ICHI – THE MARK OF THE GODMAN
The Pancheans were literate, having an Alphabet executed in upright columns. This, as already indicated, is a reference to the monolith inscriptions as well as the column writing of the Igbo which we have studied under a separate title. (See Catherine Acholonu: “Ogam Stone Inscriptions and Igbo Column Writing”, published online at HYPERLINK "http://www.catherineacholonu.com/" \t "_blank" www.catherineacholonu.com; see also, Catherine Acholonu: “Ogam Philosophical Language and the Lost Nation of Tilmun”, in Reflections on Indigenous Philosophical Thought and its Contributions to Tolerance in Society, UNESCO Nigeria Publication, Abuja, 2006)
As already noted, ichi is the evidence of the remembrance of Igbo column writing that has been frozen in time. Onwuejeogwu noted that there are variations in style of ichi lines, executed in such a way as to differentiate one clan of carvers from another. Each variation is a signature and identity mark of the clan to which it belongs. This can be interpreted to mean that ichi lines could be read as clan-names, family names and so on. (Onwuejeogwu, M.A.: An Ibo Civilization - Nri Kingdom and Hegemony, London, 1981, p. 80) Column writing was also used in Igbo land for various circumstances: in marriage ceremonies, to determine bride price – ima ogu ‘Bride Price Computation’; in commerce, for cult practices and for record keeping. The later form of use is recorded in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, (p. 6). Also it was employed by initiates of the Ozo cult to indicate ranks and as a means of specifying social strata, for instance, by visitors to a titled man’s house. This, too, is recorded in Things all Apart, (p. 5). This is what is left of a system that millennia ago was an organized form of writing, as noted by Greek historians and sailors who visited the area more than two thousand years ago, for the monoliths actually feature various forms of writing or orthographies, such as linear, curvular, dotted, and angular writings. It was a library of knowledge, more or less life an ancient Library of Congress where long lost knowledge of various nations had been stored and forgotten.
The most common or secular form of ichi was a group of horizontal or slanting lines on the fore-head and the temples. But the Igbo Ukwu sacred artifacts exhibit a more sacred form of ichi said to have been borne by Nri priest-kings. Its basic shape is an X-shaped cross with series of concentric Vs facing the four cardinal points, as seen on the Igbo Ukwu bronze faces. This is the type of ichi that was borne by the Nwa-nshi dwarfs. (See Plate 3) A group of such V-shaped lines executed concentrically (sometimes with central or axial lines, imitating the geometric structure of a palm frond) running through the forehead, the temples and the jaw create the structure of an equal-armed cross or an X-shaped cross (depending on the angle of the observer), or like a sun emitting rays in all directions, making the face of the individual bearing the ichi to appear like the face of the sun (Plate 3, 10b, 8). X is the shape of the Greek letter chi. Chi –roh, the Christian symbol of Christ is said to have pagan Canaanite origins associated with sun worship. (Christopher Knight et al., The Book of Hiram, 2003) As in Igbo tradition, the Chi roh is also associated with the palm-frond symbol (Plate 11). Chi and ich(i) have the same meaning in Igbo and in Greek. They both mean ‘the sun, the cross and the god-man and constitute the etymological origin of the word Chi-ristos/Christ. We also found that a group of concentric V-shapes with or without an axial line actually occurs in Sumerian Proto cuneiform and Akkadian alphabet as the letter Shi (See Plate 12, line 4) and that a single V-shape with a line in the center is the basic structure of the letter Shin in Hebrew Alphabet and in the esoteric writing of the Magi called “Passing the River”. These similarities are not coincidental. The link between Jesus the fish god-man and the fish god-men who inaugurated Igbo market days has already been discussed.
Iambulus reported that the Pancheans had “festivals and feasts … in honor of the sun after whom they name both (their lands) and themselves” (Chami, Ibid., p. 164). Infact almost all Igbo names contain the word Chi as in Chima, Ogechi, Chineny; so too the place names, as in Arochukwu, Umuchima. M.D.W. Jeffreys, a British anthropologist who studied the ichi phenomenon in Awka province from 1930-31 observed that “Umundri (sic.) means ‘children of Ndri’ (a ‘Sky Being’)”… and that “this people, having a sun-cult and a divine king, … gave the names of ‘sun’ and ‘moon’ to the two upper designs in the (ichi) pattern”. (F.C. Ogbalu, ed., The Igbo as Seen by Others, 1988, p. 47, 49) Jeffreys observed that the word ichi is derived from chi which means ‘sun’. Chi as in ka chi fo means ‘daylight’, ‘sunlight’, ‘day’; but it also means ‘soul/spirit/god’, as in Chi na enye. As a sun symbol, ichi represents the sun emitting rays in four directions, indicating that the face of its bearer is the face of the sun: he/she is the sun, the god of his environment, ruling the four cardinal points and the four days of the Igbo traditional week and representing the four cosmic deities: Eke, Orie, Afo and Nkwo – the fourth being the father of the Igbo nation.
