| Welcome | About | Introduction | Chapter One beginning of time – 999 AD |
| Chapter Two 1000 AD – 1399 | Chapter Three 1400 – 1599 | Chapter Four 1600 – 1649 | Chapter Five 1650 – 1699 |
| Chapter Six 1700 – 1749 | Chapter Seven 1750 – 1799 | Chapter Eight 1800 – 1819 | Chapter Nine 1820 – 1829 |
| Chapter Ten 1830 – 1839 | Chapter Eleven 1840 – 1849 | Chapter Twelve 1850 – 1859 | Chapter Thirteen 1860 – 1869 |
| Chapter Fourteen 1870 – 1879 | Chapter Fifteen 1880 – 1884 | Chapter Sixteen 1885 – 1889 | Chapter Seventeen 1890 – 1894 |
| Chapter Eighteen 1895 – 1899 | Chapter Nineteen 1900 + post cinema | Chapter Twenty 1911 + | Copyright |
| HOTDOC Internet Archive Channel | HOTDOC X Channel | HOTDOC You Tube Channel |
Period: the beginning of time to 999 AD
We begin our journey through the ages with light rays, lenses, light-sensitive substances (through early chemistry) and diverse optical phenomenon including the most natural optical phenomenon there is, the Pinhole Image.
HAND SHADOW PUPPETS
3000 years before the birth of Jesus, we find man attempting to mimic motion through his art on the walls of caves. Before the earliest Shadowplays appeared in China, we learned that the Mohists and the Greeks already had a basic understanding of optics and the Pinhole Image.
Hand shadows are one of the most primitive ways to mimic animals or people, in motion. They may have even preceded cave art by the man-in-the-cave.
Most pre cinema history books start with hand shadow puppets. READ Olive Cooks Movement in Two Dimensions at Internet Archive while we watch father rabbit below, entertain his family with a human hand.
In commencing, letโs go back a few years . . .
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.“
The Holy Scriptures, Genesis, Chapter 1, verses 1 – 4
PINHOLE IMAGES
Pinhole images have been seen since the earliest times. Those who may have dwelt in caves or tents, saw the Pinhole Image.
Basic optical principles of the pinhole are commented on in Chinese texts from the 5th century BC calling it the “collecting place” meaning what we call the aperture.
Joseph Needham in his monumental work, Science and Civilization in China [Physics, Part IV, G (optics), 4. Camera Obscura, pp97,99] translated Shen Kua’s Meng Chhi Pi Than on the inversion of the shadow as;
“The burning-mirror reflects objects so as to form inverted images. This is because there is a focal point in the middle (i.e. between the object and the mirror). The mathematicians call investigations about such things Ko Shu. It is like the pattern made by an oar moved by someone on a boat against a rowlock (as fulcrum).
We can see it happening in the following example. When a bird flies in the air, its shadow moves along the ground in the same direction. But if its image is collected (like a belt being tightened) through a small hole in a window, then the shadow moves in the direction opposite to that of the bird. The bird moves to the east while the shadow moves to the west, and vice versa.
Take another example. The image of a pagoda, passing through the hole or small window, is inverted after being ‘collected.’ This is the same principle as the burning-mirror. Such a mirror has a concave surface, and reflects a finger to give an upright image if the object is very near, but if the finger moves farther and farther away it reaches a point where the image disappears and after that the image appears inverted. Thus the point where the image disappears is like the pinhole of the window.
So also the oar is fixed at the rowlock somewhere at its middle part, constituting, when it is moved, a sort of ‘waist’ and the handle of the oar is always in the position inverse to the end (which is in the water).
One can easily see (under the proper conditions) that when one moves one’s hand upwards the image moves downwards, and vice versa. [Since the surface of the burning-mirror is concave, when it faces the sun it collects all the light and brings it to a point one or two inches away from the mirror’s surface, as small as a hempseed. It is when things are at this point that they catch fire. This is indeed the place where the ‘waist’ is smallest.]”
In explaining his understanding of this 1,400+ year old discovery of the Mohists, Kua used things in the sky such as clouds, birds and kites. He stated factually that if seen in the sky, the shadows of these objects naturally move in the same direction on the ground. However, when seen through an aperture such as the hole-in-a-window analogy, the object and it’s shadow/reflection, go in opposite directions.
Pinhole cameras rely on the fact that light travels in straight lines โ a principle called the rectilinear theory of light which has long since been proven within the field of physics so the word theory should be dropped. If light didn’t travel in straight lines, we’d have a lot of trouble seeing anything in a camera.
The image formed by a pinhole camera is inverted because there is no lens to upright the image formed.
Therefore, the flame is seen at the bottom and the wax candle is seen at the top.
When that light, that holds the outside world in itโs stream, comes through that hole, you are watching one of the most natural, scientific, optical, phenomenons God ever gave us.
Pinhole Photography does not use a lens. Pinhole cameras can be small or gigantic in size. They can be improvised or purpose-built with great care.
Candles or trees or crosses are often used in illustrations because they can be easily identified as upside down.
Pinhole cameras can be created out of soda cans, a refrigerator, sea shells, cookie jars, a thimble, cereal boxes, a car, your bedroom, a cave, a warehouse or an aircraft hangar.
There are even two pinholes built into your skull.
You can use both at the same time, or just one like our friend here.
Sculptor Wayne Martin Belgeris created this pinhole camera from a human skull using the orbital opening as the pinhole aperture. He calls it the Third Eye and itโs part of a limited collection of haunting photography equipment composed of metal, precious stones, and human remains. SEE it here.
Here are two images taken in Wayne Martin Belgeris’s human skull camera seen directly above. These are not Stereoviews. They are two separate lensless photographs. Pinhole Images are more soft-focused than those shot with a lens. Pinhole Images will appear to have blurring at the edges. Any type of enclosure of any size or shape can become a camera.
Two kinds of cameras. This illustration was published in Systematische Bilder-Gallerie, in Karlsruhe und Freiburg, Germany in 1839. The world was waking up to photography in 1839 and wanted to know more about it, than just the chemical side of things.
NATURAL PINHOLE IMAGES
Here is a photograph taken of an image from within the New Royal Palace at Prague Castle, Czechoslovakia seen at the top of the stairs leading to the attic.
The image is projected onto the wall by a simple hole in the tile roofing.
Here is page 228, Book III from Forces of Nature by Amรฉdรฉe Guillemin, edited by Norman Lockyer, Macmillan and Company, London, 1877. This section on Physical Phenomenon explains and shows the Pinhole Image. It offers a simple experiment you can do yourself using a candle, a card, and a screen.
ANY SIZE or ANY THING
Here’s a Pinhole photograph. It was taken using a washing machine in 1997 by Steven Pippin. It shows a man walking in a laundromat.
Washing machines look like cameras.
In another chapter I will show how an airplane hangar becomes the world’s largest Pinhole camera which takes the world’s largest lensless photograph.
Image Madeleine Muzdakis | My Modern Met
Pinhole cameras come in a range of shapes.
You can make your own out of a cereal box, buy a custom-made Pinhole camera or buy low-cost specialty lenses for your existing film / digital camera.
Here are four examples of modern-day Pinhole photographs taken in a variety of light environments, f stops, films and cameras. Some of the most beautiful photographs ever seen have been taken in a box with no lens, just a hole. This is not however, to discriminate against the lens. Wait until I get into the history of lenses and their need for cinematography to be fully realised.
Image My Modern Met
The Camera Obscura effect can be seen through the natural phenomenon of light, travelling through the Pinhole.
The Pinhole Image IS Cinematography.
Now let’s look at other ways the Pinhole is used and what it can do.
A Gnomon projects a Pinhole Image on the floor of Florence Cathedral (Solstice 21 June 2012).
Gnomons were defined in the Zhoubi Suanjing (1046โ256 BC). They can be used to tell the time of day and year, and present a beautiful picture of the world.
One of the earliest known records of a Pinhole aperture was that of light passing through crossed leaves of trees and in the spaces between wickerwork or even your fingers.
The Chinese scholar Moti (or Mozi) and the Greeks both observed this optical phenomenon in the 4th century BC.
The most basic of illustrations to introduce what a Pinhole Image is, directly above. The tip of the cone comes through at the bottom and the base is seen at the top, inside the box camera. On p45 figure six of The History and Practice of the Art of Photography by Henry Snelling, 1849. Open the book and READ it here at Internet Archive.
This Pinhole Image illustrated by Mario Bettini from Apiaria Universal Philosophy, Mathematics published 1642 is found on p48 of Apiar. VIII.
“when that light, that holds the outside world in itโs stream, comes through that hole, you are watching one of the most natural, scientific, optical phenomenons God ever gave us
PRE CINEMA CAVE ART
HENRI รDOUARD PROSPER BREUIL (1877-1961)
Breuil was an anthropologist, archaeologist, and priest, well-known for his paintings of cave art throughout the world especially in Dordogne (Lascaux in France) and Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, Spain (Altamira).
Because of his skill in drawing animals, prehistorians employed Breuil in the illustration of Paleolithic cave paintings. He rose to become the foremost expert on paleolithic art in the world, spending approximately 700 days of his life underground.
Because cave art will fade or even vanish over thousands of years, some of our only surviving evidence that this pre cinema art existed, are Breuils.
LET’S START AT THE BEGINNING
ANTIQUITY
The forms of animals in movement are discovered on the walls of caves throughout the world. One of the world’s most noted caves for this is the Grotte de Lascaux in France.
Is that horse upside down? But why?
FOUR RACING HORSES. Motion has almost always been depicted in early cave art. When the subject which are mostly animals, has been that which can provide movement, we often see it in that state. The ox for instance, which provides strength, food and clothing, is motionless.
However, the horse, as a provider of transportation, power and agility, is portrayed running. This early cave art seen here, of four horsesโ neck and neck in a race, was discovered in the Chauvet Caves of France.
THE EIGHT-LEGGED BOAR OF ALTAMIRA SPAIN
Not only was the portrayal of motion the purpose for this rock painting of an eight-legged boar, but it may also have been a very early attempt by the artist to say that he doesn’t understand why he is seeing more legs than the animal has.
Discovered at Altamira Spain, the boar seen directly below is clearly running in a blur with the artist ‘seeing’ more legs than there really are. There is even a suggestion of two blurred heads as he thunders across the plain. Apparent Motion and the blurring effect of after-images will be documented but will not be understood for several millennia.
Image Dons Maps
A galloping eight-legged boar based on the actual cave art by Breuil H, Obermaier H. at Santillana del Maar, Altamira Spain from 1935.
Altamira black bull in motion, above.
From the Altamira cave. Translation from the caption under the right image;
“A complex superposition of various figures; the small black aurochs, on the right, is the oldest, then comes the strange red animal, on the left, on which there is a polychrome cervid sketch.“
Photo Time Magazine 13 February 1995
Pictured directly above is a Chauvet cave running bison located at the Sector of the Horses in the Hillaire Chamber, on the right wall of the Alcove of the Lions. The artist has shown movement by drawing extra legs.
Directly below is an excerpt from the documentary When Homo sapiens made its cinema, a film by Pascal Cuissot and Marc Azema produced by ARTE France, MC4, Passรฉ Simple with the participation of the History Channel and the support of the Ministry of Culture and the CNC, Procirep, the SDP, Angoa, the Rhone Alpes region, the association for development of the Chauvet-Pont dโArc cave 2D/3D Infographic: Simple Past.
“those who dwelt in caves made their own cinema”
Matt Gatton image
CAMERA OBSCURA CAVES
Was the motion we see depicted in early cave art a result of the actual motion seen by the artist within the cave? Perhaps this is why the subjects where always living creatures, and not still life or landscapes.
The pectographs and pictographs of horses, bulls, oxen and ibexes, mammoths, cats, rhinos, stags, bison, bovine, and bears are the most often documented art that is seen in caves. This image directly above shows an enclosed cave using a hide covering in the background. In the hide covering as does happen, are scratches and sometimes even holes. These holes become the pinhole, or aperture.
Image Matt Gatton
This image here shows how the horse would likely have looked, to the cave-dweller, from inside the cave.
MOVING CAVE ART
Did these artists see the animals outside their caves or tents, and then go inside and paint from memory?
Or did they actually see these animals from within the caves, moving on an inside cave wall near the entrance?
If men did see animals moving on the walls of their caves, this then may explain why they painted an upside-down horse on the wall of the Painted Gallery at Lascaux, France.
Image Macquarie University
Even in Australian caves we see kangaroos. Especially in the Kimberly.
Still life and landscapes are not seen, or at least extremely rare.
In speaking of the Altamira cave paintings which are comprised mostly of bison, Matthew S. Johnson writes “These pictures are of the animals only and contain no landscape or horizontal base.”
In his study of the Altamira cave discovery, Jochen Duckeck writes “Basically, the pictures are dynamic and the movement of the animals comes to life through the thoughtful use of the reliefs and uneven surface of the walls, thus creating a breathtaking effect.”
A natural pinhole in a hide covering
Why would the artist paint an animal upside down on the wall?
Perhaps itโs because he saw an upside-down horse on the wall. It has been shown that the Pinhole Image can be seen in this very environment. Here’s a hide covering from researcher Matt Gatton, with a natural aperture in it. An arrow, branch or spear punched a hole and accidentally and the next day the man in the cave was watching the morning news.
Matt Gatton has done extensive research on this subject. And directly below, an actual photograph he took of a horse, seen on the inside of the cave, through the hole in the hide, of the outside where the horse was standing.
DYK A LITTLE GIRL DISCOVERED MOTION PICTURE CAVE ART
The Altamira Cave is located near Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, Spain. It portrays one of the most significant visual periods in prehistory. Altamira’s art is from the Solutrean and Magdalenian eras of the upper Paleolithic period of man’s past.
The cave art found at Altamira is an artistic style known as Franco-Cantabrian, and the figures are portrayed realistically. This can be interpreted as โin motion or, naturally.โ The artwork is one of the first large set of prehistoric paintings to ever be discovered.
Don Marcelino returned to the cave in 1879 to collect more flints, this time with his little eight-year-old daughter Maria Justina. While Don Marcelino examined the floor, Maria, peering at the ceiling with wide eyes, yelled out “Mira, Papa, bueyes!” or โLook, daddy, oxen!’
Maria Justina Sanz de Sautuola Escalante (1871-1946) lived a fulfilled life without much notoriety until the age of 75. Henri Breuil the famous prehistory artist would later define Altamira as โthe Sistine Chapel of Paleolithic art.โ
WATCH Finding Altamira (Morena Films 2016) from Look Movie. Not the story of finding the cave eleven years prior in 1868, but the finding of the artwork itself, on the ceiling of the cave in 1879 by little Maria.
It is quite possible that the Camera Obscura effect was seen in primitive times and documented as well. Not with ink on paper or silver halides on film but with primitive paint on cave walls.
The real upside down horse of the Lascaux cave on the right and the same image flipped.
THE START OF ART – IN THE PALEOLITHIC AGE
Matt Gatton presents a more than interesting theory in his work, The Camera Obscura and the Origin of Art: the Case for Image Projection in the Paleolithic.
The photographs I have, and will show from Gatton’s field research show that Camera Obscura caves are more than a theory. After all, is not the Camera Obscura simply a dark room with a hole?
If the Pinhole Image can be seen through “wicker works” as Aristotle put it, crossed fingers, or the leaves in trees, then why not a hole in a hide covering used to seal a cave entrance? Gatton’s field work shows that the Camera Obscura effect could very well have been seen by early men who lived in caves or tents.
Gatton’s theory is based on a fundamental fact we already know to be true; that of the Pinhole Image and the resulting Camera Obscura effect.
In reference to early humans who dwelt in caves or hide-covered tents, Gatton states “Small random holes in these hide tents would have coincidentally and occasionally formed camera obscuras, projecting moving images inside the dwelling spaces.”
“that the camera obscura effect is a well-known optical principal incorporating a darkened space receiving the linearity of light rays through a small hole, is a phenomenon which is un-debatable“
It is therefore conceivable that early men saw movies or cinematography, in their own homes as we do today.
To this end, Gatton goes on; “Imagine, if you will, a Paleolithic person waking in the morning to find the image of animals walking around on the wall, the three-dimensional world reduced to two dimensions on a surface inside the tent.”
If the camera obscura effect was in fact seen by early cave dwellers, this would pre-date the observances of Mo Ti and Aristotle by at least several thousand years.
Theorists and historians suggest the horse being in this unique position, was depicted as scratching it’s back on the ground, playing, or had stumbled and was up-righting itself after a chase.
Visit Matt Gatton’s website HERE to learn more of his fabulous work.
Image Luciano Nepolitano
Another figure of a horse in full stride from the Ennedi plateau in northern Chad.
Motion is clearly indicated in this painting.
The rock art we find most anywhere in the Sahara Desert dates to as far back as the Neolithic period which was the last phase of the Stone Age. This Prehistoric Petroglyph seen immediately below was found in the Akakus (Acacus) Mountains, Sahara, Libya. It depicts three dogs likely in the heat of the hunt.
These three rock paintings directly below are from the Ennedi plateau in northern Chad.
Three Images Luciano Nepolitano
Image Roland Unger
THE EGYPTIAN CAVE OF SWIMMERS
Whether they represent deceased people floating in the waters of Nun or not, the swimmers illustrated on the walls of The Cave of Swimmers in Egypt are simply fascinating gesticulation of what visual communication in art is all about.
Especially when action or motion is implied.
The cave which is situated in the mountainous plateau of the Libyan Desert called Gilf Kebir was discovered in 1933 by Lรกszlรณ Almรกsya, an Hungarian explorer. The cave is located in southwest Egypt near the Libyan border at Wadi Sura.
Image David Coulson, The British Museum
The motion of swimming is clearly seen here in one of the Cave of Swimmers paintings on the walls of the cave and was given the name Wadi Sura Swimmers.
The Cave of Swimmers is said to be 8,000 years old and is thought to have been painted during the Neolithic period. The art not only depicts figures swimming but also animals such as giraffes and also archers.
Image David Coulson, The British Museum
Here is the cave entrance to the Cave of Swimmers located at Wadi Sura which is translated I might say very interestingly as the Valley of Pictures. The cave’s name is appropriately named.
“the beginnings of cinema lie in the flickering pictures made by Palaeolithic humans“
PALAEOLITHIC THAUMATROPE
Pre cinema history goes back a very very long way. To the beginning of time itself. Our earliest humans understood that shadows are brought about by light even though they may not have been able to put it into words. Instead, they used their artistic skills.
Moving pictures were clearly on their minds when they picked up their hollow bird bone air brushes. We think of Thaumatropes as a Victorian optical toy which they are, but what if the idea of optical illusions and animation has been around a lot earlierโlike in the paleolithic age.
It is strongly believed, with evidence, that this is the case. Consider for a moment before continuing, that there were paleolithic Thaumatropes, made and used by early humans.
SEQUENTIAL ANIMATION IN THE PALAEOLITHIC
In 2012, Marc Azรฉma, an archeologist specializing in cave art at Universitรฉ de Toulouse-Le Mirail, and his colleague, artist Florent Rivรจre published an article that suggests some artifacts found in the Pyrenees might be examples of paleolithic Thaumatropes.
Azรฉma has spent over twenty years researching the portrayal of animal movement in cave art.
Rivรจre and Azรฉma believe as does this author, that the beginnings of cinema lie in the flickering pictures made by Palaeolithic humans.
For instance, a sandstone plaque and some bone disks showing images on both sides, with holes where strings might have been attached.
If the Azema hypothesis is correct, Dr. Paris and William Fitton were scooped by thousands of years.
We have already seen how in cave art the Camera Obscura Effect was seen in early times, when projected through a Pinhole. Now SEE a video by Marc Azรฉma showing some examples of paleolithic animation entitled Prehistoric man invented cinema.
Animation Marc Azema left, and Hanna-Barbera right
Rivรจre and Azรฉma took their theories of early animation a bit further by proposing that the carved bone discs, excavated in these regions, were not buttons or pendants as was previously thought, but paleolithic motion toys.
Remember our eight-legged boar?
The earliest ancient art comes from the Upper Paleolithic period. The appearance of figurative paleolithic paintings on cave walls is most assuredly a starting point for motion storytelling employing isolated pictures, but when combined . . . we have cinema.
Directly above we see two images of carved discs found at Mas dโAzil. You can see an adult animal on the right and a younger calf on the left. These images and lots of interesting information about this and other Stone Age discs can be found at Dons Maps.
OLDEST 3D MAP IN THE WORLD
THE SรGOGNOLE 3 SANDSTONE ROCK SHELTER
Back in February 2025, The Bradshaw Foundation published โwhat may be the world’s oldest three-dimensional map.โ The ‘map’ was first identified in the 1980s, in the south of Paris, France. An Oxford Journal of Archaeology study revealed that the site contains a miniature representation of the surrounding landscape in the form of an engraved floor located in one part of the shelter.
This work โ which appears to have been created around 13,000 years ago โ is potentially a world-first 3D-model of a Palaeolithic territory, according to the study.
All images Mรฉdard Thiry
The research team led by Mรฉdard Thiry and Anthony Milnes hypothesize that the set of engravings in the cave โis an artificial representation of the surrounding landscape, a kind of โscale model of the region with hydrological and geomorphological variations.โ The scale model of Noisy-sur-รcoleโs landscape is situated on the floor behind the Sรฉgognole 3 cave.
