Much of
the mythology of Christianity is based on an older and
even
more transparent fabrication – Judaism.
|
|
Just
Who Were the Jews? The Jewish
Race Myth and 'Sacred History'
In
the 7th century BC a gaggle of émigré priests
hiding in the mountains of Judea concocted 'Judaism'
and a mythical history of racial origins. The
Israelites did not come from Egypt – a palpable
myth – but emerged
from the local population. Check
out how a marginal band of Semites re-invented themselves.
|
|
|
|
Egypt
and the Patriarchs – Palpable
Nonsense
Much of
Judaism is a dialogue with Egypt – that towering
civilization which overshadowed the whole of the Levant.
But the ancient Egyptians knew nothing of 'the Jews.'
|
|
|
|
King
David – The Boy Wonder
What
Kingdom? Strange that no one but the Jews noticed when
a shepherd giant-killer, a court musician-poet turned
warlord, conquered a Middle Eastern empire. Could
it all be a lie?
|
|
|
Wise, randy ... mythical.
|
King
Solomon? – The Emperor
with No Clothes
What
Empire? Jerusalem
in 10th century BC had
been barely a village of huts and cave
dwellings.Kings
David and Solomon are
purely mythical characters warrior/priest
heroes, invented in the 6th century BC. Not one brick of evidence exists for the fabled king with '1000 wives and concubines.'
|
|
|
Primal innocence? |
God's
love – for the Jews! Ignorance, misogyny and intolerance
With emotional
attachment, and its associated fears and anxieties, displaced
from fellow humans to Yahweh, whose wiles only the
priests could interpret, the sexual drive itself was
shackled to a bizarre assortment of imperatives, taboos and
prohibitions.
|
|
|
Temple of Eshmun, Lebanon. In Jerusalem, nothing. |
Temples on the Mount? From "Threshing Floor" to "Noble Sanctuary"
The inspiration for the biblical fable of a Solomonic temple, with its elaborate paraphernalia of sacrifice and ritual, was drawn – not from God – but from the courts of Assyria and Babylon. In reality, not a single stone of the Temple – nor the entire Solomonic theme park for that matter – has ever been unearthed.
|
|
|
|
On
the Margins of a Real Empire – Israelites
and Assyrians
Unlike
Biblical Israel, Assur really existed – and its
reality influenced the Jewish fable. There was no ancient
'Jewish Empire' but the Jewish priests drew their inspiration
from the empire
of the Assyrians.
|
|
|
Bad King! – The essential plot of the Old Testament is priestly supervision of unrighteous kings. |
Babylon – Nurturing
the Jewish Priesthood
Jewish
religion was a reaction to the loss of the
northern kingdom and an instructive period spent in
Babylon. "Judaism",as elaborated by priests and scribes, was
imposed by the force and authority of the Persian empire.
|
|
|
|
Yahweh – Brutal
Tribal God of War
Pernicious
sky-god rewarded the Jews with theocratic tyranny and a sacred
text of racial superiority.
|
|
|
This enigmatic structure – about the size of an Achaemenid Fire Temple – is perhaps a guide to the modest "second temple" edifice built under Persian direction in Jerusalem. |
Temples on the Mount? Persians and Greeks bearing gifts
When a real temple was built in Jerusalem in the 6th century BC, replacing whatever modest sanctum of sticks and stones had been raised by Josiah, it was built under Persian patronage. No evidence of that structure has ever been found but this so-called "Second Temple" doubtless shared design features with other Persian-sponsored sanctuaries of the same period.
Josephus reports the rebuilding of the temple during the rule of the Antiochus III – and its transformation by his successor Antiochus IV Epiphanes. On Mount Moriah (Temple Mount) a sacred grove to Zeus Olympios replaced the altars
of Yahweh.
|
|
|
Celebrating Spring, Roman-style. |
Greek & Roman
World Culture – The Jews
Say No
The
vibrant, expansive culture of the Greeks
presented a major challenge to the exclusiveness
and arrogance of Judaism. Rome's practical exploitation
exacerbated social tensions.
|
Militant
Tendencies – Resisting
Roman Rule
Sounds
familiar – religious fanatics resisting a super-power? The Herodians and the Jewish elite became
Romanised but religious fanatics led an armed
resistance which ended in catastrophes under Titus, Trajan, and Hadrian.
|
|
|
Temple of Edfu, Egypt. Was Herod's temple really twice the size and built in just over a year?
|
Temples on the Mount: Herod's Temple - Fact or Fantasy?
Archaeological evidence of the temple is in short supply but "models" proliferate, consistently grandiose but otherwise as varied as their designers' imaginations. The partisan texts suggest a formidable structure but unlike the great sanctuaries of paganism, no non-Jewish source was moved to comment on this "wonder of the world."
Could it all be grossly exaggerated?
|
|
|
|
Wars & Rumours
of Wars – Trajan Conquers
the East
Jews Conquered – again.
|
|
|
|
Caesarea – A City of Built by Hadrian
Herod's trademark city of Caesarea actually owes more to Hadrian than it does to the Jewish king.
|
|
|
|
The
Piety & Vengeance of Hadrian
Rome's
brilliant emperor Hadrian imposes his own solution
to Jewish intransigence. Jews Dispersed.
|
|
|
With scant regard for chronology, Aaron re-consecrates
a Hadrianic temple in Jerusalem in this scene from 3rd century Dura. |
Temples on the Mount: Jupiter – Biggest and Best?
Great claims are made for Herod as a builder but could it be that Aelius Hadrianus was rather more involved in the sanctuary of Temple Mount than is generally supposed?
|
|
|
God-on-a-stick |
Portable
God for World's First Multinational
Business
When resistance
is futile collaboration makes sense.
In the aftermath of military defeat, a collaborationist revision of
Judaism, often attributed to a 13th apostle "Paul",
allegedly of impeccable Pharisaic credentials,
competed fiercely with a reconstituted rabbinic
Judaism which fused piety with mercantile
success. Judaism found a unique and profitable future and gosh, a rival offshoot, Christianity,
appeared.
|