The Phoenician king of Byblos, Ahiram, also known in both biblical and Freemasonic history as King Hiram had a son named, Ithobaal (Ἰθόβαλος; Hebrew Ethbaal, Ishba’al, Latin – Ithóbalos, Εἰθώβαλος; Eithṓbalos – meaning with Baal).
In the bible, Ithobaal succeeded his father has the King of Tyre and the Sidonians and was the father of Jezebel who was the wife of the seventh king of Northern Israel Kingdom, Ahab. (IKi 16:31). The Jewish historian Josephus tells us he was formerly a priest of Astarte (Ashtoreth), consort of Baal, who usurped the throne and reigned over Tyre and Sidon for 32 years (Contra Apionem i.18.123).
Three years later, in 2015, the scientists pieced together the ancient inscription on the jar which read;
“Ishba’al, son of Beda”.
The meaning they say is “man of Baal, son of Beda.”
The scientists are said to be puzzled about who this king said that only powerful people such as the ruling elite or priesthood had their names etched on pottery which suggests that a man of much importance in Judah used the jar to either store olive oil or wine.
According to Garfinkel and Ganor, “This is the first time that the name Eshba’al has appeared on an ancient inscription in the country. Eshba’al Ben Shaul, who ruled over Israel at the same time as David, is known from the Bible.
Eshba’al was murdered by assassins and decapitated and his head was brought to David in Hebron (2 Samuel 3–4). Inscription on the rim of the pottery It is interesting to note that the name Eshba’al appears in the Bible and now also in the archaeological record, only during the reign of King David, in the first half of the tenth century BC. This name was not used later in the First Temple period.
The correlation between the biblical tradition and the archaeological finds indicates this was a common name only during that period.”
They said, “The name Beda is unique and does not occur in ancient inscriptions or in the biblical tradition.”
However, I disagree with the researchers. In my own research, I have found that the name Beda and several different spelling of the same name have a long tradition both in the bible and in history.
For example, in the Scripture, we find a prophet of Baal named Obadiah who lived at the same exact time when King Ahab reigned and Jezebel.
This name Obadiah you will also find spelled many different ways such as Jehoiada, or in Greek as Abadias (ab-a-di’as), which I believe can be connected to Beda.
Proof of my theory can be easily found when searching scripture we discover in Kings, Obadiah with King Ahab and Jezebel.
So we have a real-life inscription of a Phoenician King found by modern scientists who is named Ishba’al, son of Beda who is also known as Ithobaal (Ἰθόβαλος; Hebrew Ethbaal,Ishba’al, Latin – Ithóbalos, Εἰθώβαλος; Eithṓbalos – meaning with Baal) and had a daughter named Jezebel who he gave to marry King Ahab of Northern Israel.
According to the researchers, the fact that the name Eshba’al was incised on a jar suggests that he was an important person. He was apparently the owner of a large agricultural estate and the produce collected there was packed and transported in jars that bore his name. This is clear evidence of social stratification and the creation of an established economic class that occurred at the time of the formation of the Kingdom of Judah.
Archaeologist believed he probably owned significant agricultural estates.
Saar Ganor, director of excavation at Khirbet Qeiyafa for the Israel Antiquities Authority, said: ‘We have found hundreds of jars in big cities across what was the Kingdom of Judah.
‘This is the only one to have an inscription.
‘For the jar to bear this man’s name, it suggests he was someone very special and important.”
In my previous article, The World’s Oldest Curse: King Hiram’s Masonic Curse, I explained that that the oldest writing ever discovered was a curse written on the stone Sarcophagus of the Phoenician King Ahiram AKA King Hiram that was created by his son;
“Ishba’al, son of Beda”.
The inscription reads: Coffin which Ittobaal, son of Ahiram, king of Byblos, made for Ahiram, his father, when he placed him in the house of eternity . Now if a king among kings or a governor among governors or a commander of an army should come up against Byblos and uncovers this coffin, may the sceptre of his rule be torn away, may the throne of his kingdom be overturned, and may peace flee from Byblos!
The history relating to Ithobaal has been passed down to us by the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus’s whose work was derived from the Phoenician author Menander of Ephesus, in Against Apion i.18.
