In the 17th century BC, Egypt was invaded by the Hyksos, Semitic shepherds from northwestern Mesopotamia, whose name means „The Shepherd Kings” according to the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. The Hyksos established their capital on the eastern borders of Egypt at Tjaru / Zarw, which they renamed Avaris. In Against Apion („Contra Apionen” in Latin), Josephus wrote that the Hyksos ruler Salitis became pharaoh in Memphis, followed by Bnon, Apahmen, Apophis, Iannas and Assis. After ruling the northern part of Egypt for almost a century, the Hyksos were banished around 1550 BC by an alliance of Egyptian princes from Thebes. Thutmose besieged them with an army of 480,000 soldiers and forced them to leave Egypt. Thus, 40,000 Hyksos families crossed the Sinai desert and settled in Judea, where they built the city of Jerusalem. Referring to the same Semitic invaders of Egypt, the philosopher, historian and novelist Hecataeus of Abdera (Hekataios in original) wrote in the 4th century BC in The History of Egypt that the Egyptians drove the foreigners out of their country, most of whom emigrated to Judea, where they founded many cities (the most important being Hierosolyma), divided themselves into 12 tribes and established their own laws and religion. Another part of them, led by prominent leaders such as Danaos and Cadmus, ended up in Greece. The Hyksos expelled from Egypt to Canaan, where they built Jerusalem, are the people we now call the Israelites.
Hecataeus’ account is particularly interesting. Historians believe that the Greeks came from Asia, but it is not known when or under what circumstances. Hecataeus said that some of the Hyksos settled in Greece, becoming the Hellenic or Greek people, while the other part, who went to Judea, became the Israelite people. And this statement suggests that the Greeks and Israelites are the same people. We must admit that the Greeks have obvious Semitic facial features. The large, fleshy nose, along with the slightly darker skin color, are physical characteristics common to both Middle Eastern Semites and Greeks. Let us not forget the highly developed trading spirit, typical of both Jews and Greeks. Evidence of their Semitic origin can even be found in the name they attribute to themselves, that of „Hellenes”. The Greeks consider themselves direct descendants of Ellin, the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, survivors of the Flood. This name contains the Semitic northwest particle „el„, which means „god”, and is probably a derivative of Elyon, the supreme god in the Canaanite pantheon. Even The Bible supports the idea that the Spartans (Greeks from the city of Sparta) and the Jews are part of the same people: „It has been found in writings concerning the Spartans and Jews that they are brothers and are of the family of Abraham” (1 Maccabees 12:21). Perhaps the clearest evidence of the common origin of the two peoples is the alphabet. The Hebrew and Greek alphabets are almost identical, as can be seen in the table below:
| Hebrew alphabet | Greek alphabet |
| Aleph | Alpha |
| Beth | Beta |
| Gimel | Gamma |
| Daleth | Delta |
| He | Epsilon |
| Vau | Vau |
| Zayin | Dzeta |
| Heth | Eta |
| Teth | Theta |
| Yod | Iota |
| Khaph | Kappa |
| Lamed | Lambda |
| Mem | Mi |
| Nun | Ni |
| Samekh | Xi |
| Ayin | Omicron |
| Pe | Pi |
| Sade | Psi |
| Koph | Khi |
| Resh | Rho |
| Shin | Sigma |
| Tav | Tau |
Upon reaching Europe, the Greeks brought with them their own language, traditions and religion, but they wanted to create their own identity, trying to break away from their Semitic origins. They modified the names of the letters in their alphabet, but still retained the essence. They even added two more letters, „ypsilon” and „omega„, probably influenced by the Thracians they encountered in Europe. Through people like the poet Hesiod they created a new religion, based on the beliefs of their Asian ancestors. They couldn’t invent one from scratch, so they transformed the old one. From the seven great Sumerian gods, the Greeks created several deities, just like other ancient peoples. The Romans did not bother to invent a new religion, but took almost all of it from the Greeks, mixing it here and there with that of the Etruscans, changing only a few minor details.
The Greeks called the god of the sky Ouranos („Sky”), Uranus in English, while the Romans called him Caelus or Coelos. He was the son and husband of the goddess Gaia („Earth”), with whom he had 18 children (12 Titans, 3 Cyclopes and 3 Hecatoncheires). Because he had the gift of prophecy, Uranus knew that one of his children would overthrow him. So he imprisoned all of them in Tartarus, the deep abyss used as a dungeon in the Underworld. Aided by his mother, one of the Titans, Cronus, escaped and castrated his father with a sickle. Wounded, Uranus flew, leaving Cronus the ruler of the Earth. No cult of Uranus survived until the classical era. Like An of the Sumerians, Uranus was the god of the sky and his consort was the goddess of the Earth. He was castrated by his son and banished to the sky, just like Anu for the Hittites. His Latinized name, Uranus, is of Sumerian origin. If we remove the „us” / „os” ending, specific to Greek and Latin languages, the name Uran (as the Romanian historian Nicolae Densusianu called him in Prehistoric Dacia) remains, formed from the Sumerian words „ur” and „an„. The first word, as a proper noun, represents the Sumerian city of Ur, and as a common noun can be translated as „soul”. The second is either the name of the Sumerian god An, or the common noun „sky”. Whether we translate the name Uranus as „An of Ur” or as „Heavenly Soul”, it is certain that it represents the same entity called An by the Sumerians or Anu by the Semitic peoples of Mesopotamia. Hindus believe that the supreme universal spirit is called Brahman, a combination of the names of Brahma and An, similar to the „Heavenly Soul” Uranus of the Greeks. His cult was not very widespread in Greece, like that of Anu in Assyria and Babylon or the one of Brahma in India, where very few temples were dedicated to him.
