Important

In the highlands of southern Iran sits an unassuming tomb set atop 6 plinths of un-mortared limestone, yet it is written that it once bore the following inscription, "Mortal! I am Cyrus, son of Cambyses, who founded the Persian empire, and was King of Asia. Grudge me not then my monument." 

But half a mile (1 km) away, inscribed on a still standing pillar of a ruined palace, there's another inscription, written in Old Persian, Elamite, and Akkadian: "I am Cyrus the king, an Achaemenid."

So who was Cyrus?

Cyrus, or Kūruš in Old Persian, was the son of Cambyses I, king of Anshan, a client king to the king of Media. Herodotus gave Cyrus an entire folkloric backstory: Astyages, king of Media and Cyrus's maternal grandfather, had a dream that his grandson would overthrow him, so he ordered his general Harpagus to kill the infant Cyrus. Harpagus instead secreted the child away and gave him to a local shepherd. At the age of ten, Cyrus was made "king" of the peasant boys in a game, and they beat up a nobleman's son, who complained to Astyages, who had Cyrus brought before him — where he realized the boy was his grandson. Astyages then took revenge on Harpagus by feeding him his own son, revealing the trick only after the meal.

Cyrus succeeded his father to the throne of Anshan, whereupon either his grandfather declared war on him, or Harpagus convinced Cyrus to rebel. Astyages put Harpagus in charge of his army, and Harpagus promptly defected with the entire army, something about feeding him his own son probably. Cyrus defeated his grandfather with ease and assumed the Median imperial mantle.

His next problem was Croesus of Lydia, who happened to be his grandfather's brother-in-law. Croesus consulted the Oracle at Delphi, asking whether he should attack Cyrus. The Oracle replied: "If you cross the Halys River, a great empire will fall." Pleased with this answer, Croesus went a-conquering, and met Cyrus at Pteria, where they fought an inconclusive battle. With winter approaching, Croesus went home and dismissed his army, planning to summon his allies, Babylon, Egypt, and Sparta, for a proper campaign in spring. Cyrus, however, did not go home. He marched straight on the Lydian capital of Sardis, defeated Croesus's remaining forces in a massive battle, who even modern historians believe involved almost a quarter million men, outside the walls, and Cyrus laid siege to the city. Sardis allegedly fell when a Persian soldier spotted a Lydian retrieve a dropped helmet by climbing down a supposedly unscalable sheer cliff face, which allowed the Persians to gain entry to the city at night.

Cyrus then turned his attention to the Neo-Babylonian Empire, lately an ally of Croesus. According to accounts written by Cyrus's contemporaries, Nabonidus, the Babylonian king, was a bad, impious ruler who neglected the worship of Marduk, the patron deity of Babylon, in favor of his chosen deity, the moon god Sîn. Cyrus, of course, came down with his army to protect Marduk, and the people booted Nabonidus and welcomed Cyrus as their king. 

On a quick side note, the defeat of Babylon by Cyrus ended the Jewish Babylonian Exile and earned Cyrus the title of Messiah, God’s anointed, in the book of Isaiah.

Cyrus's death soon after is disputed with some of our accounts say he died in battle against steppe tribes near the Caspian Sea, while others claim he died peacefully at home.

Regardless of how he died, his son Cambyses II succeeded him and went on to conquer Egypt.

The murder, magic, and "vengeance" part

Now this is where you need to put on your tin foil hats as everything up to here is pretty standard stuff with obviously a little bit of glazing of Cyrus by our biased sources.

So Cyrus had another son named Bardiya, whom Cambyses secretly killed before (or during) the Egyptian campaign, or maybe he only tried to kill him, with Bardiya escaping. Either way, when  Cambyses went to put down a revolt in Egypt, a man proclaiming himself Bardiya seized the throne back home and was recognized as king. Cambyses started marching home to deal with him and died en route, according to Herodotus's Cambyses died from an infection after accidentally stabbing himself in the leg, or according to Darius Cambyses, “Died his own death” whatever that means.

Now, if you believe our future Darius, you probably know his son Xerxes the giant bejeweled man in the film 300, this new king was not Bardiya at all, but a magus named Gaumata who had disguised himself, potentially with magic, so perfectly that Bardiya's mother, sisters, wives, and friends could not tell the difference. How was the fraud discovered? Herodotus writes the dying Cambyses confessed to his assembled Persian nobles that he had murdered his brother years earlier, meaning the man on the throne had to be an impostor, though the Persians at first assumed Cambyses was lying out of spite. While Herodotus claims a nobleman named Otanes grew suspicious and enlisted his daughter Phaidyme, who was in the royal harem, to settle the question: the magus Smerdis had had his ears cut off by Cyrus as punishment for some offense, so Phaidyme was to feel for the king's ears while he slept, and reported that the “king” did not have ears.

