Cydonia: Chapter Two: The Union of Heaven and Earth

The passing of the great aion cosmic cycle that was kept by the suntelia alignments of the Milky Way-- the Ouroboros--is chronicled in myth. The Greek legendary pre- Olympian time-god, Cronus, devoured his own offspring, just as the serpent ouroboros devoured its own tail. Appropriately, it was a stone double of Zeus that thwarted the elder god Cronus. The Olympian gods Zeus and Poseidon emerged to usurp the characteristics of their "Father Time," Cronus or Chronos. The combined qualities of Oceanus the "encircling ocean of origins," Ouranus "the sky," and Chronus "the god of time," would be embodied in Poseidon himself. The theme of the cataclysmic shifting of the aion, from the age of the Titans to the age of the Olympians, represented the overthrow of the former to be replaced by a new-and-improved version of what came before. According to the myths of the earliest civilizations, the first ancient gods were born when heaven and earth joined together. It was during this "marriage" of the earth with the heavens that the deities of the ancient pantheons were created. Ouranos, the eldest god--symbolized by the Ouroboros and also known as Oceanus--was recorded as the father of all the Gods. He was conceived during an age when heaven and earth united. Homer called Oceanus "theon genesis," that is, "source of the gods": For I am faring to visit the limits of the all-nurturing earth, and Oceanus, from whom the gods are sprung…Hera. (Homer's Iliad 14.200) Myth preserves the arrival of super beings, their descent to the earth and habitation among men. The earliest records of Mesopotamia describe the time immediately after the joining of heaven and earth. Seemingly a result of this union, the gods began to descend to the earth for the purpose of civilizing mankind. The union of heaven and earth--when the Ouroboros surrounded the horizon and the earth appeared as a mountain or island rising from the sea of stars--is commemorated in the Sumerian creation story. Verses of the Epic of Gilgamesh described the mountain of the earth formed in the sea during the "perfect union" of the god of heaven, called Anu or An, and the goddess of earth, called Ki. The Sumerian [483] word for universe was the compound of these two gods An and Ki, or En-ki, heaven and earth. According to the account given by Babylonian historian Berossus (3 C B.C.), the Sumerians rd believed their civilization had been brought to Mesopotamia by seven sages, called Apkallu or Abgal after the union of An and Ki. The seven Abgal sages were sent by En-ki to teach civilization to human [484] beings and were credited with building the first walled cities. The name abgal means "Planet Elder" from ab (elder) and gal (round, planets). According to some cuneiform texts, the Abgals were also called muntalku, meaning "counselors" or "palace stewards" because they served the earliest Sumerian kings as [485] ministers. They were also known as ummianu (craftsmen) and some were poets who composed the [486] epics of Erra and Gilgamesh, others were ministers to the god En-ki. As head of the temple organization of the god Marduk, the Babylonian historian Berossus had access to the cuneiform texts of the ancient archives of Esagila. Berossus wrote three books on the history of Babylon for Alexander the Great; these works are known from quotations by later authors including [487] Alexander Polyhistor (1st century BC), Abydenus (2nd century AD) and Appolodorus. Berossus wrote that the first Abgal sage sent by En-ki was called Uana-Adapa, worshipped at the oldest [488] Mesopotamian city of Eridu. Una-Adapa was better known by his Greek name "Oannes": At first they [human beings] led a somewhat wretched existence and lived without rule after the manner of beasts. But, in the first year appeared an animal endowed with human reason, named Oannes, who rose from out of the Erythian [Red] Sea, at the point where it borders Babylonia. He had the whole body of a fish, but above his fish's head he had another head which was that of a man, and human feet emerged from beneath his fish's tail. He had a human voice, and an image of him is preserved unto this day. He passed the day in the midst of men without taking food; he taught them the use of letters, sciences and arts of all kinds. He taught them to construct cities, to found temples, to compile laws, and explained to them the principles of geometrical knowledge. He made them distinguish the seeds of the earth, and showed them how to collect the fruits; in short he instructed them in everything which could tend to soften human manners and humanize their laws. From that time nothing material has been added by way of improvement to his instructions. And when the sun set, this being Oannes, retired again into the sea, for he was amphibious. After this there appeared [489] other animals like Oannes. Berossus listed ten legendary kings who ruled before the worldwide flood. During the reign of Ammenon, the fourth king, the hybrid demi-god Oannes appeared. The antediluvian kings listed by Berossus were said to have ruled Sumer for 120 periods of 3,600 years--a combined total of 432,000 [490] years. Alorus 36,000 Alaparus 10,800 Almelon 46,800 Ammenon 43,200 Amegalarus 64,800 Daonus 36,000 Edoranchus 64,800 Amempsinus 36,000 Otiartes 28,800 Xisuthrus 64,800 totalling 432,000 [491] astronomical years, then the flood. While the kings of Berossus's pre-Flood list seem exaggerated, there is corroborating evidence in the Sumerian King List, a clay tablet dated by the scribe who wrote it in the reign of King Utukhegal of Erech (Uruk), c.2125 B.C. The Sumerian King List compiled the reigns of kings in Sumer before a cataclysmic flood. The total span of the combined reigns of king on this list however is somewhat shorter than the list of Berossus, a mere 241,200 years before the Flood. After the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Eridug. In Eridug, Alulim became king; he ruled for 28800 years. Alaljar ruled for 36000 years. 2 kings; they ruled for 64800 years. Then Eridug fell and the kingship was taken to Bad-tibira.In Bad-tibira, En-men-lu-ana ruled for 43200 years. En-men-gal-ana ruled for 28800 years. Dumuzid, the shepherd, ruled for 36000 years.3 kings; they ruled for 108000 years. Then Bad-tibira fell (?) and the kingship was taken to Larag. In Larag, En-sipad-zid-ana ruled for 28800 years.1 king; he ruled for 28800 years. Then Larag fell (?) and the kingship was taken to Zimbir. In Zimbir, En-men-dur-ana became king; he ruled for 21000 years. 