As per Greek mythology, after the creator of humans was chained, the giants rebelled against the Olympian gods to overthrow them, to free Prometheus and to avenge the Titans imprisoned in the Underworld. According to Alexandru Mitru’s The Legends of Olympus, the giants „grew as tall as mountains, taking on horrifying forms. They wore long beards and thick hair that fell to their ankles. Their colossal feet were covered in scales instead of skin. And their soles were extended with hideous snake bodies„. Their mother, Gaia, the goddess of the Earth, gave them a significant advantage, as they could only be defeated by a god and a mortal at the same time. After Prometheus was freed by the demigod Hercules, the second great war of the gods began, called the Gigantomachy by the Greeks. „With a terrifying roar, the giants leaped and set off towards Olympus. They began to hurl huge rocks into the sky, then large lit torches. Their white, sharp, gleaming spears plowed through the air and passed beyond the clouds. Zeus confronted them with anger, tossing lightning bolts from the sky. And beside him stood Heracles, accompanying each lightning bolt with a powerful arrow. The giants then tried to tear the mountains from their foundations, to put them one on top of the other and build a ladder to reach Olympus„, recounted The Legends of Olympus. Alcyoneus, one of the giants, could not be killed in the country where he was born. So the demigod Hercules lured him to the shore of the Aegean Sea, where he shot him with an arrow, and Zeus struck him with a lightning bolt at the same time. Seeing Alcyoneus dead, some giants set off in pursuit of Hercules. But the goddesses Aphrodite and Hera seduced them and Zeus and Hercules, taking advantage of the diversion, defeated them. After long battles, the Olympian gods obtained victory. Athena dragged Enceladus to Sicily, where she threw him into a pit and piled a mountain on top of him. She also killed the giant Pallas. Polybotes was crushed by Poseidon under the island of Nisyros. Porphyrion was wounded by Zeus and killed by Hercules. It was also Hercules who, together with Apollo, defeated Ephialtes. Wearing a mantle of invisibility, the sly Hermes managed to sneak up on Hippolytos and stab him with a sword. The god Dionysus managed to kill Eurytos with his staff, Artemis to shoot Gration with an arrow and the Moirai (the Fates, personifications of destiny) to destroy the giants Agrios and Thoon with their bronze clubs. The goddess Hecate burned Clytios alive with some lit torches, while Hephaestus killed Mimas with molten iron. According to Greek legends, all the giants fallen near the sea turned into mountains.
The Olympian gods did not had a chance to enjoy their victory because a new enemy emerged: Typhoeus / Typhon („Typhoon”), a giant „whose strength was tens of times greater than the power of all the other sons of Gaia put together„. In his Theogony, Hesiod wrote that „strength was in his hands, in everything he did, and the feet of the powerful god were tireless. A hundred serpent heads grew from his shoulders, a terrifying dragon with black, arrow-like tongues. From under his eyebrows, in his miraculous heads, flames shot out; and fire burned from his heads when he frowned. And in all his terrible heads were voices, making unbelievable sounds„. According to the Greek poets Pindar and Aeschylus, Typhon was of gigantic stature, „and his head reached the stars„. Seeing him, the gods were frightened and fled to Egypt, where they turned into animals to avoid being recognized. The only one who stayed to fight the monster was the king of the gods: „Zeus thundered mightily and forcefully and the earth around him resounded horribly, as did the vast sky above, the sea and the waterways, even the parts beneath the Earth„. Zeus managed to strike the first blow with his „fierce thunderbolt” and Typhon fell to the ground. The giant took refuge in Syria and Zeus pursued him, trying to castrate him with the same sickle that the Titan Cronus had used against his father, Uranus. But the serpents that rose from the giant’s thigh caught Zeus and bound him. Immobilizing his enemy, Typhon snatched the sickle and cut Zeus’ tendons from his hands and feet with it, leaving him helpless in a cave. To make sure his enemy would not resume the fight, Typhon hid the tendons under the boulders of a river, wrapping them in a bear skin. „The world was frozen. Zeus had fallen captive; the other gods trembled like reeds, hidden in the bodies of monsters. The one who came to his senses after so much fear was Zeus’ son, Hermes„, recounted Alexander Mitru. Hermes managed to trick Typhon and retrieve the tendons, which he reattached to his father. Zeus flew „with a winged chariot” back to Olympus, where he received a new supply of thunderbolts and then resumed the attack. Fighting took place above Mount Haemus in Thrace, where „Zeus struck with green thunderbolts and blinding flashes„, while „the giant replied, grabbing whole mountains in his arms and hurling them at him with deafening noises„. The mountains had turned red from the giant’s blood. Weakened, Typhon fled to Sicily, where „Zeus slew him and whipped him with blows„. Hesiod wrote:
„Typhon was thrown down, a torn and battered wreck,
The mighty Earth groaned and shook.
A flame burst forth from the struck lord
Into the dark, rocky and desolate valley of the mountain
As lightning struck him.
A great part of the giant Earth was scorched
By the terrible vapors,
Melting like hot iron fashioned by human craft.„
Zeus threw Mount Etna on top of the giant, sealing him there forever. „The hot smoke that comes out of the volcano’s crater is only his breath, according to Hellenic tales. When he struggles under the burden, he gasps heavily – and then Etna spews out boiling lava„, The Legends of Olympus asserts. With Typhon imprisoned and the other giants slain, the Olympian gods could rule in peace, without fear of potential competitors.
The giants in Greek mythology are nothing but the biblical giants or Nephilim, demigods made by the Watchers with humans. Their leader was Marduk who, after freeing his father from captivity on Omu Peak, waged a war against Enlil for the throne of the Earth.
The Hurrians recalled the battle between Marduk and Enlil. Just like the myths of the Greeks, the giant Ullikummi (the son of the exiled god Kumarbi and the Mountain Goddess) fought against the king of the gods, Teshub, for the divine throne. When he appeared, Ullikummi struck fear into the gods of Kummiya, just like Typhon. The Myth of Ullikummi asserts that the gods Teshub, Tashmishu and Ishtar climbed the Hazzi mountain on the northern coast of Syria (called Cassius by the Romans and Zephon by the Jews and Phoenicians) to see the giant, the same mountain where the Greeks claimed one of the battles between Zeus and Typhon took place:
„And the king of Kummiya (i.e. Teshub) looks
And turns his face towards the terrible Stone (i.e. Ullikummi).
He saw the horrifying Stone;
His mind is filled with fury,
Teshub sits on the ground,
His tears flow like a river,
But through his tears, Teshub speaks:
‘Ah, who can endure his great violence?
And who will fight him for me?
Who will bear his horror?’.„
Overcoming his fear, Teshub asked his brother, Tashmishu, to be ready for battle:
„Let us call forth the storm full of lightning!
Let us call forth the rains and winds!
And the lightning that flashes with power,
Taking him from his den, let us bring him forth
To push the chariots forward!
Put them in line now and set them up.„
The battle was fierce, but Teshub emerged victorious, just like his Greek counterpart, Zeus, consolidating his position as the supreme leader of the planet.
Nor did the Scandinavians left out from their legends this second great war of the gods. Because he killed god Baldur, giant Loki was punished by order of the supreme god, Odin, being bound underground, at the root of the world tree, where a serpent spat venom on his face. Not only Loki was punished, but also his children: the goddess Hel was sent to Niflheim or Hel, the wolf Fenrir was bound to a rock a kilometer and a half underground and the serpent Jormungandr was thrown into the ocean that surrounds the Earth. There they were imprisoned until Ragnarok, the final battle of the gods, which marks the end of an Earth era. Although the Norse believed Ragnarok to be a future event, just like the Apocalypse of Christians, in reality it belongs to the distant past. According to the world legends, this fierce war of the gods, which ended with a flood at the end of an ice age, from which only a few gods and two humans (the ancestors of all mankind) survived, is the Gigantomachy of the Greeks, the great war that began over 124 millennia ago. However, just like in current religions, the Norse priests kept their subjects in check with the threat of an apocalypse that could occur at any moment, even if it had already happened.
