Sol Invictus, Mithras, The Great Eastern Sun

**************************

Click Here to View the Main Index

**************************

"Modern religions tend to dismiss the ancient Sun Gods as semi-theistic anthropomorphic Nature Spirits which was somewhat true in the Quasi-popular level of worship.....The deeper levels of meaning saw the 'Sun God' as representative of direct or primordial light (Ösel (tib. hod-gsal; 'od gsal), the Yoga of the Clear Light (often translated as 'Radiant Light' (Sanskrit: prabhasvara), referring to the 'intrinsic purity' (Tibetan: ka-dag))......and the 'Moon God' as representative of reflected light or the mirror.("...the quality of the cosmic mirror is that it is unconditioned, vast open space'....)....The Sumerians originally practiced a polytheistic religion, with anthropomorphic deities representing cosmic and terrestrial forces in their world. During the middle of the third millennium BCE, Sumerian deities became more anthropocentric and were "...nature gods transformed into city gods.".......http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_mythology

"At the pleasant bank of the Candrabhaga, a city named for Sambha is situated...There lies the abode of the Sun God (Arka) who is standing there in the form of Mitra with the Mitra eye." (Humbach: 1978..pg 236)....

"In the Mahabharata, the 108 names of the Sun, include Mithra as one of the 12 Adityas or forms of the sun."...(Humbach: 1978...pg 243)

108 names of Lord Shiva, which are collectively known as Ashtottara Shatanamavali of Lord Shiva.........http://www.drikpanchang.com/hindu-names/gods/lord-shiva/108-shiva-names.html

"When Mithraism became the chief religion in the late Roman Empire, Mithras was called Sol Invictus, or the invincible sun. The eye of Mithras was the sun itself (Mithras, the Soldier's God)."......http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/c/christ_constantine_sol_invictus.html

Sol Invictus ("Unconquered Sun") ......The official recognition of sun worship in the Roman Empire began during the time of Aurelian when he instituted the cult of "Sol invictus". The cult of Sol Invictus and that of Mithra are virtually the same....The last inscription referring to Sol Invictus dates to 387 AD and there were enough devotees in the 5th century that Augustine found it necessary to preach against them.....Scholars disagree whether the new deity was a refoundation of the ancient Latin cult of Sol, a revival of the cult of Elagabalus or completely new.......http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Invictus

"Sacred World is connected with East, because there are always possibilities of vision in the world. East represents the dawn of wakefulness." "...the sacred world is lighted by the sun, which is the principle of never-ending brilliance and radiance...[and] with seeing self-existing possibilities of virtue and richness in the world." If you in the sky, the sun is there. By looking at it, you don't produce a new sun. ... When you discover the sun in the sky, you begin to communicate with it. Your eyes begin to relate with the light of the sun.".......http://www.glossary.shambhala.org/

"Winter Solstice: The Unconquered Sun.......At the Winter Solstice, we celebrate Children's Day to honour our children and to bring warmth, light and cheerfulness into the dark time of the year. Holidays such as this have their origin as "holy days". They are the way human beings mark the sacred times in the yearly cycle of life. In the northern latitudes, midwinter's day has been an important time for celebration throughout the ages. On this shortest day of the year, the sun is at its lowest and weakest, a pivot point from which the light will grow stronger and brighter. This is the turning point of the year. The romans called it Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun.....Our sangha is our village, our clan, our family. Our children belong to all of us, and are bright reminders of the future of Buddhism. We celebrate them and the Great Eastern Sun together at the darkest time of the year, with open-hearth parties and cheerful festivities..".....http://www.shambhala.org/arts/fest/unconquered.html

"In the year 307 A.D. Emperor Diocletian, a sun worshipper, was involved in the dedication of a temple to Mithra and was responsible for the burning of scripture which made it possible for later emperors to formulate their own version of "Christianity.".......Emperor Constantine, while claiming to be a Christian maintained the title "Pontifus Maximus" the high priest of paganism. His coins were inscribed: "SOL INVICTO COMITI" (COMMITTED TO THE INVINCIBLE SUN)........Sunday (Deis Solis), the day of the sun, was considered by Mithraist a sacred day of rest.......December 25th was celebrated as the birth of the sun, (Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, or "Birthday of the Unconquered Sun")...... birth by the "Queen of Heaven" - "Mother of god.".....The Mithraists celebrated a mithraic love feast........Mithra was considered mediator between god and man.....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Invictus

"The last state pagan religion in Europe was Mithraism. The worship of Mithras, the Invincible Sun god was practised all over the Roman Empire, including the British Isles. The Temples in London and along Hadrian Wall can still be seen today as well some remains in Wales and York. There is no written formal documentation of the Western style of Mithraic Mysteries, the Roman 'Cult of Mithras'. The underground Temples and their paintings, statues and few anti-pagan documents by early Christian are all that remain.

"Elagabalus or Heliogabalus is a Syro-Roman sun god.....Elagabalus was initially venerated at Emesa in Syria. The name is the Latinized form of the Syrian Ilāh hag-Gabal, which derives from Ilāh "god" and gabal "mountain" (compare Arabic: جبل‎ jabal), resulting in "the God of the Mountain" the Emesene manifestation of the deity..... The Syrian deity was assimilated with the Roman sun god known as Sol Invictus ("the Undefeated Sun").....A temple called the Elagabalium was built on the east face of the Palatine Hill, to house the holy stone of the Emesa temple, a black conical meteorite..... Herodian writes of that stone: This stone is worshipped as though it were sent from heaven; on it there are some small projecting pieces and markings that are pointed out, which the people would like to believe are a rough picture of the sun, because this is how they see them."......

"Malakbêl was a sun deity of the city of Palmyra in pre-Islamic Syria. The meaning, in Aramaic, is “Messenger of Baal" or "Messenger, or Angel, of the Lord". The Greek identified Malakbel with Hermes, and the Romans with Sol. He was also similar to the Babylonian sun god Shamash. Malakbel is usually accompanied by the Moon god Aglibol, and sometimes the goddess Allat.".....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malakbel

"Mithra/Mitra is the prototype to Roman Mithras to whom there are several hymns in Hindu and Zoroastrian holy texts. This gives us some insight into the energy of this deity before it became fused with the great mass of Graeco-Roman magical ideas. The evolution of this deity from god of the green land, wild pastures and the solar light to one of that Invincible Sun god, who moves the cosmos by slaying constellation Taurus, has been the subject of much interest to historians and magicians.