Nwa-nchi dwarfs were custodians of the Igbo belief in the cult of the god-man/revered ancestor (living or dead) otherwise called Ozo, Nze, Ichie. The basic tenet of the Igbo theology of the god-man is that man has the capacity to become a god while he is alive on earth by going through a series of initiations aimed at attaining divine wisdom while taking titles that place him in the hierarchy of the gods. The process by which a newly elected Eze Nri becomes a deity is described in detail in Onwuejeogwu, Ibid., p. 86-88) In Nri, the highest title/initiation is that of Eze Nri. “Eze Nri (the divine king of Nri) is regarded as mmuo [Spirit] and as a kind of Alusi (deity). He was called Eze Mmuo or Eze Alusi, meaning king of spirits (and king of the gods). He is greeted as Igwe, meaning symbolically ‘the sky’”. (Onwuejeogwu, p. 85) Likewise to take the ozo title is called ima mmuo (knowing/seeing the spirit) and the collective spirits of those who have taken the ozo title are called Ichie Ukwu (Great Divine Ancestors) who are supposed to have joined the rank of gods.
Ozo titled men are required by tradition to be faultless. They must never tell a lie, cheat or commit any act of injustice against another. They must live in a state of sinlessness or what we choose to call impeccability. In this way an ozo is able to live and function as an oracle and trusted judge of the community. This too was noted by the ancient visitor/sailor to Panchea, Iambulus, who described the Pancheans as “men of honorable character … of blessed and long life”. Mesopotamians who came to Punt/Panchea as early as 2,000 B. C. (four thousand years ago), called the region “the island of the blessed”, while Egyptians called it the land “of Genius”. T. Kendall, (1997, p. 171) called the Pacheans “a race of faultless men” and reported that “Greeks, soon to enter Egypt in great numbers would hear of the remote (Pancheans) and build legends around them.” M. Cary and E. Warmington, (The Ancient Explorers, 1963, p. 75) insisted that the Greeks copied the prototype of ‘Utopia’ from these tribe of faultless men. This is a particularly interesting discovery, when we consider that the Igbo nation had a homegrown Democracy, perhaps the only one in the ancient world, and that Democracy was given to the modern world via Greece! This brings us to another controversial Igbo phenomenon, that of ‘Igbo enwe Eze’- which we paraphrase as ‘Igbo, the nation of Democrats’ or what The Nag Hammadi calls “the kingless generation”!
As already noted, ichi is the evidence of the remembrance of Igbo column writing that has been frozen in time. Onwuejeogwu noted that there are variations in style of ichi lines, executed in such a way as to differentiate one clan of carvers from another. Each variation is a signature and identity mark of the clan to which it belongs. This can be interpreted to mean that ichi lines could be read as clan-names, family names and so on. (Onwuejeogwu, M.A.: An Ibo Civilization - Nri Kingdom and Hegemony, London, 1981, p. 80) Column writing was also used in Igbo land for various circumstances: in marriage ceremonies, to determine bride price – ima ogu ‘Bride Price Computation’; in commerce, for cult practices and for record keeping. The later form of use is recorded in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, (p. 6). Also it was employed by initiates of the Ozo cult to indicate ranks and as a means of specifying social strata, for instance, by visitors to a titled man’s house. This, too, is recorded in Things all Apart, (p. 5). This is what is left of a system that millennia ago was an organized form of writing, as noted by Greek historians and sailors who visited the area more than two thousand years ago, for the monoliths actually feature various forms of writing or orthographies, such as linear, curvular, dotted, and angular writings. It was a library of knowledge, more or less life an ancient Library of Congress where long lost knowledge of various nations had been stored and forgotten.