Before it began, Ragnarok was preceded by a series of „signs”, described in The Norse Mythology by Elena-Maria Morogan as follows: „First there will be a terrible war of the world; despicable greed and envy will urge people to commit insane and indiscriminate acts of killing each other, so that parents will kill their children and brothers will kill each other, no one will know mercy and compassion and lies, theft and murder will reign everywhere. Soon after these dark fights Fimbulwinter will come, which will actually cover three winters without any summer between them; then endless snow will fall, the cold will be as hard as flint and the cutting gales like knives. And the heaven will not offer any hope, for another, even more horrifying thing, will happen: the Sun will be caught up by the giant wolf that is always on its trail and will be torn apart, and the Moon in turn will be reached and torn apart; and the stars will begin to fall from their places, leaving the sky pitch black. The final sign will be when the earth begins to tremble and shake; then the forests will be uprooted, the rocks will crumble and all bonds will break. The elves and the dwarves will crawl terrified into their caves, frightened by what they will not understand. And when the earth’s crust cracks, then Fenrirulv (i.e. the wolf Fenrir) will be released, and through the cracks in the crust, water will begin to flow because the World Serpent (i.e. Jormungandr) in his horrifying fury will release his tail from between his jaws and begin to climb towards the surface. Then the ship of the dead Nagelfar will embark its crew and leave the subterranean realms where it has waited for centuries. At the helmsman’s cry, myriad oars will sink into the raging waves, and the ship will be carried to the shores of Asgard. Its crew will consist of the entire doomed world of Hel and its captain and helmsman will be the most terrible enemy that humans and gods have had: Loki. He will be released from his bonds at the first quake of the earth and will join his fearsome sons Fenrirulv and Midgardorm (i.e. Jormungandr). The werewolf Fenrir will rush forward and his gaping jaws will tear the sky, while the flames that will spew from his nostrils will burn everything. The Midgard Serpent will blow a huge cloud of poison that will scorch the sky and earth with smoke and stench. In a terrible boom the sky will break open and through the rupture will gallop the Fire Giants of Muspellheim. Surtr will ride a flaming horse, and behind him, fire will consume everything. The hooves of the Fire Giants will thunder when they cross the Bifrost bridge, and the rainbow will break behind them. All will head to the designated place for the final confrontation – the desolate plain of Vigrid. Fenrir and the World Serpent will be there, and there the creatures of Hel will march shoulder to shoulder with the Ice Giants and the Mountain Giants, led by their masters. The plain will be filled with hundreds of thousands of beings, the infinite army of the forces of Evil. Then, in silence, they will wait„. This army of giants and underworld spirits, led by Loki and his sons, faced an equally formidable one, made up of the Aesir gods of Asgard, the Valkyries (winged beings similar to angels in Abrahamic religions), berserkers (warriors led by uncontrolled fury) and the spirits of heroes from the Valhalla hall and the Folkvangr plain. „In the morning of Ragnarok, the rooster Gullenkamme will sing – for the first and last time – and the fighters will be awakened from sleep by his powerful crowing. And Heimdall will put the Gjallar horn to his lips, and the sound of the horn will penetrate to the farthest corners of the nine worlds, to summon all the forces of Good to battle. And at the sound of the herald of disaster, Yggdrasil will begin to tremble and shake. Odin will gallop to the source of Mimir to seek the advice of the wise one, but for the first time, Mimir’s head will not respond. And Odin will gallop back to Asgard with a heavy heart of foreboding. The gods and heroes will don their armor and head towards the plain of Vigrid. There will be Odin with a golden helmet, holding the spear Gungnir in his right hand, the Red-Bearded God (i.e. Thor) tightly holding the reins of untamed goats; Freyr, Tyr and Heimdall will ride alongside, all with fierce weapons. The quiet Vidar will be further back, wearing Thick-Soled Ice boots. And behind them will come the heroes, berserkers and Valkyries – so many that the ground will quake under the hooves of horses„. The poem Grimnismol claims that the spirits of 432,000 warriors faced the terrible wolf Fenrir, their number being exactly that of the years during which the gods and demigods ruled the Earth before the Deluge, according to the Sumerian King List:
„Five hundred and forty doors there are,
I reckon, in Valhalla’s walls;
Eight hundred fighters pass through each door
When they go to war with the Wolf.„
These spirits posed no challenge for the wolf and the leader of the gods, Odin, had to fight him. Fenrir swallowed him and was later killed by Vidar, a son of Odin, who stabbed him in the heart with a spear. Although was bitten by the serpent Jormungandr, Thor managed to defeat his opponent, dying himself from the serpent’s venom. „Tyr will face the monstrous dog Garm and they will perish, killing each other. Heimdall will be the one chosen to face Loki and they will fight turned into two whirlwinds of fire, and when the flames meet, equally strong, they will burn each other – and thus Heimdall and Loki will perish, leaving behind only a handful of ashes. The last battle will be between Freyr and the giant Surtr, but the fight will be hopeless – as long ago the god gave his sword away as the price of love – and now, in the final battle, he will have to fight with bare hands… When Freyr falls, Surtr will triumphantly raise his sword of fire, more radiant than a thousand suns, and spinning it in the air will ignite the air and earth and everything… and the universe will disappear in smoke and darkness, and it will be again as at the beginning: chaos, formlessness, non-existence„, tells Elena-Maria Morogan. A Norwegian myth recorded in the New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology claims that „abandoned by the gods, humans were expelled from their homes, and the human race was erased from the face of the Earth. The very Earth began to lose its shape. The stars went mad, falling into the gaping maw. Like swallows, tired after too long a flight, they fall and sink into the waves. The giant Surtr set fire to the entire Earth; the universe was nothing but an immense oven. Flames gushed from the cracks in the rocks; steam hissed everywhere. All living beings, all plants were consumed. Only the dirt remained but, like the sky itself, the Earth was nothing but cracks and chasms. And now, all the rivers, all the seas swelled and overflowed. Everywhere, all waves clashed against waves. They rose and seethed slowly over all things. The Earth sank below sea level„. According to the Scandinavian poem Voluspa,
„The Sun decreases, it darkens,
The Earth sinks beneath the sea;
The shining stars
Fall from the heavens.
The fire blazes
Fuming with smoke in swirls.
Fire-threads rush forth
To strike the very heavens.„
After this terrible war, the dry land emerged from the waters and a new era began. Two people hidden in the branches of the cosmic tree Yggdrasil managed to survive and repopulate the Earth, and the remaining gods chose Baldur, resurrected in the new world, as their leader.