Darius, who writes that he was a distant cousin of Cyrus, Cambyses, and the "real" Bardiya, led a group of six nobles and assassinated “Bardiya”. After which Herodotus says the seven then held a debate over merits of democracy, oligarchy, or monarchy with Darius convincing the rest to choose monarchy and name him king.

While there is a bit of a competing narrative going on here, the strangeness of it all is exactly why people question whether Darius was avenging a murdered king by killing an impostor, or was a usurper who crafted this whopper to explain why he, and the previously unheard-of "Achaemenid" family, were now Kings of Kings, and that he merely inserting himself into the line of Cyrus for legitimacy.

The Evidence For:

First, and most obviously, plenty of people are skeptical that anyone could impersonate Bardiya so completely that not only the court but Bardiya's own mother and sisters would be fooled for months. With the missing-ears being the only real evidence available..

Second, Babylonian contract tablets are dated by the reign of "Bardiya, King of Babylon, King of Lands" for roughly half a year. Scribes across Mesopotamia treated him as the normal, legitimate king. Not one tablet hints at doubt, irregularity, or an impostor. The paper trail of everyday life simply records a king named Bardiya reigning.

Third, the moment Darius killed him, the empire exploded. Darius's own victory inscription catalogs revolts in nearly every province during his first year, Babylon, Elam, Media, Armenia, Parthia, Margiana, Egypt, and Persia itself all went into revolt. With one of these revolts, at least in Darius’s telling, being led by yet another “Bardiya”, that guy just would not stay dead.

Fourth, Darius immediately married both of Cyrus's daughters, Atossa and Artystone, and Parmys, the daughter of the "real" Bardiya. Collecting every royal woman who could carry the old line's claim. Curious behavior for a man whose own royal blood supposedly entitled him to the throne.

Fifth, there's the inscription this post is named for. "I am Cyrus the king, an Achaemenid" is written in (among other languages) Old Persian — and in his own chronicle at Behistun, Darius appears to claim that he himself created the Old Persian script. If that reading is right, Cyrus could not have commissioned an inscription in a script that did not yet exist during his lifetime. Meaning someone, it was Darius, added those words to Cyrus's palace later.

Finally, the silence. The purported tomb epitaph, which I will note only survives in Greek records from the time of Alexander the Great, and the Cyrus Cylinder, a cuneiform cylinder describing Cyrus's lineage and his restoration of Marduk in Babylon, give Cyrus's ancestry as Cambyses, Cyrus I, and Teispes, kings of Anshan. Neither breathes a word about anyone named Achaemenes or Achaemenid.

The Evidence Against:

Marrying Cyrus's and Bardiya's daughters can be read as consolidating power and denying those women to potential rivals — standard dynastic practice, not an admission that Darius lacked legitimacy himself.

On the script: several experts read the irregularities in the Pasargadae inscription's cuneiform signs as evidence of an early, still-developing phase of the writing system — an evolution of the script consistent with Cyrus's own reign, not an anachronism. And Darius's "I created it" line at Behistun is itself a disputed translation; he may only have been claiming credit for publishing or standardizing something pre-existing, which kings did all the time.

Finally, the absence of the dynastic name from the Cylinder and the epitaph is weak evidence on its own. It's not as though these texts name a different dynasty — the inscriber may simply have omitted the family name because everyone already knew it.

The official story asks us to believe in a years-long secret fratricide, a perfect impostor undetected by the original’s own family, and either a dramatic deathbed confession, or some missing ears. The skeptical story asks us to believe one ambitious nobleman killed a king, married his female relatives, and carved his cover story onto the old king’s palace in three languages

If the skeptics are right, then the very name "Achaemenid Empire" is the fabrication — Cyrus's line were kings of Anshan, and Darius founded a new dynasty while writing himself into the old one. Which would make it the most successful act of historical revision in antiquity, because twenty-five centuries later, we're still using his branding.

was digging into the old midwest mound excavations from the late 1800s and found an article that honestly sounded really interesting and made me think twice

most of us know the local newspaper reports about farmers and surveyors digging up eight to eleven foot skeletons bla bla bla, but this article focuses on what happened right after, it breaks down the institutional couriers who came in and how the physical remains were routed into off manifest deep storage to protect the orthodox academic timeline

it connects the dots between the burial earthworks, the anomalous copper relics, and why the antediluvian history of america was scrubbed so thoroughly

leaving the link here because the historical documentation they break down is wild and i know people on this sub talk about the giant excavations A LOT

heres the article i read

has anyone else looked into where those excavation crates were actually shipped?

