Tophet

Tophet

:"For the sacred precinct of Carthage with that name, see Carthage."

Tophet or Topheth (Hebrew:תופת ha-tōpheth) is believed to be a location in Jerusalem, in the Valley of Hinnom, where the Canaanites sacrificed children to the god Moloch by burning them alive. After the practice of child sacrifice was outlawed by King Josiah, the valley became a refuse site where animal carcasses, waste and the bodies of criminals were dumped, with fires permanently burning to keep disease at bay. Tophet became a synonym for hell.

Etymology

The name is possibly derived from the Hebrew "toph" = drum, because drums were used to drown the cries of children, but possibly connected with a root word meaning “burning” - the "place of burning"; the King James Version, Tophet, except in 2 Kings 23:10. The references are to such a place: “They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire” (Jeremiah 7:31). On account of this abomination Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom should be called "The Valley of Slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, till there be no place to bury," the Revised Version margin “because there shall be no place else” (Jeremiah 7:32); see also Jeremiah 19:6, Jeremiah 19:12, Jeremiah 19:13, Jeremiah 19:14. Josiah is said to have “defiled Topheth” as part of his great religious reforms (2 Kings 23:10). The site would seem to have been either at the lower end of the Valley Of Hinnom, near where Akeldama is now pointed out, or in the open ground where this valley joins the Kidron Valley.

Literary references

*Robert Browning's poem, [ [http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/B/BrowningRobert/verse/menwomen/childeroland.html "Childe Roland To The Dark Tower Came"] ] stanza 24:

And more than that — a furlong on — why, there!
What bad use was that engine for, that wheel,
Or brake, not wheel — that harrow fit to reel
Men's bodies out like silk? With all the air
Of Tophet's tool, on earth left unaware
Or brought to sharpen its rusty teeth of steel.


*Thomas Carlyle's fictional autobiography "Sartor Resartus", "The Everlasting No":

"Another phenomenon, still more strikingly modern, was a package of lucifer-matches, which, in old times, would have been thought actually to borrow their instantaneous flame from the nether fires of Tophet."

"... all at once, there rose a Thought in me, and I asked myself: “What art thou afraid of? Wherefore, like a coward, dost thou forever pip and whimper, and go cowering and trembling? Despicable biped! what is the sum-total of the worst that lies before thee? Death? Well, Death; and say the pangs of Tophet too, and all that the Devil and Man may, will or can do against thee!"


*"The House of the Seven Gables", by Nathaniel Hawthorne:

"It’s ominous, thinks I. A Coffin my Innkeeper upon landing in my first whaling port; tombstones staring at me in the whalemen’s chapel, and here a gallows! and a pair of prodigious black pots too! Are these last throwing out oblique hints touching Tophet?" [MLA Citation (Bibliographic Reference): Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The House of the Seven Gables". New York: The Modern Library, 2001.]


*"" by Herman Melville, chapter 15:

"By the engine stood a dark motionless being, a sooty and grimy embodiment of tallness, in a sort of trance, with a heap of coals by his side: it was the engineman. The isolation of his manner and colour lent him the appearance of a creature from Tophet, who had strayed into the pellucid smokelessness of this region of yellow grain and pale soil, with which he had nothing in common, to amaze and to discompose its aborigines."


*"Tess of the D'Urbervilles" by Thomas Hardy:

"O ye who tread the Narrow Way
By Tophet-flare to judgement Day
Be gentle when "the heathen" pray
To Buddha at Kamakura!"


*"Buddha at Kamakura" by Rudyard Kipling:

"...as a rule, I suspect that the Hierarchs of Tophet pass quite unnoticed, or, perhaps, in certain cases, as good but mistaken men."


*"The White People", by Arthur Machen:::Harry Tophet was the name of the Devil in the movie, "Oh God, You Devil".:
*"Our earth we now lament to see", a hymn by Charles Wesley: [ [http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/u/ourearth.htm "Our earth we now lament to see"] , www.cyberhymnal.org.]

As listed on Abaddon's side, They mangle their own flesh, and slay:
Tophet is moved, and opens wide Its mouth for its enormous prey;


*"Kim", by Rudyard Kipling in the opening stanza for chapter 1:

"Oh ye who tread the Narrow Way By Tophet-flare to Judgment Day,"

References

External links

* [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=264&letter=T&search=Tophet Jewish Encyclopedia: Tophet]
*http://www.bible-history.com/jerusalem/firstcenturyjerusalem_hinnom_valley.html
*http://www.bible-history.com/smiths/T/Topheth/


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Tophet — To phet, n. [Heb. t[=o]phet, literally, a place to be spit upon, an abominable place, fr. t[=u]ph to spit out.] A place lying east or southeast of Jerusalem, in the valley of Hinnom. [Written also {Topheth}.] [1913 Webster] And he defiled Topheth …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • tophet — ● tophet nom masculin Sanctuaire phénicien où l on pratiquait des sacrifices humains. (Le plus connu est celui de Carthage où, entre le VIIIe s. et 146 avant J. C., se sont accumulés des ossements calcinés d enfants.) …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Tophet — or Topheth [tō′fet΄] n. [ME < Heb tofet] 1. Bible a place near Jerusalem where human sacrifices were made to Molech: 2 Kings 23:10 2. hell …   English World dictionary

  • Tophet — Als Tofet (hebr. תֹּפֶת) bezeichnen einige Stellen im Tanach, der hebräischen Bibel, eine Opferstätte der früheren Religion Kanaans, wo Kinder geopfert worden sein sollen.[1] An anderer Stelle bedeutet der Ausdruck soviel wie „Gespei“, „Gespött“ …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Tophet — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Tophet de Sant Antioco Le terme Tophet peut désigner  …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Tophet —    =Topheth, from Heb. toph a drum, because the cries of children here sacrificed by the priests of Moloch were drowned by the noise of such an instrument; or from taph or toph, meaning to burn, and hence a place of burning, the name of a… …   Easton's Bible Dictionary

  • Tophet — noun A location near Jerusalem in the valley of Gehenna where children were burned alive as sacrifice. And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; …   Wiktionary

  • Tophet de Salambô — Tophet de Carthage Présentation actuelle du tophet : stèles et cippes de grès d’El Haouaria …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Tophet de Salammbô — Tophet de Carthage Présentation actuelle du tophet : stèles et cippes de grès d’El Haouaria …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Tophet de Salammbô (Carthage) — Tophet de Carthage Présentation actuelle du tophet : stèles et cippes de grès d’El Haouaria …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”