S

Semitic Gods

Contents * 1 Proto-Semitic pantheon * 2 Babylonia and Assyria * 3 Canaan o 3.1 Cosmology * 4 Influence on Abrahamic religions Page has "mythology portal" and "ancient near east" portal.

Multiple links to paganism-related pages.

Lists of gods of levantine, mesopotamia, egyptian

"See also"

* Religions of the Ancient Near East
* DINGIR
* Mesopotamian mythology
* Arabian mythology
* Ancient Egyptian religion
* Panbabylonism
* History of Judaism
* Names of God in Judaism
* Proto-Indo-European religion
* Prehistoric religion

v • d • e

Sin as Disease

• •Black and Green (1992) state that a sick person was considered to have sinned, that is, committed an offense against moral or divine law. The illness could be expelled or undone by a god whom the “patient” would appeal to through prayer. They write, “The use of the word 'patient' emphasizes the Babylonian view of sin as synonymous with disease. Sin could be transmitted by relatives or inherited from parents…Babylonians did not have a concept of original sin, but they believed that they were all very prone to sin.” (i.e. disease). This apparently is also the meaning of sin as used in the Old Testament.

•  •And Jehovah said to Moses, "Go to the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow. And let them wash their clothes." (Exo 19:10). 
f you read the old testament substituting “disease” or “germs” for “sin” and “sterilize” for “sanctify” you will be surprised.
• 
 •And Jehovah said to Moses, "Go down, warn the people lest they break through to gaze at Jehovah, and many of them fall." (Exo 19:21).
 
• •"And also the priests, those approaching Jehovah, let them sanctify (cleanse) themselves, that Jehovah not burst forth among them." (Exo 19:22).

•  •"And Jehovah said to him (Moses), ‘Come, go down. And you come up and Aaron with you. And let not the priests and the people break through to come up to Jehovah, lest He burst forth among them.’" (Exo 19:23).
• 
 •"And if you make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build them of cut stones. When you swing your tool on it you defile it." (Exo 20:25).

Sitchin, Zecharia

started at Other Unorthodox Catrastrophim

thence to Zecharia Sitchin's ancient astronaut theories - a skeptical archive

• Sitchin index by Royton Paynter offers links to sites about the works of Zecharia Sitchen, both pro and con. Sitchin interprets the gods in religion and mythology from around the world as aliens from the planet Marduk. This planet approaches the Earth every 3,600 years and causes world-wide catastrophes such the Biblical Deluge.
• Zecharia Sitchin's ancient astronaut theories - a skeptical archive
  
• The material in this archive has been culled from USENET, BITNET, the ANE archive and personal correspondance (principally with Martin Stower of the University of Liverpool). To encourage a serious scientific debate I have tried to present a spectrum of opinions about Sitchin's work, from favorable (top) to skeptical (bottom). In the middle are some links to (conventional) scholarly resources to ancient Mesopotamia and astronomy. The opinions expressed are those of the authors, of course.

SKEPTICAL ARCHIVE HAS LINKS TO:

The Return of the Anunnaki (Willard Van De Bogart)

Sitchin's works

An interview with Z. Sitchin

The Earth Chronicles: a time chart (Dave Schultz)

zoomQuake - mega-index to related material (Peter Szabo)

Sumerian mythology FAQ (Christopher Siren)

A Guide To Ancient Near Eastern Astronomy (Hope Anthony)

History of Astronomy: Items: Astrology, Mythology, Religion, etc. (Wolfgang R. Dick )

Sumerian Text Archive (Bram Jagersma and Remco de Maaijer)

Babylonian and Assyrian cuneiform texts, an introduction (John Heise)

The hypothetical planets page at SEDS (Paul Schlyter)

Doug Weller's Cult Archaeology page

Some of Sitchin's claims (Bernard Ortiz de Montellano)

Forging the Pharaoh's name? (Martin Stower)

Skeptical review of SITCHIN'S TWELFTH PLANET (Rob Hafernik)

Suddenly Advanced Societies

• The sudden appearance of a technologically advanced human civilization. John Cohane (1977) writes, "Until one arrives at Cro-Magnon man, about 30,000 bc, it is impossible to hold up a single piece of fossil evidence and say with assurance: ‘This came from an ancestor of man’." He discusses other evidence and concludes, "…and this evidence indicating that only 10,000 years ago there was a sudden and unaccountable emergence of a full-blown intelligent civilization…"

