Showing posts with label Greek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greek. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

12 Languages - "Sure!"

As I haven't posted anything for a long while, I wish to at least fill your brains with some food for thought. My goal is to someday become a polyglot, or multilingual. So everyday I'll make the effort to learn one word in 11 languages (and 1 dead language for fun). To start us off:

12 Languages - Sure!

Chinese (T): Dangran! 當然!
French: Bien sûr!
German: Sure!
Greek: Sigoura - Σίγουρα!
Hindi: Zarura ज़रूर!
Italian: Certo!
Japanese: Tashika ni! 確かに!
Korean: Mullon! 물론!
Latin: Certus
Portuguese: Claro
Russian: Koneshno! Конечно!
Spanish: Claro

Practice that! Just be careful what you're saying "sure" to.

- A Dakota Lopez blog.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Delugional

In ancient Greek mythology, the god Zeus became angry at the first race of men, the men of the "Bronze Age", so he sent a flood to destroy them. Deucalion was saved because of his prudence and piety. He and his family, along with many animals survived the flood, because they were advised to build a large chest in which they would float in. The animals came to him, and by Zeus' help the animals remained calm for the remainder of the flood.

In ancient Roman mythology, the god Jupiter, angered at the evil ways of humanity, resolved to destroy it. He was originally going to set fire to the world, but thought otherwise thinking it may also set the heavens ablaze. He asked for the god Neptune's help to flood everything except the summit of mount Parnassus, where Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha came by boat and found sanctuary.

In ancient Egyptian mythology, the people became rebellious, and the god Atum said he would return the earth to it's primordial waters, which was it's original state.

The Celtics tell tales that the heavens and the earth were actual giants, and that in a quarrel the giant of the heavens spilt it's blood. It's blood became like rain from the sky, flooding the land and all humans died except for one pair who were saved by a beneficent Titan (or god) who helped them create a ship to survive.

In China, the Supreme Sovereign ordered the water god Gong Gong to create a flood as punishment and warning for human misbehavior. Gong Gong extended the flood 22 years and people had to live in high mountain caves, fighting with wild animals for resources.

In old Victorian mythology (Victoria, being the second most populous state in Australia), Bunjil, the creator, was angry with people because of the evil they did, so he flooded the earth by urinating on it. Only a few did he spare from death, and fixed them as stars in the night sky. One couple climbed up a tree on the top of a mountain and survived. All life came from them.

In ancient Hawaiian mythology, it is said that Nuu was of the thirteenth generation of man. The gods commanded Nuu to build an ark and carry on it his wife, three sons, and males and females of all living things. Waters covered the earth. They subsided to leave the ark on a mountain overlooking a beautiful valley. The gods entered the ark and told Nuu to go forth with all the life it carried. In gratitude for his deliverance, Nuu offered a sacrifice of pig, coconuts, and awa to the moon, which he thought was the god Kane. Kane descended on a rainbow to reproach Nuu for his mistake but left the rainbow as a perpetual sign of his forgiveness.

An Alaskan tribe, Tinneh, tells that the flood was caused by a heavy snowfall. One man foresaw the flood, and warned his tribe, but in vain, as the flood trapped their mountain escape. The one man survived in a canoe he had built, and picked up animals from the water as he floated along.

Now after giving you just a few examples of flood myths out there, from around the world, not only by countries in connection with each other, but by others oceans apart and centuries in between, I'm at a loss as to how to continue. All of these stories are so incredibly similar to the one told in the ancient Hebrew book of Genesis (or in Hebrew the book would be called B'reishit), that you either have to convince yourself that what I'm telling you is completely coincidental (and probably false), or you have to accept the fact that there is undeniable proof that a great deluge did indeed happen. I did leave out major details in the story of the great flood yesterday, which I am very sorry about and plan to rectify now. You see, Noah sent a dove out to search for land and it came back with a twig in it's mouth, giving Noah a sign that the water was descending. They landed on a mountain, Mount Ararat, where God unsealed the door to the ark and let them come out. That day, as Bible record tells us, introduced the first rainbow, which symbolized God's promise that he will never send a flood to destroy mankind again. This was very similar to the one tale from Hawaii, about the rainbow, and also his name Nuu is very similar to Noah.