1 king; he ruled for 21,000 years. Then Zimbir fell (?) and the kingship was taken to Curuppag.In Curuppag, Ubara- Tutu became king; he ruled for 18,600 years.1 king; he ruled for [492] 18,600 years. In 5 cities 8 kings; they ruled for 241,200 years. Then the flood swept over. The ancient list of Sumerian kings stated that the "kingship"--the design establishing civilized rule over man--descended from heaven to earth. In the cuneiform fragment referred to as "The Sumerian Flood Story," the divine order of civilization is described as beginning with construction of cities in "holy places": After the [sic] of kingship had descended from heaven, after the exalted crown and throne of kingship had descended from heaven, the divine rites and the exalted powers were perfected, the bricks of the [493] cities were laid in holy places, their names were announced and the [sic] were distributed." The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh echoed the Flood Story fragment: the locations for building cities --the "holy places"--were disclosed by those who descended from heaven to the earth. Praising Gilgamesh's accomplishments, the narrator of the Epic of Gilgamesh invites the reader to survey the city of Uruk : Of ramparted Urkuk the wall he built, of hallowed Eanna [the temple] the pure sanctuary. Behold its outer wall, which none can equal! Seize upon the threshold, which is of old … Go up and walk on the walls of Uruk, Inspect the base terrace, examine the brickwork: Is not its brickwork of burnt brick? Did not the Seven [Sages] lay its foundations? The group of superhumans known as the "Seven Sages" resurfaces periodically in myth. According to the Sanskrit lexicographer Amarasinha (5 C AD), the Sanskrit texts the Puranas (ancient) encompass th five topics: "The creation of the universe"; "Its destruction and renovation"; "The gods" (called "Manus" from the Sanskrit word man "to think"); "The reigns of the Manus"; "The history of the races of [494] [495] earth." The first Manu was a non-human who lived nearly 30 million years ago. Like the Sumerian and Egyptian King Lists, the Puranas also describe certain human kings as having ruled for [496] thousands of years. The "Seven Sages" of the Puranas were the first builder-gods, those demi-gods who descended to educate humans with the heavenly plan for civilization. Similar to the Sumerian Abgal Sages, these Saptarsis, from Sanskrit sapta (seven) rishi (sage), were considered the seven great planetary spirits. [497] Svayambhuva was the first Manu… I now proclaim their sages, the sons and in that manner the classes of gods. Marici, Atri, Angiras, Pulaha, Kratu and Pulastya, also Vasishtha, these seven are [498] the sons of evolution in that manner, oh twice born! the seven sages in the northern region. The first of the Seven Abgal Sages, Oannes, was sent by the Sumerian unified heaven- earth deity En-Ki to civilize humans. The Egyptian story of creation involves the "marriage" of heaven and earth as well, and Osiris is often described as the first of the Sages. Byzantine historian George Syncellus (9 C th A.D.) collected fragments of the myths of Egyptian origins. Syncellus described an Egyptian text called The Book of Sothis, which legend said was lost sometime after 3rd century BC. According to Syncellus, [499] this lost book contained important "records" brought to Egypt immediately "after the flood." The primordial serpent-god Ptah-Ra produced the twins Shu and Tefnut . These twins supported and connected the sky and the earth, and their union produced Nut (heaven) and Geb (earth): I [Ra] sneezed out Shu… I spat out Tefnut… Next Shu and Tefnut produced Geb and Nut… Geb and Nut then gave birth to Osiris… Seth, Isis, and Nephtys… ultimately they produced the population of [500] this land. Nut and Geb, the gods of heaven and earth, married against the wishes of Ptah-Ra. The union of heaven and earth produced the twin gods who then reigned as kings of Egypt: Isis and her sister Nephthys, and Osiris and his brother Set. The Turin Papyrus is a primary source for the chronology of the predynastic period in Egypt. It was written during the reign of the Pharaoh Sethos (Ramses I) in the 19th Dynasty and was discovered in the temple of Osiris at Abydos by the Italian traveler Bernardino Drovetti in 1822. The papyrus is broken into over 160 often very small fragments, many of which have been lost and is currently in the Egyptian [501] Museum at Turin. The Turin "List of Kings" records the reigns of ten Neteru, "gods" who reigned for hundreds of years each, totaling 23,200 years: "PTAH-RA-SU-SEB-OSIRIS-SET- HORUS-THOTH-MA- HORUS." After these Neteru rulers, the Turin list continues with the Shemsu Hor, "The Followers of Horus," who reined a total of 13,400 years beginning in 9,850 B.C. The papyrus then lists the historical [502] kings that are accepted as actual Pharaohs by conventional archaeology. The first ruler in the Turin list, the god Ptah, was deity of the Ta-tenen, "the primordial mound," [503] called the "Island from the Dawn of Time" and "the first land." Ptah was a builder-god, the Egyptian patron of architecture and stonemasonry. One of the symbols of Ptah was the transit, an indispensable tool of building with stone. An epitaph of Ptah's High Priest was the title wr khrp hmw [504] "Great Leader of Craftsmen." The Book of the Dead describes Ptah as: "… a master architect, and [505] framer of everything in the universe." Osiris was the fifth "god-king" of the Turin list, also considered a builder-god, the original "Sage" who taught civilization to all the earth. Osiris, Isis and Horus formed the great triad of Abydos (Abdu, about 520 km south of Cairo). The Roman historian Diodorus Siculus of Sicily (a contemporary of Julius Caesar 1 C B.C.) recounts the Egyptian myth of Osiris: st Of Osiris they say that, being of a beneficent turn of mind, and eager for glory, he gathered together a great army, with the intention of visiting all the inhabited earth and teaching the race of men […] Osiris, they say, founded in the Egyptian Thebaid a city with a hundred gates, which the men of his day named after his mother, though later generations called it Diospolis, and some named it Thebes […] on the stele of Osiris the inscription is said to run: I am Osiris the king, who campaigned over every country as far as the uninhabited regions of India and the lands to the north, even to the sources of the river Ister, and again to the remaining parts of the world as far as Oceanus […] There is no region of the inhabited world to which I have not come, dispensing to all men the things of which I [506] was the discoverer. Manetho's History of Egypt, like the Turin list, chronicled a pre-Flood age when gods ruled the earth. Manetho, a high priest of Heliopolis, wrote his history to preserve Egyptian culture under the influence of the Greek Ptolemeys in the third century B.C. The Manetho Kings List was divided into three [507] volumes: I. The Gods, II. The Demigods, and III. The Spirits of the Dead and the Mortal Kings. The first volume lists the Neteru or "Gods" who reigned a combined period of 13,900 years. Semi-divine beings (half human half god) called the Shemsu Hor (companions of Horus) succeeded the Neteru and ruled Egypt for 11,000 years. After the Shemsu Hor, the human