Head of Baphomet
An interesting discovery was made public in 1818 dealing
with the history of secret societies. According to Baron Joseph
von Hammer-Purgstall (in his essay Mysterium Baphometis
Revelatum in volume 6 of Fundgruben des Orients), there was
found among the antiquities of the Imperial Museum of Vienna
some idols named Heads of Baphomet, which the Templars
were said to have venerated. These heads represented the divinity
of the Gnostics, named Mêté (Wisdom). For a long time
one of these gilded heads was preserved at Marseilles. It had
been seized during a Templar retreat, at a time when they were
pursued by the law.