There were a few very distinct points that stuck out between all these stories. One included that it was a God or gods that were very angry at the first race of humans. Another was that of the animals included in the tale. Another was the mountain they landed on. The rainbow. The fact that they tried to warn other humans, but no one listened. Sometimes the name of the person was the same, or very similar. But these stories are from the ancient histories of all corners of the world. If this account, that tells that all humans descended from this man and his family who survived a great flood, were not true in some sense, then how could it be possible that nearly every walk of life has it's roots in the same mythology?

Whether you believe that it was by God's hand or not, there is abundant real-world proof that this great flood of "Noah's day" did actually occur. For instance, on many peeks of mountains today, there has been found fossils of seashells and other marine life. What do you think? I'd like to hear your thoughts.

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For a full list (or a list that is definitely full) of other flood myths around the world, please visit here. I only spoke of about 8 or 9 different tales and myths today, but I can assure you that the link above has literally hundreds more, from all nations and tribes.

(EDIT) Just to be clear, the reason I waited to post the blog until today, November 1st, is because this is the month that the great flood supposedly took place, according to Mosaic account. The seventeenth day of the second month, the month nearly corresponding with our November. Also, it ties in well with the theme I've had for the entire week, about the origins of Halloween.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Why the Ten Plagues?

Many view the accounts of miracles and grand stories written in the Old Testament (the Hebrew scriptures), as simply that: grand stories and myths. We may think of other books, such as the Odyssey, where Odysseus goes through many challenges presented by different Greek gods in his attempt to get home, or perhaps the story of how the founders of Rome (Remus and Romulus) were raised by wolves.  Both Greek mythology and Roman mythology were believed to have some significant parallels to the real world and it's inhabitants, making the myths part of their history.  Is this the same with the Hebrew tales written of in the Bible? Is the story of a great flood, Adam and Eve, the ten plagues of ancient Egypt all a form of mythology as well?

That's for you to decipher. But I do want to make mention of there being overwhelming reasoning within the beliefs of ancient Egyptians and their gods, that would give the ten plagues more specific significance than the Bible gives credit for. The account tells that the God of the Israelites sent Moses to Pharaoh to have the enslaved Israelites freed from Egyptian rule, and if Pharaoh did not comply, the God of the Israelites would punish the people of Egypt.  And ten times Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses, so ten times the land of Egypt was plagued, until finally Pharaoh let the Israelites go.  Now, for those of you who aren't familiar with the tale, this is a grossly condensed summary, and I implore you to read further into it, because it's quite the story.

But anyway, what many critics of this story fail to realize is the direct correlation between the plagues that the God of the Israelites placed on the Egyptians, and how each plague was a sign of disrespect (and/or a challenge) to many Egyptian gods and goddesses of the time, and the Egyptians in the story knew it as a sign of disrespect. I'll now go through the ten plagues and the Egyptian gods that were "challenged". (Again, this is not the full account, I'm leaving out many details as to the actual happenings of this tale, and I ask that you please check it out for yourselves. This is to point out particularly what the Bible doesn't make mention of).

1. The first plague was the turning of the Nile river into blood. This lasted for seven days, so they were without drinking water. During that time, as they prayed to Hapi (the Egyptian god of the Nile), nothing happened.

2. The second plague had to deal with frogs coming out of the Nile river. Frogs were everywhere, in the food, in their homes, and in their clothes. Heket (the Egyptian goddess of fertility) had the head of a frog.

3. The third plague was the dust all over Egypt turning into lice. Geb (the Egyptian god of the Earth) was said to be all over the dust, and by it turning to lice it meant that he was now lice.

4. (Whereas the first three plagues would also affect the Israelites, the fourth and subsequent plagues were directed solely to the Egyptians.) Khepri (the Egyptian god of creation) had the head of a fly or dung beetle, and the fourth plague was a swarm of flies.

5. The fifth plague was against the cattle of the Egyptians. They would become gravely sick and in many cases die. Sadly, the Egyptian god of protection and love, Hathor, could not help them. Hathor was commonly depicted with the horns of the cow.