pharaohs appear with the first pharaoh [508] Menes, founder of the First Thinite Dynasty. Egyptologists have used the third volume of Manetho's Kings List as the standard reference for the 31 dynasties of Egypt; Manetho's "The Gods" and "The Demigods" have been relegated to the standing of mere myth. The ancient Egyptians, however, viewed the Neteru and their descendants the Shemsu Hor as actual historical beings. The Greek historian Herodotus recorded that not only did the Egyptians believe gods had ruled before men and with men, but that Herodotus himself believed this legend as well. Herodotus also makes the distinction between ages ruled by divine beings, and the time when "gods settled with human beings." Herodotus called the hybrid rulers of this time--the progeny of gods and humans--heroes. He writes: …they [priests of the temple of Horus] brought me within the hall that was large and counted up as they showed the same number of wooden colossuses as I have spoken of; for each high-priest in that place sets in his own lifetime a likeness of himself. So then, while they counted and showed them, the priests showed forth to me that each of them was the son of a father, and they went from the most recently dead's likeness through all until they showed forth them all […]they asserted each of the colossuses was a piromis born from a piromis, until they showed forth three hundred forty five colossuses and traced them back neither to a god nor to a hero. "Piromis" in the Greek tongue is "a beautiful and good man"[…] Well now, they whose the likenesses were, they showed forth, were all like that and far removed from gods, but earlier than those men the rulers in Egypt were gods settled with human beings and one of them on each and every occasion was the lord, and Orus, the son of Osiris, was the last to be king there, whom the Greeks name Apollo; he put down Typhon and was [509] the last god to be king of Egypt. Osiris is Dionysus in the Greek tongue. The Hebrew tradition also describes the time before the Flood, when heavenly beings descended to the earth to live among humans. Called B'nai Elohim, literally "Sons of God," these supernatural beings taught technology to humans just as the Seven Sages of Egyptian, Sumerian and Hindu myth. And Azazel (an angel) taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, [510] and all colouring tinctures. (Book of Enoch Chapter 3) Genesis 6 described the hybrid offspring of the descended B'nai Elohim, calling them Nephilim, translated as "giants" but literally referring to "the fallen ones." Affirming the chronological order of Manetho's King Lists--the Gods followed by the Demi-gods--the Bible describes the Nephilim as subjugating the race of humans. The Biblical account of demi-gods in Genesis 6 refers to the Nephilim as "men of renown"; several translations use the word "heroes"--the same word used by the Greek Herodotus to describe the demigods who ruled as kings in Egypt. And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose […] There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. (Gen 6 KJV) The Greek epic poet Hesiod (c. 700B.C.) wrote of the union of Ouranos and Gaia--heaven and [511] earth--at which time the first gods were created. The marriage of Gaia and Ouranos, the Ouroboros, occurred at the ending of the old aion and the beginning of the new aion. It was during this celestial sign in the heavens--the union of the Ouroboros (Milky Way) and Gaia (Earth)--that the primordial gods descended to the earth. The Epic Cycle begins with the fabled union of Ouranos and Ge, by which they make three [512] Hekatontacheiroi sons and three Kyklopes to be born to him. These first gods, the Titans, were seemingly birthed from the union of the celestial serpent and the earth, and as occurs in myth, the sons retained attributes of the father. The Cyclops possessed the one- eyed characteristic of the Ouroborus: "His eye is ever open and sleepeth not, for it continually keepeth [513] watch" Zohar. The "mystery schools" and fraternities of builders throughout history have used variations of the "eye" symbol--the "Eye of Ra," the "All Seeing Eye"--which commemorates the sign of the marriage of heaven and earth when the advent of the gods and sages occurred. The first builder-gods who imparted knowledge to men were associated with the great eye in the sky, the heavenly source for their knowledge. The Greek word Kyklops, usually translated "Orb-Eyed," is from the root kuklôi meaning "in a circle or ring"; the builder gods called Kyclops were associated with the dome of the sky (their origin), with the circle of the ouroboros (their father), with building altars and towers surrounded by a round "mote," and with building walls to encompass a city. The Greek word for "eye," ophthalmos, is closely related to the word for "serpent," ophis. It is interesting to note that Hermes, the Greek god of commerce, is portrayed holding his symbolic serpent ophis, the Greek word at the root of "profit" (ophelos) and "debt" [514] (opheilae). This interesting etymological variation underscores the relation of Cyclops to the Ouroboros alignments, eg. Ring eye, or ring snake. And again, she bare the Cyclopes, overbearing in spirit, Brontes, and Steropes and stubborn-hearted Arges, who gave Zeus the thunder and made the thunderbolt: in all else they were like the gods, but one eye only was set in the midst of their fore- heads. And they were surnamed Cyclopes (Orb-eyed) because one orbed eye was set in their foreheads. Strength and might and craft were in their works. […] And again, three other sons were born of Earth and Heaven, great and doughty beyond telling, Cottus and Briareos and Gyes, presumptuous children. From their shoulders sprang an hundred arms, not to be approached, and each had fifty heads upon his shoulders on their strong limbs, and irresistible was the stubborn strength that was in their great forms. For of all the children that were [515] born of Earth and Heaven, these were the most terrible. The twelve Titans, the three Hekatontacheiroi (Hundred-handed) sons and the three Kyklopes (Cyclops) belonged to the race of elder gods. The head Olympian Zeus overthrew these gods of the former aion, when a stone that is now said to be the omphalos thwarted the elder "Father Time" Chronus. An interval of time passed between the birth of the elder gods when Ouranos-Ouroboros united with the earth Gaia, and the birth of the Olympians when Chronus married the earth goddess Rhea--a time span encompassed by the aion. The aion which saw the birth of the Titans at its beginning, and the birth of the Olympians and heroes at its cataclysmic finale, lasted from roughly 23,000 BC to 11,000 BC. According to the Sumerian, Egyptian, Hindu and Hebrew accounts, that was the time of the arrival of divine beings who would rule humans as kings; later in the aion the hybrid offspring of super-humans and humans became kings, demi-gods