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Lost City of the Anunnaki Gods Unearthed · Anunnaki Origins Podcast

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Our ancient scriptures tell us when immortality was within the
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grasp of mankind, a golden age. It was when man lived with his
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Creator in the Garden of Eden, Man tending the wonderful
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orchard, God taking strolls in the afternoon breeze.
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And the Lord God caused to grow from the ground every tree that
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is pleasant to the site and good for eating.
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And the tree of life was in the orchard, and the tree of knowing
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good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to
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water the garden, and from there it was parted and became 4
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principal streams. The name of the first is Pishen,
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and of the second Gehen, and of the third Tigris.
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And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
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Of the fruit of every tree were Adam and Eve permitted to eat,
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except the fruit of the tree of Knowing.
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But once they did, tempted by the serpent, the Lord God grew
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concerned over the matter of immortality.
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Then did the Lord Yahweh say, Behold, the Adam has become US,
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one of us to know good and evil. And now might He not put forth
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his hand, and partake also of the tree of life, and eat and
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live forever. And the Lord Yahweh expelled the
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Adam from the Garden of Eden, and he placed at the east of the
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Garden of Eden the Cherubim, when the flaming sword which
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revolveth to guard the way to the Tree of Life.
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So was Nan cast out of the very place where eternal life was
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within his grasp. But though barred from it, he
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has never ceased to remember it, to yearn for it, and to try to
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reach it. Ever since that expulsion from
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Paradise, heroes have gone to the ends of earth in search of
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immortality. A selected few were given a
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glimpse of it, and simple folk claimed to have chanced upon it.
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Throughout the ages, the search for Paradise was the realm of
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the individual, but earlier in this Millennium it was launched
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as the national enterprise of mighty kingdoms.
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The New World was discovered, so we have been led to believe,
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when explorers went seeking a new maritime route to India and
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her wealth. True, but not the whole truth.
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For what Ferdinand and Isabel, King and Queen of Spain, had
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desired most to find was the Fountain of eternal youth, a
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magical fountain whose waters rejuvenate the old and keep one
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young forever, for it springs from a well in paradise.
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No sooner had Columbus and his men set foot in what they all
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thought were the islands of India, the West Indies, then
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they combined the exploration of the new lands with a search for
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the legendary fountain whose waters made old men young again.
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Captured Indians were questioned, even tortured by the
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Spaniards so that they would reveal the secret location of
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the fountain. One who excelled in such
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investigations was Ponce de Leon, a professional soldier and
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adventurer who rose through the ranks to become governor of the
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part of the island of Hispaniola now called Haiti, and of Puerto
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Rico. In 1511, he witnessed the
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interrogation of some captured Indians.
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Describing their island, they spoke of its pearls and other
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riches. They also extolled the
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marvellous virtues of its waters.
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A spring there is, they said, of which an Islander grievously
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oppressed with old age a drunk. As a result, he brought home
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manly strength, and has practised all manly
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performances, having taken a wife again and begotten
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children. Listening with mounting
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excitement, Ponce de Leon, himself an aging man, was
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convinced that the Indians were describing the miraculous
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fountain of the rejuvenating waters.
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Their postscript that the old man who drank of the waters,
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regained his manly strength, could resume practising all
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manly performances, and even took again a young wife who bore
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him children, was the most conclusive aspect of their tale.
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For in the court of Spain, as throughout Europe, there hung
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numerous paintings by the greatest painters, and whenever
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they depicted love scenes or sexual allegories, they included
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in the scene a fountain. Perhaps the most famous of such
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paintings, Titians, Love Sacred and Love Profane, was created at
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about the time the Spaniards were on their quest in the
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Indies. As everyone well knew, the
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fountain in the paintings hinted at the ultimate love making, the
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fountain whose waters make possible all manly performances
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through eternal youth. Ponstillion's report the King
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Ferdinand is reflected in the records kept by the official
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court historian Peter Martyr de Anglaria, as stated in his
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Ducade de Orbe Novo Decades of the New World.
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The Indians who had come from the islands of Lucayos were the
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Mahamas, had revealed that there is an island in which there is a
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perennial spring of running water, of such marvellous virtue
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that the waters thereof, being drunk, perhaps with some diet,
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make old men young again. Many researches, such as Ponce
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de Leon's Fountain of Youth, History of a Geographical Myth,
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by Leonardo Oschke, have established that the Fountain of
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Youth was the most popular and characteristic expression of the
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emotions and expectations which agitated the conquerors of the
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New World. Undoubtedly Ferdinand, the King
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of Spain, was one of those so agitated, so expectant for the
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definitive news. So when word came from Ponce de
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Leon, Ferdinand lost little time.
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He at once granted Ponce de Leon a patent of discovery, dated
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February 23rd, 1512, authorizing an expedition from the island of
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Hispaniola northward. The Admiralty was ordered to
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assist Ponce de Leon and make available to him the best ships
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and seamen, so that he might discover without delay the
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island of Binini. Binini, the king made one
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condition explicit, that after having reached the island and
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learned what is in it, you shall send me a report of it.
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In March, 1513, Ponce de Leon set out northward to look for
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the island of Bimini. The public excuse for the
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expedition was a search for gold and other metals.
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The true aim was to find the Fountain of eternal Youth.
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This the seamen soon learnt as they came upon not one island,
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but hundreds of islands in the Bahamas, anchoring it island
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after island, the landing parties were instructed to
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search not for gold, but for some unusual fountain.
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The waters of each stream were tasted and drunk, but with no
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evident effects. On Easter Sunday, Pasca de
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Flores by its Spanish name, a long coastline, was sighted.
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Ponce de Leon called the island Florida, sailing along the coast
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and landing again and again. He and his men searched the
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jungled forests and drank the waters of endless springs, but
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none seemed to work. The expected miracle.
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The mission's failure appears to have hardly dampened the
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conviction that the fountain was undoubtedly there.
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It only had to be discovered. More Indians were questioned.
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Some seemed unusually young for the old ages claimed by them.