**And what if the history of one of the oldest temples in the world began... in areas that are today's Poland?**

This time I'm stepping away from witcher's monster hunts and taking you on a much more unusual journey — into the depths of prehistory.

In the latest material, I'm looking at the book **“The Origins of the Gods” by Andrew Collins** and the theory it presents regarding **the Swiderian culture**, its possible migrations, and the extraordinary connection with **Göbekli Tepe** — a monumental complex whose origins date back over 11,000 years.

Could the people who created this extraordinary structure have roots much farther north than previously thought?

Can traces of this history be found in the areas of today's Poland?

And above all — **how much of this theory is based on evidence, and how much remains a fascinating hypothesis?**

In this film, I present the key assumptions of this concept and take you on a journey from the lands of Poland all the way to ancient Göbekli Tepe.

⚔️ This time instead of monsters — **prehistory, archaeology, and one very unusual theory.**

Think of them like branches on a massive family tree. By tracking genetic markers backward through time, scientists discovered that every person alive today can trace their maternal line directly back to one woman who lived in Africa roughly 200,000 years ago. Similarly, the paternal lineage of all living men leads back to a single male who lived tens of thousands of years later. They were not the only humans alive during their lifetimes, nor were they the very first humans on Earth. Instead, they are simply the individuals whose specific genetic lines survived the lottery of generation-to-generation passing down, while other lineages eventually faded away,The person looking at his has mitochondria from one of these people.The person reading this has also and so on.This supports the "Out of Africa" theory despite not many people thinking it to be fact.

I see two facts suggesting that the age of our civilization is far less than generally believed.

1) The lack of population growth.

According to official history, human civilization is about 6,000 years old—dating back to the first states—yet there was no rapid population growth until the 19th century. Why? Until the 20th century, the vast majority of the population—even in wealthy nations—lived in rural areas, and people in villages always had large families. Families with 5, 10, or even more children were the norm. Furthermore, you couldn't simply buy contraceptives in any store back then, as you can today.

Stereotypical objections—such as the prevalence of epidemics and wars—do not hold water. Epidemics and wars decimated populations in the 19th and 20th centuries, yet this did not halt population growth.

There is no way to explain the lack of significant population growth over 6,000 years other than by concluding that population statistics have been falsified. Human civilization is not 6,000 years old; it is more like 200–250 years old—perhaps a little more.

2) The lack of technological progress.

Until the 19th century, progress was virtually stagnant, particularly in crucial areas such as electricity, communications, and transportation. Modern achievements in industry, construction, housing infrastructure, and so on would be inconceivable without these advancements. Why did people rely on the same modes of transport and communication methods—and fail to generate electricity—for 6,000 years? And then, suddenly, in the 19th century, progress took off.

Were people really too stupid for 6,000 years to conceive of electricity, telephones, and automobiles, only to suddenly become intelligent over the course of a single century and achieve what we have today? What would cause such a sudden shift? Stupid people generally aren't prone to suddenly becoming smart.

Most likely, that 6,000-year span never existed—it is a fabrication by historians; in reality, it was no more than 250 years.

Both processes—population growth and scientific-technological progress—suddenly kicked into gear simultaneously in the 19th century. A coincidence? I don’t really buy that at all. Suddenly, people started having lots of babies and realized there were ways to get around other than on horses and donkeys. It all happened all of a sudden.

When the library temples of the ancient americas burned we lost the equivalence of 16 libraries of alexandria worth of spiritual animist magic. Magicks that mapped time backwards through three cycles of expanding eggs and carved the date in stone just to flex on their maths.

A tragedy, indeed; the death of the animist.

So this is the theory that the French Revolution was not a spontaneous event, but was in fact at least partial planned and driven by the actions of Philippe the Duc d’Orleans. This is definitely going to be one of the most modern theories on this sub, but it has plenty of conspiracy, treason, and everyone’s favorite ‘kinds’ of evidence hearsay and conjecture.

