Stonehenge: who make it?Stonehenge is a henge and its fame comes not only from its archaeological significa
nce or potential early astronomical role but also in its less tangible effect on visitors, what Christopher Chippindale describes as "the physical sensation of the place," something that transcends the rational, scientific view of the monument. This manifests itself in the spiritual role of the site for many different groups and a belief that no single scientific explanation can do justice to it as a symbol of the great achievement of ancient people and as a symbol of something that continues to confound mainstream archaeology.
Holy grail:live forever?The Hol
y Grail is traditionally defined as the chalice that Jesus Christ used at the last supper. It also has been described as the cup that caught Christ's blood as he was being crucified or as the platter used at the last supper. In legend it was brought to England by Joseph of Arimathea. The Grail story is a combination of history, Christian theology, and Celtic mythology. In addition, there are those who believe that the Knights Templar passed to the Freemasons special knowledge of the Holy Grail.
Mu and Atlantis : lost continents?Mu is the name of a lost land, or hypothetical vanished continent, located in the P
acific Ocean but now, like Atlantis and Lemuria (with which it is sometimes identified), believed to have sunk beneath the waters.
Current knowledge of the mechanisms of plate tectonics rules out the possibility of a major continent having existed in the Pacific. Continental masses are composed of the lighter SiAl (silicon/aluminium) type rocks which literally float on the heavier SiMg (silicon/magnesium) rocks which constitute ocean bottoms. There is no evidence of SiAl rock in the Pacific basin.
Atlantis is the name of an island first mentioned and described by the classical Greek philosopher Plato. According to him this island, lying "beyond the pillars of Hercules", was a naval power, having conquered many parts of western Europe and Africa. Soon after a failed invasion of Athens, Atlantis sank in the waves "in a single day and night of misfortune" after a natural catastrophe happened 9000 years before Plato's time.
Nazca Lines: landing strips for alien spacecraft?The Nazca Line
s are geoglyphs (drawings on the ground) located in the Nazca Desert (Peru). The drawings include a hummingbird, monkey, spider and lizard, to name only a few of the over 300 drawings. They were created during the Nazca culture in the area, between 200 BC and 600 AD.
The Lines were made by removing the iron-oxide coated pebbles which cover the surface of the desert. When the gravel is removed, they contrast with the light color underneath. In this way the lines were drawn as furrows of a lighter color.
Since their discovery, various theories have been proposed regarding the lines construction. It has been proposed by some (for example Jim Woodmann) that the Nazcan lines presuppose some form of manned flight (in order to see them) and that a hot air balloon was the only possible available technology. The most famous (and controversial) theory was put forward by Erich von Däniken, who proposed that the lines were, in fact, landing strips for alien spacecraft. Another theory contends that the lines are the remains of "walking temples," where a large group of worshipers walked along a preset pattern dedicated to a particular holy entity.
Ten Lost Tribes of Israel: still around us?These are the ancient Tribes of Israel that disappear from the Biblical account aft
er the Kingdom of Israel was totally destroyed, enslaved and exiled by ancient Assyria.
Since at least the 17th century (the time of Oliver Cromwell and Sabbatai Zevi) both Jews and Christians have proposed theories concerning the lost tribes, based to varying degrees on the Bible accounts. An Ashkenazic Jewish tradition speaks of the Lost Tribes as Die Roite Yiddelech, "The little red Jews", cut off from the rest of Jewry by the legendary river Sambation "whose foaming waters raise high up into the sky a wall of fire and smoke that is impossible to pass through".
There are also ethnic groups such as the Pashtun who traditionally claim descent from the Lost Tribes. British Israelism proclaims the idea that the British are the direct lineal descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. Also:
# Bene Ephraim (from southern India) claim descent from the Tribe of Ephraim
# Bnei Menashe (from northeast India) claim descent from the lost Tribe of Manasseh
# Beta Israel, also known as Falashas - Some of this ancient group of Ethiopian Jews as well as several Jewish scholars believe they are descended from the lost Tribe of Dan, as opposed to the traditional story
# Persian Jews (especially the Bukharan Jews) claim descent from the Tribe of Ephraim
# Igbo Jews claim descent variously from the tribes of Ephraim, Menasseh, Levi, Zebulun, and Gad
# The Lemba tribe (from South_Africa) claim to be descendants from a lost tribe which fled from modern Yemen and journeyed south.
