Ancient World Review

The 3000-Yr-Old Temple Of Chavin de Huantar

National Geographic documentary from 2014?

Notes: "The archaeological site of Chavin gave its name to the culture that developed between 1500 and 300 B.C. in this high valley of the Peruvian Andes. This former place of worship is one of the earliest and best-known pre-Columbian sites. Its appearance is striking, with the complex of terraces and squares, surrounded by structures of dressed stone, and the mainly zoomorphic ornamentation." Source: UNESCO World Heritage List.

Chavin de Huantar was a ritual center and pilgrim's destination as well as a major trade hub. "More so than its stunning architecture, Chavín de Huántar was a place of great mystical significance. A shaman elite wielded immense power through the use of drugs, architectural conceits, and the aegis (or threat) of divine sanction. Indeed, though religious rites are hardly attestable, this is in part due to their malleability at the hands of the shamans." Source: Global Heritage Fund. In other words, the religious practices at Chavin de Huantar are hard to reconstruct because the shamans adapted their rituals to suit the circumstances.

The site was occupied by pre-Chavin peoples as long ago as 3000 BC. The Chavin Culture built the temple sometime during the mid 2nd - mid 1st millenium BC and it became a major ceremonial center with its own oracle, shamans and a small elite with a direct pipeline to the gods. The Chavin civilization began to decline around 500-300 BC, perhaps as a result of a general loss of political unity in the Andean world.

In 2012, Popular Archaeology reported that "... a recent archaeoacoustic study suggests that the ancients of the 3,000-year-old Andean ceremonial center at Chavín de Huántar, in the central highlands of Peru, practiced a fine art and science of manipulating sound with architecture to produce desired sensory effects. With the assistance of architectural form and placement, and sounds emitted from conch-shell trumpets, the oracle of Chavín de Huántar 'spoke' to the ancient center's listeners."

In other words, the "voice of the oracle" was an acoustical trick. In fact, if there was a voice, it had to be a trick (unless you think that oracles are real). The shamans and temple priests were probably running a con on the gullible pilgrims who visited the temple and the pronouncements of the oracle could have been one of the ways they exerted control over their neighbors.

Related: Exploring Chavin de Huantar - Stanford University.

The Temple Of Apollo At Didyma, Turkey

This is the temple of Apollo at the Ionian sanctuary of Didyma in Turkey. According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary, the oracular shrine of Apollo "was administered by a priestly clan, the Brnachidae, and rose to great prominence in the 6th cent. BC." The fate of the sanctuary "seems to have been sealed by an oracle given in AD 303, advising Diocletian to initiate his empire-wide persecution of the Christian church. Constantine I closed the oracle, and executed the priests; it appears not to have functioned thereafter."

In other words, the oracle was shut down in retaliation for its advice to Diocletian.

More Attacks On Christian Churches (Sept. 2020)

Video from Aug. 2019. These attacks have been going on for years now.

"Vatican City, Sep 8, 2020 / 06:30 am MT (CNA).- Attacks on churches in France are back to their 'normal' level following a nationwide lockdown, according to an organization led by young Catholics." (Catholic News Agency)

Note: "Since 2017, the Paris-based L’Observatoire de la Christianophobie (Observatory of Christianophobia) has recorded anti-Christian incidents in France month by month on interactive maps. The most recent map available, for August 2020, shows 11 incidents, comprising six acts of vandalism and five thefts. The Observatory recorded nine disturbances on its map for August 2019."

Video from Sept. 10, 2020.

"T. CATHARINES, Ontario, September 9, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — A tabernacle stolen from a Canadian Catholic cathedral early Tuesday morning was found Wednesday lying in a canal — but the consecrated Hosts that had been in it were nowhere to be seen.

"Two people were caught on surveillance cameras breaking into St. Catherine of Alexandria Cathedral about 4:30 A.M. on September 8, Catholic News Agency reported."

Note: Over the years, there have been dozens of cases in Canada and the US of thieves stealing tabernacles for whatever reason. Motives seem to range from simple vandalism to host desecration, general anti-Catholic sentiment and theft for financial gain (some of these tabernacles are valuable or apparently valuable historical relics). In some cases, Satanists may have been after the consecrated wafers for ritual use:

"... a Black Mass takes the Catholic Mass and inverts it, intentionally mocking the Catholic celebration. Participants often use a consecrated Eucharistic host and desecrate it, using it in obscene ways. This is one of the reasons why tabernacles in Catholic churches have locks and why some parishes have an usher stand next to a communion line. Both policies aim at protecting the Eucharist from being used in a Black Mass." (Wikipedia)

Video from Sept. 17, 2020.