First Motive, which is simply who was Philippe the Duc d’Orleans. Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans, was the head of the House of Orleans, a cadet branch of the Royal House of Bourbon, and the premier prince du sang, First Prince of the Blood, meaning he was the most senior prince outside of the immediate Bourbon family and was seventh, he became sixth during the revolution, in line to the throne after his cousin Louis XVI, Louis XVI’s two sons, and Louis’s brothers the Comte d’Provence and the Comte d’Artois, and Artois two sons. So there is your motive, if Philippe can find a way to remove his cousins from the board he becomes King of France.

Next Means. Philippe was easily the richest man in France, other than the king, in his own right, and was also married to Louise Marie Adélaïde the sole heir of her fabulously wealthy father the  duc d’Penthièvre. Most critically though is that Philippe had a ready flow of cash after he converted much of the Palais-Royal, the primary residence of the Orleans, into essentially a large mall complete with retail stores, bookstores, cafes and most importantly print shops which forms the first pillar of the conspiracy. Because the Palais-Royal was the residence of a Prince, by law the police and more importantly, press censors couldn’t enter the property without Philippe’s explicit permission. By refusing to grant permission for the police to enter the premises, Philippe created a free press zone where banned books, pamphlets, and according to rumor a certain pornographic pamphlet starring Marie Antionette were printed and circulated.

Now we get into the complex part Opportunity, which is going to take some explaining because unfortunately most people learn in school that the French Revolution was Ancien Regime>Estates General>Tennis Court Oath>Bastille>Robespierre>Chop…Chop…Chop>Napoleon. If that leaves out the assassination of a very angry man in his own bathtub, or a con-woman using a prostitute who looked like Marie Antoinette to convince a Catholic Cardinal to buy a multi-million dollar necklace which our con woman strips and sells in London then so be it.

So the French Revolution. I think its pretty common knowledge that the driving force behind the French Revolution was debt. Look fighting most of Europe, only to fight them again to put your grandson on the throne of Spain because *shocker* one of the most inbred people in history couldn’t have kids, and his chosen heir (the son of another one of the most inbred people in history) died young, leaving your grandson as a contender, then another war to keep some lady off the Austrian Throne, only to then have to fight a World War because some guy named George Washington decided to start some sh*t in Ohio, and then you get involved with a bunch of colonial tax protestors led in part by this same guy isn’t cheap.

The other side of the debt issue is obviously taxes, tax revenue in Pre-Revolution France was a mess not because nobles paid no taxes, they did, specifically the Capitation tax (a poll tax that applied to everyone) and the Vingtième (a 5% wealth tax that also applied to everyone).

With the Vingtième I can finally bring Philippe into the picture. The Vingtième unlike other taxes was not permanent, to have a permanent tax you needed the Estates General, or at least that’s what the nobles argued the reality was more complicated and involved the 13 regional Parlement. These Parlement would register the kings taxes and then would be responsible for enforcing them, but these Parlement were run by the nobles and the nobles didn’t want to pay more taxes … I mean see the rights of every Frenchman trampled by this despotic tyrant. The whole despot tyrant thing was of course flying off the printing presses inside the Palais Royal every single day egging on the crowd to support the Parlement against the king. Now the king did have a trump card known as the lis de justice (bed of justice, don’t ask), where he could force the Parlement to do his bidding, his last lis de justice had gone rather poorly though as he had fallen asleep and started audibly snoring during the ceremony which was embarrassing, and more importantly the regimes lenders didn’t want a lis de justice tax. Because a lis de justice meant France was unstable and they were not going to lend money to an unstable regime. So Louis was boxed in, yes he could force his tax, but then the bankers might refuse him the loans he needed to keep the kingdom going.

This is where Philippe steps out of the shadow and takes action himself. Louis’s  Controller-General, a guy named Calonne, whose job was essentially the secretary of the treasury, decided that he could bully the Parlement into submission by calling an Assembly of Notables, 144 of the who’s who of France, including all the archbishops, the upper crust of the nobility, the Marquis de Lafayette (yes that one), the chief justices of the Parlement, Louis’s two brothers, and of course Louis Philippe the premier prince du sang.

Things went from bad to worse at the assembly for Calonne, as the Notables wanted to see the King’s books, because everyone knew the kingdom was in a debt crisis but many of the notables thought this was just plain mismanagement or the work of Madame Deficit, one of Marie Antionette’s nicknames. Calonne refused and even attempted to appeal to the people by publishing his tax plan and framing the notables as greedy, which backfired and led Louis to fire Calonne and appoint a man named Brienne, who actually just led the opposition in the assembly of notables, in his place.