Sumerian Gods

Annuna

• The Annuna are the fifty great gods of Sumerian mythology. Their domain appears to be principally but not exclusively the underworld. Some of them are associated with specific cities, while others bear a strong resemblance to the functions of patron human saints of orthodox Christianity.These are related to, and in some cases overlapping with, the Annunaki and the Igigi (minor gods). The name is variously written "da-nuna", "da-nuna-ke4-ne", or "da-nun-na", meaning something like "those of royal blood".[1] The head of the Anunnaki council was the Great Anu, the sky god, and the other members were his offspring. His throne was inherited by Enlil, resulting in a dispute between Enlil and his brother Enki regarding who was the rightful leader. Enki was said to have created mankind.The Anunnaki were the High Council of the Gods, and Anu's companions. They were distributed through the Earth and the Underworld. The best known of them were En-Ki (Ea for the Akkadians), and Tutu.To mention a few:•Ashnan: The cereal grain goddess.•Enkimdu: The god in charge of canals and ditches.•Enbilulu: The god in charge of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.•Ereshkigal: Queen of the Underworld.•Ishkur: The god of the winds.•Lahar: The goddess of cattle.•Nanshe: The patron goddess of the poor, widows and orphans.•Nidaba: The goddess of writing, particularly documents in the palace archives.•Ninkasi (the lady who fills the mouth): One of the healing children of Enki and Ninhursag; she governs the art of brewing. Some speculation on the activities of Ninkasi has lead researchers to ask, "Which came first? Beer or bread?"•Uttu: The goddess of weaving and clothes.

Sumerian Gods

Anu

• In Sumerian mythology and later for Assyrians and Babylonians, Anu (also An; (from Sumerian *An = sky, heaven)) was a sky-god, the god of heaven, lord of constellations, king of gods, spirits and demons, and dwelt in the highest heavenly regions. It was believed that he had the power to judge those who had committed crimes, and that he had created the stars as soldiers to destroy the wicked. His attribute was the royal tiara, most times decorated with two pairs of bull horns. In art he was sometimes depicted as a jackal[citation needed]. Sumerian cuneiform for An (and determiner for deity DINGIR).. Sumerian cuneiform for An (and determiner for deity DINGIR).
• He had several consorts, the foremost being Ki (earth), Nammu, and Uras. By Ki he was the father of, among others, the Annuna gods. By Nammu he was the father of, among others, Enki and Ningikuga. By Uras he was the father of Nin'insinna. According to legends, heaven and earth were once inseparable until An and Ki bore Enlil, god of the air, who cleaved heaven and earth in two. An and Ki were, in some texts, identified as brother and sister being the children of Anshar and Kishar. Ki later developed into the Akkadian goddess Antu.
• He was one of the oldest gods in the Sumerian pantheon, and part of a triad including Enlil, god of the sky and Enki, god of water. He was called Anu by the Akkadians, rulers of Mesopotamia after the conquest of Sumer in 2334 BC by King Sargon of Akkad. By virtue of being the first figure in a triad consisting of Anu, Bel and Ea, Anu came to be regarded as the father and at first, king of the gods. Anu is so prominently associated with the E-anna temple in the city of Uruk (biblical Erech) in southern Babylonia that there are good reasons for believing this place to have been the original seat of the Anu cult. If this be correct, then the goddess Inanna (or Ishtar) of Uruk may at one time have been his consort.

Contents
[hide]

* 1 Name origin
* 2 Religious doctrine
* 3 Hurrian religion

ALSO LINKS TO:

Fertile Crescent
myth series
Mark of the Palm
Mesopotamian
Levantine
Arabian
Mesopotamia
Primordial beings
The great gods
Demigods & heroes
Spirits & monsters
Tales from Babylon
7 Gods who Decree

4 primary:

* Anu
* Enlil
* Ki
* Enki

3 sky:

* Ishtar
* Sin
* Sama

WikiProject Ancient Near East articles | Mesopotamian deities | Sky and weather gods | Hurrian deities

Sumerian Gods

Apsu

• The apsû (also known as abzu or engur, Image:Abzu_scripture.jpg) was the name for fresh water from underground aquifers that was given a religious quality in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology. Lakes, springs, rivers, wells, and other sources of fresh water were thought to draw their water from the apsû.
• The Sumerian god Enki (Ea in the Akkadian language) was believed to have lived in the apsû since before human beings were created. His wife Damgalnuna, his mother Nammu, his advisor Isimud and a variety of subservient creatures, such as the gatekeeper Lahmu, also lived in the apsû.
• In the city Eridu, Enki's temple was known as E-abzu ("the abzu temple") and was located at the edge of a swamp, an apsû.[1]
• Certain tanks of holy water in Babylonian and Assyrian temple courtyards were also called apsû or abzu (Black and Green 1992). Typical in religious washing, these tanks may be regarded as precursors to the washing pools of Islamic mosques, or the baptismal font in Christian churches.
• Apsû is depicted as a deity only in the Babylonian creation epic, the Enûma Elish, of which our surviving copy is from the library of Assurbanipal (died 630 BCE) but which is a millennium older. In this story, he was a primal being made of fresh water and a lover to another primal deity, Tiamat, who was a creature of salt water. The Enuma Elish begins: When above the heavens did not yet exist nor the earth below, Apsu the freshwater ocean was there, the first, the begetter, and Tiamat, the saltwater sea, she who bore them all; they were still mixing their waters, and no pasture land had yet been formed, nor even a reed marsh... Many think that Abzu/Apsu or Engur/Enkur was the original divinity later known as Enki.

