AAL’S LABYRINTH HISTORY An Alternative Viewpoint…..contd. #55

747 BCE          Babylonian chronological tables record the lunisolar cycle. (14)

 

725             The Kushites conquer the whole of Egypt and form the XXV Dynasty of the Pharaohs ruling over that country.

 

722                 NINEVEH LIBRARY in the land of Assyria holds documents of reports by official astrologers and these indicate that the concept of the Ecliptic has been established. The records also list heliacal risings of constellations, the synodic revolutions of the 5 visible planets and predictions of eclipses. 721 BCE is the oldest surviving dated recording of an eclipse at Babylon. (15)

Royal Library of Ashurbanipal

As collected by British Museum

c721              SARGON II the Assyrian King at this time captures the Israelite (Hebrew/Jewish) kingdom and establishes a resurgence of the Assyrian Empire. The ten tribes of Israel, as organised entities, dissolve and disappear from history.  

                       In 717 BCE Sargon II will build a fortress city at Khorsban. He dies in 705 and the city is never used but abandoned and left to fall into ruins. Sargon’s son, Esarhaddon rebuilds Babylon as part of the Assyrian Empire, then divides the kingdom between his two sons, Shamash, who rules Babylon and Ashurbanipal II who rules the rest of the Empire. (76)

Sargon of Assyria

710                 KING SHABAKA/Shabaqa third Kushite king of the 25^th Dynasty, Egypt. He commissions a stone copy to be made of an ancient papyrus text from the Old Kingdom 5^th Dynasty, which stone is erected in the Great Temple of Ptah at Memphis. The language of this text is of the archaic period and resembles that of the Pyramid Texts. The new stone copy becomes known as the ‘Shabaka Stone’ and is a recording of the ‘Memphite Theology’. It treats consecutively of three interrelated topics; that of Ptah as the king of Egypt and unifier of the land; that of Memphis as the capital of Egypt and the link between upper and lower Egypt; the third topic being that of Ptah as the supreme god and the creator of the world. (293)

Shabaqa,

[Cairo Museum]

708           DEIOCES (708-655BC) establishes the Median Empire of ancient Persia. (40) Persia, named from the ancient province of Persis, will become Fars of Iran/Afghanistan in the future and geographically located on the Iranian Plateaux. (102)

GIANT JUPITER

 The planet Jupiter is closely associated with the zodiac sign of Sagittarius and also with the sign of Pisces. Jupiter is the planet that indicates growth and abundance when looked at in the personal horoscope or birth chart. Jupiter can, for some people, bring all that luck and fortune that so many crave. But as the wise man said, there can be too much of a good thing. When possessions and ‘good fortune’ accumulate too much or get too big, the weight can weigh you down most terribly. On the other hand, one can run hither and thither scattering energy wastefully trying to achieve or accumulate what is not possible under the urgings of Jupiter to make it big or too far reaching. 

Egyptian god Horus, Lord of the Ladder to Heaven [Budge]

The beneficial side of Jupiter is seen in his ability to give optimism and protection in the harsher times of life, to balance out his polarity seen in Saturn. These two planets act in unison, or should do for a good working of the horoscope and of the personality attached;  Jupiter bringing wealth and growth, whilst Saturn balances that wealth and growth with the sort of control and discipline necessary to give the growth some direction that it might lead to practical accomplishment of use to the self and those other people contacted in life. Saturn keeps Jupiter within sensible limits and Jupiter prevents Saturn from making everything too austere and limited. When working in harmony and cooperation, these two are achievers; however, for some this is harder work and takes longer than for others.

Roman conception of the great god 

Jupiter-Zeus whose syzygy is Juno-Hera.

Jupiter enjoys a bit of pomp and ceremony as well as a bit of fun and a good belly laugh. When he or his wife are not having a good belly laugh at the absurdities of life, they can see the bigger picture, that picture that puts all the smaller events of everyday living into perspective. There is Zeus/Jupiter riding high with Juno on throne or horse and there they go mingling amicably with the people and with full understanding of their needs and foibles. That’s wise Jupiter-Juno.