"A statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe was vandalized at Shrine Church of Our Lady of Solace. Praying for the church, as parishioners come together to raise funds to repair the statue important to the whole #ConeyIsland community. @TabletNewspaper https://t.co/aBkhpnClbF." - — Diocese of Brooklyn (@BrooklynDiocese) September 16, 2020. (CBS New York).

Video from Sept. 15, 2020.

"EL PASO, Texas, September 17, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – In yet another instance of vandalism directed at churches and religious symbols, a 30-year-old man on Tuesday toppled and destroyed a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus located on the high altar of the cathedral in El Paso, Texas.

"St. Patrick Cathedral, north of downtown, was vandalized on Sept. 16 at around 10 am, the diocese announced on Instagram. 'A suspect came into the sanctuary at St. Patrick Cathedral and destroyed the almost 90-year-old statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was located in the center behind the main altar of the church. The church was open and available for prayer.'" (LifeSite News)

Comment: These are only a few of the incidents which have been reported this month. A simple search will turn up hundreds of cases stretching back for years. Vandalism, arson, attacks on priests and in some cases mass shootings have been taking place in churches all around the world for some time now, and the Catholic church seems to be a prime target. I haven't been able to find any statistical evidence to support this conclusion, but my impression is that these attacks have been increasing dramatically for the last decade. Maybe that just reflects the fact that they're being reported more often -- I don't know -- but some sources believe that "these shocking events are undeniable proof that religious hostility is rising across America." (First Liberty) Whatever the case, these attacks are just another symptom of the ongoing collapse of the West.

Related: Desecration of Catholic Churches Across U.S. Leaves Congregations Shaken (WSJ, July 22, 2020).

Attacks on Catholic Statues Continues Over Weekend (CNA, July 20, 2020).

Churches Burned and Statues of Mary Vandalized in Churches Across U.S. (Rome Reports, July 13, 2020).

The Nekyomanteion: Greek Oracle Of The Dead

The video above shows the underground chamber of the Nekyomanteion, aka the Necromanteion, the "Oracle of the Dead," which the ancient Greeks believed was the door to Hades -- the Greek underworld, not the Hell of Christianity.

"The Necromanteion ... was an ancient Greek temple of necromancy devoted to Hades and [his wife, the goddess of he underworld] Persephone." (Wikipedia). "According to tradition, it was located on the banks of the Acheron river in Epirus, near the ancient city of Ephyra. The site was believed by devotees to be the door to Hades, the realm of the dead."

Note: Technically, Nekyomanteion is a term for "the prophecy-place of the dead," but it is also used as a place name.

"The Greeks used several terms for oracles of the dead. Nekyomanteion, 'prophecy-place of the dead' is found first, in the 5th century BC." Source: "The Ancient Greek Orackles Of The Dead," Daniel Ogden (PDF).

"Although there were many oracles in ancient Greece, there is only one known oracle of the dead (1)," according to Atlas Obscura. "It was an entryway to the underworld, and a place where the shades of the dead could - under special circumstances - reveal the future to the living. It was the place that Homer sent Odysseus to seek advice from a long-dead oracle, and where he was horrified by visions of Hades, and it also appears in a sordid chapter of Herodotus' Histories."

Odysseus visits Hades (plus later encounter with Scylla and Charybdis). From the great 1997 miniseries The Odyssey. Highly recommended.

"Communicating with the dead, however, was not limited to the famous characters in the writings of the ancient Greek authors," according to Ancient Origins. "Regular citizens [also visited] the Necromanteion to seek counsel with the dead. They would first enter a dark chamber before performing certain elaborate rituals intended for their own protection and to gain the ability to communicate with the deceased. After this, a priest would lead them into a deeper chamber, where a ritual animal sacrifice would be performed, before passing through three gates which symbolised their entry into the Underworld. The celebrants would now be able to speak to the spirits of the Underworld."

(1) The Atlas Obscura is incorrect when it says that there was only one Greek oracle of the dead. According to the Ogden paper cited above, there were four major oracles: "Acheron in Thesprotia [the oracle discussed here -- named after the river], Avernus in Campania [Italy], Heracleia Pontica on the south coast of the Black Sea, and Tainaron at the tip of the Peloponnese's Mani Peninsula."

