Free Republic

The story of the Ark that saved humanity from the flood seems wide spread in Eurasian mythos. In truth some of what has been passed down is far fetched, but may have a basis in history such as the bursting of the Black Sea dam. Because we are living in an age of myths, Global Warming, Spotted Owls, and Obama, maybe we look at the realities behind these stories. As you might guess I think Campbell(Golden Bough?) sucks.

Skeptics claim that the flood narrative of Genesis1 is a rewritten version of an original myth, The Epic of Gilgamesh, from the Enuma Elish produced by the Sumerians. The flood of the Epic of Gilgamesh is contained on Tablet XI2 of twelve large stone tablets that date to around 650 B.C. These tablets are obviously not originals, since fragments of the flood story have been found on tablets that date to 2,000 B.C. It is likely that the story itself originated much before that, since the Sumerian cuneiform writing has been estimated to go as far back as 3,300 B.C.The...

<p>Darren Aronofsky’s Noah dominated the U.S. box office on its opening weekend and won critical acclaim, but not without controversy. The film, based on the biblical story in Genesis of Noah’s Ark and the Great Flood, arrived amid a deluge of outrage from religious groups. Some Christians fumed at the film’s straying from biblical Scripture. Meanwhile, a host of Muslim-majority countries banned Noah from screening in theaters because representations of Noah, a prophet of God in the Koran, are considered blasphemous. Such images “provoke the feelings of believers and are forbidden in Islam and a clear violation of Islamic law,” read a fatwa issued by Cairo’s al-Azhar University, one of the foremost institutions of Sunni Islam. Egypt has not banned the film, but Indonesia, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have. “It is important to respect these religions and not show the film,” lectured the main censors of the UAE.</p>

Metatron makes a rebuttal video to a [popular?] tiktoker video saying that the Roman Empire didn't exist and is a myth.

The Assyrian kings of the late tenth and early ninth centuries campaigned in the west and helped to reestablish regional control through infrastructure. However, it is Ashurnasirpal II (r. 883-859 B.C.E.) who is often considered the founder of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. His kingdom reached from the Taurus Mountains in the north to the Euphrates River in the west. He established a new capital city in Kalhu and built it into an impressive city with imperial wealth accumulated from taxes, trade, and the "tribute" payments extracted from vassal nations in exchange for their independence. This "yoke of Assur" was a great...

Ea's duplicity can be traced to nine lines in the text, says Worthington....SNIP"What the people don't realize is that Ea's nine-line message is a trick: it is a sequence of sounds that can be understood in radically different ways, like English 'ice cream' and 'I scream,'" Worthington explained.Like "ice cream" and "I scream," Ea's words have multiple meanings that are phonetically the same. While a more optimistic reading might interpret Ea's comments as a promise of plentiful food to come, other more pessimistic readings could decipher his words as a flood warning.The lines in the flood story, written in Babylonian...

Ennis firm brings Gilgamesh back to Iraq Friday, November 21 2003 by Matthew Clark Ennis-based Kestrel 3D is currently working with the British Museum to scan hundreds of Iraqi artefacts in order to fabricate replicas for a museum in Mosul. Kestrel 3D, which holds the rights to a unique scanning technology that captures both colour and dimensions, has been engaged in the project for months, although the current instability in Iraq has put the initiative temporarily on hold. But Kestrel 3D finance director Ken O'Mahony said that once stability is restored to the state, the University of Mosul would begin...

This rare cuneiform tablet is inscribed with a portion of the Epic of Gilgamesh A federal court has ordered that a small ancient fragment depicting a portion of the Epic of Gilgamesh be forfeited by the Museum of the Bible two years after federal agents confiscated the artifact. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York ordered the forfeiture of the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, which was purchased by Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. in 2014 to be displayed at the Museum of the Bible. Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division explained...

The Department of Justice announced that it seized a tablet from the Epic of Gilgamesh. According to the DOJ, the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet was smuggled into the US and then auctioned off.The ancient tablet had been bought by Oklahoma-based arts and craft superstore Hobby Lobby. The Department of Justice announced on Tuesday that it had recovered the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, a rare portion of the epic of Gilgamesh, from Oklahoma-based arts and crafts superstore Hobby Lobby.The epic of Gilgamesh is considered one of the most ancient works of literature and originally comes from Iraq. According to the Department of Justice,...

The genetic profiles of people associated with Funnelbeaker and Globular Amphora cultures show evidence of being recent migrants to the region. This finding shows that the period between arrival of agriculture and "steppe"-related ancestry, hitherto thought of as an uneventful period, was more dynamic than previously hypothesised......Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age (~6,000-3,700 years ago)...Individuals associated with the Corded Ware culture expanded from Eastern Europe and then assimilated preferentially central European women into their culture, giving them the same burial ritual as members of the immigrating group...Once established, individuals of the Corded Ware culture (4,900-4,400 years ago) changed genetically through...