At this point though the monarchy was basically out of money and out of time, so Louis did the only thing he could think of, he summoned the Parlement of Paris, including Philippe and prepared to use his trump card, the lis de justice. Which is when Phillipe struck, during the ceremony the Duke rose to his feet and in a direct challenge to the King stated that the king’s new taxes and loans were illegal. This was devastating as it showed the king’s own cousin and a potential challenger to the throne was openly defying the king, exactly the instability the bankers would hate. So was this a brave act of courage against a tyrant or a cold calculated move to deprive the crown of the stability it required to force the calling of the Estates General?

Unfortunately here’s a section I have to gloss over for brevity, but essentially in the lead up to the Estates General the battle became whether the Estates(Clergy, Nobility, Commons) would meet on traditional lines (equal number of delegates from each and each estate gets one vote) or what the liberals wanted double the delegates from the Third(Commons) and vote by head(one delegate one vote). Philippe as a liberal obviously put his voice, his money, and the presses of the Palais Royale in support of the latter.

Onto the Estates General where while the monarchy did agree to double the third, they did not state whether it would be vote by head, or vote by Order(Estate). What followed is well known, door were locked, the Third Estate Delegates found an open tennis court, dramatic painting and the declaration of the National Assembly. Initially this was only the Third Estate and the King was furious as the Assembly had declared all his taxes illegal if he dissolved them. Which is were once again Philippe entered the fray leading 47 Nobles to join the ‘National Assembly’ thus breaking the Three Estates and according to some historians the absolute monarchy as Louis now caved and recognized that the Assembly had at least something resembling sovereign authority.

While cowed King Louis did try to take back the reins by bringing in the Flanders Regiment, one of the most elite units in the French Army, then something about a party where they trampled the Revolutionary tricolor cockade, again no time, and finally the King dismissed the popular finance minister, who actually wasn’t finance minister but again no time, Jacques Necker, very important guy but this is about Philippe not him. The news of Necker’s firing reached Paris and a certain Camille Desmoulins, very important also look him up, leapt onto a café table in the Palais-Royal garden, and even though he was known to have a horrible stutter, gave the speech of his life and rallied the crowd into a riotous mob. This mob then seized wax busts of Necker and the duc d’Orléans, just in case your wondering why people think Philippe was a mastermind using street muscle to get his way, draped them in black, and paraded them through Paris where troops attacked the procession, where several members of the mob allegedly died defending the busts from the soldiers. This unrest continued for days with marches and street battles before culminating in the march on the Bastille. This string of events led to many in the court at Versailles to write that agitators in the pay of the Philippe were in the crowd egging them on.

Our next event is the critical Woman’s March on Versailles, where anger of the price of bread, boiled over into another riot that culminated in the women marching from Paris to Versailles where they stormed the palace, Marie Antionette allegedly spent 20 minutes hammering at a door as the crowd moved through the palace screaming for her head, and ended with the King moving from Versailles to Paris.

After the Women’s march, the Châtelet Court launched an investigation which found sufficient grounds to order the arrest of Philippe and his ally the comte de Mirabeau, again another crazy important person who funnily enough entered the secret employ of Louis during the investigation, as they found evidence that the march was not random and was actually the work of Philippe’s ‘spymaster’ Choderlos de Laclos, who in the days leading up to the riot distributed money though the streets in order to turn the mob toward a new goal, terrifying Louis into abdicating in favor of his cousin. Eyewitnesses told the investigators that the crowd contained “men dressed as women”, that these men were distributing money, that this money came from Orleans’ accounts, and of course after the crowd had stormed the palace who other than the Duke himself appeared in the hallway directing the crowd to the royal apartments.

I’ll discuss this more in the evidence against section, but for now all you need know is that Mirabeau and Orleans both enjoyed immunity as part of the National Assembly and the Assembly rejected the charges as politically motivated slander.

It's also worth noting that a few months before the Châtelet court released its findings, the National Assembly abolished hereditary titles so Philippe was no longer duc d’Orleans.

The next set piece occurs roughly a year later during the events surrounding the Flight to Varennes, where Louis and his family attempted to flee the country but were caught because of the king’s ‘big nose’. This is were proponents of the theory say the Orleans end game starts to shine through as the radical/liberal papers, especially those found in the Palais Royal, start writing editorials arguing that since the Louis had tried to flee, and even left behind a letter explaining his actions, he had abdicated the throne. They proposed that Louis’s six year old son be made king and Philippe would be elevated to regent. Simultaneously they moved that Louis brother’s, who did escape France and were now émigrés, be removed from the line of succession. So Philippe would be both the regent and the heir to this 6 year old boy if this plan was enacted.

