De creatura is the culminatory hundredth poem of Aldhelm's collection of verse riddles, known as the Enigmata, and also much the longest. The Enigmata survive included in his work on Latin poetics, the Epistola ad Acircium (presumably composed during the reign of its apparent addressee, Aldfrith of Northumbria, 685-704/5). Many of the Enigmata are based on the riddles of Symphosius. Not so, however, De creatura.
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Enigmata is an album of John Zorn compositions performed by Marc Ribot and Trevor Dunn, conducted by Zorn. It was released by Tzadik Records in 2011.
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However, some scholars see the origin of the Bern Riddles in Anglo-Saxon England, where several early medieval collections of metrical riddles originated, such as the Enigmata of Aldhelm.
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For this reason, it has been inferred that Hwaetberht was the author of a collection of sixty Latin riddles known as the Enigmata Eusebii. These were written as a supplement to forty riddles written earlier by Tatwine, Archbishop of Canterbury.Mercedes Salvador-Bello, 'Patterns of Compilation in Anglo-Latin Enigmata and the Evidence of A Source-Collection in Riddles 1-40 of the Exeter Book, Viator, 43 (2012), 339–374 (p. 340 n. 3). 10.1484/J.VIATOR.1.102554.
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Paraphrases of his work in later writers demonstrate his method of interpreting these behavioral strictures. For instance, “Do not step over a yoke” should be understood as meaning “Do not transgress justice.” These interpretations indicate that the prohibitions held arcane significance for those willing to ponder them and learn, that the symbola are also enigmata (αἰνίγματα).Peter Struck, Birth of the Symbol, p. 99. The 1st-century BC grammarian Tryphon refers to Androcydes’ work in a section on literary enigmata, which he defines as darkened or obscured allegories.
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Patrick J. Murphy, Unriddling the Exeter Riddles (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2011), p. 4. The manuscript was written c. 800 in the Carolingian scriptorium of Lorsch Abbey, where it was rediscovered in 1753. It contains among a variety of grammatical texts the Aenigmata of Symphosius, the Enigmata of Aldhelm and a variety of prose and metrical texts by Boniface.
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Enigmata was released by Tzadik Records in June 2011. The New York City Jazz Record reviewer suggested that it was unlikely to appeal to purists of any genre of music, and wrote that "It's daunting before you put it on and can be rather unpleasant while it is. [...] As you play the CD, however, you realize it's not as scary and uncompromising as you might have feared".
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Riddle 40 was given unusual prominence by the scribe of the Exeter Book, and might in an exemplar of the manuscript have stood as the culmination of a collection of 40 Old English riddles. Unfortunately its ending is lost due to a missing bifolium in the manuscript.Mercedes Salvador- Bello, 'Patterns of Compilation in Anglo-Latin Enigmata and the Evidence of A Source-Collection in Riddles 1-40 of the Exeter Book, Viator, 43 (2012), 339–374 (pp. 368-70). 10.1484/J.VIATOR.1.102554.
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The West Saxon aristocrat, monk, scholar, and poet Aldhelm (c. 639–709) composed, among many other works, a set of one hundred hexametrical 'enigmata' or 'enigmas', inspired by the so-called Riddles of Symphosius. The thirty-third was Lorica ('corselet'). This was translated into Old English, and first witnessed in the Northumbrian dialect of Old English as the Leiden Riddle; the language is of the seventh or eighth century.Alaric Hall, Elves in Anglo-Saxon England: Matters of Belief, Health, Gender and Identity, Anglo-Saxon Studies, 8 (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2007), p. 79.
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The Lorsch riddles, also known as the Aenigmata Anglica, are a collection of twelve hexametrical, early medieval Latin riddles that were anonymously written in the ninth century. The absence of line breaks separating individual verses (among other things) show that they are possibly of English origin. The poems were heavily influenced by Aldhelm's Enigmata. None of the poems have a written solution, which has caused much debate over the answers to some of them; the solutions as given in Glore's edition are: 1. de homine/person; 2. de anima/soul; 3.
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Balanos has worked as a journalist for the field of paranormal for various editions, most known "Strange" and "Anexighito" (Unexplained) magazines (and back in the 1970s writing in "Enigmata tou Symbandos" [Enigmas of the Universe) and "UFO - Iptamenoi Diskoi" (UFOs - Flying Saucers] magazines). He contributed articles on various fields of research of paranormal concerning cities, geometries, symbols, initiations, biographies of secret-famous magicians. Characteristics of his articles is the use of humour, often black, hidden personal vanity (indirectly presenting himself as a keeper of secret knowledge), and extensive scientific knowledge of various scientific fields.
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40 n., credited "T. Wombwell" with the authorship of Walkington's treatise on the Optick Glasse, and referred to a passage (traceable to Scaliger) by way of illustrating Shylock's remarks on irrational antipathies (Merchant of Venice, iv.i.49). Walkington was also the author of An Exposition of the two first verses of the sixth chapter to the Hebrews, in form of a Dialogue, by T. W., Minister of the Word, London, 1609; of Theologicall Rules to guide us in the Understanding and Practice of Holy Scriptures […] also Enigmata Sacra, Holy Riddles […] by T. W., Preacher of the Word, 2 pts.
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Hwaetberht (died 740s) was abbot of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory, where he had served as a monk. He was elected to succeed Abbot Ceolfrith in 716 or 717 when Ceolfrith set off on a pilgrimage to Rome. Bede reports that Hwaetberht had himself made a pilgrimage to Rome, "and had stayed there a good long while, learning, copying down and bringing back with him all that he thought necessary for his studies" during the papacy of Sergius I (687-701). Bede's De temporum ratione is dedicated to Hwaetberht, so Bede appears to have regarded him highly.Mercedes Salvador-Bello, 'Patterns of Compilation in Anglo-Latin Enigmata and the Evidence of A Source-Collection in Riddles 1-40 of the Exeter Book, Viator, 43 (2012), 339–374 (p.
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