For the Greeks, Typhon was the son of the goddess of the Earth, Gaia, and Tartarus, the personification of the deity of the Underworld. A Homeric hymn to Apollo considers Typhon to be the son of the goddess Hera, whom she procreated alone. Since Hera conspired to dethrone Zeus with her brother and brother-in-law, Poseidon, we can guess who the father of the giant was. Both Gaia and Hera are the deity named Ninhursag by the Sumerians, who gave birth to Enki’s son, Marduk. She is also the Mountain Goddess of the Hittites and Hurrians, who birthed Ullikummi to Kumarbi. As Poseidon, Kumarbi and Loki are alternative names for Enki, and Teshub, Zeus and Odin represent Enlil, we can conclude that Typhon, Ullikummi and Fenrir are actually Marduk of the Babylonians or Martu / Amar Utu of the Sumerians. If Typhon, Ullikummi and Fenrir were described by the Greeks, Hurrians and Scandinavians as giants, the Babylonians said the same thing about their supreme god, Marduk. In the Enuma Elish poem he is described as follows:
„His face was attractive, his eyes sparkled brightly;
His gait was proud, imposing as of old […]
And he was above all the other gods, far surpassing them […]
He was the most noble and the tallest;
With his immense limbs, he surpassed them all.„
After Enki was crucified on Omu Peak, Marduk freed him and led the army of demigods, humans and Watchers against his uncle Enlil in order to overthrow him. Although the Babylonians, like the rest of the peoples in Mesopotamia, tried to conceal this war of the gods, its traces come to light. An hymn of Nergal, published by Josef Bollenrucher in Prayers and Hymns to Nergal („Gebete und Hymnen an Nergal” in German) from 1904, states the following:
„Divine Nergal,
Lord who crept in the night,
Has come to fight!
He cracks his whip, his weapons clatter […]
He who is welcome, immense is his power;
Like a dream at the doorstep he appeared.
Divine Nergal, you who are welcome,
Drive away the enemy from Ekur,
Capture the savage from Nippur!„
In Babylon, the supreme god was usually called Marduk. However, when only his positive side was emphasized, he was called Shamash and considered the god of the Sun, the benefactor and the judge of the world. When only his violent and negative nature was emphasized, Marduk was called Nergal and viewed as the destructive midday sun. Therefore, the above hymn is dedicated to him. „The savage from Nippur” and „the enemy from Ekur” is undoubtedly the god of the city of Nippur, Enlil, whose temple was called Ekur („The house like a mountain”). Thus, without realizing it, Josef Bollenrucher discovered in Babylonian religion the traces of the second great war of the gods, Gigantomachy or Ragnarok.
Mount Hazzi on the northern coast of Syria, called Cassius by the Romans and Zephon by the Jews and Phoenicians, where the Greeks claimed one of the battles between Zeus and Typhon took place, and for the Hurrians one between Teshub and Ullikummi, was considered by the Canaanites the home of a god named Baal, the son of the god of fertility and water, Dagon. Baal Zephon was forced to fight for the throne with the god of death, Mot, the favorite of the supreme god, El. If El is Anu, Dagon is Enki and Baal Zephon is Marduk, then in this myth Mot can only be Enlil of the Sumerians. Like the Greeks, Babylonians and Hurrians, Baal is described by the Canaanites as a giant; when a god sat on Baal’s throne, „his feet did not touch the steps of the throne and his head did not reach the top of the throne„. The Canaanites recounted that, at some point, Baal refused to pay tribute to Mot, so the god of death killed him. Anat, Baal’s sister and lover, was the most affected by his death: „she tore her skin with a flint knife, cut off her two braids from her head, scratched her cheeks and chin in three places, plowed her arms like a field and scratched her chest like a plow. Like a plain in a valley she scratched her back three times. Then she raised her voice, crying out: ‘God Baal is dead! What will the people of the son of Dagan do? What will the crowds whose fate depends on Baal do? I will descend to Earth!’„. She took Baal’s corpse and buried it on Mount Zephon, and the supreme god El decided to choose a new king of Earth from the sons of the goddess Athirat. However, Anat was not ready to accept the loss of her lover, so she went to Mot to ask for Baal back. When the god of death refused her request, „she seized Mot, the son of El, cut him with a sword, blow him with a winnower, burned him in a fire, passed him through a winnower and scattered him over the fields, so that the birds could feast on his remains and the sparrows could peck at his limbs„. After defeating Mot, Baal was resurrected and returned to his palace on Mount Zephon, where he defeated his competitors: „Baal caught the sons of Athirat, gave them a strong blow with the edge of his sword, and struck them hard with his mace. He laid the god Mot on the ground and Baal sat on his royal throne, on his king’s seat„. After a few years, Mot returned to hold Baal accountable: „because of you I was covered with shame, because of you I was despised, I endured being blown by the winnower, because of you I allowed myself to be cut with a sword. Because of you, I endured being burned in a fire, because of you I endured being crushed, because of you I endured being sifted, because of you I became scattered on the sea. Give me one of your brothers to eat and get fed up„. Baal refused and the argument continued. „Baal, you made your brothers hurt me and the brothers of my mother do me harm!„, blamed the god of death, from which we can deduce that there were several battles, a true war of the gods, as presented in the myths of many ancient peoples. As expected, the argument between the two turned into a new battle in a short time: „they fought against each other like fighters and Mot showed his strength, while Baal showed his power. They stabbed each other like wild bulls and Mot showed his strength, while Baal showed his power. They bite each other like snakes and either Mot seizes him or Baal grab him. They jump at each other like fighting horses and sometimes Mot fall, other times Baal collapse„. Threatened by the goddess Shapash with god El’s punishment, „Mot, son of El, was terrified, the brave one beloved by El was frightened„. He stopped the fight, accepted his defeat and shouted to his father: „god El, restore Baal to his royal throne, to the seat of his dominion!„. Thus, Baal was able to rule the Earth peacefully from his palace on Mount Zephon.
The second great war of the gods is also found in the classic Indian poem Ramayana, whose main characters are Prince Rama and his wife, Sita. This prince, who went through countless trials to recover his wife kidnapped by the demon Ravana, capable of superhuman feats, was not an ordinary man. Ramayana claims that he was king for 100 years in Ayodhya, after several decades of exile, while in Drona Parva he ruled for 11,000 years when the sages, gods and humans lived together on Earth. Some Hindus considered him the reincarnation of the god Vishnu, while Ramayana states that the prince was born due to a magical drink sent by the god to Earth. The identity of the main characters is revealed by their names. In Akkadian, the Sumerian god Enlil was known as Ellil, Adad or Ramman, the last being almost identical to Rama. Rama is the reverse of Amar, the Sumerian name for Marduk (specifically, Amar Utu), thus highlighting the equality and opposition of the two. The Indian prince was considered the reincarnation of the god Vishnu, already identified with Enlil. According to tradition, Rama was born in Treta Yuga, the second era of the world, in which the world myths claim that Enlil took over the leadership of the Earth. Sita, Rama’s wife, becomes Ista by reversing the first two letters, a name that comes from Ishtar of the Akkadians or Ninhursag of the Sumerians, who received the title Ninlil after becoming the wife of Enlil. Another element that brings to mind these two deities is the presence of the number 40 in Ramayana, Enki’s number in Mesopotamia: in addition to the demoness Shurpanakha’s brothers, Rama killed another 40,000 demons. Even the name of the demoness points us towards Mesopotamia, Shurpanakha meaning „The one from Shuruppak”, one of the most important Sumerian cities. If the story described in Ramayana is just the „Bollywood” version of the second great war of the gods, it means that the demon Ravana, the enemy of Rama / Enlil, can only be Marduk. Ravana is described as a devoted follower of the god Shiva (Enki), very wise, ruler of the Asura (Watchers), descendant of Brahma (Anu), aggressive and arrogant, to whom Shiva has given wisdom and invulnerability to the gods, spirits, sages and wild animals, a description that fits Marduk. The Sumerian city of Shuruppak, originally dedicated to the goddess Ninlil / Ninhursag, became associated with Ishtar when she took on her mother’s attributes. Therefore, „The one from Shuruppak”, Ravana’s sister, who tried to seduce Rama, is Ninsar of the Sumerians or Ishtar of the Akkadians.