and heroes of myth. The gods chronicled in Greek myth were credited with the development of civilization; the technology that allowed the founding of cities and the keeping of records came from the heavenly beings that descended to the earth. The Titans--the pre- Olympian children of the earth and sky--were the first to [516] establish cities and kingdoms and were said to have ruled the earth prior to the creation of men. The Cyclops were known as great craftsmen and builders: "[the Cyclops] devised the thunder for Zeus, and fashioned the lightning; and they it was who taught Vulcan and Minerva all the cunning tasks which [517] Heaven works within." The Cyclops constructed altars, walls and battlements, and were called the [518] inventors of tower building. The Greek historian Pausanius recorded that the walls of Mykenae on the slopes of the Euboea Mountains were built by the mythical Cyclops. Also the product of Cyclopean architecture was the city of Tiryns: The wall [of Tiryns], which is the only part of the ruins still remaining, is a work of the Kyklopes made of unwrought stones, each stone being so big that a pair of mules could not move the smallest from its place to the slightest degree. Long ago small stones were so inserted that each of them binds the large blocks firmly together. (Pausanias 2.25.8) The Cyclopes were "mighty men," credited with great acts of strength: A giant Kyklops lifted this [a statue of Dionysos] in his hands and set it in the earth for a stone turning-post, and fixed another like it at the opposite end [in the funeral games of Opheltes, companion of Dionysos, killed in the Indian War]. (Nonnos's Dionysiaca 37.111) And Zeus son of Cronos, honoring the race of Danaus and of horse-driving Lynceus, was willing to put an end to their hateful woes. And the mighty Cyclopes came, and toiled to build a most beautiful wall for the glorious city, where the godlike far-famed heroes lived when they had left behind horse- [519] pasturing Argos. The walls of Tiryns can still be seen today in the same condition that Pausanius described over two [520] thousand years ago. The site had been already been deserted for at least 1,000 years when Pausanias visited it during the 2d century A.D. Euripides called the plain of Argos, a district of northern [521] Peloponnesia, the "Cyclopean land." The name "Cyclopean" is still used for similar ancient architectural ruins found in numerous places around the earth. The Cyclopean building technique involves the use of huge, irregular boulders, skillfully fitted together without the use of mortar creating an uneven face. Many of the cyclopean constructions [522] found on earth are the most massive walls in existence. These kinds of cyclopean walls have been excavated in Athens and the ancient cities Knossos and Oaxos on the island of Crete. In southwestern Evoia on the Greek mainland 25 similar cyclopean structures were built on mountain peaks and cliffs. These megalithic chambers were intricately built from scores of smooth stones, slates and huge boulders. Referred to as sendia in the native language, the most famous of these is called the "Dragon House of Oche" and is built with 1.2 m x 2.3m x 0.25 long blocks weighing 10 tons. Pausanias wrote of the mountains baring cyclopean architecture: "There, they celebrated the ceremony of the holy wedding, as [523] people did on peaks of other mountains as well." The Cyclops built the walls of Mycenae and Tyrins, according to Greek myth. The immense boulders in the cyclopean walls of Tyrins weigh upwards of 13 tons each, but structures built from stones [524] many times more massive exist across the globe. These structures were built with a technology that modern engineers can't duplicate. Successive civilizations reaped the benefits of the remains of cyclopean megalithic sites, incorporating the architecture and technology of the Cyclops into their own culture. In myth this practice of "building new structures on the foundations of the ancients" was preserved as the successive generations of the gods. As Ouranos was replaced by Chronus, who in turn was replaced by the Olympian brothers Poseidon and Zeus, the qualities of the former were retained and incorporated into the characteristics of the updated gods. A cyclopean stone foundation at Baalbek in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon contains the largest megaliths ever discovered. Furthest underneath the ruins of at least 3 civilizations are megalithic stones [525] precisely cut and placed to form a huge foundation. This ancient construct, the "Grand Terrace" of Baalbek, has provided the foundation for some of the largest and most well preserved ruins of Roman and Greek temples in the world. The ruins of previous civilizations are testament to the integrity of the older structures they were built upon. Rather than constructing "new and improved" structures, the tiny temples of each successive civilization proved to be technologically inferior and hollow imitations of the "grand" architecture of the ancients. The Greek and Roman temples built over the foundations of Baalbek are the architectural equivalents to birds nests perched atop the Notre Dame Cathedral. Three colossal granite blocks in the Baalbek Grand Terrace, called by the Romans the Trillithon, measure 72 by 12 by 14 feet wide each. They are estimated to weigh between one thousand to twelve [526] hundred tons each. The stones incorporated in the Grand Terrace foundation are incomprehensibly massive. Imagine five Statues of Liberty, at 230 tons each, and that would equal just one of these blocks. What purpose would it serve to quarry stones of such colossal size? Why go to the trouble of cutting a solid block of granite longer than a 6-story building? Each of these titanic monoliths was hewn from a quarry three quarters of a mile away, and moved to the current location. The logistics of such a feat are mind-boggling. Certainly the trouble of moving megaliths weighing more than 13 modern locomotives could have been avoided by building the foundation of smaller components. Experts on heavy lifting and moving such as Bechtel or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cannot duplicate such a feat today even with the most machinery. Modern historians who claim that the entire Baalbek complex is the work of Roman engineers cannot cite one classical scholar who explains how the three massive cut stones could have [527] been lifted to rest on a foundation 23 feet off the ground. Whoever built the cyclopean walls of Baalbek possessed unsurpassed technological prowess. Such an enduring edifice would serve to demonstrate the power and technology of their civilization far into the future. Without exception, the oldest monuments are also the most massive. Baalbek does in fact leave the impression of having been built with the purpose of preserving a cultural record. Perhaps in addition, the giant megaliths were deliberately