Greek impression of the mother goddess 

Hera-Juno Syzygy of Jupiter-Zeus

AAL’S LABYRINTH HISTORY An Alternative Viewpoint…..contd. #54

 EIGHTH CENTURY BCE (799-700]

Through the 8^th to the-4^th centuries BCE there is an intense mixing of cultures through war, invasion and migration; those peoples of the Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Assyrian and Persian nations. The Assyrians will destroy the ancient Babylonian Empire and rebuild it during this century under their Empire. The Assyrians will destroy the Babylonian Empire and rebuild it during this century. Magna Graecia will be created by a succession of Ionian, Achaean and Dorian colonists. (182) There commences a second period of cultural and trade contact between Greece and Mesopotamia [350]

 

 

786 BCE         There is the occurrence of an exact heliacal rising of the star Spica at the Northern Autumnal Equinox on September 29^th 786 BCE. The exact heliacal rising of the star Spica on an Autumnal Equinox on a Sabbath-day is called The Great Sabbath and marks this as a time of great importance for world affairs.  The Equinox Points at this time are recorded as sidereal Aries-Libra 13.8 degrees. (30)

Saturn the ruler of Saturday the Sabbath 

a time of prayer and study.

753                   ROMULUS is the first king of the Roman civilization and he establishes Roma, centre of Latium, lying between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Apennine mountains. In 509 BCE, Rome will be established as a Republic, guided by two elected consuls who will eventually replace the king as ruler. (182)

                       Romulus consulted the gods and by their instructions laid out the sacred boundary of this first city of the Roman Empire. The first temple erected is to the god Jupiter Feretrius. Some of the major sacred festivals established at this time would continue to be celebrated for the next thousand years. At one of these rituals, the first Romans carried off the women of the neighbouring Sabine tribes of ‘star watchers’ who had come to observe proceedings. This event became known as the ‘Rape of the Sabines’. 

The Roman God Jupiter symbol 

Of Thunder and Lightening

                       Long before Romulus, the site of Rome had been occupied by exiles from Arcadia in Greece. These exiles were led by the Greek King Evander who established Greek religious customs in Italy, such as that of the ‘Rite of Hercules’. It is King Evander who welcomed the Trojan hero Aeneas after he left that burning city of Troy to re-establish a new Troy in Italy. Thus, Aeneas of the twelfth century BCE had previously established Lavinium and Alba Longa nearby where Rome is now to stand. Aeneas brought the statue of the goddess Pallas Athena from Troy to Italy for the establishment of the temple of Vesta in the Roman Forum, and there to be attended by the Vestal Virgins.

703 BCE            NUMA, the second king of Roma, will be responsible for expanding the priesthood of Salii and establishing the first Roman ritual calendar. Numa will also found the temple of Janus, the god who looks both ways at the point where the year changes from the past to the future. The fifth king of Roma will be an Etruscan called Tarquin the Elder and he will add to the Capitoline Hill, temples to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. (324)

750                  ISAIAH a Hebrew prophet who lived and worked in Jerusalem from about 750-700 BCE. His prophetic ministry inspired the ‘Book of Isaiah’ in the ‘Old Testament’ of the Hebrews. (196) where is says, ‘A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jess, and a branch shall grow out of his roots’. (Is.11:1) This Messianic theme is of a new anointed one to come, upon whom the spirit is rested and who will exercise the office of king in virtue of this gift of spirit. Isaiah regards the anointed one’s commission as consisting pre-eminently in the establishment of divine justice on Earth. The anointed one is given such divine properties as omniscience and power to cause death by word alone. Isaiah makes reference to one who is to come in the future who is to spring from ‘the root of Jess’, the father of David. It is a new ‘David’ at whose advent Jahweh will restore the glory of the original Davidic Empire. It is suggested that the old Jerusalem will fall and the new ruler will come from Bethlehem. The question is posed: ‘Had the reigning members of the house of David lost their divine functions? And that the monarchy from David’s time had become a false development? Did the prophets (Isaiah and Micah) expect Jahweh to start again with a new messianic line?’ (197)

                         Isaiah spoke at a time when the kingdom of Israel was near its end and the dynasty of David faced peril. The dynasty had fallen from the ideal of even a good secular ruler. Isaiah formulated the previously proposed idea of an eternal dynasty presenting the ideal king in four titles; ‘Wonderful counsellor, Divine hero, Father forever, Prince of peace’, which all sounds very Egyptian. These titles designate a state of complete well-being of body and mind, of internal and external order. The ideal king is to be adopted as the son of the Lord. (198) A sun king.