The consort of Uranus was named Gaia, Ge or Gaea (Terra or Tellus for the Romans), the goddess of the Earth. The Etruscans, whose culture dominated Italy in the 7th century BC and were assimilated by the Roman Republic three centuries later, called her Cel. Her Greek name comes from the Sumerian „gi” or „ki” („earth”), just like Geb, the god of the Earth in Egypt. In Sumerian religion, Ki or Ninhursag was the consort of An and the mother of the gods, just like Gaia of the Greeks, an idea also adopted by the Egyptians, for whom the god of the Earth, Geb, was married to the goddess of the sky, Nut. In Gaia we recognize Devi, the mother goddess of the Earth for the inhabitants of the Indus Valley.
Uranus and Gaia had many children, the most important of whom were the 12 Titans. They rebelled against their father and were cast into Tartarus. Their names have Mesopotamian origins, „an” meaning „sky” in Sumerian and „tit” meaning „clay” or „mud” in Akkadian, derived from the Sumerian „tiit„, which in the translation of writer Zecharia Sitchin means „that which has life”. Therefore, the word „titan” can mean „life of the sky” / „those to whom the sky gave life” or „clay of the sky”, the Titans being the Anunnaki deities of the Akkadians, „the noble people of heaven and Earth”. Because they rebelled against their father and were exiled to the Underworld, we know which Anunnaki they are: „the fallen gods” Igigi.
If in Mesopotamia the leader of these rebells was Enki, the eldest son of the heavenly emperor, the Greeks transformed him into the youngest son, in an attempt to separate themselves from the original religion, calling him Kronos (Saturn for the Romans and Satre or Satres for the Etruscans), Cronus in English. With the help of his mother, Cronus managed to escape from Tartarus, the underground prison, and attacked his father, whom he castrated, forcing him to flee. Then he freed his brothers and together they ruled the world. This episode is identical to that of the Hittites, where Kumarbi castrated Anu, and very similar to that of the Egyptians, where Apophis attacked Ra, or that of the Indians, where Shiva attacked Brahma. In Sumerian mythology, Enki rebelled against his father and became the ruler of the Earth alongside the fallen gods Igigi. The sickle was Cronus’ symbol, its shape being that of a crescent moon, one of the symbols of Enki’s family. Cronus married his sister, Rhea (Ops or Opis in Roman mythology), and together they had six children: Poseidon, Hades, Zeus, Demeter, Hestia and Hera. Rhea, also a goddess of the Earth, was matched in antiquity with Gaia, her mother. In Sumerian mythology, Enki and his sister, Ninhursag / Ki, the goddess of the Earth, had a relationship. The translation of Kronos / Cronus’ name remains an enigma for researchers. Removing the „os” ending, specific to the Greek language, it is possible that the name „kron” comes from the Semitic „qrn” („horn”). Although the Titan was not represented in Greece with horns, we already know that they represent the crescent moon (just like the sickle which he used to castrate his father), the symbol of Enki’s clan.
In Hesiod’s Theogony („Theogonia” in Greek), Cronus swallowed five of his children immediately after his wife, Rhea, gave birth to them. The sixth child, Zeus, was saved and, after growing up, he freed his brothers and sisters from their father’s stomach. Although modified, this story is also copied from Sumer, where Enki impregnated his great-granddaughter, Uttu. The goddess Ninhursag took Enki’s seed from Uttu’s womb and buried it in the ground, thereby growing eight plants, which Enki ate. By swallowing his own sperm, the god became pregnant. However, in the absence of a uterus that would allow him to give birth, he became ill. Ninhursag saved him by removing the unborn children from him and implanting them in her own womb. The Hurrians and Hittites adopted Enki’s pregnancy in their myths and called him Kumarbi. When he castrated Anu by biting his genitals, his father’s seed spilled on his neck, leaving him pregnant with three children: Teshub / Tarhun, Aranzah / Tigris and Tashmishu. Like Zeus, Teshub, the god of storms, later dethroned his father.
According to Hesiod, when Cronus castrated Uranus, his testicles fell into the sea. From the foam of the waves Aphrodite was born on the southern shore of the island of Cyprus. Called Venus in Roman mythology (meaning „sexual desire” in Latin) or Venera (from which resulted the Latin verb „venerari” or „to worship” in English), she was the goddess of beauty, love and sexuality, just like Hathor in Egypt, Inanna in Sumer or Ishtar in the rest of Mesopotamia. The Etruscans represented her with wings and called her Turan, a name that underlies the pre-Greek word „turannos” („absolute ruler”), which became „tyrannos” in Greek and „tyrannus” in Latin („tyrant” in English). Aphrodite was associated with the sea, doves, sparrows, swans, dolphins, apples, pearls, shells, roses, lemons and horses, and matched with the evening star or the planet Venus, just like Inanna or Ishtar. The Romans even named the planet after her. The historian Theopompus wrote that Saturn / Cronus and Venus / Aphrodite created all the living beings on Earth, a belief similar to that of the Sumerians, who considered Enki and Ninhursag to be the creator gods. As the goddess of love, sister of Cronus, creator of all living beings, identified with the planet Venus, Aphrodite is Ninhursag / Inanna of the Sumerians, Isis of the Egyptians or Rhea / Gaia of the Greeks. In fact, even her name betrays her Egyptian origin, with Aphrodite translating to „The Goddess of Africa”. And her Latin name, Venus, comes from the Sanskrit „vanas” („beauty”, „desire”), one of the epithets of the goddess Ushas, whom we have already matched with Ninhursag.
