241 posts
Latest Posts by s-afshar - Page 3
... mosaic ...
New Year wishes from an ancient Greek mosaic floor. Halicarnassus, 4th century AD: "Health. Life (Longevity). Joy. Peace. Contentment (Good Cheer). Hope."
... mosaic ...
The splendid mosaic floor in the atrium of the House of Paquius Proculus, Pompeii.
Fruits commonly eaten in the ancient Mediterranean in Roman frescoes and mosaics. How many can you recognize?
Nereid
Cosmetic box in the shape of a scallop shell, second half of the 3rd century BC., silver (from "Tomba degli Ori di Canosa")
National Archaeological Museum of Taranto Inv. 22429-22430
Stunning Frescoes of a Mysterious Dionysian Cult Discovered in Ancient Pompeii
Created more than a century before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E., the wall paintings provide rare insights into secret rituals conducted in the Roman city.
Archaeologists in Pompeii have uncovered a series of nearly life-size frescoes spanning three walls of an ancient banquet hall. Set against a ruby-red backdrop, the wall paintings depict female followers of Dionysus—the Greek god of wine and ecstasy—engaged in secretive cult rituals.
Also known as maenads or bacchantes, the women have swords in their hands and slaughtered animals draped across their bare shoulders. Alongside flute-piping satyrs, they’re engaged in a wild, ritualistic dance, while shellfish, eels, squid and poultry dangle above them. In the center of it all, a clothed woman awaits her initiation into the cult.
Pompeii is full of colorful frescoes, but this one is particularly rare. The only other large wall painting depicting a Dionysian ceremony was unearthed in the so-called Villa of the Mysteries in the ancient city’s suburbs in 1909, according to a statement from the Pompeii Archaeological Park.
Known as a megalography—a Greek term for a large-scale painting—the banquet hall fresco was uncovered at the newly excavated House of Thiasus. It dates to the first century B.C.E., more than 100 years before Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 C.E. and cast pumice and ash down upon Pompeii.
“In 100 years’ time, today will be remembered as historic,” Alessandro Giuli, the Italian culture minister, told reporters at the unveiling of the wall paintings on Wednesday, per Reuters’ Crispian Balmer. “Alongside the Villa of the Mysteries, this fresco forms an unparalleled testament to the lesser-known aspects of ancient Mediterranean life.”
As Giuli suggests, the festivals depicted in the frescoes were thoroughly secretive, even in antiquity.
“These were mystery cults, so what they did remains a mystery, even in the ancient written sources,” Sophie Hay, an archaeologist at Pompeii, tells the London Times’ Philip Willan.
Even so, the frescoes at Pompeii offer valuable insights into what worship of Dionysus, also known as the Roman god Bacchus, entailed.
Wine, of course, was central to these festivities. But researchers think cult members may have also consumed other substances, like opium, to enter “trance-like states,” Live Science’s Kristina Killgrove writes.
The women in the fresco are both hunters and dancers, suggesting that the duality of slaughter and revelry was a central tenet. The clothed, mortal woman who is awaiting initiation is depicted as “oscillating between these two extremes, two forms of the female being at the time,” Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the archaeological park, says in the statement.
“For the ancients, the bacchante or maenad expressed the wild, untameable side of women; the woman who abandons her children, the house and the city, who breaks free from male order to dance freely, go hunting and eat raw meat in the mountains and the woods,” he adds. In contrast, Zuchtriegel explains, were the women who emulated the goddess Venus and lived by the dictates of Roman society.
“The question is, what do you want to be in life, the hunter or the prey?” Zuchtriegel told reporters at the unveiling.
The hunting scenes may also stand as analogues for life and death. In the House of Thiasus, one woman eats raw meat. At the Villa of Mysteries, one breastfeeds a young goat.
“It’s the double function of death and rebirth. Dionysus dies and is reborn. Through initiation into the cult, you are born again,” Zuchtriegel says to the London Times.
By 186 B.C.E., these festivals were at risk of dying out, as Roman authorities attempted to crack down on the scandalous ceremonies. But the presence of the paintings in the House of Thiasus and the Villa of Mysteries suggest that the secret rituals survived.
Although archaeological work continues, the frescoes are now on public display.
By Eli Wizevich.
Akhnatens letters
*These are five of the Amarna letters in the british museum
The Amarna letters features letters directed to Akhnaten and before him his father about the fall of conquered terratories in Caanan and Syria to the kingdoms of the Mitanni, the Babylonians and the Hittites.
These letters are featured in the opera Akhnaten in the third act and are transcribed from Samuel A.B Mercers translation from his 1939 book "Mercer, The Tel-el-Amarna Tablets". The book is hard to find so I cannot connect the letters to their correct tablets at this time but I will when I get ahold of the book.
The letters are used to paint a good picture of the severe losses Egypt suffered during Akhnaten and his ancestors reign. His descendants in the 18th dynasty mitigated the issue but the 19th dynasty namely Seti I and Ramesses II probably reclaimed the most.
Letter No. 1: I have written repeatedly for troops, but they were not given and the king did not listen to the word of his servant. And I sent my messenger to the palace, but he returned empty-handed - he brought no troops. And when the people of my house saw this, they rediculed me like the governors, my brethren, and dispised me.