ALSO LINKS TO:

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Primordial Beings

Apsû & Tiamat
Lahmu & Lahamu
Anshar & Kishar

Ancient Mesopotamia
Mesopotamian Mythology
Sea and River Gods

Sumerian Gods

Enil

• "lord of the open field") was the name of a chief deity in Sumerian religion, perhaps pronounced and sometimes rendered in translations as Ellil in later Akkadian. The name is of Sumerian origin and has been believed to mean 'Lord Wind' (though this interpretation is now disputed); a more literal interpretation is 'Lord of the Command'.
• OriginsEnlil was the god of wind, or the sky between earth and heaven. One story has him originate as the exhausted breath of An (God of the heavens) and Ki (goddess of the Earth) after sexual union. Another is that he and his sister Ninhursag/Ninmah/Aruru were children of an obscure god known as Enki 'Lord Earth' (not the famous Enki) borne by Ninki 'Lady Earth'.When Enlil was a young god, he was banished from Dilmun, home of the gods, to Kur, the underworld for raping a young girl named Ninlil. Ninlil followed him to the underworld where she bore his first child, the moon god Sin. After fathering three more underworld deities, Enlil was allowed to return to Dilmun.Enlil was also known as the inventor of the pickaxe/hoe (favorite tool of the Sumerians) and caused plants to grow. He was in possession of the holy Me, until he gave them to Enki for safe keeping, who summarily lost them to Inanna in a drunken stupor.[edit]PersonalityEarly scholarly research into Enlil incorrectly depicted the god as vicious, uncaring and unkind. This is due to the earliest materials available being clay cuneiform lamentations, depicting various sorrows it was Enlil's unsavory duty to carry out as the chief god of the Sumerian pantheon. This misperception continues, though later translations reveal the Enlil was praised as being humane and just. Ancient Sumerians saw Enlil as a fatherly figure, with compassion for humanity.[edit]Cosmological roleEnlil's relation to An 'Sky', in theory the supreme god of the Sumerian pantheon, was somewhat like that of a Frankish mayor of the palace compared to the king, or that of a Japanese shogun compared to the emperor, or to a prime minister in a modern constitutional monarchy compared to the supposed monarch. While An was in name ruler in the highest heavens, it was Enlil who mostly did the actual ruling over the world.By his wife Ninlil or Sud, Enlil was father of the moon god Nanna (in Akkadian Sin) and of Ninurta (also called Ningirsu). Enlil is sometimes father of Nergal, of Nisaba the goddess of grain, of Pabilsag who is sometimes equated with Ninurta, and sometimes of Enbilulu. By Ereshkigal Enlil was father of Namtar.[edit]Cultural historiesEnlil is associated with the ancient city of Nippur, and since Enlu with the determinative for "land" or "district" is a common method of writing the name of the city, it follows, apart from other evidence, that Enlil was originally the patron deity of Nippur.At a very early period prior to 3000 BC—Nippur had become the centre of a political district of considerable extent. Inscriptions found at Nippur, where extensive excavations were carried on during 1888–1900 by Messrs Peters and Haynes, under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania, show that Enlil was the head of an extensive pantheon. Among the titles accorded to him are "king of lands," "king of heaven and earth" and "father of the gods".His chief temple at Nippur was known as Ekur, signifying 'House of the mountain', and such was the sanctity acquired by this edifice that Babylonian and Assyrian rulers, down to the latest days, vied with one another in embellishing and restoring Enlil's seat of worship, and the name Ekur became the designation of a temple in general.

Sumerian Gods

Enki

• ("lord of the earth") was a deity in Sumerian mythology, later known as Ea in Babylonian mythology, originally chief God of the city of Eridu.The name Enki is misleading because he was god of the waters and not of earth. The exact meaning of his name is not sure: the common translation is "Lord of the Earth": the Sumerian en is translated as a title equivalent to "lord"; it was originally a title given to the High Priest; ki means "earth"; but there are theories that ki in this name has another origin, possibly kig of unknown meaning, or kur meaning "mound". The name Ea is of Sumerian origin and was written by means of two signs signifying "house" and "water".

Sumerian Gods

Ki

• In Sumerian mythology, Ninhursag (NIN.URSAG or Ki (= Earth) was the Sumerian earth and mother-goddess she usually appears as the mother of Enlil (Lord air = North wind), Ninlil (Lady air = South wind) , Nanna (= Moon) and Utu (= Sun). They were all children of Ki and An (Hence they were called Anunaki.Ninhursag means "lady of the mountain" (from Sumerian NIN "lady" and ḪRSAG (or ḪR.SAG) "sacred mountain"). She had many names including Damkina, Damgulnana and Uriash. Her temple the E'Saggila (From Sumerian E = House, SAG = Sacred, Ila (Akkadian) = Goddess) was located on the Khur (Sacred mound) of Eridu, although she also had a temple at Kish.In union with Enki she also bore Ninsar, goddess of the pasture(?).The Legend of Enki and Ninhursag, whereby which the water or semen (the word "A" in Sumerian had both meanings) of Enki fertilises the barren stony ground of Ninhursag, to bring forth Lady Greenery (Ninsar), gives an indication of her previous importance.Another version of the legend says: One day, Enki was very curious, so he ate Ninhursag's plants and became very ill in his rib (Sumerian = "ti" (also means "life"). Ninhursag healed him after intercession from the other gods.Ninhursag became the earth Goddess also called Nintu (the lady who gave birth) and Ki (Earth) and Ninmah (the exalted lady), Dingirmah, Aruru, Uriash, and as wife of Enki was usually called Damgalnunna.

