Hi David! I thought about the You are not allowed to view links.
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sapiens Christian or from You are not allowed to view links.
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Login to view., while I like the latter more. But this is in general, the intermediate points (nymphs) still perplexes me.
As for the evolution from beasts to wise people. Some ancient stories narrate that the first children of Adam and Eve were beasts as Adam and Eve coupled with some low essences. And only when the God shew mercy to them and let them be together and have children, they at first had an offspring which were humans. So, through sins and penitence, they came to Christianity.
Depiction of the evolution from the material world to spiritual one is also very plausible here. As I wrote, the image of the nymph emerged from the mouth of the fish can mean rebirth, no matter whose image is close to it, Jonah or a snake dropped her skin (figuratively) . When I write "rebirth", I mean, of course, not only reincarnation or resurrection, it can imply just renovation in any sense. As you know, in Christianity the way from material to spiritual always lays through renovation and purification from sins.
Anyway, the first point and the last one of the scheme look more understandable, the rest makes confusions. The nymph in supine position holding a ring always led me to a thought about Divine marriage. The problem is that I doubt that it can be depicted in this way in the religious context of Christians, as it generously hints on the sin. Thus, if it is a depiction of the Divine marriage, it must be not religious, rather gnostic, philosophical.
As well, is unclear whether the nymph on the second stage is pregnant or it is just an accidental lines.