SEAHORSE FANTASY STAMPS FROM AMPHORA/ Ceramic Sculpture/ Photo Collage

"AMPHORAN SEA HORSE"

2001

Empire of Amphora

by Eric Whollem
edition of 100, plus ten artist's proofs

Copyright by the artist.

A Seahorse Stamp From the Continent of Amphora

This stamp, constructed by a collage of photos, including

one of a ceramic sculpture of a seahorse, stands as a

portrayal of Voltumna, the seahorse god of the ancient

Etruscan culture of Italy.

In Latin the seahorse is Hippocampus.

VOLTUMNA AND THE CHIMAERA

The Etruscans worshipped the seahorse as a type of

Chimaera, a being that is a composite of many beings: bird,

man, lion, etc. The Sphinx of Egypt is an example of a

Chimaera, as was the Babylonian Astoreth.

The seahorse, of course, has the head of a horse and the

tail of a serpent, and the fins of a fish. As a Chimaera the

seahorse god is the All, a being that contains all life forms,

and as such an appropriate expression symbolically of the

divine form.

Mika Waltari, the Finnish author, wrote a novel, The

Etruscan, which engagingly gives the story of the

shamans and mysticism of the Etruscans.

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Artist stamps, artistamps, cinderella stamps, fantasy stamps, faux postage, mail art, micronation stamps by Eric Whollem.

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