A Sun King

PLUTONIC MARS

 

Plutonic Mars, that sounds like a mouth full. Mars and Pluto are the two planets associated with the sign of Scorpio, Mars of physical energy and war, linking up with Pluto the god of what is hidden underground, of potential power, and quite often what has to come to the surface and does so in a most forceful way. That’s a powerful combination.

 

Mars is also associated with the zodiac sign of Aries. In the natal or birth chart, Mars signifies physical strength and activity. It is also the will and determination to follow through on an idea. It is the heat of the body and passion.

 

Mars was the ultimate Roman god – the god of war, as in conquering circumstances in order to build an Empire. Athena is a female version of the warrior in the Greek Pantheon.

                                                           Greek Goddess Athena

 

But Athena was also venerated for her care and protection of the natural world and of human workers. 

 

Before being a war god, Mars was a god of the Earth and Nature, of that force which keeps things growing and changing, the cycle of life. This brings us to the other planet said to be associated with Scorpio, Pluto, the god of the otherworld, of hidden riches and raw life force.

 

In ancient Egypt the underworld is associated with the god Anubis who leads the soul to discover the mysteries of the hidden world.

 

Anubis leads the soul of Hunefer 

towards the mysteries of the secret world.

 

R. O. Faulkner has published a classic translation of these Egyptian mysteries called ‘The Coming Forth by Day’ under its more popular title ‘The Book of the Dead’.

 

In traditional astrology there were only 7 acknowledged planets, then with the aid of ever increasing discovery and invention another 3 planets were discovered and entered into human consciousness. That’s not a problem, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto had always been there, just not seen, and their ‘appearance’ simply signified another stage in human ongoing evolution or growing awareness. However, it did set the human’s a challenge to find out where the energies of the 3 new kids on the block should fit in, but true to their nature the astrologers solved this problem.

 

Alan Leo, known affectionately as the ‘father’ of modern astrology was also a Theosophist of 19th century and his chore was to bring back the spiritual dimension into ‘popular’ astrology with the aid of what these 3 ‘outer’ planets might signify for evolving human consciousness. Unfortunately Pluto had not yet appeared on the scene when he was writing, so his books have nothing to say on the matter, but otherwise, his many volumes are a treasure trove to the serious student.

 

Mars with the planet Venus signify complimentary energies; the quality of assertiveness and the quality of compliance are brought together in these two planets. When these two principles of action and reception get together on a good day, there is a spontaneous dance of life and love, often depicted by the Hindu god Siva whose dancing symbolises the 5 cosmic functions of creation, conservation, destruction, incarnation and liberation.

 

 

Siva dancing [from Larousse]

 

AAL’S LABYRINTH HISTORY An Alternative Viewpoint…..contd. #53

 NINTH CENTURY BC (899-800)

From the ninth to eighth century BCE, Etruscans occupy north and central Italy, whilst Greeks colonise southern Italy and Sicily. Etruria, the land of Etruscans, will be at its zenith from the seventh to sixth century BCE. Herodotus thought the Etruscans came from Lydia in Asia Minor.

 

Assyrian Fighters

c883 BCE          ASHURNASIRPAL or ASHURNAZIRPAL II (r. 883-859 BCE) As king he takes Assyria to a new peak of revival. He contributed to the establishment of a more centralized Assyrian state by appointing governors to rule the western regions of the Mesopotamian Empire. (114). His leadership will be continued by his son Shalmaneser III. Ashur-nasipal II is to extend the temple town of Nimrud, founded by Shalmaneser I c1250, to make it the capital of his new empire of Assyria.