Sumerian Gods

Nanna

• Sin (Akkadian: Sîn, Suen; Sumerian:Nanna) is a Sumerian god in Mesopotamian mythology. He is the god of the moon and the son of Enlil and Ninlil. His sacred city was Ur. The name Nanna is Sumerian for "illuminator."
  
• Sin's chief sanctuary at Ur was named E-gish-shir-gal ("house of the great light"). His sanctuary at Harran was named E-khul-khul ("house of joys"). On cylinder seals, he is represented as an old man with a flowing beard and the crescent as his symbol. In the astral-theological system he is represented by the number 30 and the moon, symbolic of the moon's crescent that often appears next to him in Mesopotamian cylinder seals. This number probably refers to the average number of days (correctly around 29.53) in a lunar month, as measured between successive new moons.
• The "wisdom" personified by the moon-god is likewise an expression of the science of astrology, in which the observation of the moon's phases is so important a factor. The tendency to centralize the powers of the universe leads to the establishment of the doctrine of a triad consisting of Sin, Shamash, and Ishtar, respectively personifying the moon, the sun, and the planet Venus.

• Contents
  
• * 1 Background
  * 2 Seats of Sin's worship
  * 3 References
  * 4 See also
• [edit] Background

Fertile Crescent
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Mesopotamian
Levantine
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Primordial beings
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Demigods & heroes
Spirits & monsters
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The Great Gods

Adad · Ashnan
Asaruludu · Enbilulu
Enkimdu · Ereshkigal
Inanna · Lahar
Nanshe · Nergal
Nidaba · Ningal
Ninisinna · Ninkasi
Ninlil · Ninurta
Nusku · Uttu
Annunaki

Sumerian Gods

Nanna

• Nanna is a god in Mesopotamian mythology who is the god of the moon and the son of Enlil and Ninlil. His sacred city was Ur. The name Nanna is Sumerian for "illuminator." He was named Sin in Babylonia and Assyria and was also worshipped in Harran. Sin had a beard made of lapis lazuli and he rode on a winged bull. His wife was Ningal ("Great Lady") who bore him Utu ("Sun") and Inana, and in some texts, Ishkur. His symbols are the crescent moon, the bull, and the tripod (which may be a lamp-stand.)The two chief seats of Sin's worship were Ur in the south, and Harran to the north. The cult of Sin spread to other centers, and temples of the moon-god are found in all the large cities of Babylonia and Assyria.He is commonly designated as En-zu, or "lord of wisdom." During the period (c.2600-2400 BC) that Ur exercised a large measure of supremacy over the Euphrates valley, Sin was naturally regarded as the head of the pantheon. It is to this period that we must trace such designations of Sin as "father of the gods", "chief of the gods", "creator of all things", and the like. We are justified in supposing that the cult of the moon-god was brought into Babylonia by Semitic nomads from Arabia.The moon-god is par excellence the god of nomadic peoples, since the moon is their guide and protector at night when they undertake their wanderings. This is just as the sun-god is the chief god of an agricultural people. The cult, once introduced, would tend to persevere, and the development of astrological science culminating in a calendar and in a system of interpretation of the movements and occurrences in the starry heavens would be an important factor in maintaining the position of Sin in the pantheon. Sin's chief sanctuary at Ur was named E-gish-shir-gal ("house of the great light.") His sanctuary at Harran was named E-khul-khul ("house of joys.") On seal-cylinders, he is represented as an old man with a flowing beard and the crescent as his symbol. In the astral-theological system he is represented by the number 30 and the planet Venus. 30 probably refers to the average number of days (correctly around 29.53) in a lunar month, as measured between successive new moons.The "wisdom" personified by the moon-god is likewise an expression of the science of astrology in which the observation of the moon's phases is so important a factor. The tendency to centralize the powers of the universe leads to the establishment of the doctrine of a triad consisting of Sin, Shamash, and Ishtar, personifying the moon, the sun, and the earth as the life-force.

