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[bobdrake12]

http://emuseum.mnsu....phoenician.html

The Phoenicians

The Phoenicians occupied the cities of Simyra, Zarephath, Jubeil, Arwad, Byblos, Acco, Sidon, Tripolis, Tyre, and Berytus. These city states and their inhabitants were not a unified state, but rather a group of city kingdoms. Only two of these city kingdoms, Tyre, and Sidon, were considered the most dominant. The Phoenicians themselves were also known as Sidonians. Their settlement in the Mediterranean has been estimated to the year 2500 BC, and was heavily influenced by the Sumerian and Akkadian culture near Babylon. In 1800 BC, Phoenicia was invaded by the Egyptians and was kept under Egyptian control until 1400 BC. Later Hittite raids against Egypt brought an opportunity for the Phoenicians to be free from Egyptian reign.

The Phoenicians were excellent traders within the Mediterranean. Their most notable exports were the purple dye known as Tyrian purple, glass manufacture and the use of the Phoenician alphabet, the prototype for the western Roman and Greek alphabets. Phoenician trade was made possible by its excellent navy, which in connection with its other city states, made trade easily possible. Tyre was the leading Phoenician city until they were subjugated by Assyria during the 8th Century, its independence was achieved in 538 BC. Later, with the advent of their independence, Nebuchadnezzar II of the Chaldean Empire, incorporated Phoenicia into the Persian Empire. With Nebuchadnezzar's rule, Sidon became a leading Phoenician city.

The downfall of the Phoenicians occurred when Alexander the Great defeated Persia in 333 BC, almost all of the Phoenician cities including Sidon, Byblos, and Arwad conceded to Macedonia. Tyre, the only city which didn't concede to the Macedonians, held strong until Alexander waged a 7 month siege in 332 BC. After the siege of Tyre, the Phoenician Empire dwindled, and in 64 BC the name of Phoenicia disappeared entirely, becoming a part of the Roman providence of Syria.

[bobdrake12]

http://www.utexas.ed...d/outline_7.htm

[bobdrake12]

http://ancientnearea.../Phoenicia.html

Ancient Phoenicia



Ancient designation of a narrow strip of territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, now largely in modern Lebanon. The territory, about 200 miles long and from 5 to 15 miles wide, was bounded on the east by the Lebanon Mountains. The southern boundary was Mount Carmel; the northern boundary was generally accepted to be the Eleutherus River, now called the Kebir, which forms the northern boundary of Lebanon.

Although its inhabitants had a homogeneous civilization and considered themselves a single nation, Phoenicia was not a unified state but a group of city-kingdoms, one of which usually dominated the others. The most important of these cities were Simyra, Sarafand, Byblos, Jubeil, Arwad, Acco, Sidon, Tripolis, Tyre and Beirut. The two most dominant were Tyre and Sidon, which alternated as sites of the ruling power.

The Phoenicians, called Sidonians in the Old Testament and Phoenicians by the Greek poet Homer, were Semites, related to the Canaanites. Historical research indicates that they founded their first settlements on the Mediterranean coast about 2500 BC. Early in their history, they developed under the influence of the Sumerian and Akkadian cultures of nearby Mesopotamia. About 1800 BC Egypt, which was then beginning to acquire an empire in the Middle East, invaded and took control of Phoenicia, holding it until about 1400 BC. The raids of the Hittites against Egyptian territory gave the Phoenician cities an opportunity to revolt, and by 1100 BC they were independent of Egypt




With self-rule, the Phoenicians became the most notable traders and sailors of the ancient world. The fleets of the coast cities traveled throughout the Mediterranean and even into the Atlantic Ocean, and other nations competed to employ Phoenician ships and crews in their navies. In connection with their maritime trade the city-kingdoms founded many colonies, notably Utica and Carthage in north Africa, on the islands of Rhodes and Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea, and Tarshish in southern Spain. Tyre was the leader of the Phoenician cities before they were subjugated, once again, by Assyria during the 8th century BC. When Assyria fell during the late 7th century BC, Phoenicia, except for Tyre, which succeeded in maintaining its independence until about 538 BC, was incorporated into the Chaldean Empire of Nebuchadnezzar II and, in 539 BC, became part of the Persian Empire. Under Persian rule Sidon became the leading city of Phoenicia.

When Alexander the Great of Macedonia invaded Asia and defeated Persia in 333 BC Sidon, Arwad, and Byblos capitulated to Macedonia. Tyre again refused to submit and it took Alexander a 7 month siege in 332 BC to capture the city. After this defeat the Phoenician cities were absorbed into the Greco-Macedonian empire. The cities became Hellenized .....


Mark McDonald - EDITOR Esquire

[bobdrake12]

http://www.uwgb.edu/...honec/seatr.htm

*THE PHOENICIANS - As Sea Traders*

The Phonecians were the masters of the sea for thousands of years. They earned a reputation as consummate seafarers, traders, traveling artisans, explorers and shipwrights of their day (Edey, 7). Most of the trading reputation was good and some of it was bad. The Phonecians, who had been confined to their area by their powerful neighbors, started venturing out. In a short time, they changed from coastal traders to seagoing merchants.

Phoenicians were excellent navigators. For lack of a compass in navigating, they used Ursa Minor, (Little Dipper) which the Greeks called "Phonecian" (Moscati, 87) According to the classical historian Herodotus, the Phoenicians circumnavigated the African continent around 600 B.C. by the order of the Pharaoh Necho. They sailed down the Red Sea and westwasrd, coming back to the Mediterranean through the Pillars of Heracles (Strait of Gibralta). The journey is said to have taken 3 years. What supported the fact that the sailors had reached the southern hemisphere was their report that for a while the sun had been on their rightt hand side - that is, rising and setting to their north (Moscati, 87). Other voyages undertaken by the Phoenicians were:
- Hamilco's voyage from Carthage to the British Isles in 450 B.C.
- Hanno's voyage from Carthage down the West African coast in 425 B.C.
- Hannibal's march in 218 from Nova on the Spanish coast westward, over the Alps and into Italy. (Moscati, 87)

The Phonecians traded throughout the Mediterranean and established trading posts along the coasts. Carthage (located in present day Tunisia) was founded in 814 B.C. Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, the Balearic Isles, and Gades (in Spain) were secured also as trading posts (Edey, 19). The Phoenicians, who had been confined to their area by their powerful neighbours, started venturing out. They began flowing outwards, and in a short period changed from coastal traders to seagoing merchants.


TRADING PARTNERS

The Phoenician cities were located at the center of the ancient world. The loction of these cities were one of the main reasons for their success in trading and exploration. There were the Anatolia (Turkish) empires to the north, Babylonia and Assyria to the east, and Egypt to the south. In order for these areas to communicate or trade, they had to go through the Lebanese coast (Edey, 17).

Biblical sources indicate that the Phoenicians traded with Cyprus, Egypt, Spain, Anatolia (Turkey), Syria, Judah, Israel, Mesopotamia, and other nearby areas (Moscati, 84).

The Phonecians' frequent contact with the traded merchandize resulted in developing a know-how for the manufacturing techniques and artistic styles of the merchandize. They adopted glass making techniques from the Egyptians and improved them, coming up with the technique of blowing glass in the first century B.C. (Moscati, 84). The glass was made from high quality sand from a beach near Tyre. They also developed great skill in the manufacturing of beads and ornamental objects.

The copying of manufacturing technique also led to the copying of the art styles. A lot of Phoenician artwork made for trade had designs derived from Mesopotamia, Egypt, or the Aegean (Greek) world. They became expert ivory workers after trading it for some time (Moscati, 84). The ivory pieces made by Phoenicians contained Egyptian royal themes like the sphinx, lion, or falcon (Bikai, 34). The most notable ivory output was decorative panels for furniture and the biggest buyers were the Assyrians.

The goods traded included raw and finished products. Raw materials included timber from Lebanon, metals from the far west, and the pruple dye for which they were so famous. Examples of finished goods which they produced were fine cloths, metal work, and agicultural products (Harden, 162). Each country showed a greater interest in different goods, therefore the Phonecians catered to other countries' different artistic styles and tastes, The two major style sources were Egypt and Mesopotamia (Edey, 73).

The goods traded included:

o silver, iron, tin, and lead from Spain.
o ivory and ebony from India and Africa
o cloth and precious stones from Syria
o agricultural products and perfumes from Israel and Judah
o wine and wool from Damascus
o garments, embroidery, and cord from Mesopotamia. (Moscati, 86)

Even though the Phonecians are recognized as extraordinary and phenomonal sea traders, they also had a negative protralyal in some countries. During their voyages the Phonecians seem to have sometimes resorted to piracy and specialized in kidnapping boys and girls to be sold as slaves in other countires. However, piractical activities must have been fairly limited, otherwise they would have jeopardized trade relations to which the Phonecians attached great importance. There was also a difference between piracy and organized slave traffic which was legal and considered part of normal commercial activity (Moscati, 87).

[bobdrake12]

http://i-cias.com/e.o/can_phoe_rel.htm




http://www.uwgb.edu/...phonec/gods.htm

*THE PHOENICIANS - Their gods*


Phoenician religion does scarcely show a few ancient concepts. A concept of the beginning of the universe originates from wind and chaos. A theory expounded by Philo of Byblos explains the creation of the world. This theory is of a cosmic egg, and of the stars and the separation of the waters from heaven which came into being when the egg was opened (Moscati, 37-38). But even so, the Phoenician texts are found to believe more that a supreme god, El, is the "Creator of Earth." El was not the only god the Phoenicians believed in. Their religion was polytheistic in that they believed in many gods and goddesses.

But the pantheon of gods was headed by El. His name is a Semitic Canaanite word for "God". El was the supreme god of the gods and the father of all the gods and humankind. The exception to this is the god Baal, whose appearance was differing, ranging from an old man with a gray beard, to a four winged creature with two faces, to a bull personification. (Harden, 82; Odijk, 22). He was said to live in the West and is considered a sun god.

El was married to Astarte, who was the primary mother goddess of Phoenician religion. Her role was a combination of heavenly mother and earth mother. She is a goddess of love, fertility, and war (Odjik, 22) Other sources claim Asherah, goddess of the sea and fertility, as El's wife. She is also known as "she who walks on the sea" (Baramki, 56). Statues of both Astarte and Asherah in many different forms were left as votive offerings in shrines and sanctuaries as prayers for good harvest, for children, and for protection and tranquility in the home. (Khalaf, pagen/2)

Although El was seen as a supreme god, the Phoenicians classify Baal as the most vigorous and aggressive god. He is the god of the thunderstorm, mountains and rain. Baal is usually depicted as a horned man brandishing a club and holding a thunderbolt (Harden, 82). The Phoenicians' livelihood was based on a mercantile trade, being that Baal controlled the storms and the sea, great concern was placed on pleasing this god. Although they most likely tried to please him, the Phoenicians did not hold Baal in high regards. The name Baal came to refer to shame because the practices of holy prostitution and child sacrifice were especially abhorrent to the Hebrew prophets, who denounced this religious group and its temples (Khalaf, pagen/p.3)

[bobdrake12]

http://i-cias.com/e.o/can_phoe_rel.htm








http://www.uwgb.edu/...nec/temples.htm

*THE PHOENICIANS - Their temples*

A Phoenician temple was the house of a god. All temples, built according to the same basic plan, were large, elaborate, and the placement and location was very important. In the early 3rd millennium the temples were built on the same plan as houses: a rectangle with an entrance on one of the long sides, with a small altar or niche for a statue opposite the entrance. Sometimes there were benches around the three uninterrupted walls. An outer court contained the main altar, where the larger community could participate in worship. At the beginning of the 2nd millennium the house of the god was extended by the expansion of the niche into an additional room ("cella") and of the entrance into a porch--that later was used by the Phoenician architects of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. (Khalaf, pagen/5) The most detailed description of this Phoenician temple can be found in the Christian Bible in 1 Kings VII.

The Phoenicians used both open air and closed temples. Each closed temple had a porch, a chapel, a beytl (a sacred stone usually standing and sometimes trimmed into a conical shape), and an altar, the most holy place in the temple. And there was usually a sacred fountain or bowl. (Odijk, 20) Along with the three rooms of a closed temple, the entrance was usually decorated with two pillars or columns in the front and surrounded by an open air court.

Open air temples, or sanctuaries, were centered around altars or beytls. They were referred to as the "high places" in the Old Testament and known to be Canaanite in manner. Many stood on hills, especially those dedicated to gods concerned with the weather and natural phenomenon. An example of this is the open air sanctuary found on Mt. Carmel. (Harden, 94)

Over the centuries there came to be an increasing variety of temples at different sites. At particular sites, however, the plans of temples often remained virtually identical, even after previous superstructures had been destroyed. (Khalaf, pagen/5) In the colonial west, open air temples were often built on low ground by the coastline, near a harbor. This was probably due to the small amount of area available to the Phoenician colonists.

Around places of worship were statues of gods, as well as small figurines thought to be fertility goddesses, probably that of Astarte. Statues of Astarte in many different forms were left as votive offerings in shrines and sanctuaries as prayers for good harvest, for children, and for protection and tranquility in the home. (Khalaf, pagen/2) Shrines were located in the elaborate temples (Odijk, 20). Remains of Phoenician shrines have been found at Tell Sugas, Sidon, Amrit, and Ain El, some of which have inscriptions and sacred ceremonial bowls (Odijk, 28).

[bobdrake12]

http://www.uwgb.edu/...honec/sacri.htm

*THE PHOENICIANS - Their Sacrifices*


Sacrifice, petition, and vows were very important in the Phoenician belief system since this was the way they attempted to influence the gods. (Khalaf, pagen/6). Sacrifices mostly consisted of people, food and drink, animals or birds. The topeth was the name given to the place where human sacrifices were made. There is clear evidence of two types of sacrifices that were performed: simple gifts and whole burned offerings. (Odijk, 23).

The two main purposes of sacrifice were to appease the gods or to strengthen the gods. They were also done to honor the ceremonial god regularly and properly (Edey, 106). Sacrifices of living beings were either of infants, small children or young animals, although the latter was considered to be less sufficient in the eyes of the gods. Adults were also sacrificed, but this was rare. Infant sacrifices were made to Moloch, the god of the underworld. (Harden, 91). When a young child was going to be sacrificed, they were brought to the idol and calmed by the priest. He then proceeded to cut the infant's throat before placing it in the arms of a bronze statue. (Edey, 107).

The Phoenicians eventually moved away from sacrificing humans. However, there was a resurgence around 320 B.C. where the Carthaginians were "penalized"for substituting ineffective sacrifices. The noble families who had fallen into the habit of substituting young slaves, or perhaps animals for their own children were blamed for a military disaster. Since they had slighted the gods, they were forced to make restitution, so 500 infants from the best families were offered up (Edex, 107).