employed into the terrace foundation to endure some great destructive force. Natural effects of weather through the aions, however, could hardly have been a threat to a building as imposing as the Grand Terrace. There has been no earthquake or storm in recorded history powerful enough to dislodge the stones from their current positions; the stones of the Baalbek Grand Terrace have remained in the same place since first discovered by the Sumerians, who considered the foundation [528] ancient even in their time. According to M. Alouf's History of Baalbek : The local inhabitants of the Beqa'a Valley of Lebanon preserve legends about the origins and extreme age of the Great Trillithon Platform of Baalbek. They say that Baalbek was built before the Great Flood by Cain, the son of Adam, whom God banished to the "land of Nod" that lay "east of Eden" for murdering his brother Abel. The citadel, they say, fell into ruins at the time of the deluge and was much later re-built by a race of giants under the command of Nimrod, the "mighty hunter" and "king of Shinar" of the Book of Genesis. The French archaeologist Michel Alouf learned the legend of the origin of Baalbek from the Maronite Patriarch of Lebanon. …Tradition states that the fortress of Baalbek on Mt. Lebanon is the most ancient building in the world. Cain, the son of Adam, built it in the year 133 of the creation, "during a fit of raving madness." He gave it the name of his son Enoch and peopled it with giants who were punished for [529] their iniquities by the flood. Legendary Sidonian historian Sanchuniathon wrote a history of Lebanon in his native language, taking his information from city archives and temple records. The Greek historian Philo (2 C A.D.) translated the works of Sanchuniathon, and fragments of his translation were preserved by Eusebius (AD [530] [531] 264-340). Sanchuniathon referred to Byblos as Lebanon's first city. Byblos was founded, he says, by the god Cronos (or Saturn), the son of Ouranos (Uranus or Coleus) and Gaia. Intriguingly, "Cronos" was a name given to the Biblical patriarch Ham, son of Noah, who dedicated Byblos to [532] Neptune and strange gods of fire called the Cabiri. Byblos, the earliest Sidonian city, was founded by a descendent of Cain, the first city-builder, and dedicated to fiery builder- gods the Cabiri, and to the Ouroboros represented by the god Poseidon or "Apo-cydon." The significance of the superhuman Cabiri will be discussed in the next chapter. Ancient megalithic architecture, such as the cyclopean foundation at Baalbek, shows evidence of extreme erosion; rounded corners of the oldest megaliths stand out in contrast to the much younger masonry above. The contouring and wear exhibited on the trillithon as well as at the quarry from which the megalith came from shows the effects of hydraulic forces--water in vast quantities, a cataclysm having occurred in prehistoric times. Once water or wind applies enough lateral force to a structure to push it past the center of gravity, it is only a matter of time before the structure fails. One simple way to ensure an edifice remains intact longer is to increase its weight. Another technique ensuring lateral strength is the use of building material that is very rigid, like the abundant building substance stone. It would be an enduring temple indeed built of four monoliths 40 feet long and 10 feet tall as opposed to 400, 1-foot square stones. Some force, however, has disturbed many ancient megalithic sites, scattering boulders weighing tons across distances far removed from their quarry or their foundation. Modern archaeologists account for the disarray at megalithic sites as evidence of the builders having "given up" and simply abandoning their work before completion. Some researchers considered megaliths left great distances from intact [533] structures to have been "discarded due to the complications of moving their great weight." This hypothesis discounts that the megalithic structures had already incorporated set and finished stones, a feat which more than rivals the task of simply moving them. Obviously the skill necessary to complete the structure existed. It is more reasonable to conclude that the huge "misplaced" stones were once a part of a structure completed before some unparalleled upheaval scattered them from their foundation. The ancient megalithic site Tiahuanaco resides high in the Altiplano of Bolivia, a few hundred miles to the south of Cuzco Peru. On this desolate wind swept Andes plateau is a short step pyramid on a foundation measuring 220 feet by 164 feet built with giant andesite monoliths weighing between 100 to [534] 440 tons. The builders of Tiahuanaco went to great lengths to ensure that the structure would endure the aions. Not only did the builders choose incredibly massive stones for the construction, but many of these stones were joined together by metal clamps. There is evidence based on studies with a scanning electron microscope that the 'I' or 'T' shaped clamps were poured into the receiving indentions of the [535] megaliths. The quarry from which these stones originated lies over 37 miles from the site itself, showing that the location of the city was more important than the logistics of moving the huge blocks of stone. One of the greatest mysteries of Tiahuanaco is its location; it lies 13,297 feet above sea level. How could anyone build a structure of such vast proportions and technical complexity at an altitude of 13,297 ft? By comparison the Rocky Mountain chain of North America from Idaho to the northern end of Canada has no summits attaining an altitude greater than 13,000 feet. Single engine aircraft routinely cruise at that [536] elevation. Despite the great care taken by the architects of Tiahuanaco to insure the massive structures would survive any catastrophe, they were never the less tossed about like toy building blocks. But what kind of cataclysm could have tossed about 400-ton ashlars? Most human beings can scarcely imagine the violence that would be necessary to displace the megaliths of Tiahuanaco or Baalbek. The only known forces that could wreak such destruction are immense "land waves" such as those that would be propagated by an asteroid impact or a vast mountain of water moving rapidly over the earth's surface. Such an event would necessarily be associated with a cataclysm on a global scale. Apparently the South American continent was suddenly and violently thrust upward some time around 12,000 years ago. Evidence of such an upheaval can be found near the location of Puma Punka. A former sea-level canal can now be seen at 13,000 feet in the Andes Mountains. Many ocean fossils are found near Lake Titicaca, the highest fresh water lake in the world only 10 miles from Tiahuanaco. The lake is even inhabited by the only known fresh water sea horses, suggesting that it was at one time, level with the salt water of Pacific Ocean. However the last time the