Menander mentions Ithobalus who Josephus on the authority of the Tyrian annals says in against Apion, i. 18. that Ethbaal, the king of Tyre, whose daughter Jezebel was Ahab’s queen, succeeded Hiram, the contemporary of Solomon.
Here it is said that the previous king, Phelles, “was slain by Ithobalus, the priest of Astarte, who reigned thirty-two years, and lived sixty-eight years; he was succeeded by his son Badezorus (Baal-Eser II), who lived forty-five years and reigned six. His son and successor, Margenus, lived thirty-two years and reigned nine. Pygmalion succeeded him, who lived fifty-six years and reigned forty-seven. In the seventh year of his reign, his sister, Dido, fled and built Carthage in Libya.’
Phelles was said to be the uncle of Ithobalus so he was of the same bloodline.
With that said, it is clear to me that “Ishba’al, son of Beda” is none other than Ithobaal (Ἰθόβαλος; Hebrew Ethbaal, Ishba’al, Latin – Ithóbalos, Εἰθώβαλος; Eithṓbalos) who in the Scripture is named Obadiah.
Another name to connect to this family is one we can find in the Bible where it says that King Saul named his fourth son Eshba’al (1 Chronicles 8:33).
Could King Saul also be Hiram Abiff and Obediah?
Here are some more images courtesy
To be Continued:
Sources:
Press release by Israel Antiquities Authority
All cited above or open-source and readily available online.
In my research into the Biblical Curse of Cain and history of the Masonic fraternity, I found that the oldest writing ever discovered is a curse written on the stone Sarcophagus of the Phoenician King Ahiram. Many biblical scholars and researchers such as myself have suggested a possible connection to who is also known in both Freemasonic and biblical history as King Hiram.
Ahirom, Ahiram, Amram, and Hiram are alternative spellings of the same name.
He was a ruler of the ancient city of Byblos (Jubal/ Jubayl / Jbeil) which is the same city where the first writing was discovered and also where the Holy Bible is said to have originated. According to the writer Philo of Byblos (quoting Sanchuniathon, and quoted in Eusebius), Byblos is also considered as the world’s “oldest continuously inhabited city.”
The Greeks had given the name of the lands they ruled as “Phoenicia,” and they called the city “Byblos” by the name “Papyrus” because this city was important in the papyrus trade. The Phoenician city, known to the Greeks as Býblos (Βύβλος) and to the Romans as Byblus, was important for their import of papyrus from Egypt.
The curse is written in ancient Phoenician writing with 22 letters, the same number as the Hebrew which also happens to be the world’s first alphabet. The scribes of Byblos were said to have developed this writing which became the precursor of all modern alphabets of Babel and all languages that are spoken today.
This is very important because not only was the world’s oldest curse discovered but it was also the world’s oldest writing in one of the world’s oldest cities where the bible had originated.
The inscription reads;
“A coffin made it [It]tobaal, son of Ahirom, king of Byblos, for Ahirom, his father, lo, thus he put him in seclusion. Now, if a king among kings and a governor among governors and a commander of an army should come up against Byblos; and when he then uncovers this coffin – (then:) may strip off the scepter of his judiciary, may be overturned the throne of his kingdom, and peace and quiet may flee from Byblos.
And as for him, one should cancel his registration concerning the libation tube of the memorial sacrifice.”
Another interesting Freemasonic fact is that the first priest offering tribute to the King appears to be holding a Masonic Square in his right hand. They also look very similar to the Egyptian priesthood proving further connections to Egypt which I have written about many times before.
The Sarcophagus of Ahiram was discovered in 1923 during an excavation in Byblos, which was led by the French archaeologist Pierre Montet. A total of nine tombs belonging to the Phoenician kings were discovered at Byblos.
Hiram’s tomb was discovered after it became exposed from heavy rains that caused the collapse of parts of a hill. The tombs were cut directly into the rock, and it was in tomb V that his sarcophagus, which is made of limestone, was found.
In my many previous articles, I have put forth research showing that Ahiram is also known biblically and Masonically as King Hiram who was the Phoenician King of Tyre on the Holy Island of Crete during the reigns of Egyptian Kings, David and Solomon who I have also connected to Ramesses II and III.