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Others repeated legends that confirmed the existence of the
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fountain. One such legend relates that
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when OL Elbis, He who Sits Above, was about to create
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mankind, he sent 2 emissaries to Earth to construct a ladder
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which would connect Earth and Heaven.
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Halfway up the ladder they were to set up a resting place with a
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pool of pure drinking waters. At the summit they were to
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create 2 springs, one for drinking and the other for
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bathing. When a man or woman grows old,
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said ol Elvis, let him or her climb up to this summit and
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drink and bathe, where upon his youth shall be restored.
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The conviction that the fountain existed somewhere on the islands
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was so strong that in 15-14, the year after Ponce de Leon's
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unfruitful mission, Peter Martyr, in his second decade,
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informed Pope Leo the 10th as follows.
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At a distance of 325 leagues from Hispaniola, they tell there
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is an island called Boyuca, alias and a Neo, which,
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according to those who explored its interior, has such an
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extraordinary fountain that drinking of its waters
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rejuvenates the old. And let your Holiness not think
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this to be said lightly or rashly, for they have spread
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word of this as the truth throughout the court so formally
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that the whole people, not few of whom are from among those
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whom wisdom or fortune distinguished from the common
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people, hold it to be true. Ponce de Leon, undaunted,
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concluded after some additional research that what he had to
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look for was a spring in conjunction with a river, the
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two possibly connected by a hidden underground tunnel.
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If the fountain was on an island, was its source a river
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in Florida? In 1521, the Spanish crown sent
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Ponce de Leon on a renewed search, this time focusing on
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Florida. There can be no doubt regarding
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the true purpose of his mission. Writing only a few decades
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later, the Spanish historian Antonio de Herrera E Tordacias
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stated thus in his Historia Heneral de Las Indias, he Ponce
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de Leon, went seeking that sacred fountain so renowned
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among the Indians, as well as the river whose waters
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rejuvenated the aged. He was intent on finding the
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spring of Bimini and the river in Florida, of which the Indians
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of Cuba and Hispaniola affirmed that old persons bathing
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themselves in them became young again instead of eternal youth.
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Ponce de Leon found death by an Indian arrow, and although the
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individual search for a potion or lotion that can postpone the
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last day may never end, the organized search under a royal
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decree did come to an end. Was the search futile to begin
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with? Were Ferdinand and Isabel and
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Ponce de Leon and the men who sailed and died in search of the
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fountain all fools childishly believing in some primitive
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fairy tales? Not the way they saw it.
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The holy Scriptures, Pagan beliefs, and the documented tale
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of great travellers all combined to affirm that there was indeed
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a place whose waters or fruits nectars could bestow immortality
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by keeping one forever young. There were still current olden
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tales left from the times when the Celts were in the peninsula
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of a secret place, a secret fountain, a secret fruit or herb
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whose Finder shall be redeemed of death.
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There was the goddess Even, who lived by a sacred brook and who
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kept magical apples in her coffer.
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When the gods grew old, they would come to her to eat of the
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apples, whereupon they turned young again, indeed Even meant
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again young, and the apples that she guarded were called the
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elixir of the gods. Was this an echo of the legend
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of Heracles? Hercules and his 12 laborers?
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A priestess of the God Apollo, predicting his travails in an
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Oracle, had also assured him. When this shall be done, thou
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shalt become one of the immortals.
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To achieve this, the last but one labor was to seize and bring
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back from the Hesperides the divine golden apples.
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The Hesperides, daughters of the evening land, resided at the
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ends of earth. Have not the Greeks and then the
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Romans left behind them tales of mortals immortalized?
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The God Apollo anointed the body of Sarpedon so that he lived the
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life of several generations of men.
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The goddess Aphrodite granted to Phaean a magic potion.
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Anointing himself with it, he turned into a beautiful youth
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who wakened love in the hearts of all the women of Lesbos.
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And the child Demophon, anointed with ambrosia by the goddess
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Demeter, would surely have become immortal were not his
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mother ignorant of Demeter's identity, to snatch him away
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from the goddess. There was the tale of Tantalus,
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who had become immortal by eating at the gods table and
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stealing their nectar and ambrosia.
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But having killed his son to serve his flesh as food for the
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gods, he was punished by being banished to the land of luscious
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fruits and waters eternally out of his reach.
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The God Hermes restored the butchered sun to life.
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On the other hand, Odysseus offered immortality by the nymph
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Calypso, if only he would stay with her forever forsook
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immortality for a chance to return to his home and wife.
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And was there not the tale of Glaucos, a mortal, an ordinary
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fisherman who became a sea God? One day he observed that a fish
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that he had caught coming in touch with a herb came back to
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life and leaped back into the water, taking the herb into his
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mouth. Glaucos jumped into the water at
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the exact same spot, whereupon the sea gods Okeanos and Tephis
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admitted him to their circle and transformed him into a deity.
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The year 1492, in which Columbus set sail from Spain, was also
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the year in which the Muslim occupation of the Iberian
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Peninsula ended with the surrender of the Moors at
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Grenada. Throughout the nearly 8
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centuries of Muslim and Christian contention of the
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peninsula, the interaction of the two cultures was immense,
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and the tale and the Koran, the Muslim holy book of the fish and
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the Fountain of Life, was known to Moor and Catholic alike.
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The fact that the tale was almost identical to the Greek
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legend of Glaucos the fisherman was taken as confirmation of its
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authenticity. It was one of the reasons for
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seeking the legendary fountain in India, the land which
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Columbus had set out to reach and which he thought he had
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reached. The segment in the Koran which
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contains the tale is the 18th Surah.
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It relates the exploration of various mysteries by Moses, the
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biblical hero of the Israelite exodus from Egypt.
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While Moses was being groomed for his new calling as a
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messenger of God, he was to be instructed in such knowledge as
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he still lacked by a mysterious servant of God.
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Accompanied by only one attendant, Moses was to go find
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this enigmatic teacher. With the aid of a single clue,
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he was to take with him a dried fish.
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The place where the fish would jump and disappear would be the
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place where he would meet the teacher.