It is believed that human sacrifices took place in the city-state of Carthage from the 8th Century B.C. until the mid 2nd Century B.C. (Harden, 91). It is also known that sacrifices at Ugarit were made at the time of the new moon and on the fourteenth day of the month ( Odijk, 25). In Carthage, remains of human sacrifice indicate that most victims were under two years of age, although some were as old as twelve. The charred remains were found in three distinct layers under a temple in Carthage. They were usually placed in small urns. The largest collection of urns that was ever found date back to late 7th to Late 4th Century B.C. This is almost four to five times more than the previous century. Because of such evidence, archeologists assume that as time went by, human sacrifice became less popular ( Harden, 97).

[bobdrake12]

http://www.lebanon.c...chronology1.htm




The Phoenician Tomb and obelisk: a symbol of the spiritual transcendence.


http://www.uwgb.edu/...onec/burial.htm

*THE PHOENICIANS- Burial*


The Phoenicians believed in an afterlife. Funeral offerings were buried along with the dead whose bodies they embalmed. (Odijk, 23) They also put articles of clothing, or wrappings on the body, along with jewelry, hairpins, amulets, beads, coins, masks and figurines. (Harden, 114) The Phoenicians are believed to have incorporated these burial ideas from the Egyptians and the Greeks.

Tombs were built underground with corridors called dromos leading to them. Usually, monuments called meghazils were built above ground over the tombs. (Odijk, 23) Although some are unmarked for fear of tomb robbers (Harden, 106). Tombs were filled with pottery or metal vessels to hold food and drink, small wooden, ivory, or glass containers for perfume, cosmetics and the like, combs, spoons, razors and other implements for toilet of other use, and lamps. (Harden, 113-114)

While Phoenicians liked a good tomb, or at least a cist, plain coffins were common. Richer Phoenicians favored decorated ones. (Harden, 112) Sometimes the body was placed in a large limestone or marble sarcophagus, elaborately decorated on all sides, and closed with a gabled stone roof. (Odijk, 23)

Two basic types of coffins can be found: houseshaped and body shaped. (Edey, 112) Anthropoid clay coffins were popular in the Lebanon and Palestinian coastline during the 13th century B.C. This type continued to be used, at times, during the first millennium. The coffins show no evidence of Egyptian influence. Anthropoid limestone or marble coffins were used in Phoenicia East and some of the western colonies during the 5th and 4th Centuries B.C. These styles indicated a direct Egyptian influence. (Harden, 112)

[bobdrake12]

Now we come to the first set of questions:

EN-MAR - Steve Omar in his "HISTORY OF THE GOLDEN AGES Volume I - Dedicated to the creators of the future Golden Age... Left to humanity as a vision of the future of Planet Earth..." mentions "that Phoenician hieroglyphics have been found on numerous ruins in the South American Jungles".

Can this information be validated?

In other words, did the Phoenicians visit America?

Portions of Omar's article are shown below.

Bob

http://www.geocities...783/atl004.html

DISCOVERY: THE LOST CONTINENT OF ATLANTIS

"This is probably the greatest discovery in World history" was stated by Maxine Asher, the co-director of a scientific expedition that found Atlantis at the bottom of the ocean reported United Press International (UPI) and major newspapers in the United States during the summer of 1973. UPI continued that "Maxine Asher said that scuba divers found data to prove the existence of the super-civilization which legend says sank beneath the sea thousands of years ago"...."the divers had found evidence of roads and large columns some with concentric spiral montifs, in the exact place described by the Greek philosopher Plato"(beyond the Pillars of Hercules, off Spain).

'The group of some 70 scientists, teachers and adventurers was endorsed by Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, California" .

In the following pages shall be revealed over 30 ruins, including pyramids, domes, paved roads, rectangular buildings, columns, canals and artifacts that have been found on the ocean bottoms from the Bahamas to the nearby coasts of Europe and Africa, referencing the vast size of the lost continent. We will discuss how over a dozen respected historians and famous writers wrote about the Atlantis they believed existed, how the Mayans and Aztecs had told their conquerors that they came from Atlantis and Mu, about ancient tablets photographed in Peru shoeing those two lost continents, Atlantis and Lemuria, and discuss ancient maps clearly showing Atlantis. We shall explore geological evidence that Atlantis was once above water.

Most importantly, we will recall the Rise and Fall of Atlantis, Lemuria, Thule, Lumania, and other lost continents that had culture, educational systems, technology and government far advanced from where we are here in the 1990's.

This information is NOT based on any New Age channeling or psychic recall or manifestations. It is primarily based on many ancient writings found around the world.

MAP EVIDENCE

1. Professor Charles Hapgood, Professor of Geology at New Hampshire University, reported that a large unknown Atlantic Island appears on an ancient map (the famous Piri re is a map seen on TV and in dozens of books).

2. An ancient map that King Henry owned in 1500 A.D. clearly shows Atlantis.

3. Greek documents and maps showing Atlantis that Christopher Columbus studied before he set sail for America, including the 1482 Benincasa Map showing 3 Atlantis islands that no longer exist!

ANCIENT WRITINGS ABOUT ATLANTIS

4. The ancient Greek historian Diodorus wrote that thousands of years earlier Phoenicians had been to the immense Atlantic island (where Plato wrote Atlantis was). (Note that Phoenician hieroglyphics have been found on numerous ruins in the South American Jungles that are so ancient that the "white" Indian tribes nearby lost memory of who built these ruins). Diodorus wrote that the Atlanteans had WAR with the Amazonians!

[bobdrake12]

http://www.whyprophe...phets/ophir.htm



Above: Just like the Vikings, the Phoenicians may have visited America for its wood.


http://www.sfslac.org/phoenicians.htm


*DID THE PHOENICIANS DISCOVER AMERICA?*

Presented by: Michel N. Laham, M.D. & Richard J. Karam, J.D


The recent article by Mark McMenamin in the November 1996 issue of The Numismatist has renewed interest in the theory that the Phoenicians or their western brethren, the Carthaginians, discovered America, nearly two thousand years before Columbus. If such a discovery did take place, it would be interesting to speculate as to how and when it occurred, then to test our hypothesis against all the available information on the topic and see how it holds up. Of all ancient peoples, the Phoenicians were the only ones with the skills and the sea-going capability required for a trans- Atlantic crossing. By 600 BC, they were building ships that could carry 50 to 100 tons, making them comparable in size and tonnage to the Portuguese caravels of the 15th century.





We know of two historic occasions when the Phoenicians, on the one hand, and their North African counterparts, the Carthaginians, on the other, could have wandered off the western coast of Africa and accidentally landed on the eastern coast of South America. In the first instance, a Phoenician fleet was commissioned by the Egyptian pharaoh, Necho, around 600 BC to circumnavigate Africa, sailing out of the Red Sea and returning home by way of Gibraltar. In the second instance, around 450 BC, the Carthaginian king, Hanno, sailed with a fleet of 60 ships through the Straits of Gibraltar and down along the western coast of Africa at least as far south as present day Guinea and Sierra Leone, the point on the continent closest to the shores of Brazil.

Necho was an ambitious king of the twenty-sixth dynasty who strove to expand Egypt's boundaries and influence. He attempted the construction of a canal between the Nile and the Red Sea and challenged the powerful Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar for control of Syria. He failed at both enterprises. But according to the Greek historian Herodotus, his hired Phoenician fleet successfully completed its mission of circumnavigating Africa. It sailed out of the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean, rounded the southern tip of Africa and returned to Egypt and the Mediterranean by way of Gibraltar. The expedition supported itself by putting in along the African coast every autumn, sowing a patch of ground, and waiting for the next year's harvest. Then, having gotten their grain, they would sail on to the next harbor. It took them nearly three years to complete the mission.

It was a feat of epic proportions, one that was difficult for their contemporaries to grasp, let alone to believe, since the prevalent opinion at the time was that there was no body of water that completely surrounded Africa. The idea was so preposterous, in fact, that it is unlikely anyone would make up such a story. For a long time afterwards, it was felt that Herodotus had been taken in by the tall tales of the Phoenicians. Ironically, one of the details of the trip provided by Herodotus, which was considered absurd by his contemporaries, has served to establish the authenticity of the story. The Phoenicians stated that, as they sailed west around the tip of Africa, the sun was to their right: seamen from the Mediterranean who had not actually been to the southern hemisphere could not have imagined such a phenomenon.

By the beginning of the 5th century BC, the Phoenician outpost of Carthage, on the Lybian coast near the site of present day Tripoli, dominated the western Mediterranean. King Hanno's famous expedition probably took place around 450 BC. It is recounted in vivid detail in a tablet found in the ruins of the temple of Cronos at Carthage. Known as The Periplus of Hanno, it is a Greek translation of a Punic text which chronicles Hanno's mission. It describes how the Carthaginians set out with 60 ships and thousands of settlers. They sailed south along the African coast, establishing colonies or trading posts along the way. They traveled past the "Horn of West", probably Dakar or Cape Palmas, until they reached a towering volcano in full eruption, which they called "The Chariot of the Gods" and which most experts agree was probably Mount Cameroon, with its 13,000-foot volcanic peak.

Now let us suppose that, on either one of these two great African expeditions, or on some similar expedition that we know nothing of, a ship or two had become separated from the fleet by a storm, or had attempted to explore too far offshore and had not been able to find its way back. What might have happened to such a ship or ships? They could have been blown westward by the Southeast trade winds and the South Equatorial Current across the narrowest part of the Atlantic Ocean to the coast of South America. Finding themselves on such inhospitable shores as the rain forest of equatorial Brazil, with its stifling heat and humidity, our Phoenician sailors would have marked the place of their landfall with a monument, such as an altar to their gods or a stele bearing witness to their arrival. Then, they would have sailed on in search of more congenial shores and climate.

Chances are they would have sailed north, both to seek relief from the heat and to retrace their steps homeward. They would have skirted the coastline, putting in at safe harbors along the way to replenish their supplies, carried along by the Caribbean Current toward the Yucatan Peninsula and the Gulf of Mexico. To the less advanced natives of the lands they visited, these lighter skinned and bearded strangers, arriving aboard their mighty sea-going vessels, would have seemed like gods rather than mere mortals. And when at last they would leave with a promise to return, their visit and their departure would in time assume the proportions of myth. If there were among them some who decided to stay with the natives, they would become the sages and the teachers of their communities.

They would impart to their followers the religion of ancient Egypt, with its priestly caste and its sun-god, and its practice of embalming its dead and of entombing its kings in huge pyramidal structures. They would also perhaps teach them the astronomy of Egypt, with its 365-day solar calendar, and that of Mesopotamia, with its more complex lunar calendar. In a year when the harvest seemed on the verge of failure, or the community was threatened by a powerful enemy, they might pass on to them the singular practice of child sacrifice. Eventually, they would instruct them in the Phoenician language and to a select few, they would teach their alphabet, the key to efficient communication between their far-flung trading posts and the secret of their commercial success.

Now let us look at the known facts and see how they square with our hypothesis. Of the civilizations of the New World, Teotihuacan, the Toltec, the Maya and the Aztec, all used some variation on the pyramid to erect monuments to their gods. It is not enough to argue that the idea of a stepped pyramid reaching up to the heavens is obvious enough to have occurred separately to different peoples. The other great civilizations of the Old World, the Sumerians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Persians, did not build stepped pyramids even though they had the example of Egypt. Furthermore, in the case of the Mayas, the pyramids were sometimes designed for the specific purpose of housing the bodies of their dead kings. The discovery in southern Mexico in 1952 of the remains of Lord Pacal, ruler of Palenque from 615 to 683 AD, in a massive sarcophagus deep within the Temple of the Inscriptions, left no doubt as to the purpose of the pyramid. The face was covered in a mosaic mask of jade and the body was festooned with necklaces, pendants, bracelets and rings. A jade object representing the sun god was placed alongside the body.

The practice of mummification, itself, provides another link between Egypt and the pre-Columbian civilizations of the New World. At the turn of the century, Sir G. Elliot Smith, a prominent Australian neuroanatomist, found parallels in the specific methods used to embalm the dead. For example, he proposed that jade, pearl and gold, which were deemed capable of protecting the corpses from decomposition, were an integral part of the mummification process. In his 1974 book entitled Ancient Egyptians and Chinese in America, R. A. Jairazbhoy found 21 such parallels between the myths and religious practices of ancient Egypt and those of Mexico. Astronomy provides another interesting parallel: the Mayas' calendar incorporated a 365-day solar calendar like the Egyptians' and a 260- day lunar calendar like that of Mesopotamia, which were linked by means of a scale spanning 52 solar years or 73 lunar years.

Contact between the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean and the nascent cultures of pre-Columbian America would explain why nicotine and cocaine have been detected in the hair shaft of Egyptian mummies in Germany when both tobacco and coca are native American plants that were not grown anywhere else before Columbus. It would also explain why a ball court in the Mayan city of Chichen Itza in the Yucatan has a running motif of lotus blossoms, a flower unknown in the area, but sacred to the ancient Egyptians and a traditional design in Egyptian art. A stone carving discovered at Copan, Honduras, seems to depict an elephant, an animal unknown in the New World at the time. An Olmec relief carving features a bearded figure, wearing the upturned shoes typical of the eastern Mediterranean, yet the Olmecs and the other native peoples of the Americas had sparse facial hair and were apparently in the habit of plucking what little bit they had. An incense burner unearthed in Guatemala is in the shape of a bearded face with strikingly Semitic features.





The numerous monumental stone heads left by the Olmec depict helmet-wearing men with unmistakably Negroid lips and noses. Could this mean that the Phoenicians brought along some black Africans on their journey across the Atlantic? We know from the Periplus of Hanno that the Carthaginians befriended some African natives whom they called Lixitae. They took some of them along as interpreters as they sailed southward down the African coastline. Did the Carthaginians, as was their custom, also hire some Africans as mercenaries, hence the war helmets? The Gulf Coast Olmecs practiced child sacrifice, a fairly uncommon and rather shocking custom which the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians, especially, were known to resort to in times of war or famine in order to propitiate their gods.

In 1872, four pieces of a stone tablet inscribed with strange characters were found on a Brazilian plantation near the Paraiba River. A copy of the inscription was sent by the owner of the property to Dr. Ladislau Netto, director of the Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro. After studying the document carefully, Dr. Netto announced to a startled world that the inscription recorded the arrival of Phoenician mariners in Brazil centuries before Christ. Unfortunately, an Indian rebellion broke out in the Paraiba region that same year and in the ensuing confusion, the plantation in question was never located and the stone itself was never recovered. A copy of the inscription was sent to the eminent French historian and philologist Ernest Renan who declared it a fake, and Netto was ridiculed by the academic establishment of his day.