Sumerian Gods

Nanna

• Religious claims often come to grief as a result of solid scientific, archaeological evidence. Sp, instead of endlessly speculating about the past, we can look to science to see what the evidence reveals. As we shall see, the hard evidence demonstrates that the god Allah was a pagan deity. In fact, he was the moon-god who was married to the sun-goddess and the stars were his daughters.
• Archaeologists have uncovered temples to the moon-god throughout the Middle East. From the mountains of Turkey to the banks of the Nile, the most widespread religion of the ancient world was the worship of the moon-god. It was even the religion of the patriarch Abraham before Yahweh revealed Himself and commanded him to leave his home in Ur of the Chaldees and migrate to Canaan.
A scene from the time of Abraham. A merchant, his wife and daughter at the ziggurat of Ur, prayerfully watching parading priests and musicians restore a gilded statue of the moon-god Sîn to his temple atop the "Hill of Heaven"
• Archaeologists have uncovered temples to the moon-god throughout the Middle East (see the artistic reconstruction above based on museum artifacts, wall paintings found in ruined cities, etc. in ancient Mesopotamia). From the mountains of Turkey to the banks of the Nile, the most widespread religion of the ancient world was the worship of the moon-god.
• The Sumerians, in the first literate civilisation, left thoudands of clay tablets describing their religious beliefs. As demonstrated by Sjöberg and Hall, the ancient Sumerians worshipped a moon-god who was called by many different names. The most popular names were Nanna, Suen, and Asimbabbar (Mark Hall, A Study of the Sumerian Moon-god, Sin, PhD., 1985, University of Pennsylvania). His symbol was the crescent moon. Given the amount of artifacts concerning the worship of this moon-god, it is clear that this was the dominant religion in Sumeria. The cult of the moon-god was the most popular religion throughout ancient Mesopotamia. The Assyrians, Babylonians, and Arkkadians took the word Suen and transformed it into the word Sîn as their favourite name for this deity (Austin Potts, The Hymns and Prayers to the Moon-god, Sin, PhD., 1971, Dropsie College, p.2). As Professor Potts pointed out, "Sîn is a name essentially Sumerian in origin which had been borrowed by the Semites" (op.cit., p.4).
• In ancient Syria and Canna, the moon-god Sîn was usually represented by the moon in its crescent phase. At times, the full moon was placed inside the crescent moon to emphasise all the phases of the moon. Tne sun-goddess was the wife of Sîn and the stars were their daughters. For example, Ishtar was the daughter of Sîn (Ibid., p.7).
• Sacrifices to the moon-god are described in the Ras Shamra texts (see Ras Shamra stele from North Syria to the right). In the Ugaritic texts, the moon-god was sometimes called Kusuh. In Persia (above right), as well as in Egypt (left), the moon-god is depicted on wall murals and on the heads of statutes. He was the judge of men and gods.
• As a matter of fact, everywhere in the ancient world the symbol of the crescent moon can be found on seal impressions, steles, pottery, amulets, clay tablets, cylinders, weights, earrings, necklasses, wall murals, and so on. In Tell-el-Obeid, a copper calf was found with crescent moon on its forehead, the same idol the children of Israel worshipped in the Desert of Sîn (Sînai) during the apostacy whilst Moses was on top of the mountain getting the Ten Commandments from Yahweh. While God's prophet (Moses) was conversing with the true God, Yahweh, the Israelites were descending into idolatry worshipping the moon-god, Sîn! An idol with the body of a bull and the head of a man has a crescent inlaid on its forehead with shells. In Ur, the Stela of Ur-Nammu has the crescent symbol placed at the top of the register of gods because the moon god was the head of the gods. Even bread was baked in the form of a crescent as an act of devotion to the moon-god (Ibid, pp.14-21).
• Ur of the Chaldees was so devoted to the moon-god that it was sometimes called Nannar in tablets from that time period. A temple of the moon-god was excavated in Ur by Sir Leonard Woolley. He dug up many examples of moon-worship that are now displayed in the British Museum. Harran was likewise noted for its devotion to the moon-god. An example of the Babylonian moon-god is shown to the right. Note the presence of the crescent.