Note: As mentioned in the footnote above, the oracle on the Acheron river was located in Thesprotia. According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd ed. revised), the Thesproti were "a people mentioned in Homer's Odyssey with a king of Ephyra in the Archeron valley." They formed "a tribal state which entered the Epirote Alliance and the Epirote Confederacy, sided with Rome in 170 BC, and survived under the Roman settlement." 

Alexander And The Oracle Of Siwa

This is a clip from the great Michael Wood documentary In The Footsteps of Alexander the Great. Highly recommended.

Alexander the Great visited Egypt (which had capitulated to his army) after securing Asia Minor and Syria. Preparing for his invasion of Persia, he visited the Oracle of Zeus-Ammon in the Siwah Oasis in order to consult the god about his divine parentage. Specifically, he wanted to find out if he was the son of Zeus.

That's the story, anyway. According to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, "Alexander’s belief in his own divinity was revealed to him before he left Macedon for Asia. His mother pulled him aside and recounted a series of events occurring the night before her wedding. Supposedly, Olympias was asleep in her bedchamber when a clap of thunder awakened her. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning (evidently this was the god Zeus) shot into her room and struck her in her womb - miraculously without harming her - a flash of light immediately followed."

Alexander may have actually believed he was the son of Zeus. According to Alexander of Macedon, by Philip Green (1992 ed., p. 272), "[d]espite the skepticism expressed by some modern scholars, there can be little doubt that he was anxious to clear up the very serious question of his divine parentage."

He had obvious political motivations as well. He needed divine approval for his construction of Alexandria and his invasion of Persia, and he wasn't the first ruler to grasp the advantages of being seen as a god or the son of a god. 

Next video shows the Amun Oracle in the Siwa Oasis.

Unsurprisingly, the Oracle confirmed Alexander's divine status. Or so he implied:

"Since none of his followers were admitted with him, and Alexander never revealed what took place during that famous oracular consultation (though it is just possible that the priests may have done so for a consideration), the responses he received must remain problematical. When he came out, all he would say in answer to a chorus of eager questions was that 'he had been told what his heart desired.'" -- Alexander of Macedon, p. 274.

"For a consideration" means that Alexander either bribed the priests of Zeus-Ammon into giving him the answer he wanted or paid them to keep their mouths shut about his deception. Maybe he was sincere about his quest, but a negative response would have been a disaster so he probably bought some insurance to make sure he got the outcome he needed. Unfortunately we'll never know because there were no witnesses other than the priest or priests involved.

Maybe one of them kept a diary and recorded what actually happened. That's an archaeological discovery I'd really like to see.

The Battle On The Ice 1242 AD (Updated)

Subject starts at app 0:40.

"The Battle on the Ice ... was fought between the Republic of Novgorod led by prince Alexander Nevsky and the forces of Livonian Order and Bishopric of Dorpat led by bishop Hermann of Dorpat on April 5, 1242, at Lake Peipus [see next video]. The battle is notable for having been fought largely on the frozen lake, and this gave the battle its name." Source: Wikipedia.

"The battle was a significant defeat sustained by the crusaders during the Northern Crusades, which were directed against pagans and Eastern Orthodox Christians rather than Muslims in the Holy Land. The Crusaders' defeat in the battle marked the end of their campaigns against the Orthodox Novgorod Republic and other Slavic territories for the next century."

It's easy to forget that the Crusades weren't just fought against Muslims in the so-called Holy Land, but also against pagans and other Christians in Europe. Technically, a crusade was any church-sanctioned campaign and military/religious orders, i.e., organized gangs, like the Teutonic Knights were used to forcibly convert or slaughter unbelievers and suppress rivals to Rome's hegemony. And these "holy warriors" went rogue sometimes, operating like bandits or mercenaries in the pursuit of their own interests when they weren't massacring Jews and Saracens or attacking Christian kingdoms.