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After much searching in vain, the attendant of Moses suggested
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that they stop and give up the search.
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But Moses persisted, saying that he would not give up until they
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reached the junction of the two strains unnoticed by them.
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It was there that the miracle happened, but when they reached
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the junction, they forgot about their fish, which took its
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course through the stream as in a tunnel.
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After journeying further, Moses said to his attendant, Bring us
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our early meal. But the attendant replied that
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the fish was gone when we betook ourselves to the rock Sawest now
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what had happened? I did indeed forget about the
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fish. Satan made me forget to tell you
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about it. It took its course through the
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stream in a marvellous way, and Moses said that was what we were
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seeking after the tail. And the Koran of the dried fish
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that came to life and swam back to the sea through a tunnel went
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beyond the parallel Greek tail by relating itself not to a
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simple fisherman, but to the venerated Moses also.
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It presented the incident not as a chance discovery, but as an
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occurrence premeditated by the Lord, who knew of the location
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of the waters of life, waters that could be recognized through
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the medium of the resurrection of a dead fish.
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The original text and a translation can be found in the
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bonus PDF under Figure 1. As devout Christians, the kin
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and Queen of Spain must have accepted literally the vision
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described in the Book of Revelation, of a pure river of
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water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of
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God in the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the
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river was there the tree of life with 12 manner of fruit.
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They must have believed in the book's promises.
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I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the
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water of life. I will give to eat of the tree
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of life, which is the midst of the paradise of God.
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And could they not be aware of the words of the biblical
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psalmist, Thou givest them to drink of thy stream of
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eternities, for with Thee is the fountain of life.
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There could thus be no doubt, as attested by the holiest
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Scriptures, that the fountain of life or the stream of eternity
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did exist. The only problem was where and
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how to find it. The 18th Surah of the Koran
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seemed to offer some important clues.
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It goes on to relate the three paradoxes of life that Moses was
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shown once he located the servant of God.
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Then the same section of the Koran continues to describe
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three other episodes, first about a visit to a land where
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the sunsets, then to a land where the sun rises, that is in
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the east, and finally to a land beyond the second land where the
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mythical people of Gog and Magog, the biblical contenders
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at the end of days, were causing untold mischief on earth.
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To put an end to this trouble, the hero of the tale, here named
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Dualcarnaine, possessor of the two horns, filled up the pass
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between two steep mountains with blocks of iron, and poured over
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them molten lead, creating such an awesome barrier that even the
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mighty Gog and Magog were powerless to scale it.
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Separated, the two could cause no more hardship on earth.
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The word Carnane in Arabic as in Hebrew, means both double horns
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and double rays. The three additional episodes
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following immediately after the Tale of the Mysteries of Moses
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thus appeared to retain as their hero Moses, who could well have
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been nicknamed dual Carnane because his face was with rays
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radiated after he had come down from Mount Sinai, where he had
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met the Lord face to face. Yet popular medieval beliefs
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attributed the epithet and the journeys to the Three lands to
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Alexander the Great, the Macedonian king who in the 4th
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century BC conquered most of the ancient world, reaching as far
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as India. This popular belief
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interchanging Moses and Alexander, stemmed from
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traditions concerning the conquests and adventures of
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Alexander the Great. These included not only the feat
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in the land of Gog and Magog, but also an identical episode of
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a dry, dead fish that came back to life when Alexander and his
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cook had found the Fountain of life.
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The reports concerning Alexander's adventures that were
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current in Europe and the Near East and medieval times were
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based upon the supposed writings of the Greek historian
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Callistenes of Olympus. He was appointed by Alexander to
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record the exploits, triumphs, and adventures of his Asiatic
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expedition, but he died in prison, having offended
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Alexander, and his writings have mysteriously perished.
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Centuries later, however, there began to circulate in Europe a
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Latin text purporting to be a translation of the lost original
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writings of Calisthenes. Scholars speak of this text as
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Pseudo Calisthenes. For many centuries it was
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believed that the many translations of the exploits of
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Alexander that were current in Europe and the Middle East all
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stemmed from this Latin pseudo Callistenes.
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But it was later discovered that other parallel versions existed
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in many languages, including Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Syriac,
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Armenian, and Ethiopic, as well as at least three versions in
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Greek. The various versions, some
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tracing their origins to Alexandria of the 2nd century
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BC, differ here and there, but by and large their overwhelming
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similarities do indicate a common source, perhaps the
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writings of Callistenes after all, or, as is sometimes
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claimed, copies of Alexander's letters to his mother Olympius
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and to his teacher Aristotle. The miraculous adventures with
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which we are concerned began after Alexander completed the
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conquest of Egypt. From the texts it is neither
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clear in which direction Alexander set his course, nor is
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it certain that the episodes are arranged in an accurate
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chronological or geographical order.
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One of the very first episodes, however, and they explained the
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popular confusion between Alexander and Moses.
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Apparently Alexander attempted to leave Egypt as Moses did, by
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parting the waters and getting his followers to cross the sea
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on foot. Reaching the sea, Alexander
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decided to part it by building in its midst a wall of molten
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lead, and his Masons continued to pour lead and molten matter
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into the water until the structure rose above its
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surface. Then he built upon it a tower
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and a pillar, upon which he carved his own figure, having
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two horns upon his head, and he rode upon the monument.
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Whosoever hath come into this place and would sail over the
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sea, let him know that I have shut it up.
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Having thus shut out the waters, Alexander and his men began to
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cross the sea. As a precaution, however, they
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sent ahead some prisoners. But as they reached the tower
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and the midst of the waters, the waves of the sea leapt up upon
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them. The prisoners and the sea
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swallowed them up, and they all perished.
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When the two horned ones saw this, he was afraid of the sea
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with unlighty fear, and gave up the attempt to emulate Moses.
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Eager, however, to discover the darkness on the other side of
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the sea, Alexander made several detours, during which he
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purportedly visited the sources of the river Euphrates and of
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the river Tigris, studying there the secrets of the heavens and
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the stars and the planets. Leaving his troops behind,
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Alexander returned toward the land of darkness, reaching a
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mountain named Nushes at the edge of the desert.