The level of detail and accuracy they say, โis astounding.โ The caveโs former occupants, hunter-gatherers, created an amazing miniature depiction of the areaโs hydrological and geomorphological features.
Researchers explained that the floorโs surface was masterfully engraved to manipulate water flow through accurate channels, depressions, and basins. The specific indents and inclinations in the stone represent the various hills in the area and how they correlate to the surrounding rivers, lakes, and deltas.
The discovery came after study lead author Mรฉdard Thiry from the Mines Paris โ PSL Center of Geosciences recognized several fine-scale morphological features that could not have formed naturally. This indicates that they were formed by prehistoric humans.
“Our research showed that Paleolithic humans sculpted the sandstone to promote specific flow paths for infiltrating and directing rainwater, which is something that had never been recognized by archaeologists,” Thiry said in the statement.
All images Mรฉdard Thiry
7000 BC
CINEMA IN STONE
THE LITTLE PUPPETS OF VALCAMONICA
โMajor motion pictures from our prehistoric pastโ is what the University of Cambridge Pitoti Project team calls their report on the exploration of the rock art of the Valcamonica valley in the Italian Alps.
This entry represents not our oldest example of pre cinema rock art, but our most comprehensive.
Another proposition of how to visualise cinema in stone, is presented by rock art expert Dr Christopher Chippindale, and archaeological researcher Dr Frederick Baker of the Cambridge team. The Italian Alps is our theatre, the largest collection of petroglyphs in the world.
Located in the Province of Brescia, Italy, Valcamonica is a 55-mile-long valley comprising around 2000 individual rock faces with upwards of 300,000 engravings.
The images referred to in the local dialect as Pitoti, or Little Puppets, have been carved out of the sandstone rock.
The Pitoti were discovered over a century ago in 1909. However, scholars didnโt know what they were seeing then. In the 1920s, interest was piqued as it was learned that many pictures of oxen and elk portrayed animals in motion; the principal players in hunting scenarios.
STILLS OUT OF AN ANIMATION
Baker and Chippindale’s revelation has been to treat the Pitoti as frames in a film, and not entirely as carvings, paying special attention to what sets them apart from paintings: their depth.
WATCH Rock carvings of Valcamonica by Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici running 4:32.
See how the light from a flame (acting as the sun) at night, creates shadows and depth as the team explained.
STARTLING ADMISSION #1
Baker who also specialises in film projection stated; โSo watching the sun arc and fall over one of these panels, and seeing the individual figures leap out then disappear was revelatory. They form a landscape-based proto-cinema.โ
Presentation of “3D Pitoti Project” | Digitalizing rock art in Valcamonica. This project aims to record some Valcamonica rock art site through a futuristic 3D technology, using a drone for filming the landscape.
This early cinematic metaphor can be used on specific Pitoti, some of which seem to be inescapably moving toward another action, just like what you see in a short film.
WATCH the Cambridge Universityโs Pitoti Team show us what they mean. Runs 3:43.
This three-dimensional realisation has provided additional evidence that some of the Pitoti are literally in suspended animation.
As the Pitoti Team explains;
The Paleolithic period and itโs eight-legged boar of Altamira precedes the Neolithic, and here at Valcamonica it appears that these people etched sequential images into the stone rather than multiple-legged animals, to indicate the motion of running.
Baker, Chippindale, and other team members discovered that our predecessors did indeed chisel their images in motion; to show this, they first laser-scanned, and then animated the engravings.
Marey was bested. Baker explains;
This video is beyond amazing. How they animated the sequential stone images to tell the story in motion at Valcamonica. Called 3D Pitoti Scientists Lab – Innovative way to access prehistoric art. Runs 4:52.
Utilizing digital imaging technologies like graphic animation, laser scanning, and ambient cinematography, the team developed a novel study approach that centred on the “visual excavation” of some images as 3D entities.
An example from scanned sequential images made by the team.
STARTLING ADMISSION #2
THESE WERE NOT SILENT PICTURES-NO INTERTITLES REQUIRED
The Valcamonica valley generates a natural theatre by employing the rock faces as screens and the sun as the projector. The team also considered this natural Amphitheatre for its acoustical attributes.
The ongoing research will examine the Pitoti from a variety of interconnected angles, including the bird’s-eye view, their distribution and classification throughout the valley, their grouping within a single location, and appearance on individual rock panels.
The team explains;
We have now reached 6000 BC in our look at the history of Cinematography.
THE DJOSER STEP PYRAMID
EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE AND THE CAMERA OBSCURA
There are instances of Camera Obscura designs shaped like pyramids, though they are rare and often created for artistic, religious or experimental purposes. However, a pyramid Camera Obscura itself?
Thereโs a theoretical connection to ancient Egyptian architecture under the category of Funerary Monuments, where some speculate that pharaonic complexes, like Djoserโs Step Pyramid (circa 2630โ2611 BC), might have incorporated Camera Obscura -like effects.
The pyramidโs serdab, a small chamber like a cellar, with two holes, could have projected images of the pharaohโs ka statue, potentially functioning as a primitive Camera Obscura for ritual purposes. This idea, while speculative, suggests a pyramid-shaped structure could naturally lend itself to such optical phenomena.
These examples show that while not common, pyramid-shaped Camera Obscuras exist in both modern artistic contexts and speculative historical interpretations.
Boris Karloff as Imhotep in The Mummy (1932).
Djoserโs Step Pyramid, located in Saqqara, Egypt, is one of the earliest large-scale stone monuments in history, built during the Third Dynasty for Pharaoh Djoser.
Designed by the architect Imhotep, it is considered the first true pyramid, evolving from earlier and what is called mastaba tombs. The pyramid complex is a significant architectural and cultural achievement, reflecting ancient Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife and divine kingship.
The Step Pyramid is the centerpiece of a vast mortuary complex, roughly 544 metres by 277 metres, enclosed by a limestone wall. The pyramid itself stands about 62.5 metres tall with six stepped tiers, transitioning from the flat-roofed mastaba to a proto-pyramidal form. The complex includes:
๐น A large courtyard, a heb-sed court for ritual reenactments of the kingโs rejuvenation, and various symbolic buildings.
๐น A labyrinth of tunnels and rooms beneath the pyramid, including Djoserโs burial chamber.
๐น A small, enclosed chamber near the pyramid, housing a statue of the pharaoh, which is key to the Camera Obscura speculation.
The serdab (Arabic for cellar) is a small, sealed chamber located on the north side of the Step Pyramid, adjacent to the mortuary temple. It contained a life-sized statue of Djoser, likely representing his ka, which was believed to reside in the statue to receive offerings and maintain the pharaohโs presence in the world of the living.
The serdab is notable for its two small holes, roughly 10โ15 centimetres in diametre, drilled through its north-facing wall at eye level, aligned to allow the statue to gaze toward the northern stars, associated with immortality in Egyptian cosmology.
These holes are central to the Camera Obscura hypothesis, as they resemble the pinhole or aperture needed for such an optical effect. This Camera Obscura allows the light to pass through a small hole into a darkened space, projecting an inverted image of the external scene onto an opposite surface.
In the serdabโs case, the holes could theoretically project an image of the statue or external environment, depending on the setup.
SPECULATIVE CAMERA OBSCURA-LIKE EFFECTS
The idea that the Step Pyramidโs serdab functioned as a Camera Obscura stems from speculative interpretations by researchers and scholars. Their agreed-upon theory from what I can determine, suggests that the serdabโs design could have produced optical projections, possibly for ritual or symbolic purposes.
Hereโs how it might have worked and the supporting arguments:
Optical Mechanism
๐น The serdabโs two holes could act as pinholes, allowing light from the statue (illuminated by external sunlight) to pass through and project an inverted image onto a surface outside or within another chamber.
๐น Alternatively, light from the external environment (e.g., the sky or courtyard) could enter the holes, projecting an image of the outside onto the serdabโs interior walls, where the statue was placed.
๐น For a Camera Obscura effect, the serdab would need to be sufficiently dark, with the holes small enough to focus light. The serdabโs sealed, stone construction likely created a dark interior, and the holesโ size is consistent with optimal pinhole optics.
RITUAL SIGNIFICANCE
The projected image of Djoserโs statue could have been interpreted as a manifestation of his ka, a spiritual projection visible to priests or visitors in a nearby chamber or courtyard.
This would align with Egyptian beliefs in the kaโs role as a bridge between the divine and mortal realms.
If external scenes (e.g., stars or the horizon) were projected into the serdab, it might have symbolized the pharaohโs connection to the cosmos, reinforcing his divine status. The northern alignment of the holes, toward circpolar stars, suggests a celestial focus, potentially enhancing the ritual impact of any projected images.
ARCHITECTURAL FEASIBILITY
The serdabโs proximity to the mortuary temple and open courtyard provided spaces where projections could be viewed, either on a wall or a prepared surface. Imhotepโs advanced understanding of geometry and astronomy, evident in the pyramidโs precise orientation and proportions, supports the possibility that he could have intentionally designed such an effect, even if the Egyptians lacked a formal theory of optics.
CHALLENGES AND SKEPTICISM
While intriguing, the Camera Obscura hypothesis is speculative and faces several challenges.
๐น Lack of Direct Evidence: No ancient Egyptian texts or artifacts explicitly describe Camera Obscura -like devices or their use in the Step Pyramid that I know of. The theory relies on interpreting the serdabโs design through a modern optical lens.
๐น Practicality: The serdabโs holes might have been primarily symbolic, allowing the statueโs ka to see the stars or receive offerings, rather than serving an optical function. The projection quality would depend on lighting conditions, hole size, and surface reflectivity, which are uncertain.
๐น Cultural Context: Egyptian art and architecture prioritised symbolic and magical functions over empirical science. If a Camera Obscura effect occurred, it might have been an incidental byproduct of the serdabโs design, not its primary purpose.
๐น Projection Surface: For a clear image, a smooth, light-coloured surface would be needed, but archaeological evidence of such a surface inside or outside the serdab is lacking.
Some scholars Iโve read dismiss the idea as anachronistic, arguing that attributing advanced optical knowledge to the Egyptians over-complicates their simpler, ritualistic intentions. Others note that ancient cultures, including the Egyptians, were observant of natural phenomena, and accidental discoveries of pinhole projections could have been incorporated into religious practices.
This is highly suspected to be true with their Funerary Monuments.
ARGUMENTS THAT SUPPORT
๐น Historical Precedents: The Camera Obscura principle was known in later cultures, such as ancient China (Mozi, 5th century BC) and Greece (Aristotle, 4th century BC), suggesting that simple optical observations could have been made earlier. While not directly linked to Egypt, these examples show the principleโs accessibility.
๐น Common Chat: Recent discussions within this field of precinema highlight ongoing fascination with the serdabโs potential as a Camera Obscura I have found, speculating about Imhotepโs genius and the Egyptiansโ lost technologies. These posts, while not scholarly, reflect a broader public interest in alternative interpretations of ancient architecture.
๐น Burning Man Parallel: The modern pyramid-shaped Camera Obscura at Burning Man (2012) by Chris de Monterey demonstrates that a pyramidal structure can effectively house a Camera Obscura, providing a practical analogy for how the serdabโs geometry might support such an effect.
Djoserโs Step Pyramid is a monumental achievement that showcases early Egyptian architectural innovation. The serdabโs design, with its two holes and statue, invites speculation about Camera Obscura -like effects, potentially projecting images of the pharaohโs ka or the external cosmos for ritual purposes.
While the theory is plausible given the serdabโs structure and the Egyptiansโ astronomical knowledge, it remains speculative due to the lack of direct evidence and the cultural preference for symbolic over scientific functions. The idea enriches our understanding of the pyramidโs complexity, suggesting that Imhotepโs design might have harnessed natural phenomena in ways we are only beginning to explore.
6000 BC
SAHARAN ROCK CARVINGS
Considered to be upwards of 8000 years old are the fighting cats found in the Wadi Mathendous region of the Sahara Desert near Fezzan, Libya.
The artist(s) is/are clearly identifying an early form of motion in this rock carving as the cats stand on hind legs fighting over what appears to be a smaller creature, possibly a bird.
ROCK CARVINGS โ MOVIES AT THE ROCK-SEE
The two cats of the Sahara moving in rock are clearly delineating motion.
Images by David Stanley, Ancient History Encyclopedia
HUNTERS IN MOTION – ROCK ART IN THE SAHARA
In the Ennedi plateau in northern Chad we see more evidence that the ancients desired to see motion in art. Rock art throughout the world will show whether it be paintings or carvings, subjects in motion ninety percent of the time as opposed to static.
Images David Coulson
MOTION PICTURES AT THE TรNรRร CINEMA
Petroglyphs of comparable significance can be discovered at other rock art moraines around the Sahara, including the Tรฉnรฉrรฉ Desert.
And speaking of horse and rider, I found this interesting tidbit in the form of an op-ed from the year 1889, in the The Optical Magic Lantern Journal, the August 1889 issue, Volume 1, Nยบ 3, on page 21.
It would appear that our man Eadweard Muybridge may have had some doubt as to whether or not the ancients had depicted animals in motion in their art. Regardless of the Muybridge position on paleolithic cave art, in 1889, they understood what they were seeing.
READ the full editorial comment by the editors known as The Taylor Brothers (without my edit) at Internet Archive on page 21.
ANTIQUITY – MOTION IN CAVE ART
In Giacomo Balla’s Dynamism of A Dog on Leash’ (1912) we see the exact motion attempted by the eight-legged boar. These motion pictures both depict running. Our eight-legged friend keeps popping up in our story.
6000-4000 BC
THE ROCK-ART SITES OF TADRART ACACUS, LIBYA
An early form of motion re-creation as well as motion-entertainment are the cave paintings and rock art of the world, which depict motion in almost every piece we see.
These ancient painters from the Neolithic period of the Stone Age were clearly trying to mimic or imitate the animals (and themselves) in movement ninety percent of the time.
This rock painting directly below is from the rock art site of Tadrart Acacus in Libya detailing a hunting scene of humans carrying bows and arrows in pursuit of animals such as cattle and ibexes along with Tuareg Tifinagh inscriptions.
An action scene in the rock-see theatre.
If by memory or โliveโ as they saw it, these paintings may have been painted using two small hollow bones.
Paintings at Altamira may have been airbrushed onto the rock walls.
Blowing across the open hollow bone, reduces air pressure forcing the ochre up the vertical hollow bone.
Here are airbrush bird bones found in the Altamira cave in Spain. This photograph on the left is from the Altamira National Museum and Research Centre ยฉ Ministry of Culture.
Tadrart Acacus is known for having thousands of prehistoric rock and cave paintings which are said to date back to 12000 BC. Other rock art not shown here represent hunting or daily life scenes, ritual dances, and animals in motion.
Image Cultures of West Africa/Trust for African Rock Art
Rock art depicting a horse-drawn chariot found in the Tassili nโ Ajjer, southeast Algeria in the Sahara.
The horse is galloping flat out and appears to fly.
The chariot driver is also depicting strong motion as he leans forward. Why would the painter symbolize such movement? Was it a desire to imitate motion in art, long before cinematography?
we have 1930’s film footage of the now extinct Tasmanian Tiger, but we also have rock footage of this creature that is a lot older
Image Cultures of West Africa/Trust for African Rock Art
Camels are also featured in the rock art found in the Sahara. Here the camel appears to be in full stride as he races across the desert with his driver.
I highly recommend Trust for African Rock Art for a look at rock art on the African continent.
Image Trust for African Rock Art
A hunter engaged in throwing a spear. This rock art motion painting was found in Oued Djaret, Algeria.
MOJAVE DESERT PETROGLYPHS OF MOVEMENT
The vast area of the Mojave Desert (47,877 square miles) contains rock art which clearly shows animals in motion, drawn by the Mojave Indians of the past.
This giant rock characterizes Mojave Indian rock art characters which were painted perhaps thousands of years ago. We can clearly see various animals in different acts of movement.
6000-4000 BC
TASSILI – ROCK ART CAPITAL OF THE SAHARA
Tassili nโ Ajjer, the vast plateau of south-east Algeria. Believed to date to 10,000 BC, the peoples of that time have left us a treasure trove of carvings and paintings all in, or on, the rocks throughout the region which encompasses more than 72,000 square miles.
Tassiliโs rock art which borders on the three nations of Libya, Niger and Mali was discovered in 1933 and is said to contain over 15,000 rock paintings or carvings.
Image David Coulson
This Prehistoric Petroglyph is actually a bas-relief engraving of a hippopotamus that was found at the Tassili n’ Ajjer site in the Algerian Sahara.
Image Sola Rey
This painting on rock clearly represents a dance performance of Neolithic hunters of Tassili-n-Ajjer attributed to the Saharan period of c. 6000โ4000 BC.
KANGAROO ROCK AR
Sitting in the Arnhem Land in Kakadu National Park lies what is called the Nourlangie Rock. A stunning region best-known for its ancient collection of rock art. Here we find cave paintings of the largest marsupial, the Kangaroo.
The rock art dates back thousands and thousands of years. The ancient Indigenous Gun-djeihmi tribes living within the region came to the caves during the Gudjewg Season, which ran from January and March, as it was notorious for harsh storms.
While there, the tribe used the rock walls as a canvas for their spectacular artwork, using plants and dirt to create their brilliantly coloured paints.
PILBARA ROCK ART
We have 1930’s film footage of the now extinct Tasmanian Tiger, but we also have rock footage of this creature that is a lot older.
The Pilbara has a million petroglyphs or even more. Petroglyphs made by chipping and hammering away the iron oxide coating on rocks to reveal the lighter colour below.
This area has had Aboriginal occupation for more than 41,000 years we are told.
Image Aboriginal Bark Paintings
Some of the animals depicted were already extinct before European colonization. Most famous of these are depictions of Tasmanian Tigers and mega fauna that have been extinct in this region for tens of thousands of years. Some of the petroglyphs could be up to 30,000 years old.
Indonesia has the oldest cave paintings in the world and is of the same style as the oldest styles found in Australia.
NEOLITHIC STONE ART
RUNNING DONKEY RIGHT OUT OF SHREK
In 1997, a carving of a running donkey was discovered on a stone in Karahantepe, an excavated settlement in Turkey that dates back to the Neolithic period.
Images Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism
The site is thought to date from between 9,000 and 11,000 BC. Previous excavations found 266 stelae, which are stone carvings of animals and human-like characters.
This is the first pre cinema art found here.
Photo AA
The stone is 20cm long and stands out not only for its size but also for its dynamic portrayal, which reveals Neolithic people’s artistic skills. Pictured is Dr. Necmi Karul who led the excavation.
โThe depiction of the wild donkey in motion, carved onto the base of a grinding stone, is particularly notable as it is the first time we have encountered such a moving wild donkey motif,โ stated Professor Dr. Necmi Karul.
ANIMATION FROM ANTIQUITY
THE BURNT CITY BOWL
In the 1970s, archaeologists digging in what is known in the West as the Burnt City of southeastern Iran (Shahr-e Sookhteh, Sistan, in ancient Persia), discovered what appeared to be a bowl the size that could be held in the hands. Some have called it a goblet.
On this pottery vessel is seen five distinct drawings of what appears to be a long-horned goat, likely an Ibex which is now-extinct, a species of wild mountain goat.
What makes this bowl special is the way it can be made to appear when simply turned with the hands.
When turned, each of the five Ibex images show the Ibex jumping up and biting off leaves on a tree. The images merge from one to the other in succession as if the animal was animated. The bowl is shown here and each of the five drawings has been made into a moving animation to show what the holder of the bowl would have experienced when holding it and turning it
the oldest cartoon character in the world
– a goat leaping to get the leaves on a tree
– c. 5000 BC
It’s the primitive story of existence and has been labelled as our first animated pictures, reminding us of the Dadaeleum of Horner and Zoetrope of Lincoln, in the 19th century.
Map from Ancient Pages
What has been named the Burnt City Bowl, is housed in the National Museum of Iran.
Visit the Museum here.
The Burnt City is a Bronze Age urban settlement archaeological site of enormous size, considered over 5,000 years old.
Ibex and fish were the two most prevalent images found on ancient ceramics. Did these 2 animals hold a special significance in the Burnt City? And who was the uncredited creator of what is perhaps the first and oldest animated images? We may never know.
Scholars and New Historianโs like Adam Steedman Thake have stated;
โAncient Mesopotamia, corresponding to modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, and north eastern Iran, is widely considered to be the cradle of western civilization.
If it is the case that the Burnt City had developed free from Mesopotamian influence, it could mean that the early urban era was a lot more metropolitan than previously thought.
If Mesopotamia was simply one of many city-based civilizations from 5,000 years ago, we will need to rethink the origins of our urban living.โ
Archaeological work began at the Burnt City in 1967. The Burnt City Bowl was discovered in the 1970s. West of the city proper is a large cemetery of 61 acres. It contains more than 25,000 graves, giving a clue as to how populous the Burnt City was. The city was founded around 3,200 BC and burned down three times before it was abandoned finally in 1800 BC.
Why it was abandoned is not known.
