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Mythology:
(Fact or Fiction)
The tradition of story-telling has roots that
can be traced deep into humanities distant past. Even today, the art of
oration continues to play a part in the continuity of cultural preservation
around the world.
Certain of these stories have
perpetuated themselves into the
mythological psyche of humanity.
The age and importance of
these surviving cultural relics is further enhanced by the fact that in
certain cases they appear to have transcended cultural borders, i.e. the
flood myth (see below). While it has long been
declared that myths are largely fictitious, there is a school of thought
that argues otherwise.
The Flood myth
- With over a hundred independent world-wide accounts of the 'Great Flood',
this is the classic archetypal myth. In addition to having been
recorded globally, a number of isolated versions of the myth carry numerous
specific details in common. there is little doubt that we are forced to consider that at the very least, people witnessed
catastrophic flood events in the past. Is it possible that the 'great flood'
myths may have their origins
in the flood events following the end of the last ice-age?.
(More about the Flood
Myth)
Giants -
Giants were recorded in ancient text and archaeological discovery supports the idea that races of 'Giants'
may have once existed. Even today, the genetic variation of our species
includes a percentage with gigantism, suggesting that stories of giants cannot be so easily
refuted. But beware the fakes...
(More about Giants)
'Feathered Serpents'
(Dragons, Comets?)
-
This curious combination of symbols appears in mythologies
from around the ancient world, but what are their origins and how are we to
explain the fact that so many apparently unrelated cultures adopted these
two strikingly contrary symbols independently of each other? Examples
include the South American 'God' Quetzalcoatl and the Cult of the feathered
serpent, the Egyptian culture which includes several surprisingly similar
examples, Chinese dragons and much more.
(More about Feathered
Serpents)
The World mountain
- From the Greek Olympus to the Indian 'Mount Mashu', the belief in
the concept of a World mountain is found in myths around the ancient
world.
There is speculation
that the world mountain may refer to the Great pyramid. Passages in the
Egyptian 'Book of the Dead' are suggested to refer to it.
The day the sun stood
still
- A look at the fascinating set of myths from around the world that appear to
record the same astronomical event.
Immaculate conception
- The idea of a 'virgin
birth' is frequently associated to the birth of a person of historical
importance.
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Mythology as a Historical Narrative: |
It was long believed that
the city of Troy was an imaginary city from Homer's 'Illiad'.
However, in 1871 Dr Heindrich Schlieman used the text in order to discover
its location. Troy is an example of the way in which facts become
'mythologised' over time.
Discoveries such as the city of Troy (Illium)
demonstrates the fact that myth's can be based on fact. We cannot
however conclude from this that all myths are based on fact. It is equally
likely that some myths may have become embellished over time from a 'seed'
of truth, which can no longer be separated from the sheath of fictitious narrative,
for example although we now know Troy to have been a real city:
In Homers 'Iliad' (17. 426 pp), concerning the fall of Troy, he writes that:
"The horses of Aiakides (Akhilleus, Achilles) standing apart from the
battle wept, as they had done since they heard how their charioteer
(Patroklos) had fallen in the dust at the hands of murderous Hektor".
Such a description certainly evokes the misery felt at the loss of the commanding
officer, an event which may indeed have occurred, but when we are informed
that Hector's horses also wept at his passing, we pass the point
where fact separates from fiction.
As previously mentioned, it has been observed that
certain ' universal' myths have been repeated within apparently unrelated
cultures from around the world. The following reasonable arguments are put
forward to explain this:
1. - That they are
descriptions of events which were witnessed simultaneously around the
world.
2. - That they are stories that have originated from a
single
ancient common source.
3. - That humanity possesses a collective conscious
(termed the 'z-factor' by biologists).
The following story is an example of a Folk-tale which led to an
archaeological discovery:
'Sometimes local
tradition, which is wonderfully long-lived, helps the archaeologist in
his discoveries. An old man told an antiquary that a certain barrow in
his parish was haunted by the ghost of a soldier who wore golden armour.
The antiquary determined to investigate and dug into the barrow, and
there found the body of a man with a gold or bronze breastplate. I am
not sure whether the armour was gold or bronze. Now here is an amazing
instance of folk-memory. The chieftain was buried probably in
Anglo-Saxon times, or possibly earlier. During thirteen hundred years,
at least, the memory of that burial has been handed down from father to
son until the present day. It almost seems incredible'
(2).