Renan based his conclusion on the fact that the text contained certain grammatical errors and incorrect expressions that forced him to question its authenticity. A century later, an American scholar, Cyrus H. Gordon, revisited the Paraiba inscription and arrived at the opposite conclusion. The inscription, he claims, contains grammatical forms and expressions that have been recently discovered and were unknown to linguistic experts of the 19th century like Renan and Netto. Therefore, he contends, the document could not have been a fake. Gordon's translation reads, in part: "We are sons of Canaan from Sidon...We sailed from Ezion-geber into the Red Sea and voyaged with ten ships. We were at sea together for two years around Africa but were separated by the hand of Baal and we were no longer with our companions. So we have come here, twelve men and three women...may the exalted gods and goddesses favor us."

If the Phoenicians, those hallowed inventors of the alphabet, did in fact discover America, is it not improbable that the lost and controversial Paraiba Stone should be the only written evidence of their passage on these shores? Interestingly, the many inscriptions recovered so far that are purported to be of Phoenician origin were found in areas of North America that have been extensively surveyed and cultivated. In the 18th century, a rock was found near Dighton, Massachusetts, bearing a strange inscription which Ezra Stiles, then president of Yale College, claimed were Phoenician. In the 19th century, a tablet unearthed at an Indian mound near Tennessee's Bat Creek was thought to represent Canaanite writing from the 1st or 2nd century AD. These, and similar finds, were deemed to be of questionable authenticity, the product of excessive zeal or overactive imaginations.

The Davenport Tablet, found in Iowa in 1877, is a case in point. It was considered to be a hoax until it was recently scrutinized by the eminent epigrapher Barry Fell, professor of biology at Harvard University. Applying the esoteric skills of epigraphy, Fell claims he has been able to decipher three individual languages on the tablet: Egyptian hieroglyphics, Carthaginian, and Iberian Punic. This and other linguistic evidence have led him to the conclusion that the Phoenicians colonized Massachusetts briefly around 400 BC. Perhaps the definitive evidence of a Phoenician presence on these shores still awaits the farmer's plow or the laborer's hoe in some untamed corner of the Amazon or the Yucatan.

In 1519, Hernan Cortes sailed from Cuba with a small band of Spanish adventurers and fortune seekers, intent on conquering Mexico. The task he had set for himself was a formidable one. The enemy he confronted was the fiercest and the most war-like of the peoples of the New World, the Aztecs. He arrived on the Mexican coast near the site of present-day Veracruz where he organized his forces and marched on the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. Reaching the highlands, he made an alliance with the Tlaxcalan, and began to pose as the god Quetzalcoatl. This deity was variously depicted as a plumed serpent, as the personification of the planet Venus, and as a legendary ruler of old who had come from the east. In the latter incarnation, he was pictured as a white man with black hair and flowing beard who, having lived among the Aztecs and taught them wisdom, had departed by sea with a promise to return someday.

As Cortes and his allies approached, the Aztec king, Moctezuma II, wavered and despaired until it was too late. In November 1519, the Spanish entered Tenochtitlan virtually unopposed. They were received with great pomp and welcomed into Moctezuma's palace where they placed him under house arrest. Although there are some who claim that it is only following the Spanish conquest that Quetzalcoatl is shown as having white skin, Moctezuma's hand- wringing and despondency cannot be explained as the normal response of a powerful warrior-king to a small band of adventurers. The Aztecs were a deeply religious people and every phase of their daily lives, from sunrise to sunrise, was regulated by their religious rituals. The great Moctezuma, himself, was required to offer incense to the stars after dusk, around 3 a.m., and before dawn. His reaction to Cortes' arrival can only be explained if we assume that it had important religious significance for him.

The reason for his bizarre behavior becomes self-evident if, lost in the mists of the indigenous peoples' distant past, was the tribal memory of a visit to their shores by god-like men from the east, who had arrived in mighty sea-going ships, had spent some time with them, and had left them with a promise to return. In time, this visit could have been incorporated into their mythology, and the captain of the expedition could have become identified with their serpent god and their rising star. Furthermore, Quetzalcoatl was not the only god of pre-Columbian America who exhibited these features. Similarly, the creator-god of the Incas, Viracocha, after spending some time on earth among common men, was said to have left by sea with a promise to return.

Let us assume then that the story as told by Cortes and his followers is essentially correct. What better candidates can be found for the role of mariner gods from the east than the Phoenicians or Carthaginians? Certainly not the Egyptians whose timber was brought in from Mount Lebanon by Phoenician seamen and who commissioned a Phoenician flotilla to sail around Africa because they lacked the sea-going capability to do it on their own. Not the Persians whose great kings, Darius and Xerxes, commandeered the Phoenician fleet in their war against Greece. Then perhaps the Greeks themselves? Whereas the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians went to great lengths to protect their geographical finds, the Greeks tended to publicize their discoveries in song and verse. Thus Jason's voyage was celebrated by Pindar, and Odysseus' journey by Homer. Had the Greeks discovered America, they would have announced it triumphantly to the world.

If McMenamin is right in his interpretation of the markings on the Carthaginian staters, and these actually represent maps of the known world at the time of their minting (350-320 BC), then the land mass portrayed on the far left, west of Africa, indeed represents South America. This would imply that the Carthaginians not only discovered America, but they successfully completed the return trip home. Why then should they have kept this knowledge to themselves and hidden it in these cryptic markings at the bottom of their gold coins? For the same reason they had kept secret their discovery of the sea route to the British Isles, a rich source of tin for their bronze handicrafts. Theirs was first and foremost a commercial empire. They had discovered a new market for their goods and a new source of raw materials, perhaps including the gold of which these coins were made, and they did not want to share this information with their competitors, first the Greeks, then the Romans. And when Carthage was utterly destroyed by the Romans in the last of the three Punic wars, they carried their secret with them to the grave.


Revised: Apr. 2nd., 1998 -- Copyright © 1998
* Webmaster: Richard J. Karam, J.D.
Webdesigner: Home Computers.
San Antonio, Texas USA

[bobdrake12]

http://www.celticnz....irclestone2.htm



Figure 13: Sturdy, durable cargo vessels like this Phoenician "round ship" are positively known to have transported tin from the mines of Cornwall, England back to the eastern end of the Mediterranean from 1350 BC. Similar mining operations were being carried out on the northern shores of Lake Superior, where an estimated 500,000,000 pounds of copper were extracted in antiquity…none of which stayed in America. Evidence would suggest that the copper was transported back to the Eastern Mediterranean. Similar mining operations were being carried out at the far reaches of the globe…like at Sarina Beach, North Queensland, Australia, where mining, smelting of ore and building of a quay for loading ships took place. A similar smelter was recently found in Oklahoma, then quickly covered by government bulldozers. It is very apparent that ancient ships were ranging all over the world in search of resources for thousands of years before the Christian era. The mathematical concepts found within ruined ancient structures like the pyramids or Stonehenge attest to the fact that ancient civilisations had a perfect knowledge of the size of the Earth and how to grid reference it for successful navigation to any point of the globe.

[bobdrake12]

http://www.viewzone.com/sender.html

A Phoenician Fortress and Furnace? by David Campbell




The discovery of the hilltop fortress and furnace came about, it seemed, by casual chance. My wife publishes a little community newspaper distributed in the counties bordering the Red River around Lake Texoma, called TGIF The Weekend Bandit. It is a general interest paper focusing mainly on local events and history. I write a weekly column on history and sometimes feature articles. Since I grew up near Rockwall, Texas, it was of great interest to me to discover that in January 2000 excavation of the mysterious buried wall there had finally been undertaken. I had been obsessed by that wall since childhood.

Only a week or two earlier, I had done an article on Gloria Farley's work on the Heavener Runestone. The rock wall seemed a logical follow up, especially since "runes" had been unearthed there in 1949. In the article, I asked any readers who knew of similar writings or walls to contact me. Following that, I gave a synopsis of Viewzone's expedition to the Purgatory River canyon.

The following Friday, my wife and I returned from our weekly 600 mile distribution route to find a somewhat urgent message from a reader in Colbert, Oklahoma. When I returned his call, he told me of meeting a man while he was hunting arrowheads in the Kiamichi Mountains. This man had found stone tablets with some kind of writing on them and seemed eager to get back to the cave of the "little people" whose skulls and bones were found with the tablets. The caller gave me some extremely vague instructions on getting to the place and no names at all.




Even up close, the wall appears to be constructed of huge stones, carved and fitted with the most impressive masonry skill. The joints are perfect and are even beveled.


Sue and I were intrigued by the story and trusted the sincerety of our informant. However, the hills of Oklahoma are full of strange stories and not all of them are true. We figured the worst that could happen was that we'd have a nice Sunday in the mountains. After more than three hours of driving, we found a house that fit the Colbert man's description. We knocked on the door and were invited in by a 92 year old resident of the area. The hill folk of Oklahoma are a warm, hospitable people but the old gentleman could not recall hearing of any tablets, though he did know much of what had occurred locally for most of the 20th century. He told us of numerous places where rare flints were to be found and mentioned an "old furnace" that a big timber company had pushed down with bulldozers. His granddaughter graciously drove us up the mountain roads to places her grandfather mentioned and which she had explored as a girl. She pointed out the vicinity of two caves in the steep bluffs but warned of the swarms of rattlesnakes up there this time of year. We returned to our own vehicle and went back to see if we could find any traces of the "little people."




Deterioration of the wall face has revealed something unexpected. The wall is not made of stones after all. Instead it is constructed of manufactured "cells" that show multiple layers of unknown minerals. This view shows the front of the "cells" exposed.


I went down into the dry river bed filled with massive boulders and managed to climb to what appeared to be a cave. It turned out to be only a deep overhang with no sign of human habitation. As I was climbing back, I ran across the first of the "cell" formations badly eroded. It looked odd but natural. Back on the road I discovered a collection of crudely worked flints which appeared to be "blanks" discarded by arrowhead hunters. It was as we turned the truck to go back down from the crest that Sue said, "Stop and take a look at that block formation." I climbed over charred pine logs to what appeared to be a section of massive wall. Not far from there I found the first section of clearly defined "cells" which seemed to be separating from the dense limestone. They seemed to have been "melted" on some way. They were so dense and black, I was almost sure they were iron. Later I tested a section at home with an industrial magnet but it did not react.




This view was taken from the top of the wall, looking over the edge. Notice the bands of minerals and the precision with which the "cells" fit together.


Sue began photographing the wall and cells while I climbed over two more "parapets" to the summit. What I saw there began to seep into my brain like ice water. Jumbled about in a haphazard fashion were acres of squared, dressed and notched stones. It was eerie standing on those shattered ramparts with all those tumbled stones like a desecrated cemetery. My mind suddenly flashed back to 1979 standing in the ruined streets of Copan in Honduras. The same massive blocks pushed apart by tropical fig trees. Instantly, the realization gripped me that I was standing atop an enormous ruin of cyclopean proportions. Sue struggled up the final wall to join me in the 100 degree evening. It was her turn to be numbed. "This thing is HUGE!" she kept mumbling. By that time we were shaking with heat and exhaustion. I remember asking her over and over, "Are we seeing things? Is this real?"




The cells resemble a honeycomb. What type of substance is contained in these cells? Here we can see an opened cell along side an intact one.


Darkness was descending quickly and those snaky places are not where one wants to grope around in the night. We drove away in a state of shock. We were beginning to convince ourselves that it was all a delusion when the film came back from the developer. Our jaws dropped and our minds returned to a proper state of awe and wonder. We showed the pictures and the "cell" sample to staff members and salespeople and asked, "What do you think this is?" The answer was always the same, "I dunno but it ain't natural."

We sent a few black and white jpgs to Frank Joseph at Ancient American for his opinion but as yet have not had a reply. Then we sent some color jpgs to Gary Vey, here at Viewzone. His reply was rapid and enthusiastic, to say the least. We returned for a second expedition and took many more pictures. We also learned that the "Aztecs" had smelted gold up there and that even in historic times, the Choctaws had known of the mine. They used it to trade for salt at Fort Towson up until the first quarter of the 20th century.

I came across an interesting website which detailed the prehistoric copper and iron furnaces in Ohio, Georgia, Virginia, New Mexico and Arizona. One in Ohio is almost identical to the site we found, even to the configuration of the hilltop and it's fortress walls. This ties into what Gene Matlock has said elsewhere in Viewzone about the origins of Coronado's "Gran Quivera." I had written of a renegade Spanish expedition which came as far as eastern Oklahoma before being driven back to die on the Purgatory River. They believed the Tanoan and Caddoan accounts of the seven cities of Cibola, though Coronado thought them a lie. I think the story of Gran Quivera is true but that it had been abandoned long before the 16th century. I am going out on a limb here, but I have no professional reputation to lose. I believe that Sue and I found an ancient Phoenician fortress and furnace and that it may be the remains of one of the "mythical" cities of Cibola. Meanwhile, our investigations are far from over.




ViewZone welcomes comments and suggestions concerning this research. It appears evident that there is much of our history that has been lost to time and a variety of social and political agendas. We ask your help in seeking the truth. - Editor


Please reply to:
editor@viewzone.com.

[bobdrake12]

http://www.viewzone.com/okla-news.html

Oklahoma Mystery: Phoenician Furnace? - Part 2

by David and Susan Campbell for ViewZone




Note (picture above) the rounded masonry... or is it masonry?




From all outward appearances, this is solid stone, meticulously carved and carefully fitted.




The eroded surface reveals that these "stones" are actually manufactured "cells" of some unknown material.




Stairway to... where? This site has evidence of large stone rooms or chambers. What were they for and who constructed them?

[bobdrake12]

If the Phoneicans did have trade routes to America, the short history covered in the article, "The Phoenicians and Carthage", (shown below) could explain why there would be essentially no record of it in the "old world".

Bob


http://www.mrdowling...9-carthage.html

The Phoenicians and Carthage

The Phoenicians came from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea in land we now call Lebanon. Their land was arid and inhospitable for farming, so they turned to the sea to become the greatest travelers and traders of their time. The Phoenicians invented the alphabet, and taught several cultures their advanced system of writing.





The Phoenicians extended their influence across North Africa and settled Carthage in the modern nation of Tunisia, as a trading post. The word Carthage means “new city.” The Phoenicians chose Carthage because of its location in the center of North Africa, a short distance away from Sicily and the Italian Peninsula. When the Assyrians and the Persians conquered the original homeland of the Phoenicians, Carthage became an independent state.

It was against a rival city in Italy, Rome, that Carthage fought and lost three brutal wars that eventually destroyed the city. The wars were known as the Punic Wars because Puncia was the Roman name for Carthage. The Roman navy surprised the sea trading people in the first war in 238BC. The Carthaginians acquired a new base in Spain from which a great military leader named Hannibal led a team of elephants across southern France and into Italy. Hannibal won some early victories but his forces were outnumbered, allowing Rome to win an even more brutal war lasting almost fifteen years until 204BC.