The most common or secular form of ichi was a group of horizontal or slanting lines on the fore-head and the temples. But the Igbo Ukwu sacred artifacts exhibit a more sacred form of ichi said to have been borne by Nri priest-kings. Its basic shape is an X-shaped cross with series of concentric Vs facing the four cardinal points, as seen on the Igbo Ukwu bronze faces. This is the type of ichi that was borne by the Nwa-nshi dwarfs. (See Plate 3) A group of such V-shaped lines executed concentrically (sometimes with central or axial lines, imitating the geometric structure of a palm frond) running through the forehead, the temples and the jaw create the structure of an equal-armed cross or an X-shaped cross (depending on the angle of the observer), or like a sun emitting rays in all directions, making the face of the individual bearing the ichi to appear like the face of the sun (Plate 3, 10b, 8). X is the shape of the Greek letter chi. Chi –roh, the Christian symbol of Christ is said to have pagan Canaanite origins associated with sun worship. (Christopher Knight et al., The Book of Hiram, 2003) As in Igbo tradition, the Chi roh is also associated with the palm-frond symbol (Plate 11). Chi and ich(i) have the same meaning in Igbo and in Greek. They both mean ‘the sun, the cross and the god-man and constitute the etymological origin of the word Chi-ristos/Christ. We also found that a group of concentric V-shapes with or without an axial line actually occurs in Sumerian Proto cuneiform and Akkadian alphabet as the letter Shi (See Plate 12, line 4) and that a single V-shape with a line in the center is the basic structure of the letter Shin in Hebrew Alphabet and in the esoteric writing of the Magi called “Passing the River”. These similarities are not coincidental. The link between Jesus the fish god-man and the fish god-men who inaugurated Igbo market days has already been discussed.
Iambulus reported that the Pancheans had “festivals and feasts … in honor of the sun after whom they name both (their lands) and themselves” (Chami, Ibid., p. 164). Infact almost all Igbo names contain the word Chi as in Chima, Ogechi, Chineny; so too the place names, as in Arochukwu, Umuchima. M.D.W. Jeffreys, a British anthropologist who studied the ichi phenomenon in Awka province from 1930-31 observed that “Umundri (sic.) means ‘children of Ndri’ (a ‘Sky Being’)”… and that “this people, having a sun-cult and a divine king, … gave the names of ‘sun’ and ‘moon’ to the two upper designs in the (ichi) pattern”. (F.C. Ogbalu, ed., The Igbo as Seen by Others, 1988, p. 47, 49) Jeffreys observed that the word ichi is derived from chi which means ‘sun’. Chi as in ka chi fo means ‘daylight’, ‘sunlight’, ‘day’; but it also means ‘soul/spirit/god’, as in Chi na enye. As a sun symbol, ichi represents the sun emitting rays in four directions, indicating that the face of its bearer is the face of the sun: he/she is the sun, the god of his environment, ruling the four cardinal points and the four days of the Igbo traditional week and representing the four cosmic deities: Eke, Orie, Afo and Nkwo – the fourth being the father of the Igbo nation.
Nwa-nchi dwarfs were custodians of the Igbo belief in the cult of the god-man/revered ancestor (living or dead) otherwise called Ozo, Nze, Ichie. The basic tenet of the Igbo theology of the god-man is that man has the capacity to become a god while he is alive on earth by going through a series of initiations aimed at attaining divine wisdom while taking titles that place him in the hierarchy of the gods. The process by which a newly elected Eze Nri becomes a deity is described in detail in Onwuejeogwu, Ibid., p. 86-88) In Nri, the highest title/initiation is that of Eze Nri. “Eze Nri (the divine king of Nri) is regarded as mmuo [Spirit] and as a kind of Alusi (deity). He was called Eze Mmuo or Eze Alusi, meaning king of spirits (and king of the gods). He is greeted as Igwe, meaning symbolically ‘the sky’”. (Onwuejeogwu, p. 85) Likewise to take the ozo title is called ima mmuo (knowing/seeing the spirit) and the collective spirits of those who have taken the ozo title are called Ichie Ukwu (Great Divine Ancestors) who are supposed to have joined the rank of gods.
Ozo titled men are required by tradition to be faultless. They must never tell a lie, cheat or commit any act of injustice against another. They must live in a state of sinlessness or what we choose to call impeccability. In this way an ozo is able to live and function as an oracle and trusted judge of the community. This too was noted by the ancient visitor/sailor to Panchea, Iambulus, who described the Pancheans as “men of honorable character … of blessed and long life”. Mesopotamians who came to Punt/Panchea as early as 2,000 B. C. (four thousand years ago), called the region “the island of the blessed”, while Egyptians called it the land “of Genius”. T. Kendall, (1997, p. 171) called the Pacheans “a race of faultless men” and reported that “Greeks, soon to enter Egypt in great numbers would hear of the remote (Pancheans) and build legends around them.” M. Cary and E. Warmington, (The Ancient Explorers, 1963, p. 75) insisted that the Greeks copied the prototype of ‘Utopia’ from these tribe of faultless men. This is a particularly interesting discovery, when we consider that the Igbo nation had a homegrown Democracy, perhaps the only one in the ancient world, and that Democracy was given to the modern world via Greece! This brings us to another controversial Igbo phenomenon, that of ‘Igbo enwe Eze’- which we paraphrase as ‘Igbo, the nation of Democrats’ or what The Nag Hammadi calls “the kingless generation”!