This is how "orthodox" Christianity took over the West. The Eastern Orthodox Church managed to stand up to the onslaught, however. It is now the second largest Christian church in the world, due in large part to its military victories over Catholic forces:

"The legacy of the battle, and its decisiveness, came because it halted the eastward expansion of the Teutonic Order [1] and established a permanent border line through the Narva River and Lake Peipus dividing Eastern Orthodoxy from Western Catholicism. The knights' defeat at the hands of [Alexander Nevsky's] forces prevented the crusaders from retaking Pskov, the linchpin of their eastern crusade. The Novgorodians succeeded in defending Russian territory, and the crusaders never mounted another serious challenge eastward. Alexander was canonised as a saint in the Russian Orthodox Church in 1574." (Wikipedia)

[1] "Throughout the 13th and 14th century CE the Catholic Teutonic knights crusaded in Prussia and the Baltic area mainly against pagan Lithuanians and Orthodox Russians, but as the order was bent on expansion for its own sake, many other nationalities were fought besides those." (Ancient History Encyclopedia)

From the 1938 film Alexander Nevsky directed by Eisenstein. Music by Prokofiev. Full movie can be found here.

Despite the fact that he agreed to pay tribute to the Golden Horde, Alexander Nevsky is a legendary figure in Russia, a major national hero. Churches and cathedrals have been named after him. "On 24 September 2008, St. Alexander Nevsky was declared the main hero of Russia's history by popular vote ... In December 2008, he was voted the greatest Russian in the Name of Russia television poll." (Wikipedia)

"Hail and take heed, this is the tale one of the most famous Russian Heroes in history, second only to perhaps Vladimir of Kiev, the Baptizer of All Rus’. Few leaders have captured the hearts and minds of the Russians like Alexander Nevsky, who was voted Russia’s greatest leader of all time in 2008." Source: Russia Insider (2018).

The Temple Of Isis In Pompeii

"The Temple of Isis is a Roman temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis. This small and almost intact temple was among one of the first discoveries during the excavation of Pompeii in 1764." (Wikipedia)

"... The preserved Pompeian temple is actually the second structure; the original building built during the reign of Augustus was damaged in an earlier earthquake of 62 AD. Seventeen years later with the massive volcanic eruption, the Iseum [Isis temple] alone was the sole temple to be completely rebuilt—ahead even of the Capitolium."

Next video shows the standing ruins of the temple as they appeared in 2009. All of its wall paintings and statues were apparently moved to the Archaeological Museum at Naples.

"The worship of Isis was [originally] treated with suspicion in official circles because of its associations with Ptolemaic Egypt," according to Pompeii: The Last Day by Paul Wilkinson (p.47). "After the annexation of Egypt by Augustus in 30 BC, however, attitudes relaxed and by AD 38 Rome itself had a Temple of Isis. The cult of Isis had its own full-time priests, whereas the more official Roman religions did not."

More views of the temple (including the entrance to an underground ritual purification chamber) can be seen in the next video. Turn up the volume.

According to Pompeii: The Last Day (pp. 176-177), "The sanctuary around the Temple of Isis is enclosed by walls on its east and north sides. It adjoins the Samnite Gymnasium [1] to the west and the theaters to the south. Very little is left of the original temple because it had been almost completely destroyed by the earthquake of AD 62. It was completely rebuilt in interesting circumstances by Numerius Popidius Celsinus. He was a six-year-old child who was admitted into the ruling body of Pompeii, the collegium decurionum, as a reward for his generosity (his father having actually provided the finances)." [2]

[1] "In the 5th century BC, the Samnites conquered [Pompeii] (and all the other towns of Campania); the new rulers imposed their architecture and enlarged the town. After the Samnite Wars (4th century BC), Pompeii was forced to accept the status of socium of Rome, maintaining, however, linguistic and administrative autonomy. In the 4th century BC, it was fortified. Pompeii remained faithful to Rome during the Second Punic War." (Wikipedia)

[2] According to Wilkinson, Numerius Popidius Celsinus was the name of the six-year-old child, but other sources give this as the father's name. It's possible that they both had the same name, however. One of the temple inscriptions reads "'Numerius Popidius Celsinus, son of Numerius, rebuilt at his own expense from its foundations, the Temple of Isis, which had collapsed in an earthquake; because of his generosity, although he was only six years old, the town councilors nominated him into their number free of charge.'" Source: The Post Hole. The Latin and an English translation of the inscription can be found here.

Note: The video above is part of a longer lecture series on a variety of ancient history topics.

Isis was an important deity in Pompeii, probably because of the goddess's association with water:

"Because this temple served the Isis cult and was not a public civil space, the Temple of Isis, or Iseum, and Isis herself must have held special meaning and value for the city of Pompeii. Pompeii’s seafaring economy and the rise of personal religion in the Roman world may explain this high value. Since Pompeii relied on commercial seafaring to support its economy, Isis’s emphasis on stable and life-giving water defeating the often treacherous, unpredictable, and sometimes-deadly water of the sea, strengthened the local cult. The confluence of architecture, art, and rituals implies why the Pompeiians so highly valued a cult sanctuary – gentle Isis, offering resurrection and regulated water, provided a comforting counterbalance to unpredictable Neptune." (The Post Hole).