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After several days of marching, he saw a straight path which had
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no wall, and it had no high and no place in it.
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He left his few trusted companions and proceeded alone.
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After a journey of 12 days and 12 nights, he perceived the
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radiance of an Angel. But as he drew nearer, the Angel
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was a flaming fire. Alexander realized that he had
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reached the mountain from which the whole world is surrounded.
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The Angel was no less puzzled than Alexander.
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Who art thou, and for what reason art thou here, O mortal?
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The Angel asked, and wondered how Alexander had managed to
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penetrate into this darkness which no other man hath been
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able to do. To which Alexander replied that
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God himself had guided him and gave him strength to have
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arrived in this place which is Paradise.
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To convince the reader that Paradise rather than Hell was
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reachable through underground passages, the ancient author
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then introduced a long discourse between the Angel and Alexander
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on matters of God and man. The Angel then urged Alexander
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to return to his friends, but Alexander persisted in seeking
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answers to the mysteries of heaven and earth, God and men.
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In the end, Alexander said that he would leave only if he were
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granted something that no man had ever obtained.
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Before complying, the Angel said unto him, I will tell thee
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something whereby thou mayest live and not die.
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The two horned said, Say on. And the Angel said unto him, In
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the land of Arabia God hath set the blackness of solid darkness,
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wherein has hidden a treasury of this knowledge.
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There too is the fountain of water, which is called the water
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of life, and whosoever drinketh therefrom, if it be but a single
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drop, shall never die. The Angel attributed other
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magical powers to these waters of life, such as the power of
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flying through the heavens even as the angels fly.
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Needing no further prompting, Alexander anxiously inquired, In
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which quarter of the earth is this fountain of water situated?
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Ask those men who are heirs to the knowledge thereof, was the
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angel's enigmatic answer. Then the Angel gave Alexander a
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cluster of grapes whereby to feed his troops.
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Returning to his companions, Alexander told his colleagues of
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his adventure and gave them each a grape.
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But as he plucked off from the cluster, another grew in its
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place, and so did one cluster feed all the soldiers and their
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beasts. Alexander then began to make
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inquiries of all the learned men he could find.
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He asked the sages, Have you ever read in your books that God
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has a place of darkness of which knowledge is hidden, and that
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the fountain, which is called the Fountain of Life, is
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situated therein? The Greek versions have him
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searched the ends of earth for the right savant.
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The Ethiopic version suggests that the sage was right there
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among his troops. His name was Matun, and he knew
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the ancient writings. The place, he said, lieth nigh
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unto the sun when it rises on the right side.
27:21
Scarcely more informed by such riddles, Alexander put himself
27:25
in the hands of his guide. They again went into a place of
27:29
darkness. After journeying for a long
27:31
time, Alexander got tired and sent Mattoon ahead by himself to
27:36
find the right path. To help him see in the darkness,
27:40
Alexander gave him a stone which was given him earlier under
27:44
miraculous circumstances by an ancient king who was living
27:48
among the gods, a stone which was brought out of paradise by
27:53
Adam when he left it, and which was heavier than any other
27:57
substance on earth. Motoun, though careful to follow
28:00
the path, eventually lost his way.
28:03
He then produced the magical stone and put it down.
28:07
When it touched the ground, it emitted light.
28:11
By the light Motoun saw a well. He was not yet aware that he had
28:16
chanced upon the fountain of life.
28:18
The Ethiopic version describes what ensued.
28:22
Now he had with him a dried fish, and being exceedingly
28:26
hungry, he went down with it to the water, that he might wash it
28:30
therein and make it ready for cooking.
28:33
But behold, as soon as the fish touched the water, it swam away.
28:38
When Mattoon saw this, he stripped his clothes and went
28:42
down into the water after the fish and found it to be alive in
28:45
the water. Realizing that this was the well
28:49
of the water of Life, Mattoon washed himself in the waters and
28:53
drank thereof. When he had come up from the
28:55
well, he was no longer hungry, nor did he have any worldly
28:59
care, for he had become El Kadir, the Evergreen, the one
29:05
who was forever young. Returning to the encampment, he
29:10
said nothing of his discovery to Alexander, whom the Ethiopic
29:14
version calls he of the Two Horns.
29:17
Then Alexander himself resumed the search, groping for the
29:21
right way in the darkness. Suddenly he saw the stung left
29:26
behind by Mattoon shining in the darkness, and now it had two
29:31
eyes which sent forth rays of light.
29:34
Realizing that he had found the right path, Alexander rushed
29:38
ahead, but was stopped by a voice which admonished him for
29:42
his ever increasing ambitions and prophesied that instead of
29:46
attaining eternal life, he would soon bite the dust.
29:49
Terrified, Alexander returned to his companions and his troops,
29:54
giving up the search. According to some versions, it
29:57
was a bird with human features who spoke to Alexander and made
30:01
him turn back when he reached a place inlaid with sapphires and
30:05
emeralds and jacints. In Alexander's purported letter
30:10
to his mother, there were two birdmen who blocked his way.
30:14
In the Greek version of Pseudo Callistines, it was Andreas, the
30:19
cook of Alexander, who took the dried fish to wash it in a
30:23
fountain whose waters flashed with lightnings.
30:26
As the fish touched the water, it became alive and slipped out
30:31
of the Cook's hands. Realizing what he had found, the
30:34
cook drank of the waters and took some in a silver bowl, but
30:38
told no one of his discovery. When Alexander, in this version
30:43
he was accompanied by 360 men, continued their search, They
30:48
reached a place that shined, though there were neither sun
30:51
nor moon nor stars to be seen. The way was blocked by two birds
30:57
with human features. Go back, one of them ordered
31:00
Alexander, for the land on which you stand belongs to God alone.
31:05
Go back, O wretched one, for in the land of the Blessed you
31:08
cannot set foot. Shuddering with fear, Alexander
31:12
and his men turned back, but before they left the place they
31:16
took his souvenirs, some of its soil and stones.