Hannibal


Carthage lost all political and military power by the end of the second Punic War, but the Romans moved a half-century later to destroy the city. After a siege in 146bc, the Romans went from house to house slaughtering the Carthaginians. The few survivors were sold into slavery, the city and harbor were destroyed and the Romans poured salt over the land to ensure its barrenness.


Dowling, Mike., "The Electronic Passport to the Phoenicians and Carthage," available from 609-carthage.html; Internet; updated Tuesday, April 30, 2002 .

© 2001, Mike Dowling.

[bobdrake12]

Photo 1997 J.Neuhoff


http://www.webcom.co...background.html

Some background information on the history of the Inscription Rock

People were already aware of the inscription when New Mexico became a territory in 1850, but no one could read it back then, mainly because the old-Hebrew or Phoenician alphabet in which this rock is inscribed was mostly unknown among scholars or archaeologists at that time. (1) The site is located some few miles west of the small New Mexican town of Los Lunas, about an hour's car drive south of Albuquerque. The inscription is carved into the flat face of a large boulder resting on the north-eastern side of the so-called Hidden Mountain. Local Indians told the then landowner Franz Huning in 1871 that the monument predated their tribes coming to the area

About one century later, in 1949, Robert H. Pfeiffer of the Harvard University, made a first known translation of the strange writing. Being an authority on the Old Testament (the Hebrew Scriptures of the Bible) he concluded that the inscription was a copy of the Ten Commandments. He thought that the inscription was written in the Phoenician, the Moabite, and the Greek languages. Indeed, some local native American Indians, as a result of his work, have been refering to this rock as the Phoenician Inscription Rock. Professor Pfeiffer never stated at that time whom he thought carved the message. Many locals have been calling this site the "Ten Commandments Rock" ever since.

Further speculation involved the authorship of that rock inscription.Some even considered it to be an inscription from a member of one of the lost tribes of Israel. Others have expressed the thought that perhaps some Mormons may have carved this message in an attempt to support their views of an ancient pre-columbian semitic history in North America. However, a simple research on Mormon Web sites reveals absolutely nothing about this rock inscription. It is not used by their church as a proof for the existence of ancient Nephites in America. For a certainty it is not written in so-called "reformed Egyptian" language.

Robert L. Pfeiffers translation has not remained unchallenged. Notably two translators rejected the idea that the rock inscription had something to do with the Ten Commandments. In 1964, Robert L. LaFollete wrote a translation which resulted in a travelers story carved on the rock using Phoenician as well as some Hebrew, Cyrillic and Etruscan letters. LaFollete translated this story in English as well as in the Navajo language. Dixie L. Perkins published another translation in 1979. This time under the assumption that the writer was of Greek origin and that he was using old-Greek and Phoenician letters. Perkins translation, too, challenges the Ten Commandment version, again resulting in another travelers story. (1) However, Mrs Perkins stated in her foreword to her translation that she only studied Latin and Greek, not however Hebrew.

Many modern scholars now seem to agree that the rock inscription is indeed an abridged version of the Decalogue or Ten Commandments. Among others, these include: Cline 1982 (2), Deal 1992 (3), Stonebreaker 1982 (4), Underwood 1982 (5), Cyrus Gordon 1995 (6), and Skupin 1989 (7). In 1996, Prof James D. Tabor of the Dept. of Religious Studies, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, interviewed Professor Frank Hibben who is a local historian and retired archaeologist from the University of New Mexico. Hibben is convinced that the inscription is ancient and thus authentic. He also stated in the interview that he first saw the text in 1933. Also, that he was taken to the site by a guide who had seen it as a boy back in the 1880s. (see Tabor 1996: "An Ancient Hebrew Inscription in New Mexico: Fact or Fraud" (8), see also J.Huston McCulloch 1997: "The Los Lunas Decalogue Stone" (9)).

Dr. Cyrus Gordon, a historian of ancient Near Eastern civilizations, has promoted the idea that such peoples reached the New World for the past several decades. The historical and archaeological evidence is not unimpressive and has been well documented by Barry Fell in his major study entitled "America B.C." (10)


Copyright © 1999 Juergen Neuhoff

[bobdrake12]

http://www.webcom.co...-epigraphy.html

An Epigraphy of the Los Lunas Inscription


The first step in deciphering the Los Lunas Inscription was to identify the letters. Native American Indians in the New Mexico area never developed a character-based alphabet. They were mainly carving petroglyphs on rock surfaces. These are quite different and are more like little pictographic drawings than writings. The inscription itself was done in old-Hebrew or Phoenician letters, as can be seen from the following character chart:




The approach taken for identifying the letters was to look elsewhere for comparable character-based known inscriptions. The closest matching writing samples are Phoenician, Moabite and old-Hebrew monumental inscriptions from the far away Mediterranean Middle East. The modern western Latin-based character set alphabets are ultimately derived from the ancient Phoenician alphabet. The old Hebrew alphabet was virtually identical with the mid-Phoenician alphabet from the tenth to sixth century B.C.E.. It was only after the Jewish return from the Babylonian exile in 539 B.C.E. that their scribes started to develop their own script known as square-Hebrew, even though some old-Hebrew writings continued to be produced till the early Roman era.

Some of the known Middle Eastern carved inscriptions which bear a resemblence to the Los Lunas inscription style are those from the Eshmunazar Sarcophagus, Jewish Seals, the Nerab Stelae or the Bar Rakab Inscription.

The Los Lunas letters are mostly vertically or horizontally aligned, without going beneath their baseline, while their Middle Eastern counterparts tend to be more diagonally stretched, including droppings below their baseline.


Copyright © 1999 Juergen Neuhoff

[bobdrake12]

http://members.aol.c...7/Comstone.html

The Los Lunas Inscription - (excerpts)


America's ancient Indian's called it the "Cliff of the Strange Writings". It has been named Phoenician Rock or the Commandment Stone. It is called today Inscription rock. Located west of Los Lunas, New Mexico at the base of Mystery Mountain (also called Hidden Mountain) this rock has been raising some eyebrows.





The strange chiseled characters on the volcanic basalt rock were undecipherable by America's early European settlers and to the "native" Indians. (Hence, the mountain's name - Mystery). The local residents had been made aware, by the Indians, of the unusual inscription as early as the year 1800. Why is this rock causing such excitement?








The stone preserves an abbreviated form of the Ten Commandments as written in Exodus 20, which is very exciting, but what makes this stone an enigma is the fact that the writing is clearly semitic in origin. The ancient Hebrew inscriptions were once thought to be a combination of Greek, Hebrew and Phoenician characters but now are clearly seen as a form of Hebrew writing dating to approximately 1000 B.C.! The Greeks "borrowed" from the Phonetic alphabet so the characters would be familiar. The Hebrews and the Phoenicians were neighbors which, in their trading environment, shared the same language and alphabet. The style of the characters is strikingly similar, almost identical, to that used on the Moabite Stone in the days of the Israelite kings Omri and Ahab. The Moab stone was engraved by captive Israelites for the Moabite king, Mescha, as per its own inscription. After examining the Los lunas site geologist, George Morehouse, estimated the placement of this Decalogue inscription up to 3000 years ago, which would, again, date it around 1000 B.C. Just how were historians to explain how a seventy ton boulder with Hebrew inscription appeared on this mountain landscape in North America around 1000 B.C.?

Over two thousand years before Columbus "discovered" America there were people of semitic origin in New Mexico worshipping the God of Israel. How can this possibly be reconciled with known history? It is seemingly apparent that the financial backing to launch a Hebrew-Phoenician voyage of world exploration could have readily occurred during the reign of King Solomon of Israel. Solomon worshipped the true God of Israel and had the means to fund explorative voyages to other lands. With Solomon's main port being located on the Red Sea it would be difficult to explain how his fleet would have entered America through the Atlantic drainage. ( Reference note:1Kings 9:26 And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom.27 And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.)





Tarshish , however, had access to the Atlantic. The reign of Solomon was enveloping the entire world. Israel's close neighbor, Phonecia, and their expert navigators were working with the servants of Solomon from both countries ports. The ships of Tarshish sailed extremely long voyages to bring back all kinds of raw materials and items (copper & other ores, flora & fauna samples, "exotic" animals, etc.). ( Reference note:2Ch 9:21 For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.) It would help explain the need of three year journeys if the seamen had to cross the ocean to come to these far off isles in America. The fact that the trading ships of Phoenicia did have docks in ancient America can be proved from inscriptions they left behind. ( See Dr. Barry Fell's book America B.C. and also reading Steven M. Collins The "Lost" Ten Tribes of Israel...Found! is highly recommended) The Los Lunas site is located along the Puerco River which is tributary of the Rio Grande River. The Rio Grande is definitely in the Atlantic drainage. It would have been entirely possible for the Hebrew-Phonecian sailors to access the area of the stone.

We must realize that our history was written by the Greeks (and Romans) and is told entirely from their self-glorifying viewpoint which sometimes tends to omit other nations contributions to the world. Columbus didn't discover America. How is it that there were people (some of semitic features) already living in America for centuries before Columbus? Ancient colonists and prospectors? Why is it that some of the words and alphabet characters of these ancients also resemble Hebrew or Ibunic-Phoenician? How is it that some of the same pagan gods and symbols were worshipped on both ends of the earth simultaneously? And is there any other explanation why the commandments of the God of Israel would be written in the middle of the North American continent in Hebrew characters?

[bobdrake12]

http://www.barca.fsn...ecian-ships.htm

Phoenician Ships - Trading Ships (excerpts)



Best seafarers and ship builders of the ancient world for 1500 - 1000 BC were Phoenicians who lived on the east coast of the Mediterranean sea. The famous Lebanese cedar covering slopes of mountains of their native land was a perfect material for construction of strong seaworthy ships. On the picture is represented the Phoenician trade ship dated to a 1500 BC. This rather capacious vessel with strong stem-posts (firm beam in prow and stern extremities of the ship) and two stern oars. Along the sides fastened the lattices from rods for enclosure of the deck consignment. The mast bore a direct sail on two curved rods (as Egyptian ship).



To a prow stem-post fastened large amphora from burnt clay for a storage of potable water. Phoenician helmsmen have made an important contribution to the marine science, having entered division of a circle of horizon on 360 degrees. Besides they have made for the seamen reliable celestial reference points. Phoenicians with the full basis it is possible to consider as the first trade seafarers

____________________________________________________


http://www.kcnet.com...log/america.htm

(PHOENICIANS IN) AMERICA (excerpts)

Evidence indicates that America has been "discovered" many times. Ancient Sumer and Egypt knew the world was round, as did the later culture of ancient Greece. Possibly, ancient India, Japan and China also had knowledge that our earth was a ball.

In 1872, on a plantation in Brazil, a stone, covered with strange carvings, was found in a field. The carvings were later identified as Phoenician writing, telling of a ship blown off course and landing in a strange, new land, some 2500 years earlier, after returning from a trip to the Middle East. The Phoenicians were brave, fearless sailors in their day, and it is known that they traveled around the coast of Africa to the Arab lands. Also, our knowledge, in 1872, of Phoenician writing was not of a state to which the stone could have been a fake.

Since 1872, other evidence has come to light pointing to other possible voyages to the new world. Some may have even been earlier than the above mentioned Phoenician voyage. The pyramids of Central America point toward a possible connection with ancient Egypt. King Solomon's mines may have been located in Peru. Ancient tablets found in Iraq, the former Sumer, indicate that Sumer may have known of the America's. Evidence has been found that Japanese fishermen may have been in Ecuador as early as 3,000 B.C., including pottery remains of a quality and type not known of by the American Indians at the time, but had been known in Japan for centuries. This knowledge may be the basis forming the legend of Mu, a mythical continent said to lie in the Pacific southeast of Japan. Recently, remains of a Chinese ship were found along the coast of California which dated back to 600 A.D., with further evidence that the Chinese may have earlier explored along the Mexican and California coast.

Pottery, figurines and other objects of the Aztec, Mayan, Inca and other American civilizations have been found that are very similar to art forms of India, Polynesia, Sumer, Egypt and Israel. The sweet potato, once thought to have originated in the America's, is now believed to have originated in New Zealand.

More recently, but still far earlier than Columbus, legends tell of Irish monks traveling to the New World as early as the 700's A.D. Others tell of Crusaders arriving in Central America nearly a thousand years ago. When the Spanish came to America following the discoveries of Columbus, they found light skinned, bearded natives in positions of leadership, and legends of white, bearded gods coming to the Indians in past generations. A few natives even had red hair. The American Indian, as a rule, has fairly dark skin, and does not grow facial hair.

During the ninth and tenth centuries, the Vikings settled in Iceland and Greenland. Lief Ericson discovered the American mainland in 1000 A.D. and named it Vinland. Over the next four hundred years several attempts were made to settle and explore the new land, going as far south as New England, and as far west as the Great Lakes.

However, it is Christopher Columbus who is credited with the discovery of America, in 1492, although he died never knowing he had found a new land, believing, instead, that he had managed to sail around the world to the Spice Islands of southeast Asia.

The first to come to America were none of the above. In every case, native peoples were already here.

[bobdrake12]

http://www.barca.fsn...ecian-ships.htm



Phoenician War Ship


http://phoenicia.org/brazil.html




(excerpts)

A study researched, translated and presented by kind courtesy of
Mr. Christian da C. Karam, Student of Archaeology, Porto Alegre, Brazil


Phoenician Colonization


The Phoenicians inhabited the Mediterranean coasts, the narrow and fertile strip located between the sea and the mountains of Lebanon and Anti- Lebanon. Their small territory, the presence of powerful neighbours and the existence of much cedar wood (quite good for naval construction) in the mountain forests may have been the additional elements that guided the Phoenician civilization towards the exploration of the seas.

They built numerous and powerful fleets. They also visited the north African coasts and all the European south, traded in Italy, entered the Black Sea and left the Mediterranean Sea by crossing the Pillars of Hercules (today's Strait of Gibraltar and previously called the Pillars of Melqart) reaching the Atlantic ocean's African coast, and finally arrived at the Tin Islands in England. Always trading, the Phoenicians built marts and warehouses along their routes. When they could, they stole a little but always trying not to provoke powerful enemies who they preferred to weaken with gold products, instead of doing it by the sword or by fighting. The Phoenician agents and diplomats were familiar with almost every war fought at that time and they used to take advantage of it. They navigated the African continental coast in order to follow the opposite way that would be traced by Vasco da Gama much later. And more evidence seems to confirm that the Phoenicians used to cross the Atlantic Ocean to visit the "New Continent". The Phoenicians navigated by using the technique of stars orientation, the sea flows and through the winds courses. So, by following those factors their captains covered huge distances with precision. They were already influential about the year 2000 BC but their power grew with Abibaal's (in 1020 BC) and Hiram's leadership. Byblos, Sidon and Tyre were successive capitals of a state- city trading empire, united before anything else by ties of interest, habits and religion instead of a more rigid political structure.


