AAL’S LABYRINTH HISTORY An Alternative Viewpoint…..contd. 27.

c2340             KING URUKAGINA of the city state of Lagash, Sumer, introduces new humanitarian laws. (96) He took various measures, in accordance with the ‘righteous laws of Ningirsu’, and designed to put a stop to the oppression of the poor. (173)

                    In this year, there is estimated to be a total eclipse over Nekhen in Egypt, the conjectured date for the beginning of Dynasty VI. (240. 241)

Eclipse photo [from ‘Skywalk’]

                       SARGON THE GREAT around this time conquers the city Ur of Sumer,  Akkad of Babylon, and Elam of Susa. By this act he unites Mesopotamia as a single nation and establishes a capital at Agade (Akkad/Ashur) from where he reigns for 50 years. Born in 2370, Sargon is the son of Semites, a people drifting eastwards into the Mesopotamian valley from the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula to settle in Sumer and Akkad. Sargon rose from humble conditions to become cup-bearer to the King of Kish, Sumer, before himself becoming king. (96. 97).

                       Sargon ruled over a non-Semitic race called the Accadia (Accadians/Akkadians) meaning ‘of the highlands or mountains’, or perhaps Drusai. The Accadia knowledge was held in high esteem and was translated into the Semitic language. (45)

                      

                       AKKAD or ASHUR (Nth Iraq/Mesopotamia) is the city centre of the ancient Assyrian Empire, located on the River Tigris. The city will reach its peak in the 9-7^th centuries BCE before being eventually absorbed into the future Persian Empire.

                       SARGON is credited with initiating the writing of 72 books called the ‘Illumination of Bel’, an astronomical work compiled by the priests of Bel (Marduke) and which will be translated into Greek by the priest Berossos around the year 260 BCE. (11) Other authors place Sargon at 3800 BCE and say that he drew from his library 70 tablets to comprise the standard astrological work of the Babylonians and Assyrians, who started the year at the winter solstice. (45) For the Northern Hemisphere, this would place emphasis on the constellation of Capricorn, which in Egyptian terms is related to the Crocodile god Sobek, whilst for the Babylonians it is related to Oannes, the fish god.

Sargon of Akkad c2340 BCE

 [Time-Life Books]

                       The Sumerian system of calculation is based on the number 60 and known as the sexagesimal system, which may have been the forerunner of the Arabic decimal system. Surviving traces of the sexagesimal system will be found in the future division of time into the 60-minute hour and the 360-degree circle (6x60). (96)

                      The Babylonian year of this time is soli-lunar comprising 12 lunar months of 354 days plus the solar year of 365 days. The discrepancy of 11 days was solved by adding a 13^th lunar month when required. Therefore, in an 11-year cycle, 7 years have 12 months, and 4 have 13 months. By the 2^nd century BCE the calendar of the Mesopotamian area will have shifted and the beginning of the year celebrated in spring rather than autumn. (45)

                       ENHEDUANNA daughter of Sargon, is made chief priestess of Sumeria by her father, but in spite of this appointment, women’s status starts to decline. As high priestess of the moon god Nanna, Enheduanna composed a poem to him. Akkadian Ishtar will eventually replace the Sumerian Inanna goddess of the 3 worlds, and of love and war. (9)

Mother Goddess Inanna

                       NARAM-SIN is the grandson of Sargon and called himself ‘King of the Four Quarters’ (of the universe). Chief of the Akkadian gods are Shamash and Ishtar/Inanna. (97)

2300 BCE        A new ‘Age of Aries’ begins with the Equinox or Vernal Point entering the constellation of Aries. This is known as the ‘Age of Initiates’.  These initiates will lead the masses in their spiritual quest. In Egypt, the new ‘World Age’ adopts the ‘Cult of the Ram’, symbolized in their god Amun. To the Hebrews, this age will be marked by their celebration of the ‘Passover Lamb’. (109)

                       The story of Jason and the Argonauts on their journey to find the ‘Golden Fleece’ of the ram, would seem to be a memory of the beginning of this ‘Age of Aries’. (71)

Ram head sphinxes. Entrance to Karnack complex Egypt.