Letter No. 2: The king's whole land, which has begun hostilities with me, will be lost. Behold the territory of Seir, as far as Carmel; its princes are wholly lost; and hostilities prevail against me. As long as ships were upon the sea the strong arm of the king occupied Naharin and Kash, but now the Apiru are occupying the king's cities. There remains not one prince to my lord, the king; every one is ruined. Let the king take care of his land and let him send troops. For if no troops come in this year, the whole territory of my lord, the king, will perish. If there are no troops in this year, let the king send his officer to fetch me and his brothers, that we may die with our lord, the king.
Note: Naharin meant the land of the Mitanni claimed by Thutmose III in his military campaign.
Letter No. 3: Verily, they father did not march forth nor inspect the lands of the vassal-princes. And when thou ascended the throne of thy father's house, Abdashirta's sons took the king's lands for themselves. Creatures of the king of Mittani are they, and of the king of Babylon and of the king of the Hittites.
Letter No. 4 Who formerly could have plundered Tunip without being plundered by Thutmose III? The gods of the king of Egypt, my lord, dwell in Tunip. May my lord ask his old men if this not be so. Now, however, we belong no more to our lord, the king of Egypt. And now Tunip, thy city, weeps and her tears are flowing and there is not help for us. For twenty years we have been sending to our lord, the king of Egypt, but there has not come to us a word - no, not one.
Walk through the heart of ancient Persia.
This isn’t just a tour. It’s a time-travel experience you’ll never forget.
Join us on a journey to Persepolis a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the greatest wonders of the ancient world.
Feel the stories carved in stone, where kings once walked and empires rose.
Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Egypt.
A rediscovered mosaic from 2nd Century AD found in the ancient city of Cilician Aphrodisias, known today as Tisan, in the Silifke district of Mersin, Turkiye.
Discovery in Pompeii - 2025
The Italian Ministry of Culture revealed the discovery of the hall with its large, colorful frescoes on February 26, 2025. These frescoes depict initiation scenes, are almost life-size, and have a deeply religious significance. They were designed to decorate banqueting areas and are believed to date from 40 to 30 BC.
It's a megalography, a large painting, similar to the famous painting in the Villa of the Mysteries. The house is located on insula 10 of Regio IX and was named by archaeologists as House of Thyasus, referring to the retinue of Dionysus.
“For the ancients, the figure of the Bacchante represented the wild and untamed side of women, in contrast to the idealized image of Venus, the goddess of love and marriage,” said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park. “The frescoes in the House of Thyasus and the Villa of the Mysteries show women caught between these two extremes, reflecting the different ways in which femininity was conceived at that time.”
Archaeologists have identified more than fifty rooms, a laundry (fullonica), and a bakery.
All photos by archaeologist Silvia Vacca
Instagram : silvia_vacca_
The golden interior of Gur Emir Mausoleum, Samarkand, Uzbekistan
The Villa des Orangers, luxury five star hotel is located in the heart of Marrakech and is a true haven of peace. Everything has been carefully chosen to make your stay relaxing and sophisticated: an elegant decoration, delicious cuisine with Mediterranean and Moroccan flavours, a large garden and lush courtyards, three swimming pools, a traditional Moroccan Hammam, massage rooms, beauty salon, fitness, an open bar to enjoy a mint tea with Moroccan pastries during the day.
The Sky Goddess Nut represented double
From The Dawn of Astronomy; J. Norman Lockyer, 1894)
The Battle of Kadesh: Part II - The Stakes
The aftermath of the battle of Kadesh might have changed the future of history forever. We simply don't know how the end of the bronze age would have played out if this didn't end the war between Egypt and the Hittites. Perhaps if the Hittites won more of Canaan they would have endured the natural disasters that destroyed anatolia? Perhaps if Egypt conquered more they would have the resources to stop the neo-assyrians world domination speed run? How would the world look if the egyptians instead went on a world domination speed run instead of the persians? This shit mattered and I'm not gonna be told otherwise.
On the surface these stakes were the ownership of an unimportant town and moving the border a few hundred feet north or south, not so important after all even so what the actual battle led to was in fact very important. Even though the ownership of Kadesh had long been a symbolic one, when either the Egyptians or the Hittites owned Kadesh it showed the other side who was “winning” their ancient beef. Kadesh was undoubtedly a propaganda target.
The aftermath would lead to the first surviving recorded peace treaty and formed an important defensive alliance creating precedence for all those to come in the millenia after. Who knows if it mattered but either way the first known peace treaty feels important to talk about. The battle of Kadesh was not the sole reason for the peace treaty, Egypt was feeling threatened by the infamous “Sea peoples” that were part of the late bronze age collapse and Egypt was quite satisfied with a propaganda victory to wrap up their long war with the Hittites and even happier to get some help from the Hittites if they the sea peoples were to invade en masse.