The Ramayana claims that Rama and his brother, Lakshmana, killed the demons who were hindering a sage from performing his devotions. Later, sent into exile with his wife, Sita, and Lakshmana, Rama arrived in the forest of Dandaka, haunted by the Rakshasa demons. There, demoness Shurpanakha unsuccessfully tried to seduce him. Because she tried to kill Sita, Lakshmana cut off the demoness’ nose and ears. She asked her brothers to avenge her and Rama was forced to kill them and another 40,000 demons. Then, Shurpanakha sought the help of her elder brother, Ravana, the king of Lanka, who had 10 heads and 20 arms. While Rama and Lakshmana were on a hunt, Ravana kidnapped Sita:
„Sit here in this celestial chariot that is harnessed with very fast winged donkeys,
Golden in appearance and brightness, they fly like Indra’s horses.
Then the heavenly chariot rose high above the hill and the forested valley.
Like a snake in the talons of an eagle, Sita writhed in pitiful lament.„
During the flight, Ravana’s „chariot” was attacked by Jatayu, a giant magical „bird”, similar to modern fighter planes. After downing Jatayu, the demon imprisoned Sita in his citadel in Lanka. To free her, Rama and Lakshmana, along with an army of vanara (ape-like humanoids) led by the general Hanuman, attacked the demon’s palace. Vimanas, flying machines powered by mercury, that flew at great heights, producing a strong current of air, were used in battle. They could rise or fall sharply, could reach high speeds and could stop instantly in the air, but they made an extremely loud noise at takeoff and landing. To gain an advantage over the demons, Rama was aided by the celestial gods:
„The brave Matali guided his chariot, drawn by horses resembling the rays of the Sun,
Where the loyal and just Rama sought his enemy for the decisive battle,
And noble Rama was given shining weapons and a celestial sword,
And while the just fought with all his might and struggled to win, the gods helped the loyal and brave.
‘Take this chariot!’ said Matali, ‘with which the gods endow you to help you’.
Rama took those celestial horses of Indra’s golden chariot.„
It seems that in this terrible war, powerful bombs were launched from the aerial vehicles of the gods, described as „hundreds of meteors falling from the sky„. Their effects were devastating: „the spears, axes and shields swirled. A heavy smoke like mud suffocated the people and animals trying to escape on the streets. The burning city of Lanka illuminated the sea„. In addition to Indra’s spacecraft and weapons, Rama received from Sage Agastya the Weapon of Ancestors, which he „kept for the supreme occasion„, a terrible weapon: „this arrow, which had gathered in it the energy of all beings, shone like the Sun. It could pierce a mountain, then strike a line of a hundred elephants and then turn another line of a hundred chariots into dust and finally, from a distance of ten yojanas, it could shatter a granite city„. Not only Rama received divine help, but also Ravana, whom god Shiva gave the divine sword Chandrahas („Moon Blade”), one of the most powerful weapons in Hindu mythology. After Rama launched the Weapon of Ancestors, „the two armies thought the end of the world had come. The shaking of the air caused them to collapse. The earth shook to its fiery bowels. Many stars fell from the sky„. This description is similar to the future shown to Nabu by Marduk when he informed him of Anu’s true plan for Earth: „the stars fell, collided with each other, making a deafening noise” (News of Egypt and its Wonders) or „the heaven collapsed and was borne off and fell to the earth” (The Book of Enoch 83:3-4). A terrible weapon had also been used before the attack of Lanka, in Rama’s battle against the demoness Shurpanakha’s brothers. Then, the demon Khara used a fierce bomb: „a black disc covered the Sun (…) Instantly, the day was replaced by total darkness (…) The fish were motionless in the ponds where the lotus began to wither. All the trees lost their leaves. The earth shook„. However, Rama’s anti-missile system worked perfectly: „Khara’s mace took off. An arrow from the Invincible One smashed it into three pieces„.
During the fierce battle of Lanka, Ravana’s generals were killed and his battalions were thrown into confusion. The army of vanaras also suffered immense losses, with Lakshman being seriously injured, much like Zeus in his battle with Typhon. After Hanuman healed Lakshman with herbs brought from the Himalayas, just as Hermes healed Zeus, Rama directly confronted Ravana. The fight lasted for seven days until the prince killed his opponent with Brahma’s weapon:
„The fight was still undecided when Rama, in his fury,
Wielded Brahma’s deadly weapon of heavenly fire,
A weapon which the holy Agastya gave to the hero.
It flew like Indra’s bright spear, fatal as an arrow from heaven.
Enveloped in smoke and lightning, fleeing from the encircled place,
The iron heart of Ravana was pierced, the hero falling lifeless.
A voice of blessing from the bright sky descended upon the brave son of Raghni:
‘Champion of truth and justice! Your noble task is now fulfilled!’„
Rama recovered his wife and, after making sure she had remained faithful, took her home in his enormous, beautifully painted, two-story flying chariot adorned with windows and flags. Inside it had several compartments for passengers and crew. The vehicle emitted melodious sounds that could be heard on the ground. „Carried by swans, the exiles left the battlefield, returning home„, Ramayana tells us.
„Flying in the cloudless ether, Rama’s Pushpa chariot came,
And ten thousand joyful voices shouted Rama’s happy name.
The silver swans at Rama’s command gently descended from above
And set the shining chariot on the ground – that divine chariot of flowers.„
Arriving in Ayodhya, Rama banished his pregnant wife to the forest, still obsessed with the suspicion that she had succumbed to Ravana’s seduction. There, she gave birth to twin boys in a hut. After years, Rama found Sita and their children and, consumed by remorse, begged her to return to Ayodhya.
„Gods and spirits, shining immortals came from the royal Yajna,
People from every race and nation, kings and leaders of great renown.
Sita saw the shining Celestials, monarchs who had gathered from far and wide.
She saw the royal Senior, her husband, shining like a star rising to the sky.„
With a broken heart, faithful Sita did not try to defend her innocence anymore, but prayed to the Earth to ease her burden.
„Then the earth cracked and opened up, revealing a throne of gold,
Held up by Nagas, full of jewels, like leaves show the rose.„
Rama was forced to live alone and a few years later he left the capital Ayodha to ascend to heaven. Drona Parva claims that Rama ruled his world empire for 11 millennia, during which time the sages, gods and humans lived together on Earth in a true golden age called Rama Rajya.
This great war, which features Enlil and Marduk as its main protagonists, can only be Ragnarok of the Scandinavians or Gigantomachy of the Greeks. Ramayana offers us additional information about its development, revealing that both sides used flying machines and terrible weapons in battle, similar to atomic ones. Vanaras, humanoids with a monkey-like appearance, could be one of the species that coexisted with Homo Sapiens before the Deluge, probably the so-called Neanderthalians. According to Ramayana, these vanaras built a bridge to reach Sri Lanka, where Sita was imprisoned. Although most people consider Ramayana just a story, in 2002 NASA photographed from a satellite a 30-kilometer-long sand and gravel bridge connecting India to Sri Lanka. It is said that the bridge was built of stones that floated on water, with Rama’s name inscribed on them. There are some such stones in Sri Lanka that defy the laws of physics, much to the surprise of researchers. If the demon Ravana had an air fleet, archaeologists have discovered the traces of five ancient airports on the hills of Sri Lanka. It is even believed that the sarcophagus of Ravana, containing the demon’s body, has been discovered and is currently preserved in a cave in the hills of Nuwara Eliya and guarded by the tribes of the area. Every time the Sri Lankan army tried to recover the sarcophagus, natural disasters occurred that hindered the mission. At least that’s what they say.