Easily the most common global
myth is that of a great deluge which almost eliminated life on Earth.
Variations of this story occur from all round the world, many of which contain
similar details. For example, in almost all versions the survivor/s are
forewarned of the deluge. They are given instructions to build a craft, to
store a selection of life on board, they use birds to find land, and are the
progenitors of the species from that time on. In fact, there are well over 50 similar flood myths world-wide. Some of the better known versions follow:
Hindu -
'Manu, a hero, finds a fish, rears it and then releases it into the Ganges.
As a reward the fish announces it will save him from a purification of the
world. It gives him instructions to build a ship with stores and everything
is destroyed except Manu and the seven 'Rishis' he had taken. The fish
guides the boat until they reach a mountain top, whereupon it reveals itself
as 'Prajapati' (or Vishnu in versions), the supreme god who helps Manu
recreate life on earth.
Aztec -
('Na-Hui-Atl' -
The age of water). After the world had existed for 1716 years
the flood came. All mankind was lost and drowned and found themselves
changed to fish. In a single day all was lost. Only 'Nata' and his wife
'Nana' were saved, having been warned by the god 'Titlacahuan' to make a
boat from a Cyprus tree.
Maori -
Mankind once became so disrespectful of the great God ' Tane' who had created
them that there were only two prophets left who preached the truth. Insulted
by men, they built a house on a huge raft, stocked it with food and dogs,
and brought down heavy rain by incantation to demonstrate the powers of 'Tane'.
The waters rose and the prophets embarked with a few others. After six
months the flood began to subside and they settled on dry land, to discover
the whole world and its inhabitants had been destroyed.
Greek mythology refers to three floods.
The flood of
Ogyges, the flood of
Deucalion
and the flood of
Dardanus, two of which
ended two 'Ages of Man': the Ogygian Deluge ended the Silver Age, and the
flood of Deucalion ended the First Bronze Age.
Zeus sent a flood to destroy the
men of the Bronze Age. Prometheus advised his son Deucalion to build a
chest. All other men perished except for a few who escaped to high
mountains. The mountains in Thessaly were parted, and all the world
beyond the Isthmus and Peloponnese was overwhelmed. Deucalion and his
wife Pyrrha (daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora), after floating in
the chest for nine days and nights, landed on Parnassus. When the
rains ceased, he sacrificed to Zeus, the God of Escape. At the bidding
of Zeus, he threw stones over his head; they became men, and the
stones which Pyrrha threw became women. That is why people are called
laoi, from laas, "a stone." [Apollodorus, 1.7.2]
'The first race of people was
completely destroyed because they were exceedingly wicked. The
fountains of the deep opened, the rain fell in torrents, and the
rivers and seas rose to cover the earth, killing all of them.
Deucalion survived due to his prudence and piety and linked the first
and second race of men. Onto a great ark he loaded his wives and
children and all animals. The animals came to him, and by God's help,
remained friendly for the duration of the flood. The flood waters
escaped down a chasm opened in Hierapolis'. [Frazer,
pp. 153-154]
'An earlier flood was reported to
have occurred in the time of Ogyges, founder and king of Thebes. The
flood covered the whole world and was so devastating that the country
remained without kings until the reign of Cecrops'. [Gaster, p. 87]
'Nannacus, king of Phrygia, lived
before the time of Deucalion and foresaw that he and all people would
perish in a coming flood. He and the Phrygians lamented bitterly,
hence the old proverb about "weeping like (or for) Nannacus." After
the deluge had destroyed all humanity, Zeus commanded Prometheus and
Athena to fashion mud images, and Zeus summoned winds to breathe life
into them. The place where they were made is called Iconium after
these images'. [Frazer, p. 155]
"Many great deluges have taken
place during the nine thousand years" since Athens and Atlantis were
preeminent. Destruction by fire and other catastrophes was also
common. In these floods, water rose from below, destroying city
dwellers but not mountain people. The floods, especially the third
great flood before Deucalion, washed away most of Athens' fertile
soil. [Plato, "Timaeus" 22, "Critias" 111-112]
We are left with a clear
record of flood-events from around the ancient world. The most recent known
mega-flood events were a result of the end of the last great Ice-age, which
occurred over three main flood periods following the Ice-age, it is very
likely that the global flood-myths are testimony of these events.