*The Egyptian Version of the peace treaty at the precinct of Amun-Re*
*The Hittite version of the peace treaty which is displayed at the museum of the ancient orient in Turkey*
*A third Akkadian version of the peace treaty between Ramesses II and Ḫattušili III, mid-13th century BCE. Neues Museum, Berlin
Note: Yes, military alliances existed earlier but are poorly recorded. This was the first surviving peace treaty. The Hitties did even have an alliance with the Mitanni but in our very fractured understanding of the bronze age it's hard to tell what can be considered an alliance, a vassal state or whatever else. The Mitanni were pretty interesting in this regard too, I might cover the battle of Megiddo, Thutmose III’s campaign and the Mitanni’s empire at some point in the future.
Head of a Winged Protective Spirit from Room B at the Northwest Palace of Nimrud, the Assyrian Capital. The alabaster wall relief dates back to the era of Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BCE). Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA.
Photo by Babylon Chronicle
A replica of the Victory Stele celebrating the Assyrian King Esarhaddon’s victory over Pharaoh Taharqa of Ancient Egypt in 671 BC. The Semitic Museum of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Photo by Babylon Chronicle
A replica of the Victory Stele celebrating the Assyrian King Esarhaddon’s victory over Pharaoh Taharqa of Ancient Egypt in 671 BC. The Semitic Museum of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Photo by Babylon Chronicle
The Karnak Temple, Luxor - Egypt.
Votive tablet depicting Shamash, the sun-god of Sippar, seated in his shrine with the Babylonian king Nebopaliddin being led into the God's presence by two figures. Babylonian art, 9th century BC.
Learn more https://www.archaeologs.com/w/sippar/
Canopic Jars of Isetemkheb D, Chief of the Harem of Amun-Re
Third Intermediate Period, 21st Dynasty, ca. 1077-943 BC.
Now in the Hurghada Museum. JE 26254
Sumerian Taxes
Whenever spring rolls around and I do my taxes, I think of the Sumerians. Cuneiform may have been used to write literary works, hymns of praise, and personal letters, but a massive chunk of the texts in Sumerian we have today are account ledgers, business records, and especially tax documents. It’s been theorized that the earliest writing was, in fact, developed for the purpose of keeping track of property and taxation records.
This tablet, from the Indiana State Library, is a list of taxable produce from about 2350 BCE. It predates what was probably the pinnacle of the Mesopotamian tax system, called bala taxation, in the 22nd and 21st centuries. Under the bala system, tens of millions of liters of grain were moved around Mesopotamia to support a population of state workers possibly numbering as many as 500,000, using an accounting system of thousands of tablets a year. More than ten thousand such tablets have been found at Puzrish-Dagan, an administrative center founded by King Shulgi at which tax records from across the Neo-Sumerian Empire. When I send my tax forms in to the IRS center in Austin, Charlotte or Kansas City, I think of it as a modern Puzrish-Dagan.
Though the damage on the right side of the above tablet is probably more recent, I like to imagine someone got frustrated with the local tax-collector-scribe and tried to deface their documentation. So when you fill in those tax forms, think of the Sumerians, and the connections we have across millennia, with love, and sometimes just a touch of frustration.
Wall of the Temple of Horus in Edfu, built by the Ptolemids between 237 and 57 BCE.
Austere and sober in style are prerequisites for an orderly decoration of a place where people are required to demonstrate the proper conduct.
Rüstem Paşa Camii
Africa First Project
Groundbreaking Call of Yahaya Ezemoo Ndu, President of the African Renaissance Project
I herewith republish the proclaimed call with which the pioneering African politician, intellectual and champion of the African Renaissance Yahaya Ndu invited all Africans to engage in the ultimate battle to save Africa from the lethal dangers that the ailing, yet criminal, Western colonials embody for the Black Continent.
Without a shred of exaggeration, this is the founding text in which all Africans will feel their minds and hearts excellently reflected. It was first published on the 2nd February 2025 here:
Africa First Project
Africans and Black people from all over Africa and the world over are being urged to wake up from centuries old slumber and realize that now is the time to unite as one and work for the actualization of the African Renaissance as that is the only way forward to move the continent and it's over one billion people out of poverty, dependency, disease, needless wars, underdevelopment and destitution.
We must realize that no one will develop Africa for us and that we must develop Africa ourselves.
We must overcome the artificial barriers inhibiting our togetherness and turn all our disadvantages into advantages.
Our brothers and sisters outside Africa especially those, who are being harassed by the authorities of their countries of domicile, should not despair, rather they should seize the opportunity of the time to team up with their brethren at home in Africa to build Africa, to develop beyond every other part of the world, including the United States and China, as we have all it takes to achieve this.
After all, we are the undisputed and undisputable mothers and fathers of all of mankind; civilization started with us, and further we taught the world all that it knows.
Africa and the Black world do not lack in manpower; Africa and the Black world do not lack raw materials or land space.
Although fortunate and unfortunate facts of History have spread us all over the world perhaps more than any other group of people, the realities of modern communication and information technology -if deployed effectively- would turn our disadvantages into advantages and make us the most formidable group in all the world.
All we need is a well-thought out and ordered synergizing of our intellectual capital under a trusted and mutually beneficial continent and worldwide administration that is just, transparent and pan-African in all ramifications.
We must realize that not only did we, Africans, invent the phenomenon of democracy, but that our history is replete with experiences of benevolent and malevolent oligarchies, theocracies, military regimes, etc.
