At Metsamoor (modern Armenia) one of the oldest stone observatory appears to be from about 5,000 BCE. There are older carvings in the mountains that seem to date from about 7,000 BCE.
The Metsamorians were traders, and created a calendar divided into 12 months, 365 days, and accounted for the leap year. They appear to have used the star Sirius to designate truth North. They created creatures to represent a map of the stars to show the way to various places on Earth. As above, so below.
Later the Sumerians are currently credited with the creation of the zodiac, and then the Babylonians used Mul Apin "The Shining Herd" that is suggestive of longitude and latitude. Their 12 symbols were (translated with the modern constellation name in parenthesis):
Heavenly Bull (Taurus)
Twins (Gemini)
Pincers (Cancer)
Lion (Leo)
Her father was Sin (Virgo)
Heavenly Fate (Libra)
With claws and cuts (Scorpio)
Defender (Sagittarius)
Goat Fish (Capricorn)
Lord of the waters (Aquarius)
Fishes (Pisces)
Field dweller (Aries)
Could the biblical writers just be using ancient sacred numbers and symbols and weaving it into their stories?
Why are there 12:
Tribes of Israel,
Brothers of Joseph,
Judges of Israel,
Prophets of Israel,
Kings of Israel,
Apostles
In the book of Ezekiel is he really talking about the 4 corners of the zodiac? The Man is Aquarius, Lion is Leo, Ox is Taurus, and the Eagle is Scorpio.
"As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man in front; the four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle at the back'." (Ezek. 1:10)
Was Moses act of killing the bull worshippers a metaphorical act of the end of the age of Taurus and the beginning of the age of Aries? The timing would have been right. Does Jesus usher in the age of Pisces? The timing would be perfect as it started in 1 CE.
Is Jesus the Sun god?
The zodiac cross divides the four seasons and represents the sun's travel through the heavens.
The sun is life giving and saving the world from darkness. It is the divine, god's sun.
Is the story of Jesus an series of allegorical myths that represent the sun's movement through the sky?
The sun "dies" for 3 days at the winter solstice at the Southern cross in the sky and arises (stops moving South) on Dec 25th. Sirius (The star of the East.) is followed by Orions belt (The 3 kings.) On Dec 25 they point to the rising Sun.
I could go on, but I think you get the idea. What do you think?
I think astrology and religions are BS. From a historical perspective about what led to what, I think you can carve out a number of theories from all the allegorical myths. This one seems as reasonable as any other on the surface.
Also, the Gregorian calendar wasn't introduced until 1582. I'm curious if different calendars are accounted for when people suggest timelines spanning centuries.
There are some astrological references int eh bible... and when i red your leading question it occured tome that the so-called twelve tribes of isreal could be originated from the zodiac.
Archeologists believe that the Hebrews (Jews), were an amalgamation of outcasts from many tribes, and they made their traditions out of an amalgamation of cultural traditions form various regions. Teh laws in Leviticus wee meant to create a way to set their newly formed tribe apart from others, to create a sense of cultural identity and unity. Teh laws and traditions were probably pretty fluid until they got written down. Then they were considered "sacred" and "traditional".
I don't know about Jesus being the Sun God, But I've read that the Sun was reborn every morning in the constellation of Virgo at that time and place.
The Egyptians considered the Sun to be the visible likeness of the invisible god.
interesting observation. My gut tells me that some of what you said is coincidental and some of it is connected.
12 is just a common number you can find it anywhere if you look. 12 nations is a bit off and it should have been 13 given that Judea north was different than Judea south.
As a side-note I couldnt find anything about these Metsamorians. Please link the me the wiki article.
>Does Jesus usher in the age of Pisces?
Here is the problem with that. Early Christianity could only have arisen at that one moment and place. The roman occupation of Israel led to the rise of end-of-the-world cults. Moses could have lived any time but Jesus needed to be born right there and then.
>The zodiac cross divides the four seasons and represents the sun's travel through the heavens.
true but Israel doesnt have 4 seasons, they have two.
I do think you are on to something but beware of the historical fallacy of "confirmation bias" kinda easy to see what you want to see, especially since you arent reading the book in its original languages.
All I can say for certain is both of them are just as fake
Some of this sounds like the influence of the movie Zeitgeist, which is a mishmash of some fact, some fiction, and some conspiracy theory — and it can be difficult to separate what's true from what's false or merely conjecture. The number 12 is symbolic for sure, and it may have something to do with the approximate number of moon cycles in one year, but I think it's oversimplifying things to assume there's a tidy explanation for the many centuries of religious and cultural development. I think there must have been a lot contributing factors that led to the development of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. There may be a common thread with the zodiac, some tangential correlation, but I'd be hesitant to draw a causal relationship between it and Abrahamic religions.
@SteveB, yeah, there's some good stuff in there, but even in part one there are some inaccuracies and leaps to unsubstantiated claims. I think it may fit be worth watching and the looking up something like "Zeitgeist fact-checked" or "Zeitgeist debunked" and look for well-sourced critiques. I forget everything in part one, but I know there are some inaccuracies in the details of some of the other gods they reference. The problem seems to be that the movie makers aren't historians and didn't seek out primary source material, so they followed some information they found from other sources and ran with it. And that's too bad, really, because they did a good job with the movie otherwise. I think they could have done a great job had they included a historian in their research (though I'm sure that would have driven up their costs significantly).
According to Genesis, the Bible is older than the stars... which were created on the fourth day.
But seriously folks: It's certain that there was the influence of astrology. In Matthew, the "Wise men from the east" were astronomers, which were also astrologers. Both were pretty much tied together at that time.
In Babylonian, and later Persian captivity, the Israelites would be introduced to astrology which were practiced by those cultures. Yet J and E were written before captivity, so it's hard to say where their influence came from. Though numerology and the symbolism that went with it were fairly universal. Even the names of God in J and E were borrowed from other cultures.
That's it for me. Tip your astrologist.
Wow you've got some powerful theories there? Have you studied astrology?