The team of archaeologists that unearthed the bowl in the 1970s from a burial site in Iranโs Burnt City, were from Italy. It apparently took several years of analysis for the researchers to notice that the images on the bowl were actually telling an animated visual story. However, it was only recently that scholars thought this bowl to be the oldest cartoon character in the world – a goat leaping to get the leaves on a tree.
This from an article in the Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies;
โThe artefact bears five images depicting a wild goat jumping up to eat the leaves of a tree, which the members of the team at that time had not recognized the relationship between the pictures.
Several years later, Iranian archaeologist Dr Mansur Sadjadi, who became later appointed as the new director of the archaeological team working at the Burnt City discovered that the pictures formed a related series.โ
Another comment which summarizes and concludes the Burnt City Bowl is from Krisโs Archaeological Blog;
โNow this is deeply cool. The Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) in Iran has made a short film using the images on a bowl from the Burnt City.
The Burnt City (Shar-i Sokhta) is a site in Iran that dates to about 2600 BC, and has seen some decades of investigation.
The bowl shows five images of a wild goat leaping, and if you put them in a sequence (like a flip book), the wild goat leaps to nip leaves off a tree.โ
This bowl with a series of sequential images depicting a leaping Ibex is said to be the oldest animation found on earth. The original bowl is kept in the Iran National Museum pictured here.
At the excavation site, several ceramic fragments have been found, but no others had images suggesting motion. Shahr-e Sookhteh was unearthed in 1967 and has been continuously explored by Iranian and Italian archaeologists since the 1970s.
This find from the 1970s archaeological site Shahr-e Sookhteh, Sistan, of southeastern Iran (ancient Persia), is an integral part of the history of the discovery of Cinematography and its origins.
An absolutely fascinating attempt by the ancients to see their art move. In this example itโs on wood and not a rock wall. This early attempt to animate pictures continues to prove how man has always wanted to see motion in pictures.
I find it odd that this strip of film on a wooden bowl never went up in flames at least once in the three times
the city burned.
As the Burnt City of Shahr-e Sookhteh, Sistan, in ancient Persia burns, the State of Gojoseon which is known as modern-day Korea, is founded by Dangun Wanggeom during the reign of the Chinese Emperor Yao.
3500 BC
PINHOLES IMAGES FOR THE DEAD
THE MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS OF ARLESโFONTVIEILLE
The archeoastronomy of the megalithic monuments of ArlesโFontvieille, France may have been built the way they were for one reason: to study the heavens using a longitudinal Camera Obscura tomb.
Although the archaeoastronomical study of megalithic monuments is the focus of my source, the subject of optical physics comes into play in a major way as the writer suggests the builders of these monuments ” may have been exploiting the camera obscura effect.”
My source for this entry:
According to Morgan Saletta, โThe megalithic monuments of ArlesโFontvieille appear to have been deliberately constructed such that a ray of the setting sun on and around the equinox penetrates the subterranean chamber producing a spectacular light-and-shadow hierophany.โ
Image Morgan Saletta
Image Morgan Saletta
Image Morgan Saletta
In his section No. 6 on Hierophany or Theophany: Pinhole Aperture Effects and Projected Solar Images, Saletta speculates that โthe builders of these monuments may have been exploiting the camera obscura effect to project a solar image into the interior of the monumentsโ (p370).
It is by no means unthinkable that the designers of the ArlesโFontvieille monuments were knowledgeable about pinhole effects.
The equinox hierophany is documented at three of the group’s four extant monuments.
The occurrence of the Pinhole Image was likely used for sacred ritualistic purposes, Saletta suspects. These artificial cavities were dug by human hands in the rock of the Cordes mountain and the Castelet plateau as sepulchres during the late Neolithic period.
Image Morgan Saletta
Image Morgan Saletta
Saletta points out that โthe bright spot of light that appears on the back wall of the monuments is indeed a projected solar image, albeit fuzzy and out of focus owing to the refraction produced both at the lip of the entrance ramp and at the portal/aperture itself.โ
Thousands of years ago, artists looking for ways to create better art, discovered how to polish a clear rock crystal stone.
Fast forward to today, and lenses can be categorised in two types: prime and zoom.
WITHOUT THE LENS WE HAVE NO CINEMATOGRAPHY
Letโs remember that without the lens we would have only one camera; the pinhole camera.
And without Cinematography (12-24 sequential photographs per second), we would only have blurry and out of focus hand-drawn animation.
Ancient lenses found by Heinrich Schliemann at Troy totalled 48 rock crystal lenses.
One of the largest hoards of ancient lenses ever found. Unpolished ancient rock crystal lenses generally magnify approximately one and a half to two times (1.5 or 2 times).
A specific hoard at Ephesus in Turkey is very unusual because they are concave lenses (curve inward) used to correct for myopia.
A large number of crystal lens exist in Crete, mostly found at Knossos from the neopalatial period, 1600-1450 BC pictured below.
Schliemann was a German archaeologist and businessman who gained fame for his excavations of ancient sites, particularly Troy and Mycenae. Born in Neubukow, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, he amassed wealth as a merchant before pursuing his passion for archaeology, driven by a lifelong fascination with Homerโs Iliad and Odyssey.
Schliemann believed these epic poems contained historical truths and set out to prove it.
Most ancient lenses are convex (curves outward) and were used to magnify. The Carthage Museum has fourteen glass lenses, two of which are rock crystal. They may have served as an ornament, even though some have worked well also optically.
The optical surfaces of these crystals possibly originated as a byproduct. Crete, Knossos, neopalatial period, 1600-1450 BC.
Robert Temple who wrote Forbidden Technology, (light technology in an ancient civilisation) in 2009 tells us;
Vikings may have been using a telescope hundreds of years before Dutch spectacle makers in the late 16th century. This remarkable possibility has emerged from a study of sophisticated lenses from a Viking site on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea.
Dr. Olaf Schmidt of Aalen University in Germany has this to say on these Viking finds on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea;
Pictured here is the Viking Lens spoken of by Olaf Schmidt.
The word lens is derived from the Latin name of the lentil which is a plant that has a lens-shaped seed.
A convex lens will merge the light rays passing through it at a specific point, while light beams passing through the concave lens will diverge.
A magnifying glass is a convex lens.
Itโs used to make an object appear much larger than it actually is.
This works when the object is placed at a distance less than the focal length from the lens.
THE PASSAGE TOMBS
PROJECTORS OF THE PAST
Neolithic Passage Tombs as they are now called, such as those investigated in Wales, Scotland, and throughout Europe, are fundamentally comparable to the design of a Camera Obscura, plausibly implying that ancient people were able to project images of the outside world into their chambers without the need of a lens.
These literal grave sites that have solar orientations might show a larger sun disk than normal or landscape visuals, with some even incorporating projections of humans moving about creating dramatic, wraith-like screenings on the deep anterior wall, potentially transforming these tombs into rich multi-sensory experiences, similar to a cinema. Many archeological researchers around the world have shown this is plausible.
ARCHAEO-OPTICS
Also termed Archaeological Optics, this is the study of the precise use of light by ancient peoples for a variety of reasons. And Paleolithic Archaeological Optics involves the investigation into image projections. They both contribute to a broader study, the scientific study of the senses.
There is ample evidence that archaic constructions oriented toward the sun’s location on the horizon resulted in Camera Obscura scenarios. Examples exist around the world and are too many to begin listing.
For instance, in 1998, archaeologist Ronnie Scott hypothesized that Camera Obscuras may have been employed in Scotland’s Neolithic passage tombs. Cuween Hill on Orkney being one of them.
The feasibility of Paleolithic caves for spontaneous Camera Obscura formation was investigated in a series of trials conducted in 2005 and 2006 under the leadership of Matt Gatton (Gatton, M., Carreon, L., Cawein, M., Brock, W. and Scott, V. (2010). โThe Camera Obscura and the Origin of Art: The Case for Image Projection in the Palaeolithicโ), which is documented in chapter one.
MEGALITHIC STRUCTURES
The apparent occurrence of prehistoric Camera Obscuras throughout human history has significant consequences for the growth of art, philosophy, and extant cave art all leading to their finalization in filmmaking. I have shown already how Megaliths, or large stones, can act as Pinhole cameras in both of their formations; freestanding and earth-covered.
Dolmens, portal dolmens, gallery graves, corridor tombs, and court tombs are all terms used to describe megalithic chambers built to support the weight of a mound of earth or stone.
You can see here we are beginning to describe a pinhole confinement, rather large, along the lines of the original Camera Obscura Room. A lengthy passageway made of boulders leads to a hidden chamber in passage tombs.
At several locations, the tunnels coincide with sunrise or sunset at key periods of the year, illuminating their otherwise darkened chambers.
THE PASSAGE TOMB PROJECTOR
โThe format of Passage Tombs is uniquely suited to the creation and control of optical projectionsโ (Gatton, M. (2010). โExcerpts from โ The Camera Obscura and the Megalithic Tomb: The role of projected solar images in the symbolic renewal of Life.โ Paleo-camera, March 2010).
Fieldwork conducted by research archeologists such as Morgan Saletta in France, Aaron Watson in Wales, Matt Gatton in Denmark, Eva Bosch in Spain, Ronnie Scott and Aaron Watson in Scotland, to name only six in a very long list, has demonstrated that Passage Tombs can certainly have noteworthy projection abilities.
A remarkable observance is that in some cases their basic arrangement alone is adequate to cast a projection (Saletta, M. (2011). The Archaeoastronomy of the Megalithic Monuments of Arles-Fontvieille: The Equinox, the Pleiades and Orion. In Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union 7).
LONG SLENDER MOVIE THEATRES
โThe roof-box at Newgrange has evidence for the repeated relocation of quartz blocks that could have been used to manipulate optical projectionsโ (OโKelly, M. (1982). Newgrange: Archaeology, art and legend. London: Thames and Hudson.).
According to postholes found near the entrances of numerous Passage Tombs in the British Isles, these doorways seem to have been sealed with a range of materials, including rocks and slabs.
โMaeshowe (Orkney, Scotland) has a recess near to the passage entrance that holds a carefully balanced portal stone that can be pivoted into place.โ [ Davidson, J.L. and Henshall, A.S. (1989). The Chambered Cairns of Orkney. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.]
โThis leaves a narrow gap between the top of this block and the passage lintels, thereby allowing light to enter even when the passageway is impassable to people.โ [Ruggles, C. (1999). Astronomy in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland. London: Yale University Press].
In contrast, the roof box in Newgrange, Ireland, is located above the tunnel, as is a similar feature within. These apertures could work independently of the passages. The back of the chamber functions as a projection surface, while the corridor is a light conduit.
THE SILVER SCREEN
The texture of the surface on which the image is projected also plays a role in the image that is seen. For example, archeologist Aaron Watson discovered that the slab that forms the rear wall of the chamber at Bryn Celli Ddu on the Welsh island of Anglesey is smooth enough to convey a detailed image [Watson, A. (2016). Archaeo-optics and image projection in the Neolithic. monumental.uk.com].
On the other hand, projections at Cuween Hill on Orkney fall on hard stone walls, necessitating an increase in the distance between the aperture and focal plane to make the imagery visible [Watson, A. and Scott, R. (2016). Materialising Light, Making Worlds: Optical Image Projection within the Megalithic Passage Tombs of Britain and Ireland. In The Oxford Handbook of Light in Archaeology (Papadopoulos, C. and Moyes, H. eds.) Oxford: Oxford University Press).
โWhen aligned upon the sun, a properly configured Passage Tomb is capable of casting an enlarged image of the solar disc. As long as the aperture remains static this projected solar disc will move along the wall as the sun moves across the sky. During sunrise, for example, the sun’s image will appear to travel across the chamber and then out along the walls of the passagewayโ states Gatton who has suggested that images carved upon the chamber walls of Cairn T at Loughcrew Oldcastle, County Meath, Ireland โmay reproduce these movements of the sun’s disk.โ
During the midsummer sunrises of 2014 and 2015, Aaron Watson recorded solar projections inside Bryn Celli Ddu. By locating the aperture close to the chamber, it was possible to cast a clear image of trees outside the mound into the chamber.
He also learned that if a Passage Tomb is aligned upon another monument, the Camera Obscura method can be used to project recognisable images of that structure into the chamber.
GRAVEYARD CINEMA
Aaron Watson has witnessed optical projections inside Cuween Hill, Orkney, that provided panoramic vistas of the Bay of Firth. Reflected sunlight can illumine anyone standing inside Passage Tomb forecourts, causing what Gatton defines as “spirit projections due to their ephemeral, spectral qualitiesโ (Gatton, M. (2010). โExcerpts from โ The Camera Obscura and the Megalithic Tomb: The role of projected solar images in the symbolic renewal of Life, Paleo-camera, March 2010).
Because Camera obscura projections are in fact real time, human figures appear upside down and back to front. It is commonly understood and agreed, that people in the Neolithic did not share present-day knowledge of optical physics, and would have had their own understandings, i.e. religious overtones spilling over into the macabre. Hello Phantasmagoria.
Field research by Simcox and Brown (2016) and Watson and Scott (2017) theorised that the distinctive architecture of Neolithic Passage Tombs served as a format for a Camera Obscura.
In their fieldwork in Wales and Scotland in particular, they found evidence that optical projections inside such tombs are straightforward.
They have concluded that the Pinhole Effect on the tomb walls would have been a quite extraordinarily visual and mystical experience.
EGYPTIAN ART
Although frontality tended to be emphasized through symmetry, leaving little opportunity for movement in the Old Kingdom, the Middle and New Kingdoms saw an emergence of boldness, drive, and inspiration in Egyptian art.
This Egyptian painting shows an example of Middle to New Kingdom vitality in its attempt to portray wrestlers in successive phases of movement during a practice session, or bout.
Each image illustrates the wrestlers grappling for position as if in individual cels comprising four distinct strips.
Modern animation has additional roots in this form of artwork as much as in the spiral friezes of ancient Rome, the Bayeaux Tapestry or any of the Oriental Scrolls of China and Japan. Just like the frames of today never actually move, so do these strips remain motionless, yet are full of movement in the final outcome.
Cut these sections into a Flip Book or Zoetrope, and we may just have something.
We have now reached 3000 BC in our look at the history of the Discovery of Cinematography.
c. 3000 BC
MOTION DEPICTION IN EGYPTIAN ART
Egyptians and Babylonians acknowledge light and shadow, and may have used them in primitive forms of entertainment. Egyptian art in both Middle and New Kingdoms showed attempts to portray wrestlers in successive phases of movement as if on celluloid.
Each pane in all of my examples illustrate the wrestlers grappling for position as if in individual animated cels having been sequenced into a storyboard.
OUTSIDE OF EGYPT
The Chaldeans may have used magnifying glasses in conjunction with studies in light. Lenses will be unearthed in the 19th century dating back to this period.
The Asian Shadow Play and Japanese Mirrors will make an appearance during this period, as will the Chinese to begin to use firelight and candlelight to illuminate their shadows and flying dragons.
Cinematography is the end result of pre cinema storytelling practised for thousands of years in a diversity of art forms that depicted and implied motion
NEOLITHIC 10,000-2000 BC
THE MOVING PETROGLYPHS OF LAKE ONEGA AND THE WHITE SEA
Among the 33 rock art panels and the 4,500 petroglyphs carved into the rocks of the Karelian region of Russia during the Neolithic period, is more proof of mankind wanting to see moving art long before its time.
More proof that man desired movement in his art during all ages of time. Even in the late stone age.
The region surrounding the second largest lake in Europe revealled itself to the world over a hundred years ago, and is said to have special light effects because of the granite canvas. This prehistoric cinema is found in the Republic of Karelia, Russia.
โWith knives only made of rough stone, the artists cut figures of men, animals, birds, fish, reptiles, lunar and solar symbols, all on hard graniteโ said lead archaeologist Konstantin Lauskin, investigating the site.
Figures appear as if in an antediluvian theatre.
Lauskin thinks they understood lighting effects;
โBefore the sun went down the designs were confused, so that they could hardly be distinguished from below. But when the sun neared the horizon the granite shone dark-red and the variously coloured lines of patterns were very clear.โ
According to the archeological team, an improper cut in the silica would have completely ruined these ancient masons work so they must have had tranquil hands, keen eye sight, and a clear idea of what they were trying to portray.
Granite is an unforgiving medium.
When you look at the rock images in the daylight for instance at high noon, they appear standstillish and quite insignificant but magically appear as if alive as the sun nears its horizon. Then the characters fade to black slowly as the sun sets.
When light moves across the faceted surface of a diamond, the light sparkles.
Here, the principle is the same.
Granite contains small prisms that function like facets in a diamond.
This lighting effect moves across the cuttings to produce a kind of glistening movement.
Iโm envisioning that as the sunlight dances upon these Lake Onega Petroglyphs, it would be like witnessing a film that has travelled through time from the late stone age.
Pre cinema appears to be alive in Karelia, and that primeval film is still playing.
1600 BC+
AN ELEUSINIAN PROJECTION
THE MYSTERY FEASTS OF ANCIENT GREECE
The Rites of Eleusis, or the Eleusinian Mysteries, were the secret rituals of the mystery school of Eleusis and were observed regularly from c. 1600 BC – 392 AD.
Graphite illustration Matt Gatton
Matt Gatton, a contemporary archaeologist and historian of our time whom I have previously cited, contends that the Camera Obscura could have been used as an antique projector to animate the faces of works of art during the Eleusian feasts known as the Mysteries, in ancient Greece. This, from his 2017 work โThe Eleusinian Projector: The hierophantโs optical method of conjuring the goddess.
Gatton has suggested that the priests and priestesses at Eleusis had run a crude sort of projection booth, or what he has dubbed his “Eleusinian Projector,” in which the priest’s sacred “fire room” served as a “box of light” or, as a Magic Lantern operator of the 19th century might put it, a lamphouse for illumination, and the theatre being a dark cavernous area where the mysteries took place, packed with initiates and patrons, was the cinema.
There are some intriguing details from two sources that helped Gatton reach his conclusions: ancient writings and archeological investigations. The writings comprise carefully phrased first-person experiences by initiates, descriptions recorded by later authors, and third-party observations made outside the temple premises.
The archaeological data consists of temple ruins, artifacts, statues, and ceramics.
Animation HOTDOC
ARCHAEO-OPTICS
The initiates of the Eleusinian Mysteries were those being initiated into the secret anonymities of the school of Eleusis and as Gatton points out, these initiates or patrons as I prefer, were not looking toward the priests and priestesses during the ceremony, but in the other direction, behind them, at what he calls โspectral imagesโ of what they believed to be their gods, โshining and moving aboutโฆโ
Perhaps it looked something like this. This is the statuette Gatton used in his experiment. I have animated it to show what he is proposing.
Gatton is proposing that the camera, projector and theatre are all being wrapped into one
Modern writers Bertrand David and Jean-Jacques Lefrรจre in their 2013 joint work The Oldest Enigma of Humanity: The Key to the Mystery of the Paleolithic Cave Paintings, have also proposed their own theoryโbacked by evidenceโthat tallow candles were used to project “figurative shadows” in the early Palaeolithic period.
Tallow being the animal fat rendered mostly from beef and sheep which when burned, burns cleanly leaving no stains, colouring or charcoal on a ceiling. The very thing thought to be what the Palaeolithic people used in painting the Altamira caves of their motion picture art.
โThis scant smattering of detailsโ Gatton tells us, โprovides enough clues to indicate a possible manner of the performance of the rites: darkness + light = vision. There has long been suspicion of some sort of light-illusion at such events.โ
He cites Hippolytus, the Christian theologian based in Rome during the third century AD, being emboldened to take the mystics to task, writing Refutation of All Heresies (Contra Omnes Haereses) in which he exposed the methods of the ancient mystics;
Further more, in the 1860s, the British artist, classicist and antiquarian Edward Falkener (1814โ1896) considered that some kind of an optical-based illusion was used at the temple of Diana at Ephesus. He determined that the animation of a “sculpture as light“ could have been accomplished by means of concave mirrors. This, because the ancient writer Pausanias had defined a noteworthy mirror, he had seen at an Arcadian temple in the second century AD.
Still, another contemporary scholar of ours is Alan Segal who suspects “dark shows, movie theatres and dark chambers” were all a part of the Eleusinian Telesterion. Seating approximately 3000 people, the Telesterion would make a heck of a cinema.
Graphite drawing by Matt Gatton
The Camera Obscura keeps bobbing itโs head up throughout almost every aspect of human history. It has made appearances in almost every line of science and then all of a sudden it makes a glorious appearance in itโs home of physics.
This Eleusinian projection mystery, is one of those glorious appearances.
It makes me wonder if all peoples over all times have been able to see animated pictures. Over my thirty-five years of seeking the truth behind pre cinema and stumbling through much of it, Iโm beginning to be persuaded that most, if not all, have had the opportunity to see living pictures, even if they didnโt know they could.
The simple principle of the Pinhole Image would allow anyone in any time period, to observe a projection.
A REAL LIGHT BOX
However, if the inside of a room is lit and the surrounding space is dark, the same hole will project an image from the smaller to the bigger space. Have you ever considered the fact that an image will always travel from light to dark? This is a common scientific truth of the optical phenomenon itself.