Delphic Oracle: predicted the future based on water and leaves?Delphi was th
e site of the most important oracle of the god Apollo. Delphi was revered throughout the Greek world as the site of the omphalos stone, the centre of the universe. The oracle at that time predicted the future based on the lapping water and leaves rustling in the trees. She sat on the Sibylline Rock, or in a cauldron shaped bowl on top of a tripod, breathing in vapors from the ground and gaining her often puzzling predictions from that.
This oracle exerted considerable influence across the country, and was consulted before all major undertakings: wars, the founding of colonies, and so forth. The oracle is also said to teached Socrates of his own ignorance, and this claim is related to one of the most famous mottos: "know thyself". Another famous motto of Delphi is: "nothing in excess".
Noah's Ark: could have carried that many animals?
According to the Bible, Noah's Ark was a massive vessel built at God's command to save Noah, his family, and a core stock of the world's animals from the Great Flood. The story is contained in the Hebrew Bible's book of Genesis, chapters 6 to 9.
The Ark had a gross volume of about 1.5 million cubic feet (40,000 m³), a displacement a little less than half that of the Titanic at about 22,000 tons, and total floor space of around 100,000 square feet (9,300 m²). The question of whether it could have carried two (or more) specimens of the various species (including those now extinct), plus food and fresh water, is a matter of much debate, even bitter dispute, between literalists and their opponents.
According to one school of modern textual criticism—the documentary hypothesis—the Ark story told in Genesis is based on two originally quasi-independent sources, and did not reach its present form until the 5th century BC. The Ark story told in Genesis has parallels in the Sumerian myth of Ziusudra, which tells how an ancient king was warned by his personal god to build a vessel in which to escape a flood sent by the higher council of gods. Less exact parallels are found in other cultures from around the world.
From Eusebius' time to the present, the physical Noah's Ark has held a fascination for Christians—although not for Jews and Muslims, who seem to have felt far less impelled to seek out the remains. There have been various and conflicted claims of Ark sightings, but they were all ultimately shown to be at best false, and at worst hoaxes.
King Arthur: actually existed?King Arthur is an important figure in the mythology of Great Britain, where he appear
s as the ideal of kingship in both war and peace. He is the central character in the cycle of legends known as the Matter of Britain. There is disagreement about whether Arthur, or a model for him, ever actually existed.
The historicity of the Arthur of legend has long been debated by scholars. One school of thought is that Arthur was a Romano-British leader who lived sometime in the late 5th century to early 6th century and fought against the invading Saxons. Other writers suggest that King Arthur should be identified as one Lucius Artorius Castus, a Roman dux of the 2nd century, whose military exploits in Britain may have been remembered for centuries afterwards. Another theory proposes that the real Arthur was Artur Mac Aidan, a war leader of the Scots and Brythons. By this theory, Artur was predominantly active in the region between the Roman walls — the Gododdin. Artur was never "king" per se, but rather the son of the Scottish king Aidan Mac Gabran, who ruled from about 574 AD. Another school of thought believes that Arthur had no historical existence, explaining that he originally was a half-forgotten Celtic deity that devolved into a personage.
Ark of the Covenant: taken to heaven?he Ark of th
e Covenant is described in the Hebrew Bible as a sacred container built at the command of Moses, wherein rested the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments. The Bible describes the Ark as made of acacia or shittah-tree wood. It was a cubit and a half broad and high and two cubits long (about 130 × 80 × 80 cm).
In contrast to the general consensus of historians (that supposes that the ark was taken away and destroyed), variant traditions about the ultimate fate of the Ark include the intentional concealing of the Ark under the Temple Mount, the removal of the Ark from Jerusalem in advance of the Babylonians (this variant usually ends up with the Ark in Ethiopia), the removal of the Ark by the Ethiopian prince Menelik I (purported son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba), removal by Jewish priests during the reign of Manasseh of Judah, possibly taken to a Jewish temple on Elephantine in Egypt, and the miraculous removal of the Ark by divine intervention (C.f. 2 Chronicles).