"Roman Mithras was perhaps the greatest rival to early Christianity for many reasons. As well as being a popular pagan religion practised by the Roman Army, Mithraism had many similarities to Christianity. Mithras was born of a virgin, remained celibate, his worship involving baptism, the partaking of bread marked with a cross and wine as sacrificial blood, held Sundays sacred and Mithras was born on 25th of December. Mithraist called themselves 'brother' and were led by a priest called 'father' (Pater). The symbol of the father were a staff, a hooked sword, a ring and hat.

"These similarities frightened the early Christian leaders - that almost 500 years before arrival of Christ all of the Christian mysteries were already known. To combat this, Christian witters said that the Devil knew of the coming of Christ in advance and had imitated them before they existed in order to denigrate them. As Christianity gained strength and became the formal religion of the Roman Empire, the 'Cult of Mithras' was one of the first pagan cults to come under attack in the fifth century; Temples of Mithras, like most other pagan Temples, were destroyed and Churches build on them.

"The Mysteries of Mithras remained in Britain for sometime after the Christianisation of Rome, and in his 'Song of the Macrocosm' (Canu y byd mawr) the Bard Taliesin (6th century A.D.) demonstrates his initiatory knowledge of the 'Cult of Mithras'.

"Sir James Frazer proposed that indeed Taliesin the Bard (6th century AD) was a Mithraic initiate. The 'Song of the Macrocosm' certainly contains some Mithraic Lore and Taliesin the historical figure was versed in many of the magical lores of the British Isles. Therefore its not surprising that he was also familiar with Mithraic Mysteries. Another interesting connection between the Invincible Sun god and Celtic lore is proposed by John Matthews in 'Taliesin: Shamanism and the Bardic Mysteries in Britain and Ireland'.

"In the Language of trees, the Ogham alphabet could be accreditated to god Ogma Cermait (Honey-Mouthed), Grain-aineach (Sun faced), or Trenfher (Strongman, Champion), a son of the great god Dagda and Goddess Danu. In Gaul he was called Ogmios and was worshipped as a god of light and learning. "In an inscription found at Richborough, Ogmios is depicted with rays of light coming from his head and holding the whip of Sol Invictus". All three titles of Ogma certainly do link in with the rites of Mithras and the inscription in Richborough also supports a link. However what is not clear is if the link derives from the original Mithra, that is with the spread of Indo-European people or from the introduction of Mithras with the Roman Empire, that is Ogma possiblygained some Mithraic characteristic during the Roman Empire as he already showed some parallels with Mithras.

"A special grade was created as the movement went underground at the end of 4th century AD. The grade of 'Chryfii' meaning "hidden ones" is inscribed in a Mithraeum in Rome. This was to insure the lore was not totally lost, and it is during this time we see the Mithraic lore return to the Middle East with all of its new Greeco-Roman based knowledge. The spread amazingly went all the way to Korea and finally reached Japan in 612AD. By modifying it to fit local customs and adapting to each new culture, the lore survived and Mithras was worshiped from Hadrian's Wall in England in the West all the way to Japan in the East. The Invincible Sun God lived up to its title and survived all ihis adversaries. ....The possibility of Taliesin the Bard (6th century) being a Mithraic initiate also adds weight to the way lore was preserved by fusion with local customs and remained hidden by being one with the masses.

"Findings of local Goddess statues and other Celtic religious artifactsin the Mithraic Temples (Mithraeums) along Hadrian's Wall suggest the male-only imagery of the cult had shifted and was again fusing with local custom and deities. It is perhaps a romantic notion to think that as Christianity overcome paganism within Britain, the remaining pagans of different traditions gathered in the well -rotected walls of the underground Mithraeums to pull together - Druids (or proto-druids) alongside Mithraists invoking their gods of solar lights to stop the destructions. .....One way of unlocking the mysteries that have been lost is perhaps by looking at the where it started, the old land of Persia. In the same way Christianity overcame Mithraic mysteries and all paganism in the west, what was left of the original Mithra was dissolved by rise of Islam in the East. However the magical current of the Invincible Sun god survived despite the rise of Christianity and Islam. In the East Mithra was fused with Islamic lore and became part of mystical branch of Islam, Sufisim.

Birth of the Invincible Sun God: "According to Persian traditions, the god Mithras was actually incarnated into the human form of the Saviour expected by Zarathustra. Mithras was born of Anahita, an immaculate virgin mother once worshipped as a fertility goddess before the hierarchical reformation. Anahita was said to have conceived the Saviour from the seed of Zarathustra preserved in the waters of Lake Hamun in the Persian province of Sistan. Mithra's ascension to heaven was said to have occurred in 208 B.C., 64 years after his birth. This birth took place in a cave or grotto, where shepherds attended him and regaled him with gifts, at the winter solstice. This is based on a older myth about birth of Mithra, that his magical birth at the dawn of time was from a rock from which he formed himself using his Will. He holds in his hand a dagger and a torch. A statue from Housesteads shows Mithras being born from the rock while the twelve signs of the zodiac surround him, showing his image as a stellar god who rules the cosmos even at his birth. A serpent sometimes shown to be coiled around of the Mithras or birth stone/egg.

After his birth he challenged other forces when the world was young. His battle with the Sun resulted in the formation of a friendship and Mithras was bestowed with rays/crown of the Sun. Christians adopted this date as Christ's birthday in the Fourth century of the common era, according to Sir J.G. Frazer in his work The Golden Bough: "the festival of Christmas, which the church seems to have borrowed directly from its heathen rival. In the Julian Calendar, the 25th of December was reckoned as the winter solstice, and was regarded as the nativity of the Sun, because the day begins to lengthen and the power of the Sun increases from that turning point of the year. ... Mithras was regularly identified by his worshippers with the Sun... The [Christian] Gospels say nothing of the day of Christ's birth, and accordingly the early church did not celebrate it."

The New Catholic Encyclopaedia records: "The birth of Christ was assigned the date of the winter solstice (December 25 in the Julian calendar, January 6 in the Egyptian), because on this day, as the Sun began its return to northern skies, the pagan devotees of Mithras celebrated the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (Birthday of the Invincible Sun). On December 25, 274, [Roman Emperor] Aurelian had proclaimed the Sun God the principal patron of the Empire and dedicated a temple to Him in the Campus Martius. Christmas originated at a time when the cult of the Sun was particularly strong at Rome." (Vol. III, p.656, 1967 ed.).

