1880) was born and trained in Rome and had painted in the Vatican and Roman palaces before emigrating to the United States in 1852. A master of creating the illusion of three-dimensional forms and figures on flat walls, Brumidi painted frescoes and murals throughout the Capitol from 1855 until his death.

The canopy fresco, his most ambitious work at the Capitol, was painted in eleven months at the end of the Civil War, soon after the new dome was completed, for $40,000. Suspended 180 feet above the Rotunda floor, it covers an area of 4,664 square feet.

The figures, up to 15 feet tall, were painted to be intelligible from close up as well as from 180 feet below. Some of the groups and figures were inspired by classical and Renaissance images, especially by those of the Italian master Raphael.

So "apotheosis" means

Deification, the exaltation of men to the rank of gods. Closely connected with the universal worship of the dead in the history of all primitive peoples was the consecration as deities of heroes or rulers, as a reward for bravery or other great services.
Catholic Encyclopedia (informative read)

The Apotheosis


Now to zoom in on the center

Brumidi depicted George Washington rising to the heavens in glory, flanked by female figures representing Liberty and Victory/Fame. A rainbow arches at his feet, and thirteen maidens symbolizing the original states flank the three central figures. (The word "apotheosis" in the title means literally the raising of a person to the rank of a god, or the glorification of a person as an ideal; George Washington was honored as a national icon in the nineteenth century.

Around the center is a series of scenes. First is the Agriculture Scene

Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, is shown with a wreath of wheat and a cornucopia, seated on a McCormick reaper. Young America in a liberty cap holds the reins of the horses, while Flora gathers flowers in the foreground.

And next is Commerce

Mercury, god of commerce, with his winged cap and sandals and caduceus, hands a bag of gold to Robert Morris, financier of the Revolutionary War. On the left, men move a box on a dolly; on the right, the anchor and sailors lead into the next scene, "Marine."

Robert Morris, a well known Mason. The "gods" gave him money. Wonder if this is a reference to the Illuminati. Interesting that Mercury is poisonous.

And next is Marine

Neptune, god of the sea, holding his trident and crowned with seaweed, rides in a shell chariot drawn by sea horses. Venus, goddess of love born from the sea, helps lay the transatlantic cable. In the background is a form of iron-clad ship with smokestacks.

Isn't the trident also a symbol for satanism?

Mechanics

Vulcan, god of the forge, stands at his anvil with his foot on a cannon, near a pile of cannon balls and with a steam engine in the background. The man at the forge is thought to represent Charles Thomas, who was in charge of the ironwork of the Capitol dome.

Science

Minerva, goddess of wisdom and the arts of civilization, with helmet and spear, points to an electric generator creating power stored in batteries, next to a printing press, while inventors Benjamin Franklin, Samuel F. B. Morse, and Robert Fulton watch. At the left, a teacher demonstrates the use of dividers.

Wasn't it Tesla that was the pusher of storing power in batteries?
Also, the masonic symbolism of the dividers is obvious.

Important; they are "dividers" and not a compass. Big diff in meaning.
The object is to divide and conquer. This is the divide. I will show conquer in the statue on top of the dome.

War

Armored Freedom, sword raised and cape flying, with a helmet and shield reminiscent of those on the Statue of Freedom, tramples Tyranny and Kingly Power; she is assisted by a fierce eagle carrying arrows and a thunderbolt.

Freedom, is also depicted on the top of the dome, which I will show in my next post.

All pictures and external sources from
www.aoc.gov...

[edit on 5-12-2007 by stompk]

Interesting stuff.

See, you even get a star from a Freemason.

So above the dome sits the Tholos.



In Greek mythology, the tholos is
a temple

According to the earliest legends the site was originally a sacred place of the earth goddess Gaia (also called Ge) and was guarded by her daughter, the serpent Python. Later legends state that the site was the center of the world as determined by the god Zeus. Two eagles (or ravens) had been released by Zeus from opposite ends of the earth and following great flights across the skies they finally met at Delphi.

So we see the two eagles in the "frieze of American History, with the first panel showing

The central mountain is the World Navel, where heaven, earth and the underworld are joined. Thus, the entrance to Hades is a Mycenaean tholos or beehive tomb, which represents the World Navel (see also XV.Tower). The phiale omphalote (navel bowl, a shallow dish with a central boss), the libation bowl used in sacrifice, is filled at the World Navel from the cornucopia (the horn of Amaltheia, the goat who nourished Zeus), which represents the ecstatic experience. (Butterworth, Tree ch. 2, esp. pp. 31-2, 116-9)

Source

So, you see the cornucopia represented in the fresco. Also, the upside down dome would be the naval bowl. Rightside up, it's a beehive tomb, or entrance to Hades.