Fearing he would be overthrown like his father, Cronus swallowed all of his children as they were born, except for Zeus, who managed to escape. When he grew up, Zeus freed his siblings and, with the help of his uncles, the Cyclopes and Hecatoncheires, waged war against the Titans. Being victorious, Zeus and his brothers imprisoned the Titans in Tartarus, the underworld prison, and ruled the world from the top of Mount Olympus. Zeus’ name comes from the Indian deity Dyaus Pitar, the father of the gods. The Greeks transformed it into Dzeus Pater and then into Zeus, while the Romans into Jupiter or Jove. After the rise of Christianity, Dzeus became Deus in Latin. In modern Greek, Zeus is called Dias, a name that emphasizes even more his origin from the Indian Dyaus. The Etruscans called him Tinia, Tin, Tinh, Tins or Tina. Zeus was always represented with a lightning in his hand, which makes him a storm god. Most of the evidence on this comes from Homer’s Iliad. The author calls Zeus „the lightning bearer from the clouds„, „the lord of the storm” (which translates as „Enlil” in Sumerian), „the heavenly lightning bearer„, „the one who churns the clouds„, „the stormy one„, „the lover of lightning„, „the king of clouds” and „the one who thunders in the sky„. In the same poem, Zeus is called „the thunderer” by Agamemnon and Hector, „the lord who rules over the clouds” by Diomedes, „the one who bangs in the clouds” by Odysseus, Aeneas and Hera, „the one who thunders and lightning gloriously” by the two Aias and „the one who thunders in the sky” by Hecuba. In Homer’s Odyssey, Zeus is called „the gatherer of clouds” several times. However, in Sumer, the storm god who dethroned Enki was Enlil, his younger brother. How did this god become the son of his brother, Enki / Cronus? The answer can be found to the Hittites, where the storm god, Teshub, was both the brother and son of Kumarbi. In an attempt to hide their Asian roots, the Greeks removed the role of brother and kept only the son. Thus, Zeus / Enlil, from Cronus / Enki’s brother, became his son. As the heir of Anu and his representative on Earth, Enlil received not only the throne, but also the titles of his heavenly father, including „god of the sky” or „father of the gods„. And the Greeks attributed these functions to Zeus. In the Iliad, Homer even called him „the father of gods and men” and „our father in the clouds” (the second epithet was adopted by Christians for their god and transformed into „our father who art in heaven„), just as in Aeneid, for the Roman poet Virgil he was „the father of gods and men„.
If in Mesopotamia the world was ruled by three gods, Anu having the sky, Enlil the Earth and Enki the water and the Underworld, the Greeks kept the Sumerian triad but eliminated Anu / Uranus to make the new ruler, Zeus / Enlil, more important. In addition to his existing domain, the Earth, he also received Anu’s domain, the sky. The Greeks kept Enki in this trinity, calling him Poseidon. In his oldest mentions, the god was called Posedao and Posedawone, being the root of the Latin verb „possidere” („to possess”). Another old name of his was Enesidaone, an obvious Sumerian word from which the epithets „Ennosidas” (in Pindar) and „Ennosigaios” (in Homer) come from. The Romans called him Neptunus, a name derived from the Etruscan Nethuns. Poseidon was the god of the seas and the elder brother of Zeus, who had the trident, the fish, the bull, the dolphin and the horse as symbols. In the Iliad, Homer calls Poseidon „the shaker of the world” and „the earthquake god„. Although the origin of the god’s name remains unknown, researchers have established that Poseidon means „Lord of the Earth” or „Husband of the Earth”. For unknown reasons, they ignored the first variant, preferring the second one, suggesting that Poseidon and the goddess of the Earth, Demeter, had an intimate connection, although there is no myth to confirm this hypothesis. As the German mythologist Walter Burkert said, the translation „Husband of the Earth” is almost impossible to demonstrate. Although researchers insist on not accepting this variant, because there is no myth attesting that Poseidon was once the ruler of the planet, the first translation is the real one. Both Enki in Sumerian and Poseidon in Greek mean the same thing. The trident and the fish are symbols of both deities. The bull, one of Poseidon’s symbols, represents fertility and its horns are Enki’s crescent moon. Both are water gods, whose younger brothers became the kings of the Earth. For the Greeks, Poseidon, along with other gods, attempted to overthrow his brother, but was caught and punished, just like Enki was for the Sumerians. The trident and crescent moon were also symbols of Shiva in India, which we have already matched with Enki. As a curiosity, the first Thoth in Egypt was an alter ego of Enki; in Hermopolis, his city, he was at the head of a group of eight deities, called The Great Ogdoad. Since Thoth, Enki, Neptunus or Poseidon all are the same deity and the gods were matched with celestial bodies, Thoth surrounded by eight smaller gods may symbolize the planet Neptune with its eight natural satellites.