                        The national god of the Assyrians is Ashur, a god of battle depicted as eagle-headed and winged, usually in combination with the winged solar disc surmounted by a warrior. This is reminiscent of Egypt’s own winged solar disc and that of the Babylonians. Ashur is indeed identified with the storm god Baal (Bal-Marduk) of the city of Ashur and has similarities to Yahweh of the early Israelites, that is, the tribes of Jacob. (114)

Syrian winged Sun God.

[Time Life ‘History of the World’]

c850                  HOMER: the great Greek poet whose works, the ‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey’, record the mythology of the ancients in the form of epic poems. This is primordial mythology suggesting indivisible synthesis of the individual and the universal, a theme that is a strong underpinning to many philosophies. Homer’s writings also show the dual mythological heritage of the ancient Greeks as can be seen in the warring ‘Iliad’ of patriarchal themes, and in the softer ‘Odyssey’ of matriarchal themes. (19)

                  Homer, as a representative of the archaic mind, saw an inseparable connection between the empirical and the archetypal. The endurance of his ideas will be demonstrated in the future great masters, Socrates (c420 BCE) and Plato (c365 BCE) as these philosophers 

Homer’s ‘Odyssey’. Odysseus trying to resist the

call of the Siren or the voice of the feminine soul.

                     Around this time is the first compilation of the Hebrew ‘Five Books of Moses’, the ‘Bereshit’ or ‘In the Beginning’. In the future, its Greek translation will be called ‘Genesis’.  According to this early version, in the beginning god created man and woman at the same time and equal and not in sequence as in a second compilation where Eve is taken from the rib of Adam. Adam and Eve are taken as symbolic of the split in the previously created androgynous human. Adam-Eve in turn can be seen to represent humanity as a polarity of man and woman, reflecting and expressing the fundamental polarity of the Cosmos and Life and as also seen in the Sun and Moon, polarity of day and night. Later, woman or the feminine side of that polarity, is designated as less than the male side or man, and this ‘dark’ side of the feminine moon or the misunderstood nature wisdom of woman, became known as Lilith.

Lilith: personification of the wisdom of the

Dark Night. Sumer c2000 BCE

c837                KING SHALMANESER III (d.824 BCE) the son and successor of Ashurnasirpal II (883 BCE) As King of Assyria (Syria/Iraq) this Shalmaneser leads an expedition during this year and the events recorded are the first mention of the ancestors of the Iranians, that is the Parsua or Persians (Sth Iran), and the Madai or Medes (Nth Iran). The Persians, as descendants of mythological Perseus, inhabit the mountains of Kurdistan. The Medes live on the plains of the Iranian Plateaux. (40) The dominant Persian cult of Mithraism is thought to be a mixture of Greek, Iranian and Gnostic elements, based on the more ancient Aryan fire worship of Mitra.

Arinna sun goddess, Hittite Queen of Heaven and Earth

[Time Life ‘History of the World’]

 

831                   Estimated total eclipse over Tanis and Bubastis in ancient Egypt, during the Third Intermediate Period; (240. 241) and thus, possibly heralding the famous ‘New Kingdom’ development of Ancient Egypt.

 

c800                HALLSTATT, Austria, a lakeside village built on salt mining, is claimed as the first of the early Celtic settlements, a people of the iron-age with developing culture that will spread across Europe. The people were anciently referred to as the ‘Keltoi’. [371]

 

AAL’S LABYRINTH HISTORY An Alternative Viewpoint…..contd. #52

 

Solar Eclipse. Compliments of Skywalk

948 BCE   This is the timing of an Estimated total eclipse over Thebes in ancient Egypt during the Third Intermediate Period. (240. 241) And around this time the Vernal Point is recorded on the second tablet of mul-Apin in the Assurbanipal Library, as at sidereal Nisan 15 [March]. (16.30)

 