And guarding our beloved governments secrets, is Gaia, sporting a Roman Helmet of Conquest, and the Phoenix.



and a closeup of the head.

The bronze Statue of Freedom by Thomas Crawford is the crowning feature of the dome of the United States Capitol. The statue is a classical female figure of Freedom wearing flowing draperies. Her right hand rests upon the hilt of a sheathed sword; her left holds a laurel wreath of victory and the shield of the United States with thirteen stripes. Her helmet is encircled by stars and features a crest composed of an eagle's head, feathers, and talons, a reference to the costume of Native Americans. A brooch inscribed "U.S." secures her fringed robes. She stands on a cast-iron globe encircled with the national motto, E Pluribus Unum. The lower part of the base is decorated with fasces and wreaths. Ten bronze points tipped with platinum are attached to her headdress, shoulders, and shield for protection from lightning. The bronze statue stands 19 feet 6 inches tall and weighs approximately 15,000 pounds. Her crest rises 288 feet above the east front plaza.

A monumental statue for the top of the national Capitol appeared in Architect Thomas U. Walter's original drawing for the new cast-iron dome, which was authorized in 1855. Walter's drawing showed the outline of a statue representing Liberty; Crawford proposed an allegorical figure of "Freedom triumphant in War and Peace." After Secretary of War Jefferson Davis objected to the sculptor's intention to include a liberty cap, the symbol of freed slaves, Crawford replaced it with a crested Roman helmet.

OK, so notice it's really Liberty, and Freedom, in one twisted getup. Why is this important? Because Liberty is in another place in the Capital Building.


That folks, is Gaia being guarded by her daughter, the Serpent, who has control of the wheat stalks (food supply) that are depicted in the Agriculture fresco.

Welcome to the entrance to Hell.

reply to post by Skyfloating


Thanks Skyfloating. Starred you back.




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[edit on 5-12-2007 by elevatedone]

yeah its an interesting read. keep it coming.

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[edit on 5-12-2007 by elevatedone]

The Laurel Wreath of victory that the Statue of Freedom holds signifies

The laurel wreath as victory symbol originates in Greek mythology. It has to do with Apollo slaying a monster and starting a cycle of four annual contests (pan-hellenic athletic games cycle) that honored his accomplishment.
Source

Hence the Apollo Space Program, and four year cycles in government.

[edit on 5-12-2007 by stompk]

reply to post by stompk


When I saw the title to your thread, I thought to myself, this has to be pure fiction at it's finest. You really did your homework, and this is a very interesting topic. Thanks!

reply to post by Enthralled Fan


You welcome. There's a bunch of goodies. This has been fun researching this.
Although the implications are Global.

The Peace Monument

The white marble Peace Monument was erected in 1877-1878 to commemorate the naval deaths at sea during the Civil War. The 44-foot-high monument stands in the circle to the west of the Capitol at Pennsylvania Avenue and First Street, N.W.

At the top of the monument, facing west, stand two classically robed female figures. Grief holds her covered face against the shoulder of History and weeps in mourning. History holds a stylus and a tablet that was inscribed "They died that their country might live." Below Grief and History, another life-size classical female figure represents Victory, holding high a laurel wreath and carrying an oak branch, signifying strength. Below her are the infant Mars, the god of war, and the infant Neptune, god of the sea. The shaft of the monument is decorated with wreaths, ribbons, and scallop shells.

Facing the Capitol is Peace, a classical figure draped from the waist down and holding an olive sprig. Below her are symbols of peace and industry. A dove, now missing and not documented in any known photographs, once nested upon a sheaf of wheat in a grouping of a cornucopia, turned earth, and a sickle resting across a sword. Opposite, the symbols of science, literature, and art (including an angle, a gear, a book, and a pair of dividers) signify the progress of civilization that peace makes possible.

At the corners of the monument, four marble globes are visually supported by massive brackets. The fountain below, with a jet on each side, empties into a quatrefoil-shaped basin.

Inscribed "In memory of the officers, seamen and marines of the United States Navy who fell in defense of the Union and liberty of their country, 1861-1865," this sculptural group has also been called the Naval Monument.

The Naval Monument. Or, a monument to the World Naval.

reply to post by stompk


Someone needs to applaud you, pronto! This is great research you've done. The symbolism in Washington is famous, but I had no idea of the vast majority of what you're pointing out here.

Could you speculate as to what all of this means?