31:19
After several days marching they came out of the land of
31:22
Everlasting Night, and when they reached light they saw that the
31:27
soil and stones they picked up were in fact pearls, precious
31:31
stones, and Nuggets of gold. Only then did the cook tell
31:36
Alexander of the fish that came to life, but still kept it a
31:40
secret, that he himself had drunk of the waters and that he
31:43
had kept some of it. Alexander was furious and hit
31:47
him and vanished him from the camp.
31:50
But the cook wished not to leave alone, for he had fallen in love
31:53
with the daughter of Alexander. So he revealed his secret to her
31:58
and gave her to drink of the waters.
32:01
When Alexander found that out, he banished her too.
32:05
You have become a godly being, having become immortal, he told
32:09
her. Therefore, he said, you cannot
32:11
live among men. Go live in the land of the
32:14
blessed. And As for the cook, him
32:17
Alexander threw into the sea with a stone around his neck.
32:22
But instead of drowning, the Cook became the sea demon and
32:26
drantic. And thus, we are told, ends the
32:30
tale of the Cook and the Maiden to the learned advisers of
32:36
Europe's mediaeval kings and Queens.
32:39
The various versions only serve to confirm both the antiquity
32:42
and the authenticity of the legend of Alexander and the
32:46
Fountain of Life. But where, oh where, were these
32:49
magical waters located? Were they indeed across the
32:53
border of Egypt, in the Sinai Peninsula, the arena of the
32:56
activities of Moses? Were they close to the area
32:59
where the Euphrates and Tigris rivers began to flow, somewhere
33:03
north of Syria? Did Alexander go to the ends of
33:07
Earth, India, to find the fountain?
33:10
Or did he embark on those additional conquests after he
33:13
was turned back from it? As the medieval scholars drove
33:17
to unravel the puzzle, new works on the subject from Christian
33:20
sources began to shape a consensus in favour of India.
33:25
A Latin composition named Alexander Magny Interad
33:29
Paradisum, a Syriac homily of Alexander by Bishop Jacob of
33:34
Sared. The recension of Josipen in
33:37
Armenian, complete with the tale of the Tummel.
33:40
The man like birds, the magical stone placed the land of
33:45
Darkness or the mountains of darkness at the ends of earth
33:50
there. Some of these writings said
33:52
Alexander took a boat ride on the Ganges River, which was none
33:56
other than the Pishin River of Paradise there in India or on an
34:02
island offshore. Did Alexander reach the gates of
34:05
Paradise? As these conclusions were taking
34:08
shape in Europe of the Middle Ages, new light was shed on the
34:11
subject from a wholly unexpected source.
34:14
In the year 1145 the German Bishop Otto of Frising reported
34:20
in his Chronicon a most astonishing epistle.
34:25
The Pope, he reported, had received a letter from a
34:28
Christian ruler of India, whose existence had been totally
34:31
unknown until then, and that king had affirmed in his letter
34:36
that the river of Paradise was indeed located in his realm.
34:40
Bishop Otto of Prising, named as the intermediary through whom
34:45
the Pope had received the epistle Bishop Hugh of Gival, a
34:51
town on the Mediterranean coast of Syria.
34:54
The ruler, it was reported, was named John the Elder, or, being
34:58
a priest, Prester John. He was reputedly A lineal
35:02
descendant of the Magi who had visited Christ the Child.
35:07
He defeated the Muslim kings of Persia and formed a thriving
35:11
Christian Kingdom in the lands of the ends of earth.
35:14
Nowadays, some scholars consider the whole affair to have been a
35:17
forgery for propaganda purposes. Others believed that the reports
35:22
which reached the Pope were distortions of events that were
35:25
really happening. The Christian world at the time,
35:29
having launched the Crusades against Muslim rule over the
35:33
Near East, including the Holy Land 50 years earlier, met with
35:37
a crushing defeat at Edessa 11:44.
35:42
But at the ends of Earth, Mongol rulers began to storm the gates
35:46
of the Muslim Empire and then 1141 defeated the Sultan Sanjar.
35:52
When the news reached the Mediterranean coastal cities, it
35:56
was forwarded to the Pope in the garb of a Christian king, rising
36:00
to defeat the Muslims from the other side.
36:03
If the search for the Fountain of Youth was not among the
36:05
reasons for the First Crusade, it apparently was among the
36:09
reasons for the following ones. For no sooner had Bishop Otto
36:13
reported the existence of Prester John and of the River of
36:16
Paradise in his realm, then the Pope issued a formal call for
36:20
the resumption of the Crusades. 2 years later, in 1147, Emperor
36:26
Conrad of Germany, accompanied by other rulers and many nobles,
36:30
launched the Second Crusade. As the fortunes of The Crusaders
36:34
rose and fell, Europe was swept anew by word from Prester John
36:39
and his promises of aid. According to chroniclers of
36:42
those days, Prester John sent in 1165 a letter to the Byzantine
36:48
Emperor, to the Holy Roman Emperor and to lesser kings, in
36:52
which he declared his definite intention to come to the Holy
36:55
Land with his armies again. His realm was described in
36:59
glowing terms as benefits. The place where the river of
37:02
paradise, indeed the gates of paradise, were situated.
37:06
The promised help never came. The way from Europe to India was
37:10
not breached open. By the end of the 13th century,
37:14
the Crusades were over, ending in final defeat at the hands of
37:18
the Muslims. But even as The Crusaders were
37:21
advancing and retreating, the fervent belief in the existence
37:24
of the waters of Paradise and India kept growing and
37:28
spreading. Before the 12th century was
37:31
over, a new and popular version of the exploits of Alexander the
37:35
Great made its way into the encampments and tan squares.
37:39
Called the Romance of Alexander, it was, as is now known, the
37:45
work of two Frenchmen who based this poetic and glowing
37:49
composition on the Latin version of Pseudo Callisthenes and other
37:54
biographies of the Macedonian hero then available.
37:58
The Knights, the warriors, the townspeople in the drinking
38:01
halls cared not who the authors were, for in language they could
38:06
understand. It vividly drew for them visions
38:09
of Alexander's adventures and strange lands.