Textual
References to a Mega-Flood:
Assyrian: An inscription on a tablet in the
British museum (K3050, K2964), bears testament by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal to the following:
'I have read the artistic script of
the Sumer and the dark script of the Akadian and now I take great
pleasure in the reading of the stone inscriptions from
before the flood'.
In 1922, the Weld-Blundell
expedition excavating at Sumerian Larsa discovered the 'Weld Prism', now
in the Ashmolean museum, Oxford. The prism contains a history written by
a scribe called 'Nur-Ninsubur' in approx 2100 BC. In his account he
records the list of ten pre-flood kings (a legendary era of 241,200
years), and ends his writing with the words, 'and the Flood overthrew
the land'. Enki warns the king of Sippar 'Ziasudra', who escapes.
(9)
225 A.H. (836 AD) - Papyrus of Abou
Hormeis:
'In this manner were the pyramids
built. Upon the walls were written the mysteries of science, astronomy,
geometry, physics, and much useful knowledge, which any person, who
understands our writing, can read. The deluge was to take place
when the heart of the lion entered the first minute of the head of cancer, at
the declining of the star. The other indications were the sun and moon
entering into the first minute of the head of Aries and Saturn, in the first
degree and twenty eight minutes of Aries; and Jupiter, in the twenty-ninth
degree twenty-eight minutes of Pisces; and Hermes, i.e. Mercury, in the fifth
degree and three minutes of the Lion.'
(Note- This
particular account was translated
from the Coptic into Arabic c. 225 A.H., supposed to be four thousand three hundred
and twenty-one years after the construction of the pyramids (836AD = 4321
- 836 = 3,485 BC) an account of the appearance of the heavens when the
waters subsided, is also included).
2,400 BC - The Canons of the Chinese Emperor:
'In the lifetime of Yao, the sun did not set for ten full
days and the entire land was flooded by an immense wave, that reached
the sky'.
(Examples
of Underwater Archaeology)
The A merica's.
The Aztec god
Quetzalcoatl is
represented as a 'feathered serpent'. Also known as Kukulcan to the Mayans,
the feathered serpent features heavily in south American iconography.
The Maya called the plumed dragon Cuculcan or Cucumatz, the Zuñi
Kolowissi. As far South as Venezuela we hear of the snake
Huiio who crowned herself with the scattered feathers of the ancestral birds,
as the Makiritare people report.
El Castillo - The temple of Kukulcan,
Chichen Itza, Mexico.
Each face of the pyramid has a stairway with ninety-one steps, which
together with the shared step of the platform at the top, add up to 365 (full-days
in the solar year). The stairs also divided into nine terraces of
each side of the pyramid into eighteen segments, representing the eighteen
months of the Mayan calendar.
During the Equinoxes, the sun causes a shadow of a serpent on the
northern steps of the pyramid. In the spring, it appears to ascend, and in
the autumn it descends again
(1)
The Pyramid of
the feathered serpent
is located at Teotihuacán. Located in the Ciudadela at the southern end
of the Avenue of the Dead.
This pyramid was built over existing structures, and has
been built over since by the 'Adosada', which was integrated into the design
of the original temple, archaeology has re-exposed the original temple of
the feathered serpent, upon which can be seen the numerous 'feathered
serpents' heads carved into the temples facade and stairwell.
Egyptian feathered serpents:
There are several striking similarities between Mesoamerican
feathered serpents and those from ancient Egypt.
T emple of Hatshepsut:
Of particular interest is the Temple of Hatshepsut, which is entered by
passing up a long sloping ramp, with stairs up the centre and stone banisters
with a serpent running from top to bottom, ending at the bottom in a birds body.
The Royal insignia
on all of Tutankhamun's
(1336-1327 BC)
coffin masks and head-dresses have both the serpent and the snake on them.
(The
Nekhbet-vulture and
Buto-uraeus),
demonstrating the importance of these symbols to the Egyptians.
From left to Right; Tutankhamun's headband, his funerary
mask, The funerary casket and second funerary casket.
Greek Feathered Serpents:
The Caduceus.
(Rod of Hermes)
According to mythology, Hermes
threw his magic wand at two fighting snakes. The snakes became entwined as
they stopped fighting. The actual origin of the Caduceus is from two
sources. The first was from the Babylonia god Ningizzida and the second was
from a shepherd's crook that was forked on top.