Some images survive with Mithras on horseback with bow and arrow in hand hunting a stag whose horn is the crescent moon. Mithras is accompanied by a lion, snake and a dog. This too might be a star map, however no one has been able to interpret it yet.

"When the Rigveda was compiled, the priestly caste had already been separated. Among the priests, however, two of the warrior clans had forced their way. The AAgirasas, the Va&shjhas, the Agastyas, and the Bhargavas are stated to have been of divine origin, but the ViSvamitras and the Kanvas belonged to the warrior ^e A6g* rasas are called the sons of heaven, or of the Fire. The Bhargavas claim descent from Varu^ia, the god of the Sky. The Vagishfhas are called the descendants of Mitra or the Sun-god. But the Ku&kas or the V&vami- tras belonged to the Bharata group of the warrior caste.".....http://archive.org/stream/prehistoricancie035069mbp/prehistoricancie035069mbp_djvu.txt

**************************

Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

John Hopkins.....Northern New Mexico….March 2013

**************************

Divine Triad of Syrian Gods....Palmyra

**************************

Click Here to View the Main Index

Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

**************************

The Divine Triad of Syrian Gods: Ba'alshamin, Aglibol, and Malakbel

http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/divine-triad:

"This religious sculpture was discovered at Bir Wereb, near Palmyra. Situated on a major caravan route, Palmyra was at the crossroads of Syria, Mesopotamia, and the desert crossings. In its pantheon, external gods mingled with native deities. It was in this context that the triad of Ba'alshamin, Aglibol, and Malakbel developed during the first half of the first century AD. These gods are represented here in Roman military dress, a distinctive feature of Palmyrene religious iconography."

"Site of Palmyra....An oasis in the Syrian desert, north-east of Damascus, Palmyra contains the monumental ruins of a great city that was one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world. From the 1st to the 2nd century, the art and architecture of Palmyra, standing at the crossroads of several civilizations, married Graeco-Roman techniques with local traditions and Persian influences.".....http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/23

"Palmyrans bore Aramaic names,and worshipped a variety of deities from Mesopotamia (Marduk and Ruda), Syria (Hadad, Baʿal, Astarte), Arabia (Allāt) and Greece (Athena). Palmyrans were originally speakers of western Aramaic, a language of the same group as Nabataean and the Aramaic spoken in Egypt, but later shifted to the Greek language.There had been a temple at Palmyra for 2000 years before the Romans ever saw it."

"This cosmic triad formed the upper part of a religious relief sculpture. The three standing gods wear tight-sleeved tunics and are depicted in military garb: lamellar cuirasses and Roman cloaks fastened at the right shoulder with fibulae. They grasp the hilts of their swords with their left hands, while their right hands, now missing, probably gripped spears or scepters. The long, flowing hair of the central god is adorned with a calathos and a ribbon, in the Parthian style; he also wears Persian trousers. His beard indicates that he is Ba'alshamin, as opposed to Bel. He is flanked by two gods: beardless, bare-legged, with curly hair, their heads are are surrounded by radiant haloes. These are the lunar god Aglibol, on the left, identifiable by his lunar crescent, and the sun god Malakbel, on the right. The lunar god's placement at the right hand of the supreme god indicates his superiority to the sun god, confirming Ba'alshamin's identity, and confers a hieratic dimension on the triad.

"Malakbêl was a sun deity of the city of Palmyra in pre-Islamic Syria. The meaning, in Aramaic, is “Messenger of Baal" or "Messenger, or Angel, of the Lord". The Greek identified Malakbel with Hermes, and the Romans with Sol. He was also similar to the Babylonian sun god Shamash. Malakbel is usually accompanied by the Moon god Aglibol, and sometimes the goddess Allat.".....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malakbel

"This stone relief has particular interest in that the faces of the gods have been preserved intact, making the sculpture quite rare, since few depictions of the triad have come down to us. It was discovered near Palmyra, where Ba'alshamin's temple was second in importance only to the temple of Bel. Aglibol and Malakbel, gods of the traditional pantheon, had a common temple there. The triad was thus formed through the association of two old gods of the Palmyrene religion with the supreme god. The triads of Bel, who is depicted with the solar god Yarhibol and Aglibol, and of Ba'alshamin-Aglibol-Malakbel are the only ones known to have existed at that time. This sculpture is the most significant and oldest known depiction of the triad of Ba'alshamin.

"In Syria a host of divinities was represented in military garb. This phenomenon was particularly noticeable in Palmyra. The lamellar cuirass was inspired by Oriental Hellenism. Its style predates the Roman muscle cuirass, which replaced the Hellenistic cuirass during the first century AD. Ba'alshamin's straight hair, which is a feature of old sculptures, the lunar crescent placed at the same level as the halo and not as yet at shoulder level, as well as the roundness of the bodies and the protuberant eyes, indicate that this sculpture can be dated back to the first half of the first century AD. This triad was the product of an official belief system, and its various sources of inspiration-Parthian, Hellenistic, and Roman-exemplify vividly the original and hybrid art of Palmyra.

"Palmyra.....was an ancient city in central Syria. In antiquity, it was an important city located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 180 km southwest of the Euphrates at Deir ez-Zor. It had long been a vital caravan stop for travellers crossing the Syrian desert and was known as the Bride of the Desert.....Palmyrans bore Aramaic names, and worshipped a variety of deities from Mesopotamia (Marduk and Ruda),Syria (Hadad, Baʿal, Astarte), Arabia (Allāt) and Greece (Athena).Palmyrans were originally speakers of Aramaic but later shifted to the Greek language......In the mid 1st century AD, Palmyra, a wealthy and elegant city located along the caravan routes linking Persia with the Mediterranean ports of Roman Syria and Phoenicia, came under Roman control. A period of great prosperity followed......he most striking building in Palmyra is the huge temple of Ba'al, considered "the most important religious building of the first century AD in the Middle East". It originated as a Hellenistic temple, of which only fragments of stones survive. The central shrine (cella) was added in the early 1st century AD.".....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmyra

Astarte......also spelled Athtart or Ashtart, great goddess of the ancient Middle East and chief deity of Tyre, Sidon, and Elat, important Mediterranean seaports. Hebrew scholars now feel that the goddess Ashtoreth mentioned so often in the Bible is a deliberate conflation of the Greek name Astarte and the Hebrew word boshet, “shame,” indicating the Hebrews’ contempt for her cult. Ashtaroth, the plural form of the goddess’s name in Hebrew, became a general term denoting goddesses and paganism......King Solomon, married to foreign wives, “followed Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians” (1 Kings 11:5). Later the cult places to Ashtoreth were destroyed by Josiah. Astarte/Ashtoreth is the Queen of Heaven to whom the Canaanites burned offerings and poured libations (Jeremiah 44).....Astarte, goddess of war and sexual love, shared so many qualities with her sister, Anath, that they may originally have been seen as a single deity. Their names together are the basis for the Aramaic goddess Atargatis.......Astarte was worshiped in Egypt and Ugarit and among the Hittites, as well as in Canaan. Her Akkadian counterpart was Ishtar. Later she became assimilated with the Egyptian deities Isis and Hathor (a goddess of the sky and of women), and in the Greco-Roman world with Aphrodite, Artemis, and Juno.".....http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/39661/Astarte

**************************

Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

John Hopkins.....Northern New Mexico….March 2013

**************************

The Golden Drink, Haoma/Soma (2500 BC)

**************************

Click Here to View the Main Index

**************************

GOLDEN DRINK..." The Golden Drink (gSer-skyems) is the Celestial drink according to which wine is presented to Kings as a substitute for nectar." (Hoffman: 1975..pg 109)..."the yul lha is invited to take a seat and consume his offerings. These consist of the first part of the nourishment (zas phud), bsangs, and gser skyems." (Blondeau: 1996..pg 125)....(ambrosia) (bdud stsi)( sk: amrita)..."Aqua vitae"..."The ancient Indo-Iranians act of worship often involved the preparation, purification, and the offering of a sacred plant, Iranian Haoma, Indian Soma. It was mixed with water or milk and other ingredients and offered as a libation to the gods. Therafter it was drunk. It is a color of golden or yellow. See Book 9 of the Rig Veda." (Acta: 1985..pg 699)..."The Sapa Incans poured a libation to the Sun God from a golden vase before the procession to the Coricancha Temple." (Hawkes: 1962..pg 133)...

"The Aryans......About 3,500 years ago, a migratory, cattle-herding people crossed over the high passes from what is now Afghanistan and discovered the rich plains of the Indian subcontinent. They came from the same stock as most of the present-day Europeans and originated, it is thought, on the steppes between the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian Sea. Their name for themselves was Arya, which means "noble" or "hospitable". We know little of them before this point in their history but when they reached India they began to write. They wrote down their sacred songs, about the Gods and about soma: the celestial drink which conferred immortality upon the Gods and by means of which mere mortals become Gods."......http://www.erowid.org/plants/amanitas/amanitas_writings1.shtml

HAOMA/SOMA...."The ancient Indo-Iranians act of worship often involved the preparation, purification, and the offering of a sacred plant.(Iranian:Haoma) (Indian:Soma). It was mixed with water, milk, and other ingredients and offered as a libation to the gods. Thereafter it was drunk by the participants. See Hymns of Nook 9 of the Rig Veda. The color of the drink was golden." (Acta Iranica: 1985..pg 699)..."Haoma was widely used by warrior and poet as well as priest and seer, playing a part in their lives not unlike that of mead among the ancient Teutonic peoples." (Boyce: 1982...pg 147)...

"BMAC: Making a Bid for Cradle of Civilisation Status.....Remains of urns - once filled with soma-haoma, a narcotic potion that was one of the three pillars of Margush religious practice - have crumbled in a former storage facility. Residents also paid homage to fire and water at separate temple sites adjacent to the main palace complex."......CAIS NEWS......ARCHAEOLOGICAL & CULTURAL NEWS OF THE IRANIAN WORLD.....http://www.cais-soas.com/News/2007/May2007/22-05.htm

Haoma is the Avestan language name of a plant and its divinity, both of which play a role in Zoroastrian doctrine and in later Persian culture and mythology. The Middle Persian form of the name is hōm, which continues to be the name in Modern Persian, Pashto and other living Iranian languages......Sacred haoma has its origins in Indo-Iranian religion and is the cognate of Vedic soma.....

According to Falk, Parsi-Zoroastrians use a variant of ephedra, usually Ephedra procera (perhaps Ephedra sinica), imported from the Hari River valley in Afghanistan. (Falk, 1989)...In the late 19th century, the highly conservative Zoroastrians of Yazd (Iran) were found to use Ephedra (genus Ephedra), which was locally known as hum or homa and which they exported to the Indian Zoroastrians. (Aitchison, 1888) The plant, as Falk also established, requires a cool and dry climate, i.e. it does not grow in India (which is either too hot or too humid or both) but thrives in central Asia. Later, it was discovered that a number of Iranian languages and Persian dialects have hom or similar terms as the local name for some variant of Ephedra.

"The Yazata Haoma, also known by the middle Persian name Hōm Yazad, is the epitome of the quintessence of the haoma plant, venerated in the Hōm Yašt, the hymns of Yasna 9-11. In those hymns, Haoma is said to appear before Zoroaster in the form of a "beautiful man" (this is the only anthropomorphic reference), who prompts him to gather and press haoma for the purification of the waters (see Aban). Haoma is 'righteous' and 'furthers righteousness', is 'wise' and 'gives insight' (Yasna 9.22). Haoma was the first priest, installed by Ahura Mazda with the sacred girdle aiwiyanghana (Yasna 9.26) and serves the Amesha Spentas in this capacity (Yasht 10.89). "Golden-green eyed" Haoma was the first to offer up haoma, with a "star-adorned, spirit-fashioned mortar," and is the guardian of "mountain plants upon the highest mountain peak." (Yasht 10.90)......

SOMA...."a popular drink in the land of the Indo-Iranians...the HUM plant of the Parsis is said to turn sour after a few days...the moons rays and the shoots of the Soma plant....."Oh King Soma..come here...descend!"..."This Soma is pressed for you O Mitra"....the ambrosia is ready in the sky...a piece of gold is tied in a garment and dipped into the oblation...Soma was in the third sky, a leaf w3as cut off, that became the parna. The Parna is holy power. Parna wood is royalty...Butter is brilliance. Soma is splendour. Curd is strength...(Keith: 1967)...