After assigning the sky and the Earth to Zeus and the seas to Poseidon, the Greeks faced a dilemma: who should receive the Underworld? Since they couldn’t offer Zeus this world as well, as he already had the sky and the Earth, they gave it to Poseidon. However, to create a trinity like in most ancient religions, they created Hades, a name that comes from the Northwest Semitic god Hadad. In ancient Greek he was called Ades, taken from the Sumerian Adad. The Etruscans called him Aita or Eita. Thus, Poseidon remained only the god of the waters and Hades became his dark side, the ruler of the Underworld. Like Osiris of the Egyptians, Hades was the judge of the dead. Moreover, historian Plutarch believed that the god Serapis did not differ at all from Hades, and neither did Isis from his wife, Persephone. Plutarch also wrote that, for the Greeks, Zeus was the creator of all good things, while Hades caused evil, recognizing the antithesis between the two brothers found in most cultures. For Plato, Hades meant „The Son of Gentleness” and for Plutarch, „The Hidden One”, just like Amun of the Egyptians. The Greeks assigned the name of the god to his domain, the Underworld. The Romans called him Dis Pater, Dispater or Pluto, the last meaning „The Rich One”, alluding to the underground riches, a name taken from that of Plutus, the god of wealth and son of Demeter for the Greeks. As the opposite of the god of the storm and the ruler of the Underworld, Hades / Pluto / Aita is none other than Enki.
The Greeks named the creator of humans Prometheus („Forethought”). He gave mortals fire, writing, mathematics, agriculture, medicine, science and wisdom. The Sumerians assigned these deeds to Enki. Prometheus was one of the Titans, the first gods to rule our planet. Since Cronus was viewed as a malevolent deity, personifying chaos, he could not be considered the father of humanity. Therefore, the Greeks made him a new positive image and called it Prometheus. But, like Cronus, Prometheus was punished by the new ruler, Zeus, and was chained to the Caucasus Mountains. He was only released at the end of the Second War of the Gods, the Gigantomachy. The Egyptians named the creator of humans Khnum, Cronus and Khnum being alternative names for the Sumerian Enki.
Zeus’ consort was the youngest of his sisters, Hera. Goddess of family, marriage, women and childbirth, Hera’s sacred animals were the cow, lion and peacock. The Romans called her Juno, Regina or Iunona and considered her the patron of the city of Rome and of the Roman Empire. For the Etruscans she was Uni. The origin of her Greek name, like that of the other deities, is still unknown to researchers. This is due to ignoring the obvious, that Hera is the feminine form of the Egyptian name Heru (Horus). Hera of the Greeks is Isis of the Egyptians or Ninhursag of the Sumerians. In Egypt she was the wife of Osiris / Horus the Elder, later becoming the consort of his brother, Seth. Being the twin sister of Osiris / Horus the Elder, it is no wonder that the Greeks gave her the feminine form of his name. The same thing happened in Mesopotamia: Ninhursag was originally the wife of Enki, later becoming the wife of Enlil. When she was Enki’s consort, she was called Ninki, after her brother and husband. The Greeks even included a relationship between Hera and Poseidon / Enki in their mythology. The historian Plutarch wrote that the Greek name of the goddess is an allegorical one and an anagram of the word „air”, which bring us back to Sumerian mythology, where Ninhursag was renamed Ninlil („Lady of the Wind”) after her marriage to Enlil. In Arcadia and Hermione (near Argos), Hera was called „the Virgin„. In the secret rituals of Nafplio, Hera renewed her virginity every year. Let us not forget that Ninhursag / Inanna was the Great Virgin of Mesopotamia. The cow, one of Hera’s sacred animals, was the symbol of the goddesses Isis and Ninhursag. Therefore, the Greeks divided a single deity into several: as the wife of Uranus / Anu she was Gaia, as the wife of Cronus / Enki she was called Rhea, and as the wife of Zeus / Enlil she was given the name Hera.
If for the Sumerians the children of the supreme god were three, Enki, Enlil and Ninhursag, and for the Egyptians four (they added Ishtar in the form of the goddess Nephtys), the Greeks aimed to surpass them, doubling the initial number. Thus, we find Enlil in a role (Zeus), Enki in two roles (Poseidon and Hades), and Ninhursag in three (Demeter, Hestia and Hera). It is easy to see that all three represent the same goddess, due to the obvious similarities between them. Hestia (Estia in ancient Greek) was the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, architecture and family. The Romans called her Vesta and her priestesses were the famous Vestal Virgins. Like Hera, she is also a virgin goddess and a protector of the family. Demeter, called Damater in Doric Greek and Ceres in Latin, was the goddess of harvest and fertility. One of her epithets was „Thesmophoros„, meaning „The One who brings the law” or „The One who brings divine order”, as Demeter was also the patron of sacred law and of the cycle of life and death. This makes her similar to Ma’at of the Egyptians and Ushas of the Hindus. Damater means „Mother Earth”, an epithet that match her with Gaia. In Arcadia it was believed that Demeter and Poseidon had a daughter, who was worshiped as „Despoina” („Mistress”), and her true name was only revealed to those initiated into her mysteries. This story is similar to that of Enki and Ninhursag, who had a daughter, Ninsar / Ishtar, the goddess of sexuality, often called „the mistress of the gods„. In Sumer, as the goddess of the Underworld, Ishtar was called Ereshkigal. The same thing happened in Greece: Demeter had a daughter named Persephone, who became the goddess of the Underworld. Demeter, Hestia and Hera are, in the end, different aspects of the Sumerian Ninhursag.