Experience has taught us not to prefer military regimes to civilian regimes or civilian regimes to military regimes or theocracies or oligarchies or any other forms of government, as all could be good or bad, and as no intron is intrinsically good or bad.
What we Africans truly prefer is good governance over bad governance no matter what.
Therefore, we must respect the rights of all peoples and nations in Africa to operate any forms of government that they find suitable for themselves and work with them devoid of any holier than their attitude for African development, unification and Renaissance.
Traditional rulers and religious leaders from all across the length and breadth of Africa should bond themselves together into a continental board of trustees and superintendents over African and Black intellectuals from all over the world and come up with a brotherly arrangement; thus, they will organize the development of all African nations and their Diasporas in a systematic and systemic circuit and order, building an encouraging solidarity, establishing a fraternal unification, and eliminating all forms of wars, strives, diseases and poverty.
As Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria's first president, said in his book 'Renascent Africa':
"Educate the Renascent African to be a man. Tell him that he has made definite contribution to history. Educate him to appreciate the fact that iron was discovered by Africans; that the conception of one God was initiated by Africans, that Africans ruled the world from 763 to 713 B.C.; that while Europe slumbered during the dark ages, a great civilization flourished on the banks of the Niger, extending from the salt mines of Taghaza in Morocco, to Lake Chad right to the Atlantic.
Narrate to him the lore of Ethiopia, Ghana, Melle, Mellestine and Songhay.
Let him realize with the rest of the world that, while Oxford and Cambridge were in their inchoate stages, the University of Sankore in Timbuktu welcomed scholars and learned men from all over the Moslem world".
It is clear to all discerning individuals and groups that the African Union, ECOWAS and all such, so-called regional and sub-regional, organizations in Africa have lost their usefulness and as a matter of fact many if not all of them have become a disgrace; it is degrading to the dignity of Africans, and increasingly so by the day.
If a president of the United States can sit in Washington D.C. and order the armed forces of his country to conduct bombing in Somalia, an African nation, without being authorized to do so by the African Union and the people of Africa, then it is clear that the African Union has outlived its usefulness and it should therefore be immediately disbanded.
African people should set up an all-African electoral commission to conduct direct elections to elect those to lead Africans.
As a matter of fact, the present African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was built and donated by an Asian country - China.
This is a disgrace; it is totally unacceptable to all true sons and daughters of Africa, and all the Black people.
The new African Union by whatever name so called should operate from a headquarters built and funded 100% by Africans - even if it has to be a hut.
We Africans and all the Black people must take charge of our affairs in all ramifications, especially in security.
All non-African troops, by whatever appellation, operating and stationed in Africa should be asked to vacate Africa and return to their own nations and continents.
After all, a vast majority -if not all- of the security challenges confronting African people are orchestrated from the same foreign and non-African nations that claim to love Africa more than Africans do.
Alhaji Yahaya E. G. K. Ndu
President
African Renaissance Project (ARP)
Enugu, Nigeria
===================
Download the Call in PDF:
History, Becoming, Morality, Spiritual Potency, Knowledge, Man and the Execrable Fallacy, which is considered "History"
Contents
I. There is no 'History'! It is a Pseudo-Concept.
II. 'History' is tantamount to Becoming
III. Writing and History
IV. History, Becoming, Human Actions, and Moral
V. Historiography as Sacred and as Unholy Action
VI. Every Historical Research and Study is an Moral Quest
VII. 'History' and Oral Tradition
VIII. All Writing Systems are Consequence of the Fall of Man
IX. The Moral Dimension of Historiography: History and Myth
X. Spiritual Sciences, Ontology, Knowledge, and Gnosiology
XI. The Academic Discipline of History: Nonexistent without Moral Targets
Ιστορία, Γίγνεσθαι, Ηθική, Ψυχική Ισχύς, Γνώση, Άνθρωπος & η Άθλια Απάτη που θεωρείται «Ιστορία»
Περιεχόμενα
Ι. Δεν υπάρχει 'Ιστορία'! Είναι μία Ψευδο-έννοια.