"Soma (Sanskrit सोम sóma), or Haoma (Avestan), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-, was a Vedic ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the subsequent Vedic and greater Persian cultures. It is frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, whose Soma Mandala contains 114 hymns, many praising its energizing qualities. In the Avesta, Haoma has the entire Yašt 20 and Yasna 9-11 dedicated to it. It is described as being prepared by extracting juice from the stalks of a certain plant. In both Vedic and Zoroastrian tradition, the name of the drink and the plant are the same, and the three forming a religious or mythological unity.The Rigveda calls the plant "God for Gods" seemingly giving him precedence above Indra and the other Gods (RV 9.42)".....

"PLANT SPIRIT MEDICINE"...by Elliot Cowan
"According to the Huichol Indian shamans of Mexico, if you want to actually use a plant in healing, the spirit of that plant must come to you. It won't work for you unless the spirit of the plant tells you how to prepare it and what it will cure."...(Cowan: 1995..pg 19)...

Beckwith, Christopher..."The Introduction of Greek Medicine into Tibet in the 7th Century"...Journal of the American Oriental Society #99... (1979)

The Indian-Zoroastrian belief mentioned above also manifests itself in the present-day Zoroastrian practice of administering a few drops of parahaoma to the new-born or dying.

The Haoma plant is a central element in the legend surrounding the conception of Zoroaster. In the story, his father Pouroshaspa took a piece of the Haoma plant and mixed it with milk. He gave his wife Dugdhova one half of the mixture and he consumed the other. They then conceived Zoroaster who was instilled with the spirit of the plant....According to tradition, Zoroaster received his revelation on a riverbank while preparing parahaoma for the Ab-Zohr (Zatspram 21.1), that is, for the symbolic purification of Aban ("the waters"). This symbolic purification is also evident in Yasna 68.1, where the celebrant makes good for the damage done to water by humanity: "These offerings, possessing haoma, possessing milk, possessing pomegranate, shall compensate thee".....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haoma

OLD AGE..."I have vanquished my mind. I don't have a mind to tell me that it is time to be old. I don't honor any agreements in which I didn't participate. To be plagued by old age is one such agreement.' (Don Juan in Castaneda: 1998..pg 17)...

In the latter half of the 20th century, several studies attempted to establish haoma as a psychotropic substance, and based their arguments on the assumption that proto-Indo-Iranian sauma was a hallucinogen.

DIET...One of the main principles of the Manichaeans (2nd Century A.D.) was a vegetarian diet of mainly green and yellow foods (squash, etc). Supposedly, light was concentrated in these foods and their bodies served as filters for the particles of light contained in the plants. (Litvinsky: 1992...Pg 414)......."The architecture, diet, and clothing of the Sambhalese"..(Cabezon: 1996..pg 488)..."Under Candragupta II (405 AD), who was probably a Vaisnava, but tolerant of Buddhism and Jainism, no one kills any living thing or eats onions or garlic." (Dasgupta: 1962...pg cix)

Siberian shamans use the fly-agaric mushroom in their rituals. (Acta: 1985..pg 700)...

GANDHARVAS....."The gandharvas (Sanskrit: गन्धर्व, gandharva, Kannada, Tamil:கந்தர்வர், Telugu) are male nature spirits, husbands of the Apsaras. Some are part animal, usually a bird or horse. They have superb musical skills. They guarded the Soma and made beautiful music for the gods in their palaces. A gandharva means a singer in the court of Gods...Gandharvas are mentioned extensively in the epic Mahabharata as associated with the devas (as dancers and singers) and with the yakshas, as formidable warriors.Gandharvas can fly through the air, and are known for their skill as musicians. They are connected with trees and flowers, and are described as dwelling in the scents of bark, sap, and blossom. They are among the beings of the wilderness that might disturb a monk meditating alone.."...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandharva

"....soma was a plant and that its consumption produced an ecstatic mental state but this information hardly narrows the field of candidates as there are thousands of psychoactive plants with psychedelic, intoxicant, narcotic or deliriant effects. The Vedas also indicate that the plant was found on mountain-sides and gathered by moonlight and that it was consumed in the form of a liquid which was expressed from the plant and then mixed with milk and/or butter. It seems to have been used only as part of a fire-ritual. A golden liquid was expressed from the plant material with "soma-stones", filtered through wool and collected in a large bowl or "vat". In the course of this ritual a portion of the soma potion was used as a libation and was "sacrificed" to the flames. The remainder of the soma-liquid was apportioned among the celebrants who received it in individual bowls.".....http://www.erowid.org/plants/amanitas/amanitas_writings1.shtml

" Soma seems to have been used only as part of a fire-ritual. A golden liquid was expressed from the plant material with "soma-stones", filtered through wool and collected in a large bowl or "vat". In the course of this ritual a portion of the soma potion was used as a libation and was "sacrificed" to the flames. The remainder of the soma-liquid was apportioned among the celebrants who received it in individual bowls......Occasionally in the Vedas, and frequently in post-Vedic literature such as the story of the "churning of the ocean", the soma-liquid is known as amrita. This is especially so in the literature of Buddhism where the name soma is almost unknown. Soma is also the name of a god, considered by Hindus to be the divine personification both of the soma-drug and of the moon. The moon was thought to be the receptacle of soma from which it is consumed (presumably over a monthly period) by the gods and ancestors.......Compared to the Brahmanic rituals of later eras this fire-ritual was a very simple affair which has more in common with shamanic practices than the elaborate structures of organized religion. There are three main gods invoked in the Rigveda: Agni (god of fire), Soma (moon-god and personification of the soma drug), and Indra (sky-god and king of the gods). As the Rigveda states that (a) Indra enjoys the effects of soma and that (b) he who consumes the soma potion becomes god-like, perhaps it would not be straining the symbolism too far to say that in these three gods we have the three basic elements of the ritual, Agni (the sacrificial flames), Soma (the sacrificial offering) and Indra (the celebrant, rendered "divine" by the consumption of soma)......That the ritual is of Aryan origin rather than an indigenous Indian one is attested to by the existence of the similar haoma fire ritual in ancient Persia and in the Zoroastrian (Parsi) religion. The Indian fire-ritual was, in later times, taken up by Tantric Buddhists and, as a part of Vajrayana Buddhism, was carried into Tibet, Mongolia, China and even as far as Japan where it is known as goma."......http://www.erowid.org/plants/amanitas/amanitas_writings1.shtml