Typhon. (Typhaon,
Typhoeus, Typhus) was the last son of Gaia. Typhon's father was tartarus. He
is described as having a hundred serpent heads. With Echidna Typhon's
children were Cerberus, the Lernaean hydra, and the Chimaera. Typhon is
mentioned by Hesiod, Pindar, Aeschylus, and the Homeric Hymn to Apollo.
Later writers identified him with the Egyptian god
Seth.
In Greek mythology, the heaven-spanning giant Typhon had serpents for legs and a body "all winged" or feathered, as Apollodorus reported.
On the right is an Etruscan Mural
from the Tomb of Orcus, in which we can see Typhöeus, whose legs are
serpents, bracing himself beneath the land. His constant struggle causes Mt.
Etna to roar.
Winged Serpents (Dragons) in Myth:
Babylonian -
Apep, the
Seven-Headed Dragon of Egypt has been identified with Tiamat, the Great
Dragon of Sumeria, slain by Marduk. This primordial goddess is the
prototype of the biblical monster Leviathan. It is little known that in the
Book of Revelation this same Dragon makes an anonymous guest appearance.
Britain-
St. George, St Margaret and St Michael are the three traditional British
Dragon slayers of fable. Many of the locations dedicated to St. Michael have
been determined to have a secondary astronomical association and placed in
alignments, The St. Michael's lay runs across Britain from Cornwall to
Norfolk.
(More about St. Michael)
Chinese -
Dragon gods and
living dragon culture. 'Dragon-lines' of feng-shui.
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The Day the Sun Stood Still: |
The following remarkable set of myths from around the
ancient world appears to confirm the occurrence of an astronomical
phenomena.
Joshua
-
'...As they fled from
before Israel the Lord cast down great stones from heaven unto Azekah, and
they died : they were more which died with hail stones (stones of barad)
than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword ...And he said in
the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gideon; and thou, Moon, in
the valley of Ajalon. And the Sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until
the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is it not written in
the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and
hastened not to go down about a whole day. And there was no day like that
before it or after it...'
(Ref: Joshua (10:11-14),
compiled from the more ancient book of Jasher).
The 'Midrashim',
the books on ancient traditions which are not embodied in the scriptures,
relates that the sun and the moon stood still for thirty six 'Itim',
or eighteen hours, and thus from sunrise to sunset the day lasted about
thirty hours.
(22).
Although these
myth-stories could be argued to have originated from an original source, the
same cannot be said so easily of the following accounts, which originate
from other apparently independent cultures from the ancient world.
Sahagun
-
The Spanish savant who came to America a generation
Columbus and gathered the traditions of the natives, wrote that at the time
of one cosmic catastrophe the
sun rose only a little way over the horizon
and remained there without moving: the moon
also stood still. (22).
The
Andeans record a myth-story that
the sun stayed away for twenty hours. This
event is said to have occurred under the reign of Yupanqui Pachacuti II, the
fifteenth ruler of the old time.
In the
Mexican 'Annals of Cuauhtitlan' or 'Codex Chimpalpopoca'
- the history of the empire in Culhuacan and Mexico, written in Nahua-Indian
in the sixteenth century - it is related that during a cosmic catastrophe
that occurred in the remote past, the night did not end for an
extended period of time.
(22).
And from Asia -
The canons of the Chinese emperor. (2,400 BC
?) - 'In the
lifetime of Yao, the
sun did not set
for ten full days and the entire land was flooded (by an immense wave), that
reached the sky'.
It is important to recognise that all these
stories were recorded from different
locations on earth. On one side of the Earth people record that the Sun
stayed in the sky, while on the other side, the stores are that the Sun
stayed away.
The most logical cause of the appearance of the Sun,
Moon and stars stopping in their paths, is that in fact, we stopped turning on ours.
But what could cause a temporary cessation of the rotation of our globe? It
has been suggested that a possibility could have been that something large affected our
ordered symmetry momentarily (Such as a large celestial object)
It is possible that earths rotation has been affected more
than once before in the past. Velikovsky concluded that the earth was hit
twice with a gap of 52 years between events. This is supported by Mayan
tradition. The number off times, duration or cause of these
incidents remains undetermined.
As Earths rotation has reduced in recent years by an average
of one second every 500 days (leap second), our Earth will, if the
deceleration rate remains constant, show no self rotation around its axis
within less than 120,000 years,
(8).