6. The sixth plague brought ashes and boils on the skin of the Egyptians, rendering them "unclean" so they could not honor their gods. Isis (the Egyptian goddess of medicine) could not help them.

7. The seventh plague brought down hail from the skies. Not just ordinary hail, but the tale tells that it was hail of immense sizes and it came down in balls of fire. Nut (goddess of the sky) was nonexistent to help them.

8. The eighth plague brought shame upon their god Set (god of storms and disorder), as the God of the Israelites brought a swarm of locusts about the people of Egypt, depleting whatever crops were still available to harvest causing massive disorder.

9. The ninth plague was three days of total blackness. Nothing was visible to the people of Egypt, because the Sun was nowhere to be found. Even the Egyptian god of the sun, Ra, was powerless to the power of the Israelites God.

10. The last and final plague upon the people of Egypt was a direct challenge to the people's most powerful and highly respected god: Pharaoh himself. The pharaoh was said to be the son of the Sun god, Ra himself, made flesh. The plague that ensued killed all of Egypt's firstborn children, including Pharaoh's own son.

The Bible, although giving a much deeper explanation to these events and a much more compelling "story," does not go as far as to include the challenge that the God of the Israelites placed on the gods of Egypt. 10 out of 10 times though, the God of the Israelites proved more powerful, and this was the message behind their punishment. Can this account be considered historically accurate, though?

Thursday, October 21, 2010

"Paradise" Found

During my final year of schooling in High School, I was placed into a group of four students and asked to try and create our own utopia. I was never a studious student (doesn't seem like it right?), but this was a topic worthy of my invested time. I went home, brainstorming different facets of a "utopia" and I did a bit of research online. I wasn't fond of the word utopia, however, so I searched "paradise" in it's place. This search was far more rewarding, for the search on a utopia was too... idealistic and suited for personal pleasures.

Paradise, over time and much misconception, has changed in meaning drastically since it's origin, particularly from the meaning of its original root to the beliefs within Christendom and other religions.  Early Christians (anyone who followed in Jesus' footsteps) believed that paradise would be a restored Garden of Eden that would cover the entire earth as Matthew says the happy shall "inherit the earth" (Matt. 5:5). Some time after Jesus' death, seemingly within a short period of 2 centuries, Bishop Irenaeus (now considered Martyr and Saint) merged the ideas of a paradise and a heaven into one. Many Christians today believe this doctrine as truth, while some groups have reverted back to believing the doctrine that the earth will become a paradise after a global expurgation of evil.

The word Paradise can be traced back down the ages to the Old English (Anglo Saxon) PARADIS which came from the Latin PARADISUS which goes further back to the Greek PARÁDEISOS and even farther back to the Old Iranian (Avestan) PAIRI-DAEZA... That's a mouthful, but I find it amazing nonetheless.  The Old Iranian word pairi-daeza meant literally "a wall that surrounded a park or garden". The Persians were very meticulous about this practice about making a wall around their gardens or orchards to the point where they encouraged the Greeks into carrying out this practice, and a Greek mercenary (Xenophon) who spent time in the Iranian army called it a parádeisos.

In the 2nd century BCE, a group of seventy Greek men (a septuagint) translated the Hebrew word for paradise (Gan-Edhen) as parádeisos in reference to the Garden of Eden. And this was appropriate, as the Garden of Eden was evidently an enclosed park area. Over time, around the 13th century CE, Old English adopted the word into their language as paradis, now paradise.

I find it interesting to note the Hebrew word for paradise, though. It makes perfect sense, but it still astounds me. The Hebrew word for paradise is "GAN-EDHEN" which literally means Garden of Eden. This is what my group ended up calling our supposed utopia: Gan-Eden. But it just occurred to me to try and dig a little deeper. Our word "garden" sounds like a shortened gan-edhen, does it not? I looked it up, but the farthest back the word seems to go is the German GARTEN... I wouldn't be surprised (maybe I would actually) if our word for garden traced all the way back to the Garden of Eden.

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If you find any research on this matter, I'd be glad to look into it, as I'm just as curious myself. If you have any other questions you'd like to ask me about this article or others, please do so in the comment area below. Also, if you have any ideas as to future topics of discussion TELL ME.