Ares, called Aris in ancient Greek, Mars or Martis by the Romans and Laran by the Etruscans, was the son of Zeus and his right-hand man. His mother was the queen of the Olympian gods, Hera. Ares was the god of brutal and ruthless war, unlike Athena, the patron of military tactics and strategy. This god, called by Walter Burkert in Greek Religion „overwhelming, insatiable in battle, destructive, and deadly„, was often accompanied in his flying chariot by his sister, Enyo („Discord”), and his two sons, Phobos („Fear”) and Deimos („Terror”). In the Iliad, Athena called him „the scourge of cities, the destroyer of the world„. His name in ancient Greek, Aris, comes from the anagram of the Akkadian epithet Asar, which was kept in this form in Egypt and Babylon, becoming Ashur in Assyria, Asura in India and Ahura in Persia. The Etruscans called their gods „aisar” („ais” in the singular and later „eis„), a word with the same origin. Considering Zeus’ equivalence with Enlil, Ares, the god of war and the right-hand man of the king of the gods, is Ninurta, the god of war and the right-hand man of Enlil. However, the Greeks assigned him the image of the Mesopotamian Nergal, the negative aspect of Shamash / Marduk. It seems that the Romans understood this, which is why they called him Mars or Martis, names that come from Martu, the Sumerian name of Marduk.
Although the Titans Helios (Helius or Sol in Latin) and Selene (called Luna by the Romans) were the personifications of the Sun and Moon, the two were replaced by Apollo and Artemis, who surpassed them in importance. As a curiosity, Helios’ name is a derivative of the Canaanite name Eli, to which the letter „h” was added at the beginning and the Greek-specific ending „os„. Apollon, Apellon, Apeilon or Aploun, called Apollo by the Romans, was the god of light, the Sun, truth, prophecy, healing, music and poetry. His cult was spread throughout Greece and the Greek colonies, as well as throughout the Roman Empire. With an exceptionally high sex drive, it is said that Apollo had no less than 78 lovers (nine were men), homosexuality being a virtue in ancient Greece. His symbols were the bow, lyre, sword and sacrificial tripod. In one myth Apollo was exiled to Earth, during which time he tended Admet’s flocks and built the walls of Troy with Poseidon. In Hellenistic times, especially in the 3rd century BC, Apollo was matched with Helios and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Colossus of Rhodes, was erected in his honor. Among his epithets there were „Phoebus” („Radiant”), „Aegletes” („The Light of the Sun”), „Phanaeus” („Bringer of Light”), „Lykeus” („Light”) or „Lykegenes” („Born of a Wolf”). There is no doubt that Apollo is identical to Utu / Shamash of Mesopotamia, the positive alter-ego of Marduk. Like his Mesopotamian counterpart, Apollo was not only the god of the Sun but also of oracles, prophecy, healing and medicine. Both of them had twin sisters, Ishtar and Artemis. Apollo fought the giant serpent Python (Pythonos in Greek), a myth reminiscent of that of Marduk and Tiamat. Historians Plutarch and Herodotus matched Apollo with Horus of the Egyptians, which is the same Marduk. According to Plutarch, Horus was nursed by Latona (called Leto by the Greeks), which again matches him with Apollo, Leto being his mother in Greek mythology. Surprisingly for researchers, although Ares was Zeus’ eldest son and right-hand man, Apollo was considered the heir to the divine throne. As in Mesopotamia, where Ninurta was the eldest son, right-hand man and heir to Enlil, but the throne of Earth belonged to Marduk. Fortunately, Egyptian mythology sheds light on this case, revealing to us that Horus / Marduk / Apollo fought against his uncle and adoptive father, Seth / Enlil, and ascended the throne of the Earth after victory. Even his name betrays his identity; officially, the etymology of his name remains unknown, with researchers believing that it could derive from the verb „apollymi” („to destroy”). In Mesopotamia, Marduk’s destructive aspect was Nergal, the god of the midday sun, diseases and the Underworld. The Hurrians called Nergal Aplu, the Etruscans Apul and the Hittites Apaliunas, considering him the god of the plague. It is evident that Apollo can only come from Aplu / Apulu, which identifies him once again with Marduk. Another more subtle connection between them is the presence of the number 7 in their myths. One of Nergal’s Akkadian epithets was „Sibitti„, meaning „Seven”, while Greek myths state that Apollo was born on the island of Delos on the seventh day of the month Thargelion. As Earth is the seventh planet in our solar system, counting from the outside towards the Sun, and Marduk / Apollo became the last ruler of the Earth, it is normal to find this number in his myths.
Apollo’s sister and daughter of Zeus was Artemis, originally called Atemito or Atimite. In Lydia she was revered as Artimus. The Romans called her Diana, a name derived from the „dhyana” of the Indians, that meditative state that leads to a profound self-awareness in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. For the Etruscans she was Aritimi or Artumes. In Greek mythology she replaced Selene as the goddess of the Moon and she was also the goddess of hunting, wild animals, wilderness, childbirth and virginity. She was often depicted carrying a bow and arrows. As Apollo / Marduk’s sister, she is Ninsar / Ishtar. She took over the virginity from her mother, due to the world-wide confusion between them. While the Mesopotamians believed she had a relationship with her father, whom the Egyptians identified with the Orion constellation, one of her lovers in Greek mythology was the giant Orion. Artemis is still worshiped today in Dianic Wicca, a neo-pagan religion based on magic.