We are reminded also of the story of
Phaethon, in which the 'sun chariot roamed'
Phaethon/Phaeton
- 'The blazing one' -
The best known version of this Greek
legend is that of the Latin poet, Ovid, who wrote that Pheathon, who claimed
parentage from the sun, tried to drive the chariot of the sun but was unable
to make his way 'against the whirling poles,' and 'their swift
axis' swept him away. The chariot of the sun moved 'no longer in the
same course as before.' The horses 'break loose from their course'
and 'rush aimlessly, knocking against the stars set deep in the sky and
snatching the chariot along through uncharted ways. The
constellations of the cold Bears tried to plunge into the forbidden sea, and
the suns chariot roamed...as a useless ship driven before the
headlong blast, whose pilot has let the rudder go and abandoned the ship to
the gods..'. Ovid then continues to describe how 'The earth burst into
flame...' and catastrophe ensued. He ends the story with the phrase, 'she
(the earth).....sank back a little lower than her wanton place'.
(Ref: Ovid. Metamorphoses).
Solon -
On his visit to Egypt, questioned the priests on early
history and lore was told '....in truth, the story that is told in your
country as well as ours, how once upon a time Phaethon, son of Helios, yoked
his fathers chariot, and, because he was unable to drive it along the course
taken by his father, burnt up all that was upon the earth and himself
perished in a thunderbolt - that story, as it is told, has the fashion of a
legend, but the truth of it lies in the occurrence of a shifting of the
bodies in the heavens which move around the earth, and a destruction of
things on the earth...'.
(Ref: Plato. Timaeus)
Gilgamesh reaches Mount 'Mashi' or 'Sunset
hill',.. which divided the land of living with dead. A Dark
tunnel pierces it. He enters through a door and follows the suns road
for 12 leagues (12 hours = the Amduat), to its rising through the
mountain (p177 Babylonian myths)
'Mashu' (Machu?)
which means 'Twins' in Akkadian. It was a mountain
with twin peaks into which the sun descends at nightfall.
The name of Enlils temple at Nippur
has been translated as 'Mountain
House' or 'Like a mountain'. These Babylonian 'Temple towers' were
symbols of the 'world-hill' - (Babylonian myths)
The 'Pyramid texts'
state that the goal of a pharaoh after death is
'The duat'. In the land of the mountain gods. He has to enter the 'house
of two truths', 'the house of fire'. Reachable by entering
a mountain and going down hidden paths and secret doors etc. 'At
the gate of the duat the folding doors of the mountain of light are
opened to thee'.
The Chinese
have a sacred/world mountain called 'Hua Shan' of the
West.
The Babylonian 'Temple Towers'
were symbols of the world hill.
The Great pyramid has been referred to
as the 'Bible in Stone',
by a number of people. The most seemingly
appropriate references from the bible are: 'Isaiah. Ch 19: 19, 20. 'In
that day shall there be an alter to the lord in the midst of the land
of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the lord, and it shall
be a sign and for a witness unto the lord of hosts in the land of
Egypt'. Seiss
(15),
notes that the word
'Alter' in Hebrew, translates as 'The lion of God'.
Ezekiel describes an alter as 'The
mountain of God'.
Sumerian texts refer to the E.KUR, meaning ' House which is like a
Mountain'. They depicted the E.kur on clay tablets by a square-based
pyramid with wings, sometimes with a spherical glowing apex, sometimes
even accompanied by a lion-shaped statue.
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Virgin Births: The Immaculate Conception: |
There
are several examples of the myth of immaculate conception in religious literature:
Egypt - Luxor temple. Representation of
Queen Hatshepsut.
Adonis - Babylonian god born of the
virgin Ishtar.
Zoaraster - Born of a virgin 1500-1200
BC
Krishna - Born of the virgin Devaki
around 1200 BC.
Indra - Born of a virgin in Tibet around
700 BC.
Buddha - Born of the virgin
Maya
around 600 BC.
Mithra - Born of a virgin in a stable on
25 December around 600 BC.
Dionysus - Greek god, born of a virgin
in a stable, also turned water into wine.
Attis - Born of the virgin Nama in
Phrygia around 200 BC.
Quirrnus - An early Roman saviour, born
of a virgin.
Christ - From the virgin Mary in
Bethlehem.
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