945             SHOSHENQ I / SHESHANK I [Biblical Shishak] inaugurates the 22^nd Dynasty of Egypt. Commander is Chief of the armies and advisor to King Psusennes II. Shoshenq will marry Maatkare the daughter of Psusennes and so reign over Egypt in his turn. Shoshenq is a native of Libya, descended from a Tanite princess and living as a prince of Bubastis. In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s rein of Judah, Shoshenq came up against Jerusalem with mighty armies and ransacked the Solomon’s Temple of its treasures, around the year 925 BCE, leaving only the Ark of the Covenant. 2Chron. Xii. 2-4,9. “…And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the King’s house, he took way all.” Following up on this, and with the taking of Mount Carmel, Ashkelon and Gaza, Egypt regained suzerainty of Syria-Palestine. Shoshenq’s is responsible for a revival of the greatness of Egypt. Shoshenq’s son Iuput is chief priest and oversaw the building of the second pylon at the Temple of Karnak.  Shoshenq’s reign will be followed by that of Osorkon I around 897 BCE. [80. 175] Around the time of when the Greek writer Homer is composing his master pieces.

 

 

940 BCE REHOBOAM (Rehav’am, 922-915 BCE) King of ancient Judah, son of Solomon, grandson of David. Rehoboam, meaning ‘he who enlarges the people’, was the third king of the house of David, and the first king of the Kingdom of Judea. Rehoboam’s mother was Naamah, ‘the Ammonitess’. During Rehoboam’s reign, the kingdom was divided into two parts with Rehoboam and heir of Solomon, ruling the Kingdom of Judah in the south; the Kingdom of Israel occupied the north. (248. 249)

Menorah of the Magdala Stone from the 2^nd Temple of Jerusalem

           MENELIK, son of Queen Makeda of Sheba and King Solomon of Israel is the first king of Axum capital of Ethiopia.  Axum was founded by Sabean tribes of Semitic origin who moved from southern Arabia to the African highlands early first millennium BCE. Menelik is thought to have brought the Ark of the Covenant to Axum from the Temple of Solomon. The religion of this ancient country was that of the Sabeans and organized as a triad of Heaven, Sea and Earth. These divisions of the world are represented by the gods Astar [Babylonian Ishtar-Venus] Beher and Medr. Other gods are Aksum and Mahrem who is identified as Mars. [361]

 

               The descendants of Meneliks’ line are the Falashas, a group of Ethiopians claiming Jewish origin. The Falashas observe the traditions of Judaism in that they read the Bible in the Geez translation, which is an Ethiopian Semitic dialect, and which includes the Old Testament. They also read some Apocrypha, which are termed ‘hidden writings’.  The Falashas do not know the Talmud.  The name Falasha is Amharic for “stranger” and was given to them by other Ethiopians; they call themselves Beta Israel, “House of Israel”. (102) It is from this area that the future legendary figure Prester John is reputed to have come from. According to one author, St John is thought to have journeyed to this legendary kingdom of Prester/Preter John [297] that is Ethiopia.

 

c900 BCE A figurine of the Egyptian god RA with double plumes, is deposited in a sacred cave on Mount Dicte, Crete. The suggestion is that this placement connects RA to the Great Greek god Zeus, (55) and would indicate a line of descent or transference from Egyptian gods to Greek gods. Zeus will be born to the Great Mother Goddess Rhea in this same cave. 

              Around this time, the Celts start to move from the Danube region into France.

ZEUS

The great Greek God of Olympus 

The SUN and MOON

 

The Earthly Sun

Someone asked, ‘why do you follow the Sun and Planets in the apparent circular movements around the Earth?

The answer is, ‘because the sun in its daily journey and the moon in its monthly cycle, connect us with the ecliptic, which connects us to the planets and their cycles. The planets connect us to the stars and the stars to the cosmos beyond. Thus, through these interweaving connections we strive to understand the world and ourselves as a reflection of the greater cosmos.

The Earthly Moon

May I tell you something about the Moon Cycle?

Whatever you are doing or whatever is happening around you during the three days of the New Moon, will grow and develop over the following two weeks. This takes us up to the time of the Full Moon, a time of fulfilment of that two weeks’ growth. If what has grown and developed over that two weeks is not good or useful, the Full Moon marks the time of its disintegration, or the aborting of such action, thought or project. This is so that something new can occur at the next New Moon which will start another cycle of everyday beginnings. Of-course most people ignore this lunar cycle and the result is that their affairs tend to be more difficult than necessary because they are working against the tide of nature. Bit like competing with the tides of a great ocean!!