You may have heard the terms “Cultural Marxism,” “Critical Theory” or “Frankfurt School” bandied about. And while you might have an intuitive approximation of what these terms mean for America in the 21st century, there’s a good chance that you don’t know much about the deep theory, where the ideology comes from, and what it has planned for America – and the world. The underlying theory here is a variant of Marxism, pioneered by early-20th-century Italian Marxist politician and linguist Antonio Gramsci. Gramscian Marxism is a radical departure from Classical Marxism. One does not need to endorse the Classical Marxism...

One particularly important find is a cylinder-shaped seal made from the mineral hematite, with a cuneiform inscription from Mesopotamia (present day Iraq), which the archaeologists were able to decipher.“The text consists of three lines and mentions three names. One is Amurru, a god worshiped in Mesopotamia. The other two are historical kings, father and son, who we recently succeeded in tracking down in other texts on clay tablets from the same period, i.e., the 18th century BC. We are currently trying to determine why the seal ended up in Cyprus more than 1000 kilometres from where it was made.”Among the...

#Disrupt Texts and its co-thinkers are dedicated enemies of enlightenment and education. Students, teachers and serious academics should treat them with derision, challenge them and expose their ignorance.

[A]rchaeologists have found a total of some 900 rock carvings, or "petroglyphs," at Al Jassasiya. They are mostly enigmatic cup marks arranged in various patterns, including rows and rosettes, but also eye-catching representations of sailing ships, usually seen from above but also depicted in linear profile, among other symbols and signs. Of all the documented single figures and compositions, more than a third consist of cup marks in various configurations, shapes and sizes. The most prominent pattern involves two parallel rows of seven holes, leading some to believe that these were used to play mancala, a board game popular in...

France’s education minister has announced plans to boost the teaching of ancient Greek and Latin in an effort to fight the proliferation of wokeism and “develop the culture” of the country’s younger generations. Speaking on Monday, Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer, a leading figure in France’s war on woke, said that ancient Greek and Latin would become available to sixth formers pursuing vocational courses next year, as well as middle school students. Blanquer wants sixth formers to have the opportunity to “develop their culture” by reading ancient philosophers while gaining the technical qualifications that the economy demands. Speaking at a charter...

In 2010, scientists unearthed an ivory pendant from an abandoned Polish cave. Punctured with patterns reminiscent of moon cycles and mathematics, the artifact's origins eluded archaeologists -- until now. An international team of researchers just declared the relic to be 41,500 years old. That makes it the earliest piece of ornate jewelry ever found in Eurasia, and a wonderful reminder that art is timeless. Images and details of the discovery were published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports. But beyond its aesthetic value, this ancient pendant also marks the first proof of post-Neanderthal civilization in the Polish region...

The first inscription was discovered in 2003 at ancient Hegra in Hedjaz, an oasis city on the Incense Road. Today it is known as Al-Hijr (Mada'in Salih)...Hegra was the major center in the south of the Nabataean kingdom that in the 1st century CE also controlled other oasis towns, such as nearby Taima or Dumatha. The kingdom was one of Rome's client states along its eastern border. When the last Nabataean king died in 106 CE, Trajan had already prepared the orders for imperial troops in neighboring provinces to swiftly move in and occupy his territory before any resistance could...

A 3,250-year-old seal belonging to a Hittite prince and an ancient cuneiform tablet dating back 3,400 years were discovered in Turkey's southern Hatay province... in Accana Hoyuk of the Reyhanli district...Murat Akar, the head of the excavation team and Mustafa Kemal University's Protohistory and Near East Archeology Department chair, said... "The tablet, around 3,400 years old, and the accompanying cylinder seals give us information about the administration and administrative practices of the region, especially during a period when the region was under the rule of the Mitanni Empire."He said they had found a 3,250-year-old seal during the latest excavation, adding...

150,000-year-old jewelry discovered in MoroccoArchaeologists have discovered perforated shells dating back 150,000 years that also suggest the use of language via symbols. The finding joins a series of notable archaeological discoveries made in 2021.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — At a busy market in a poor township outside Harare this week, Nyasha Ndou kept his mask in his pocket, as hundreds of other people, mostly unmasked, jostled to buy and sell fruit and vegetables displayed on wooden tables and plastic sheets. As in much of Zimbabwe, here the coronavirus is quickly being relegated to the past, as political rallies, concerts and home gatherings have returned.