Archaeologica.org

Marduk thinks it's a goat. No...I'm not kidding. He's got a whole theory about it.....

Was there anything that Marduk didn't have a theory about?

Robert Bauval made an issue out of the fact that an "equinoctal marker" as he thinks the sphinx is, carved in the shape of a lion would be more appropriate to the Age of Leo than the Age of Taurus.

It's an interesting idea.....and then Schoch comes along and says that erosional evidence proves the sphinx is much older than dynastic Egypt.

Actually, the Sphinx is supposed to be a monument to Harmakhis, god of the horizons:

http://library.thinkquest.org/15215/Cul ... makhis.htm

As quoted: "Harmakhis is represented as a man with a falcon head wearing a variety of crowns, or a falcon, or a ram headed lion ..." Harmakhis is synonymous in Egypt with Heru-Khuti, i.e. the Egyptian Herakles.

As far as representing a certain astrological age, since the head was apparently recarved, who knows? I really cannot understand how the Sphinx turns out to be created at 10,500bc and represents a "proof" that Atlantis ever existed, that's just fanciful thinking and speculatory science. That ram-headed lion comment may be the source of Marduk's goat; however, one thing is certain: we don't know what that outcropping looked like in pre-Dynastic Egypt other than possibly the following image:

Bauval is not an Atlantis-freak. Like Hancock, he studiously avoids the word.

Ishtar wrote:I think we have now established that the Roman god Mithras came from the Vedic god Mithra, admittedly via an uncertain route.

Assuming that we agree on that, perhaps it might be a good idea to go on to explore all the other Jesus-type myths that permeated the ancient world and to look at their similarities and to ask the question: why were these stories of the dying and resurrecting Godman/Goddess all so similar? Was it just because it was a good rattling yarn, even though there's no shoot 'em up at the end? Or was it for another reason.

I notice that there are about a hundred people viewing this thread, so if any of you would like to explore these ideas further, please let me know, and I'll start another thread on it.

Thanks.
Ishtar xxx 8)

That had to do with Neolithic stock breeding. Soon as the pastures were covered with snow, the herbivores would start loosing fat, and it was time to butcher. After the flies were gone and it was cold enuf to preserve the meat til they could get around to drying, smoking, salting, or whatever.

But back then, people lived with the meat they ate, and felt the grief at loosing animal spirits they knew, admired, and cared for. That sold the idea of re-incarnation in the sacred spiral of intestine known to also be in the females that they thot led to the womb.

It expiated the guilt of butchery. It promised an afterlife to people as well, which we see resulted in the womb shaped tombs. But it also resulted in the baby New Year, aka 'nysos', the "-os" being the PIE female possessive suffix of the Great Earth Mother, aka Gaia. But also "Dee" from which we have 'devout', 'deity', and from which the Romans got "Deus", and the Greeks got "Dionysos", literally, the son of the goddess.

Campbell has lotsa raps on the year god, born at the solstice, sexually mature at the spring equinox in time to fertilize the fields- which is why sexual rituals were performed on the newly plowed earth,

Then harvested at Lammas, Komos, or whatever, to die of old age on the winter solstice. Easy to see how Mithras could plug into that. I can see as well how Mitraism didnt get far in the Roman empire because of all the wars fought with Persia, but dont understand why Mithraic prophets didnt go into Transylvania & Germany to arrange a spiritual, as well as military, alliance against the Romans.

Whether they were both working with myth that descended from the same PIE source, or for psychological reasons evolved similar narratives puzzles me, I dunno why Mithraism didnt sweep across barbarian Europe rather than having so much of it adopt the Christianity of their hated Roman enemies.

I dunno why Mithraism didnt sweep across barbarian Europe rather than having so much of it adopt the Christianity of their hated Roman enemies.

Mithraism (or Sol Invictus, in the Roman vernacular) was a mystery cult that had a selective membership policy.

Christianity was spread at the point of a sword.....(just like Islam but Christians hate the analogy.)

Minimalist wrote:

I dunno why Mithraism didnt sweep across barbarian Europe rather than having so much of it adopt the Christianity of their hated Roman enemies.

Mithraism (or Sol Invictus, in the Roman vernacular) was a mystery cult that had a selective membership policy.

Christianity was spread at the point of a sword.....(just like Islam but Christians hate the analogy.)

Does anyone here not know that Mithraic scripture reported that when he was born, the shepherds were watching their flocks by night and the angels of the Lord came down singing hosannahs? i mean secrecy is one thing, but you'd think they'd see their message was being ripped off and blow the whistle.

And ya, I agree with your point of a sword, but wonder if now the traditional levels of hypocrisy are sustainable on the Net.

DB, I've often observed on some of my more atheistic boards that if you gave me the power to torture and kill people and give me control of education within 20 years I could have people worshipping a toaster.

Minimalist wrote:DB, I've often observed on some of my more atheistic boards that if you gave me the power to torture and kill people and give me control of education within 20 years I could have people worshipping a toaster.

That'd work if they thot they could make money at it. There's a much easier sell however. You may recall Ben Franklin noting that while Philadelphia had lots of churches of lotsa sects, with lotsa different scripture, the one thing they all worshiped was the Almighty Dollar.

And its curious, when you like at the most respected version, the genuine silver coin has this divine figure on it all right- The goddess of Liberty. And likewise, our most monumental idol stands in New York harbor holding up Her torch to illuminate the motto: "Give us your tired, your poor..." and in classic American fashion, nobody reads the fine print:"Offer good while supplies last."

And just the other nite, I heard an archaeologist explain that there is no record actually of any sacred ritual ever being performed in the most idealized sacred space in all history, the Parthenon, but that it was, in fact, a bank vault. And true to our tradition, our banks have been built with the same columns and even the same proportions ever since. That's not my idea-
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/ ... mmxent-utl
is one of the raps on it. There was a stylized version with tapered, almost Minoan, columns built in the 1960's in Mpls, to the exact same scale and proportions.

Which neurologist Ramachandran says is written in our occipital lobes. You mite could do a toaster, but if you refer to ongoing neurology and how that relates to ancient myth and iconogarphy, something like Athena is gonzo easier to pull off.

Specially since women are taking over the planet. Hard chrome shiny shit is for men; women want something softer, like Gaia.

daybrown wrote:
Hard chrome shiny shit is for men

No, men want the virgin whore.

I once walked around the red light district in Malta and between each brothel was a statue of the virgin mary. That's what they want. A virgin who's a whore in the bedroom.

Hummm ... What is the last count for those Virgin's promised by Allah if you "Blow Your Ass Up?" I've heard "upteen", but never have really read the fine print!

72.



I'm still trying to lose the vision of Ish walking around a Maltese red-light district with rosary beads.

Minimalist wrote:72.



I'm still trying to lose the vision of Ish walking around a Maltese red-light district with rosary beads.

Japamala beads, Min - not rosary beads!

Beads are beads.

Ahem, I beg to differ.

Japamala strings have exactly 108 beads, and they're definitely not Catholic.

http://www.healthandyoga.com/html/produ ... beads.html

A mala is a string of 108 beads with one bead as the summit bead called a 'sumeru'.

It is a tool used to keep your mind on the meditation practice. Malas are generally made from different materials such as tulsi (basil) wood, sandal wood, rudraksh seeds or crystal. Each type of material has certain properties which subtly affect the subconscious mind of the practitioner.