The events that led to the beginning of this great war, as well as the actual battles themselves, are extensively described in Egyptian mythology, which called Marduk Haru (Horus), Enki Asar (Osiris), Enlil Sutah (Seth), Anu Ra, Ninhursag Aset (Isis), Ishtar Hathor and Nabu Djehuty (Thoth). Legends say that one day, young Horus presented himself before the Assembly of the Gods, claiming to be the son of Osiris and therefore the rightful heir to the throne of Earth, occupied at that time by Seth, his uncle. Ra refused to give him the throne, but supported by his mother, Isis, Horus did not give up, accusing before the entire Council of the Gods that he was being robbed of what was rightfully his. Isis began to press Ra to declare her son king and even won the sympathy of some gods, which greatly disturbed Seth, who threatened to kill a god a day with his 2040-kilogram scepter if the goddess was not banned from the trial. To quietly deliberate, Ra decided that the gods should meet on an island without Horus’ mother. However, she appeared disguised as an ordinary but very charming woman. She caught Seth’s attention, then approached and seduced him, making him approve everything she said. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Isis told him a very sad story in which a son had his inheritance stolen. Approving everything she said to win her over, Seth acknowledged that the legitimate son should be his father’s successor. Upon hearing this, Isis regained her real appearance and asked the Council of the Gods to give Horus the throne, with everyone witnessing Seth’s declaration. Enraged, he complained to Ra that he had been deceived and the supreme leader chose to postpone making a decision.
In the text known as The Chester Beatty Papyrus No.1, Seth proposed that the deliberation of the gods be shortened, so he could have the opportunity to peacefully discuss with his nephew. He invited Horus to „come, let’s spend a happy day at my house„. The young god accepted „and when it got dark, the bed was made for them, and the two lay down. And in the power of the night Seth made his member hard and inserted it between Horus’s thighs„. However, when Seth ejaculated, Horus „caught it in his hands„. In the morning, he brought it to his mother and told her what had happened. Isis advised him to pour his own semen into a vessel, then took it and poured it over Seth’s salad, who ate it. Before the gods, Seth announced that his semen was in Horus. In turn, the young god exclaimed: „Not only is Seth’s seed not in me, but my seed is in him! Seth is the one who remains unworthy!„. To solve this dilemma, the god Thoth was brought before the Council. He called for Seth’s semen, which answered from the bottom of the marsh where Isis had thrown it. Then he called for Horus’ seed, which appeared from Seth’s body. Angered, the god of storm and desert shouted that only a fight to the death could determine the outcome. Although this text may seem like a homosexual story, things are not quite like that. Enlil raised Marduk as his own son, unaware that the boy’s true father was Enki. When Seth announced that his seed was in Horus, he was not boasting that they had sex, but rather claiming that he was the young god’s father. Nor being Osiris’ son, Horus would not have the right to inherit the throne until after Seth. In turn, Horus claimed that his seed was in Seth, meaning he could be considered the father of the god of storm, not vice versa. All the gods who came to Earth (including Enlil / Seth) were incarnated in the bodies of the Divine Twins’ descendants, who genetically could be considered the gods’ parents. As Marduk was Enki’s clone, Horus’ statement seams to be true, with Seth / Enlil having Enki and Marduk’s genetic material. Thoth / Nabu was not brought before the Council of the Gods to „call forth” the semen of the two contenders to the throne, as ancient Egyptians interpreted, but to perform genetic tests to establish each one’s paternity. The test results favored Horus, who was Osiris’ clone, from whose genes the stormy Seth had been created. Seth did not accept the test results and, enraged, declared war on his nephew. However, he calmed himself and proposed a bizarre method for determining the winner: they would both turn into hippos and remain underwater; whoever succeeded in doing so for three months would be the winner. In Egyptian Mythology, Claude Helft tells the story: „Isis doubts that Seth will not cheat. She makes a harpoon to threaten Seth. But, moved by her brother’s cries, she relents and stops attacking him. Mad with rage, Horus argues with his mother and, overcome with fury, cuts off her head. Then, exhausted, he falls asleep. Seth runs to the gods and loudly proclaims what has happened, very happy that he has a reason to punish his nephew. He goes off again to look for Horus. He finds him asleep and plucks out his eyes, which immediately become two lotus flowers„. Blind, the young god managed to take refuge in the desert, where „the good goddess Hathor, with her gentle head of a cow, takes him, mercifully, and heals him with a drop of gazelle’s milk. Horus is ready to resume the fight„.
Seeing his nephew unharmed and ready for battle, Seth proposed a stone boat race. Cocky, he made himself a huge boat, 36 meters long. But the cunning Horus made his boat from wood, then smeared it with chalk to make it look like stone. Of course, Seth’s boat sank. Seeing himself at the bottom of the water, he turned into a hippopotamus and attacked his opponent. Horus did not lose his cool and fought back, hitting Seth with a harpoon, requiring the intervention of the other gods to stop him.
Further details about this war between Horus and Seth can be found in the ancient Egyptian city of Behdet (Edfu), where it was said that son of Osiris held his giant Winged Disc with which he flew in the sky, a shuttle similar to the vimanas from the Hindu epic Ramayana. „When the doors of the smelter open, the Disc rises„, an Egyptian text announced. An inscription on the walls of the temple in Edfu claims that „in the year 363, His Majesty, Ra, the Holy, the Horizon Falcon, the Immortal who lives forever, was in the land of Khenn. He was accompanied by his warriors, for his enemies had conspired against their lord in the district which, from that day, was called Ua-Ua„. Seeing the enemies, „Ra, the Holy, the Horizon Falcon, said to Horus, the Winged Measurer: ‘High stem of Ra, my successor: go quickly, strike down the enemy you have seen’„. Embarking in his vimana, Horus flew to search for the enemies: „in the strength of the heavens, from the Winged Disc, he saw the enemies and came towards them from behind. From the back he let loose a storm over them that neither their eyes could see nor their ears could hear. He brought death to all in an instant; no creature escaped alive„.
In Edfu, Horus established a metal smelter, where unique weapons were made from „divine iron„, and he trained an army of mesniu, „Metal Men„. They were depicted on the walls of Horus’ temple with shaved heads, wearing short tunics and unidentified weapons in the shape of a harpoon. According to Egyptian traditions, mesniu were the first men armed by the gods with metal weapons.
„Then Ra, the Holy, advanced; and Astarte was with him. And they looked for enemies on Earth, but each of them was hidden„. Ra decided to lower his boat on the water to find them. „And the enemies also went on water, pretending to be crocodiles and hippos, and they struck Ra’s boat, the Falcon of the Horizon (…) Then Horus, the Winged Measurer, came with his helpers, who served as warriors, each called by name, with the Divine Iron and a chain in their hands, and they beat the crocodiles and hippos. And they pulled out of the water six hundred fifty-one enemies in that place; they killed them near the city. And Ra, the Falcon of the Horizon, said to Horus, the Winged Measurer: ‘Let this place be known as the place where your victory was consecrated in the southern lands’„. Not only Ra enjoyed the young god’s victory. „Then Thoth said to the other gods: ‘O gods of heaven, let your hearts rejoice! O gods of the Earth, let your hearts rejoice! The young Horus brought peace, after he succeeded in performing miraculous deeds in this campaign’„, an episode that recalls that from Ramayana, when a voice from heaven praised Rama’s victory against the demon Ravana. On this occasion, Horus adopted the Winged Disc as his emblem: „since that day there are the metal emblems of Horus. Horus is the one who made his emblem the Winged Disc, placing it on the front of Ra’s boat. He put next to it the goddess of the north and the goddess of the south, represented as two serpents. And Horus stood behind the emblem, on the deck of Ra’s boat, with the Divine Iron and the chain in hand„.