Physical evidence of these facts was found in Ahiram’s tomb when during the excavation some objects bearing the cartouche of Ramesses II (XIII century), were discovered in the burial chamber next to the sarcophagus.
It is said that King Ahiram was succeeded by his son Ithobaal I (Latin Ithobalus, Hebrew Ethbaal) (reigned 591–573 BCE) who is the first to be explicitly entitled King of Byblos. From the inscriptions on the lid of the sarcophagus, it seems clear that the one in charge of the ceremony was the king’s son.
This king is said by religious scholars to be identified with specifically Ithobaal III who according to the list of kings of Tyre of Josephus was reigning contemporary with Ezekiel at the time of the first fall of Jerusalem.
One of the greatest French writers of all time, Victor Hugo, had written in his book Notre Dame, “At this time there exists, for thought written in stone, a privilege that may be compared with the actual freedom of the press at the present day, — the freedom of architecture. This license was carried very far. Sometimes an entrance, a front, or even an entire church presents a symbolic meaning wholly foreign to religion, or even hostile to the Church.”
Encoded into the ancient Cathedral of Notre Dame are not only the mathematical secrets of life and death but also the symbolic keys to the hidden history of the spiritual and royal hierarchy that has ruled Rome since the time of the Caesars. For the motto for Paris is, “Only Paris is worthy of Rome; only Rome is worthy of Paris.”
After all, as Thomas Paine had written in The Origins of Freemasonry, “It is always understood that the Freemasons have a secret which they carefully conceal.”
Notre Dame is simply a Masonic masterpiece of our modern Age that holds the dead bones of power of the past and the future to come.
A future Victor Hugo states as “each race in passing writes its line upon the book.” Hugo said,
“Welcome fantasy and caprice. So long as the priest has his basilica and his altar, what can be said? The four walls belong to the artist. The architectural book has no longer to do with the priesthood, with religion, with Rome; it belongs to the imagination, to poetry, to the people.
Hence the rapid and innumerable transformations of this architecture that lasted only three centuries, – transformations that were so striking after the stagnant immobility of six or seven centuries of Romanesque architecture.
Hugo concludes, “Art meanwhile marches at giant paces. The genius and originality of the people does the work that the bishops had done; each race in passing writes its line upon the book, effaces the old Romance hieroglyphics upon the frontispiece of the cathedral, the more thoroughly perhaps that dogma itself can still be seen piercing through the new symbolism that has overthrown it.”
“Instead, in a miracle of timing, the sculptures of the Twelve Apostles and four New Testament evangelists escaped a fiery end when they were plucked by cranes and removed just days before the blaze in Paris on Monday. It was a small cause for celebration after the destruction of two-thirds of Notre-Dame’s roof and spire. People were also cheered to learn that crosses, a crown of thorns and the famous rose window also survived the flames.
It was a relief not to contemplate the likely fate of the spire’s sculptures if they had stayed where they had been for the last 160 years. A cock — the Gallic rooster that topped the spire, and the unofficial national symbol of France — was found in the debris with significant damage.”
Let be said in stone that Notre Dame in an immortal monument of both the creator and destroyer which has been built and burned down many times – always for the Restoration.
Notre Dame has been described as the symbol of Christianity in France by the Vatican and one of the most splendid monuments of Gothic architecture not in just France, but of all Europe. It is the sacred place where the kings of France were crowned like Clovis, the first Merovingian King of the Franks who was baptized by St. Remigius.
The site where Notre Dame is built has both a sacred and historical significance like no other in all of Europe. In 1163, the site of the Temple of Isis would be the location where Notre-Dame de Paris (IPA: [nɔtʁə dam də paʁi]; French for “Our Lady of Paris”) would be built, and had become the “Parisian church of the kings of Europe.” It was built on the same site of an older church and Roman basilica which burned in 1211.
The original statue of Isis was preserved in the Abbey of St. Germain until the year 1514 when the Archbishop of Meaux had it destroyed.
Unfortunately, this past week, another massive fire had almost engulfed this iconic Masonic masterpiece.
One of several fires that have stricken the Cathedral over the last 1,000 years.
Nearly $1 billion in donations have poured in from around the globe to aid in reconstruction efforts of this Masonic masterpiece. Structural engineers, stained-glass experts and operative Freemasons ie: modern stonemasons from across the world are said to be heading to Paris to help with “the Restoration” of Notre Dame in the coming weeks.