"Above are two of the nine miniature mushroom stones found buried together in a Maya tomb, along with nine miniature stone metates and manos (Soma stones?) used in the preparation of a ritual mushroom beverage. It was the mushroom communion in the Americas that actually transported one to the divine realm of the trinity. The nine mushroom stones were excavated from the Maya ruins of Kaminaljuyu, in Highland Guatemala."....SOMA IN THE AMERICAS.....THE ORIGIN OF A MUSHROOM RELIGION IN THE NEW WORLD.....A New Road of Archaeological Inquiry.....By Carl de Borhegyi.....2011

**************************

Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

John Hopkins.....Northern New Mexico….March 2013

**************************

Royal Tombs of Ur: Lady Pu-abi (Sumeria...2600 BC)

**************************

Click Here to View the Main Index

Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

**************************

Lady Puabi was the name of a woman buried in one of the richest of the tombs excavated by Woolley at the Royal Cemetery. Puabi (her name, found on a cylinder seal within the tomb, was probably closer to Pu-abum) was approximately 40 years old at the time of her death.....

"Queen Puabi’s headdress.....The headdress of gold, lapis lazuli, and carnelian includes a frontlet with beads and pendant gold rings, two wreaths of poplar leaves, a wreath of willow leaves and inlaid rosettes, and a string of lapis lazuli beads, discovered on Queen Puabi’s body in her tomb at the Royal Cemetery of Ur, ca 2550 BCE.

"The headdress and jewelry of Queen Pu-abi, made from gold leaf, lapis lazuli from Balkh, Afghanistan, and carnelian from the Indus Valley. The circlet with spiral trim is draped with willow and beech leaves and topped with small, blue-and-white-filled, gold rosettes. The huge gold comb is surmounted by larger rosettes, also originally filled with blue and white paste. All the rosettes have eight-petals, usually a symbol of the goddess Inanna. Her enormous earrings are double crescents. Clearly the crown and its parts are symbolic, and some scholars suggest that they represent fertility.

"She was buried with 52 attendants — Puabi's tomb was staggering: a magnificent, heavy, golden headdress made of golden leaves, rings, and plates; a superb lyre (see Lyres of Ur), complete with the golden and lapis-lazuli encrusted bearded bulls head; a profusion of gold tableware; golden, carnelian, and lapis lazuli cylindrical beads for extravagant necklaces and belts; a chariot adorned with lioness' heads in silver, and an abundance of silver, lapis lazuli, and golden rings and bracelets.

Banquet scene, cylinder seal (left) and its modern impression (right), from the tomb of Pu-abi (tomb 800), Royal Cemetery, Ur (modern Tell Maqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2600-2400 BC. Lapis lazuli, 1 7/8″ high, 1″ diameter. British Museum, London.

"Cylinder seal of Lady Pu-abi.....From Ur, southern Iraq....2600 BC.....This cylinder seal was discovered in the 'Queen's Grave' in the Royal Cemetery at Ur. It is engraved with a banquet scene. It has been suggested that this indicates that the owner was female, while a man's seal would have been engraved with a combat scene. Indeed, the cuneiform inscription on this seal reads 'Pu-abi nin'. The Sumerian word 'nin' can be translated as either 'lady' or 'queen'. It is possible that Pu-abi (previously read as Shub-ad) may have been a high priestess in the service of the moon god, Nanna, patron of Ur......The seal was found against the right arm of Pu-abi's body, together with two other seals and three gold pins.....The seal is made from lapis lazuli, which would have come from Afghanistan. This not only shows the extensive trade routes that existed at this time, but also how important Pu-abi was, owning an object made of such an exotic material."....D. Collon, Ancient Near Eastern art (London, The British Museum Press, 1995)

"Royal Tombs of Ur (c 2550 BC)......A site near the modern day city of Al-Nasiriya in southern Iraq. Known locally as Tell al-Muqayyar, this site has also been recognized as the capital city of ancient Sumeria called Ur....Ur was likely first settled during the Ubaid period near the end of the 6th millennium BC. Over time a true city grew, until about 2500 BC, by which time the city was one of the transportation centers of the Sumerian civilization. In this, its heyday, Ur was an important harbor at the head of the Persian Gulf. Because of Ur's extensive trade contacts, the rulers of Ur had access to the wealth of Arabia, India, Iran, and Afghanistan......Sixteen tombs of Ur's elite, rulers buried with about eighty attendants. These tombs held what are some of the world's greatest treasures of the past: a golden dagger encrusted with lapis lazuli; a statue of a ram in a thicket; a lyre decorated with a bull's head; a crown of golden leaves and rosettes belonging to the Lady Puabi."

"Enheduanna (En-hedu-anna), daughter of Sargon the Great, was princess, priestess of the moon god Nanna at Ur in Mesopotamia, now Iraq, earthly embodiment of his spouse Nin-gal, and the first poet whose name we know. We know the names of many high priestesses (en-priestesses or entu), a number of whom probably also wrote hymns and other literature for the temple. We can also tentatively identify en-priestesses from the rolled cap which they often wore. However, not until 400 years after Enheduanna can we identify another priestess as author of a particular piece of writing....When a queen or princess was installed as a priestess, she usually took a religious name with religious meaning. Nin-shata-pada's name means "Lady Chosen by [means of] the Heart [Omens]." Particularly for the city of Ur, scholars know the official names of a large number of high priestesses and, often, how long they lived. For instance, Queen Pu-abi of Ur, whose remains and grave goods were found in the great Royal Cemetery at Ur (2550-2400 BCE), was probably also a priestess. Another royal woman who was both a princess and a priestess was Tuta-napshum. She was installed as en-priestess of the high god En-lil during the reign of Sargon's grandson Naram-Sin (2260-2223 BCE) .http://www.matrifocus.com/SAM07/spotlight.htm

"Uruk gave its name to the Uruk period, the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia spanning c. 4000 to 3100 BC, succeeded by the Jemdet Nasr period of Sumer proper. Uruk played a leading role in the early urbanization of Sumer in the mid 4th millennium BC. At its height c 2900 BC, Uruk probably had 50,000–80,000 residents living in 6 km of walled area; making it the largest city in the world at the time. The semi-mythical king Gilgamesh, according to the chronology presented in the Sumerian king list, ruled Uruk in the 27th century BC. The city lost its prime importance around 2000 BC, in the context of the struggle of Babylonia with Elam, but it remained inhabited throughout the Seleucid and Parthian periods until it was finally abandoned shortly before or after the Islamic conquest.".....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruk

Click on the map to enlarge

**************************

Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

John Hopkins.....Northern New Mexico….March 2013

**************************

Royal City of Ur & the Great Khorasan Road to Balkh (2500 BC)

**************************

Click Here to View the Main Index

**************************

"Royal Tombs of Ur..... ca 2550 BCE......A site near the modern day city of Al-Nasiriya in southern Iraq. Known locally as Tell al-Muqayyar, this site has also been recognized as the capital city of ancient Sumeria called Ur....Ur was likely first settled during the Ubaid period near the end of the 6th millennium BC. Over time a true city grew, until about 2500 BC, by which time the city was one of the transportation centers of the Sumerian civilization. In this, its heyday, Ur was an important harbor at the head of the Persian Gulf. Because of Ur's extensive trade contacts, the rulers of Ur had access to the wealth of Arabia, India, Iran, and Afghanistan." ...http://archaeology.about.com/cs/museums/a/urexhibit.htm

"Sixteen tombs of Ur's elite, rulers buried with about eighty attendants. These tombs held what are some of the world's greatest treasures of the past: a golden dagger encrusted with lapis lazuli; a statue of a ram in a thicket; a lyre decorated with a bull's head; a crown of golden leaves and rosettes belonging to the Lady Puabi."

The city of UR dates from the Ubaid period circa 3800 BC, and is recorded in written history as a City State from the 26th century BC, its first recorded king being Mesh-Ane-pada. The city's patron deity was Nanna (in Akkadian Sin), the Sumerian and Akkadian (Assyrian-Babylonian) moon god, and the name of the city is in origin derived from the god's name.....The site is marked by the ruins of the Ziggurat of Ur, which contained the shrine of Nanna, excavated in the 1930s. The temple was built in the 21st century BC......

"These tombs, which date to the Early Dynastic IIIa period (approximately in the 25th or 24th century BC), contained immense amounts of luxury items made out of precious metals, and semi-precious stones all of which would have had to been imported from long distances (Iran, Afghanistan, India, Asia Minor, the Persian Gulf).This up to then unparalleled wealth is a testimony of Ur's economic importance during the Early Bronze Age.....Aruz, J. (ed.) 2003. Art of the First Cities. The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

"According to one estimate, Ur was one of the largest cities in the world from c. 2030 to 1980 BC. Its population was approximately 65,000 people..... the area was struck by drought conditions from 2200-2000 BC. The population dropped by 93%. Ur was sacked twice by nomads during this time. At the end of this drought use of the Sumerian language died out.....Tertius Chandler's compilation of the population of cities throughout history, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census

Click on the map to enlarge

The Royal City of Ur was on the trade road that was later called the Great Khorasan Road to Balkh.

Click on the map to enlarge

**************************

Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

John Hopkins.....Northern New Mexico….March 2013

**************************

Ancient Egypt (3150 BC) & the Great Khorasan Road

**************************

Click Here to View the Main Index

**************************

"Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology) with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh....c. 3150 BC beginning of the reign of Narmer, first pharaoh to unify Ancient Egypt and founder of the 1st Dynasty....Narmer was probably the successor to the Protodynastic pharaohs Scorpion and/or Ka.....mainstream Egyptological consensus identifies Narmer with the First Dynasty pharaoh Menes."....Edwards, IES (1971), "The early dynastic period in Egypt", The Cambridge Ancient History

"The Pamir Mountains near Balkh have been known since the earliest times, when first caravans went to ancient Egypt, bringing sky-colored lapis lazuli to the country. We are very limited on information about that time. But one thing is clear; the country was on the Great Silk Route for a long time. And huge ruins of old fortresses still remain silent about that time///Sar-i Sang lapis lazuli mine, probably dating from proto-historic times. It consists of one old disused shaft and two new shafts. This was the main source of lapis lazuli in the ancient world, with lapis from here occurring in such famous archaeological discoveries as the Royal Treasure of Ur (founded circa 3800 BC) and the Tomb of Tutankhamun (1323 BC)....."

Pharaoh Akhenaten and his family adoring the Aten..... The solar Aten was extensively worshipped as a god in the reign of Amenhotep III (1386-1349 BC) .....a pharaoh from the 18th Dynasty (1570-1293 BC)

Amenhotep IV initially introduced Atenism in Year 5 of his reign (1348/1346 BC), raising the Aten to the status of supreme god, after initially permitting the continued worship of the traditional gods...The Aten—the god of Atenism—first appears in texts dating to the 12th dynasty, in the Story of Sinuhe... In the eighteenth dynasty, Akhenaten changed the polytheistic religion of Egypt to a monotheistic one, Atenism of the solar-disk and is the first recorded state monotheism. All other deities were replaced by the Aten, including Amun-Ra, the reigning sun god of Akhenaten's own region. Unlike other deities, the Aten did not have multiple forms. His only image was a disk—a symbol of the sun.

"The Tale of Sinuhe is considered one of the finest works of Ancient Egyptian literature. It is a narrative set in the aftermath of the death of Pharaoh Amenemhat I, founder of the 12th dynasty of Egypt, in the early 20th century BC. It is likely that it was composed only shortly after this date, albeit the earliest extant manuscript is from the reign of Amenemhat III, ca. 1800 BC.".....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Story_of_Sinuhe

Click on the map to enlarge

Lapis lazuli and the Great Khorasan Road.....The trade road that ran from Khorasan & Balkh (Aria) to Babylon and Susa and Egypt - from the northeast to the southwest of present day Iran - was in medieval times called the Great Khorasan Road......The site was a Sumerian settlement first inhabited c. 5000 BCE which comprised a village and a fortress. ( 5325 BCE - c. 4500 BCE.....The Sumerians built their first temple). It became an important stop along the Great Khorasan Road trade route, better known as the Silk Road, which was the major avenue for trade for close to 3000 years (the designation "silk road" was first coined in 1877 by the German geographer Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen in reference to the trade of Chinese silk). As the Khorasan Road was not the only one used in trade, and silk was not the only commodity traded, many modern scholars prefer "silk routes" as the name for trade routes, with Khorasan Road being only one of many"....Lapis lazuli and the Great Khorasan Road by Y. Majidzadeh

Egyptian goddess Hathor as Lapis Lazuli....Top quality lapis lazuli comes from Afghanistan where it has been mined for centuries.