Related: The Temples of Pompeii

Oriental and Mystery Cults in Pompeii

What Did Jesus Wear?

Video from 2018.

"There is no neat physical description of Jesus in the Gospels or in ancient Christian literature. But there are incidental details. From the Bible (for example, Mark 6:56) you can discover that he wore a mantle – a large shawl ('himation' in Greek) – which had tassels, described as 'edges'; a distinctively Jewish tallith in a form it was in antiquity. Usually made of wool, a mantle could be large or small, thick or fine, coloured or natural, but for men there was a preference for undyed types." Source: The Conversation.

"He walked in sandals, as implied in multiple Biblical passages (see Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:7, 6:9; John 1:27), and we now know what ancient Judaean sandals were like as they have been preserved in dry caves by the Dead Sea.

"He wore a tunic (chitōn), which for men normally finished slightly below the knees, not at the ankles. Among men, only the very rich wore long tunics. Indeed, Jesus specifically identifies men who dress in long tunics ('stolai', Mark 12:38) as wrongly receiving honour from people who are impressed by their fine attire, when in fact they unjustly devour widows’ houses."

"Jesus’s tunic was also made of one piece of cloth only (John 19:23-24). That’s strange, because mostly tunics were made of two pieces sewn at the shoulders and sides. One-piece tunics in first-century Judaea were normally thin undergarments or children’s wear. We shouldn’t think of contemporary underwear, but wearing a one-piece on its own was probably not good form. It was extremely basic."

Comment: All of this assumes, of course, that Jesus actually existed.

The Eastern Jesus

Video from 2018.

"Over the past few years, the authorities in Beijing have given churches across the country orders to 'Sinicize' their faith. According to detailed five-year plans formulated by both Catholic and Protestant organizations, much of this process involves the predictable palaver of state control: 'to actively practice core values of socialism, love the motherland passionately, support the leadership of the Communist Party, obey the law and serve society.'" Source: New York Review Of Books.

"But the authorities want more than just political control; they want a say over Christianity’s spirit, too. According to one document, 'Chinese styles' are to be promoted in the religion’s 'building, painting, music, and art,' and also in Christian liturgy and theology. Other documents speak of reflecting Chinese traditions, but what this means isn’t exactly clear — perhaps filial piety, ancestor worship, and explicitly rejecting foreign influence."

Evidence Of Human Sacrifice Discovered At The Neolithic Site Of Shimao In China

Video from Aug. 10, 2020.

"Shimao ... is a Neolithic site in Shenmu County, Shaanxi, China. The site is located in the northern part of the Loess Plateau, on the southern edge of the Ordos Desert. It is dated to around 2000 BC, near the end of the Longshan period [next video], and is the largest known walled site of that period in China, at 400 ha [app. 988 acres]. The fortifications [double stone walls] of Shimao were originally believed by to be a section of the Great Wall of China, but the discovery of jade pieces prompted an archaeological investigation." (Wikipedia)

This is a spectacular Stone-Age site. According to Archaeology World, "The digging had revealed a 230 feet high pyramid surrounded by more than six miles of protective walls and an inner sanctum containing jade artifacts, painted murals, and gruesome evidence of human sacrifice." Around 80 human skulls, mainly of young girls, were discovered buried in six pits beneath the city's eastern wall.

This isn't a recent find. According to a 2013 AFP report, the sacrifices may have been conducted as part of religious or foundation ceremonies related to the construction of the city walls:

"There may have been an outbreak of mass violence or ethnic conflict in the region at the time since 'ancient people were prone to use their enemies or captives as sacrifices...'"

Video from 2018. Shimao was discovered in 1976.

"Shimao now is the largest known Neolithic settlement in China and none of the ancient Chinese texts mentions a city residing so far north of the 'cradle of Chinese Civilization'. It had an expanse of [approximately] 1000 acres and is larger than the Central Park of New York City.  Its art and technology had influenced the northern regions and the future dynasties of China." (Archaeology World)

"Along with other discoveries at prehistoric sites, Shimao is forcing historians to rethink the origin of the Chinese civilization.

"According to the leader of the dig at Shimao, 'Shimao is one of the most important archaeological discoveries of this century.'"