38:12
Among these was the tale of the three wondrous Fountains.
38:16
One rejuvenated the old, the second granted immortality, the
38:21
third resurrected the dead. The three fountains, the romance
38:25
explained, were located in different lands.
38:28
Issuing as they were from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in
38:31
Western Asia, the Nile in Africa and the Ganges River in India,
38:36
These were the four rivers of Paradise, and though they flowed
38:40
in different lands, they all arose from a single source, from
38:43
the Garden of Eden, just as the Bible had stated all along.
38:48
It was the fountain of rejuvenation.
38:50
The romance related that Alexander and his men had found
38:54
it recounted his fact that 56 aged companions of Alexander
39:00
recovered the complexion of 30 years old after drinking from
39:05
the fountain of youth. As translations of the romance
39:09
carried the tale far and wide, the versions became increasingly
39:12
specific. On this point, not only the
39:14
appearance but also the manhood and virility of the aged
39:18
soldiers were restored to usefulness.
39:22
But how does one get to this fountain if the route to India
39:25
is blocked by the heathen Muslims?
39:28
On and off the popes attempted to communicate with the
39:31
enigmatic Prester John, the illustrious and magnificent King
39:35
of the Indies and beloved Son of Christ.
39:38
In 1245, Pope Beneson the 4th dispatched the Friar Giovanni da
39:43
Pian del Carpini via southern Russia to the Mongol ruler or
39:48
Khan, believing the Mongols to be Nestorians, an offshoot of
39:52
the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Khan to be Prester John.
39:57
In 1254, the Armenian ruler Priest Hathen.
40:02
Travelled in disguise through eastern Turkey to the camp of
40:06
the Mongol Chieftain in southern Russia.
40:09
The record of his adventurous travels mentioned that his way
40:13
took him via the narrow pass on the shores of the Caspian Sea
40:16
called the Iron Gates, and the speculation that his route
40:20
resembled that of Alexander the Great, who had poured molten
40:23
iron to close a mountain pass, only served to suggest that the
40:28
ends of earth, the Gates of Paradise, could indeed be so
40:32
reached. These and other papal and royal
40:36
emissaries were soon joined by private adventurers such as the
40:40
brothers Nicolo and Mafia Polo and the former San Marco Polo
40:46
and the German knight William of Bodencella, all searching for
40:50
the Kingdom of Prester John. While their travelogues kept up
40:55
the interest of church and courts, it was once again the
40:59
fate of a popular literary work to rekindle mass interest.
41:03
Its author introduced himself as I John Mondeville, Knight, born
41:08
in the town of Saint Albans in England, who passed the sea in
41:12
the year of our Lord Jesus, 1322.
41:15
Writing at the end of his travels 34 years later, Sir John
41:19
explained that he had therein set down the way to the Holy
41:22
Land and to Jerusalem, as also to the lands of the great Cain,
41:28
and of Prester John to Indy and divers other countries, together
41:34
with many and strange marvels therein.
41:36
In the 27th chapter captioned of the royal estate of Prester
41:41
John, the book The Voyages and Travels Absurd, John Mondeville
41:45
Knight states this Emperor. Prester John possesses very
41:50
extensive territory, and has many noble cities and good towns
41:54
in his realm, and many great and large Isles for all.
41:58
The country of India is divided into Isles by the great floods
42:03
that come from Paradise, and this land is full, good, and
42:07
rich. In the land of Prester John are
42:09
many divers things, and many precious stones, so great and so
42:14
large that men make thereof plates, dishes, cups, et cetera.
42:20
Sir John went on to describe the river of Paradise.
42:24
In his country is the sea called the Gravelly Sea.
42:28
Three days from that sea are great mountains, out of which
42:32
run a great river which comes from Paradise, and it is full of
42:36
precious stones without a drop of water, and it runs through
42:41
the desert on one side, so that it makes the gravelly sea where
42:46
it ends. Beyond the river of Paradise
42:50
there was a great Isle, long and broad, called Mystirac, that was
42:56
a paradise on earth. It had the fairest garden that
42:59
might be imagined, and therein were trees bearing all manner of
43:04
fruits, all kinds of herbs, of virtue and of good smell.
43:08
This paradise, Sir John states, add marvellous pavilions and
43:13
chambers, the purpose of which was diverse sexual enjoyment,
43:18
all the work of a rich and devilish man.
43:21
Having fired the imagination and greed of his readers with the
43:25
tales of precious stones and other riches, Sir John now
43:29
played on the men's sexual desires.
43:32
The place he wrote was filled with the fairest damsels that
43:36
might be found under the age of 15 years, and the fairest young
43:41
striplings that men might get of that same age, and they were all
43:45
clothed richly in clothes of gold.
43:48
And he said that they were angels.
43:51
And the devilish man had also caused to be made 3 fair and
43:57
noble wells, all surrounded with stone of Jasper and crystal,
44:01
diapered with gold, and set with precious stones and great Orient
44:06
pearls. And he had made a conduit under
44:10
the earth, so that the three wells at his will should run,
44:14
one with milk, another with wine, and another with honey.
44:19
And that place he called Paradise.
44:22
To that place the crafty man lured good nights, hearty and
44:26
noble, and after entertaining them, he persuaded them to go
44:30
and kill his enemies, telling them that they should not fear
44:33
being slain, for should they die they would be resurrected and
44:38
rejuvenated. After their death they should
44:41
come to His paradise, and they should be of the age of the
44:45
damsels, and they should play with them, and after that He
44:49
would put them in a fairer paradise, where they should see
44:52
the God of nature visibly in His Majesty and bliss.
44:57
But that, said John Mondevale, was not the real paradise of
45:01
biblical renown. That one, he said in chapter 30,
45:05
lay beyond the Isles and lands which Alexander the Great had
45:09
journeyed through. The route to it LED farther east
45:13
toward 2 Isles rich in gold and silver mines, where the Red Sea
45:18
separates from the Ocean Sea, and beyond that land and Isles
45:23
and deserts of Prester John's lordship.