Could, what the priests and priestesses at Eleusis called the Anaktoron, or โfire roomโ serving as their “box of light,” have acted as a lamphouse, illuminating figures and projecting those same images out into the Telesterion, the darkened sanctuary acting as a theatre occupied with patrons?
Are we talking about an ancient people who planned and prepared cinema all in the name of religion, beginning c. 1600 BC in Greece?
The Toronto International Film Festival named it’s flagship theatre the Lightbox
TESTING THE THEORY
Our archeological author Matt Gatton like he does with all his theories, tested his hypothesis at the former Downtown Athletic Club in Louisville, Kentucky as he says โto test the optical plausibility of a simple but large-scale image projector, a series of experiments were performed at a repurposed racquetball court and its adjacent observation gallery. The racquet-ball court acted as a mock Telesterion (large temple room) and the observation gallery as the Anaktoron (priest’s holy room). The dimensions of the racquetball court and gallery were roughly three-quarter-scale of the Solonian version of the initiation hall at Eleusis. The window between the gallery and court was covered with opaque material. An aperture was poked through the opaque material that separated the gallery and the court. Lights were set up in the gallery to emulate the fire in the Anaktoron. A plaster figurine, 31cm (12.2 inches) tall, was mounted on a post.โ
Gatton goes on in pages 591 to 597 of The Eleusinian Projector: The hierophantโs optical method of conjuring the goddess to share what he found. These are excerpts from his experiment, observations, and conclusion, in three parts;
Archeologists, scholars and historians throughout the world who have written on what the Eleusinian Mysteries were, have unanimously agreed that they do not know. Firstly, the mysteries were to be kept secret, private and never to be shared against a sentence of death. This seems to have been adhered to down through the ages very well.
Pictured here is the figurine Gatton illuminated in the darkened racquetball court in Kentucky, and photographed by him. Also pictured is my poor animation of that same photograph/figurine, the way it may have appeared, moving closer and closer to the viewer in ancient Greece.
Animation HOTDOC Photo Matt Gatton
Not one scholarly visit or conversation I have had, has revealled what went on in the Eleusinian Telesterion. Just ideas, and suggestions mostly in religious tones. Perhaps the mystery itself may have been looking at us in the face all this time.
Pictured here is an illustration by Gatton of how it all may have looked and worked.
1450 BC
SEQUENTIAL ART IN PRE CINEMA
EGYPTIAN SEQUENTIAL PICTURES
That the sequencing of images is essential to cinematography goes without saying. Motion storytelling therefore requires a visual sequence if it is to exist. The ancient Egyptians appeared to understand this.
The Egyptian Book of the Dead starring lead actor Hunefer is a perfect example of sequential art in pre cinema. An ancient storyboard if you will.
pre cinema storytelling has been practised for thousands of years in a diversity of art forms — cinematography became the end result
The late American master cartoonist and champion graphic novelist Will Eisner thought we were on to something;
EGYPTIAN SEQUENTIAL PICTURES
This image directly below from the Book of the Dead depicts three separate shots, within one scene, edited together, all in sequence, to tell the story of Huneferโs heart being weighed in the balance.
The scene begins here. In the first shot we see Hunefer outfitted by the wardrobe department in white, being led by Anubis (wearing the jackalโs head) to the judgment hall where his heart will be judged. The storyboard continues . . .
The second shot in this scene shows the judging of his heart, it being weighed against a feather on the scale. This entire scene shows episodes in Hunefer’s judgement.
The storyboard continues . . .
In the third and final shot of the scene we see Hunefer, having passed the test, presented by Horus and the shrine of the green-skinned Osiris, Egyptian god of the underworld and the dead. Cut, print, thatโs a wrap.
that the sequencing of images is essential to cinematography goes without saying
Pre cinema storytelling has been practised for thousands of years in a diversity of art forms. Cinematography became the end result.
The British Museum in preserving the Book of the Dead tells us on the papyri;
Professor Huhtamo, from his work Illusions in Motion – Media Archaeology of The Moving Panorama and Related Spectacles, Erkki Huhtamo, MIT Press, 2013 available at Google Books.
Similar instances may be seen all across our past. Civilizations have utilised sequential storytelling in rock art, tapestries, and paintings just to name three. In this chapter and others I will be showing other forms of sequential art in pre cinema.
AUTOMATA
Weโve seen that the ancients had accomplished some degree of excellence in the structure of automata which counterfeited the movements of man and animals.
The tripods of Homer in Iliad (c. 800 BC) credit Vulcan as being the designer for the โbanqueting hall of the gods.โ
These tri-legged, wheeled, self-propelled mechanical formations are considered by most scholars to be the original references to pre cinema automata.
These self- moving tripods are also referred to by Aristotle.
And then there is Lucius Flavius Philostratus [c. 170-245 AD] the Athenian who told us in his life of Apollonius, that this theorist saw and venerated comparable apparatti by some of Indiaโs sages.
Another Automaton well preserved within history is of Johannes Mรผller von Kรถnigsberg (Regiomontanus). Mรผller is said to have built a mock eagle, that actually flew to Emperor Maximilian in Nuremberg on 7 June, 1470. A reconstruction of that eagle of how it might have looked, above.
GIANELLO TORRIANO
The list of those entertaining Automatons through either commission or having been gifted, include:
๐๏ธ Charles V who had Gianello Torriano of Cremona (left) build men & horses in moving battle
๐๏ธ Louis XIV as a child received a travelling coach with horse, a lady and footmen, by Camus (M).
In 1769, Wolfgang von Kempelen of Presburg Hungary, constructed an automaton chess-player seen here from David Brewster’s work Letters on Natural Magic found on p322.
Open the book and read it here.
Von Kempelenโs contraption, built c. 1769, played and beat Napoleon. It was later found to be a fake. The desk he sat at concealed an accomplice.
This illustration is from On the Malicious Player of Mr. Von Kempelen, by Johann Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf, (with seven copper plates), Leipzig and Dresden, 1789, showing the working parts behind the chess playing automaton of von Kempelen after making his own reconstructions.
Here is a colourised image of the Automaton Chess Player from Mary Hillier’s Automata and Mechanical Toys on p52.
Historyโs automata go on and on. Suffice to say that even today, automatons are entrenched into our visual entertainment which is not limited to:
๐๏ธ Robbie the Robot in Forbidden Planet (1956)
๐๏ธ Bumble Bee in Transformers (2007)
๐๏ธ Cleatus from Fox Sports
๐๏ธ Hugo (2011)
There are many more examples of Automata today and what with AI, there may be no end.
More on Automatons in the coming chapters.
While Homer is writing Iliad, it is documented that the Chinese are observing with a Camera Obscura, and recording what is likely the oldest known of, solar eclipse.
721-705 BC
Sir A. H. Layard discovered this lens pictured below on the right which is considered to be the first used plano-convex lens ever found. It was not polished, but had facets which limited its ability to magnify. Layard found this lens when he excavated Babylon in 1850.
Lenses are a vital entry in the history of Cinematography. Lenses contribute to storytelling, camera angles and movement on screen.
Ways in which lenses can directly influence a movie:
๐๏ธ Lens choice controls focal length in a film
๐๏ธ Lenses influence the amount of light and depth of field
๐๏ธ Lens affects colour, contrast, and overall tone
๐๏ธ Lens choice affects the flow
Lenses affect camera movement and will also affect how dynamic a moving camera or object will look. It is also interesting to notice how each type of lens favours a certain type of movement.
More on lenses as the chapters unfold.
560 BC
AMASIS THE GREEK DIRECTOR
According to Martin M. Winkler in his 2020 work Classical Antiquity and the Cinema, Winkler โsees antiquity with a cinema eyeโ while looking at โa black-figure amphora by the Amasis Painter (flourished c. 560-515 BC) of satyrs engaged in harvesting grapes and making wine, presents a sequence of activities through static moments.โ
One side he says, โread from right to left, becomes a motion picture in the termโs literal sense: four satyrs are busy at different stages of one action. A fifth is playing the auloi, representing the musical accompaniment on a soundtrack. A preview of coming attractions with satyrs drinking and making merry appears in the frieze above. A sequel on the other side shows Dionysus, the god of wine, sampling what the satyrs now have to offer. Here, too, one satyr provides a music track. Cinematically trained viewers will appreciate the full measure of the painterโs cleverness.โ
โWe can practically imagine the entire drama of the grape harvesters as we can the two Roman columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius of which I have spoken of before, who display in cinematic form, their lengthy campaign sequences from beginning to end, with epic battles abounding with close ups, long shots, and medium shots. Another cinematic exposรฉ I have elaborated on is the Panathenaic Procession on the Parthenon Frieze, and now, to be included are the frescoes in the Villa of Mysteries near Pompeii showing the different stages of a sacred commencement formality in sequential order.โ – Martin M. Winkler, Classical Antiquity and the Cinema, 2020
The Amasis Painter was one of ancient Greece’s greatest vase painters, but his name has not been preserved, and he is now only known by the name of the potter whose works he most frequently painted.
When the Amasis Painter began his creative career around 560 BC, Attic black-figure vase painting had already become well-established and was on its way to displacing Corinthian pottery in the Etruscan market. Possibly because his animated work was so easily accepted.
From my series on Greek vases and Kylix drinking bowls, the illustrations painted on these everyday utensils imitated sequenced motion.
The same is true with this Black-Figure Plate unearthed in the town of Tanagra (ฮฃฮตฮนฯฮฎฮฝ) near Athens 2,594 years ago. Animations Patrick Feaster.
In this black-and-white version of the animation, the bird appears to be clawing the ground with its hind leg, flexing its head, and thrusting its neck forward in order to peck at something. Incredible for 560 BC.
This is a black figure lekythos depicting a Siren and two human onlookers, brought to life by Panoply Vase Animation Project @SonyaNevin (at X). It was unearthed in Attic, Greece dated to c.550-525 BC, displayed in the Ure Museum, University of Reading, UK.
EARLY 5TH CENTURY B.C.
GREEK VASES – MOTION IN ART
Motion has been depicted in almost every kind of art-form. One perfect example is this ancient Greek vase of the Berlin Painter, who lived in Athens in the early fifth century BC. Storytelling in motion.
These Greek vases that depict runners in a race are reminiscent of the cave art we have seen. Motion is implied as this Terracotta Panathenaic prize amphora shown on the left above, depicts. This vase is attributed to the Euphiletos Painter and is dated to 530 BC.
It stand twenty-four and one half inches high. Both vases portray themselves as picture screens.
Above right is another vase attributed to the Euphiletos Painter standing twelve inches in height. Both are in the Terracotta Panathenaic style in black figure.
Tales and stories were popular subjects for decorating ancient pottery with a touch of pre cinema. Heroes, gods and monsters could be brought to life providing a distinct sense of motion by skilled painters.
Here – Achilles ambush of Troilos on this Etruscan amphora is a particularly vivid visual.
Image Britannica
333 BC
Here the long-distance runner and hero Pheidippides is immortalized on an amphora dated to 333 BC, with two other runners.
The Panoply Vase Animation Project by Steve K. Simons and Dr. Sonya Nevin has brought this fragment of an Attic, black figure cup seen on the left back to life the way the Greek artist desired it to have been seen. High Archaic, c. 550BC as doctor Nevin states, from the Ure Museum, University of Reading, UK.
490 BC-480 BC
THE KYLIX
CINEMA WHILE YOU DRINK
A Kylix is a shallow bowl whose origins are from Greek and Roman antiquity, having two handles, used as a drinking bowl. The Kylix was often painted in red pigments whose illustrations imitated sequenced motion.
The Kylix here dates to c. 470 BC and has red pigmentation painted on it which depicts a woman running.
In the centre is Heracles and Triton.
The Kylix directly below looks suspiciously like the Phenakistoscope of Plateau.
The Kylix had its motion imagery on the inside, underside, or both. Most Kylix (sometimes spelled Cylix) that I have shown have the movement of figures as its main theme. Bottom right we have another Kylix which looks like a Stroboscope of Stampfer.
Can you guess which one I am referring to?
From the animation of Steven K. Simons and the scholarly work of ancient historian Dr. Sonya Nevin, WATCH infantry soldiers, or hoplites as they were known, come to life on a pre cinema Kylix from the Panoply Vase Animation Project at the University of Reading.
SOPHOCLES (c. 495-406 B.C.)
This great, tragic playwright of classical Greece writes in poetic form the need to keep a “light sensitive substance in a dark room,” in his poem Trachinierinnen (History of Photography, J. M. Eder, Columbia University Press, New York, 1945, p4).
even mythical centaurs knew something about light, as well as the chemical and historical aspects of photography
This is the full excerpt below, from page four of Joseph Maria Ederโs History of Photography, and his reference to Sophocle’s poem Trachinierinnen.
447 BC
AND THE OSCAR GOES TO
THE PARTHENON FRIEZE
The Parthenon is a dazzling marble place of worship, constructed between 447 and 432 BC during the height of the ancient Greek Empire. Not built as a movie theatre per se, but the analysis of the 2.36-inch-deep frieze which adorns the upper perimetre on all four sides of the structure, would make you wonder, after following a careful and intricate study, using some of our modern-day computer tools.
For example, take a look at this prancing horse.
Embedded animation from Dr. Georges Sifianos 2021 lecture entitled โPhidias the Animator: Movement Analysis in the Parthenonโs Frieze.โ
The Parthenon Frieze is a 39-inch-high wrapping, a 525 foot long, and 2.36-inch-deep band of motion picture film in the form of relief sculptures, in Pentelic marble, created specifically to crown the entirety of the templeโs circumference. It travels on all four sides of the Parthenon, East, West, North, South.
Our filmmaker is Phidias or Pheidias (c.โ480-c.โ430 BC) and it cannot be doubted that his intention was to sculpt motion into this storytelling stone procession, and hope that we in the future would see the movement as he intended it to be seen.
BEFORE CONTINUING
The following information, images and animations I am showing are used with gracious permission from professor emeritus at ENSAD Paris (รcole nationale supรฉrieure des Arts Dรฉcoratifs), Dr. Georges Sifianos and his 2021 lecture entitled ‘Phidias the Animator: Movement Analysis in the Parthenonโs Friezeโ who would like us to know, “The original photos are of Socratis Mavrommatis. Some parts are restored digitally by the author, to facilitate perception of continuity of the relief. In some cases, we replaced parts with Fauvel’s casts. Drawings in the apovatein demonstration come from the Anonymous (1674) and by the author.”
The sculpted figures on the frieze are somewhat elevated from the backdrop since it was carved using the bas-relief method. A 3D relief impression is achieved this way, and is definitely beneficial to the viewer when a sense of animation is desired by the sculptor.
Historians believe the frieze portrays either the Panathenaic procession to the Acropolis or, Pandora’s sacrifice to Athena.
Award-winning Author, Lecturer and Professor Dr. Georges Sifianos believes โIt is widely acknowledged that Phidias was one of the greatest sculptors of Classical Greece. However, what has not been realized is that he was also an expert on movement analysis. Phidias was a very good animator over two thousand years before the animation cinema. This knowledge was used in the conception of the frieze of the Parthenon, as a basic structural feature.โ
Images and animation from Dr. Georges Sifianos 2021 lecture.
Dr. Sifianos continues โIf one looks at the figures of the Parthenonโs frieze carefully, they will realize that there is continuity and connections between the figures which look like the key positions of an animation film. We can examine a simple example found in the west frieze where two figures perform a similar action: both tie the laces of their sandals.โ
Another scene in the frieze sculpted by Phidias demonstrates his use of particular positions of animals in the procession. Taking a close look at cattle on their way to slaughter, we can see that the composition of the scene and the action analysis are quite analogous.
Some of the pieces of the bas-relief having been damaged over time, have not kept this animation from being an overwhelmingly convincing video as the cowโs traverse down the street.
Dr. Sifianos has allowed us to observe that the people who are keeping the cattle in line, are responding in an orderly way to this animals movement.
Similar to how beasts move, human figures likewise portray the key aspects of a man’s actionโthat is, the action of the individual who is in control of the restless animal.
Animations from Dr. Georges Sifianos 2021 lecture.
THE EASTERN gODS OF OLYMPUS
As Dr. Sifianos explains from his close look at the Parthenon Frieze, and his determination that Phidias carved motion into his work; โTime and space are related in a movement. If somebody jumps, an animator knows by experience precisely how long he can stay in the highest position. Thus, if we superpose the figures and allow for the time needed for the completion of the movement, we can realize that the difference between every position is about 1/5 to 1/4 of a second, as can be verified in the animation film. On the basis of the logical coherence of the action analysis, we can even suggest the necessary positions for the missing, destroyed figures.โ
Image from Dr. Georges Sifianos.
In a special look at the East section, he noticed that action actually unites to where the gods of Olympus are sitting. He has highlighted their arms prior to animation, in frames numbered as 36 to 42.
An important key to understanding Phidiasโs motionless Frieze as an animation is that the arms of these gods, are sculpturally prepared into a sequence, an actual sequence of motion passing uninterruptedly through key phases of a tangible achievement called animatronics.
Animation from Dr. Georges Sifianos 2021 lecture.
Dr. Sifianos tells us; โFrom Athenaโs relaxed position, movement falls in anticipation at Poseidon, and rises gradually to reach the outstretched arms of Aphrodite. Animating these key positions gives the action of pointing.โ
Animation from Dr. Georges Sifianos 2021 lecture entitled โPhidias the Animator: Movement Analysis in the Parthenonโs Frieze.โ
โOnce again, we can see that the movement is continuous, which is significant because the arms on the frieze indicate the procession’s approach. As a result, we see a dual representation in both the figures’ individual placements and their group behavior.โ -Dr. Sifianos
THE KNIGHTS OF THE NORTH
Dr. Sifianos; โPreceded by impressive rows of knights on the northern and southern walls, we see the representation of the โapovateinโ demonstration, during which a young soldier jumps from a running carriage, runs by its side, and then jumps back on it. This action is depicted in the North, but unfortunately with many parts missing. For some of them we have precious indications from rough drawings sketched a few years before their destruction.โ
Image from Dr. Georges Sifianos.
THE ORIGINAL CHRONOPHOTOGRAPHER
The established animation of the Parthenon Frieze of Phidias is as if he saw the work of the future Chronophotographers of the late 19th century, and could emulate their movement, minus the glass disk. Here are those North and South sections the way they were made to move, but couldnโt, in ancient Greece.
Illustrated drawings are created by Dr. Sifianos, where the lost pieces of the frieze exist.
Animation from Dr. Georges Sifianos 2021 lecture entitled โPhidias the Animator: Movement Analysis in the Parthenonโs Frieze.โ
THE REARING HORSE OF THE WEST
The Western portion of the Parthenon Frieze has its own intricate and comprehensive moving picture action carved into itโs bas relief, where there is a scene of the rearing horse and rider as if they are in a Western action film of the 1930โs. This is absolutely amazing.
To consider that Phidias actually had motion in his mind to achieve as he chipped away at the Pentelic marble, is close to unbelievable. But it is believable because of the work of Dr. Georges Sifianos, who superimposed ten of the juxtaposed horses to finally bring to life, what the artist desperately wantedโthe closest he could come to cinematography in 447 BC Greece.
5TH CENTURY BC BULGARIAN CHARIOTS OF FIRE
With just four images to work with again, this Thracian bowl of the first half of the fifth century BC appears to show a chariot moving at reckless speed with the horseโs legs reminding me of our eight-legged boar from Altamira.
The Thracians were artistic artificers making stunningly ornate gold and silver objects like; vessels, rhytons, masks, pectorals, and jewelry, but bowls seem to be the medium-of-choice when it comes to leaving sequenced images to posterity. Animation Patrick Feaster.
4TH CENTURY BC
ARCHYTAS OF TARENTUM
Automatons are another form of early motion entertainment and they pop up everywhere I look, throughout time.
Itโs documented that this philosopher made some sort of bird made of wood, which apparently moved in the air through the use of pressure.
This man was an ancient Greek philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and military strategist from Tarentum, a Greek city in southern Italy (modern-day Taranto). He was a key figure in the Pythagorean school, blending mathematical rigor with practical applications.
Itโs documented that this philosopher made some sort of bird made of wood, which apparently ‘moved’ in the air through the use of steam pressure.
Pictured here along with a bust of Archytas of Tarentum, is an illustration of what the automaton looked like.
It was said to have been a pigeon.
It was steam-powered and is sometimes referred to as the first robot.
Images Prezi
Sir David Brewster wrote about Archytas of Tarentum and his wooden pigeon in his work Letters on Natural Magic, published by John Murray, London in 1832, on p318.
Salvator Rosa (1615-1673), an Italian painter of the Baroque, painted Archytas of Tarentum in 1668. This painting is significant because it depicts Archytas holding his pigeon automaton.
SEE the painting here along with a little supporting history.
Albert Allis Hopkins also wrote about the mechanical bird with illustration and details of operation in Magic; Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions, Including Trick Photography published by Sampson Low Marston, London, 1897, on pp413 and 414 with no attribute.
Archytas is said to have rescued Plato from execution in Syracuse around 361 BC, leveraging his political influence. Their friendship shaped Platoโs mathematical and philosophical ideas.
The Popular Mechanics issue of April 1917 also provides marvellous details and imagery but does not say who the automated bird was made by. Page 633.