The Masonic Tradition continues…
French President Macron helped lead the charge to rebuild when he went on National television telling his fellow Parisii, “I’m telling you this tonight with force, we are a people of builders.”
After hearing Macrons we are a people of builders speech, you might find some interesting Masonic synchronicity here. The English name Freemason is a corruption of the French “Freres macons,” or Brother Masons.
If we are to look back at the early Masonic documents of Freemasonry in Europe and France, we will find that the words of “Macon.” “Macon,” “mace,” and “macoun” are frequently used and in about the year 1412 “Mason” begins to be often used.
In the Manual of Gothic Architecture, author Frederick Apthorp Paley write about this Masonic history;
William of Sens is the first known master mason whose works are extant. The masons were not incorporated in England till the thirteenth century, yet there is at least as much uniformity of detail observable in the Norman and (as before observed) even in the Saxon styles. An oath of secrecy is said to have been tendered to all novitiates.* They appear to have been convened and held secret meetings at certain times and places.
The name Free-masons is a corruption of Freres macons, or fraternity.
A presumptive proof how exclusively the details of the art were in their keeping may be derived from the blundering attempts at drawing them, which are always found in MSS., stained glass, brasses, and fresco paintings. The master masons were generally foreigners, incorporated by Royal authority.
When a large building was contemplated, the masons removed in great numbers to the spot; hence they have been well described as a kind of “nomad race.”
Not many people are aware that Notre Dame has many hidden Masonic secrets and mathematical formulas that were encoded into the Cathedral with the help and direction of the Catholic monks who had worked hand and right hand with these Masons.
Modern Freemason, Masonic code breaker, and author, Richard Cassaro details these facts on his website in quoting Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame;
“…from remotest antiquity…the human race has employed architecture as its chief means of writing…Sometimes an entrance, a front, or even an entire church presents a symbolic meaning wholly foreign to religion, or even hostile to the Church…Only the initiated can decipher these mysterious books.”
“I am not ready to subscribe to the opinion of some writers who suppose that the builders of the 10th century were placed in possession of the method of applying geometric science to the secrets of architecture. But I think it highly probable that by his learning as a mathematician he gave the first impetus to the study of geometry by the monkish and the lay architects of his times.
This led to the application of the principles of that science at a little later period to the art of building, so as to develop into the system of geometrical secrets, which distinguished the builders of the Gothic style, or the Freemasons of the Middle Ages.”
Mackey continues; “In defining the secret or secrets of the medieval Masons to have consisted in an application of the principles of geometry to the processes of building, M. Michelet has taken that view of the subject which is now very generally accepted by Masonic and archaeological writers.”
McKay also lists the sacred mathematical equations of Notre Dame which appear to correspond with End Times (ie: End of the 6th Age). He writes;
“The choir of Notre Dame, at Paris, has 7 arcades. The cross-aisle is 144 feet long, which is 16 times 9, and 42 feet wide, which is 6 times 7. The towers of Notre Dame are 204 feet high, which is 17 times 12, the astronomical number. The length of the church of Notre Dame at Rheims is 408 feet, or 34 times 12.
The Cathedral of Notre Dame has 297 columns, but 297 divided by 3 gives 99, and this divided by 3 again produces 33. The naves of St . Ouen. at Rouen, and of the Cathedrals of Strasburg and Chartres, are of the same length, or 244 feet. The Saint Chapelle, at Paris, is 110 feet long and 27 feet wide, but 110 is 10 times 11, and 27 is 3 times 9.
In these few examples we have developed the numbers 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, and 12, all of which have been retained in the mystical system of the Speculative Freemasons, and their appearance among the medieval Masons could have been neither by an accident nor a coincidence, but must have arisen from a predetermined selection.
“To whom, then,” says Michelet, “belonged this science of numbers, this divine mathematics? To no mortal man, but to the Church of God.” Under the shadow of the Church, in chapters and in monasteries, the secret was transmitted together with instruction in the mysteries of Christianity. The Church alone could accomplish these miracles of architecture. She would often summon a whole people to complete a monument.