The Alchemical Sun and Moon.

The All-Good Buddha or the union of the Great Father and

Great Mother produces Enlightenment

AAL’S LABYRINTH HISTORY An Alternative Viewpoint…..contd. #51

 FIRST MILLENIUM BC (999-0 BC)

 

TENTH CENTURY BC (999-900BC)

 

961 BCE                 SOLOMON. According to some, Solomon as the last king of Israel will reign from 961 to 922 BCE (158) He is the son and successor of King David. Sol-om-on means Sun God of On, the Hebrew version of Ra of Heliopolis. (13) However, others think that it could be a derivative from the oldest of the Egyptian gods and another attempt to keep alive Aton of Ancient Egyptian times. Solomon is said to have taken an Egyptian Pharaohs’ daughter for his chief wife.

AMON-RA

The Great Egyptian God of Egypt

 Atlas of Egypt

                        As Hebrew King and leader of his people, Solomon built the Temple of Jerusalem. Other versions say the Temple was built by King Hiram of Tyre (13) as a central sanctuary of the Israelite religion and eventual spiritual centre for the world. The Temple of Jerusalem is built to house the Ark of the Covenant, that is the chest containing the Torah or Teachings of God, written on stone or bones and given to the priest Moses in the distant past. The temple consisted of a vestibule, a hall, and a shrine in an inner sanctum or Holy of Holies where only the High Priest is admitted. (114) The temple will stand until destroyed in 586 BCE although plundered by Egyptian pharaohs before this time. [226] The triple construction of the building represented the triple construction of the universe and of man. The Hebrew temple also has a unique similarity to Egyptian temples of old. One can only ask, ‘was the move by the Hebrews out of Egypt, an attempt to guard against the decline of Ancient Egyptian culture and the loss of knowledge? (1.12.94)

Temple of Jerusalem by Simon Goldhill

Outer court, main hall and Holy of Holies.

                    In the ‘belly of the whale’, like Johana, or in the cavern of the temple, we experience a place and time of mystery, perhaps stimulating a connection with greater states of consciousness.

 

                        Solomon is a master of the occult arts and identified with the Egyptian Thoth or Hermes Trismegistus. ‘The Wisdom of Solomon’, is an occult writing going under his name and includes grimoires. Legends of Solomon will later influence the Arab and Moslem religion of the future ‘Middle Ages’. (1]

 

                                    When Solomon takes the throne in this century he is crowned by a Sheban moon-priestess called Bath-Sheba, said to also be his mother, wife and the daughter of a previous Sheba of c2000 BCE. (13). This would be very much in the ancient Egyptian tradition, although the term ‘sister’ is believed to be more that of associate rather than blood relative. One asks, ‘did Bathsheba come from Ethiopia or from Egypt?’ Another, and possible descendent of the Queen of Saba or Sheba, is thought to have ruled the mighty state of south Arabia until about 115 BCE, a land which was equal to the size of Yemen today. (158) It is known that Solomon took an Egyptian princess to wife and the author Velikovsky suggests that Solomon lived in the time of Hatshepsut and that she was the ‘Queen of Sheba’, and that in truth, Thuthmosis III lived and drove his campaigns in the time of the Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut of the 15^th century BCE.

Hatchepsut,

 the female pharaoh. Joyce Tyldesley

                    On the walls of the Amon temple of Karnak in Egypt, are cut the hieroglyphics recording the military successes of Thutmose III in Canaan [Palestine] and Syria and corresponding to the later reign of Solomon. Indeed, Velikovsky claims Hatshepsut to be that intriguing Queen Sheba who married Solomon. [262] During the reign of Solomon’s son Rehoboam, was the famed city of Kadesh [Holy] taken in the campaign of Thutmose III, really the Holy City of Jerusalem. Was it Thutmose III who ‘ransacked’ the famous Temple of Solomon or did he build it in the first place? [262]