SOPHOCLES AND PHOTOGRAPHY
Sophocles wrote 132 plays and poems, and in one of them he speaks of the coming of photography without knowing it.
He references a substance that required darkness.
This was twenty-two centuries before men like Wedgwood and Schulze. Sophocles called this a “light sensitive substance.”
In Sophocles’ tragedy Women of Trachis (c. 450-425 BC), Hercules’ wife Deianeira weaves a robe out of his blood-soaked (in the poison of the Lernean) wool called the Shirt of Nessus, and instructs him to store it in a dark place. She tosses whatever wool was left aside, into the light.
It went black in a short time, fumed, and disintegrated.
4TH CENTURY BC
PEUCETIAN DANCING WOMEN FRESCO
The mausoleum of the Dancing Women, also known as The Tomb of the Dancers, is a Peucetian mausoleum located in Ruvo di Puglia, Italy. In November 1833, it was found in the necropolis of Corso Cotugno. Its construction date is unclear; estimates ranging from the middle of the fourth century BC to the end of the fifth century BC.
In any event, together with another tomb in Gravina di Puglia, the frescoes on this one are the oldest examples of figurative art in Apulia. This fresco suggests dancers moving in a line-dance or circle.The fresco panels are preserved in the Naples National Archaeological Museum.
The Etruscans, who had a significant cultural impact on the Peucetians, were the ones who taught them how to paint tombs, according to Chris Belsten. As well, the dancing figures seen on the tomb’s frescoes are the reason behind the tomb’s name.
This imagery of synchronized, ritualistic female dance could inspire cinematic choreography, particularly in films exploring ancient or mythological themes. For example, films like Emilia Pรฉrez (2024) use subtle, synchronized dance to convey narrative depth, with choreography planned to the millisecond to evoke emotion without overt musical tropes. While not directly referencing the Peucetian fresco, such films echo its use of dance as a communal, transformative act.
Figurative art, like abstract art, has existed since the beginning of time and may be seen in ancient cave paintings that feature human or animal images that frequently move in a sequence.
Art in Context tells us that Figurative painting was most popular throughout the Renaissance, Mannerism, and Baroque art periods, when there was a great emphasis on portraying images from nature, particularly sequential imagery.
Figurative art lends itself so well to suggesting and supporting the proposition of movement and motion in its base imagery.
Ancient frescoes, including those depicting dance, sometimes appear in cinema as cultural artifacts or settings. For instance, the 2017 dance production La Fresque, based on a Chinese folk tale, uses a fresco as a narrative device where a traveler enters a painted world.
While not Peucetian, this shows how frescoes can inspire cinematic storytelling, blending static art with dynamic performance. The Peucetian frescoโs ritual dance could similarly inspire a film where characters interact with or are transported into the frescoโs world.
420 BC
ON LIGHT
EMPEDOCLES (483-424 BC)
This self-styled god, poet and statesman said that light was matter, or “corpuscles,” and that it emanates from all bodies, reaching the eye.
He later flung himself into Mount Etna to convince people of his divinity.
Death of Empedocles by Salvator Rosa (1615โ1673), Empedocles jumping into Mount Etna.
Here is a piece of papyrus known as the Strasbourg Empedocles Papyrus which is housed in the Bibliothรจque Nationale et Universitaire, in Strasbourg, France.
Itโs the only known piece of Empedocles written work.
Image National Library, University of Strasbourg
While Empodocles is jumping into a volcano, philosopher Socrates is about to be sentenced to death by the city of Athens for corrupting the minds of the youth and for impiety.
MO TI (470-391) BC
This is a crucial understanding to the history of pre cinema.
I have also seen his name written as Mozu, Motze, Motse, Micius and Mot-Tzu. His personal name being personal name Mo Di, was a Chinese philosopher, logician, scientist, and founder of Mohism, a major philosophical school during the Warring States period (c. 475โ221 BC).
His observance and documentation of the Camera Obscura effect is the basis for pinhole cameras, with Mozi’s writings being the earliest known record.
It’s fascinating how ancient observations connect to modern tech. Mozi’s text, the Mozi, details the pinhole phenomenon in four pages, part of the Mohist school’s textbook. Since the information I found is consistent across all of my sources, Mozi’s relationship with the Pinhole Image is his early written record in the Mozi text.
These sources agree Mozi’s writings from the 5th century BC have the earliest Pinhole Image descriptions.
Mo Ti recorded the observation of an inverted image through a Pinhole and onto a wall, and talks of the “collecting place” which is what we call the aperture. He also explains why the image is inverted and uses the analogy of the oar in the rowlock.
Mohists knew and taught that objects reflect light and called it “shinning forth.”
When Mo Ti recorded his observation of an inverted image going through a Pinhole, he documented the hole as the “collecting place,โ where the light rays cross at the aperture.
Illustration from the book Mozi.
Mozi’s explanation of his text includes why images invert, due to light’s straight-line path through a pinhole. This insight is key to understanding his contribution. The history of pre cinema takes us all the way back to the period of Mo Ti and the Mohists.
Cave dwellers and the cave painters are not forgotten either. However, they never studied the Pinhole nor did they document it beyond the paintings they made of upside-down horses.
Mozi’s writings, like Mo-Jing I and II and Jing-Shuo I and II, discuss optics and light behavior. They show he was an early observer of the pinhole effect, slightly predating Western thinkers like Aristotle. His explanation of image inversion depended on an aperture and distance, saying, “The image being inverted depends on there being an aperture at the cross-over.”
In his book he explains why the image is inverted when seen on the inside of a pagoda, and uses the analogy of the oar in the rowlock, where the oar is the stream of light and the rowlock is the Pinhole. The illustration directly below best identifies the oar in the rowlock analogy.
Mohists, followers of the Chinese philosopher Mozi (ca. 470โ391 BC), made significant contributions to early scientific thought, including optics. In the 5th century BC, they described concepts related to the linearity of light rays in the Mozi text, particularly in sections like the Mojing (Mohist Canon).
They observed that light travels in straight lines, as evidenced by their discussions on shadows, pinhole imaging, and the behavior of light passing through small apertures.
For example, they noted that light from a source passing through a pinhole creates an inverted image, demonstrating an understanding of rectilinear propagation. This was remarkably advanced for the time, predating similar ideas in Western optics by centuries.
Their work also touched on other optical phenomena, like reflection and refraction, though less systematically.
The Mohists’ insights were part of their broader emphasis on empirical observation and logical reasoning, which stood out in ancient Chinese philosophy.
PLATO (428 – 347) BC
This Greek philosopher writes that rays of light are emitted from the eyes, and that objects receive these rays. He also philosophizes about shadows on cave walls, leaving us wondering if he was speculating about cinema.
The Allegory of the Cave (Book VII of The Republic) is often linked to cinema due to its imagery and philosophical implications.
In The Republic (360 BC), Plato provides for us his concept of the visible world in two separate states; one containing the physical and all that is created, the other being the imagined state as in reflections and shadows.
welcome to the Republic Theatre where we show film 24/7 and 365! Unfortunately it’s the same film, 24/7 and 365!
SHADOW CINEMA ON CAVE WALLS
This Greek philosopher writes that rays of light are emitted from the eyes, and that objects receive these rays. He also philosophises about shadows on cave walls. In The Republic (360 BC), Plato provides for us his concept of the visible world in two separate states; one containing the physical and all that is created, the other being the imagined state as in reflections, shadows, and may we say movement, motion, and story-telling?
In his Allegory of the Cave in Book 7, Plato alleges life is like being a prisoner chained and seeing only shadows dancing on a wall. Something like sitting in an early cinema and watching your first film flickering on a screen.
These figures being seen are caused by hidden performers, no different than those who perform Shadowplays or Shades. Plato’s notion of the perceptible world in two states comprises the corporeal and the abstract state as in replications, darkness, and storytelling through the movement of these shadow shows, no different than a cinema.
This excellent stop-motion claymation video called Plato’s Cave by Michael Ramsey best describes what Plato was describing. The Claymation artist is John Grigsby.
366 AD+
ANCIENT CHINESE MULTIPLEX CINEMA
Springer Publishing and Research calls the Dunhuang cave system in Mogao China โa vast complex of cinematic chambers.โ This man-made marvel of the Gobi Desert has been referred to as โthe brightest star on the ancient Silk Road.โ
The Springer work International Communication of Chinese Culture published in June 2021 calls Mogao Cave No 249 in particular, โancient Chinese animated proto-cinema.โ Built continuously over several dynasties, Dunhuang was rediscovered by Western man in 1892.
Mogao Cave 249 South Slope is especially spectacular for its ceiling canvas of flying swans; deer springing to get away from erupting volcanoes; pouncing tigers and enough action to fill a movie screen.
A particular painting style of repetition emerges in many figures on the ceiling.
One appears in several stages of movement.
A man flying a dragon across the heavens appears three times on the same panel, across the same skyline, and in sequence.
Several sequences on the ceiling in cave 249 portray flying animals and deer fleeing a hunter and what looks like a Genie, and a winged flying horse.
Erupting volcanoes are a major theme in the Mogao cave 249. The writer/researcher of the Springer article Ancient Chinese Cave Paintings as Cinema: The Volcanoes and Dragons of Mogao Cave 249, J. J. Abrams refers to exploding volcanoes, and billowing smoke more than once.
Like The Little Puppets of Valcamonica which I shared earlier in this chapter, I wonder if musical accompaniment in cave 249 may have been heard due to its likely acoustical attributes. Images of musicians are seen on the south wall.
Another consideration is whether firelight may have caused the pictures on the walls and ceiling to appear to move. If actual musicians played music in the cave to โseeโ the moving pictures, perhaps firelight from a torch moved across the length of the roof to add that final touch.
VIEW an Interactive VR Ceiling Map at Digital Dunhuang of Mogao cave 249 here https://www.e-dunhuang.com/cave/10.0001/0001.0001.0249 and control your own view.
ARISTOTLE (384 – 322) BC
This Greek philosopher taught that objects themselves emit light which the eye sees. Aristotle observes crescent-shaped images created during an eclipse, through small holes in the leaves of trees, through furniture such as wicker ware, and the tiny spaces between the fingers when they are crossed.
Aristotle notes that the smaller the hole, the clearer the image. He goes on to observe that regardless of the shape of the pinhole or aperture, the light passing through is always in a circular shape.
In his essay entitled On the Form of The Eclipse, Aristotle wrote;
“The image of the sun at the time of the eclipse, unless it is total, demonstrates that when its light passes through a narrow, round hole and is cast on a plane opposite to the hole it takes on the form of a moon-sickle. The image of the sun shows this peculiarity only when the hole is very small. When the hole is enlarged, the picture changes . . . .”
Aristotle was perturbed by this unexplainable optical phenomenon. He continued;
“Why is it that an eclipse of the sun, if one looks at it through a sieve or through leaves, such as a plane-tree or other broadleaved tree, or if one joins the fingers of one hand over the fingers of the other, the rays are crescent-shaped where they reach the earth?”
I suppose if something I couldn’t understand frustrated me as it seemed to frustrate him, I would probably continue to rant;
“Why is it that when the sun passes through quadri-laterals, as for instance in wickerwork, it does not produce a figure rectangular in shape but circular?”
Look closely at these examples of Pinhole Images seen on the ground during a solar eclipse. These crescent-shaped images are the very same thing Aristotle observed some 2,300 years ago.
This phenomenon will become known as one of Aristotle’s “problems” (A Treatise Called Problems, On Dreams) and will remain unreasoned until the 16th century. Aristotle also referred to Apparent Motion when mentioning “after-images.”
As did Holmes, Marey and Muybridge some twenty-two centuries later, Aristotle also contemplates the gait of both animals and humans in a short text he wrote entitled; ฮ ฮตฯแฝถ ฯฮฟฯฮตฮฏฮฑฯ ฮถแฟดฯฮฝ OR On the Gait of Animals (Part 1-19), Aristotle, c. 350 BC, Translated by A. S. L. Farquharson (2004).
This text ฮ ฮตฯแฝถ ฯฮฟฯฮตฮฏฮฑฯ ฮถแฟดฯฮฝ (On the Gait of Animals, Part 1-19), may have been the earliest manuscript on this. Aristotle described different walking gaits of bipeds and quadrupeds and analyzed why all animals have an even number of legs.
In his manuscript he said;
โIf a man were to walk parallel to a wall in sunshine, the line described (by the shadow of his head) would be not straight but zigzag…โ.
This discussion by Aristotle incorporates the theories of light and shadow, and how they interact. Aristotle said; “Nature does nothing uselessly. Nature does nothing in vain.”
In studying and referencing the movement of man and animals, Aristotle mixes in theories of light & shadow thereby placing into our minds the idea of motion reproduction, long before the scientists and inventors of the future.
When Marey, Muybridge and Anschutz et al arrived, they put this movement into photographs, onto disks and into reproduced motion. Story-telling in motion.
DEMOCRITUS (ca. 460-370) BC
Democritus was an ancient Greek philosopher, often called the “father of modern science.” He developed the concept of atomism, proposing that everything is made of indivisible, eternal particles called atoms moving in a void.
These ideas, largely speculative, laid groundwork for later scientific thought.
Born in Abdera, Thrace, he travelled widely, studying with thinkers like Leucippus. His optimistic outlook earned him the nickname “the laughing philosopher.” Most of his writings are lost, but his ideas survive through later philosophers like Epicurus and Lucretius. Democritus said white objects are made of flat smooth atoms which cast no shadows. He also said dark objects are made of rough uneven atoms which cast shadows.
Democritus accepted and agreed with the teachings of Aristotle. Aristotle’s theory, that objects emit light, was the closest to the truth (that objects reflect the light that strikes them).
None of Democritus writings have survived complete-only fragments.
All animation by Patrick Feaster
4TH CENTURY BC EAR RING ANIMATION
This gold earring hung on the ear of a well-to-do Etruria woman over 2,400 years ago. Did she know she had a Phenakistiscope with two moving mythological creatures as her jewellery?
Perhaps.
Animation Patrick Feaster
The outer ring has the winged Pegasus running on the spot as if working out in a gym.
Feaster is quoted as saying this is a โreel with representations of Pegasus and Chimairaโฆ.โ His use of the word reel is telling.
As in film reel?
This beautiful gold motion artifact of ancient pre cinema history sits in the Louvre in the Giampietro Campana di Cavelli Collection. It is gold with filigree, granulation and stamping decoration. Itโs origin of manufacture is uncertain.
4TH CENTURY AD
VATICANUS GR. 1291
This 4th century manuscript forms part of the Old and New Testament in Greek. Folio 9r has a circular image with Helios in his chariot. There are three rings surrounding Helios each with twelve images.
Guess what happens when we turn the centre ring?
Patrick Feaster animation
The inner-most ring is what interests me because when once again, we animate these female figures, they come to life.
The relevance behind why six figures are Negro and six Caucasian is not fully understood.
These figures appear to be turning and waving their arms.
They give the impression almost exactly as a Phenakistiscope disk or Zoetrope animated strip would look.
Departing from any academic understanding of the meaning of this disk, I am left wondering if The Bible was supposed to have included animations.
CHINESE OPTICAL KNOWLEDGE
ZHENG FU-GUANG ZHU (1780โ1853)
In his Jing jing ling chi (Optical and Other Comments) by Zheng Fu-Guang Zhu (1780โ1853), the property of Pinhole image inversion was demonstrated using the canonical image of a pagoda, below.
Zheng Fuguangโs Jing jing ling chi (้ก้ก่ฉ็ก), written during the Qing dynasty (1644 to 1912), is a significant work on optics, notable for being one of the earliest Chinese texts to systematically explore this field.
The book, whose title can be translated as “Reflections on Mirrors” or “The Subtle Insights of Mirrors,” focuses on the principles of geometric optics, including the behavior of light, reflection, refraction, and the properties of lenses and mirrors.
It draws heavily on traditional Chinese knowledge and Zhengโs own experiments, while also incorporating some Western optical concepts introduced through the Jesuit missionaries which I have spoken on.
Regarding the pinhole image, Jing jing ling chi discusses the phenomenon of pinhole imaging, which Zheng refers to as “small hole imaging” (ๅฐๅญๆๅ).
This concept, where light passing through a small aperture forms an inverted image, was known in China as early as the 5th century BC, notably described by Mozi in the Mozi text.
Zhengโs work builds on this historical understanding, exploring how pinhole imaging works in the context of his broader study of light and optical devices. However, the book is not exclusively about pinhole imaging; it covers a wide range of optical phenomena, including the use of concave and convex mirrors, lenses, and other instruments for observing and manipulating light.
The text is structured in a way that combines theoretical explanations with practical applications, reflecting Zhengโs aim to make optics accessible and useful.
It includes illustrations and descriptions of optical experiments, making it a blend of scientific inquiry and technical manual. While it does not reach the mathematical rigor of contemporary Western optics, it represents a significant effort to synthesize Chinese and Western scientific traditions.
For specific details on the pinhole image, Zhengโs discussion likely elaborates on how light rays passing through a small aperture create an inverted image on a surface.
A principle he would have connected to both practical applications (like early Camera Obscura-like devices) and theoretical insights about lightโs behavior.
The National Library of Australiaโs catalogue notes that the book, in its various editions (e.g., 89 pages in the 1936 edition), contains illustrations, which likely include diagrams of such optical phenomena.
EUCLID (EUCLEIDES) (fl.c. 325 – 265) BC
This philosopher and outstanding mathematician of his day also agreed with what Aristotle taught.
Euclid further studied in optics and taught that each eye perceives a different image and that these two images are “fused” to form the “whole.”
Stereoscopy anyone?
Euclid talks of the linearity of light and writes his The Optics of which two extant copies exist (Euclid’s own treatise and a revision by Theon). Subjects included optics of mirrors, which is Catoptrics, including both flat and spherical mirrors.
One of the oldest surviving fragments of the second book of Euclid’s Elements, found at Oxyrhynchus (100 miles south of Cairo) c.100 in 1897 is pictured below on the left. On the right is one page from Euclid’s The Optics of which there are two extant copies in the world.
READ the Arabic version of Euclidโs Optics translated by Elaheh Kheirandish into English at Google Books.
Referring to Euclid and binocular vision, taken from The History of Photography – From the Camera Obscura to The Beginning of The Modern Era, Helmut and Alison Gernsheim, Thames and Hudson, London, 1969, p253 is this excerpt directly below.
BURNING GLASS WARFARE
ARCHIMEDES (c. 287-212) BC
Archimedes was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, and inventor from Syracuse, a Greek colony in Sicily. Renowned for his contributions to mathematics, geometry, and mechanics, he is considered one of the greatest minds of antiquity.
His work laid the foundation for many scientific principles, including the law of the lever, the concept of buoyancy called Archimedes’ Principle, and the development of complex machines like the Archimedes screw. Beyond his theoretical contributions, Archimedes was also a practical engineer, designing innovative devices for both civilian and military purposes.
In particular, he considered using burning glasses (mirrors) in warfare to defend the Sicilian colony of Syracuse. His theory was to burn the ships of the enemy by magnifying the sun’s rays using a concave mirror.
DEATH RAY
In the 17th century, Athanasius Kircher will travel to Syracuse to study the possibility that Archimedes actually carried out the strategy.
He provided for us a marvellous illustration here depicting the event in his Ars Magna of 1646. During the Second Punic War (218โ201 BC), Syracuse faced a siege by the Roman forces led by General Marcellus around 214โ212 BC. Open the Book and see it here at Internet Archive.
Archimedes played a pivotal role in defending his city by designing and deploying ingenious war machines. Among the most famous and debated, of his contributions is the alleged use of mirrors to set Roman ships ablaze, often referred to as the Archimedes Death Ray.
Archimedes Burning Glass Warfare painting by Giulio Parigi (1571-1635) in 1599 from the Stanzino delle Matematiche in the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy. The story claims that Archimedes used large, polished mirrors or an array of smaller mirrors to focus sunlight onto Roman ships, igniting them from a distance.
This concept leverages the principle of concentrated solar energy, where reflective surfaces focus light into a powerful beam capable of generating intense heat.
The idea is attributed to Archimedesโ deep understanding of geometry and optics, as he was familiar with the properties of parabolic curves, which can concentrate light to a focal point.
“When Marcellus withdrew them [his ships] a bow-shot, the old man [Archimedes] constructed a kind of hexagonal mirror, and at an interval proportionate to the size of the mirror he set similar small mirrors with four edges, moved by links and by a form of hinge, and made it the centre of the sun’s beams–its noon-tide beam, whether in summer or in mid-winter.
Afterwards, when the beams were reflected in the mirror, a fearful kindling of fire was raised in the ships, and at the distance of a bow-shot he turned them into ashes. In this way did the old man prevail over Marcellus with his weapons.”
– Greek Mathematical Works, Trans. Ivor Thomas, Cambridge, 1941, Volume II, Page 19, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press
Historical accounts of this event come primarily from later sources, not contemporary ones, which has led to skepticism about its authenticity. Key references include:
๐ช Lucian of Samosata (2nd century AD): Mentioned Archimedes using a “burning mirror” to set ships on fire.
๐ช Galen (2nd century AD) referenced a “burning glass” used by Archimedes.