                       This is also the beginning of the ‘First Intermediate Period’ in ancient Egypt (c2300-2040 BCE) and covers Dynasties VII to XI. The political centre is at Heryshef [Greek Heracleopolis]. This is known as an obscure period of social and political strife; probably associated with the chaos that accompanies readjustment in social, political and cultural upheaval as a new influx of knowledge, and evolutionary influences, play out.

                The great prophet Abraham is believed to have travelled to Egypt in this ‘FirstIntermediate         Period’, sometime during Dynasties VII-X; and to have left Egypt before 2081 BCE (84) just before the new millennium.

AAL’S LABYRINTH HISTORY An Alternative Viewpoint…..contd. 26.

2700 BCE        GILGAMESH: fifth ruler of the first post-diluvian dynasty of Uruk, Mesopotamia. He establishes this city and it will become the prototype for others of the ancient world. Gilgamesh is the basis of the long poem called ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh’, a story of his wanderings and adventures. At this time, the city-state of Sumer shows evidence of 3 distinct classes of citizens and keeps records of health remedies.

                    GILGAMESH, ENKIDU, ISHTAR, the earliest written version of this story will be made in the 2^nd millennium BCE, but its origin is believed to be earlier. Ishtar (Sumerian Inanna) is a Babylonian/Akkadian goddess of love and war and which would be echoed in the future Greek Venus. Gilgamesh is part human and part divine and a military hero who refuses to become lover of the goddess. Some suggest that this may indicate the beginning of the fall of status of the Mother Goddess.

                       Parts of the Gilgamesh Epic have been found in Boghazkoy, Anatolia; Megiddo in Palestine and Ugarit in Syria, thus indicating its widespread nature and therefore the possibility of its influence on the Hebrews, particularly the flood story. A similar Aegean Mycenaean poetic tradition seems to have resurfaced in Homeric and later Greek poetry. Tradition takes the story back into a preliterate age on the borderline of legend and history, a little later than the Biblical ‘Deluge’, where the gods were replaced by mortals on the thrones of the city-states in the age of Archaic Sumerian civilizations. (96. 188)

Gilgamesh the Hero

2600 BCE       Foundation of first dynasty of Ur in Southern Mesopotamia. This culture demonstrates cuneiform writing and algebraic equations. The value of a digit is based on its position in a sequence of numbers. (114) Mesopotamian numerals will exist in the future as Arabian numerals. (102)

                       The king of Ur is sanctified at a holy ritual on ‘New Year’s Day’ when he ascends the principal ziggurat and takes part in a symbolic marriage to a priestess who represents Inanna, goddess of fertility. The king represents the chief god.

                      ENUMA ELISH: Akkadian creation story believed to come from the 1^st Dynasty of Ur, although the earliest extant copy is found on clay tablets circa 1000 BCE. It is the story of the struggle between order and chaos, and the story of the creation of man, which will be built up in the future from fragments of mythology dated between c1700 and c100 BCE. In this Sumerian myth, Apsu and Tiamat (identified with the constellation Draco) are called the parents of the gods. One of these gods, Ea, kills Apsu and, to his mother, Tiamat, fathers Marduk. Marduk will eventually create the world out of Tiamat’s body by cleaving her in two. Three regions of the heavens are attributed to the gods Anu, Enlil and Ea. Marduk also constructed stations for the great gods, by fixing their astral likenesses as constellations and gave three constellations to each of the 12 months of the year. The earth goddess Ninhursag is responsible for creating human beings. The ‘Enuma Elish’ story was renewed each year on the fourth day of the New Year Festival. (192. 9) Each of 7 traditional planetary gods were given rulership over each of the days of the week.

2560 BCE        PYRAMID TEXTS 2560-2420 BCE.  The hieroglyphics engraved on the walls of the inner chambers of the Sakkara pyramid will be given the name of the ‘Pyramid Texts’. These are the oldest known literary compositions on religious and magical subjects in ancient Egypt, and will become known as the’ Book of the Dead’. The ‘Book of the Dead’ or the ‘Book of the Coming Forth by Day’ or the ‘Duat’ is a collection of magic pictures, charms and incantations for the use of the deceased in their journey through the after-life. It is for the guidance of the soul through a period of sleep as they move towards a next incarnation. Later these writing will be written on papyri and enclosed in the coffin with the deceased body.