The daughter of the goddess Demeter was Persephone or Kore („Maiden”), the wife of Hades, the queen of the Underworld and the goddess of agriculture. Other variations of her name included Periphona, Persephonea, Persephatta, Persephassa and Phersephassa. In Plato’s dialogue Kratylos she was called Pherepapha „because she is wise and touches everything in motion„. The existence of a large number of variants suggests that her name was difficult to pronounce for the Greeks, which demonstrates that this goddess was also imported into Greek culture. The Romans knew her as Proserpina or Proserpine and matched her with one of their indigenous deities, Libera. For the Etruscans she was Phersipnai, Phersipnei or Proserpnai. Homer described her as a formidable and majestic queen of the Underworld, who applied the effects of curses to the souls of the deceased. Although she was considered the daughter of Zeus, in Arcadia, where she was called Despoina („Mistress”), her father was Poseidon. Persephone is a precise copy of the Sumerian Ereshkigal, none other than Ishtar. Even the abduction is present in their myths, both of them being forcibly taken into the Underworld and raped. In Greece she was the wife of Hades / Enki, and in Mesopotamia she became at some point the consort of her father, to whom she gave birth to a daughter. She has many similarities with the Indian Kali and Nirrti, the same entity called Ishtar by the Akkadians. The Greeks slightly changed her story, assigning her a part of her father’s story. In Greek mythology she was forced to spend half a year in the Underworld and half with the gods above. In Sumer, after being partially rescued by Inanna from the Underworld, Dumuzi had to spend half a year on Earth and half in the other world. And in Egypt, one of Osiris’ epithets was „he who dwells in Orion with one season in heaven and one season on Earth„.
Also in Greece we encounter Hermes, the messenger of the gods, the god of travelers, thieves, shepherds, literature and inventions. In Mycenaean Greek his name was Emaa or Emaha. In the original myths, Hermes (Mercurius for Romans and Turms for Etruscans) was the god of fertility and the inventor of fire, like the Sumerian Enki. One of his symbols was the caduceus, the staff with two snakes coiled around it and a pair of wings at the top, the symbol of Ningishzida / Enki in Sumer. His name is derived from „her„, which seems to come from the name of the goddess Hera, and „mes„, which means „middle” in Greek. He was the one who connected gods and humans, the mediator, so the second part of his name signifies his role. Hermes could be translated as „Mediator of the goddess Hera”, but considering that Hera is the feminine form of the Egyptian name Heru, a more accurate interpretation would be „Mediator of Heru”. This version identifies him with Enki, which is also obvious in his role as the god of fertility, inventor of fire and bearer of the caduceus. The Greeks identified Hermes with the Egyptian Djehuty, whom they called Thoth (the same Enki), and this combination gave birth to Hermes Trismegistus in Alexandria. If there were two deities in Egypt with the name Thoth or Hermes Trismegistus, the same thing happened in Greece. The first Hermes, the god of fertility represented as an adult bearded shepherd, is undoubtedly Enki. The second one, depicted as a young man (to suggest that he was not one of the ancient gods), is the second Thoth, the son, minister, heir and scribe of Marduk, called Nabu by the Babylonians and Mitra by the Hindus. Many ancient authors, including the Egyptian priest Manetho, mentioned two deities named Hermes. Manetho claimed that the second Hermes restored the wisdom of the first Hermes. The Greeks and Romans attributed the planet Mercury to the second Hermes, just as the Babylonians did to Nabu. The name of Hermes’ mother, the Pleiad Maia, comes from the Indian word „maya„, which means „illusion” and „magic”. It is also a concept that „exists but is constantly changing, making it spiritually unreal” or „the power or principle that conceals the true nature of spiritual reality„. In India, Maya is the name of Buddha’s mother, of the king of the Underworld, and one of the manifestations of the goddess Lakshmi.
Dionysos for the Greeks (Dionysus in English), Bacchus for the Romans and Fufluns or Puphluns for the Etruscans was the god of wine, ritual madness and exaltation. In his earliest mention in the 13th-12th centuries BC, he was called Diwonuso. Later, he was called Dionusos in Boeotia, Deonusos and Deunusos in Ionia, Dienusos in Thessaly and Dinnusos in Aeolia. His name was translated as „God of Trees”, indicating his role as a nature deity, or as „God of Nysa”, his place of birth in Greek mythology. He was always surrounded by satyrs, beings who gave the image of demons in Christianity. Considered the liberator of people from the yoke of the gods (like Prometheus) through wine, music and dance, Dionysus was depicted in a chariot drawn by lions or tigers, holding a thyrsus, a staff similar to Hermes’ caduceus. He was killed in the war with the giants and then resurrected, just like Osiris of the Egyptians or Dumuzi / Tammuz of the Mesopotamians. Among his epithets there are „Adoneus” („Lord”), „Aesymnetes” („Tyrant”), „Eleutherios” („Liberator”), „Enorkhes” („With testicles”), „Erikryptos” („Completely hidden”), „Pseudanor” („False man”). The epithet „Adoneus” closely resembles Adonai, one of the epithets of the biblical god, which comes from the Egyptian name Aten (Aton for the Greeks), and Adonis, another character from Greek mythology. „Enorkhes” refers to his role as the god of fertility, a fact emphasized by the orgies he is said to have participated in very often. His very high sexual appetite identifies him with the Egyptian Min, who in The Coffin Texts was called „the hunter of women„. „Erikryptos” means the same thing as Amun in Egypt. Herodotus wrote that „Osiris in Greek means Dionysus„. Ellanicus of Lesbos wrote that Egyptian priests called Dionysus Osiris. Diodorus Siculus claimed that Osiris was also called Dionysus or Hades. For Heraclitus of Ephesus, Hades and Dionysus become the same god when they are seized by rage or in delirium. Mnaseas claimed that Dionysus, Osiris and Serapis are different names of Epaphus (Apis for the Egyptians), the son of Zeus and Io. Another chronicler, Anticles, stated that Isis was the wife of Dionysus. Plutarch and Diodorus of Sicily reported that the ivy, which the Greeks dedicated to Dionysus, was called by the Egyptians „chenosiris„, meaning „the herb of Osiris”, for them Dionysus, Hades or Osiris being the same divinity. Indeed, this god of fertility who was killed and resurrected, bearer of the caduceus, is Enki of the Sumerians.