๐ช Anthemius of Tralles (6th century AD) provided a more detailed description, suggesting Archimedes used an array of mirrors to focus sunlight.
Rene Descartes is another doubting Thomas. He discredits Archmedes as having carried out his use of burning mirrors in Fulgence Marionโs book โThe Wonders of Optics,โ p118 below.
However, some sources like Polybius, Livy, and Plutarch, who documented the siege of Syracuse, do not mention mirrors, instead focusing on other inventions like catapults, cranes (Archimedesโ claw), and other mechanical devices. This absence in primary accounts fuels debate about whether the mirror story is historical or a later embellishment.
Here is the 1855 painting by Cherubino Cornienti showing Archimedes using a plano (flat) mirror which it wasnโt. Only a mirror which curves inward (concave) would concentrate the heat of light to burn the Roman ships of Consul Marcellus.
Modern experiments have tested the plausibility of Archimedesโ burning mirrors:
๐ช 1973 Experiment (Greek Navy): Using 70 bronze-coated mirrors, researchers ignited a wooden boat at 50 metres, suggesting it could be feasible under ideal conditions (clear skies, stationary target, and polished mirrors).
๐ช MIT Experiment (2004): A team using 127 square mirrors (1 ftยฒ each) successfully ignited a wooden target at 100 feet under optimal conditions, though they noted logistical challenges in a real battle scenario.
๐ช 2005 Myth Busters Episode: Even the TV show initially debunked the idea, finding it difficult to ignite a target due to practical challenges like ship movement and cloud cover. A later test with more mirrors achieved some charring but not full ignition.
Here is an image of Archimedes’ attempt to burn the Roman ships, but referencing only Kircher. This image is found in Natural Magic Book, by Simon Witgeest, published in 1798 on p159. More on Witgeest later.
These experiments show that while theoretically possible, the mirror weapon would require precise conditions, significant manpower to aim mirrors, and a stationary targetโconditions unlikely in the chaos of a naval siege.
In the meantime, WATCH the MIT / MythBusters experiment.
206 BC
MOTION PICTURES BEFORE FILM
SPRING DAWN IN THE HAN PALACE (ๆผขๅฎฎๆฅๆ)
Cinema did not debut until the late 19th century but it was approximated 1,689 years earlier. While the Chinese scroll Spring Dawn in the Han Palace by Qiu Ying is a classical painting and not a film, it does have a significant relationship with modern media, including animation and new media art, which can be considered a connection to the broader realm of visual storytelling that includes cinema.
The National Palace Museum in Taiwan, where the original scroll is housed, has created high-resolution painting animations of Spring Dawn in the Han Palace and other long scroll paintings. This animation, which you will see in a moment, uses modern technology to digitally unfurl the scrolls, bringing the scenes and figures to life in a way that mimics a cinematic experience.
This allows viewers to experience the narrative flow and intricate details of the scroll in a dynamic, moving format, much like watching a film.
SEE this magnificent cinematic Chinese handscroll in its entirety (9814 ร 500 px) HERE. Once the page opens you can click on the scroll and pan left or right using the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the page. Courtesy of the China Online Museum.
Qiu Ying (ไป่ฑ) (1494โ1552) was a painter of the Ming Dynasty who was favoured by wealthy patrons. Known for depicting archetypal sophisticated landscapes, he mastered what was called the gongbi brush technique.
Qiu Ying painted Spring Dawn in the Han Palace portraying aristocratic life from the Han Dynasty (206 BCโ220 AD). As a period piece, this painting was completed in 1552.
The scroll itself is a prime example of visual storytelling. It depicts various activities in a Han Dynasty palace on a spring morning, including the famous story of Mao Yanshou painting the portrait of Wang Zhaojun.
This narrative quality, with its progression of scenes and characters, shares common ground with the principles of cinematic storytelling. Masterpieces like Spring Dawn in the Han Palace have long influenced visual arts across different mediums.
While direct cinematic adaptations might be rare, the aesthetics, historical context, and narrative themes present in such scrolls can inspire filmmakers, production designers, and animators working on historical dramas or animated features set in ancient China.
consummate story-telling implying motion as the scroll unfolds like a widescreen film
This work has an intricate composition as it pans. The artwork uses a perspective that is higher (camera angle) than the buildings, allowing the viewer to see higher up over the parapets.
As well, the garden scenes offer Panoramic wide screen views.
There are 115 characters; painters, children, maids, eunuchs, and court ladies, in a scenario like a film.
Spring Dawn in the Han Palace is an ink and colour on silk handscroll measuring 30.6 x 574.1 cm and is housed at the National Palace Museum, Taipei.
SEE this 471-year-old (2023-1552) scroll as it slides before your eyes running 5:05. Like watching a movie, it scrolls, pans, fades in and out, and zooms. Fully animated with Classical Chinese Folk Music as a score. Produced by the National Palace Museum in Taiwan. Very well done.
Remember, this scroll was completed in 1552 but depicts life in 206 BC.
206 BC-9 AD
PROJECTING CHINESE MAGIC MIRRORS
Highly polished bronze projecting mirrors originating from China go back to the time just before Christ which in China is the Han dynasty. In simplified Chinese, ้ๅ
้ is translated as โTranslucent mirror.โ
Made out of bronze, one side was highly polished and when sunlight is cast on it, the opposite side which contained an engraved image, or lettering or symbols, was cast onto a screen or wall. SEE this video because seeing is believing. Runs :47 from Grand Illusions.
Many early versions of projecting mirrors have also been unearthed in Japan and therefore have also been known as Japanese Magic Mirrors in English.
In the Japanese tongue they are Makyoh.
SEE another video produced by Grand Illusions, that show these truly magic mirrors in action. Listen carefully because the host is going to try his best to describe how Chinese Magic Mirrors work. Runs 1:21
Here is how Shen Kua described the Magic Mirrors in his Dream Creek Essays. Kua was royal scientist at the Imperial Court of Chinese Emperor Shengzon, of the Song Dynasty;
The best Magic Mirror explanation I can share is this. It’s deduced from Recent Advances in Understanding the Mystery of Ancient Chinese Magic Mirrors, A Brief Summary of Analytical and Experimental Studies, by Julia K. Murray and Suzanne E. Cahil, 1987, pp1-8.
In the summer of 2022 at the Cincinnati Art Museum, a rare Magic Mirror was found hiding in plain sight. First accessioned by the museum in 1961, (possibly earlier) the hard to understand but marvellous bronze mirror had obviously gone unnoticed for decades. Nonetheless it’s pictured directly below.
Weโve seen museums or large physical archives lose their property before. Stay tuned for more on that.
This finely polished Magic Mirror at the CAM appears transparent once light is shined through it from the polished side. So, with this photograph of Hou-mei Sung and her newly found bronze Magic Mirror, we see three things:
1. the projected image on the wall is on the left of the picture
2. in the centre is the light source illuminating the polished side of the mirror
3. on the right is the mirror and we can see the image side
So how does the image side of the mirror end up on the wall, projected even though it’s hidden from the light source? Fascinating.
LINKING EAST AND WEST IN AN OPTICAL REALM
The difference between East and West when it comes to optical discovery is a charming study.
It is quite clear how differently the fields of optics and optical media have developed in China and Europe.
READ pages 1-8 of Julia and Suzanneโs Recent Advances in Understanding the Mystery of Ancient Chinese Magic Mirrors, A Brief Summary of Analytical and Experimental Studies HERE at JSTOR.
For a different pre cinema perspective and perhaps a deeper understanding of Magic Mirrors, we encourage you to visit The Optilogue.
The article is entitled Accounts of Curious Mirrors: Professor Pepper Unleashes the Apparition and was posted 20 March, 2022.
A HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE JESUS
This 102mm sized silver phalera discovered at Manerbio sul Mella is dated to the 1st century BC. Itโs in the Dario Bertuzzi Collection, residing in the Museo di Santa Giulia. See what happens when spun by a computer program.
akg-images
Patrick Feaster animation
An unbelievable effect takes place.
A stroboscopic 3D effect which had to have been understood by the artist otherwise why create it like this.
Could it have been understood that if turned, it would appear this way? First century BC.
Two thousand years ago.
500 AD
ANTHEMIUS OF TRALLES แผฮฝฮธฮญฮผฮนฮฟฯ แฝ ฮคฯฮฑฮปฮปฮนฮฑฮฝฯฯ (474-534)
Anthemius of Tralles was a Greek architect, mathematician, and engineer from the Byzantine Empire, best known for co-designing the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) with Isidore of Miletus.
Commissioned by Emperor Justinian I, the Hagia Sophia, completed in 537 CE, is renowned for its massive dome and innovative architectural design, blending Roman engineering with Byzantine aesthetics. Anthemius conducted early experiments in light and investigated the effects of the Camera Obscura.
Anthemius was also a skilled mathematician, contributing to works on conic sections and geometry, and was known for his expertise in mechanics, reportedly creating optical illusions and mechanical devices. His interdisciplinary knowledge made him a key figure in early Byzantine architecture and science.
Having examined optics, he illustrated a primitive light-ray diagram he constructed.
His fascination with optical phenomena was not merely theoretical but also practical, as he applied his knowledge to create devices and effects that demonstrated his mastery of light and perception. Anthemius wrote his treatise On Burning Glasses meaning to aid the construction of a surface designed to reflect light to a single point.
Anthemius of Tralles primitive diagram (reproduction) of light-rays reflected with a plane mirror through the hole (B).
Anthemius was well-versed in the mathematical and optical theories of his time, drawing from earlier Greek scholars like Euclid and Archimedes.
His work on conic sectionsโparticularly parabolas and their focusing propertiesโprovided a foundation for understanding how light could be manipulated to create visual effects. This knowledge was crucial for his experiments with optical illusions.
Ancient sources, such as the writings of Agathias, a Byzantine historian, describe Anthemius as a skilled engineer who created mechanical contraptions that produced surprising or deceptive visual effects. One famous anecdote involves Anthemius using his knowledge of optics to play a prank on his neighbor, Zeno.
By directing sunlight with mirrors or polished surfaces into Zenoโs house, he created the illusion of lightning or tremors, startling his neighbor. This demonstrates his ability to use reflective surfaces and light to manipulate perception.
George Leonard Huxley in his translated work Anthemius of Tralles, A Study in Later Greek Geometry Eaton Press, Watertown Mass., 1959 on p6 provides the Anthemius of Tralles diagram of light-rays reflected with a plane mirror.
Anthemius is credited with experiments involving parabolic mirrors, which could focus sunlight to create intense heat or dazzling light effects.
These mirrors, based on his studies of conic sections, could concentrate light at a focal point, potentially for practical uses like igniting fires or for creating dramatic visual displays.
Such devices were precursors to later optical technologies and showcased his ability to blend mathematics with practical applications. While Anthemiusโs most famous work is the Hagia Sophia, his interest in optical illusions likely influenced his architectural designs.
The Hagia Sophiaโs dome, with its seemingly weightless appearance and the interplay of light through its windows, creates a sense of ethereal grandeur.
The careful placement of windows and the use of reflective surfaces like marble and mosaics enhance the play of light, giving the interior an almost otherworldly quality. This suggests that Anthemius applied his understanding of light and perception to create awe-inspiring visual effects in architecture.
Anthemius authored a treatise called On Burning Mirrors (or Peri Paradoxon Mechanematon, meaning On Wonderful Devices, which explored the properties of mirrors and their ability to focus light.
This work, though partially preserved, indicates his interest in optical phenomena and their potential to create illusions or practical effects.
His studies influenced later Byzantine and Islamic scholars, who further developed optical technologies.
Anthemiusโs interest in optical illusions was a natural extension of his interdisciplinary expertise, blending mathematics, physics, and engineering. His ability to create devices that manipulated light and perception highlights his innovative spirit, making him not only a master architect but also a pioneer in the science of optics in the ancient world.
THE MOVING STATUES OF GREECE AND EGYPT
Ancient history is awash with descriptions and documentation of artificial humans (automatons). The Greek King Minos of Crete had a giant bronze man named Talos depicted in Columbia Pictures Jason and the Argonauts (1963).
Image Columbia Pictures
A Silver coin depicting winged Talos holding a stone from Phaistos, Crete (c. 280-270 BC).
There are references to android serving girls in Homerโs Iliad which I spoke about earlier in this chapter which were similar to the automaton Maid of Philo of Byzantium during the same Hellenistic period, which I will show you soon.
extant papyrus documents reveal Egyptians had enough knowledge of elementary principles of mechanics to build non-digital automata
Here are two automaton figures pouring before the altar of Osiris.
A sacred flame would be lit, heating and expanding air and activating the system.
The usual method had a system of ropes and pulleys. The Greek Ctesibius of Alexandria built an automaton operated by cams (disc-shaped devices) enabling it to sit or stand as it was moved in a procession.
Here we have a simple Egyptian automaton toy doing some washing.
Image Columbia Pictures
LATE 3RD CENTURY BC
THE AUTOMATON SERVANT OF PHILON
Philo of Byzantium (c.280-220 BC), also known as Philo Mechanicus, was a Greek engineer who studied and worked in mechanics during the Hellenistic period. He lived in the late 3rd century BC. An inventor, he created a real-life-like human automaton.
Images below are taken from the Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology in Athens, Greece of the Automaton Servant of Philon.
Visit the museum online HERE. These five images below shown from left to right, the working mechanics of how the maid pours you a drink.
SEE a re-enactment of the Automaton Servant of Philon from the Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology in Athens, Greece.
This automaton used pneumatics, tubes, air pipes, springs, air pressure, weights and a vacuum. It has been suggested that this particular automaton is the oldest known working automaton (or robot) in the world.
All images Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology
The maid of Philo Mechanicus is housed at the Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology in Athens, Greece.
Motion in story telling is an important part of the history of Cinematography.
The SHADOW PLAYS of
SHAO ONG (c. 121) BC
Documented in the Shih Chi and Chhien Han Shu of the Han period (chapter 28, on p24) or the Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian), by Sima Qian, is the Shadow Play by the magician (fangshi) called Shao Weng (Westernised as Shao Ong) who made the spirit of a beloved dead concubine Lady Li (ๆๅคซไบบ) appear to the emperor Wu Ti (r. 141โ87 BC).
One thousand nine hundred fifty-three years before the Dissolving Views of Childe. One thousand eight hundred ninety-five years before the Phantasmagoria of Schrรถpfer.
SHADOWPLAYS AND SHADES
He arranged a lamp or torch, a thin screen or curtain, a figure or silhouette, while the emperor was instructed to watch from a distance. A moving shadow resembling Lady Li appeared behind the screen. This sort of Shadowful illusion was repeated many times throughout Chinese culture and all of Asia.
These pre cinema Shadow Puppets were made of paper-thin cutouts of colourised animal skins and were called Shadow Plays, and later known as Shades.
Shadowplays, or Shades came in many shapes and sizes. Although shadows were cast upon walls or behind thin screens, some puppets were actually meant for direct viewing, as this one below indicates.
Usually made from dried leather or primitive paper and then painted, Shades were found in many cultures including China, Turkey, and Greece. This Shadow Play of Shao Ong demonstrates early awareness of controlled shadow illusion.
It uses a pointed light source, an intervening screen and a figurative Silhouette. It also shows how optical effects were embedded in ritual power, not necessarily entertainment.
The Shadowplay, is a form of moving theatrical entertainment performed with puppets and puppeteers likely originating in China and on the Indonesian islands of Java and Bali.
The puppets are manipulated by the puppeteers between a bright light and a translucent screen, on the other side of which sits the audience.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Shadowplays called Ombres Chinoises or Chinese Shadows achieved an incredible degree of popularity for a period of time in France by one name in particular, Seraphin. More on him in another chapter.
The Wayang, also spelled Wajang are from the Javanese meaning shadow. These are classical Javanese puppet shows developed before the 10th century, the form having origins in the Thalu Bomalata, puppets of southern India and the Telegu language and culture of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
It’s from here that researchers and historians tell us that it spread to Java.
THE WAYANG PUPPET THEATRE
This ancient form of visual, moving, storytelling started on the Indonesian island of Java and is an amazing entry in the history of pre cinema. Leather Shadow Puppets called Wayang Kulit are projected onto a screen. The prototype of the Wayang figures were the shadow puppets that were hand-made of perforated, elaborately painted leather.
The plays utilising Wayang puppets are set in mythological times and dramatise episodes from the Hindu epics Rฤmฤyaแนa and Mahฤbhฤrata. Some are of Javanese origin, being further elaborations of the Mahฤbhฤrata legends of the five heroic brothers called Pฤแนแธava.
These highly ritualized midnight-to-dawn performances may be viewed from either side of the screen, and the audience sitting behind the puppeteer are called a Dalang, but most preferred to see this pre cinema programme from the front in the traditional way (cast onto a screen as films are projected onto a screen).
THE HERITAGE OF INDONESIAN WAYANG
These handcrafted Shadow Puppets vary in size, shape and style. And there are 3D wooden puppets.
When the characters are introduced, the figures representing the forces of good are on the right, the evil ones on the left. Similar to how we in the west will depict the white hatted cowboy vs the black coloured hat.
The stylized shapes and movements of the early Wayang Kulit puppets were imitated by other forms of Wayang, notably the Wayang Golek, or 3D figures made of wood, and also operated by thin rods.
The Wayang Shadowplay is the first true cinema of the East
Here, found in Kenneth MacGowan’s From Behind the Screen, additional information on Turkish Shadow Puppets, (Dell Publishing, New York, 1965).
Also taken from Kenneth MacGowan’s From Behind the Screen, Dell Publishing, New York, 1965.
Anyone who watches Netflix may have seen the series Ashes of Love, (2018) a Chinese-based ancient-fantasy television series.
In the 31st episode at the 6:30 mark you will see a comical Shadow Play performed by lead actor Allen Deng Lun to lead actress Yang Zi.
The Images below are screenshots from Ashes of Love. The final image shows translated dialogue.
Images Ashes of Love screenshots
This production has impressive set design, and the Shadow Play scene is convincing and striking in its authenticity. One can easily see this as being the way this culture would have enjoyed an evening of pre cinema at home, or an event in a public setting.
Depending on the source you read, Shao Weng was later executed or at least disgraced, once his deceptions became politically dangerous.
Even in the modern age, we occasionally see filmmakers paying homage to their pre cinema past, when we find episodes like Shattering Doom from the 1936 serial Flash Gordon presenting Hand Shadow Puppets on a wall.
Actor Jack Tiny Lipson playing the character of King Vultan makes what appears to be an animal of some kind to the heroine Dale Arden played by actress Jean Rogers.
Having seen these episodes a few times, I am left wondering why this was written into one of the episodes. The screen play for Shattering Doom was written by; Alex Raymond whose comic strip Flash Gordon was based on; Frederick Stephani; Ella O’Neil; George Plympton; and Basil Dickey.
I know nothing about these folks not having researched them so I’m left thinking perhaps one, some, or all of them were fans of or endeared to, their profession’s past.
ON PHOTOGRAPHY
MARCUS VITRUVIUS POLLIO (c. 80-70 BC)
Vitruvius reports in his work on the metal minium (also called red lead) De Architectura (vii.9), that “it spoils immediately when exposed to their rays and the colour loses itโs vividness and brilliancy, turning black.”
NASTY MINERALS
Among the poisonous minerals found in nature is minium also named red lead because it contains lead but also has a rusty red tone. The element minium has the chemical formula Pb3O4. Vitruvius spoke of minium which is derived from the Minius River in Spain.
Frontispiece to De Architectura
Red lead was discovered when lead white (another deadly lead-bearing pigment) was tossed into a fire, and according to Vitruvius, lost its colour, vividness and brilliancy.
Synthetic red lead was made in China as early as the Han era which was the period 206 BC to 220 AD, and no evidence exists that the natural version of the pigment was ever utilised there.
The first sign that nature would provide the necessary means that would lead to photography and later, Cinematography.
And it would be over 1,600 years before light was proven to be the means, and not heat, even though Vitruvius used the term “their rays.”
59 BC
PICTURES MOVING?
Letโs travel back about 2000 years in our study of pre cinema when images appeared to move. What? That some kind of Motion Pictures were known to the ancients is not impossible to believe. After-all, several wrote about it, and I have several series on this very topic.
LUCRETIUS (TITUS LUCRETIUS CARUS) (98-55 BC)
This Roman poet and naturalist combines science and poetry in his De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things, T. L. Carus, IV, 768ff) when he refers to some sort of projection show or dream image in poetic form. Titus Lucretius Carus, in his epic poem De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things), written around 59 BC, makes some kind of inference, referring to moving pictures in the modern sense of film or animation.
Some scholars and readers have noted passages where Lucretius describes phenomena that could be interpreted as analogous to visual or optical effects, which might loosely resemble the concept of moving images.
In Book IV of De Rerum Natura, Lucretius discusses the nature of perception, vision, and images or “simulacra,” which he describes as โthin filmsโ or images emitted by objects that travel through the air and strike the eyes, creating the sensation of sight.
For example, he writes about how these simulacra move rapidly and can create the illusion of continuous motion or changing appearances, such as when clouds form shifting shapes in the sky or when reflections seem to “move” due to the motion of the objects emitting them (Book IV, lines 136โ215 in some translations).