Bolivian altiplano was level with the [537] Pacific Ocean was 10,000 B.C. Intriguingly, carved stonework found in the ruins of Tiahuanaco depict an animal easily recognized as a paleontological likeness of the extinct toxodon, an animal resembling a hippopatamus. Toxodon have been found in Venezuela quick-frozen among the mountain glaciers in a matrix of mastodon, giant sloths and other animals destroyed in a cataclysm 12,000 years ago. Charles Darwin observed and wrote of the discovery of mass graveyards of mammals and plants in the Pampas area of Argentina South America. He found deposits throughout the Pampas composed of animal skeletons from hundreds of species: sharks, mammoths, lions, hippo, horses and many other extinct animals. He and many others considered the deposits to be primarily the creation of a huge flood surge. [538] Ollantaytambo, thirty-seven miles north west of Cuzco Peru is yet another example of an extremely ancient building site of the high Andes that was also destroyed. It is a truly incredible feat of megalithic engineering. On the peak of Ollantaytambo's temple mound is a jumble of megaliths in the 200-ton range. Many of these impressive stones remain partially joined in original architectural features such as a linteled gateway or a gigantic wall. Most are scattered at the summit of the building site and over 4 miles across a deep valley from where they were quarried. These huge stones also have the curious 'I' shaped metal clamps built into them, similar to those found at Tiahuanaco. There are "tongue and groove" joints carved into each giant column of granite to insure stability, if their extreme weight alone was not enough to insure stability. In order to prevent Ollantaytambo from being destroyed by some impending cataclysm, the builders employed many methods of architectural reinforcement--yet the structure was damaged. Dozens of immense stones found on the path leading up to the temple mound are called by the local inhabitants "tired stones," because it was believed these stones were too large to be transported. It is more likely that the gigantic blocks had been scattered down the mountain by a cataclysm that destroyed previously intact buildings at the summit. Cyclopean megalithic architecture in Central and South America has been attributed to the ingenuity [539] of the Maya and Inca--due to lack of any other candidate civilization. Discoveries of megalithic monuments where there has been no recorded civilization present the greatest difficulty for archaeologists. In 1987 Kihachiro Aratake made an astounding discovery. While diving off the coast of Yonaguni Island near Okinawa Japan he encountered what appeared to be a massive underwater temple. At the depth of 88 feet Mr. Aratake found megalithic stone construction, platforms carved from solid rock. After his finding was made public in Japan, a leading Japanese geologist from Okinawa University, Professor Masaki Kimura, studied the monuments, making hundreds of dives over the years in an effort to ascertain the origins of the Yonaguni builders. The Professor discovered colossal blocks estimated to weigh 200 tons each, symmetrical trenches and a series of steps rising at regular intervals on both the south and north face of the site. What looked like a ceremonial pathway circumventing the monument added weight to Professor Kimura's theory that the monument was the work of an advanced civilization. Kimura asserts that the Yonaguni structure is artificial based on his discovery of geometrical patterns not found in nature. There are blocks carved off of the structure having not fallen in the path of gravity but removed to the side or altogether. Contrasting geometrical patterns exist which could not occur with conventional means of erosion. Archaeologists who have taken the time to investigate the site say that Yonaguni shares considerable similarity with the megalithic ruins found in Peru and Bolivia. Modern science dismisses the idea that such structures could be man made or located under the Pacific Ocean. If such a structure were indeed man made, history books would have to be rewritten. The last time Yonaguni stood above water [540] was 9,000 to 10,000 years ago. In the spring of 2001 a team of geologists and divers from Okinawa University found evidence in Yonaguni that seems to have set the matter of artificiality to rest. Colossal sculptured heads, stylized with headpieces reminiscent of effigies found in Peru were found amidst the [541] ruins. The western videographers of the Discovery channel documented this finding. Today the most efficient means by which engineers move objects of great weight is with hydraulics. Because water cannot be compressed, it can transfer vast quantities of energy in a relatively small area. Geologists calculate the volume and velocity of water that flowed through ancient rivers by measuring the weight of the stones, which were moved--the greater the volume and speed of a river, the more massive the stones. Sometimes water has been known to move boulders of many tons. A great example of the violence and power of water occurred in America, 13,000 years ago. Late in the earth's last glacial epic 11,000 B.C. a lobe of the Cordilleran ice sheet stopped up the Columbia River, near present-day Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho. An ice dam standing about 3,000 feet high held a volume of water, called Lake Missoula, equal to the volume and size of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario combined. One day the glacial dam catastrophically gave way unleashing more that ten times the combined flow of all the modern rivers of the world. A 2,000-foot wall of water moving at over 200 miles an hour inundated Idaho and Washington. Boulders weighing hundreds of tons were washed from their origin in Montana 1,000 miles to the west and deposited at the mouth of the Columbia gorge at the [542] Pacific. Though the features of this deluge were discovered in1920, it wasn't until the 70s that geologists accepted the event as fact. This flood had so destroyed the landscape that no evidence of Native Americans who lived in the area survived, being completely washed away or buried under hundreds of feet of sediment. Similarly many megalithic sites seem to have been "swept clean" of human record prior to influx of younger civilizations. Artifacts discovered near megalithic sites are most often more recent in age than the structures suggest. The great flood of Lake Missoula left only occasional boulders lying high above valleys and plains anchored securely in the mountain bedrock. Because these boulders were situated at the highest elevation and in the strongest foundation they were not dislodged and swept away. Similarly artificial methods of structural preservation are found at many megalithic sites in the Andes Mountains of Peru. The sites of Ollantaytambo, Tiahuanaco and especially, the huge foundation of Baalbek