A hundred thousand men labored at once on that of Strasburg, and such was their zeal that they did not suffer night to interrupt their labors, but continued them by the light of torches. The Church would often expend centuries on the slow accomplishment of a perfect work. Renaud de Montauban, for instance, bore stones for the building of the Cathedral of Cologne, and to this day it is still in process of erection.”
Albert Mackey finishes the chapter by stating;
“This is not the place to discuss the question of how much the Freemasons were indebted to the Church for their symbolism. It will be hereafter treated on a more appropriate occasion.”
“Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.” – Genesis 49:27
Happy Feast of the Wolf, or should I say to Americans today, Happy Valentine’s Day?
Many of us celebrate the countless holidays that fill our year, but we really don’t truly understand both the significance and history behind some of these days we celebrate. One of these holy-days of the year is Valentine’s Day. In this article, I hope to illuminate your loved filled Valentines of chocolate hearts, stuffed fuzzy dogs, and the sharing of love with some large sprinkles of historical truth from the AS ABOVE and SO BELOW.
The current new American Holiday, Valentine’s Day had only started in about the mid-19th century. However, before the advent of the relatively new American Valentines, this ancient celebration had first originated thousands of years ago from the ancient fertility rites that were held during pagan times from February 13 through 15.
This was when the “Feast of the Wolf,” known as the “Lupercalia Festival” had first originated on the Greek island of Crete, and was later imported into Rome. A time of year, that was also known as the Ides of February. Later during the establishment of the Catholic Church in Rome, this pagan celebration would be changed into a Christian Holiday called the “The Festival of the Purification of the Virgin,” and also “The Procession on the Day of St. Mary or Saint Mary’s Day” (die sanctae Mariae – Saint Bede).
The old festival of the Lupercalia was all about spiritual cleansing when each year they had performed the rites of the Lupercalia, which was mainly based on fertility magic. It was a very ancient celebration for the Cretans and Romans, where a goat and a dog were sacrificed, and salt meal cakes prepared by the Vestal Virgins were burnt.
It was also celebrated with games, and the winner was rewarded with a suit of brazen armour. With these rites, it was said that evil spirits were to be averted and to purify the city.
WHY DO WE CELEBRATE THIS TIME OF YEAR?
IT IS AN AS ABOVE, SO BELOW CELEBRATION!
In the ancient Athenian calendar, the period between mid-January and mid-February was the month of Gamelion, dedicated to the sacred marriage of the Greek God Zeus and Hera. (Wikipedia) In mythology, Zeus represents the planet Jupiter who is also the real king of planets in the AS ABOVE. This festival was honored at this time of year to celebrate Jupiter, which is the only planet visible throughout the night in February 2014.
This is when it is on the “cusp” of the incoming Sign of Pisces, whose ruler happens to also be the King, Jupiter. NASA describes this event as “The bright ‘star’ overhead after the Sun sets in the winter of 2014, it is our closest gas giant, Jupiter and the red supergiant Betelgeuse, 650 times bigger than the Sun, which is one of the shoulders of the ‘Great Hunter’ (Orion Constellation).”
Here is a great video below by Space.com that explains how after the sun sets on these winter days, a bright star shines in the night sky. However, this star is not really a star, but the King of all Planets, Jupiter. The ruddy planet of war, the planet Mars also shows its light this time of year. In addition, Sirius and the constellation of Orion appear to own the winter sky. In this video, you can see how Canis Major is dominated by the Dog Star, Sirius, and is on the footsteps of Orion with its heart called the “red supergiant Betelgeuse.”
This is why during the festival of the Lupercalia, the priests would sacrifice a dog to signify the Dog Star. This time of year also brings about Saturn (Set of Satan) in the early morning hours and one of the morning stars, the planet Venus which blazes a path out of the Eastern sky. Through a telescope, you can clearly see its crescent shape that looks similar to the moon which is the symbol of the Ancient Goddesses who represent Venus such as Isis, Ishtar, and Hecate.
Earlier in the month of February is also significant, because on February 10th, both Jupiter and the moon are shining together and becoming a full moon on Valentine’s Day. This AS ABOVE, SO BELOW event also coincides with the Festival of the Wolf, or Lupercalia, because we all know that wolves howl at full moons. Here is some current information on this wolf howl event from Space.com;
This evening, observers may notice a very bright, silvery “star” shining with a steady glow to the right or lower right of the moon. That’s not a star, however, but in reality, the biggest planet in our solar system: Jupiter. Both moon and planet will keep each other company as they move across the night sky through the course of the night.