Despite Horus being proclaimed by Thoth as the bringer of peace, the war was far from over. As the company of gods advanced to the north, „they saw two glimmerings on a plain, southeast of Thebes. And Ra said to Thoth: ‘Those are the enemies; let Horus slaughter them’ (…) And Horus did a great slaughter among their ranks„. Other confrontations followed: „Then the enemies moved away from him, towards north. They stopped in the land of lakes, facing the great Mediterranean hidden sea, and their hearts were filled with fear. But Horus, the Winged Measurer, followed closely behind them in Ra’s boat, holding the Divine Iron in his hand. And all his helpers, armed with iron weapons, gathered around him„. However, he failed to catch his enemies. „For four days and four nights he roamed the waters in pursuit of them, without seeing even one„. Ra advised him once again to fly with the Winged Disk and Horus was able to see the fleeing enemies. „He threw the Divine Spear after them and killed them, causing great havoc among them. And he brought one hundred and forty-two enemy prisoners to the bow of Ra’s boat„. The enemies who had managed to escape „headed towards the North Lake, towards the Mediterranean, where they wanted to reach by sailing through the land of lakes. But the god struck their hearts and when they reached the middle of the waters, fleeing, they turned towards the lake to the west, towards the waters that connect with the lakes of the Mer region, in order to unite there with the enemies who were in the land of Seth„. Horus’ enemy is identified for the first time in this text, with Seth being the opponent against whom the young god’s forces advanced from the south. Another battle took place at the border, in which 381 enemies were captured and executed. Horus pursued the survivors, crossing the waters and entering the land of Seth. The god of storm and desert was so furious that he confronted his nephew directly.
Was Ra really on Horus’ side against Seth, even though all the other myths describe Anu on Enlil’s side? Ra means „Ruler” in Sumerian and this ruler from the inscriptions on the walls of the Edfu temple does not seem to be the supreme god, Emperor Anu. A ruler on Horus / Marduk’s side, against Seth / Enlil, who has Astarte / Ishtar and Thoth / Nabu by his side, can only be the leader of the Watchers, Enki. However, the Egyptians from Edfu, the followers of Horus, called him Ra to legitimize their god’s ascension to the throne.
According to the inscription in the temple of Edfu, the first direct confrontation between Horus and Seth took place at the „Lake of the Gods„, known since then as the „Lake of the Battle„. The young god managed to strike his uncle with the Divine Spear. When Seth fell, Horus brought him before Ra. „The spear was in his throat, and the feet of the evil one were chained, while his mouth had been closed by a blow from the mace of the god„. Ra had decided that Horus and Isis could do as they pleased with the prisoner and other „conspirators” who had been captured. However, when Horus began to execute the prisoners by cutting off their heads, Isis felt sorry for her brother and released Seth, who hid in an underground tunnel. The Papyrus Sallier IV claims that this is the moment when Horus became enraged and cut off his mother’s head, whom Thoth replaced with a cow’s head. Historian Plutarch believed that the young god did not decapitate his mother, but only removed her royal crown.
After six days, a series of aerial battles ensued. Horus took flight on a Nar, which was represented as an elongated, cylindrical ship equipped with wings or stabilizers. At the top were two „eyes” that constantly changed color from blue to red and back. It protruded lines like a jet engine from its tail and emitted rays from its top. Unfortunately, the Egyptian texts written by the disciples of Horus do not contain any description of Seth’s ship. During battle, Horus’ Nar lost an „eye” after being hit by a lightning bolt thrown by Seth. The young god continued the fight from Ra’s Winged Disc, shooting his uncle with a „harpoon„. Struck, Seth lost his testicles. About Horus’ weapon, similar to the Weapon of Ancestors from Ramayana, the Orientalist Wilhelm Max Muller wrote in Egyptian Mythology (1918) that it had a „strange head, impractical in reality” and ancient Egyptian texts referred to it as the „weapon of the thirty„. From hieroglyphic representations, the „harpoon” seems to be a rocket with three components in one. Its name suggests that it was what we call today a multiple warhead rocket, with each projectile containing ten warheads. About Horus’ victory, the Egyptologist Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge stated in The Gods of the Egyptians (1904): „It is quite clear that he owed his successes primarily to the superiority of the weapons which he and his men were equipped with, and to the material which they were made from„. When the battles ended, Ra expressed his satisfaction with the achievements of „these Metal Men of Horus” and decided that, from that moment on, they should „reside in sanctuaries” and be served with offerings and libations „as a reward, for they have killed the enemies of the god Horus„. They settled in Behdet (Edfu), the capital of Upper Egypt, and in Djanet (Tanis in Greek), the capital of Lower Egypt. Over time they surpassed their military role, becoming known as the Shemsu-Hor („Followers of Horus”), serving as emissaries and human aids.
According to Egyptian mythology, the gods, exasperated by the ongoing war, decided to seek Osiris’ opinion. He asked them to crown Horus, threatening to release all the spirits of the dead on Earth if they did not comply. In the Chester Beatty Papyrus No.1, the Council of the Gods seeks the help of Banebdjedet, who advises them not to rush their decision, but to seek the advice of the mother goddess Neith, who suggested giving the throne to Horus. According to the Shabaka Stone, the god Geb divided Egypt between the two combatants and then changed his mind, giving Horus the whole country, while Seth received in exchange a region in Asia. In other myths, Ra is the one who decides that Horus should receive the throne and Seth is given a place in his boat, which travels daily through the sky and the Underworld. „Horus triumphed in the presence of the entire assembly of the gods. He was given sovereignty over the world and his rule extends to the farthest regions of the Earth„, claims the Papyrus of Hunefer.
How was Emperor Ra convinced to give Horus the throne of Earth, considering that Seth was his favorite? Did he fear Osiris’ threats? Or was he blackmailed? One myth suggests that Ra had a secret name that he did not share with anyone, believing that whoever discovered it would gain absolute power over the Universe. However, goddess Isis tricked Ra and learned his secret name, which she revealed to her son, Horus. The old god asked them both to keep the secret and not to use the power of the name. It seems that the two of them kept their word, as Ra remained at the head of the pantheon until the end and Horus received the throne of Earth.
This second great war of the gods was a lengthy one, with battles spanning over 92 millennia. The balance was equal, as ancient texts reveal, with some battles won by Enlil and others by Marduk. Only the Deluge managed to put an end to this prolonged conflict, in which the humans suffered the most. During the fierce war, which began more than 124 millennia ago, an ice age also occurred. The ancients kept in their legends the memory of that „great freeze” before the Deluge, initially transmitted orally and later written down.
According to World Mythology, the myths of the Hopi tribe say that „the first world was destroyed as punishment for the wickedness of men by a fire that came from above and below. The second world ended when the earth globe overturned on its axis and everything was covered in ice. The third world ended with a universal flood„. The Popol Vuh of the Mayans associates the Deluge with „hail, black rain and fog, and an indescribable cold„. In South America, the Toba Indians of the Gran Chaco region (which stretches across the current borders of Paraguay, Argentina and Chile) have an ancient myth about the „Great Cold„. The warning came from a semi-divine character named Asin. According to John Bierhorst’s The Mythology of South America, „Asin told a man to gather as much wood as possible and cover his hut with a thick layer of branches, because a fierce cold was coming. As soon as the hut was ready, Asin and the man went inside and waited. When the great cold set in, other people began to arrive, shivering, to ask for a piece of firewood. Asin was harsh and only gave embers to those who had been his friends. The people were freezing and screamed all night. At midnight they had all died, young and old, men and women (…) this ice and snow weather lasted a long time and all the fires went out. The frost had thickened like tanned leather„. A Norwegian myth, recorded in the New Larousse Encyclopaedia of Mythology, tells of a young wolf, the son of Fenrir and an old giantess, who chased the Sun to take control over it. The Sun was eventually caught and „its bright rays went out one by one. It became reddish, like blood, and then disappeared altogether. As a result, the world was covered by a terrible winter. Snowstorms descended from all corners of the horizon„. Ragnarok, the great war of the gods, broke out on Earth, „the stars went mad and fell into the open pit” and, after a while, the world was flooded: „all the rivers, all the seas swelled and overflowed. Everywhere, the waves clashed against waves. They rose and slowly boiled over everything. The earth sank below sea level„.