The cult of Adonis („Lord”) appeared on the island of Lesbos around 600 BC and was exclusively addressed to women. Adonis was a god of vegetation, of an unmatched beauty (like the Sumerian Dumuzi or the Akkadian Tammuz). Because both Persephone and Aphrodite desired him, he was forced to spend one-third of the year with the former and two-thirds with the latter, a myth very similar to that of Persephone, Dumuzi / Tammuz and Osiris. Eventually, Adonis was killed and died in the arms of Aphrodite. His name is almost identical to Adonai of the Hebrews and Adoneus, one of the epithets of Dionysus. As a god of vegetation and lover of Aphrodite, dead and resurrected, Adonis is Enki, Dumuzi or Osiris. Moreover, it is presumed that he was born in Byblos, a very important city for the cults of Osiris and Dumuzi.
Another representation of Enki as the son of Zeus is Hephaestus (Hephaistos in Greek), Vulcanus or Volcanus for the Romans and Sethlans for the Etruscans. In ancient Greek he was called Hphaistos. The oldest inscriptions call him Apaitijo, Haphaistios and Haphaistion. As the son of the supreme gods Zeus and Hera, he was the god of technology, craftsmanship, sculptors, artisans, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes. Exiled by Zeus from Mount Olympus, he was forced to live on the island of Lemnos. He was the craftsman of the gods, just like Gibil / Enki for the Sumerians or Ptah for the Egyptians. Because of his title as „the supreme leader of craftsmanship„, Herodotus even matched Hephaestus with Ptah. Although ugly and lame, the god of craftsmanship was married to the goddess of beauty, Aphrodite. As she was known as Isis in Egypt, Ninhursag in Sumer or Ishtar in Babylon, we encounter a new connection with Enki, the real identity of Hephaestus being quite clear.
Athena, also known as Athenaia, Athenaii, Athana or Athini, often nicknamed Pallas, was the virgin goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, justice, strategy, mathematics, arts and crafts. From the 2nd century BC she was matched with Minerva of the Romans, a copy of the Etruscan goddess Menrva, which comes from Menerwa, the Latin name for the Moon goddess of the ancient Italians, Meneswa. Among her Greek epithets there are „Parthenos” („Virgin”) and „Promakhos” („First Fighter”). Her symbols were the owl and the olive branch. It was believed that she was not born naturally but sprang from the head of Zeus. „When the god set out to make the world through a word, his first thought was Athena„, wrote Saint Justin in the 2nd century, this story being very similar to that of Memphis, where Ptah created the world from his head, thinking it. In another version, Zeus impregnated the Oceanid Metis, then swallowed her, and Athena had to come out of her father’s head when it was time to be born. The Phoenician historian Sanchuniathon considered her the daughter of Cronus and the sister of Zeus. Pallas and Triton also played the role of Athena’s father in ancient myths. Her supernatural birth, different from that of other deities, indicates her uniqueness. The Greeks identified her with the Egyptian Neith, the primordial mother goddess called Namma by the Sumerians, Tiamat by the Babylonians and Aditi / Shakti by the Hindus. Even Athena’s virginity match her with Neith, who was called „The Virgin Mother Goddess” because she gave birth to the world and the gods without male help. Through her attributes, she also resembles Ma’at of the Egyptians, the principle of truth, balance, order, law, morality and justice, the same Neith / Namma / Tiamat / Aditi / Shakti. Although the Greeks did not specify it in their myths, initiates knew that Athena / Minerva was the goddess who created the world. Thus, we understand the importance she has been given from ancient times to the present day. For example, in Rome she was part of the Capitoline trinity along with Jupiter and Juno. In Etruscan mythology she was also part of a divine trinity alongside the two ruling gods of the pantheon. The third degree of the Illuminati Masonic group is called „Minerval” or „Brother of Minerva„. Initiation into the rituals of the Ordo Templis Orientis, Aleister Crowley’s organization, bears the same name. The oldest Masonic lodge in the British city of Kingston Upon Hull is called „Minerva Lodge„. The Indian Armed Forces Preparatory Institute also bears the name „Minerva„. Her image appears on the Medal of Honor of the United States, the highest military award in America, on the Seal of California, on the logo of Union College in New York and on that of the Max Planck Society in Germany. Statues have been erected in her honor all over the world, even in modern times, and at the beginning of the 20th century, the president of Guatemala, Manuel Jose Estrada Cabrera, even tried to revive her cult in his country.