Phoenicians in Brazil


Brazil is full of vestiges that corroborate the Phoenician presence in its lands and everything indicates that they concentrated their occupation in the northeastern region. A little away from the Longá and Parnaiba rivers' confluence, in Piaui state, there is a lake where Phoenician shipyards and a harbour with a place reserved to tie the "Carpássios" (old long traveling ships) were discovered.

By navigating the Mearim river up north, in Maranhão state, when arriving in the Pindaré and Grajaú rivers' confluence we can find the Pensiva lake before known as Maracu. In that lake's borders there can be found shipyards made of petrified wood containing thick nails and bronze dowels. Researcher Raimundo Lopes, born in Maranhão State, excavated that location at the end of the twenties and discovered typically Phoenician tools.

In Rio Grande do Norte state, after roaming a 11 km canal, the Phoenician boats used to anchor in the Extremoz lake. The Austrian professor Mr. Ludwig Schwennhagen studied the place's subterranean parts and the embankments carefully and also some others that exist near the village of Touro where the Phoenician navigators anchored after roaming about 10 km of a canal. The same professor Schwennhagen tells us that he found Phoenician inscriptions in the Amazon in which there were references to many kings of Sidon and Tyre (887 to 856 BC).

Schwennhagen believes that the Phoenicians used Brazil as a base during 800 years at least, leaving here, besides material evidences, an important linguistic influence among the natives.

In the rivers Camocim (Ceará State), Parnaiba (Piaui State) and Mearim (Maranhão state) entrance accesses there are stone and lime walls built by the ancient Phoenicians.

Apollinaire Frot, a French researcher, traveled all over the Brazilian countryside in order to collect Phoenician inscriptions in the Minas Gerais, Goiás, Mato Grosso and Bahia sierras. The inscriptions that he put together are so many that "they would fill uncountable volumes if they were ever published", according to Frot's statements.

The translation of those inscriptions refers to Phoenician works in Brazil, to their trade activity practiced in those distant lands and to the sinking of Atlantis. Some inscriptions reveal that because of the geological shocks that hit Atlantis, its survivors went to the north of Africa to found the empire of Egypt and many other nations of the region known today as the "Middle East". Those inscriptions still mention the biblical flood that, according to them, was not a universal catastrophe but only a local cataclysm in the Mesopotarmia region. This is a fact that scientists accept as veridical nowadays.

The economic leadership condition, on whose trade others depended, gave Phoenicia a kind of stability that allowed its existence to last so long without having strong armed forces. Phoenicia survived the Egyptian, the Syrian and the Assyrian hegemonies and even the Persian domination. Finally a strange racial element appeared the invaders from Europe. Thus Phoenicia trembled, at first under the Greek invasion headed by Alexander the Great and later under the power of the Roman legions.

With such a war the trading practices were interrupted and the far away colonies and marts now abandoned, started to be destroyed by local populations. The inhabitants of those regions, too far from the metropolis, withdrew into a primitive status. Although these are just theories, it would explain the blond hair and the diverse physical constitutions of savages that can be found among some Brazilian Indian tribes in the Amazon. It would also explain the light skin and the big number of Phoenician expressions and words used by the Tiriós Indians.

Carthage, the largest of the Phoenician colonies, survived and prospered when it inherited the sea trade from its ancient colonizing cities. It is Herodotus, the famous Greek historian, who tells us that "the Carthaginian senate published a decree in order to forbid -under penalty of death -- to organize or to take trips to the other side of the Atlantic ocean because the frequent coming of men and resources were emptying the capital".

Finally there is the famous inscription in the "Pedra da Gávea" (Gavea's Rock) in Rio de Janeiro which states: "Here Badezir, King of Tyre, Jetbaal's oldest son".

There is no scientific or cultural work in Brazil that has affirmative data about the Phoenician coming to its territory. However, there are in some foreign material references to the Phoenecian navigators in Brazilian lands before its European discovery. Although that information may seem unreal, legendary and fictitious, I want to believe that it is really true.

Phoenician inscriptions found in Tyre, known today as Sur (its name in Arabic), are on tombstones, which are now in London. They mention an expedition of a Phoenician navigator to a region beyond the Strait of Moloch (today's Gibraltar) where "the sea penetrated into the land..." a place where there was an abundance of food and lots of wood.

There still is another --fact: in excavations that took place in Sidon, French archaeologists found in 1860 many wooden artifacts that only could have been taken from Brazil, according to archaeological tests. It is the famous "quebracho" or "quebra machado" (the "ax breaker") as it its known in the Brazilian countryside. Besides that kind of wood a red coloured one was found whose denomination today in Arabic remains the same as the one in Phoenician times: "Shajarat Ahmar" -- known in Portuguese as Pau- Brasil.

By the way, what is the origin of the name, which is given to the Amazon River after its source?

The answer to that question is in the Louvre Museum archives, in the Royal Museum of London and also in Vatican and Lisbon historic documents that state the Solimões River's name came from its primitive denomination, which might be "Sulaiman". So, it would be in honour of the great King of Israel -- Sulaiman (Salomon) -- given by his vassals who arrived in those regions guided by the Phoenicians, a few years before the Christian Era.

All the cuneiform inscriptions discovered in the Amazon region, in the Ararí area, as well as in French Guyana and Surinam such as hieroglyphs and rock characters demonstrate clearly its origin from Aramaic, Syriac and even Sanskrit scripts.

In the National Historic Museum many photographs show us huge inscriptions that are widely spread from the Solimões River up to the point where its name changes to Amazon River (from Ararí to Madeira River). Those inscriptions demonstrate just a little of the greatness of the others that exist all over Brazil.

Someone has already tried to show in Rio de Janeiro that the Maya people might have written the Gavea's Rock inscriptions. Nevertheless they are hieroglyphic inscriptions mixed with the Phoenician alphabet and originally engraved by Phoenician navigators. Other evidences are four Phoenician characters (signs) engraved on the peak of a big rock known as "Pão de Açúcar" (The Sugar Loaf).

There are various confirmations that say Brazil was already known by many sailors from the Near East even before its discovery by the Portuguese. The first European navigator to be familiar with this land was the Roman Severus Pompeus, whose documents related to that fact is in the Vatican archives. He obtained from a "Syrian" slave a report and a confirmation of the existence of others lands. What is ignored is why that navigator did not try to verify those stories by himself.

The Phoenician explorers were not interested in lands. They were really interested in its native products. So, they were not a colonizing people but a trading one.

Columbus, the great navigator from Genoa, had never been to the lands of which he used to talk so much. However, he had an itinerary, a map and other real documents concerning those distant lands. How did he get them? Some ancient historians tell the following tale about that: "One day, at his house, without anything to do, Columbus realized that in his residential area there was something buried in the ground. So, he started digging quickly and he found a rotten wooden box. Inside it there was many human bones (even a skull) and among those bones Columbus found some papyri documents. Because he already had some nautical knowledge- he was quite a good sailor- he became intrigued with the discovery and went to look for information with an uncle of his whom belonged to a religious institution and who also was a very respected person in the Spanish Royalty. Columbus gave his uncle what he had found, and he took them to one of his colleagues. Then both of them verified that those papers were descriptive maps made by a sailor from Tripoli (Trabulus) which had been buried many centuries before the fifteenth century when the place where Columbus' house was had been the sea's border.

Afterwards, Columbus got an opinion from a very important cartographer about those exceptional findings. He declared that region as being a huge territory located beyond the Pillars of Hercules (Strait of Gibraltar). He also said that its wealth was so great and there were such valuable treasures kept in that place that he who could dominate it would be considered "the Lord of the World".

Then from that day on and protected by his uncle, Columbus started to visit the Portuguese and the Spanish courts in order to obtain concession, financing and support to be the "Lord of the World".

It is said that such a report is a legend but I believe it is true: Columbus came and discovered the American continent.

In the "sambaquís" spread throughout Brazil many objects and rock inscriptions have been found. Some writers, based on paleontology material, have been writing that its origin is Indian. Other paleontologists who searched and penetrated into thousands of caves, grottos and lime cesspools declared that it its neither possible to define the exact geological erosion of the Brazilian lands nor to determine an ancient settlement in Brazil before its European discovery.

Nevertheless the Maya, the Toltec and the Aztec civilizations predominated all over the American continent. Those populations did not spring from the ground and only two other peoples could be their ancestors: the Phoenicians or the Chinese. From the Phoenicians, because they dominated the western seas and from the Chinese because they dominated the Far East seas. However, those basis are uncertain and imperfect just because until today historians were not able to elucidate such a vulnerable fact about the American pre-civilization History.

When Baron von Humboldt, at the end of the eighteenth century, took research trips to explore the Brazilian countryside, he reached the Orenoco slopes and was surprised by the greatness that Maya, Inca and Aztec civilizations offered to anyone's eyes and mind. He verified that the legends about the existence of the Amazon women- whose name was given to the river- were true.

Beuchat cites the important Inca influence in the South American civilization as well as the Aztec influence in Mexico and in Central American societies.

We can still hear about the lost cities in the Brazilian countryside region, the petrified cities such as the one known as "Sete Cidades" (Seven Cities) in the state of Piaui and others in wild zones like the states of Mato Grosso, Goiás and Amazonas.

From São Luis dos Cáceres up to the north in the state of Mato Grosso, there are places that show the existence of buried cities that are the remains of a millenarian civilization very well.

Doctor Peter W. Lund, a great Danish scholar, came up with the theory of a precivilization in Brazil and the Phoenician contribution in its formation.

The Brazilian Indians, known as Carajás and Carajá-ís, have on their names the etymology of the words whose Phoenician origin can be found in today's Arabic language. Some other Brazilian Indian tribes such as the Guaranis, the Tupis, the Guajajaras, the Chambicás, the Anajás, the Carijós, etc., have in their vocabulary thousands of Arabian words whose origin is Phoenician.

Maya and Aztec civilizations differ little from the Phoenicians. Their merchants, governors, administration, clans and their moral education clearly show us the ethnology of their civil way of life.

The Indians who deal with oil, in the north of Brazil, and who still today execute the Marajoaras work perfectly, adopt the same systems used by the Phoenician workers with oil who mixed wood and vine ashes with mud (clay) in order to produce ceramics. The resemblance among these drawings, the pots' shapes, the small statues and other Indian works and the Phoenician artifacts is noteworthy.


The same Phoenician burial ritual -- the one that buried the dead with all the objects that belonged to them -- also was adopted by almost all Brazilian Indian tribes.

The Phoenicians had a factory or a mart in a region, legendarily known as Atlantis that in their language meant -- according to the Phoenician term "Al- Atlantic"--: huge, large, extensive, vast, endless. And in Arabic "Al- Atlantic" means giant, majestic.

When I went on some trips into the Brazilian countryside, I saw some coins that had been found in Brazilian ground whose origin is completely unknown. Making a comparison among these coins and Paraguayan, Bolivian and Peruvian coins their resemblance to coins from Sidon and Tyre is very great.

In the Rio de Janeiro National Museum there exist tombstones with Phoenician, Syriac and Sanskrit inscriptions found in the Brazilian countryside.

Edmund Bleibel, a distinguished Lebanese historian, in his books "General History of Lebanon", published in Beirut, states: "when the Phoenicians were established in Africa, and Gibraltar was the limit of their empire, they planned to cross the huge ocean towards the unknown".

Then Ilu of Jbail (Byblos) and his wife Harmonia (Harmony) prepared a big fleet and navigated the enormous sea looking for the "Eternal Islands" (Canary Islands) but they disappeared forever. It was said that their souls embodied two serpents, which meant that their lives had been renewed by god, Baal's will.

Later it was corroborated that they had crossed the huge ocean and discovered the region where today is South America. So, that happened 3,000 years before Christopher Columbus.

They gave the first new land they discovered the name of "Barr Ilu" which means "The Continent of God". When the nation was formed and its administration was organized, the chosen queen to rule that place was Mirinieh Mirubieh known as "Queen of the Amazones" which means "Queen of the Warriors". That queen was sent to Lebanon to save Ilu of Jbail (Byblos) who was in a critical situation.

The "Queen of the Amazons" called "The Big Ocean" the ocean known before as 'Mirubi Ocean" which today is the Atlantic Ocean. This last denomination was in honour of Atlas, the great Phoenician king of Lybia

Cadmus, the great navigator of Tyre, left his city -- Cadamiat -- on a scientific mission in order to study the Cuchite language spoken in Brazil.

A few historians have been investigating the origin of such a language and they found many evidences that confirm the Phoenician's coming to Brazil bringing with them some Greek workers before any other people. The historian Deodoro told the way they might have arrived here. That fact was confirmed by Plutarch and was mentioned by the great Brazilian historian Rui Barbosa, as well as by other Brazilian poets who sang on their lyres the Phoenician and their monuments on the Brazilian soil.

Each fleet that left Sidon, Jbail and Tyre had 200 or 300 boats that headed to Brazil. The smallest one was used to bring the members of the crew with their support material and equipment. They usually stopped to rest and also to buy supplies in Tunis and at the Canary Islands.

Among the Phoenician civilization monuments in Brazil there is a city that was called "Airo", today completely lost in the admirable immensity of this country. Its ancient inhabitants were proud of belonging to the Phoenician lineage just like the Irish people. They used to say that they were Tyrian descendants who, during King Hiram's time, came to take gold. They took this precious metal to Tyre and to King Salomon of Jerusalem from the land of Ofir, where this mineral was very abundant. It is located in the Amazon River borders.

Finally we verify that truth is clear and positive. I wish the Brazilian honourable governors could help twentieth century dedicated scientists to research, in the Brazilian entrails, for its pre- historic reality, the one of its archaic civilization, and maybe we would have even surpassed the Greek and the Roman civilizations.





The material on this home page was researched,
compiled, and designed by Salim George Khalaf

Comments are welcome at slim@phoenicia.org

Revised: October 19, 2001

[bobdrake12]

http://www.wic.org/artwork/astarte.htm

ASTARTE (Mythic - Phoenician)





The Enduring Star

Called Our Lady of Byblos, Astarte, one of the most ancient Goddesses of the Middle East is closely identified with the Goddesses Hathor, Ishtar, Aphrodite, Frega, Dande and Irdrani.

Byblos, the City of the Great Mother, patronized learning and the priestesses of Astarte's temple collected a great library of papyrus scrolls. The Greeks called papyrus byblos which came to mean any holy book (thus, the Bible). According to Egyptian records, as early as 1500 BC, Byblos was a prosperous trading center.

Known as the "Queen of the Stars," Astarte ruled over the spirits who lived in heaven as light, hence stars. Traces of legends abound, relating Astarte to the "Black Virgin" in Syria and Egypt where a virgin birth was celebrated each year late in December. Astarte was frequently referred to as the Heavenly Virgin.