The Vendidad Avesta scriptures of the Persians also relate a great freeze: „The first of the good countries and regions that I, Ahura Mazda, created was Airyana Vaejo„. This was the original home of the Aryan race, which initially had a mild and productive climate, with seven months of summer and five of winter. The land was rich in crops and game, with meadows watered by rivers. „Then, Angra Mainyu, who is full of death, created a hostile climate, a strong snake and snow. Winter now lasts ten months there and there are two months of summer, and the waters are cold, the earth is cold, the trees are cold (…) Heavy snowfalls occur everywhere, it is the most terrible plague„. The supreme god Ahura Mazda called a meeting of the celestial gods, to which „the handsome Yima, the good shepherd so famous in Airyana Vaejo” attended with all his mortals. „And Ahura Mazda spoke to Yima and said: ‘Yima the handsome (…) A terrible winter is about to come over the mortal world, which will bring a devastating and merciless frost. The calamity of winter will fall upon the physical world, with snow falling abundantly (…) And all three kinds of animals will perish – those that live in the wild, those that live on mountain peaks and those that live in the depths of valleys, protected in stables. Therefore, make a var (i.e. an underground enclosure) as long as a riding track at all four corners. There, bring two of each kind of creature, large and small, cattle, beasts of burden and men, dogs, birds and burning red fires (…) And make water flow there. Put the birds in the trees, on the banks of the water, in the evergreenery that lasts forever. Put plants of all kinds, the most beautiful and fragrant, and all the juiciest fruits. All these things and creatures shall not perish as long as they are in the var. But do not bring any lame, weak, foolish, malicious, deceptive, envious or leprous creatures there; nor anyone with rotten teeth„. In Bundahish, a Zoroastrian scripture that incorporates ancient material from a lost part of the original Avesta, there are additional information about this cataclysm. When Angra Mainyu sent „the devastating and merciless frost„, he also „attacked and disturbed the sky„. This assault gave him the opportunity to rule „one-third of the sky, filling it with darkness„, as the all-encompassing layers of ice tightened their grip.
This account, like all those that fall outside the limits of scientific thought and current religious representatives, was considered just a story. It is true that there was once an ice age, but who could believe that it was due to a war of the gods and that people built a huge underground enclosure to shelter thousands of people and animals many tens of millennia ago? And yet the evidence has been under our noses for some time. Cappadocia, located in central Turkey, bordered to the north by the Black Sea and to the south by the Taurus Mountains, is a vast complex of prehistoric dwellings. In 1963, the renovation of a house in the city of Derinkuyu led to the discovery of a passage leading to an underground city thousands of years old, located more than 85 meters deep. The underground city consists of 11 floors, has ventilation channels and 15,000 smaller channels that carry air to the deepest levels. It contained numerous warehouses, religious centers, stables and thousands of homes. The homes had massive stone doors that closed only from the inside, as if their purpose was to prevent someone or something from entering. Archaeologists believe that about 50,000 people may have lived in this vast underground city. Some believe it was built by the Phrygians, others by the Hittites, but no one knows the truth. Forced to give an explanation, the „eminent” scientists at the Turkish Department of Culture have established, without much thought, that the city was built around 800 BC as a temporary shelter against invaders. How could people from almost three millennia ago have built such a thing? And why would they subject themselves to such titanic work to escape invaders, instead of fleeing, as all defenseless people have done throughout history? Considering that this region was part of the Persian Empire, the version supported by Persian scriptures, that this was the city that King Yima built with the help of the god Ahura Mazda, is more logical. As their god was in full war with his rival, this also explains the people’s need to barricade themselves in homes (the doors could only be closed from the inside) in case the enemy discovered them. Therefore, the city was not built 2,800 years ago, but much earlier, before the ice age.
Who was this Ahura Mazda or Ormuzd, the supreme god of the Persians? It is believed that the name Mazda means „wise” and Ahura comes from Asura, a class of gods from India (the Watchers). However, the origin of the name may come from Egypt. On a stone inscription erected by the pharaoh Khufu (called Cheops by the Greeks) around 2600 BC, one can read: „Ankh Hor Mezdau Sten-bat Khufu tu ankh” („Long live Horus Mezdau, to whom Khufu’s life is given!”). „Mezdau” of the Egyptians is very similar to „Mazda” of the Persians, which means „wise”, and „Ahura” comes from „Ankh Hor„. Therefore, Ahura Mazda translates to „Long live Horus the wise”, the supreme god of the Persians being the Egyptian Horus or the Babylonian Marduk. His archenemy, with whom he was at war, called Angra Mainyu or Ahriman, can only be Enlil of the Sumerians, Seth of the Egyptians, Rama / Vishnu of the Hindus, Zeus of the Greeks, Mot of the Canaanites, Teshub of the Hurrians or Odin of the Scandinavians. Like the Egyptians and Canaanites, the Persians considered Enlil a negative entity, their supreme god being the positive one.
Mesopotamian texts describe in detail the sufferings of mankind during the ice age, food shortages and even cannibalism. The biblical Book of Genesis only suggests this situation, stating that Noah („Comfort”) was named so in the hope that his birth „shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which Elohim hath cursed„. The Atra-Hasis Epic, the Akkadian creation myth, copied from much older Sumerian tablets, provides details about how the Earth was „cursed” during the ice age. Here, Enlil was upset with people who had begun to multiply too much and too… noisily:
„The inhabited land had expanded, the people multiplied.
The land was bellowing like a bull.
The god had been disturbed by their clamour,
Enlil had heard their din.
He said to the great gods,
‘Grievous has grown the din of mankind,
Through their clamour I lose sleep.’„
The Epic of Gilgamesh, probably the source of the Akkadian creation myth, describes this episode similarly: „In those days the world teemed, the people multiplied, the world bellowed like a wild bull, and the great god was aroused by the clamour„. Annoyed by the noise, Enlil told the gods in council: „The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the babel„. According to the Atra-Hasis Epic, Enlil requested the decimation of people through epidemics and diseases. The Akkadian and Assyrian versions speak of „pains, dizziness, chills and fever„, as well as „diseases, epidemics, plague and cholera” that affected mankind. Atra-Hasis, the „excessively wise” one, asked Enki to help people:
„Ea, O lord, humanity groans;
The wrath of the gods devastates the Earth.
And yet, you are the one who made us!
Make the pain and sickness stop,
The chills and fever!„
Due to the deterioration of the tablets, we do not know Enki’s response. However, it appears that he had a saving idea, since Enlil complained to the other gods that „the humans have not decreased, but are even more numerous than before„. While myths cannot offer us the solution found by Enki, fortunately science is capable of doing so.