• In the 1950's a major temple to the moon-god was excavated at Hazor in Palestine. Two idols of the moon-god were found. Each was a statue of a man sitting upon a throne with a crescent moon carved into his chest (below left). The accompanying inscriptions make it clear that these were idols of the moon-god (below right). The worship tablet found at the same sight (left) shows arms outstretched towards the Moon-god here represented by the full moon within the crescent moon. Several smaller statues were also found which were identified by their inscriptions as the daughters of the moon-god. These are illustrated in the collection of photographs (below right). During the 19th century, Arnaud, Halevy, and Glaser went to southern Arabia and dug up thousands of Sabean, Minaean, and Qarabanian inscriptions which were subsequently translated. In the 1940's, archaeologists G. Caton Thompson and Carleton S. Coon made some amazing discoveries in Arabia. During the 1950's, Wendell Phillips, W.F.Albright, Richard Bower, and others excavated sites Qataban, Timna, and Marib (the ancient capital of Sheba). Thousands of inscriptions from walls and rocks in northern Arabia have also been collected. Reliefs and votive bowls used in worship of the "daughters of Allah" have also been discovered. The three daughters, Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat are sometimes depicted together with Allah the moon-god represented by a crescent moon above them (North Arabian archaeological finds concerning Al-Lat are discussed in: Isaac Rabinowitz, Aramaic Inscriptions of the Fifth Century, JNES, XV, 1956, pp.1-9; Another Aramaic Record of the North Arabian goddess Han'Llat, JNES, XVIII, 1959, pp.154-55; Edward Linski, The Goddess Atirat in Ancient Arabia, in Babylon and in Ugarit: Her Relation to the Moon-god and the Sun-goddess, Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica, 3:101-9; H.J.Drivers, Iconography and Character of the Arab Goddess Allat, found in Études Preliminaries Aux Religions Orientales Dans L'Empire Roman, ed. Maarten J. Verseren, Leiden, Brill, 1978, pp.331-51). The archaeological evidence demonstrates that the dominant religion in Arabia was the cult of the moon-god. The Old Testament consistenly rebuked the worship of the moon-god (e.g. Dt.4:19; 17:3; 2 Ki.21:3,5; 23:5; Jer.8:2; 19:13; Zeph.1:5). When Israel fell into idolatry, it was usually to the cult of the moon-god. In Old Testament times, Nabonidus (555-539 BC), the last King of Babylon, built Tayma, Arabia, as a centre od moon-god worship. Segall stated: "South Arabia's stellar religion has always been dominated by the Moon-god in various variations" (Berta Segall, The Iconography of Cosmic Kingship, the Art Bulletin, vol.xxxviii, 1956, p.77). Many scholars have also noticed that the moon-god's name, Sín, is a part of such Arabic words as "Sinai", the "wilderness of Sîn", and so forth. When the popularity of the moon-god waned elsewhere, the Arabs remained true to their conviction that the moon-god was the greatest of all gods. While they worshipped 360 gods at the Kabah in Mecca, the moon-god was the chief deity. Mecca was in fact built as a shrine for the moon-god. This is what made it the most sacred site of Arabian paganism. In 1944, G. Caton Thompson revealed in her book, The Tombs and Moon Temple of Hureidah, that she had uncovered a temple of the moon-god in southern Arabia (see map above). The symbols of the crescent moon and no less than 21 inscriptions with the name Sîn were found in this temple (see above left). An idol which is probably the moon-god himself was also discovered (see above right). This was later confirmed by other well-known archaeologists (See Richard Le Baron Bower Jr. and Frank P. Albright, Archaeological Discoveries in South Arabia, Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press, 1958, p.78ff; Ray Cleveland, An Ancient South Arabian Necropolis, Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press, 1965; Nelson Gleuck, Deities and Dolphins, New York, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1965). The temple reveals that the temple of the moon-god was active even in the Christian era. Evidence gathered from both North and South Arabia demonstrate that moon-god worship was clearly active even in Muhammad's day and was still the dominant cult. According to numerous inscriptions, while the name of the moon-god was Sîn, his title was al-ilah, "the deity", meaning that he was the chief of high god among the gods. As Coon pointed out, "The God Il or Ilah was originally a phase of the Moon-God" (Coon, Southern Arabia, p.399). The moon-god was called al-ilah, the god, which was shortened to Allah in pre-Islamic times. The pagan Arabs even used Allah in the names they gave to their children. For example, both Muhammad's father and uncle has Allah as part of their names. The fact that they were given such names by their parents proves that Allah was the title for the moon-god even in Muhammad's day. Professor Coon says, "Similarly, under Muhammad's tutelage, the relatively anonymous Ilah, became Al-Ilah, The God, of Allah, the Supreme Being" (Ibid.). This fact answers the questions: "Why is Allah never defined in the Quran?" and "Why did Muhammad assume that the pagan Arabs already knew who Allah was?" [etc.]

