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Hares in Eygpt.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare_(hieroglyph)#/media/File:Edfu51.JPG

“References to the hare are plentiful in ancient Egyptian mythology and literature. The god Osiris, husband of Isis, was sometimes called Un-nefer, and portrayed with the head of a hare. As Un-nefer, Osiris was sacrificed to the Nile each year to facilitate the annual flooding which brought renewal of the land and crops. Un-nefer has been translated variously as “The Good Being” or “The One Who Brings Good into Being” or “Beautiful Renewal.” Wenet’s male counterpart, Wenenu (or Unnu), was sometimes identified as a form of Osiris or Re. The hare also appears as a standard hieroglyphic phonetic sign. This hieroglyph which is called “Wn” symbolized the very essence of life itself, and depicts a hare over a single ripple of water, the very substance from which life first appeared out of the primordial waters of Nun in ancient Egyptian creation myths.

Wenet and Thoth, in their animal forms of hare and baboon respectively, share some interesting similarities. The hare was often depicted as a messenger for Thoth, and the hare was shown greeting the dawn in ancient Egyptian mythology and art, just as the baboon was. The baboon in nature has been documented from ancient times as patiently sitting and watching for the sun to rise over the horizon at dawn. The Cape Hare, the variety of hare which is the particular sacred animal of Wenet, has a distinctive yellow chest and white abdomen, which may have lent something to this animals association with greeting the sun at dawn. The Cape Hare was the subject of amulets found in tombs and tomb paintings. The Cape Hare is included under the scientific name of Lepus capensis, with the European Hare and Brown Hare. Lepus capensis is the animal upon which the Easter Bunny is based.

Hare, Hunter’s Palette

During the Middle Kingdom, faience figurines of the Cape Hare were occasionally deposited in tombs – perhaps their legendary fecundity came into play as a symbol of fertility and thus ultimately of renewal. The earliest surviving ancient Egyptian amulets in the form of a hare come from the late Old Kingdom to First Intermediate Period. They were typically made of carnelian and ivory. The earliest surviving example of a Cape Hare in Egyptian art to date, comes from an elaborately decorated votive schist ‘Hunters’ Palette’ which features a desert hunting scene from the Late Predynastic Period. This piece is on display at the British Museum.

During the Eighteenth Dynasty, Cape Hares appear as popular subjects among offerings pictured on tomb-chapel walls to nourish the deceased. One very beautiful example appears on a fragment of a wall painting from the tomb-chapel of Nebamun at Thebes. In the New Kingdom images of the hare were used as decorative motifs, particularly on items used for cosmetics and personal grooming. Dating from the Late Dynastic and Ptolemaic periods several finely cast bronze votive statuettes have been found, and a great number of small green-blue faience amulets which indicate the revered status of the hare as an amulet during these times.

The hare was credited with powers of regeneration probably because of its well known fecundity. Its swiftness of movement and keenness of senses were seen as desirable defenses against forces of darkness. An amulet in the form of a hare amulet could be worn in life to endow its wearer with fertility, in death with the hope of rebirth, and both in life and in death for purposes of protection. ”

(all stolen from another site…)

In his book Bauval shows that the Hermetic current, which went underground with the death of Bruno and the Counter-Reformation, actually re-emerged in Baroque art and in very public places like the eliptical design of St. Peter’s Square.

I’ve already tried to express the importance of symbolism in artwork before – thats why I was so alarmed by Marina Abramachin-Witch. Nothing can be taken at face value in Art.