I bought an old jug from a thrift store.
I rubbed the jug with my hand: the smoke went like a column, I was told that a genie lives in the jug.
A huge genie appeared, thundered like thunder …"
(song by V. Presnyakov "Djinn").
The etymology of the word jinn is in Arabic جن, according to one version it comes from the Latin genius “spirit”, according to the other - from the Arabic “ijtinan” which means “secrecy, invisible concealment”.
If we summarize the typical details about jinn from various sources, we get the following description: the jinn is contained in a copper jug sealed with the lead seal of Solomon, to release it, you have to rub the jug with your hand. The genie flies out of the jug with a terrible crash, flame and smoke and fulfills the wishes of the one who freed him.
The given technical details are quite enough to make an unambiguous conclusion: the appearance of a genie is a very accurate description of a shot from a firearm - mortars (bombards).
Promotional video:
The genie is truly a "spirit" in terms of sound, smell and intangibility. From such “copper jugs” a formidable “spirit-dudukh” appeared, a genius (genie) of fulfilling the owner's wishes:
1/4 pound (123-mm) bronze mortar of the first quarter of the 19th century, weight 73 kg, height 41 cm.
Mortar machine sample 1805
Let us analyze separately the signs of genies and their compliance with the technical features of firearms.
Copper jar for the genie
Why the bronze product is called copper clearly and without comment, but why the mortar was called a jug, it is better to see and understand that it is quite natural for people to use comparisons with familiar objects.
A modern person, even at the sight of a real jug in the photo on the left, will have an association with a firearm, and vice versa, in those ancient times, the image of a mortar on the right would definitely cause the association of a jug on a cart:
There are also jinn jugs. Mortar in the citadel of the German city of Weser.
On the left is a 1727 Russian mortar. Caliber - 0.68 feet (210 mm), weight - 705 kg. Museum of the Black Sea Fleet, Sevastopol, Ukraine, on the right - a German mortar of the 16th century, cast together with a pallet:
The image of a jug as a traditional repository of genies has been used for a long time and everywhere. For example, in 1900, The Brass Bottle, a fairy tale by the English writer F. Anstee, was published, based on which Lazar Lagin wrote his fairy tale The Old Man Hottabych in 1938, and in 1956 a film of the same name was shot. The copper jug disappeared from the title, but remained in the plot.
Historical justice was restored by Sergei Oblomov, writing the story "The Copper Jug of Old Man Hottabych", but in its 2006 film version "} {0TT @ Bb) W" a copper vessel of irregular shape was used - instead of a jug, there was some kind of teapot. It seems like a small retreat, but the image of the mortar becomes unrecognizable.
The popularization of the image of "Aladdin's lamp" leads even more astray. Firstly, this plot is absent from the original sources of "1001 Nights" and "Aladdin's lamp" was invented by the publisher Antoine Galland. Secondly, the image of an oil lamp with a spout took root thanks to Disney, although "jug" shaped oil lamps were more common. But in the fairy tale about the "Aladdin's lamp" there was an important technical detail "rub the vessel with the genie with your hand", but more on that later, and now let's figure out how the genies were sealed and the mortars loaded.
Sealing the jinn with the lead seal of Solomon
Of course, the "lead seal" means a lead projectile, i.e. nucleus. When loading the mortar through the muzzle, the "genie concentrate" - black smoky powder was first poured, then a wad-pad was sent, and last of all, a very tight lead core was literally clogged, wrapped in something (leather, oiled cloth, etc.) for maximum use energy of powder gases. All. The genie (gunpowder) is securely sealed, sealed (seal from the Latin word plumbum - lead).
In the above picture of an old firearm and a photograph of a ship mortar from 1703 (in the Izmail Museum), the very lead seals-cores are visible next to the jinn mortars for genies:
There are many references to the sealing of jinn with jinn with lead. For example, the famous Sufi parable "The Fisherman and the Jinn" tells how a fisherman fished a copper vessel sealed with a lead seal in the sea, but as if he released the jinn not as usual, rubbing the jar with his hand, but pulled out this seal. The creators of the parable "heard the ringing, but they do not know where it is," and therefore made a mistake.
To release the genie, you need to rub the jug with your hand
This way of freeing the genie really looks magical. Then it was sealed with a "lead seal" and suddenly you just have to rub the jug with your hand. Do not hit, do not turn over, do not toss or kick, not with a stick, but LOSE BY HAND. What's the secret?