The 1st century Greek historian, and biographer, Plutarch mentions during the festival a blood-ritual, “the blood symbolizing the bloodshed and terror of that time” and connects its origin with war. This makes sense since Valentine’s Day is essentially a “red holy-day.”
In “Plutarch’s Lives of Romulus, Lycurgus, Solon and Others,” he writes;
As for the Lupercalia, by the time, it should seem to be a feast of lustration ; for it was celebrated on one of the inauspicious days of the month of February, which name denotes it to be the month of Purifying; and the day was formerly called Februata. But the true meaning of Lupercalia is the Feast of Wolves; and it seems, for that reason, to be very ancient, as received from the Arcadians, who came over with Evander. This is the general opinion. But the term may be derived from Lupa, a she wolf; for we see the Luperci begin their course from the place where they say Romulus was exposed.
However, if we consider the ceremonies, the reason of the name seems hard to guess:
For first, goats are killed; then two noblemen’s sons are introduced and some are to stain their foreheads with a bloody knife, others to wipe off the stain directly, with wool steeped in milk, which they bring for that purpose. When it is wiped off, the young men are to laugh. After this they cut the goat’s skins in pieces, and run about all naked, except their middle, and lash with those thongs all they meet . The young women avoid not the stroke, as they think it assists conception and childbirth. Another thing that propels this feast is, for the Luperci to sacrifice a dog.
The festival of the Lupercalia was held by the Luperci, who were the priests of Pan. The priests would run up and down the city streets naked, having only a girdle of the sacrificial victim’s skins around their waist, and thongs of the same in their hands as they would whip bystanders and especially married women that were alleged to make them prolific.
These rites had come to Rome by way of the Holy Island of Crete. It was on Crete (Also known as Arcadia, Candia and in Latin, Cappadocia), where the priests of Pan had first originated and worshiped on the mountain called Lycaeus. However, it was said that they originally had used to sacrifice humans instead of a goat and dog.
The Cretans and Luperci had also called Lycaeus the Sacred Mountain. Lycaeus is also known by the names of Mount Olympus and more commonly today, as Mount Ida. In ancient Greek Mythology, this was the same mountain where the God, Zeus was born, educated and hidden in a cave.
This story was then assimilated into Rome with a similar mythological event, wherein Rome there is a cave which was believed to have sheltered the founders of Rome, Remus and Romulus.
These festivals were banned for several years and later the restoration of the Rites of the Lupercalia in Rome from Crete is mentioned among the works of Augustus Caesar. They were not abolished until the time of the rule of the Byzantine Emperor, Anastasius in 518 AD.
It was on Crete, where the priesthood known by many names such as the Luperci, Telchines, Curetes, Corbanytes , and the Priesthood of Jupiter Ammon etc. were placed in charge of protecting Zeus (Jupiter or Jove) by his mother Rhea from his vengeful father, Cronus (Saturn). I have written several articles on this ancient priesthood and also the island of Crete, in article such as,Crete: The Lost Island of Atlantis;
Herodotus had said that the Curetes had come to Crete with the Phoenician Prince Cadmus. In Latin Crete is called, “Cappadocia or Cappadocian” who were known as a large tribe of the Magi and are also called fire-kindlers. Herodotus tells us that the name of the Cappadocians was applied to them by the Persians, while the Greeks had simply called them, “Syrians” or “White Syrians.” The Latin name of the Cappadocians were known as “the men of Caphtor”, who we can call today, “the men of Crete.”
HOW WAS THE LUPERCALIA CHANGED TO A CHRISTIAN HOLIDAY?