Pope Joan: the female Catholic Pope?According to legend, Pope Joan was a female pope who allegedly reigned from 853 to
855. The Chronicon Pontificum et Imperatum, by Martin of Opava, states that "It is claimed that this John was a woman, who as a girl had been led to Athens dressed in the clothes of a man by a certain lover of hers. There she became proficient in a diversity of branches of knowledge, until she had no equal, and afterwards in Rome, she taught the liberal arts and had great masters among her students and audience. A high opinion of her life and learning arose in the city, and she was chosen for pope. While pope, however, she became pregnant by her companion. Through ignorance of the exact time when the birth was expected, she was delivered of a child while in procession from St Peter's to the Lateran, in a narrow lane between the Colisseum and St Clement's church. After her death, it is said she was buried in that same place."
Pope Joan is regarded by some historians as an anti-papal satire, though it enjoys an air of plausibility due to certain elements related in the story.
Garden of Eden: where was it?The Gard
en of Eden is described by the Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man - Adam - and woman - Eve - lived after they were created by God. The past physical existence of this garden forms part of the creation belief of the Abrahamic religions.
The Genesis account supplies the geographical location of Eden in relation to four major rivers. However, because the identification of these rivers has been the subject of much controversy and speculation. Most put the Garden somewhere in the Middle East near Mesopotamia. Locations as diverse as Ethiopia, Java, Sri Lanka, the Seychelles, Brabant, and Bristol, Florida have all been proposed as locations for the garden. A substantial consensus now exists that the knowledge of the location of Eden has been lost.
The Garden of Eden story recounts that God placed Adam and Eve in a garden, which they were to tend and which contained many plants they were to enjoy. God commanded them not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and they were expelled from the garden after they disobeyed Him, having been tempted by a serpent, and having eaten of the "fruit". The Tree of Life, also planted in the garden, was then denied them by means of a physical barrier, a cherubim and a flaming sword, at the entrance to the garden.
Christianity associates the serpent with Satan, based on the correspondence between Genesis and Revelation. However, an early Gnostic Christian sect, known as the Ophites, turned this on its head, worshipping the serpent as the hero trying to impart gnosis, and casting God as the evil villain trying to imprison them in the creation of the demiurge.
Knights Templar: had the Holy Grail?The
Knights Templar, was one of the most famous of the Christian military orders. It existed for about two centuries in the Middle Ages, created in the aftermath of the First Crusade of 1096 to ensure the safety of the large numbers of European pilgrims who flowed towards Jerusalem after its conquest.
The Templars were an unusual order in that they were both monks and soldiers, making them in effect some of the earliest "warrior monks" in the Western world. Members of the Order played a key part in many battles of the Crusades, and the Order's infrastructure innovated many financial techniques that could be considered the foundation of modern banking. The Order grew in membership and power throughout Europe, until it was charged with heresy and other crimes by the French Inquisition under the influence of the French King Philip I
V and was forcibly disbanded in the early 1300s.
The Knights Templar have become surrounded by legends concerning secrets and mysteries handed down to the select from ancient times. Most of these legends are connected with the long occupation by the order of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and speculation about what relics the Templars may have found there, such as the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, or fragments of the True Cross from the Crucifixion.
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Noah's Ark: could have carried that many animals?According to th
e Bible, Noah's Ark was a massive vessel built at God's command to save Noah, his family, and a core stock of the world's animals from the Great Flood. The story is contained in the Hebrew Bible's book of Genesis, chapters 6 to 9.
The Ark had a gross volume of about 1.5 million cubic feet (40,000 m³), a displacement a little less than half that of the Titanic at about 22,000 tons, and total floor space of around 100,000 square feet (9,300 m²). The question of whether it could have carried two (or more) specimens of the various species (including those now extinct), plus food and fresh water, is a matter of much debate, even bitter dispute, between literalists and their opponents.
According to one school of modern textual criticism—the documentary hypothesis—the Ark story told in Genesis is based on two originally quasi-independent sources, and did not reach its present form until the 5th century BC. The Ark story told in Genesis has parallels in the Sumerian myth of Ziusudra, which tells how an ancient king was warned by his personal god to build a vessel in which to escape a flood sent by the higher council of gods. Less exact parallels are found in other cultures from around the world.
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