ΙΙ. 'Ιστορία' είναι το Γίγνεσθαι
ΙΙΙ. Γραφή και Ιστορία
IV. Ιστορία, Γίγνεσθαι, Ανθρώπινες Πράξεις, και Ηθική
V. Ιστοριογραφία ως Ιερή και ως Ανίερη Πράξη
VI. Κάθε Ιστορική Έρευνα και Μελέτη είναι μία Ηθική Αναζήτηση
VII. 'Ιστορία' και Προφορική Παράδοση
VIII. Όλες οι Γραφές είναι Συνάρτηση της Πτώσης του Ανθρώπου
ΙΧ. Ηθική Διάσταση της Ιστοριογραφίας: Ιστορία και Μύθος
Χ. Ψυχικές Επιστήμες, Οντολογία, Γνώση και Γνωσιολογία
ΧΙ. Επιστήμη της Ιστορίας: Ανύπαρκτη χωρίς Ηθικούς Στόχους
=============
Τοιχογραφία από το ακριβές αντίγραφο του ταφικού θαλάμου του Τούθμωση Γ’ το οποίο φιλοτεχνήθηκε στο Μουσείο του Μπόλτον της Αγγλίας (Bolton Museum Egyptology). Όμως, το εντυπωσιακό σε υλικό επίπεδο επίτευγμα σε τίποτα δεν βοηθάει τον επισκέπτη πέραν ενός πρώτου εντυπωσιασμού. Έτσι, ο επισκέπτης ή ακόμη και ο φοιτητής ή ο μελετητής του κειμένου και των αναπαραστάσεων μένει με την εντύπωση ότι έχουμε να κάνουμε με απλές αντιγραφές από ιερά βιβλία, όπως το Αμντουάτ, και με επαναληπτικές καταγραφές κειμένων σχετικά με τις δοκιμασίες των Δώδεκα Ωρών τις οποίες θα διερχόταν η ψυχή του Τούθμωση Γ' αμέσως μετά τον αποχωρισμό της από το σώμα του. Όμως δεν είναι καθόλου έτσι! Όλα τα αναγραφόμενα κείμενα δεν είναι ακριβώς τα ίδια πουθενά. Ουσιαστικά, στην κάθε περίσταση, είναι προσαρμογές στο τι κατ'ευχήν παρακαλούσαν να συμβεί κατά τις δοκιμασίες της ψυχής ενός εκάστου μεταστάντος οι αρχιερείς, μύστες και γραφείς, οι οποίοι συνεργάζονταν κατά την προετοιμασία του τάφου (ενόσω ακόμη ζούσε ο Φαραώ). Και οι απεικονίσεις δεν παρουσιάζουν μόνον θεϊκές υποστάσεις και όντα εκ των προτέρων γνωστά αλλά συχνά πολλές πρότερον άγνωστες υποστάσεις, οι οποίες ανά τάφο (: ανά περίσταση) μπορεί να εμφανίζονται για μία μόνον φορά. Οπότε, ένα κεντρικό ερώτημα είναι:
- Ποιος έγραψε την Ιστορία της προπαρασκευής ενός εκάστου φαραωνικού τάφου και ποιος έγραψε την Ιστορία όλων των ψυχικών όντων τα οποία αναφέρθηκαν σε κείμενα πυραμίδων, ταφων και σαρκοφάγων;
Ουσιαστικά, κάθε άλλη «Ιστορία» είναι, ως βέβηλη, άχρηστη.
============
Κατεβάστε το κείμενο σε PDF:
Mi'raj, the Ascension of the Prophet Muhammad to the Heaven: a Spiritual-Ontological Analysis
Μιράτζ, η Ανάληψη του Προφήτη Μωάμεθ στους Ουρανούς: μία Ψυχική-Οντολογική Ανάλυση
Ο,τι ακολουθεί είναι η απάντησή μου στο σύντομο γράμμα φίλου από την Λευκίμμη, ο οποίος με ερώτησε λεπτομέρειες σχετικά με την Ισράα (إسراء/israa; στα αραβικά είναι αρσενικού γένους και σημαίνει κυριολεκτικά 'νυκτερινό ταξείδι') και το Μιράτζ (معراج/miʿraj; στα αραβικά είναι αρσενικού γένους και σημαίνει κυριολεκτικά 'σκάλα' ή 'κλίμακα'), δηλαδή το Νυκτερινό Ταξείδι του Προφήτη Μωάμεθ από την Μέκκα στην Αλ Κουντς ας Σερίφ (την ιερή και ευγενή πολιτεία), δηλαδή την Ιερουσαλήμ, και εκείθεν η Ανάληψή του στην Ουράνια Ιερουσαλήμ.
Σμικρογραφία από χειρόγραφο (σήμερα ευρισκόμενο στην Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris) του Μιράτζ Ναμέ (Βιβλίου του Μιράτζ) ανευρεθέντος στην Χεράτ (σήμερα Αφγανιστάν) και συγγραφέντος υπό του Μιρ Χαϋντάρ σε ανατολική τουρκική γλώσσα και ουϊγουρική γραφή καλλιγραφικού τύπου Μαλίκ Μπαχσί (Malik Bakhshi / ملک بخشی); Ο Μωάμεθ (άνω δεξιά), συνοδευμένος από τον Αρχάγγελο Γαβριήλ, επισκέπτεται τον Παράδεισο, ιππεύοντας το Μπουράκ. Ουρί του Παραδείσου απεικονίζονται να ιππεύουν καμήλες. Από το βιβλίο της Marie Rose Séguy, The Miraculous Journey of Mahomet (1977). Σχετικά:
Παραθέτω πρώτα το σχετικό απόσπασμα από την σύντομη επιστολή και έπειτα το τμήμα της απάντησής μου που αφορά αυτό το θέμα. Υπάρχουν αρκετοί σύνδεσμοι που παραπέμπουν τον αναγνώστη στα βασικά. Επιπροσθέτως αναφέρω ότι τα Ισράα και Μιράτζ του Προφήτη Μωάμεθ εορτάζονται σύμφωνα το ισλαμικό ημερολόγιο κατά την 27η του μήνα Ρατζάμπ, ο οποίος είναι ο έβδομος μήνας των μουσουλμάνων και ο δεύτερος πριν το Ραμαζάνι. Εφέτος, κατά το έτος από Εγείρας 1446 (2024-2025), η 27η Ράτζαμπ συμπίπτει με την 27η Ιανουαρίου.