2449-50          The Chinese record a close grouping of the bright planets around this time. (81) Another source says there was a conjunction of planets near the star Scheat in the constellation Pegasus. A conjunction is also noted in the constellation Capricorn, (11) the sign of the Greek gods Bacchus and Pan and linked to the Babylonian god Oannes and the god Egyptian Khnum. A cuneiform script designates the constellation of Capricorn as the ‘Father of Light’.

c2500             SRI KRISHNA (Krsna) (Vedic period 2500-500 BCE) author of the Bhagavad-Gita (Gitopanisad) which contains the essence of Vedic knowledge and is one of the most important Upanishads in Vedic literature. Sri Krsna is the Supreme Personality of the Godhead or Bhagavan. In chapter IV, the Lord Sri Krsna tells Arjuna, his disciple, ‘I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvan, and Vivasvan instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Iksvaku.’ Sri Krsna is the original Visnu, the ultimate end of all knowledge and of all seeking knowledge. (187)

                       According to astrologer Dane Rudhyar, an avatar or seed man, appears at a time of crisis or decision making time for humanity. An avatar is a focal point for transformation initiated by a descent of cosmic energy, and meets his ‘shadow’ in the consciousness of the human race. Thence a battle commences between the strong inertial resistance of the past and the transforming action of future possibility. Thus, the Avatar Krishna appeared at a time of intense fighting between the clans of ancient India. As a statesman of consummate skill Krishna managed the rival armies to meet in the ‘Battle of Kurukshetra’ where they destroyed each other. This act allowed the rise of the ‘Great Age of Philosophy’ under the Brahmins; a philosophy which lasted until after Gautama the Buddha.  On the eve of the battle, the Bhagavad-Gita was given to Arjuna, a soldier and disciple of Krishna. The Bhagavad-Gita establishes a first complete statement of an all-inclusive theistic and devotional religious philosophy, which foreshadowed the spiritual needs of a humanity about to experience a gradual process of individualization and ego centralization arising out of the battle of the clans. (141)

2473               Sun Temples arise south of Giza, built by the rulers of Egyptian Dynasty V. Some examples of names of the temples are: ‘Pleasure of Re’, ‘Horizon of Re’, ‘Field of Re’ and thus they indicate a predominant worship of the great sun god Re. (240)

                       Two years later in 2471, there is an estimated total Eclipse over Pe/Buto, a Dynasty V center in the Egyptian Delta. (240. 241) Astrologically, eclipses are said to indicate a major shift in Earth events and for its inhabitants.

Egyptian Sun god Ra/Re.

c2450             QUEEN KU-BABA becomes ruler of Kish, Sumeria. She is the first known woman ruler in the history of Sumeria whose ruling goddess is Inanna. Women of this time have equal rights with men in inheritance, owning property, doing business etc.  Priests and Priestess’ serve the deities and the temple is the center of city life and its economic business. (9)

c2400BC         PTAH-HOTEP Grand Vizier (Minister of State) to Pharaoh Snefru of VI Dynasty and to Pharaoh Isesi of V Dynasty. Ptah-hotep’s writings are known as ‘The Precepts of Ptah-hotep’ and constitute a series of pragmatic moral aphorisms, similar to those found in such books of wisdom as the apocryphal Ecclesiasticus or the Biblical Book of Proverbs. (6) Is this evidence that Moses carried the Ancient Egyptian wisdom into Canaan and on which he founded a new religion?

c2400             KING UNAS, last Egyptian ruler of Dynasty V has a pyramid built at Saqqara near the southwest corner of the Zozer complex. This pyramid contains some of the oldest known religious texts recorded in wall paintings and which depict the need of the soul to return to mother Nut the sky. (67)

                       These wall texts are the forerunners of later papyri texts that came to be collated as ‘The Book of the Dead’ in which 453 chapters of prayers and rites are used as a guide to the dead spirit along the hazardous journey through the twelve regions of the ‘Duat-n-Ba’, that part of the night sky more commonly known as the ‘Netherworld of the soul’. (209)