If the ice age began 94,800 years BC according to the Sumerian chronology (or 108,000 years BC according to the scientists), and it is believed that at that time Enlil struck the humans with a series of diseases, researchers from the University of California, San Diego, have concluded that approximately 100,000 years ago the human species was on the verge of extinction due to an epidemic caused by bacteria. The bacteria acted on two genes that caused them to function to the detriment of the human body, so the solution was to eliminate the vulnerable genes. Professor Ajit Varki and his colleagues analyzed the genes called Siglec-13 and Siglec-17, which play a role in encoding the synthesis of proteins involved in regulating the immune system, with the body deciding which immune cells enter the fight against pathogens. Specialists have found that both genes are active in chimpanzees but not in humans. Siglec-13 was completely eliminated from the human genome, while Siglec-17 became non-functional in the absence of a „letter” in its code. Wanting to know why these genes are no longer functional in the human genome, Professor Varki reconstructed the lost proteins and discovered that they can bind to two particularly dangerous bacteria, Group B Streptococcus and Escherichia coli K1. Following laboratory research, specialists found that these bacteria have the ability to reduce the body’s immunity when they act on the two genes, Siglec-13 and Siglec-17. For this reason, Professor Varki believes that humans around 100,000 years ago faced an epidemic of bacterial infections, and the decline in the number of humans during that period was caused by these two bacteria, which are fatal to newborns. Genetic data suggest that the effects of the two vulnerable genes were eliminated following a long process, although one of the genes persisted in some individuals until about 46,000 years ago. Although San Diego researchers believe that the human body naturally eliminated the two vulnerable genes, Mesopotamian myths tell us that Enki is the one who saved mankind from epidemics. Therefore, he should be credited with eliminating the „Achilles’ heel” represented by the Siglec-13 and Siglec-17 genes.
The Atra-Hasis Epic tells that as humans did not disappear, but became immune to his bacteria, Enlil attempted to exterminate them through starvation: „may food not reach the humans; let their bellies crave fruits and vegetables„. In order for this plan to succeed, he ordered:
„Let Adad withold his rain,
From below let there not rise
The water from the spring!
Let the wind come,
Let it sweep the earth bare!
Let the clouds pile up,
Let no drop of rain fall!„
Enki was ordered to „lock the gates, close the sea” and „guard” it from humans. Soon, the drought began to spread:
„There was no heat from above.
Below, the waters no longer flowed from their springs.
The belly of the earth no longer bore fruit,
The herbs no longer grew…
The green fields were now dry,
The vast plain was suffocated with salt.„
The famine that followed pushed people to desperation:
„For one sha-at-tam they ate the grass of the fields.
For two sha-at-tam they suffered the punishment of the gods.
And when the third sha-at-tam arrived,
The faces of the people were worn by hunger,
The faces of the people cracked […]
They lived with the breath of death behind them.
When the fourth sha-at-tam came,
The faces of the people were as green as grass;
Dizzy, they wandered in the streets,
Their edges became narrow.„
By the fifth sha-at-tam, mothers were locking their doors in front of their own starving daughters, who spied on their mothers to see if they were hiding food. By the seventh sha-at-tam, cannibalism was flourishing:
„When the seventh sha-at-tam came,
They ate their own daughters.
Children were cooked and eaten […]
One house ate the other.„
Researchers have even found that about 98,000 years ago, in what is now France and Belgium, Neanderthals were starting to strip meat from corpses. For scientists, defleshing was probably part of a strange funeral ritual. Considering that this happened exactly during the famine period mentioned in the legends, when people had even resorted to cannibalism, it cannot be a strange funeral ritual, but only a scientific confirmation that the myths are true.
The Hurrian legend of Ullikummi also speaks of the famine of that time, with the god Tashmishu wondering before the final battle between Teshub and Ullikummi:
„Will it be a great battle?
Will it be a fierce fight?
The whole sky is now filled with tumult,
Famine and thirst reign in the country!„
In the Akkadian epic, Atra-Hasis repeatedly asked for help from his god: „in the house of his god […] he put his foot […] every day he cried, bringing sacrifices to the god […] calling the name of his god„. Even if Enki did not respond, it seems that he was affected by the suffering of humans. In the seventh period, when people had become „like wandering shadows on Earth„, they received a message from their creator. „Make great rebellion on Earth„, he told them. „Do not revere your god, do not pray to your goddess!„, commanded the hidden leader of the Watchers. Hesiod also recalled this event, claiming that humans were destroyed by Zeus through the Deluge because they refused to worship the gods. And the Roman poet Ovid wrote that humans became arrogant before the gods. An enormous Chinese book, composed of 4,320 volumes, which was said to have been inherited from the oldest times and contains „all knowledge„, also includes a number of traditions that relate the consequences that mankind had to suffer when it rebelled against the great gods, and order turned into disorder. In a deluge myth from Laos and northern Thailand, people were punished by the Deluge after refusing to bring offerings to the gods. The Popol Vuh of the Mayans states that the first humans were destroyed by a great flood by the Heart of Heaven god because „they did not remember their creator„. In 1906, philosopher Rudolf Steiner recalled in his Christian Mystery about „Luciferic entities” who „cultivated rebellion against the gods„. Also, the Egyptians kept in their myths the memory of a rebellion of mankind against the supreme god Ra. He sent the lioness Sekhmet to quell the rebellion and she began to slaughter people. Fearing that the lioness could destroy all humans, the gods scattered a huge amount of red beer in the fields. Believing it to be blood, Sekhmet drank so much that she could no longer hunt, thus saving mankind from annihilation.
The fragmented texts of the Atra-Hasis Epic show that Enki convened a council of gods (the leaders of the Watchers mentioned in the Book of Enoch): „they entered […] to counsel in the house of Enki„. The secret details of that meeting can be inferred from the fragments of texts that have been preserved: „at night […] after […]”, someone had to be „on the riverbank” at a certain time. From there, that person had to „bring the warriors of the waters” (probably Horus’ „Metal Men„, called Mesniu or Shemsu-Hor by the Egyptians). At the right moment, they were to act: „forward! […] the command […]”. Despite the missing verses, we can tell what happened from Enlil’s reaction, who „was filled with rage„. He convened the Council of the Gods, where he also invited Enki. There, Enlil accused his brother of „opening the gate of the sea„, allowing humans to obtain food:
„We, the great Anunnaki,
Decided at that time one thing […]
We commanded that in the Bird of Heaven,
Adad should watch over the Upper World;
That Sin and Nergal should watch over
The regions in the middle of the Earth.
And that you, with your weapons, should guard
The lock of the Gate of the Waters.
But you let the food from the sea reach the humans!„
However, Enki denied everything:
„The lock of the Gate of the Sea
With my weapons I guarded it.
When […] escaped from me […]
Many fish […] disappeared;
They broke the lock […]
They killed the sea guards.„
He even claimed to have caught and punished the wrongdoers, but Enlil was not satisfied, asking Enki „not to feed his people” and not to give them „the rations of corn, with which they sustain their days„. Enki’s reaction was surprising:
„The god was tired of sitting down;
In the Assembly of the Gods,
The laughter overwhelmed him.„
Enlil resumed speaking and reminded the Council of the numerous occasions when the god of wisdom „broke the laws„. He even proposed the destruction of mankind through a „lethal deluge„. He asked all the gods to keep the secret and, most importantly, „to bind Enki by an oath„.
„Enlil opened his mouth and thus spoke
To all the gods gathered in Assembly:
‘Come now, all of you, let us make an oath
Regarding this deadly flood!’
Anu swore first; Enlil swore, and then his sons.„
At first, Enki refused to swear. „To what would you have me swear?„, he asked. However, being forced, he gave in, some texts stating that „Anu, Enlil, Enki and Ninhursag, the gods of heaven and Earth, made an oath„. Thus, the Deluge was decided and nothing could stop it.
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