I personally don't see it to be all that strange, and I don't see any evidence related to how capital hill "symbolizes" the entrance to hades. Your evidence depends on the definition of apotheosis, which you take from the catholic encyclopedia and apply it to a secular context. The word has several definitions, including to be "the ideal example" - which in this case, makes perfect sense as Washington at the time was viewed as the ideal example of government leadership.

That Robert Morris is shown being handed money from a deity could also mean that the painter believed the money - which was used for the revolutionary war - was a cause worthy enough to be "supported" by god. That mercury the chemical is poisonous I would argue doesn't mean anything, since the roman deity Mercury was formed in a society where they believed the chemical actually had healing properties.

Further, depicting Neptune with a trident would be perfectly acceptable and nothing to do with satanism - since not only was satanism as we know it not invented at the time, but depictions of satan with a trident do not appear until much later in western history.

Finally as you point out "dividers" does not equal "compass." There is no apparent correlation between dividers and "divide and conquer" as you explain it, except that you ascribed meanings to them. Especially since the statue was made to symbolize FREEDOM in war AND peace. Nor I do I see any conspiracy with statues of "liberty" and "freedom" intertwined, since the concepts themselves are interlaced.

Very, very interesting. The arcitecture of the buildings in Americas capitol is so similar to the arcitecture of the buildings in Rome it brings up a lot of questions for me. Why is America so fasinated(sp?) with Roman arcitecture. Don't they know that empire fell. Maybe "they" have been anticipating... or planning the collapse of this empire since the day it was started.

Great thread man.

The Capitol was built to intimidate visiting Heads of State and Dignitaries. It is a symbol of our Countries power and the Power of the People. The reason you see the similarities to Roman Architecture is that the Romans did the same thing for the same reasons. To be powerful you have to look powerful. I have not seen Byrd posting recently, but Byrd I believe has a lot of knowledge about these topics.

I looked into all this years ago and came to the conclusions above. The very things that feed Conspiracy Theories about the way our Nations Capitol was built were intended to intimidate visitors. Apparently it works quite well.

reply to post by Roland Deschain


How can anyone not appreciate Roman Architecture and Art. It influences the Great Buildings and Statues all over the World. It screams POWER! It's beauty leaves you in AWE! It is timeless.

Thanks for posting the photos and article.
Being an artist I would read the frescoes on the rotunda dome as the symbols of the human and semi or demi-god realms. If it were hell there would be suffering instead of commerce and relatively peaceful gatherings of humans.
Symbols of hell and lower realms are visually apparent even in Satan himself.
The horns, cloven hooves and tail symbolize the taking of rebirth in the animal realm. For instance being human this life then next life being a dung beetle or factory chicken would certainly correspond to a descent into hell. The red of Satan is obvious and corresponds to anger which can be a form of intense suffering. I am inclined to reincarnation as the transference of consciousness or life energy at the moment of death since energy can neither be created nor destroyed as Einstien has said. The symbology of Satan has been lost over the centuries when visually illiterate people and those of feeble mental faculties lacked awareness of the infinite incarnating of life energies and degenerated into nihilistic know-nothingisms.

Originally posted by Blaine91555
The Capitol was built to intimidate visiting Heads of State and Dignitaries. It is a symbol of our Countries power and the Power of the People.

You have to take into account more than just the architecture of the Roman empire. What about the Egyptian obelisk? Or the inverted pentacle that is seen from overhead if you connect just one corner to another in the streets. Or the fact that someone went out the way to be sure it sits on the 77 longitude.

There is much more but its late and my memory is fading.

reply to post by Lucky One


What does the "omega fountain" in front of the building symbolize?

reply to post by stompk


Wait...

So you basically took all the information from this youtube video, made me scroll and read through it all when all you had to do was INITIALLY just show the video?

Unless you made that video, you just wasted 20 minutes of my time


You could have just shown us the video and invited us to discuss, as well as adding your own opinions instead of regurgitating someone else's.



On to another thread I should have been looking at 25 minutes ago now...

reply to post by MystikMushroom


I made the video.

Bettter add so more stuff or I'll get in trouble.

Yes, I made the video. It touches on a few things I haven't posted yet, but I wanted to explain more in depth.

[edit on 6-12-2007 by stompk]

My most sincere apologies then

I was under the impression that you found this video.

*insert foot into mouth*

Good information nonetheless--I have put a star on this thread!

reply to post by stompk

stomper ol' buddy... We often don't agree on things. I'm nnot sure if I buy all this in any conclusive way, just because I am skeptiacl of almost everything.

I said that to say this. I starred this thread. Amazingly good stuff. I really appreciate your work and final offering. Too bad there isn't any Way Aboves anymore. You would get at least one more from me.