Her image is most frequently seen on ancient seals or reliefs holding the sacred lotus in one hand and two entwined serpents in the other.

[bobdrake12]

http://www.galen-fry...org/echmoun.htm

Echmoun

A Phoenician Temple

The principal God of the city of Sidon and his lover Astarte




Podium for the Phoenician Gods


Phoenicia, ancient designation of a narrow strip of territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, now largely in modern Lebanon. The territory, about 320 km (about 200 mi) long and from 8 to 25 km (5 to 15 mi) wide, was bounded on the east by the Lebanon Mountains. The southern boundary was Mount Carmel; the northern boundary was generally accepted to be the Eleutherus River, now called the Kabîr, which forms the northern boundary of Lebanon.




Early Phoenician stonework (7th century B.C.)


The Phoenicians, called Sidonians in the Old Testament and Phoenicians by the Greek poet Homer, were Semites, related to the Canaanites of ancient Palestine. Historical research indicates that they founded their first settlements on the Mediterranean coast about 2500BC. Early in their history, they developed under the influence of the Sumerian and Akkadian cultures of nearby Babylon. About 1800BC Egypt, which was then beginning to acquire an empire in the Middle East, invaded and took control of Phoenicia, holding it until about 1400BC. The raids of the Hittites against Egyptian territory gave the Phoenician cities an opportunity to revolt, and by 1100BC they were independent of Egypt.





With self-rule, the Phoenicians became the most notable traders and sailors of the ancient world. The fleets of the coast cities traveled throughout the Mediterranean and even into the Atlantic Ocean, and other nations competed to employ Phoenician ships and crews in their navies. In connection with their maritime trade the city-kingdoms founded many colonies, notably Utica and Carthage in north Africa, on the islands of Rhodes and Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea, and Tarshish in southern Spain. Tyre was the leader of the Phoenician cities before they were subjugated, once again, by Assyria during the 8th century BC. When Assyria fell during the late 7th century BC, Phoenicia, except for Tyre, which succeeded in maintaining its independence until about 538BC, was incorporated into the Chaldean Empire of Nebuchadnezzar II and, in 539BC, became part of the Persian Empire. Under Persian rule Sidon became the leading city of Phoenicia.




Throne of Astarte


When Alexander the Great of Macedonia invaded Asia and defeated Persia in 333BC, Sidon, Arwad, and Byblos capitulated to Macedonia. Tyre again refused to submit, and it took Alexander a 7-month siege in 332BC to capture the city. After this defeat the Phoenicians gradually lost their separate identity as they were absorbed into the Greco-Macedonian empire. The cities became Hellenized, and, in 64 BC, even the name of Phoenicia disappeared, when the territory was made part of the Roman province of Syria.

The most important Phoenician contribution to civilization was the alphabet. Purple dye, called Tyrian purple, and the invention of glass, are also ascribed to the Phoenicians. Their industries, particularly the manufacture of textiles and dyes, metalworking, and glassmaking, were notable in the ancient world, and Phoenician cities were famous for their pantheistic religion. Each city had its special deity, usually known as its Baal, or lord, and in all cities the temple was the center of civil and social life. The most important Phoenician deity was Astarte.

Text from Microsoft Encarta

[bobdrake12]

http://almashriq.hio...10/919/echmoun/

Temple of Echmoun - A Unique Phoenician Site in Lebanon






Photographs from Echmoun © Børre Ludvigsen


The Temple of Eshmoun, less than an hour from Beirut, is situated 1km from Sidon in a lush valley of citrus groves on the Awwali River. The site known locally as " Bustan esh-Sheikh".

This Phoenician temple complex dedicated to the healing god Eshmoun, is the only Phoenician site in Lebanon that has retained more than its foundation stones. Building began at the end of the 7th Century BC and later additions were made in the following Centuries. Thus, many elements near the original temple site were completed long after the Phoenician era, including the Roman period colonnade, mosaics, a nymphaeun and the foundations of a Byzantine Church. All of these buildings testify to the site's lasting importance.

[bobdrake12]

http://www.mariner.org/age/hanno.html

Hanno's Route




Hanno, a native of Carthage, a main Phoenician trading port, explored the western coast of Africa around 500 B.C. His coastal route took him from the Straits of Gibraltar (the Pillars of Hercules) around the western coast of Africa to modern Sierra Leone, and, when supplies ran low, returned to Carthage the way he came. Hanno wrote an account of his travels that survives in its Greek translation. In the account, Hanno mentions that the Phoenician travelers established colonies along the African coast.

[bobdrake12]

http://www.mariner.o...e/columbus.html

THE EXPLORATIONS OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS



Columbus Leaving Palos


Perhaps the most famous explorer was Christopher Columbus.


Born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451 to a weaver, young Columbus first went to sea at the age of fourteen. As a young man, he settled in Portugal and married a woman of noble background. After his wife's death in 1485, Columbus and his young son, Diego moved to Spain. Like all learned men of his time, Columbus knew the world was round. He theorized that since the earth was a sphere, a ship could eventually reach the Far East from the opposite direction. He thought to establish trade routes to Asia in this manner. The fifteenth-century Europeans were not aware of the South and North American continents during this timeframe. Mapmakers did not show an accurate picture and no one knew there was a Pacific Ocean. For a decade, Columbus approached the Portuguese king and the Spanish monarchs to obtain a grant to explore possible trade routes to the west.



The First Voyage of Columbus to India in the year of 1492


After initially turning him down, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella reconsidered once the Moors had been successfully expelled from Spain in 1492. Columbus promised to bring back gold, spices, and silks from the Far East, to spread Christianity, and to lead an expedition to China. In return, Columbus asked for and got the hereditary title "admiral of the ocean seas" and became governor of all.

Copyright ©1996, 1997, 1998 by The Mariners' Museum



http://www.top-biogr.....her Columbus/





http://home.att.net/...ve/discover.htm




Why is Christopher Columbus such an important figure in history?





Perhaps you are thinking "because he discovered America in 1492", which is what you were taught in school.

You may be surprised to learn that this is not entirely true. It would be more accurate to say, quoting author Patrick Huyghe, that "Columbus was last". There are many stories of the discovery and exploration of the American continents long before Columbus. Columbus' voyage in 1492 just happened to be the most timely, with a lasting impact on the world at that time.

Webster's Dictionary defines "discover" as "to be the first to find out, see, or know about". If Columbus didn't discover America, in the strictest meaning of the word, then who did? Using Webster's definition, we would have to give credit for the discovery of America to the first people to inhabit this land many thousands of years ago. Scientists have found evidence of prehistoric man in the Americas dating back more than 10,000 years. Some scholars theorize these original inhabitants came from Asia across the Bering land bridge stretching between northeastern Russia and northwestern Alaska. Some others believe the continents may have been populated by intrepid seafaring people crossing the Pacific Ocean. Whichever is the case, it is fairly certain that these people were actually "first" and became the ancestors of the Native American cultures of North and South America.

As for who was the first non-native culture to "discover" America, there are many interesting stories that are seldom taught in school.


Japan - 3000 B.C.

Pottery fragments unearthed in Valdivia, Ecuador bear a strong resemblance to the style used in Japan known as "Jomon" pottery. Scholars disagree whether this is evidence of actual contact or simply coincidence. Those who doubt argue the Pacific Ocean is much too wide, and the boats and sailing skills of the time much too primitive to be able to cross such a distance successfully. Supporters say the journey could have been made if the travelers sailed around the coasts of Siberia and Alaska, always keeping land in sight. They also cite a volcanic eruption on the Japanese island of Kyushu as a possible motivation for some Japanese to search for a new home. This eruption occurred around 3550 B.C. and corresponds with the time the pottery was made in Ecuador.


China - 2300 B.C.

According to Chinese legend, during the reign of Emperor Yao in the 23rd century B.C., Yao's vice regent Yu dispatched two surveyors to explore the known world. They were to travel in each of the four compass directions for as far and as long as possible, recording all they saw. The two surveyors were named Ta-Chang and Shu-Hai.The written account of their journeys is called Shan Hai Ching, which means "The Classic of the Mountains and Rivers". Originally it filled 32 volumes, but less than half exist today. When first published, Shan Hai Ching was regarded as a work of geographic fact. As time passed, it came to be known more as literature because some of the stories were too fantastic to be believed. Matching geographic descriptions in the Shan Hai Ching with existing landmarks, modern scholars believe some parts of it refer to America.


Scandinavia - 3000-2000 B.C.

Archeologists and other scholars studying the northern Atlantic coast, in particular Maine and Labrador, often find burial sites making use of a substance known as red ochre to color the contents of the grave. This is fairly common to maritime cultures, and exists both in Atlantic ancient cultures as well as those of the Scandinavian coastal communities in ancient times. Some scholars believe this to be coincidence, a cultural trait that developed independently in two different areas. However, some scholars believe there was contact between Scandinavia and the Atlantic coasts in which this, and perhaps other, customs were exchanged between the two continents.


Woden-lithi, the copper trader - 1700 B.C.

Northeast of Toronto, Canada, rests a 40 foot by 70 foot limestone slab covered with an ancient inscription. Scholars have identified the characters as two different alphabets spelling out words in the Old Norse language, carved about 1700 B.C. The stone identifies the author as Woden-lithi, a copper trader from Ringerike, Norway. He apparently sailed from Norway across the Atlantic to the St. Lawrence River and established a trading post near present-day Peterborough. He brought textiles with him to trade with the Algonquin Indians for copper. After five months his business was concluded and he returned home.

Initially, scholars were skeptical of the stone and its contents, but after years of study and as more information about the Scandinavian languages come to light, the stone is gaining acceptance as authentic. If it is, it helps explain what has been a mystery to historians and archaeologists who study this region. At the time this stone was carved, copper was in high demand in Europe to make weapons. Scholars claim there was no Bronze Age in America, but cannot explain what happened to the enormous amounts of copper estimated to have been mined from the Lake Superior region during this era. If the stone is authentic, and there was something of a regular trade route between Europe and America, this would explain why so little bronze has been found in American archaeological sites.



Phoenicians - 900-600 B.C.

The Phoencians were an ancient culture residing in what is now Lebanon, on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. They were renowned for their maritime skills and much sought after for a particular type of purple dye they used to color their fabric. In fact, the origin of the word Phoenician is the Greek Phoinikoi, which means Purple People. They established a western outpost in Cadiz in southern Spain around 900 B.C.

The Phoenicians are believed to have sailed around the continent of Africa about 600 B.C. Many rulers of their time depended on the Phoenicians to perform a variety of tasks involving any type of sailing. King Solomon of Israel and the Egyptian Pharoah Necho are known to have employed the Phoenicians. Necho commissioned the Phoenicians to find a trade route around the African continent in about 600 B.C. According to historical accounts of the time, they completed their journey and arrived back in Egypt three years later. This beats the traditional "discoverer" of a route around Africa, Bartholomew Dias, by about 2000 years.

Phoenician inscriptions and carvings in the Americas have been found in Maine, Rhode Island, New Mexico, Paraguay, and Brazil. Another type of evidence scholars use to support this theory of Phoenician contact in the Americas is the discovery of Carthaginian coins throught the New World. In 814 B.B. the Phoenicians founded Carthage on the northern tip of Tunisia. From this new outpost nearer the Atlantic Ocean, the Phoenicians/Carthaginians explored up and down the Atlantic coasts of Africa and Europe.

Scholars argue that they may well have explored to the west as well. Carthaginian coins have been plowed up in Kansas, Connecticut, Arkansas, and Alabama. Each site is near a navigable river or harbors near the coast. The coins are easier to date than the stone inscriptions mentioned previously - fourth or early third century B.C.



Israelites - 600 B.C.

The Mormon religion believes that about six hundred years before the birth of Christ, an Israelite named Lehi was instructed by God to leave Jerusalem. He and his family roamed the countryside before settling in a land near the sea. Not long after, God spoke to Lehi's son Nephi, and told him to build a ship for crossing the sea. Mormons believe Nephi and his famly landed in America and were the ancestors of the Incas, Aztecs, Mayans, and American Indians.


Africans - 500 B.C.

In this tale, we have proof of contact, but not of the actual journey. The opposite will be the case later in this page. Skeletal remains in Mexico prove a clear Negroid presence. Scholars feel this explains the strong Egyptian influence on the Olmec empire in Mexico at this time. They note the African heads, step pyramids, and carvings resembling Egyptian gods and Phoenician figures found throughout the area. It is possible the Egyptians made contact with the Americas during the reign of the Nubian kings, using the sailing expertise of the Phoenician fleet (see above) in the interest of trade.


Celts - 300 B.C.
Some scholars believe the Celts were among the first European settlers of America. Celtic-style carvings and ruins have been found throughout America. Most are in New England; however, inscriptions in the Ogam alphabet have been found in Colorado and Eastern Tennessee. The New England finds include a carved head/torso of what appears to be a Druid priest due to its features and decorations. In Vermont and also New Hampshire, stone chambers have been excavated. These chambers appear to have been constructed in order to observe the winter solstice, also in the Celtic tradition.


Libyans - ca. 231 B.C.

The Libyans are a Mediterranean culture with Greek, Arab, and Carthaginian roots. The great Libyan mathematician Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the earth to almost the exact amount. As a result, he thought it might be possible to sail to India from east to west. Some scholars believe Libyan ships set out to prove this theory. They believe Libyan ships set out in opposite directions, with the hope of meeting each other half way around the globe. In support of this theory, scholars cite the Polynesian language, which contains similarities to North African and Libyan Greek. Also, inscriptions have been found in the Polynesian islands. Most intriguing, Maori legends include two legendary heroes named Maui and Rata,. These very names appear in one of the inscriptions as members of a Libyan exploratory expedition. Some scholars believe they sailed west as far as the Polynesian islands, tried to find their way back and failed, and settled among the Polynesian people. This would explain the many similarities in language, writing, and traditions between the Libyans and the Polynesians. Similarly, inscriptions have been found all over the Americas (California, New Mexico, Texas, Iowa, Nevada) which seem to indicate a landfall by the westbound Libyan explorers.


Chinese (again) - ca. 450 A.D.

A Chinese monk named Hui Shen set sail from China in 458 A.D. to spread the Buddhist faith. He returned 41 years later and told of his long journey to a land he called Fu Sang. Some scholars believe Fu Sang is Japan, but others ay Hui Shen made it to the western shores of North America, probably near Mexico. They base their beliefs on his description of the Mexican century plant and the discovery of Chinese stone anchors found off the coast of California.


Irish - ca 564 A.D.