Περιεχόμενα
Ι. Εισαγωγή
ΙΙ. Ισράα και Μιράτζ: στοιχειώδεις πληροφορίες
ΙΙΙ. Περίπτωση Πρώτη: Ανάληψη με την Ψυχή και το Σώμα
ΙV. Περίπτωση δεύτερη: Ανάληψη μόνο με την Ψυχή
V. Ανάληψη του Προφήτη Μωάμεθ: Στιγμιαία ή Διαρκής Εμφάνιση
VI. Ισράα, Μιράτζ & Ιστορικές Αντιπαραθέσεις Χριστιανών και Μουσουλμάνων
VII. Ισράα & Μιράτζ, και τα Ουράνια Ταξείδια των Μάνη, Καρτίρ και Αρντά Βιράφ κατά τους Μανιχεϊστές και τους Ιρανούς Μαζδεϊστές
VIΙΙ. Περίπτωση Τρίτη: Ανάληψη με το Αιθερικό Σώμα
ΙΧ. Περίπτωση Τέταρτη: Αστρική Προβολή
Χ. Τα Τέσσερα Σώματα, Υλικό και Ψυχικά, και οι Δύο Δρόμοι
ΧΙ. Ψυχικό Σύμπαν και Υλικό Σύμπαν: δεν υπάρχει Υλικό Τμήμα της Δημιουργίας το οποίο να είναι Άψυχο
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The Perception of the Divine - I
God created Man and not Man God; consequently, God defined Man and not Man God. That is why Man sensed God, perceived the Divine, and acted accordingly within the spiritual and the material universes. Due to the first fall of Man, this sense and this perception were gravely impaired. Because of this situation, the early men started developing faculties in order to catch up with what they had missed but to no avail. These faculties, which we now identify as the basics of civilization, were truly unnecessary and they only resulted in further falls.
If we consider the original sin as an infidelity, the so-called 'human civilization' was constructed on unrequested powers, skills and intelligence. This invalid, counterfeit intelligence is what exactly we read in the First Epistle to the Corinthians (3:19; ἡ γὰρ σοφία τοῦ κόσμου τούτου μωρία παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ ἐστιν / Sapientia enim hujus mundi, stultitia est apud Deum): "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight".
Texts and representations from the scene related to the Weighing of the Heart of Ani, which took place in the Hall of Judgment (from the Papyrus of Ani); Ani and his wife Tutu (lower section, left) enter the realm of the Divine. At center, Anubis, in kneeling position, weighs Ani's heart (left plate of the scale) against the feather of Maat (right plate of the scale). He is observed by the divine forces Renenutet, Meshkenet, and Shay, as well as by Ani's own Ba (lower spiritual body which is depicted as a bird with human head). At the right end, Ammut, intending to devour Ani's soul if his heart is proven sinful, awaits the verdict. Identified as the Divine Wisdom, Thoth (with human body and the head of the bird ibis) prepares to record it. In the upper section, all supreme aspects of the Divine act as judges: (from left to right) Hu and Sia, Hathor, Horus, Isis and Nephthys, Nut, Geb, Tefnut, Shu, Atum, and Ra-Horakhty. Written by the Theban scribe Ani -for the preparation of his life in the Hereafter- in the first half of the 13th c. BCE, the Papyrus of Ani was discovered in 1888 in Luxor by the English Egyptologist Sir E. A. Wallis Budge and smuggled to the British Museum. It is a 24 m long scroll that has a width of 33 cm; the monumental document needed three volumes to be duly published (introductory analysis; transcription and translation; facsimile reproduction),
Yet, this conclusion is nothing more than the true essence of Ea's advice to Adapa (the First Human) according to the Ancient Sumerian/Assyrian-Babylonian sacred text "Adapa and the South Wind":
«At the door of Anu, Tammuz and Gishzida are standing, "they will see thee, they will ask thee; 'Sir,' For whose sake dost thou so appear, Adapa? For whom Art thou clad in a mourning garment?' 'In our country two gods have vanished, therefore Am I so.' 'Who are the two gods, who in the land Have vanished?' 'Tammuz and Gishzida.' They will look at one another and Be astonished. Good words».
In other words, in the original Paradise, there would never be any 'civilization'. Then, the quest for the original perception of the Divine is a direct, straightforward and conscious rejection of all the human cultures and civilizations. Quite unfortunately for them, all those who intend to stick to their traditions and cultures, by so doing, they bring the total collapse of the human civilization closer. This is apparently so because their civilization is flawed and putrefied, their faith nonexistent, and their perception of the Divine dishonest and erroneous.