Sumerian Gods

Seven Gods Who Decree

• Anu
• Enil
• Ki
• Enki
• Ishtar
• Sin
• Sama

2012

• why 2012? The Long Count Calendar of the Ancient Mayans ends on Dec 21 2012. There isn't much information regarding what the Mayans thought would occur in 2012, but the consensus of opinion is that there will be great change. To some people this means a positive, spiritual change. Other, like myself, consider that a catastrophic event may have been predicted. Read more about the Mayan Calendar. Read more about the Mayan calendar. nobody knows what will happen in 2012! There is zero scientific evidence that anything will happen, but there are numerous things that could easily threaten the human species in the year 2012, such as a geomagnetic reversal, asteroid strike or supernova. Or soemthing more intimate, like a flu pandemic, or a nuclear war. See the list of possibilities. . what does Rob think? Although I'd prefer new age enlightenment, I can't help but think something terrible may occur, and that ancient civilizations have left us coded warnings Read an explanation of my 2012 theory. 2012 resources Besides this site there is: * a 2012 news service - unbiased and purely 2012 * a 2012 wiki - every fact regarding the Mayan doomsday can be found there * a 2012 database (over 400 sites listed) * a very popular forum * a 2012 social network * and a 2012 blog

LINKS TO:

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2012 Predictions

December 12 2012

Nostradamus 2012

2012 Bible

2012 World Map

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Timelines

• |Introduction: Overview and Summary
  |Prehistory: Ancient Literary Precursors
  |Cosmic History:14 Billion BC to 3000 BC
  |6th Millennium BC: When the Goddess Ruled
  |5th Millennium BC: Mesopotamia, Egypt
  |4th Millennium BC: Iceman of the Alps, Old Kingdom Egypt
  |3rd Millennium BC: Gilgamesh and Cheops
  |2nd Millennium BC: Abraham to David
  |1st Millennium BC: Homer, Buddha, Confucius, Euclid
  |1st Century: Jesus, Cymbeline, Caligula, Pliny
  |2nd Century: Hero, Ptolemy, Nichomachus
  |3rd Century: 3 Kingdoms China, Legendary Japan
  |4th Century: Constantine, Hypatia, Ausonius
  |5th Century: Rome in Crisis, Dark Ages start
  |6th Century: Boethius, Taliesin, Mohammed
  |7th Century: Bede, Brahmagupta, Isidorus
  |8th Century: Beowulf, Charlemagne, 1001 Arabian Nights
  |9th Century: Gunpowder and the first printed book
  |10th Century: Arabs, Byzantium, China
  |11th Century: Khayyam, Gerbert, Alhazen
  |12th Century: Age of Translations
  |13th Century: Crusades, Kublai Khan, Universities
  |14th Century: Dante, Marco Polo, and Clocks
  |15th Century: Dawn of Scientific Revolution
  |16th Century: Ariosto and Cyrano on the Moon
  |17th Century: Literary Dawn
  |18th Century: Literary Expansion
  |19th Century: Victorian Explosion
  |1890-1910: Into Our Century
  |1910-1920: The Silver Age
  |1920-1930: The Golden Age
  |1930-1940: The Aluminum Age
  |1940-1950: The Plutonium Age
  |1950-1960: The Threshold of Space
  |1960-1970: The New Wave
  |1970-1980: The Seventies
  |1980-1990: The Eighties
  |1990-2000: End of Millennium
  |2000-2010: PRESENT DECADE
  |2010-2020: Next Decade
  |Cosmic Future: Until Infinity

• Copyright 1996,1997,1998,1999,2000 by Magic Dragon Multimedia.
• All rights reserved Worldwide. May not be reproduced without permission.
• May be posted electronically provided that it is transmitted unaltered, in its
  entirety, and without charge.We examine both works of fiction and important contemporaneous works on
  non-fiction which set the context for early Science Fiction and Fantasy.There are 48 hotlinks here to authors, magazines, films,
  or television items elsewhere in the Ultimate Science Fiction Web Guide or
  beyond.
  Most recently updated: 21 Sep 2000 [36 Kilobytes]; 3 July 2000 [28 KB].This web page draws heavily on FACTS as listed in "The Timetables of Science",
  by Alexander Hellemans and Bryan Bunch [New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988].
  It does not copy the TEXT of that fine and recommended reference, and has
  value added in correlating the scientific and literary production of the
  century, and in hotlinking to additional resources.
• Facts were also checked against "The 1979 Hammond Almanac" [ed. Martin A.
  Bacheller et al., Maplewood, New Jersey, 1978], p.795.
  It also utilizes facts from Volume I of D.E. Smith's "History of Mathematics"
  [(c) 1921 by David Eugene Smith; (c) 1951 by May Luse Smith; New York: Dover, 1958].

Timeline

Mythologies

• This timeline shows the date when each belief system was promient. North America is represented by the Iroquois Nation and Mexico is represented by the Aztecs.

Timeline 4th Millennium BC

• The 4th millennium BC saw major changes in human culture. It marks the beginning of the Bronze Age and of writing. The city states of Sumer and the kingdom of Egypt are established and grow to prominence. Agriculture spreads widely across Eurasia. World population in the course of the millennium doubles, approximately from 7 to 14 million people.

• Mythology

  * Korean mythology: According to Silla scholar Bak Jesang (박제상), the state Hwanguk (桓國) collapsed around 3898 BC.
  * The Maya calendar dates the creation of the Earth to August 11 or August 13, 3114 BC (establishing that date as day zero of the Long Count 13.0.0.0.0).
  * According to calculations of Aryabhata (6th century), the Hindu Kali Yuga began at midnight (00:00) on 18 February 3102 BC. Consequently, Aryabhata dates the events of the Mahabharata to around 3137 BC.
  * 7 October 3761 BC - Epoch of the Hebrew Calendar (introduced in the 12th century)

• Environmental changes Holocene epoch This box: view • talk • edit ↑ Pleistocene Holocene Preboreal (10 ka - 9 ka), Boreal (9 ka - 8 ka), Atlantic (8 ka - 5 ka), Subboreal (5 ka - 2.5 ka) and Subatlantic (2.5 ka - present). Anthropocene Main article: Atlantic (period) Based on studies by glaciologist Lonnie Thompson (professor at Ohio State University and researcher with the Byrd Polar Research Center) [1] a number of indicators shows there was a global change in climate 5,200 years ago: * The climate was altered suddenly with severe impacts. * Plants buried in the Quelccaya Ice Cap in the Peruvian Andes demonstrate the climate had shifted suddenly and severely to capture the plants and preserve them until now. * A man trapped in an Alpine glacier ("Ötzi the Iceman") is frozen until his discovery in 1991. * Tree rings from Ireland and England show this was their driest period. * Ice core records showing the ratio of two oxygen isotopes retrieved from the ice fields atop Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro, a proxy for atmospheric temperature at the time snow fell. * Major changes in plant pollen uncovered from lakebed cores in South America. * Record lowest levels of methane retrieved from ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica. * End of the Neolithic Subpluvial, start of desertification of Sahara (35th century BC). North Africa shifts from a habitable region to a barren desert. * Disastrous floods in Mesopotamian region.