The early Irish monks had a tradition of setting sail into the North Atlantic in order to find a small, isolated island upon which they could meditate in solitude. In the process, they often discovered previously unknown islands, including Iceland and the Faeroe Islands. Upon their return to Ireland, the monks would write an account of their travels. One of these stories stands out from the rest due to its seeming authenticity and attention to detail. It is known as The Voyage of St. Brendan the Abbott, and became what we would call a "bestseller" in the Middle Ages. Scholars today disagree on how much of this story actually occurred, but some believe St. Brendan did land somewhere in the Americas before returning to Ireland. They support their contention by attempting to match geographical references in the story with actual landmarks of today. Also, references to Irish clerics living in the St. Lawrend River area appear in the Norse sagas mentioned earlier.


Basque - ??

The Basques are an ancient European culture. They make their home in an area between the borders of Spain and France. Even today they are unique in their language and culture. About five hundred Basque-inscribed stones have been found in Pennsylvania. Many Basque family names, or surnames, appear on the stones, which were used to mark boundaries. Author Patrick Huyghe also notes:" The New Castle deed to William Penn dated 1685 was initialed in the Basque language by nine Indian chiefs."


Welsh - ca 1170 A.D.

The Welsh have the legend of a man, some say a prince, called Madoc, who sailed as far as America. Some Native American n tribes have a similar legend of descending from white men, supposedly Welsh. In support of this story, archaeologists have unearthed a line of ancient forts stretching from Mobile Bay in Alabama upwards into the southeast states. They are remarkably similar in design and position to Welsh fortifications of the same period. It is also said that roots of some Native American languages, Mandan in particular, are thought to be related to Welsh. In American colonial times, there were occasional reports of certain tribes who understood or even spoke Welsh.


Africans - 1300 A.D.

The second bit of evidence supporting African contact with the new world is based on history written by the Arab scholar al-Umari. As noted above, in this case we have evidence of the journey, but not of the contact. Al-Umari documented a major expedition under the rule of King Abubakari II of the Mali empire in West Africa. The Malis believed the earth to be more or less round, and King Abubakari wished to have the limits of the earth explored by a fleet 400 strong. They set sail to the west in 1310, and only one ship returned. Intrigued by the crew's tale of terrific currents sweeping all but one away, the king assembled another large fleet, put his brother in charge, and set out with them. None ever returned. Scholars believe it is possible that at least some of them reached America, as the strong currents near the point of departure in Timbuktu eventually end up in the Americas between the northern part of South America and the Caribbean.

[bobdrake12]

Christopher Columbus stands to the east of the Christopher Columbus Building in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.


____________________________________




Who made the Vinland Map, 1434 A.D., plus or minus 11 years?

Did Columbus use a map such as this to aid him in navigating to the New World?


http://www.eurekaler...i-sda072902.php

Public release date: 29-Jul-2002

Contact: Elizabeth Tait
taite@publicaffairs.si.edu
202-357-2627 129
Smithsonian Institution

Scientists determine age of first New World map - Parchment points to authenticity of Vinland Map (excerpts)


For the first time, scientists have ascribed a date – 1434 A.D., plus or minus 11 years – to the parchment of the controversial Vinland Map, possibly the first map of the North American continent. Collaborators from the Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education (SCMRE), Suitland, Md., the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, N.Y., used carbon-dating techniques to analyze the parchment on which the map is drawn. Their findings, published in the August edition of the journal Radiocarbon, place the parchment of the map 60 years ahead of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the West Indies, and provide compelling evidence that the map is authentic.

"Many scholars have agreed that if the Vinland Map is authentic, it is the first cartographic representation of North America, and its date would be key in establishing the history of European knowledge of the lands bordering the western Atlantic Ocean," said Jacqueline S. Olin, assistant director for archaeometric research at SCMRE when the study began in 1995. Olin and co-authors Douglas Donahue, a physicist at the University of Arizona and Garman Harbottle, a chemist at Brookhaven National Laboratory, along with SCMRE paper conservator Dianne Van Der Reyden, sampled the bottom right edge of the parchment for analysis. The dating was carried out at the National Science Foundation-University of Arizona Accelerator Mass Spectrometer in Tucson. The unusually high precision of the date was possible because the Vinland Map's date fell in a very favorable region of the carbon-14 dating calibration curve.

[bobdrake12]

http://www.aoc.gov/c...ng_columbus.htm



Landing of Columbus

Christopher Columbus is shown landing in the West Indies, on an island that the natives called Guanahani and he named San Salvador, on October 12, 1492. He raises the royal banner to claim the land for his Spanish patrons, and he stands bareheaded, with his hat at his feet, in honor of the sacredness of the event. The captains of the Niña and Pinta follow, carrying the banner of Ferdinand and Isabella. The crew displays a range of emotions, and some search for gold in the sand. Natives watch from behind a tree.





________________________________




The Piri Reis World Map of 1513

Did Columbus have a map of the lands he was chasing?

Could that map have come from the Library of Alexandria?

Could the Phoenicians have left behind some ancient maps of the New World? Might they have survived the burning of the Library of Alexandria?


http://www.survive20...irireismap.html


The Ancient Map of Piri Reis

Piri Reis was a famous admiral of the Turkish fleet in the sixteenth century. His passion was cartography, he was always on the lookout for new maps and other such documents.

His high rank within the Turkish navy allowed him to have a privileged access to the Imperial Library of Constantinople. He was considered an expert on Mediterranean lands and coastlines, and he even wrote a famous sailing book called "Kitabi Bahriye" where he described all the details of coastlines, harbours, currents, shallows, bays and straits of the Mediterranean and Aegean seas. He died in 1554 or 1555 being beheaded for unknown reasons.

It is said that in a now-forgotten sea battle he met, among the prisoners, a sailor who claimed to have been sailing along with Columbus in his three journeys to the new world, and that he was one of his pilots. It turned out that Columbus had a map of the lands he was chasing, and that this map now was in the possession of that pilot. The admiral Piri Reis got to put hands and eyes on the map; then in 1513 he compiled a world map based on that map and on the other antique charts from his collection - many of which had survived from the days of the Great Library of Alexandria.

Although these maps were accurate, the stitching together wasn't so easy, and the combination that is the Piri Reis map has some errors: the Amazon River features twice, part of the nortern coast of South America is missing, and parts of the Caribbean are facing the wrong way.

In 1929 a group of historians found half of the map in the Palace of Topkapu (Istanbul where it remains, facsimile available at the Library of Congress Washington DC) on a dusty shelf, still rolled up and drawn on a gazelle skin. The content of the map was amazing: it focused on the western coast of Africa, the eastern coast of South America (!) and the northern coast of Antarctica (!!!). The most flabbergasting point is that Antarctic had remained undiscovered until 1818, but its northern coastline, perfectly detailed, was shown on this map drawn in 1513.

© Robert Bast, 2002.



http://www.crystalin...om/crustal.html

MAPS - PIRI RE'IS MAP - HAPGOOD (excerpts)


The earliest maps supposedly were written on clay tablets and come from the ancient babylonians around 2300BC. These maps were of land lots and were used to control taxation. There are maps made on silk from China around the 2nd century BC. The Mayans and Incas made maps of the territories they conquered. In the early 1300's navigators developed maps of the Mediterranean and other known coastlines. Finally in modern times we have perfected the art of map making and navigation. "Only since the late 1700's has it been possible to collect & record truly accurate geographic information


There is a map called Piri Re'is - dating from 1513, which was made by a man named Piri Ibn Haji Memmed, otherwise known as Piri Re'is. This man was an Admiral in the Turkish navy. Today we only have a fragment of the original map.


Piri claimed:

o the map was made from approximately 20 original source maps.
o the western portion of the map was obtained from Christopher Columbus
o some of the source maps were dated from the time of Alexander the Great
some of the maps were based upon mathematics - (which we know is the sacred Geometry).
o Charles Hapgood performed a detailed analysis of this map. He worked with students from Keene State College, as well as with cartographers from the US Air Force. After a detailed analysis, several interesting observations were made.

Conclusions:

o The map provided remarkably accurate latitude and longitude locations of coastal features of Africa, North and South America, and a portion of Antarctica. (This point is contested by many people and is addressed later in the section on Antarctica)
o The source maps themselves utilizethe principles of plane geometry and an ability to account for the curvature of the Earths surface
o The knowledge of longitude suggests either a people, or a mechanism, that are currently unknown to us. (This is because the ability to determine longitude with any degree of accuracy is not known before AD 1700 (?) ).
o The map is based on an equidistant projection with its center on the meridian of Alexandria in Egypt



http://www.btinterne...s/Pub/page2.htm

Piri Reis Map (excerpts)

On 6th July 1960 the U. S. Airforce responded to Prof. Charles H. Hapgood of Keene College, specifically to his request for an evaluation of the ancient Piri Reis Map.

"Dear Professor Hapgood,

"Your request for evaluation of certain unusual features of the Piri Reis World Map... by this organization has been reviewed.

"The claim that the lower part of the map portrays the Princess Martha Coast of Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, and the Palmer Peninsula, is reasonable. We find this is the most logical and in all probability the correct interpretation of the map.

"The geographical detail shown in the lower part of the map agrees very remarkably with the results of the seismic profile made across the top of the ice-cap by the Swedish-British Antarctic Expedition of 1949.

"This indicates the coastline had been mapped before it was covered by the ice-cap.

"The ice-cap in this region is now about a mile thick

"We have no idea how the data on this map can be reconciled with the supposed state of geographical knowledge in 1513.

"Harold Z. Ohlmeyer, Lt. Colonel, USAF, Commander."


1. The Piri Reis Map of 1513, is a genuine document, not a hoax.
2. Antarctica was discovered in 1818, 300 years after Reis drew the map.
3. Geological evidence confirms that the latest date Queen Maud Land could have been charted in an ice-free state is 4000 BC.

The puzzle however is not so much how Piri Reis managed to draw such an accurate map of the Antarctic region 300 years before it was discovered. The Turkish admiral admits in a series of notes on the map that he compiled and copied the data from a large number of source maps, some of which dated back to the fourth century BC or earlier.

Prof. Charles Hapgood maintained that the source maps were themselves based on earlier maps, compilations of which were made at the Great Library of Alexandria (Egypt).

He also claimed there was ample evidence ancient peoples explored Antarctica when its coasts were free of ice, and that they had instruments of navigation (which therefore must have included accurate chronometers - Ed) for determining longitudes that was far superior to anything possessed by the peoples of ancient, medieval or modern times until the second half of the eighteenth century.

Hapgood, however, was cold shouldered by his peers.

But it is worthy to note the following foreword (paraphrased here) to one of Hapgood's books in 1953:

"... the very first communication from Mr. Hapgood electrified me. His idea is original, of great simplicity, and - if it continues to prove itself - of great importance to everything that is related to the history of the Earth's surface"

"Albert Einstein"

Copyright © 1999 & 2000 by Power of the Mind Magazine

[bobdrake12]

http://www.sculpture...ure.asp?SID=627







Heroic sized portrait of Christopher Columbus. In his proper right hand he holds a rolled document while his proper left hand rests on his chest. He is dressed in a cloak.


_______________________________________

http://www.isleofava...rt/hhn-20c.html



The Columbus Myth (excerpts)

By Palden Jenkins


The myth that Columbus discovered the Americas is subscribed to today and was recently reaffirmed in 1992 in North America on its 500 year anniversary. It is a resilient myth, and great interests are vested in maintaining it. A sure sign of this is the general academic refusal to research the matter seriously or to consider any evidence which undermines the Columbian creed. Denial of the validity of evidence is insufficient, even though some claims made for pre-Columban trans-oceanic contact are inconclusive or dubious. There is strong evidence for such contact. It is unjustified to reject this quite plausible hypothesis on the basis that some inconclusive evidence implies that all evidence is spurious – a classic sceptic’s technique.

My own interest in this was aroused in 1986 when I met a farmer in Cornwall (SW Britain) on whose land lies the ancient Merry Maidens stone circle. He recounted that, when grubbing up an old earthen field boundary some years before, he had found a deeply-buried greenstone arrowhead which his son then took to school to show his teacher. The teacher sent it to the British Museum for identification, and the reply returned that it was at least 5,000 years old and derived from specific rock deposits in Minnesota. The possibility of this being a hoax was minuscule: there is little point planting evidence in a place where it is unlikely to be found or to be accepted as valid evidence – hoaxers need a pay-off. The farmer had little interest in prehistory – he was a classic farmer-type! What was interesting to me was that this evidence suggested west-to-east travel, from the ‘New’ to the ‘Old’ World, while one would tend to expect east-to-west travel, if anything. West Cornwall was frequented in ancient times by tin traders from the Mediterranean, particularly Phoenicians. Cornwall was a major trading place for tin, a valuable metal in alloy production in Roman times, so this region was a seafaring node. The Phoenicians were also intrepid travellers with a penchant for keeping their trade-sources and destinations secret. They are known to have travelled around Africa and as far as Scandinavia, and there is reasonable evidence they reached the Azores too. As intrepid seafarers, America is not out of the question as a destination.

Amongst these remains are included Iberic-Roman amphorae of the +100s-300s found in Maine, Honduras and Rio de Janeiro, late Roman coins found in Texas, Massachusetts, off Venezuela, in Brazil, North Carolina, Ohio, Georgia and Oklahoma, Roman lamps in Alabama, Connecticut and Peru; inconclusive though possible Hebrew inscriptions in Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, New Mexico and Arizona, Phoenician inscriptions in W Virginia, Cape Cod and Rhode Island and Brazil; Muslim coins at Cambridge, Massachusetts (which might have been left by Vikings ) and Venezuela, and Arabic tokens in Tennessee, Indiana and New York.

Late Medieval European mapmakers seem to have possessed information about far-off lands to the west – especially Martellus and Behaim. The Zeno and Piri Reis maps hint at much greater knowledge of the geography of the world than we think. Apparently a forefather of Nicolo Zeno accompanied Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, to spend nine years in America from 1395, following the old Viking north Atlantic route. This cartographical issue is a complex area, though it deserves further research. The Catholic church held a flat earth to be true doctrine, and geographers who questioned this were persecuted, not least Mercator. Behaim and others, however, marked significant lands west over the Atlantic on their maps.

In the period immediately preceding Columbus’ celebrated landfall, there seems to have been some European activity in North America. In 1472, Diedrich Pining and Johannes Skolp appear to have landed in Newfoundland and charted numerous islands. There are signs that the Portuguese had discovered the Americas before Columbus, holding their voyages secret until a near-war broke out between Portugal and Spain when the Pope gave the Spaniards exclusive rights to colonise the ‘Indies’. The known voyages of Diogo de Sevill in 1427 and Cabral in 1431 to the Azores, and the several voyages of Joao Fernandez between 1431 and 1486 can be construed as possible secret visits to the Americas. There is also incomplete evidence, including notes by Columbus himself, to show that merchant adventurers from Bristol were visiting the Americas in the 1470s, the Genoese John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) amongst them.