The pagan festival of the Lupercalia that contained blood and naked men running down the streets whipping people, would later change into a more respectable human Christian Holiday and Feast of the Purification that would officially be celebrated on the day of February 14, 40 days after Epiphany (from the ancient Greek ἐπιφάνεια, epiphaneia, “manifestation, striking appearance”). The Father of English History and Doctor of the Church, Saint Bede had written on these pagan events and heathen rites that were specifically practiced by the people of Sicily;
The procession of Candlemas consigned the Lupercalia to oblivion, and the Ambarvalia only yielded to the rustic pomps of the Rogations. As the peasants of Enna, in Sicily, could not detach themselves from the joyful festivals they always held after harvest in honour of Ceres, the Feast of the Visitation was retarded on their account, and they offered on the altar of Christ the ripe wheat-ears with which they had garlanded their idols.
Lupercalia and its procession had existed before, the feast of our Lady, but that the Christian religion had happily changed this ancient pagan custom of purification. He further states;
The people, priests and ministers, go in procession, with lighted wax tapers in their hands, singing hymns through the principal streets. The tapers, in his tunc, were consecrated for this purpose on Christmas day, and inscribed with the year of our Lord, which, commenced on that day observed on January 6, commemorating the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi.
HAPPY FEAST OF THE WOLF!
It was said that a dog was sacrificed during these rites because they were enemies to the wolf. This is interesting because of the connection to the biblical Tribe of Benjamin, where “In the Blessing of Jacob, Benjamin is referred to as a ravenous wolf.” The tribe of Benjamin were well known as great warriors who played an important role in Israelite history. The name Benjamin is derived from Banu-yamina.The ancient texts found in this city of Mari that date from 18B.C.were written in the Akkadian-language, and refer to the Amorites by the name of the warlike tribe, ‘Banuyamina.’
Both names meaning, “the Son of the right hand” as described when Moses delivered Israel from Pharaoh, he became the right hand of God. In Colossians 1:16 – “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him;” Christ also ascended to heaven and sat down in the place of authority at the right hand of God as written in Peter 3:22 – Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
Genesis 49:27 – Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf – It is plain, Jacob was guided in what he said by a spirit of prophecy, and not by natural affection, else he would have spoken with more tenderness of his beloved son Benjamin, concerning whom he only foretells, that his posterity should be a warlike tribe, strong and daring, and that they should enrich themselves with the spoil of their enemies, that they should be active in the world, and a tribe as much feared by their neighbours as any other; in the morning he shall devour the prey which he seized and divided overnight.
In my continuing quest into the history of my ancestors, I have come across some interesting history for my fellow Kohanim Levite relatives around the globe. This research proves that Kohanim had a big influence on the ancient cosmopolitan city of Athens, Greece in approximately 6 BC. A time when Athens ruled much of the world and instituted the archon laws of Solon -AKA Epimenides the Cretan (Rule of Law).
The Scripture states that the Kohanim were consecrated to serve in the Sanctuary of the Temple as the High Priests of Ancient Israel up to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. The “legal descendants of Aaron,” who was the first kohen gadol; high priest of Israel, who were designated as the priestly class, the kohanim.
Now, a barren wasteland that was once home to some of the most famous people in the ancient world.
The research I found that connects the Kohanim Levites to ancient Athens is from the Hungarian scholar Gyorgy Nemeth who created a list of all the foreigners living in Athens during the 6th-5th centuries BC based on their place of origin. (Transcribed by Dienekes Pontikos)
Nemeth found that the top sources of foreigners was from the island of Cues, AKA Kos, now known as Dia. Here is his list (out of 337 known):
Therefore, we can safely say that the Kohanim had most likely had a significant influence upon ancient Greek civilization. This makes perfect sense given the fact that their priests were some of the most famous healers and wise men to ever live in this region of the world such as Prodicus (Greek: Πρόδικος, Pródikos; c. 465 BC – c. 395 BC), a Greek philosopher, who was part of the first generation of Sophists who went to Athens as an ambassador from Dia (Kos)
There are many other world-famous people and families that had hailed from the ancient island of Kos that I have documented on my blog before such as the Father of Medicine, Hippocrates (Greek: Ἱπποκράτης; Hippokrátēs; c. 460 BC – c. 370 BC) who was born there, and also where he had operated his world-famous school of medicine.
SOURCES:
[1] Nemeth, G. (2001) Metics in Athens, Acta Ant. Hung. 41, 2001, 331-348 [2] The Foreign Residents of Athens: An Annex to the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names: Attica, by Michael J. Osborne and Sean G. Byrne (British Academy)