45:26
In going straight toward the east, men find nothing but
45:29
mountains and great rocks, and there is the dark region where
45:34
no man can see neither by day nor night.
45:37
And that desert and that place of darkness lasts from this
45:41
coast unto terrestrial Paradise, where Adam, our first father,
45:46
and Eve were put. It was from there that the
45:50
waters at Paradise flowed. And in the highest place of
45:53
Paradise, exactly in the middle, is a well that casts out the
45:57
four streams which run by diverse lands, of which the 1st
46:01
is called Pyson or Ganges, that runs through India or Enlac, in
46:08
which river are many precious stones, and much lignum, aloes,
46:13
and much sand of gold. And the other river is called
46:17
Nile or Gaisson, which goes through Ethiopia and after
46:21
through Egypt. And the other is called Tigris,
46:24
which runs by Assyria and by Armenia the Great.
46:28
And the other is called Euphrates, which runs through
46:31
Medea, Armenia, and Persia. Confessing that he himself had
46:37
not reached this biblical Garden of Eden, John Monteville
46:40
explained, no mortal man may approach to that place without
46:44
special grace of God. So that of that place I can tell
46:48
you no more. In spite of this admission, the
46:52
many versions and many languages that flowed from the English
46:55
original maintained that the Nike had stated.
46:59
I, John de Mondeville, saw that fountain and drank 3 times of
47:04
that water with my companion. And since I drank, I feel well.
47:09
The fact that in the English version Mondeville complained
47:13
that he was sick with rheumatic gout in near the end of his days
47:17
mattered not to the many who were thrilled by the marvellous
47:21
tales. Nor did it matter then that
47:24
scholars nowadays believe that Sir John Mondeville Knight may
47:28
in fact have been a French Doctor Who had never travelled,
47:31
but very skilfully put together a travel log from the writings
47:35
of others who did take the risk and trouble of journeying far
47:39
and away. Writing about the visions that
47:42
had motivated the exploration that led to the discovery of
47:45
America, Angel Rosenblatt summed up the evidence.
47:49
Thus, along with the belief in the earthly paradise was
47:53
associated another desire of a Messianic were Faustic nature to
47:59
find the Fountain of eternal youth.
48:02
All the Middle Ages had dreamed of it.
48:05
In the new images of the lost Paradise, the Tree of Life was
48:08
converted into the fountain of life and then into a river were
48:12
spring of youth. The motivation was the
48:15
conviction that the fountain of life came from India, a fountain
48:19
that cured all ills and assured immortality.
48:23
The fantastic John Monneville had actually encountered it on
48:27
his trip to India in the Christian Kingdom of Prester
48:30
John. To reach India and the waters
48:33
that flow from paradise became a symbol of the eternal human
48:37
desire for pleasure, youth and happiness.
48:41
With the land routes blocked by enemies, the Christian kingdoms
48:46
of Europe sought a sea route to India.
48:49
Under Henry the Navigator, the Kingdom of Portugal emerged in
48:53
the middle of the 15th century as the leading power in the race
48:57
to reach the Orient by sailing around Africa.
49:01
In 1445, the Portuguese navigator Dinas Diaz reached the
49:06
mouth of the Senegal River and mindful of the voyage's purpose,
49:10
reported that men say it comes from the Nile, being one of the
49:14
most glorious rivers of earth, flowing from the Garden of Eden
49:18
and the earthly paradise. Others followed, pushing to and
49:23
around the Cape at the tip of the African continent.
49:26
In 1499, Vasco da Gama and his fleet circumnavigated Africa and
49:32
reached the cherished target India.
49:35
Yet the Portuguese who had launched the Age of Discovery
49:39
failed to win the race. Diligently studying the ancient
49:44
maps and all the writings of those who had ventured E an
49:48
Italian born seaman named Cristobal Cologne concluded that
49:53
by sailing W he could reach India by a sea route much
49:57
shorter than the eastern route sought by the Portuguese.
50:02
Seeking A sponsor, he arrived at the court of Ferdinand and
50:05
Isabel he had with him and took on his first voyage an annotated
50:10
copy of the Latin version of Marco Polo's book.
50:14
He could also point to the writings of John Mondeville, who
50:17
explained a century and a half before Columbus that by going to
50:21
the farthest E 1 arrives at the West on account of the roundness
50:26
of the earth. For our Lord God made the earth
50:29
all around. In January 1492, Ferdinand and
50:34
Isabel defeated the Muslims and expelled them from the Iberian
50:38
Peninsula. Was it not a divine sign to
50:41
Spain that what The Crusaders could not achieve, Spain would?
50:46
On August 3rd of the same year, Columbus sailed under the
50:49
Spanish flag to find a western sea route to India.
50:53
On October 12th he sighted land. Until his death in 15 O 6.
50:59
He was sure that he had reached the islands which made-up a
51:02
great part of the legendary domain of Prester John. 2
51:07
Decades later Ferdinand issued to Ponce de Leon the patent of
51:11
discovery, instructing him to find without delay the
51:15
rejuvenating waters. The Spaniards had thought that
51:18
they were emulating Alexander the Great.
51:21
Little did they know that they were following footsteps of far
51:25
greater antiquity. The short life of Alexander the
51:30
Macedonian, he died at age 33 in Babylon, was filled with
51:35
conquest, adventure, exploration, a burning desire to
51:40
reach the ends of earth, to unravel divine mysteries.
51:44
It was not an aimless search. Son of Queen Olympius and
51:49
presumably of her husband King Philip the Second, he was
51:53
tutored by the philosopher Aristotle in all manner of
51:56
ancient wisdom. So he witnessed quarrelling in
51:59
divorce between his parents, leading to the flight of his
52:02
mother. With the young Alexander There
52:05
was reconciliation, then murder. The assassination of Philip led
52:09
to the crowning of Alexander when 20 years old.