Timeline 4th Millennium BC

• Environmental changesBased on studies by glaciologist Lonnie Thompson (professor at Ohio State University and researcher with the Byrd Polar Research Center) [1] a number of indicators shows there was a global change in climate 5,200 years ago:•The climate was altered suddenly with severe impacts.•Plants buried in the Quelccaya Ice Cap in the Peruvian Andes demonstrate the climate had shifted suddenly and severely to capture the plants and preserve them until now.•A man trapped in an Alpine glacier (“Oetzi”) is frozen until his discovery in 1991.•Tree rings from Ireland and England show this was their driest period.•Ice core records showing the ratio of two oxygen isotopes retrieved from the ice fields atop Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro, a proxy for atmospheric temperature at the time snow fell.•Major changes in plant pollen uncovered from lakebed cores in South America.•Record lowest levels of methane retrieved from ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica.•Beginning of desertification of Sahara (35th century BC). The shift by the Sahara Desert from a habitable region to a barren desert.

Timeline 2nd Millennium BC

• 2nd MILLENNIUM B.C.: Executive Summary
• This is the era described in the Old Testament. It runs from the height
  of Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilization through the completion of
  Stonehenge, the era of the Trojan Wars sung about by Homer,
  and the Classical Age of China.
• SOMETHING enormous and violent, around 1628 or 1637 B.C., changed events
  worldwide, and may have caused a "mini-ice-age." It was probably the
  explosion of a volcano on the island of Santorini (or
  Antikithera). See below, at 1,650 BC to 1,600 BC.
• This era is still considered Ancient History, but more and more we discover
  that archaeology confirms the written record which has sometimes been
  dismissed as merely legend and Fantasy.
• more {to be done}
• Mathematical/Scientific/Philosophical People of the Millennium:
• 1. Ahmes
  2. see: 1650-1600 King Hammurabi
  3. see: 1750 to 1700 BC Homer
  4. see: 1,400 BC (era he sang about, not when he lived) Moses
  5. see: 1,292 to 1,225 BC Confucius
  6. see: 1,027 BC Mencius
  7. see: 1,027 BC Lao-Tze
  8. see: 1,027 BC The Duke of Chou
  9. see: 1,050 to 1,000 BC David
  10. see: c.1,000 BC more {to be done}
•  
• Chronological list of Politico-Military Names
• 1. Abraham
  2. see: 2,000 BC to 1,950 BC King Hammurabi
  3. see: 1750 to 1700 BC Thutmose III
  4. see: 1468 BC King Tutankhamun
  5. see: 1,338 BC Ramses II
  6. see: 1,292-1,225 BC Moses
  7. see: 1,292 to 1,225 BC Nebuchadnezzar
  8. see: 1,124 BC Saul
  9. see: 1,020-1004 BC David
  10. see: c.1,000 BC more {to be done}
•  
• Fiction About the 2nd MILLENNIUM B.C.
• I particularly enjoy "At the Palaces of Knossos", by Nikos Kazantzakis,
  translated by Theodora Vasils and Themi Vasils [Athens: Ohio University
  Press, 1988]. With the help of Princess Aradne, and other friends in
  the palace at Crete, Theseus enters the Labyrinth and slays the hideous
  Minotaur, thus spearheading the resistance of the Athenian people against
  King Minos. Technically a Young Adult novel, this is rich, deep, and
  equally suitable for adults.

• Copyright 1996,1997,1998,1999,2000 by Magic Dragon Multimedia.
• All rights reserved Worldwide. May not be reproduced without permission.
• May be posted electronically provided that it is transmitted unaltered, in its
  entirety, and without charge.We examine both works of fiction and important contemporaneous works on
  non-fiction which set the context for early Science Fiction and Fantasy.There are 48 hotlinks here to authors, magazines, films,
  or television items elsewhere in the Ultimate Science Fiction Web Guide or
  beyond.
  Most recently updated: 21 Sep 2000 [36 Kilobytes]; 3 July 2000 [28 KB].This web page draws heavily on FACTS as listed in "The Timetables of Science",
  by Alexander Hellemans and Bryan Bunch [New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988].
  It does not copy the TEXT of that fine and recommended reference, and has
  value added in correlating the scientific and literary production of the
  century, and in hotlinking to additional resources.
• Facts were also checked against "The 1979 Hammond Almanac" [ed. Martin A.
  Bacheller et al., Maplewood, New Jersey, 1978], p.795.
  It also utilizes facts from Volume I of D.E. Smith's "History of Mathematics"
  [(c) 1921 by David Eugene Smith; (c) 1951 by May Luse Smith; New York: Dover, 1958].

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