Hecate (Hekate for the Greeks) was the goddess of witchcraft, crossroads, the Moon and necromancy. In The Chaldean Oracles she is a ruler of the Earth, seas and sky, a savior, mother of angels and cosmic soul of the world. She was one of the main protective deities of the city of Athens, bringing prosperity and blessings to the entire family. The Romans called her Trivia, also considering her a divinity of the Underworld. She was sometimes represented as a triple deity, holding a torch, a key, snakes, daggers and numerous other objects. Although in some traditions she is the mother of the monster Scylla, she was still considered a virgin goddess. In the Greek esoteric writings inspired by the Egyptian ones, she was described having three heads: one of a dog, one of a snake and one of a horse. For the ancients she was the mediator between the two sides of deities, the Olympians and the Titans, as well as between mortals and divinities. In Thrace and Greece, dogs were sacrificed in her honor. In the Theogony, Hesiod wrote that „Zeus, the son of Cronus, honored her more than all others. He gave her splendid gifts, to have a share of the earth and the unfruitful sea. She was also honored in the starry heaven and exceedingly by the immortal gods. To this day, every man on Earth who offers rich sacrifices and prayers, according to custom, summons Hecate (…) The son of Cronus has not wronged her, nor taken anything of her share among the former Titans; but she holds, as the division was made from the beginning, privileges both on earth and in heaven and in the sea„. This honor granted by Zeus seems to be due to the fact that she was the only Titanide who helped him in the war against the Titans. Among her epithets there are „Kleidoukhos” („Holder of the Keys”), „Phosphoros” („Bringer of Light”), „Propylaia” („Before the Gate”), „Soteira” („Savior”) and „Trimorphe” („With Triple Form”). Of course, the etymology of her name is also unknown to researchers who still have the courage to consider themselves experts. They suspect that Hecate / Hekate was imported from Anatolia, without being able to see that the goddess is nothing but the female version of the god Heka, the personification of magic for the Egyptians. They were represented similarly, him strangling two giant serpents and her holding two torches in her hands. As „heka” is the Egyptian word for magic, but literally translated means „activating the Ka”, which is the essence of life for the ancient Egyptians, the deities Hekate and Heka also represent the primordial goddess, the creator of the Universe, Neith / Namma / Tiamat / Aditi / Shakti / Athena / Minerva. In The Coffin Texts it is even said that Heka existed „before duality came into being„. Thus, we understand why she was „honored in the starry heaven and exceedingly by the immortal gods” as Hesiod noted. Both Egyptians and Greeks respected her more than other gods, seeking her protection against angry deities, evil spirits and diseases. Hecate is still venerated today in neopaganism, Wicca and other various occult practices.
She also seams to be Nyx (or Nox for the Romans), the personification of night. Present at the moment of creation of the world, Nyx was a character with exceptional power and beauty, feared even by Zeus. In the Theogony, Hesiod claimed that Nyx was born from Chaos, the primordial chaos, along with Erebos (darkness). Just like Tiamat in Babylon, Namma in Sumer or Neith in Egypt, the two gave birth to the first deities, Aether (radiance) and Hemera (day). Then, Nyx alone gave birth to other entities, including the twins Hypnos (sleep) and Thanatos (death), whom Hesiod called „dark deities, never illuminated by the hot rays of the Sun„. Thanatos, called Mors or Letumi by the Romans, is almost identical to Namtar, the son and vizier of the goddess Ereshkigal in Mesopotamia, but also to the second Anubis of the Egyptians. In the Athenian tragedy Alcestis, written by Euripides in 438 BC, Thanatos is described as wearing black clothes and a sword. He was often depicted with wings, a sword at his waist and a torch turned upside down in his hands, representing the extinguishing of life. When the fear of death began to diminish and paradise in the afterlife became more attractive, Thanatos was imagined as a strikingly beautiful adolescent, who facilitated a peaceful passage to the other world. Sometimes he was portrayed as a sleepy child in the arms of his mother, Nyx, or as a young man holding a butterfly (the Greek word „psikhi” means „butterfly”, „soul” and „life”). In many Roman sarcophagi he is depicted as a winged boy, similar to Eros („Desire”), called Cupido or Amor („Love”) by the Romans. „Eros with crossed legs and a turned torch became the most common of all death symbols„, wroted British historian and archaeologist Arthur Bernard Cook. While Eros was usually considered the son of Aphrodite and Ares, in the oldest Greek sources he was one of the primordial gods, born from Chaos. In the Orphic and Eleusinian mysteries, Eros was the son of Nyx, just like Thanatos. In addition to their identical appearance, both had a twin brother and carried a torch, and these similarities lead to the conclusion that we have only two different aspects of the same deity. Nevertheless, the ancients observed that there were several gods with the same name. The Roman politician and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero believed that there were three gods named Cupido and three goddesses named Venus: the first Cupido was the son of Mercury and Diana, the second of Mercury and the second Venus, and the third of Mars and the third Venus. If Cicero was right, one of these Eros / Cupid is Thanatos, Namtar and the second Anubis (who was believed in the Greco-Roman period to contribute to the future of humanity through his love filters).
Besides these main gods, the Greeks believed in many others, less important gods, demigods and all kinds of fantastic creatures. We note the special importance given to the number 12, the number of the main Titans, of the great Olympian gods and of the labors of the demigod Hercules (Herakles for the Greeks). Greek mythology not only confirmed the identity of the gods found in other cultures but also provided us with additional details about their fights. While only a conflict between the two groups of deities was emerging from the myths of Mesopotamia, as reported by the Egyptians and Indians, from the legends of the Greeks we learn that there were two great wars of the gods, called the Titanomachy and the Gigantomachy. To find out more details about these deities and their stories, we have to „dig” deeper into the past. And the next place for „digging” is the home land of the Greeks, Canaan.
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