Click on the map to enlarge

"Egyptian mythology parallels much of Vedic and Hindu mythology because both cultures observed the same long series of cosmic events. In addition it provides more graphic images than do the Indian myths.....Just as the Vedic myth, Egyptian myth describes land in the heavens surrounded by water. This was the planet priori-Mars, in geosynchronous orbit over the Transhimalayas. It was characterized as having earth, sky and the mysterious Duat. It comprised Nut the watery one, the solid portion, Geb and the deity which was thought to keep it from falling to Earth, Shu. The Duat was probably the portion of priori-Mars which was ‘stationary’ over the Transhimalayas to the east of Egypt, was also referred to as ‘Horus Am Akhet’, or ‘Horus on the horizon.’ This was also the Egyptian name for the Sphinx (the Greek name) which faces the east toward its location."....Mythology - Egyptian.....by John Ackerman....http://www.firmament-chaos.com/mythology_egyptian.html

**************************

Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

John Hopkins.....Northern New Mexico….March 2013

**************************

Cyrus The Great (580-529 BC) ... Khurvas: 'Sun Like' Emperor

**************************

Click Here to View the Main Index

**************************

"Cyrus The Great (Cyrus II, Kourosh in Persian, Kouros in Greek)..... (580-529 BC) was the first Achaemenid Emperor. He founded Persia by uniting the two original Iranian Tribes- the Medes and the Persians....The name "Cyrus" (a transliteration of the Greek Kυρoς) is the Greek version of the Old-Persian kûruš or Khûrvaš meaning "sun-like": the noun khûr denotes "sun" and -vaš is a suffix of likeness. In the Cyrus cylinder (see below), the great king declares his ancestry as a Persian king."..... http://www.cyrusthegreat.net

Click on the maps to enlarge

"The conquest of Asia Minor completed, he conquered Hyrcania and Parthia....Drangiana, Arachosia, Margiana and Bactria. After crossing the Oxus, he reached the Jaxartes, where he built fortified towns with the object of defending the farthest frontier of his kingdom against nomadic tribes of Central Asia....When he conquered Egypt and Babylon, he did so to cheers from the Jewish Community, who welcomed him as a liberator- he allowed the Jews to return to the promised Land. He showed great forbearance and respect towards the religious beliefs and cultural traditions of other races. These qualities earned him the respect and homage of all the people over whom he ruled."...http://www.iranchamber.com/history/cyrus/cyrus.php

"Prior to his death, he founded a new capital city at Pasargade in Fars. and had established a government for his Empire. He appointed a governor (satrap) to represent him in each province, however the administration, legistlation, and cultural activities of each province was the responsibility of the Satraps.".....http://www.iranchamber.com/history/cyrus/cyrus.php

"The Cyrus cylinder is a fragmentary clay cylinder with an Akkadian inscription of thirty-five lines discovered in a foundation deposit by A. H. Rassam during his excavations at the site of the Marduk temple in Babylon in 1879... It is inscribed in Akkadian cuneiform. Now housed in the British Museum, it includes a detailed account by Cyrus of his conquest of Babylon in 539BCE and his subsequent humane treatment of his conquered subjects. It has been hailed as the world's first declaration of human rights. The (incomplete) inscription on the cylinder starts by describing the criminal deeds of the Babylonian king Nabonidus; as well as how Marduk, the Babylonian god, had looked for a new king and chosen Cyrus. It continues with the famous: "I am Cyrus, king of the world, the great king, the powerful king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four quarters of the world""....http://www.cyrusthegreat.net

"Marduk was the Babylonian name of a late-generation god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon, who, when Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of Hammurabi (18th century BCE), started to slowly rise to the position of the head of the Babylonian pantheon, a position he fully acquired by the second half of the second millennium BCE. In the city of Babylon, he resided in the temple Esagila..... According to The Encyclopedia of Religion, the name Marduk was probably pronounced Marutuk. The etymology of the name Marduk is conjectured as derived from amar-Utu ("bull calf of the sun god Utu"). The origin of Marduk's name may reflect an earlier genealogy, or have had cultural ties to the ancient city of Sippar (whose god was Utu, the sun god), dating back to the third millennium BCE."..... Helmer Ringgren, (1974) Religions of The Ancient Near East

"Traditional maps of Olmo lung ring show resemblance to the Persian empire of Cyrus the Great. Names of places and palaces are transcriptions of words of Persian origin. Hetenyi and Kuznetsov of the Soviet Union have done research in this area."..(Karmay: 1975..pg 175)...

"Siddhartha Gautama, in India, was a contemporary of Cyrus the Great, in the Middle East:Siddhartha... was born about 563 BC, in a small kingdom, that would become the country of Nepal. His family, the Gautamas, ruled the kingdom. Siddhartha's father was King Shuddodana, and his mother was Queen Maya. .... about the same time that Cyrus the Great liberated Babylon, and freed the Jews, Prince Siddhartha founded the Buddhist religion, as a reaction against the oppression of the masses...... the "religious revival", brought about by Shah Cyrus the Great, in the Middle East, closely coincides, with the beginnings of Buddhism, in India.".. M.Woods & M.B.Woods. Seven Wonders of Ancient Asia, pp. 18-21.

"The time of the Buddha Gautama's birth and death is uncertain: most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE......In The Kalachakra, along with King Suchandra, 96 Satraps and emissaries from Shambhala are also said to have received the Kalachakra teachings from the Buddha."

6th Century B.C.E. ...
Life of Siddhartha Guatama, the historical Buddha: conventional dates: 566-486 B.C.E..
Persian Empire founded by Cyrus the Great (550 B.C.E.).
Confucius (551-479).
Zarathustra (630-553).
Birth of Mahavira (550).

Cyropaedia of Xenophon, The Life of Cyrus The Great.....Xenophon (Greek mercenary & historian 430 - 355 BCE).

Pasargadae: one of the oldest residences of the Achaemenid kings, founded by Cyrus the Great (r.559-530)......the place is beautifully situated in the center of a fertile plain, on all sides surrounded by mountains.

**************************

Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

John Hopkins.....Northern New Mexico….March 2013

**************************