The Ancient Gods

This account of the development of religion in the Middle East, Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Aegean, Greece and Asia Minor shows how the emergece of the deities and their cults was linked to nature, agriculture and the seasons, fertility, and the struggle for existence.

Where do we come from? What are the origins of modern civilization? Do the world's pyramids, the Nazca Lines, Easter Island statues, and other enigmatic structures, archaeological wonders, and geographic anomalies contain evidence of ancient gods? Sifting through the historical and archaeological evidence, Ancient Gods: Lost Histories, Hidden Truths, and the Conspiracy of Silence probes the myths, stories, history, and facts of ancient civilizations, lost technologies, past catastrophes, archetypal astronauts, and bygone religions to tease out the truth of our distant past and modern existence. It takes and in-depth look at the facts, fictions, and controversies of our ancestors, origins, who we are as a people—and who might have come before us. It tackles more than 60 nagging stories of ancient gods, ancestors, alien visitors, theories and explanations, including: • Why did our ancestors crawl deep underground and paint on cave walls? • How did the megalithic temple site called Göbekli Tepe come to be built—11,600 years before the agricultural revolution? • How were massive stones, weighing tons, dragged miles to build Stonehenge? • Who—and why—were pyramids built on the equatorial band circling the earth? • What secrets does modern DNA analysis reveal mankind's heritage? • Are we to believe the Ancient Alien Theory? • And more!

Research findings are presented to support the author's theories and speculations about the validity of extraterrestrial intelligence.

Traces the story of how ancient cultures envisioned artificial life, automata, self-moving devices and human enhancements, sharing insights into how the mythologies of the past related to and shaped ancient machine innovations.

Throughout history, humans have pondered the question of their existence. In nearly every society, part of the answer has included some form of god or goddess. For the Mayans, one such deity was Ajtzak, who tried to create humans from wood; for the Yorubas of Africa, Shango controlled the thunder and lightning. The Chinese of the Shang dynasty era worshipped Shang Ti. Evil deities were also part of the answer, as in the case of the Kuvera, the Hindu chief of evil in the Vedic period, and Tu, the Persian or Islamic demon of fatal accidents. All of the known ancient gods, many heretofore obscure or known only from mythological literature, are included in this exhaustive reference work. The focus is on their origins, histories, and functions. The people who believed in each deity are identified, along with alternate names or spellings both old and modern. The descriptions that follow are of the functions, origins and physical nature of the deities. Extensive cross references are provided for alternate spellings and names.

From the tragic young Adonis to Zašhapuna, first among goddesses, this handbook provides the most complete information available on deities from the cultures and religions of the ancient Near East, including Anatolia, Syria, Israel, Sumer, Babylonia, Assyria, and Elam. The result of nearly fifteen years of research, this handbook is more expansive and covers a wider range of sources and civilizations than any previous reference works on the topic. Arranged alphabetically, the entries range from multiple pages of information to a single line—sometimes all that we know about a given deity. Where possible, each record discusses the deity’s symbolism and imagery, connecting it to the myths, rituals, and festivals described in ancient sources. Many of the entries are accompanied by illustrations that aid in understanding the iconography, and they all include references to texts in which the god or goddess is mentioned. Appropriate for both trained scholars and nonacademic readers, this book collects centuries of Near Eastern mythology into one volume. It will be an especially valuable resource for anyone interested in Assyriology, ancient religion, and the ancient Near East.