Contents (Part I: I-VI)
Introduction
I. Man: soul, body, and character
II. Communication with the material universe
III. Communication with the spiritual universe
IV. The function of the Man: interaction among soul, body and character
V. Mind without thoughts; heart without sentiments; solar plexus without desires
VI. At the antipodes of the ancient Spiritual Sciences, Modern Psychology produces monsters, leading to the extermination of mankind
VII. The human soul, its parts, and their functionality
VIII. Soul consciousness without subconscious and unconsciousness
IX. Knowledge as self-consciousness: no need of language, writing and learning
X. Wisdom as consciousness of one's own destination in the material universe
XI. Fate: the process of all interconnections and mutual impact of all created factors
XII. Fortune: inherent sense of conditions enabling man to outdo what Fate specified
XIII. Perception of the Divine: from the Five Elements to the Twelve Supreme Beings
XIV. God & the Divine vs. the Divine & the gods
XV. The perception of God and the perceptions of gods
XVI. The human concept of the Divine: result of the malfunction of the Fallen Man
XVII. End Times: liberation from thoughts, sentiments, desires, languages & writings
Introduction
The modern Western (in fact: Western European) world, which by means of military, political, economic, academic, intellectual, educational, religious, cultural and spiritual colonization invaded and (by so doing) desecrated the rest of the world, has been based on a peremptory, 'humanist' assumption, an arbitrary, detrimental rejection of the pre-Renaissance world, a baseless, yet unprecedented historical revisionism, and a self-determination to deliberately define God. Within this vicious and calamitous context, which precipitates the total annihilation of the mankind, there is absolutely no place for perception of the Divine.
Nonetheless, it has been inevitable that several humans managed to liberate themselves from today's destitute, fake and corrupted religions, absurd and nonsensical philosophies, and various other schemes, theories and ideologies in order to find their true inner selves and in the process perceive the Divine.
In today's world, there is no self-definition of Man. This is so because the peremptory concept of Humanism constitutes an unfounded dogma and the foundation of all posterior conclusions, considerations and theories. Any spiritual-intellectual attempt to question the validity of the 'humanist' absurdity results instantaneously in utterly dictatorial persecution, hysterical rejection, and fanatical, systematized defamation. Yet, the insanity of 'Humanism' leads straight to the eradication of mankind.
As a matter of fact, for every civilization and culture, the self-definition of Man was never the first priority in terms of ancestral narratives, meditation, rumination and world view; on the contrary, the definition of God was the central, fundamental task. We do not exist of our own; we live because God created us. Contrarily to Him, we cannot say "I am who I am" (אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶֽהְיֶ֑ה; ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν; ego sum qui sum / Exodus 3:14). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_that_I_Am
Similarly, and more authoritatively than the Torah, the Assyrian-Babylonian sacred text of Enuma Elish (the world's paramount 'Genesis' or 'Cosmogony') in its 3rd and 4th verses stipulates the following: «apsûm-ma rēštû zārûšun; mummu Tiamat muallidat gimrišun» {Naught but primordial Apsu, their begetter, (and) Mummu Tiamat, she who bore them all / as per the transliteration in P. Talon, The Standard Babylonian Creation Myth: Enūma eliš; Helsinki, 2005}.
https://ia600707.us.archive.org/16/items/Holy-Books/EnumaElish.pdf
Everything, every aspect of the Divine, every later name of God or aspect of God depended on the primordial Apsu and Tiamat, the names of God before Creation. In the World History's first and foremost holy text, the narrative of the Creation starts before the Creation. After the original moments of Becoming are stipulated, all the rest follows. In other words, only because humans defined God first, they were able to determine who they were at a second stage. But to define God, men had to perceive the Divine at an earlier moment.
I. Man: soul, body, and character
In this brief presentation, I don't intend to expand on the perception of the Divine of the Ancient Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians-Babylonians and Egyptians, thus composing a historico-religious monograph. On the contrary, I will use material and concepts, methods and approaches of the Ancient Mesopotamian monotheists, which can help today's people to best question and ultimately refute the prevailing, absurd and preposterous definition of the Divine, which has become good reason for the mankind's decay.
There cannot be mental, sentimental or sensual perception of the Divine. The brain, the heart, and the solar plexus are parts of the human body that function at the very intersection of the soul and the body within every human being; however, they still generate material functions. Through these means a human obtains perception of the material universe. However, only the human soul creates spiritual functions, and it is only through one's soul that a man can perceive the spiritual universe, the Divine, and God. In brief, there is only spiritual perception of the spiritual world.
Because the dissociation between the human soul and the human body is the result of the successive falls of mankind, today's man has lost the originally inherent ability to establish a complete synergy between the soul and the body. Many misinformed and disoriented people, who believe in the existence of the human soul and the spiritual universe, think that the thoughts, the ideas, the theories, the sentiments, the desires and the passions constitute the soul, but that's very wrong.
As driving force of life, the soul is entirely different from the body; it does however permeate the human body and, to enable the human being's major functions at the material level, it forms particular junctures within the body in the heart, the brain, and the solar plexus. At best, which means before all the Falls, the three junctures (or intersections) are totally empty, and ethereal vitality keeps the human being in perfect synergy between the soul and the body.
