Ancient

Ancient. The word, Ancient, came into Masonic discourse during the period when it was commonly supposed that the Society had originated at the building of King Solomon’s Temple if not earlier, and hence, that King Solomon, Hiram of Tyre, and Hiram Abif were our first three Ancient Grand Masters, and that everything about Masonry was ancient; the Charges became Ancient Charges, Freemasonry became Ancient Freemasonry, and it was not difficult to convince many that the whole arose from the Ancient Mysteries. The term was used much as it is used in Ancient History, to refer to occurrences before the Birth of Christ. By the discovery, in the latter part of the 19th century, that the Society really evolved out of an architectural, geometrical, or scientific building craft of the Middle Ages, engaged in the serious and practical work of erecting Gothic cathedrals and other imposing public buildings, the honor and importance of the Society were not impaired, though the backward reach of its fanciful history was foreshortened, so that there was little left in Freemasonry, except moral principles, to which the name Ancient could be accurately applied. There are yet ancient legends, allegories, symbols and ideas used for ritualistic purposes, and the term, Ancient, itself, must now be considered as used symbolically.

Dr. Plot in his celebrated description of English Freemasonry about 1686 as set forth in his Natural History of Staffordshire (see HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY), used the word, ancient, to mean an old Mason, saying that a lodge was to consist of ”at least five or six of the Ancients of the Order,” but he was misinformed, since the custom was for any five or six Freemasons, old or young, to form a lodge at their discretion. See ANTIENT.

Macoy Collector's Note: A classic Coil historical correction. He brilliantly re-frames the word ”Ancient” from a literal claim of origin at King Solomon's Temple to a symbolic representation of the Craft's moral principles.