In order to release the genie to shoot from the mortar, you need to set fire to the main powder charge. This was done by igniting a fine seed powder in a small seed hole. At first, the seed gunpowder was set on fire with a red-hot rod, a smoldering wick (wick guns), but spark ignition devices on the principle of the shock interaction of flint (pyrite) and steel turned out to be more convenient.
Spark ignition devices (locks) were of three types: flint-percussion, wheel-type and … TOROCHNE!
The action of very common shock-flint (or simply "flint") castles gave rise to the legends about the Firebird and the Phoenix bird.
How the wheel spark lock works can be seen by looking at an ordinary disposable lighter: a notched wheel knocks out a spark from the "flint" and ignites the gas in the lighter, and in the weapon, accordingly, the priming powder.
On the topic of genies, we are interested in the immediate predecessor of the wheel lock - a spark ignition device, which was a flint fixed near a shelf with seed powder, along which a steel plate slid with notches on the surface (such as a file) and, touching the pressed flint, when moving, cut sparks, from which the seed ignited.
As an example, a spark grater lock on a 15th century German pistol:
1 - toothed float handle; 2 - retractable grater; 3 - flint; 4 - serpentine clamping jaws (trigger).
To fire, the grater had to be pulled or pushed, depending on the design. And for reliable ignition, the grater of the spark grater lock mounted on the mortar was moved back and forth several times, hence the absolutely exact comparison of the observer “to release the genie, you need to rub the jug”.
We turn to the description of the very moment of the shot.
Flame, crash, smoke and genie stench
Let's see how these natural signs of a black powder shot from a firearm are described in the primary sources about genies.
Genie = fire, flame:
The Spiritual Center of Muslims, quite justifiably, as we have already seen, asserts: “There is no doubt that jinn exist, since the texts of the Qur'an and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad indicate this. Evidence for the existence of jinn is found both in the Qur'an and in the hadith of the Prophet. It is also said about the jinn in the sayings of the Prophet, peace be upon Him: "Allah created Angels from light, jinn from pure flame."
Qur'an about jinn. A whole surah of the Koran is dedicated to the Jinn - "Al-Jinn". In other suras, we also find many explanations regarding their nature. So, in the sura "Ar-Rahman" it is said: "And he created the jinn from pure fire." In Surah Al-Hijr: "… [We created] jinn out of scorching fire."
Genie = smoke:
Let us admire the riot of human imagination as applied to the description of a cloud of smoke from a mortar shot. Cosmographer Al Qazwini writes that "jinn are airy beings with a transparent body that can take various forms." At first they appear in the form of clouds; then they become denser and their shape becomes visible, taking on the appearance of a man, jackal, wolf, lion, scorpion or snake.
The English orientalist Edward William Lane writes that when genies take on human form, they are sometimes gigantic in size. They also say that they can, at will, become invisible "due to the rapid expansion and liquefaction of the particles of which they are composed," and then they can disappear, dissolving in air or water, or penetrate through a solid wall (this is when smoke penetrates after a projectile) …
Indeed, beautifully "they lie like eyewitnesses" - with this approach, even the description of ordinary clouds will become unrecognizable.
Genie = scary thunder
The roar when fired with black powder from a mortar should be explained especially for a modern person, whose idea of the sound of a shot is created mainly when watching films. The chances of hearing a full-fledged shot from a mortar are almost zero, but you can get closer to understanding by comparison.
A few shots of black powder from a hunting rifle are enough for a person to have ringing in their ears all day. But in a cartridge there are only 7-8 grams of black black powder, and in a mortar it can be 100-150 times more! Even for a previously trained person, such a directed explosion of gunpowder will be a shock, and an unexpected shot for some natives will become at least a psychological trauma for life, or even cause concussion, deafness, ruptured eardrums, etc.
Somehow they forget that from ancient times the main task of firearms was intimidation, not defeat. A demoralized adversary can be easily manipulated to his advantage.
Fulfilling desires with a genie
Djinn help to fulfill desires in the same way as hand firearms - fairies and magic wands, you just need to intelligibly declare your desires to the natives and, for persuasiveness, release the genie by firing a bombard mortar.
From this point of view, the meaning of the statements that the jinn helped Solomon (Suleiman) build temples and palaces and why the jinn were credited with the construction of gigantic structures, for example, the Egyptian pyramids, is completely understandable.
When used skillfully, firearms work wonders!