were architecturally designed to resist not only earthquakes, but also to withstand massive inundations of water. The foundations of these megalithic sites were constructed from stones weighing hundreds of tons, which were fitted into terraces and niches carved into the bedrock of mountains specifically designed to receive them. Multi-faceted cuts and divots were set into the bedrock foundations to prevent toppling and movement from shock coming from any direction. Megalithic sites were painstakingly constructed from the most durable but hardest to move materials, and they were deliberately set up across the earth. The builders of these megalithic sites clearly wanted to preserve a legacy of their unsurpassed architectural skill, but the great effort they expended indicates there was more to their motivation. The builders of these megalithic sites expected a cataclysmic event, and these monuments were built with foreknowledge to withstand that destruction. The Flood Epic of the Edfu Texts In 1850 while on a mission for the Louvre to collect papyri, a French Archaeologist and the first Director of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette launched a program to clear the Archaeological sites in Egypt. In 1860 Mariette instructed that an ancient Egyptian Temple to Horus in the town of Edfu be freed of sand and rubble. During the third century AD, the Temple of Horus at Edfu was allowed to fall into disuse, as the state religion of Egypt became first Christian and then Islamic. During this time tons of sand had drifted into the building. Edfu was the capital of the second province of Upper Egypt100 km south of Luxor and from the earliest days of Egyptian history it was a prosperous town. Edfu was also an important center for the worship of the god, Horus, son of Isis and Osiris the triad focus of the Egyptian religion. The rectangular Edfu Temple, constructed of sandstone, was oriented north/south, with its main entrance to the south. This alignment was contrary to nearly all other Egyptian temples that [543] are oriented east/west for ease of access to the Nile, ancient Egypt's main highway. The temple of Horus at Edfu was uncovered, and an extremely extensive library of Hieroglyphs that had been chiseled into hundreds of square feet of limestone over nearly every space available on the walls of the temple were found. Egyptologists named the extensive library in stone the "Edfu building texts." These writings contained a historical record describing the temple as having undergone several stages of building over many thousands of years. The first stone temple to be built at Edfu was designed by the illustrious Imhotep (c. 2660 B.C.), architect of the Step Pyramid at Sakkara, according to a plan [544] that "fell from heaven." Over the years, successive temples were built on the site; and, in 237 BC, Ptolemy II ordered the construction of a new one. The nucleus of this temple was completed by 212 B.C. Many of the inscriptions in Ptolemaic temples were written in a deliberately elaborate and confusing hieroglyphic script so that their meaning was safeguarded against those who could only read standard hieroglyphs. [545] Mariette, who learned hieroglyphics and Coptic as a youth with the help of his relative Egyptological draughtsman Nestor L'Hote, and who had already proven himself by transcribing the ancient texts in the Louvre, was the most skilled man for the job of recording the vast library of the Edfu texts. The Ptolemaic language used in the Edfu inscriptions was not the spoken language of that era, but a priestly revival of a much older version of the Egyptian language. While the script varies between each [546] Ptolemaic temple, the earliest Ptolemaic writing was found in the Edfu Temple. Mariette recorded, catalogued and shipped vast stores of texts back to the Louvre. Marriet was not alone in his interest in deciphering of the Edfu texts. The undertaking of decoding hieroglyphs covering hundreds of square feet needed great resources, time and financial backing. This was accomplished by the "Scientific and Artistic Commission," founded by Napoleon, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior of France--the [547] same organization who had funded his campaign back in the late 1700s. Many of the reliefs and inscriptions carved on the walls of the Edfu Temple are conventional, depicting a king, often accompanied by his queen, presenting offerings to various deities: many texts, however, referred to ancient texts from an earlier age, which have since been lost. The early Edfu priests of Horus preserved the information from an aion called by the Egyptians the Zep Tepi or "first time." According to the Sacred Book of Temples of Edfu, during the Zep Tepi a group of builder gods called the Shebtiw (Seven Sages) "descended from the sky." A similar word "sebittu" also meaning "seven" is found in Akkadian, i.e., Babylonian tablets such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, describing the builders of the [548] first cities. The Shebtiw Sages created "sacred mounds" at various places around the Nile valley--and the [549] earth--which were to serve as templates for the future construction of temples. The builder gods of the Edfu texts stated that proper building of the sacred mounds--in the holy places--would bring about a [550] "resurrection of the destroyed world of the gods." The destroyed world was called the "Homeland of the Primeval Ones," which "stood in darkness" where the "earliest mansions of the gods were [551] founded." The Seven Sages of the Edfu texts, like the Abgal Sages described by the Babylonian Berossus, and the apkallu from the Sumerian epics, fell from their place of origin in the heavens. The Greek historian Diogenes Laertius (third century A.D.) claimed that the astronomical records of Egyptian priests began in 49,219 B.C. Martianus Capella (fifth century A.D.) wrote that the Egyptian sages had secretly studied astronomy for over 40,000 years before they imparted their knowledge to the world. Using the information given to him by the priests of the land of the Nile, Herodotus placed the reign of Osiris at about 15,500 B.C. Herodotus remarked that the Egyptians were quite certain about that date. Diodorus Siculus: The number of years from Osiris and Isis, they say, to the reign of Alexander, who founded the city which bears his name in Egypt, is over ten thousand, but, according to other writers, a little less than [552] twenty-three thousand. The foundation myths of earliest times from both Greece and Egypt agree that a cataclysm occurred sufficient enough to interfere with the advancement of civilization; as Plato wrote: "…and so you have to begin all over again like children, and know nothing of what happened in ancient times…" Both Plato and Herodotus documented the oral tradition of the Egyptians, passed from their culture to the Greeks. The Edfu texts vividly illustrate the Egyptian