© Palden Jenkins, 1996-2002. These essays may be quoted with proper attribution and printed out in single copies for personal use and study, without permission

[bobdrake12]

Christopher Columbus,
After original by Achile Canessa

_______________________________________

The question remains: What did Columbus really know?

Might Columbus have intentionally kept secrets (such as navigational secrets and at least one secret map) and essentually took these secrets to his grave? After all, how much was the eventual conquest of the Aztec Empire and Incan Empire (along with the Spanish immigration during the late 16th century) worth to Spain or any country that could exploit this opportunity?

Also, could there any truth to the legend that Christopher Columbus did not discover America in 1492, but rather seven years earlier on a secret mission for the Pope?

In such matters, it is sometimes worthwile to ask the question: Who benefited from the decimation of the Incan and Aztec populations as well as the loss of their culture (including the prevention of any form of their native religion)?

While history seems to have discounted those who might have come before Columbus, such as the Phoenicians, can the adept afford to do this?

What do you think?

Bob






________________________________________

http://www.heritage....n/geo_know.html


Geographical Knowledge at the Time of the Cabot Voyages

During the late 15th century, Europe was on the verge of geographical expansion. Motives for exploration in the medieval era were diverse.




An exchange of navigational knowledge between scholars and mariners
The Renaissance revolutionized navigational methods and techniques during the medieval period. This new type of thinking spurred advances in such scientific endeavours like geography, astronomy and cosmology. As a result, seafaring was altered significantly. Not only were new navigational instruments developed, but changes in cartography occurred as well.

From Willem Janszoon Blaeu, The Light of Navigation (Amsterdam: William Iohnson, 1622) frontispiece. Found in A.W. Pollard and G.R. Redgrave, A short-title-catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland, & Ireland and of English books printed abroad, 1475-1640 (London: Bibliographical Society, 1976-1991). STC reference # 3112, reel # 1127. Copy courtesy of the microfilm at the Queen Elizabeth II Library, St. John's, Newfoundland. Original housed in The Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C., USA.


Some believe pressures on the spice trade routes forced Europe to seek other possibilities for importing these goods, others invoke personal initiative as the basic engine of European exploration. Restrictions upon diet and meat consumption by the Catholic Church was also an important factor in finding new fishing grounds and this in itself is held by many as the underlying reason for the exploration of the North Atlantic. No matter what the specific motives were, the principal force for exploration was an economic one.

It is hard to determine what Europeans mariners of this era knew of the North Atlantic. We can only guess at specifics by studying contemporary maps. We also don't know if many Europeans had knowledge of Norse explorations and settlements from Greenland to Vinland. Papal knowledge of Greenland seems to have extended to the late 15th century, but the settlements had met with failure and the island-colony had faded away from the European psyche.

Mythical islands in the North Atlantic were plentiful: the islands of Saint-Brendan, Hy-Brazil, the islands of Seven Cities and Frisland to name a few.




Late 16th century world map based on Icelandic writings. The mythical island of 'Frisland' (Frifland) is situated north of the compass rose and just below Iceland (Ifland). Many medieval and early Renaissance scholars falsely perceived that the North Atlantic ocean contained numerous islands and was surrounded by a continuous coastline. This notion is represented by this 1706 reproduction of a 16th century world map by Sigurd Stefánsson.

Reproduction of Sigurd Stefánsson's 16th century map, published in 1706 by Torfæus from 'Gronlandia Antiqua.' From Jónas Kristjánsson, Icelandic Sagas and Manuscripts (Reykjavik, Iceland: Saga Publishing Co., ©1970) 16.


These islands are held by some as being rooted in a long forgotten discovery of North America by Irish monks. Other mythical or phantom islands may have been added to maps because of optical illusions, icebergs drifting in the distance, or just pure legend.

Some ethnic minorities of Western Europe argue that their forefathers were the first to discover North America, long before any official exploration schemes were undertaken, but that the knowledge of such voyages was kept a secret for commercial reasons. Such is the case with the Basque and Bretons whose claims are taken more seriously than others. However, little factual evidence is available to support their argument. What is known is that these peoples were among the first to harvest the riches of the Oceans of the New World.

A commonly held 20th century misconception alleges that the people of the 15th century believed the earth was flat, and that geographical knowledge of the era was rudimentary. According to this view, Columbus was a visionary who proved the earth was a sphere. In fact, map-making was much more advanced and sophisticated than once believed, and the belief that the earth was spherical was held by most prominent intellectuals and educated people of the time. Progress in navigational skills, geography, technology and ship building were the major achievements that made European expansion possible, regardless of beliefs.




A page from a 15th century book entitled Imago Mundi (Image of the World). This book was written in 1410 by French scholar Pierre d'Ailly and published in 1480. From the annotations which appear in the margins of this page, it is known that Christopher Columbus read this copy before embarking on his 1492 voyage. Asserting that the Atlantic Ocean was relatively narrow, d'Ailly wrote that it 'was not so great that it can cover three quarters of the globe.' This shows that most people believed the earth to be a sphere. D'Ailly's book was one of the scholarly works which encouraged Columbus in his belief that the shortest route to Asia was to the west.

From Richard Humble and the editors of Time-Life Books, The Explorers (Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books Inc., ©1979) 56. Courtesy of the Biblioteca Colombina, Institución Colombina, Seville, Spain.


The idea of transatlantic voyages was first presented to Western European monarchs during this era by Paolo del Pozzo Toscanelli, a Florentine intellectual, as early as 1474. He held many ideas regarding the possibility of transatlantic voyages and actually combined his knowledge of cartography and mathematics to create a theoretical map of the Atlantic. The decisive moment came when the idea of a westward trip to Asia seemed feasible and profitable. We must not forget that from Cabot to Cartier, all initially thought they had found a passage to Cathay and Cipango: China and Japan.




Reproduction of Toscanelli's Map, 1474.

From Lawrence J. Burpee, An Historical Atlas of Canada, (Toronto: Thomas Nelson and Son Limited, 1927) 4. Map by John Bartholomew and Son, Ltd., Edinburgh Geographical Institute.


Mapmaking during the late 15th century, although considered rudimentary by today's standards, was in fact quite advanced. One of the oldest globes, created by Martin Behaim, dates from the same year Columbus reached the New World, and we know that this globe and its author had little connection with Christopher Columbus. Advances in science and navigation, such as a wider and generalized use of the mariner's compass, helped to make mapping from direct observation possible. Traditional medieval mapping practices were gradually being abandoned and replaced with a more scientific and mathematical approach.

What is very likely is that the discoveries of new lands by Columbus, Cabot, Corte-Real, Verrazano and other explorers kept the ongoing revolution in cartography alive. This large amount of new knowledge, being acquired in a relatively short time, not only fostered a greater desire to incorporate new data in charts but also accelerated the evolution of techniques used to gather this information.

[Saille Willow]

Inscriptions in the ogam alphabet have been found in Colorado and Eastern Tennassee

From Bobdrake

The existence of an Ogham 'Rosette Stone' was brought to the attention of Bruce Mac Donald of the Epigraphic Society in America by Brenda Sullivan of the South African Epigraphic Society, in 1979. It is a slate, which had been given to Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa, when he was in Zambia.The stone have parrallel inscriptions in Ogham, Kufic Arabic and ancient Egyptian hieroglyps. In Bruce Mac Donald's poinion it dates AD 1000 at the latest, but other estimates put the age of the stone at up to 3 000 years. It is called tha Zambian Stone. [Liz and Collin Murray]

The Ogham is called coolu or igamm in Zulu. To this day Zulus call a written letter 'igam'.
Examples of the Ogham have also been found in the tomb of Ramses VI [1160-1148 BC]

Credo has seen rock engravings identical to the ones in Southern Africa, near the Colorado river. He has pointed out numerous rocks of sacrifice, upon which human sacrifices were performed in honor of Bel or Baal. On these rocks Bel is depicted as a figure with a large head with rays shooting out of it, which represents the god Bel with the disk of the sun forming his head and the rays around the halo spelling the name 'Bel, Lord of the sun.'

[bobdrake12]

Saille Willow,

Thanks so much for your input on the Ogam writings including the Ogam 'Rosette Stone' .

I have included some more information on the Ogam writing finds in Oklahoma.

Best regards,

Bob


http://www.viewzone.com/ogam.html




by Gary Vey for ViewZone


The idea that he had discovered evidence of ancient Europeans and Asians in the panhandle of Oklahoma was not unusual to Bill McGlone. He spent the better part of his life examining and researching the petroglyphs that were etched into the cliffs, peaks and caves all around his home in La Junta, Colorado.





I first met Bill when I visited La Junta to explore the possibility that an Arabic language, now extinct for millennia, was mingled with the etchings and doodling of the Plains Indians. My first impression was that he looked like Burl Ives and had the gentle friendliness of Captain Kangaroo. He was too weak to rise from his chair and I was soon to learn that his health would not permit his guidance when we examined the petroglyphs.

Bill was an engineer and a scientist. He quickly turned the misfortune of his illness into a more "empirical and objective" way for the ViewZone feature to be researched. Bill had drawn a detailed map of the entire region with landmarks and arrows pointing to a cliff and "Look here." Much of the passage was through cattle that were grazing in huge acreage that was bordered every mile by dirt streets numbering, "26, 25, 24...etc.," and, "G, H, I..." My little Geo Prism would have made a brilliant star in some Marlborough, macho commercial. But the map did its work and I finally located a remote part of the National Grasslands and followed the arrows to a narrow cave.





Since Bill's discovery, the Park Service has been moved to protect the cave from vandalism. An iron cage has been erected to block the entrance and the cave can only be accessed with a key from the local Park Ranger. Luckily for us, Bill had secured the key in advance. We were able to enter the cave and set up our camera equipment to capture the anticipated spectacle.

The area was boxed in by high canyons on three sides. There was a sandy river running through the central flat courtyard and the many petroglyphs were etched into the cliff walls, facing this courtyard. These can be viewed in a previously posted story about Picket Wire Canyon. In the midst of one of these cliff walls there was a crack about sixteen feet high and about two feet at the widest point. Once you squeezed through the narrow opening, the cave didn't open up much more. It's walls were smooth and ran almost parallel until they narrowed to a pile of rubble about thirty feet inside the cave.

With all the markings on the cliffs surrounding it, this smooth rock was unblemished except for two unusual group of lines. The first was etched along a protrusion or bump on the otherwise linear wall. The other group of lines was located directly across from this bump. These lines were different from the Plains Indian markings and symbols. Bill McGlone has copied and studied these lines with the conclusion that they were, in fact, a written language called Ogam.

Bill explained that Celtics had a way of communicating with hand signs and that they often would write these signs to spell messages in rock or wood. A horizontal line was first drawn. Then vertical lines were arranged in groups, either above or below the line, or both. These vertical lines represented the position of the fingers, either raised or bent, or missing. By examining the group of lines in this cave, Bill had deciphered both messages, using old Celtic phonetics.






Not only do the lines translate into old Celtic, but the translation is verified by the concurrence of the alignment with the sun.

The first inscription read, "[We are the] People of the Sun." And the inscriptions on the bump, protruding from the flat wall read, "On the day of Bel, the sun will strike here."


Ogam is the oldest form of writing in Ireland and Scotland. It can still be seen inscribed on hundreds of large and small stones, on the walls of some caves, but also on bone, ivory, bronze and silver objects. The Ogam script was especially well adapted for use on sticks. Sticks are part of the Basque word for "alphabet": agaka, agglutinated from aga-aka, aga (stick or pole) and akats (notch). The meaning of the word agaka therefore isn't so much "alphabet" as "writing", a stick with Ogam notches conveying a message. The name Ogam likely comes from oga-ama, ogasun (property, wealth) ama (Priestess, mother) property of the Priestess, which indicates that the script may originally have been designed for use by the clergy of the pre-Christian religion.

Ogam may have originated in Libya, from where the first Gnostic missionaries are thought to have come. It was adopted and further developed by the first (Gnostic) monks in Ireland around 350 A.D. Our earliest information indicates that they were not sure as to where Ogam came from. According to the "Auraicept" the origin of Irish and Ogam must be sought in the Near East: "In Dacia it was invented, though others say it was in the Plain of Shinar" (line 1105-06). A "made in Ireland" version is recorded in "In Lebor Ogaim" in which the inventor is "Ogma mac Elathan who is said to have been skilled in speech and poetry and to have created the system as proof of his intellectual ability and with the intention that it should be the preserve of the learned, to the exclusion of rustics and fools" ( McManus 8.4). The script was used by the Gnostic monks as a monument script between 450 and 800 A.D. and the succeeding Roman Catholic Benedictines used it for literary purposes between ca 700 and 900 A.D. Every time the script was inscribed in stone it must have been used thousands of times on sticks, for which medium the script was obviously designed. Over 600 Ogam inscriptions are known from Ireland (collected by R.A.S. Macalister), some 40 from Scotland ( A. Jackson) and a growing number from the east coast of North America. The fact that not a single one had been successfully translated is not so much the fault of the monks who wrote the texts, as of our linguists, all of whom assumed that the language of the script was Gaelic. However, this assumption appears to be without foundation, because the syntax of he Gaelic language in no way lends itself to be written in traditional Ogam.




Only on the Summer Equinox is the inscription illuminated by the rising sun in a way that suggests it was intentionally carved to mark this important day of the year.


This would have been enough for most explorers but Bill was also a scientist. He discovered that the "day of Bel" -- or Balentine, was the Summer Equinox, on June 21st. Bill and some companions stakes out the cave many days prior to the Equinox and watched the sun's rays angle a shaft of morning light through the Eastern facing cave. The pattern was different every morning but there was no illumination of the bump. Then, on the morning of the Equinox, Bill and his friends witnessed and photographed the rays of light fully illuminating the inscription.

This may not prove Bill's case though. The interior of the cave, although very old, is protected from the patina that usually forms on rock surfaces exposed to the elements and assists in determining age. If these are Ogam, they could have been placed here at any time by someone with the knowledge of Celtic. The face that there is little Native American inscriptions in the cave may suggest that either the cave was somehow blocked or that the symbols pre-dated the Indians and were respected as sacred.

Of course, there are many other possibilities. It could be, as Bill conjectured, that explorers came up the Mississippi and followed the river system clear to the base of the Rocky Mountains. Perhaps they camped in the area for a while and then moved on. Or maybe they are buried somewhere in the canyon.

Bill McGlone is sadly gone now. His work is largely abandoned as traditional academics always scowled at Bill's tenacity and creative thinking. If I had not seen the mile upon mile of ancient petroglyphs, in a writing system far different from traditional Native Americans, I would be able to let go of Bill's ideas. But I have seen them. They are right now out in the hot Colorado sun, being worn and tarnished by the elements, once more free to hide the untidy bits of history that just might reveal something about ourselves that we didn't know...