The electromagnetic flow is thus exemplarily processed, being uninterrupted and unabsorbed by the various, unnecessary debris formed during cases of traumatic experience. Then, this man is well-lit and bright, able to emit light, and transform his eye into a lantern for his body; this is the meaning of Jesus' famous hint "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light" (Ὁ λύχνος τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν ὁ ὀφθαλμός· ἐὰν οὖν ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου ἁπλοῦς ᾖ, ὅλον τὸ σῶμά σου φωτεινόν ἔσται·; lucerna corporis est oculus si fuerit oculus tuus simplex totum corpus tuum lucidum erit; Matthew 6:22)
Quite contrarily, in the case of the man of the Fall, the three intersections are filled with unnecessary data, pieces of 'knowledge', amounts of worthless information, endless thoughts, considerations, theories, ideas, ideologies, sentiments and desires, not to mention passions and abominable calculations, which keep the human being captive of the worst enemies of mankind. In such cases, the soul is greatly affected and clearly condemned to damnation. These unfortunate and unsubstantiated beings have thus already become 'persons', overwhelmingly filling the part of their soul that we conventionally call 'subconscious' with collateral debris, which constitute an enormous burden for the soul and gradually force her to incapacity and castigation.
The intersections of the soul and the body (solar plexus, heart and brain) create what we come to know as the character of the human being; the character is the epitome of individuality. But a human being, i.e. an individual, should never become a 'person'. The character corresponds to what many mystics call conventionally 'lower spiritual body'; this is wrongly called 'astral body' (it has nothing to do with stars). Few days after the separation of the soul from the body (i.e. the 'death'), both, the material body and the lower spiritual body, start getting disintegrated.
Being aware of the intensified spiritual attack against the mankind and the increased number of sinful humans, modern mystics wanted to find a convenient and very conventional 'solution' of the problem. They therefore invented the childish theory of generalized reincarnation. It is certain that some souls can reincarnate; spiritually and materially, reincarnation is possible. Jesus spoke explicitly about that, referring to the Men of Nineveh, i.e. the Ancient Assyrians: "The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here" (ἄνδρες Νινευῖται ἀναστήσονται ἐν τῇ κρίσει μετὰ τῆς γενεᾶς ταύτης καὶ κατακρινοῦσιν αὐτήν, ὅτι μετενόησαν εἰς τὸ κήρυγμα Ἰωνᾶ, καὶ ἰδοὺ πλεῖον Ἰωνᾶ ὧδε; viri ninevitae surgent in iudicio cum generatione ista et condemnabunt eam quia paenitentiam egerunt in praedicatione Ionae et ecce plus quam Iona hic; Matthew 12:41).
The generalized theory of reincarnation invalidates the purpose of the Creation. It is an absurdity according to which one human being can achieve perfection in three lives, another man in six lives, and a third person in nine lives; indeed, this is utterly blasphemous. If things had been arranged in this paranoid manner, God would have been snoring at the end station of this useless and otherwise comical process. Only pathetic ignorance and abject immorality can make someone think that the Moral Order does not matter and that the facts of spiritual reward and spiritual castigation are meaningless. Contrarily to this nonsensical scheme, for all early sacred texts, it matters greatly whether the Moral Order is maintained and respected by all humans or not. Without Order there is no Creation; breaching the universal Order is an act that destroys some part of the universe. That is why reward and castigation are consequential, instantaneous and inevitable.
In this regard, it is absolutely puerile to suggest that, since most humans were sinful, if we happen to believe that there will be reward for the innocent and punishment for the guilty, we will end up in a scarcely inhabited Paradise with few souls and in a densely populated Hell packed with the souls of sinners. I am absolutely convinced that this is a hypocritically childish response (pronounced in Modern times) to an inconsistent and unsophisticated sermon (given in Christian and Islamic times).
I cannot expand further here (as this article does not concern the Structure of the Spiritual Universe), but I have to point out that it is mere theological vanity to try to interpret terms like "eternal life" and 'eternal fire" within the context of life of the Fallen Man. Sacred texts that use similar terms apparently give figurative sense to several terms that they use, since their readers will ostensibly be totally unable to fully and deeply comprehend them. I must therefore conclude that modern mystics' opposition to Christian-Muslim preachers is an intentional evildoing, although the latter clearly failed to accurately interpret their respective sacred texts.
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“Lots of stories written in these ancient papers, showing a lot. Good moments, bad moments, victories, defeats, lessons from the past. One small look in them can teach you what lies beneath those unlimited sands.”
Is Takween truly a threat to Islam?
For the non-Arabic speakers, Takween is a new show hosted in Egypt by a bunch of secular thinkers like Ibrahim Essa, Islam Beheiry and others. This show mainly tackles topics related to Islamic studies such as the interpretation of the Quran, the validity of the Islamic Hadith and other things I may not be aware of.
Surely, a show like this sparked an outrage in the Islamic society here in Egypt, since the majority of Egyptians refuse having a platform that enjoys different opinions and perspectives on religious beliefs.
They express their disapproval by accusing those thinkers of being apostates and calling for cancelling the show and their arrest. Of course, those so-called moderate muslims claim that they say so as a way to protect society from negative ideas that plant doubts in vulnerable muslim minds.
But the real question is, is planting doubt truly a bad thing? Is it really bad to reconsider ideas you always took for granted and believed in without a shadow of a doubt? It is you who should decide this.