One instance is Lucretius Carus who wrote several volumes entitled De Rerum Natura at least 65 years before the Christian era. A specific passage often cited in this context is Lucretius’ description of how images persist or shift in perception, which some have poetically likened to the flickering or sequential nature of early cinematic images.
For instance, he describes how the rapid succession of these films can create a sense of continuity or motion in the mindโs eye (Book IV, lines 754โ776). Besides denoting that images โappeared to move,โ he also talked of the image โappearing in one order,โ which is a direct reference to a succession.
On the opposite side of this discussion, is an article by Olivier Darrigol on optical theory in ancient texts called A History of Optics from Greek Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century, (first published in 2012) perceiving Lucretiusโ “simulacra,” as an early attempt to explain Apparent Motion, a principle later understood, but it stops short of claiming he predicted moving pictures.
In book four and verse 766, appears the following entry by Carus, translated as;
What could Titus have been referring to when he said;
๐๏ธ images appear to move
๐๏ธ appear in one order
๐๏ธ appears another arranged in another way
๐๏ธ appears each gesture to alter
๐๏ธ takes place in the quickest time
Sounds to me, like something an 1890s movie-goer would say, not understanding exactly what they were seeing, and how motion pictures worked.
The American Journal of Philology has a journal article by Elizabeth Asmis entitled Lucretius Explanation of Moving Dream Figures (Johns Hopkins University Press, Volume 102, No. 2, 1981, pp 138-145).
READ Elizabeth Asmis interpretation of the Lucretius motion picture dream at JSTOR.
Asmis concludes on pp142-145 that Carus is speaking of the dream state and not reality however, several talked of this as I will show.
Historian and author Carl Louis Gregory confirms this wondrous account of Lucretius Carus suggesting motion pictures on p7 of his work Motion Picture Photography, New York Institute of Photography, Herbert C. McKay, Herbert Couchman, editor, Falk Publishing, New York, 1927.
one instance of motion pictures in ancient times is Carus who wrote that images โappeared to move,โ and writing that images were โappearing in one order,โ which is a direct reference to a succession
READ Motion Picture Photography (second edition) by Carl Louis Gregory, Falk Publishing Company, 1927 HERE at Internet Archive. An excellent resource.
Was Titus Lucretius Carus referencing some kind of Motion Picture in his dream state oratory when he said โwhen the first image perishes and a second is then produced in another positionโฆ?โ
2,085+ YEARS AGO
All inventions have had their prophets, and in this wonderful book of philosophy, On the Nature of Things, Lucretius Carus writes a remarkable passage envisioning Cinematography. Carus combines science and poetry when he refers to some sort of projection show.
CAPTURING IMAGES LIKE PHOTOGRAPHY
PABLIUS PAPINIUS STATIUS (AD 40-96)
This poet laureate of Rome writes in his poem The Hair of Earinus (silvae, iii.4, capilli flavi earini) “….do you only fix your glance upon it and leave your features here. Thus he spoke and showed the mirror with the image caught therein.”
In 1928, the German publication the Frankfurter Nachrichten reported on the poem’s translation,“his image was permanently fixed on a small silver plate, [the original poem speaks of gold] into which he had gazed for a period of time.”
this was more than seventeen centuries before the pewter plate of Joseph Nicรฉphore Niรฉpce in 1826
Photographer/historian James McArdle also mentions Statius in his work On This Date in Photography when McArdle states;
I have looked into many mirrors in my life and saw my reflection every time, but I have never had “my features caught therein”
This all brings to mind 1,744 years later when folks sat still (โhe had gazed for a period of time”) for several minutes for their Daguerreotype portrait to be taken.
This colourised illustration from an American publication during the Daguerreotype years, is spoofing the long exposure times it took.
This chap is having a nap while his portrait is taken.
The amount of light required in the early days, to satisfy the emulsion on the plate seemed to be endless.
The opposite to instantaneous photography.
THE VILLA OF MYSTERIES AT POMPEII
A PHOTOGRAPHIC SEQUENCE OF THEATRICAL SCENES
I am not completely convinced that the Villa of Mysteries falls within pre cinema, but because Professor of Classics and author Martin M. Winkler โsees antiquity with a cinema eye,โ which is something I admire as an historian looking backwards, I am willing to open my mind as I did with the stained-glass windows of Jerome Hiler.
When Vesuvius erupted in 79, it destroyed Pompeii, Herculaneum, and other adjacent towns, burying Villa dei Misteri beneath hundreds of feet of volcanic lava and ash. The villa’s name translates to Villa of the Mysteries, referring to a set of frescoes from the first century.
They represent a ritual that is described as a young woman’s initiation into a Greco-Roman mystery cult, similar to that of the Eleusinian Mysteries, a popular esoteric religious current in antiquity.
The remarkable wall murals of the Triclinium, which form an almost photographic sequence of dramatic scenarios, seem to be the reason for the villa’s notoriety, and why some have spoken of it in a proto-cinematic sense.
This has been noted in several works I have reviewed, one being Winklerโs Classical Antiquity and the Cinema from 2020, when he tells us, โthe frescoes in the Villa of the Mysteries near Pompeii showing the different stages of a religious initiation rite in sequential order.โ
These paintings in the Villa of Mysteries are arranged in a sequence, vital to pre cinematic consideration, and highly suggestive of motion and movement, filling up the entire room and obviously depicting a religious ritual.
The frescoes look interwoven, constituting a series portraying the various stages of the initiation process.
The Mysteries are a narrative order of seven life-sized panels that portray a woman at mid-life as if she is in some kind of moving arrangement of theatrical scenes. I will definitely be giving the Villa of Mysteries at Pompeii some serious consideration within the context of pre cinema.
PLINY THE ELDER (GAIUS PLINIUS SECUNDUS) (AD 23-79)
Pliny refers to silver chloride and it’s potential to darken under sun or moon in his Historiae Naturalis (xxxiii. 55,3) when he says “silver changes its colour in mineral water as well as by salt air, as, for instance on the Mediterranean shores of Spain,” and (xxxiii.40) “the effect of the sun and moon on a coat of minium is injurious.”
In the time of Pliny โsilver chlorideโ had not yet been excogitated. His reference therefore was simply to silver.
Joseph Maria Eder, in his book History of Photography (pp2,7) dispels this as doubtful and suggests hydrogen sulphide as the chemical.
Pliny’s statement “the effect of the sun and moon on a coat of minium is injurious” is a direct reference to the sun having its effect on any light-sensitive substance. Something that took hundreds of years for the pioneers of photography to understand.
Below we can read Eder’s account regarding his doubts on Pliny’s conclusion, in his Historiae Naturalis (xxxiii. 40). Excerpt taken from Joseph Eder, his book History of Photography (p7).
Students of pre cinema or photography alone, may recognise Thompson’s Revolver Camera from 1862 on the front cover of Eder’s book.
READ History of Photography by Joseph Maria Eder here at Internet Archive.
LUCIUS ANNAEUS SENECA (THE YOUNGER) (c. 4 BC-AD 65)
Around 50 AD Seneca writes on Apparent Motion and says that rock-crystal lenses were used as burning glasses. He described the magnification of objects seen in water like through a lens and wrote, “Letters, however small and indistinct, are seen enlarged and more clearly through a globe of glass filled with water.”
c. 50 AD Seneca in telling us that rock-crystal lenses were used as burning glasses or mirrors, also describes the magnification of objects seen in water.
Seneca was a Roman stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist.
He was born in Cordoba during the reign of Augustus and tutored Nero.
While Seneca the Younger is writing about Apparent Motion, Nero is given the title princeps iuventutis which is interpreted as “head of the youth.”
AD 113
TRAJANS COLUMN
MARCUS ULPIUS TRAIANUS (AD 53โAD 117)
We move our focus away now, from cave art, lenses, light-sensitive substances and the Shadowplay, to celluloid columns. The wrapping of frame-by-frame images from bottom to top.
In AD 113 the Roman Senate as initiated by Emperor Trajan, commissioned the construction of an honourary column to be named after Trajan himself, and his victories in the wars over Dacia which is modern day Romania, from 101 until 106.
This freestanding triumphant military column had three sections which included; a massive rectangular base depicting the spoils of war in deep base relief; a one-hundred-foot-high main shaft; and a domed pedestal which originally housed a statue of an eagle.
What makes the Column of Trajan a spectacular entry in the history of cinematography is the magnificent story-telling imagination of these ancients. It earns its place in the โdeep pre historyโ of cinematography not because itโs a motion picture in the modern sense, but because it anticipates key visual storytelling techniques that film later formalised such as sequential narrative, framing, and controlled spectator movement.
The 656-foot spiral frieze is essentially 155 continuous scenes unrolling in sequence, chronicling the Dacian Wars. Each โshotโ flows into the next without hard breaks, like a primitive tracking shot, with recurring characters. Trajan himself appears 60 times, functioning as what I would call, a โcontinuity anchor.โ
Itโs a single, unbroken โreelโ that you โreadโ as you walk around and up the column; the visual grammar of the thing is incredibly proto cinematic.
When we look closer at the column, we see the unique history of two complete conquering wars seen through a spiral frieze 625 feet in height. As if one of the Roman soldiers had taken a film of the Dacian Wars, processed it, and then wrapped it from bottom to top, this base relief monument tells the story of victory frame-by-frame, scene-by-scene.
Key figures are repeated at different points in the spiral to suggest different moments in time like an early form of temporal montage. Scenes alternate between battle, preparation, and aftermath, functioning like cross-cutting between story threads.
Architectural or landscape features act as visual scene dividers, similar to filmโs use of establishing shots. The eye is led forward by rhythmic placement of shields, spears, and banners, guiding the frame-to-frame reading.
the Coliseum in Rome was once used as a cinema in 1540
The spiral frieze winds its way around the column with individual scenes showcasing Trajan’s armies in battle. More than 2000 carved figures adorn the frieze, which tells the story of Trajan’s Dacian wars between AD 101-102 and AD 105-106.
The beginning scenes (bottom of the frieze) show soldiers preparing for the war and ends with the conquering of the Dacianโs.
The bottom frames portray the opening, and the top frames depict the end of this Roman movie.
Portraying Trajan’s two successful campaigns against Dacia, the spiral is read or seen as two separate halves; the lower half beginning at the base illustrates the first wars (between AD 101 and 102), and the upper half illustrating the latter wars (between AD 105 and 106).
The scenes on the frieze unfold upwards as if in a strip of film. The scenes show the Roman army within military activities; preparing for battle; engagement of battle; construction; speeches by the emperor, and more.
The carvings within the scenes are filled with soldiers, senators, statesmen, priests and sailors.
Over 2,500 Romans and Dacianโs appear in the frieze with Trajan himself appearing over fifty times.
Trajan’s Column can be found in Trajan’s Forum which is part of the Imperial Forums located at Via dei Fori Imperiali, right next to the Piazza Venezia in Rome. I will have more about this column later on.
TRAJAN’S STONE CELLULOID COLUMN
The monument looks like it was wrapped in a piece of stone celluloid around the column. As if one of the Roman soldiers had taken a film of the Dacian Wars and swathed it from bottom to top, frame-by-frame, scene-by-scene.
In its original setting, the column wasnโt just a sculpture โ it was a multi-sensory narrative device in a public space, combining spectacle, propaganda, and architectural choreography. It demanded active participation: the viewerโs own movement through space โanimatedโ the story.
A second Roman spiral frieze was completed in 193 AD by Marcus Aurelius of whom I have spoken of and will again. The Penny Magazine page one, 5 October, 1833, Volume II, woodcut from Architectural Antiquities of Rome, by Messrs. E. Cresy and G. L. Taylor.
This freestanding triumphant military column was originally coloured and had three sections including;
๐๏ธ a massive rectangular base depicting the spoils of war in deep bas relief
๐๏ธ a 100 feet high main shaft
๐๏ธ a domed capitol with a statue
SEE a quite fascinating and vibrant recreation of Trajan’s Column the way it would have looked in 113 AD. Beautifully achieved by the resourceful folks over at the History in 3D team. An absolutely breathtaking video with no narration, just a haunting music score (Lonely Mountain).
Tell me that these Romans did not desire to see Cinema in all it’s glory when they built this.
Sound on, full screen, popcorn.
Taken from Illusions in Motion – Media Archaeology of The Moving Panorama and Related Spectacles by Erkki Huhtamo, MIT Press, Boston, 2013 available at Google Books;
Now SEE a brief but detailed history on the technical aspects of the Column of Trajan by Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker running 8:27.
In keeping with my search for the origins of Cinema, I found depicted within the bas-relief imagery of the column, two separate and very interesting buildings. On the left is the well-known Coliseum (c.72 AD) was first called the Amphitheatre.
The one on the right (directly below) appears like an entrance to a Cinema.
We also know that the Coliseum was once used as a cinema itself.
1540
BENVENUTO CELLINI (1500-1571)
A century before Kircher, the history of Cellini gave us a report on a Phantasmagoric-type show at the Coliseum in Rome. It’s documented in Roscoe’s Life of Benvenuto Cellini.
Trajanโs Column shows that the core of cinema, telling a story through a controlled sequence of visual frames, manipulating the audienceโs perception of time and movement, existed in physical media centuries before photography.
If you strip away cameras and projectors, what you have is the same logic of moving-image storytelling, frozen into stone.
AD 120
HERON OF ALEXANDRIA (62-125)
Heron of Alexandria, a Greek mathematician and engineer from the 1st century AD (circa 10โ70 AD), was a pioneering figure in mechanics, mathematics, and engineering. Often called the Hero of Alexandria, he lived in Alexandria, Egypt, a hub of intellectual and technological advancement during the Hellenistic period.
Here from Heronโs book Pneumatica how this automaton would operate and made to drink using pneumatics:
Heron is renowned for his contributions to mathematics, physics, pneumatics, and the development of automatonsโmechanical devices that could move or operate seemingly on their own, a precursor to modern robotics. Also known as Hero, Heron describes in his work Peri Automatopoietkes meaning Constructing Automaton Theatres, phantom mirrors and mirror writing. Hero was perhaps the ancient worlds champion of automatons.
Heron worked at the Museum of Alexandria, a centre for scholarship, and his work bridged theoretical mathematics with practical engineering. He wrote several treatises, including Pneumatica, Automata, Mechanica, and Metrica, many of which survived and provide insight into his inventions.
His work was heavily influenced by earlier Greek thinkers like Ctesibius and Archimedes, and he focused on practical applications of scientific principles, particularly using steam, air pressure, and mechanical systems.
In his book Automata Heron chronicled the machinery of several bird automatons, and other automatons are named in Pneumatica. He recorded the description of a bird that sings and drinks water which utilized a method of hydraulic force. Illustration below from Pneumatica.
Below from Heronโs book Pneumatica is his explanation on how this automaton would operate and made to drink using pneumatics;
Heron’s automatons were groundbreaking because they demonstrated how mechanical devices could mimic lifelike movements or perform tasks, captivating audiences and serving both practical and theatrical purposes. These devices were powered by weights, levers, pulleys, compressed air, or steam, showcasing early automation principles.
With Heronโs work in pneumatics, forced-air pumps and air and liquid delivery systems, we think it highly likely he succeeded.
In 1620 Salomon de Caus, a French engineer whom I will talk about later, would build a replica of this bird.
Here is the frontispiece of Automata.
Heron designed a miniature theatre that could perform an entire play without human intervention. The automaton used a system of ropes, weights, and pulleys to move figurines across a stage, simulating actions like dancing, fighting, or offering sacrifices.
One famous example is a mechanical reenactment of the myth of Nauplius, where figures moved, doors opened and closed, and sound effects (like thunder) were produced using falling weights or grains of sand.
The theatre operated on a pre-programmed sequence, with a weight-driven mechanism pulling cords to control the timing and movement of props and figures.
Directly below on the left is an automaton diagram of Bacchus dispensing wine connected by hidden pipes and tanks.
Right, from Pneumatica is a technical drawing of an hydraulic apparatus of singing artificial birds. Both from this 13th century codex, the earliest surviving text of Heron’s Pneumatica.
Heronโs automatons are detailed primarily in his treatise Automata (or On Automaton-Making), where he describes mechanical devices designed to entertain, educate, or serve religious purposes. These automatons were among the earliest known attempts at creating self-operating machines, blending engineering with spectacle.
From Heronโs Pneumatica, here is his technical drawing for a hydraulic apparatus of singing artificial birds.
Hero of Alexandria, as depicted in a 1688 German translation of his Pneumatics.
Hero was perhaps the ancient worlds champion of automatons.
Heron designed automatons that mimicked natural phenomena, such as birds that sang or flapped their wings. These used pneumatic systems (compressed air or steam) to produce sound or motion. For example, one device used steam escaping through small openings to create bird-like whistles, demonstrating his understanding of pneumatics.
We all remember Bubo from Clash of the Titans (1981). This automaton animation reminds us of the automaton birds of Hero.
Heronโs automatons were so advanced for their time that some historians speculate they may have inspired myths or stories about mechanical beings in ancient literature. His work shows that the concept of robots or automated systems is far older than commonly thought.
MARVELLOUS ALTAR
HERON OF ALEXANDRIA (c. 10 AD-c. 70 AD)
Several Chinese personalities of long ago first used air convection of heat to move their โprancing horses.โ
Heronโs Marvellous Altar is found in Pneumatics, and describes the contraption, translated by Eugรจne Auguste Albert de Rochas d’Aiglun from the Greek as follows;
Heron describes in his work Pneumatics several analogous apparatuses, one being the Marvellous Altar which operated by the convection of heat.
This Zoetrope-ish image is taken from Heron’s Pneumatics (Figure 8) p211.
This close-up immediately below is found in his Pneumatics, which is taken from Magic; Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions, Including Trick Photography, Albert Allis Hopkins, Low, London, 1897, p211. Translation by Eugรจne A. A. de Rochas from the Greek.
A contemporary of Heron, Pappus of Alexandria describes the contribution of Heron in Book VIII of his own Mathematical Collection.
Pappus writes;
Page 95 of Bennet Woodcroftโs 1851 English translation of Pneumatics.
Looks like a heat-convection-driven Zoetrope.
SEE the Marvellous Altar (from 2:48 to 3:52) in action up close along with a myriad of other automatons, at the Museum of Automata in York England (physically closed since 1996).
THE DECAPITATED DRINKING HORSE OF HERON
Heron created a system where temple doors would open automatically when a fire was lit on an altar. This was achieved using a hidden mechanism involving a fire-heated container of water that expanded air to push pistons, which then pulled ropes to open the doors.
Pages 244, 245, 246 below.
This device was likely used to create a sense of divine intervention in religious settings, impressing worshipers with apparent miracles. This is what Heron called his Marvellous Revolving Altar which is taken from Hopkinsโs book Magic Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions, Including Trick Photography on p211 with full description and illustration.
Heronโs automatons included statues that could move, pour libations, or perform other actions. These were often powered by falling weights or counterweights, similar to clockwork mechanisms. One notable device was a statue of Hercules shooting an arrow at a serpent, with the serpent hissing as it was struck, achieved through a combination of mechanical and pneumatic effects.
Again, taken from Hopkinโs book we have more automata from Hero. This is his Decapitated Horse with full description and illustration including the inner workings of the neck.
Here is a close-up image of Heronโs Decapitated Horse showing the inner workings. Figures 2 and 3 on page 246. While Heronโs automatons were ingenious, they were limited by the materials and manufacturing techniques of the time (e.g., bronze, wood, and rope).
They were not practical for widespread industrial use but served as proofs of concept. His ideas influenced later inventors during the Islamic Golden Age, the Renaissance, and beyond, particularly in the development of clockwork and early robotics.
READ Magic; Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions, Including Trick Photography, by Albert Allis Hopkins, published by Low, London, 1897 at Internet Archive.
READ the 1971 English translated facsimile of Heronโs Pneumatics by Bennet Woodcroft in 1851 at Internet Archive.
Within two years of Heron describing his phantom mirrors for us, the Emperor Hadrian will begin building his wall in northern England, to keep the Picts out.
PROJECTION MAPPING IN THE 1ST CENTURY AD
LUCIEN DE SAMOSATE (SAMOSATA) (fl.120-180 AD)
Lenses and their power to transmute vision were known at the time of Lucien Samosata in the first and second centuries AD.
So were mirrors as well as โmagic cauldronsโ it appears.
Thought to be a โscience fictionโ author, and perhaps our first, Lucien writes his โVerae Historiaeโ known as True History where he fictionalizes his Moon-dwellers, the Selenites as having a โuniversal sound and visual observation system.โ
Projection mapping is a projection technique used to turn objects and elements into a display surface for video projection. The objective of mapping is to create optical illusions by putting visual content on static volumes.
– HeavyM
Projection Mapping in the 21st century explained.
For this visual observation system, it consisted of a water well with a mirror placed directly above. This idea is carried over into the next century when Egyptian Pharaoh Noctanebo could visualise the movement of attacking ships in a โmagic cauldronโ (Alexander Romance, Alexander the Great, possibly Callisthenes).
Herbert George Wells incorporated the Lucien Selenites into his monumental work The First Men in the Moon published in 1900, of which three films were made in 1919, 1964, and 2010 that I know of, with the 1964 version being the best.