52:13
His early military expeditions brought into Delphi seat of the
52:17
renowned Oracle. There he heard the first of
52:21
several prophecies predicting for him fame but a very short
52:25
life. Undaunted, Alexander set out, as
52:28
the Spaniards did nearly 1800 years later, to find the waters
52:32
of life. To do so, he had to open up the
52:35
way to the east. It was from there that the gods
52:39
had come. The great Zeus, who swam across
52:42
the Mediterranean from the Phoenician city of Tyre to the
52:45
island of Crete. Aphrodite, who also came from
52:49
across the Mediterranean via the island of Cyprus.
52:53
Poseidon, who brought with him the horse from Asia Minor.
52:57
Athena, who carried to Greece the olive tree from the lands of
53:00
western Asia. There too, according to the
53:04
Greek historians whose writings Alexander studied, were the
53:07
waters which kept one forever young.
53:10
There was the history of Kanbai Seas, son of the Persian king
53:14
Cyrus, who went by way of Syria, Palestine and the Sinai to
53:19
attack Egypt. Defeating the Egyptians, he
53:22
treated them cruelly and defiled the temple of their God Aman.
53:26
Then he took into his heart to go South and attack the long
53:30
lived Ethiopians. Describing the events,
53:33
Herodotus, writing a century before, Alexander, said his
53:38
spies went to Ethiopia under the pretence of carrying presents to
53:42
the king, but in reality to take note of all they saw and
53:46
especially to observe whether there was really what is called
53:49
the table of the sun and Ethiopia.
53:52
Telling the Ethiopian king that 80 years was the longest term of
53:56
man's life among the Persians, the spies emissaries questioned
54:01
him regarding the rumoured long life of The Ethiopians.
54:05
Confirming this, the king LED them to a fountain, wherein,
54:10
when they had washed, they found their flesh all glossy and
54:13
sleek, as if they had bathed in oil, and a scent came from the
54:17
spring like that of violets. Returning to Chembises, the
54:22
spies described the water as so weak that nothing would float on
54:26
it, neither wood nor any lighter substance, but all went to the
54:30
bottom, and Herodotus noted the following conclusion.
54:34
If the account of this fountain be true, it would be there The
54:38
Ethiopians constant use of the water from it which makes them
54:43
so long lived. The tale of the fountain of
54:47
youth in Ethiopia, and of the violation by the Persian
54:51
Kembyses of the temple of Ammon, had direct bearing on the
54:55
history of Alexander. This concerned the rumors that
54:59
he was not really the son of Philip, but the offspring of a
55:02
union between his mother Olympius and the Egyptian God
55:06
Ammon. The strained relationships
55:09
between Philip and Olympius only served to confirm the
55:13
suspicions. An image of Alexander can be
55:16
found in a bonus PDF under Figure 3.
55:21
As related in various versions of Pseudo Callisthenes, the
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court of Philip was visited by an Egyptian pharaoh whom the
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Greeks called Nectinebus. He was a master magician, A
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diviner, and he secretly seduced Olympius.
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Unbeknown to her at the time, it was in reality the God Ammon who
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had come to her, taking the guise of Nectinebus.
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So it was that when she bore Alexander, she gave birth to a
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son of a God. It was the very God whose temple
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the Persian Cambices had desecrated, defeating the
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Persian armies. An Asia Minor, Alexander turned
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toward Egypt, expecting heavy resistance by the Persian
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viceroys who ruled Egypt. He was astonished to see that
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great land fall into his hands without any resistance, An omen
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no doubt. Losing no time, Alexander went
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to the great Oases seat of the Oracle of Ammon.
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There the God himself, so legend says, confirmed Alexander's true
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parentage. Thus affirmed, the Egyptian
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priests deified him as a pharaoh.
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Thereby his desire to escape a mortal's fate became not a
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privilege but a right. Henceforth Alexander was
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depicted on his coins as a horned Zeus Ammon.
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An image of the horned Zeus Ammon can be found in the bonus
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PDF under Figure 4. Alexander then went S to Karnak,
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the centre of the worship of Annan.
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There was more to the trip than met the eye.
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A venerated religious centre since the third Millennium BC,
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Karnak was a conglomeration of temples, shrines and monuments
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to Ammon built by generations of Pharaohs.
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One of the most impressive and colossal structures was the
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temple built by Queen at Shepshoot more than 1000 years
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before Alexander's time, and she too was said to have been a
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daughter of the God Ammon, conceived by a queen whom the
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God had visited in disguise. Whatever actually transpired
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there, no one really knows. The fact is that instead of
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leading his armies back east toward the heartland of the
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Persian Empire, Alexander selected a small escort and a
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few companions for an expedition.
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Even farther S his puzzled companions were led to believe
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that he was going on a pleasure trip, the pleasures of love
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making. The uncharacteristic interlude
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was as incomprehensible to the historians of those days as to
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the generals of Alexander. Trying to rationalize.
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The recorders of Alexander's adventures described the woman
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he was about to visit as a femme fatale, one whose beauty no
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living man could praise sufficiently.
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She was Candace, Queen of the land to the South of Egypt,
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today Sudan, reversing the tale of Solomon and the Queen of
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Sheba. In this instance, it was the
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king who travelled to the Queen's land, for unbeknown to
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his companions, Alexander was really seeking not love, but the
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secret of immortality. After a pleasant stay, the Queen
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agreed to reveal to Alexander, as a parting gift, the secret of
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the wonderful cave where the gods congregate.
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Following her directions, Alexander found the sacred
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place. He entered with a few soldiers
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and saw a starlit haze, and the rooftops were shining as if lit
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by stars. The external forms of the gods
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were physically manifest. A crowd was serving them in
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silence. At first he, Alexander, was
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frightened and surprised, but he stayed to see what would happen,
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for he saw some reclining figures whose eyes were shining
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like beams of light. The sight of the reclining
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figures with eyes emitting beams of light made Alexander stop
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short. Were they 2 gods or deified
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mortals? He was then startled by a voice.
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One of the figures had spoken up and there was one who said glad.
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Greetings Alexander. Do you know who I am?
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And he, Alexander, said No, my Lord, the other said, I am Cesan
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chooses the world conquering king who has joined the ranks of
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the gods.