legend of the Zep Tepi, "the First Time." The pre-flood knowledge of the first time, of the previous cycle of the aion, was preserved and maintained with little alteration in legends between cultures; the continuity of ancient knowledge traveled from Egypt to Greece, and later to Rome, through the religious traditions and "mystery schools" founded by seafarers from the East Coast of the Mediterranean. These seafarers were Sidonians, the sons of Canaan who settled the land of ancient Lebanon after the flood. It was the Sidonians who maintained the ancient knowledge as well as the legend of its origin. They once again built up the destroyed places where the angelic beings had first descended to the earth at Mount Hermon in Sidonia according to the book of Enoch: And they [the angels of heaven] were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon. (Book of Enoch 2:1) Monumental architecture was one of the gifts of knowledge brought from heaven to the earth by the first sages and gods. Sumerian myth described the Abgal Sages who were sent from heaven to earth to civilize mankind, the builders of the first walled cities. The Seven Sages who descended from heaven laid the foundations of the city of Uruk, according to the Epic of Gilgamesh. Cain, the first city-builder in the Bible, built the great stone platform at Baalbek, according to local legend. A Babylonian historian discussed the first Sage, Oannes, who taught primitive men to construct cities, and explained to them the principles of geometrical knowledge. The Egyptian god Ptah, also a teacher of geometry, was called "… [553] a master architect, and framer of everything in the universe." The builder gods brought their knowledge from the heavens; the heavens must have contained some key to the facilitation of building. An architectural link existed between heaven and earth, preserved in the legend of the Greek Titan Atlas. As leader of the Titans in the war against the Olympian gods, Atlas was singled out for punishment by Zeus and made to forever bare the weight of the heavens on his strong shoulders. Interestingly, the account of the founding of Atlantis, Poseidon's romance with Cleito, the building of Atlantis's fabled encircled city on a mound, and the kingship of Poseidon's son Atlas come to us only through the account of Plato, whose name means "strong shouldered." Homer's Odyssey also described Atlas as the one who guards the pillars that "keep the sky and earth apart." The fate of Atlas was made a bit more lenient through history, as he became merely the guardian of the pillars that held the celestial sphere above the earth. Pillars are an architectural element appearing in entryways and temples of myth, as well as being a time-honored symbol of fraternities of builders throughout history. Even after the Olympian gods defeated the Titans and assumed a preeminent place in the heavens, the foundations and walls of cities of men were said to have been built with the aid of the gods. Neptune and Apollo are credited with the building of the walls of Troy, according to Homer: He, (Apollo) and Neptune, trident-bearing father of the swelling sea, put on mortal form, and built [554] the walls of the city for the Phrygian king for an agreed amount in gold. The edifice stood there. In his justification of the antiquity of Gnostic doctrines, Jean-Marie Ragon (1781-1862) deduced from the classics that when Neptune and Apollo offered themselves to Laomedon as masons "to build the city" of Troy, this was a well-known expression symbolizing the establishment of a religious cult or "Mystery School." Ragon argues: …do not we know that the ancient initiated poets, when speaking of the foundation of a city, meant thereby the establishment of a doctrine? Thus Neptune, the god of reasoning, and Apollo, the god of the hidden things, presented themselves as masons before Laomedon, Priam's father, to help him to build the [555] city of Troy--that is to say, to establish the Trojan religion. In light of the fact that incomprehensibly massive stone foundations remain at Baalbek, Ollantaytambo, Tiahuanaco, Giza and many other places across the globe, Ragon presents an intriguing alternative. These cyclopean structures could provide both a foundation for the building of a religion, and a foundation upon which to build literal walls after each cataclysmic destruction at the turning of the aion. According to the Timaeus of Plato, exactly this situation has occurred: "There have been, and will be again, many destructions of mankind." If the ancient initiated poets have left "the hidden things" in the earliest myth of civilization, as Ragon explains, perhaps a pattern can be found that can be lifted out of the ancient verse. In The Defence of Poetry (written circa 1580), the Elizabethan philosopher-poet Philip Sidney observed: The Philosophers of Greece durst not a long time appear to the world, but under the mask of poets. So Thales, Empedocles, and Parmenides, sang their naturall Philosophie in verses. So did Pythagoras and Phocillides, their moral Councels. So did Tirteus in war matters, and Solon in matters of pollicie, or rather they being Poets, did exercise their delightfull vaine in those points of highest knowledge, which before them lay hidden to the world… {17} There is no Art delivered unto mankind that hath not the workes of nature for his principall object, without which they could not consist, and on which they so depend, as they become Actors & Plaiers, as it were of what nature will have set forth. So doth the Astronomer looke upon the starres, and by that he seeth set downe what order nature hath taken therein. So doth the Geometritian & Arithmetitian, in their divers sorts [556] of quantities. Each time the world was destroyed, there was a period of building once again, a resurgence of learning and technology, though somewhat less magnificent than before. Myths of the origins of cities describe the establishment of a "foundation" according to some supernatural plan; the foundations were laid where the gods had indicated, city walls were built by a demi-god or hero, with the help of gods. These stories describe the pattern of regaining the lost knowledge of the past spoken of in Plato's Timaeus : "…just when you …are beginning to be provided with letters and the other requisites of civilized life, after the usual interval, the stream from heaven, like a pestilence, comes pouring down… and so you have to begin all over again like children, and know nothing of what happened in ancient times." The ancient stone foundations of megalithic cities remained for men to find and build up again. With the foundations left in place, both the structures and the knowledge could be repaired to a semblance of its former state. "Foundation myths" of many cultures contain the symbols of twins--or pillars--or both--representing a connection between heaven and earth. The Sunteleias & Aions of the last Platonic year.