The Selenites were the men in the moon with the โuniversal sound and visual observation system.โ
Pictured is the Giant Crystal Selenite Cave at Naica, Chihuahua, Mexico and Georges Mรฉliรจs preliminary drawings to illustrate what the Selenites would look like in his film โLe Voyage Dans La Luneโ (1902).
A soft transparent stone with prismatic qualities, the name Selenite comes from the Greek for โmoon.โ When Selenite is cut and polished on the ends, it creates the optical illusion that printed or photographed images are seen on itโs surface.
It has been called the “television stone” because of this.
So, did Selenite have anything to do with several instances down through history that we know of, where images seem to appear on different surfaces?
AD 150
OPTICS / AFTER-IMAGES / STEREOSCOPY
CLAUDIUS PTOLEMAEUS (AD 85-165)
Ptolemy accepts Aristotle’s view that objects emit light. Ptolemy also writes his Almagest on optics and the universe and speaks of refraction, reflection, Apparent Motion and “stereoscopic projection.”
Interesting thoughts on Ptolemy’s โmotion picturesโ taken from Motion Picture Photography, by Carl Louis Gregory, New York Institute of Photography; Herbert C. McKay, Herbert Couchman, ed., Falk Publishing, New York, 1927, Chapter 1, on p7.
Ptolemy also developed his theory on atmospheric refraction in another work, Optics. The book is translated into Latin in the 12th century by Admiral Eugenius Siculus.
An early Baroque rendition of Claudius Ptolemaeus from an unknown artist’s hand.
TING HUAN (ALSO DING HUAN) (c. first century BC, Han Dynasty)
The ascending convection of hot air from a lamp caused animals and creatures to appear to move naturally in his manuscript called Pipe Which Makes Fantasies Appear.
This documentation can be found in the scholar Joseph Needham’s Science and Civilization in China, volume IV, part 1: Physics and Physical Technology, Cambridge University Press, pp123-124 published in 1962.
This is perhaps the first account of the marriage of both illumination and movement, created by the same source, the lamp.
Rendition of Ting Huan
Ting Huan was a Chinese inventor of various devices. Besides using heat convection to cause fantasies to appear, he created an AC unit with seven fans that could cool a room so much that “people would even begin to shiver.”
The Zoetrope-esque lamp, which included a thin canopy with vanes at the top rotated due to an upward circulation of warm air from the lamp. The canopy contained primitive cut-out paper images that, when turned by the current of air, provided the appearance of movement, similar to early forerunners of the cinematograph.
I will be showing other pioneers and inventors within pre cinema history who also used the convection of heat rising to move their imagery, the very same principle that causes these lanterns to defy gravity. Stay tuned. This video is produced by National Geographic and lasts one minute, twenty.
c. AD 170
GALEN (ALSO AELIUS GALENUS, CLAUDIUS GALENUS, GALEN OF PERGAMON) (AD 129 – 199)
Likely the most accomplished physician and surgeon of his time, Galen also found time to study binocular vision. If not departing entirely from medicine, Galen devoted an entire book on the eyes. Later, Da Vinci will write on the eyes in uncanny similarity to that of Galen.
In reference to binocular vision, Galen wrote, “For if he stands near a pillar and then closes each eye in turn, some of the things seen by the right eye on the right side of the pillar will not be visible to the other side.”
Galen was originally a physician for gladiators, back in his home city of Pergamum. He later travelled to Rome and eventually became physician to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, of whom I will be speaking of next.
A.D. 193 THE COLUMN OF MARCUS AURELIUS
CINEMATIC STORY-TELLING IN A SPIRAL FRIEZE
MARCUS AURELIUS (Reigned AD 161-180) [Lived AD 121-180]
Modelled after Trajanโs Column, this spiral frieze also commemorates great Roman battles in Cinematic form from bottom to top.
Like a strip of stone celluloid wrapped around the column. John Beckwith (in Early Christian and Byzantine Art, 1970) has described the spiral friezes of Roman columns like those of Marcus Aurelius and Trajan as proto-cinematic due to their sequential, narrative reliefs that guide the viewer through a visual story, akin to unrolling a scroll or viewing a film.
Aurelius was Emperor of Rome from 161 to AD 180. The column commemorates the wars over the Marcomanni and Quadi in Czechia, and the Sarmatians in Hungary in AD 175. The battles over the Marcomanni and Quadi in the years 172 and 173 are represented in the first half of the frieze.
these ancient people have unravelled a cinematographic memorial, appearing like an immense strip of stone film
Art historians note this narrative style, similar to Trajanโs Column, creates a dynamic, almost cinematic progression of events, with over 100 scenes unfolding as one ascends or “reads” the column. The term emphasizes its function as a visual chronicle, meant to be viewed in sequence, much like frames in a movie.
Richard Brilliant (Visual Narratives: Storytelling in Etruscan and Roman Art, 1984) is a prominent scholar who has explored the narrative structure of Roman art, including the Column of Marcus Aurelius. He discusses how the continuous frieze functions as a linear storytelling device, inviting comparisons to modern visual media like film strips.
The column of Marcus Aurelius is a Roman victory column in the Doric form. It stands in the Piazza Colonna, Rome, Italy.
Aurelius was known as the “philosopher emperor.”
This close up of the deep base relief of the Column of Marcus Aurelius shows the upward spiralling effect of this frieze as it tells the story of the Emperor’s victories over Marcomanni and Quadi in Czechia, and the Sarmatians in Hungary, ending in AD 175.
The wonderful story-telling imagination of these ancient people has unravelled a cinematographic memorial, appearing like an immense strip of stone film, wrapped around the column, from the bottom to the top.
The Sarmatian victory in 174-175 AD is depicted in the upper half, spiralling upwards from approximately the midway point of the column.
Peter Holliday and other contemporary art historians have noted the cinematic quality of Roman reliefs, emphasizing how the spiraling scenes create a sense of movement and progression, encouraging viewers to read the column in a manner similar to following a cinematic sequence.
The analogy also appears in more general works on Roman art, such as The Art of the Roman Empire by Jaล Elsner (2018), where the narrative flow of such monuments is likened to a visual storytelling technique that anticipates modern sequential art forms.
AD 510
HONOURABLE MENTION
ANICIUS MANLIUS SEVERINUS BOETHIUS (AD 475-525)
Boethius was a Roman statesman, philosopher, and scholar, often described as the last great figure of classical antiquity and a crucial transmitter of ancient thought to the medieval world. He attempted to document the speed of light.
Boethius treats natural phenomena (sound, vision, celestial motion) in terms of ratio (proportion) and number. For vision, this set the stage for thinking about perspective and projection mathematically, a direct ancestor of later pre cinema optics. Without Boethius, Western Europe may have had a much weaker entry-point to antique visual theory.
Getty images
Boethius didnโt invent devices, but he kept alive the mathematical language of vision.
This is a rendering of what Boethius looked like from Vie Des Hommes Illustres by Andre Thevet in 1584.
However, for all of his efforts in optics, in 525 King Theodoric or Theodoric the Great, orders him decapitated for treason and magic.
Projection, perspective, and the geometry of rays are foundational for the Magic Lantern and other optical entertainments. He shaped the conceptual frame in which optics later became an experimental science.
His legacy meant that when scholastics like Roger Bacon and Witelo dealt with the geometry of light and images, they were working within a Boethian curriculum. The first quantitative estimate of the finite speed of light wasn’t made until 1676 by Ole Rรธmer.
Boethius himself wasnโt an optical scientist in the sense of Kepler or Alhazen, but he was the conduit who ensured that the geometry of vision didnโt vanish in the West, a prerequisite for the entire tradition that eventually fed into perspective painting, projection devices, and pre cinema knowledge.
6TH CENTURY โ CINEMA ON SCROLLS
Chinese story-telling in movement continues now, with the story of the girl-warrior Hua Mulan, who was first documented in a 6th century poem titled Ballad of Mulan. The image directly below is entitled Hua Mulan enlists as a soldier and is from the Dalongdong Baoan Temple, painted by Pan-Li.
No evidence that I have seen indicates that Mulan was a real person. She may have been a myth. I have read both sides of this argument.
However, we do know this story dates to AD 386-536 during the Northern Wei Era. Directly below is Mulan Joins the Army by Ming Dynasty artist Tang Yin.
The Ming Dynasty saw a rise in forms of entertainment and the arts overall. Mulan was told in cinematic scroll-form, like all of the Oriental scrolls were. Motion was implied and was crucial in this form of art and in fact was the basis for Hua Mulan.
This scroll portrays her plight in cinematic form. Scene of Mulan with a horse directly below, printed in ink and colour on paper in 1867.
Here is a digitised copy below, of the original Ballad of Mulan, written by Mi Fu, a calligrapher in the Song dynasty, AD 1094.
This is a plaque I found in the PD memorialising Hua Mulan in a modern way.
ANTHEMIUS OF TRALLES (c. 474-534)
Anthemius conducted early experiments in light. This Byzantine-Greek polymath and architect investigated the effects of the Camera Obscura. Having examined optics, he illustrated a primitive light-ray diagram he constructed.
Anthemius wrote his treatise On Burning Glasses meaning to aid the construction of a surface designed to reflect light to a single point. His primitive diagram below right is actually a reproduction. It shows light-rays reflected with a plane mirror through the hole (B).
This is from page 6 of Anthemius of Tralles, A Study in Later Greek Geometry, G. L. Huxley, Cambridge Mass., printed by Eaton Press, Watertown, 1959.
Image St. Andrews University
Anthemius was the Byzantine architect who replaced the old church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (left image below). He also described the construction of an ellipse with a string fixed at the two foci and he described the focal properties of the parabola.
AD 750
ON PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY
GEBER (GABIR, JABIR IBN HAJJAM) (AD 721-815)
It is documented that this Arabian alchemist observed what effect light had on what we today call silver nitrate. Pictured below, Geber is depicted in a 15th century portrait, Codici Ashburnhamiani in 1166, residing at the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence.
In the ancient Arab world, Geber was the father of chemistry, writing on the chemical properties of various elements including those which would later make up the foundations of photography. The engraving here is of Geber lecturing from the 1883 edition of Vies des Savants Illustres.
The term gebberish is associated with Geber because of his writing in esoteric code also known as Steganography. Few could understand or differentiate between ambiguous symbolism vs. literal interpretation in his works, and thereby gibberish was born. More on Steganography in a future chapter.
Geber is one of the most forgotten pioneers of pre photography.
STUDIES IN ANCIENT OPTICS
AL-KINDI (c. 801-c. 873 AD)
In the field of optics, Abu Yusef Yaqoub ibn Ishaq Al-Kindi articulated the idea that “everything in the world… radiates rays in every direction, which cover the whole globe.”
The Al-Kindi thesis on light rays found in De Radiis Stellarum influenced scholars like Ibn al-Haytham, Bacon and Grosseteste.
Pictured is a page from De Radiis Stellarum translated into Latin in the 17th century, from the Trinity College Library of Cambridge University.
The classic optical treatise De aspectibus by Al-Kindi was one of the primary Arabic works to inspire the advancement of optical research in Europe, particularly that of Grosseteste, Vitello, Bacon, all of whom I will be speaking on soon.
Al-Kindi (also Alkyndus) stated that;
Geometry in optics is an illustration of how al-Kindi applied math. He continued the tradition begun by Euclid and by Ptolemy, of using geometrical constructs to explain phenomena such as optical perspective, shadows, refraction, reflection, and burning mirrors.
These young ladies of Al-Kindi Primary and Middle Schools, part of the Al-Kindi Groupe Scolaire in France, proudly display the namesake school sign they made for their optical hero.
Al-Kindiโs scholarly work in optics and pre photography is commemorated in this Syrian postage stamp.
flourished 853 AD
MISCELLANEOUS MORSELS FROM YOUYANG
DUAN CHENGSHI (d. 863 AD)
Translated as ้
้ฝ้ไฟ, Duan refers to an inverted image of a pagoda in his Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang, first seen c. 853. This writing took place during the Tang Dynasty (618โ907).
A NATURAL OPTICAL PHENOMENON
This image is of an ancient Chinese Pinhole Image into a pagoda. Philosopher-scientist-writers like Zheng Fu-Guang Zhu of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912) were well versed in the Pinhole Image and its Camera Obscura Effect.
Here is the front cover of Volume II of thirty volumes, a Chinese printed edition of Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang. Duan wrote on anecdotal observances, natural and optical phenomena and wondrous events explained and unexplained.
Embedded image Sibu Congkan
10Th CENTURY YU CHAO LUNG
Yu Chao Lung builds miniature pagodas to observe Pinhole Images through a hole onto a screen and therefore learns of the divergence of light rays using the Camera Obscura effect. Joseph Needhamโs work in his Science and Civilisation in China [26. Physics, Part IV, G (optics), 4. Camera Obscura, p99] makes reference to Yu Chao Lung’s further research of Shen Kuaโs thoughts on light โbreathing forthโ when he states;
c. AD 930
SUN KUANG-HSIEN ๅญซๅ
่ณข
Documented in the work of Joseph Needham, this traveller and writer describes in his Pei Meng So Yen translated as Dreams of The North and Trifling Talk, similar Shadow-plays to that of magician Shao Ong.
Sun Kuang-Hsien is best known for his work Beimeng Suoyan (ๅๅคข็ฃ่จ), a collection of anecdotes, historical notes, and miscellaneous records about the Tang dynasty and the Five Dynasties period. This text provides valuable insights into the culture, politics, and society of his time, though it was compiled later in his life.
As Needham states, Sun Kuang-Hsien ascribes to a hermit (Chhen Hsiu-Fu), exactly similar techniques (Science and Civilization in China, Joseph Needham, Physics, Part IV, G (optics), 4. Camera Obscura, p122).
Precise details about Sun Kuang-Hsienโs activities in 930 AD are limited because much of the historical record from the Five Dynasties period is fragmented. Most of what is known about him comes from his later writings and biographies in historical texts like the Old History of the Five Dynasties (Jiu Wudai Shi).
The Greeks and Chinese were definitely, our earliest cinematographers
It’s amazing what Needham has uncovered from our past. On the matter of magician Shao Ong (Shao Weng), his โmoving imageโ of a dead concubine of the emperor Wu is as the following passage taken from Needhamโs work (p122) tells us;
โShao Weng reportedly set up a tent with a silk scrim (a translucent screen). Behind the scrim, he used a candle and a cut-out silhouette of the deceased concubine, passing it between the light source and the screen to project a moving shadow. The emperor, positioned in front of the scrim in a dimly lit, incense-filled setting, perceived this as the ghost of his beloved, creating an emotional and spiritual experience.โ
This incident, involving a Shadow Play or optical illusion, is a notable anecdote in Chinese history that aligns with Needhamโs extensive work on Chinese science and technology, as documented in his Science and Civilisation in China. Needham further states;
โIt is improbable that in the Han procedure could have been anything else than one of those shadow-plays (‘ying hsi’ or ่ฑๅธ) which have been traditional for centuries in many Asian countries. Such also was the opinion of the Sung author of the โShih Wu Chi Yuanโ.โ
The anecdote about Shao Weng (also spelled Shao Ong in some transliterations) and the โmoving imageโ of Emperor Wuโs deceased concubine is a well-documented story from the Han dynasty, specifically linked to Emperor Wu (Liu Che, r. 141โ87 BC).
Needham, I believe encountered this story in classical Chinese texts, such as the Hanshu (History of the Former Han) by Ban Gu, and discussed it in the context of early Chinese optical knowledge or proto-scientific practices.
The story is cited in modern sources, such as a 1999 article from The Stranger, which describes a Shadow Play created by Shao Weng to console Emperor Wu over the death of his favorite concubine, Lady Li.
And still more, marvellous accounts now unearthed, of what are the ancestors of the Phenakistoscope, and Zoetrope and the rapid succession of images so vital thanks to instantaneous photography bringing to us ultimately, cinematography.
This event is often cited as an early example of a Shadow Play or a rudimentary optical projection, akin to a proto-Camera Obscura.
Needham, in Science and Civilisation in China (Volume 4, Part 1: Physics and Physical Technology), discusses early Chinese knowledge of optics, including pinhole imaging and light projection, as evidenced by texts like the Mozi (5th century BC) which I have spoken on and will again.
While the Shao Weng story is more theatrical than scientific, Needham I think, included it to illustrate how optical principles were applied in cultural or ritual contexts. The Greeks and Chinese were definitely, our earliest cinematographers.
AD 960 – 1127 MONUMENTAL LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS
JAPANESE NARRATIVE SCROLLS and CHINESE LANDSCAPE SCROLLS
Landscape, Narrative and Monumental Scrolls are an art form which have been practiced for centuries, mostly in East Asia and concentrating in Japan and China.
There are two basic kinds which we see in the Japanese Narrative Scroll and the Chinese Landscape Scroll. Like we have seen in numerous descriptive paintings throughout the East, these scrolls unite storytelling with motion and bring into our minds a cinematic strip full of life and visual movement.
This watercolour on silk is one, if not the, longest landscape scroll in Chinese history. The image seen above is only one small section. Full landscape below.
In the same way the Bayeux Tapestry told the story of William of Normandy in this very century, so does the panoramic Chinese painted scroll express movement in two dimensions. These Panoramas pre date Robert Barker in the early 19th century when he put paintbrush to canvas in his Panoramas of Edinburgh and London.
During the Northern Song Dynasty (960 – 1127), the royal artist to Emperor Qian Long, Zhang Zeduan, is suggested to have led four other artists of the court to paint what has become known as Upper River During Qing Ming Festival.
This scroll depicts hundreds of people in its full length. As if imagined in the painter’s eye from several hundred feet above the Bian River, this majestic Panorama of 11th century Chinese life is read from left to right and provides us with scenes of nature and the life of the people.
It’s a pre cinematic story told along the same historical timeline to that of film, but without the celluloid.
For the full Panorama of this beautiful Chinese landscape known as Upper River During Qing Ming Festival CLICK HERE.
Both sides of the river are clearly visible for a long distance through the capital of Bian Liang which is today the city of Kaifeng in the province of Henan. Zeduan, being a student of realism, created this Panorama in minute detail.
This painting has been shown to have no less than 1,643 people, twenty boats or ships, over thirty different structures and two hundred and eight animals.
these scrolls unite storytelling with motion and bring into our minds a cinematic strip full of life and visual movement
Our first scene in Upper River During Qing Ming Festival shows a burial in a graveyard and travels down river through the countryside, along the banks through busy commercial areas.
It portrays the country as well as city life with shopkeepers and merchants, sedans for the traveller, carts being pulled by mules, goods, camels, places of worship, homes, eating places, tea houses, selling stalls, boats and the inviting landscape, all in full colour.
Thanks to the Internet Archive and its Wayback Machine, you can see an even larger widescreen scroll of Qing Ming online, where all you have to do is move your mouse left or right-no dragging required. It scrolls at the speed you want. SEE IT HERE.
Pictorial scrolls such as the ones here are more ornamental to westerners, than artistic.
They typically are created with accompanying calendars, and show traditional figures in the outdoors while highlighting the wildlife.
They certainly don’t imply motion.
Mostly ink paintings on lengths of paper or silk, hand scrolls as they are also known, are traditional forms of art in Chinese and Japanese culture.
Normally the length of the arm, they are read downward or left to right.
Zhang Zeduan is depicted bent over on the left, in this watercolour, with his team, working on Upper River During Qing Ming Festival also known as Along the River during the Qingming Festival.
It was completed during the Song Dynasty.
Artist and period not listed, by Jane Ku at The EpochTimes.
A statue of Zhang Zeduan (1085ๅนด–1145ๅนด) in the Millennium City Theme Park, commemorating his Upper River During Qing Ming Festival Kaifeng, Henan Province.
Before there was a Hollywood walk of fame.
If you are a fan of the online streaming channel asiancrush you may have seen the Chinese fantasy program Under the Power (2019). In the 4th episode Ghost Ship this same Upper River During Qing Ming Festival monumental scroll is portrayed at the 36:05 to 37:03-minute mark. SEE it here.
Qing Ming means pure brightness. The painting is also known as Up the River During Qing Ming and is almost 16.5 feet in length. It is a quarter of a metre in height. Upper River During Qing Ming Festival resides at the National Palace Museum in Taipei pictured above right.
| Welcome | About | Introduction | Chapter One beginning of time – 999 AD |
| Chapter Two 1000 AD – 1399 | Chapter Three 1400 – 1599 | Chapter Four 1600 – 1649 | Chapter Five 1650 – 1699 |
| Chapter Six 1700 – 1749 | Chapter Seven 1750 – 1799 | Chapter Eight 1800 – 1819 | Chapter Nine 1820 – 1829 |
| Chapter Ten 1830 – 1839 | Chapter Eleven 1840 – 1849 | Chapter Twelve 1850 – 1859 | Chapter Thirteen 1860 – 1869 |
| Chapter Fourteen 1870 – 1879 | Chapter Fifteen 1880 – 1884 | Chapter Sixteen 1885 – 1889 | Chapter Seventeen 1890 – 1894 |
| Chapter Eighteen 1895 – 1899 | Chapter Nineteen 1900 + post cinema | Chapter Twenty 1911 + | Copyright |
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