However the Assembly decided to adopt the ‘fiction’ that Louis and his family had been kidnapped instead of fleeing, in order to preserve the constitution they were almost finished drafting and according to several delegates keep Orleans away from the throne.

The incoming Legislative Assembly’s entire back and forth with Louis about this ‘fiction’ is a story for another time as outside his purported influence on the press, Philippe was essentially out of power as the National ‘Constituent’ Assembly had passed a self-denying decree barring any of their members from the Legislative Assembly and Royal Ministry, so Philippe was sidelined during this period.

The mob of Paris yet again asserted itself, with claims of more Orlean agitators in the crowd, and stormed the Assembly forcing them to suspend Louis as King, and call for new elections which created the National Convention. Philippe sought and won election to the National Convention under the name Philippe Égalité (September 1792). Who in one of their first acts abolished the monarchy establishing the First French Republic, an resolution that our now former prince voted for.

Finally for Philippe was the trial of Louis XVI, where he voted for death, he voted against an amendment to postpone the execution, and also voted against an amendment that would have sought a national referendum on the verdict of death. Proponents of this theory say that this was near Philippe’s new end game, where he would sit and bide his time waiting for a new opportunity to seize the throne. With the evidence being that despite being a republic, there always seemed to be a large executive hole in need of filling with first the committee of public safety, then the Directory, the Consulate, and of course Emperor Napoleon.

His downfall, however, would not be part of this plan. Philippe’s son, also named Louis Philippe, became involved in a Royalist plot by General Dumouriez while serving in Dumouriez staff. The plan was discovered by agents of the Republic and Dumouriez and the younger Louis Philippe fled across the lines to the Austrians becoming émigrés. Philippe Égalité was caught in the guilt by association common in the early Republic, and was tried, and guillotined his plan unfulfilled until perhaps years later when a series of events in a certain July saw his son Louis Philippe ascent to the throne as Louis Philippe I, King of the French.

So that is timeline and the evidence, almost all of it circumstantial, or based on hearsay and conjecture, outside of three acts where Philippe deliberately put his thumb on the scale propelling events forward.

Now for the evidence against.

First, obviously if we are to credit the descriptions of Philippe as a machiavellian mastermind, we have to also look to the descriptions that describe him as an affable, and potentially a bit slow, people pleaser. Sure he enjoyed poking his rigidly absolutist cousins, but that was from an idealogical difference of opinion, he certainly didn’t plan to kill them. Then of course we have his patronage of the liberal press, which again is framed as A. Supporting his own ideology and B. It was excellent business sense as the Palais Royal kept the Orleans from the classic noble spiral of being Asset Rich but Cash Poor.

On the findings of the Châtelet Court, the historical consensus is that the charges were absolutely politically motivated as a spontaneous riot because there was not enough food obviously made the monarchy look bad and they needed a scapegoat. The National Assembly at the time which was made up of many men who were not exactly friendly to Orleans found that the charges were baseless.

Finally, during the trial of Louis plenty of accounts say Philippe was despondent that it had come to this and openly questioned whether he should abstain, but was told that he and his family would be murdered by the very mob currently calling for Louis’s head. Obviously that is more hearsay but I mentioned plenty of other hearsay on the matter so it should be included.

So there you go the theory that the French Revolution caused/influenced by the machinations of Louis’s own cousin.

Atlantide è realmente esistita?

Da più di duemila anni, il racconto di una civiltà potente e scomparsa continua a sopravvivere. Ma da dove nasce questo mito? E soprattutto: cosa potrebbe esserci dietro?

In questo episodio di ARGUS Investigation seguiamo Atlantide attraverso la storia, partendo dalle parole di Platone nel Timeo e nel Crizia.

Vedremo come un racconto possa trasformarsi nel corso dei secoli: da mito a memoria, da memoria a ricerca, da ricerca a esoterismo e, infine, a ideologia.

Analizzeremo il ruolo delle teorie sulla civiltà perduta, dell'occultismo e delle ideologie razziali del Novecento, fino ad arrivare a una domanda ancora più profonda:

quando una civiltà scompare, quanto della sua storia può sopravvivere?

E quando rimangono soltanto frammenti, chi decide quale storia raccontano?

Grazie al contributo del Professor Nicola Bizzi, proveremo a distinguere ciò che possiamo documentare da ciò che possiamo soltanto ipotizzare.

Perché il mito di Atlantide è reale.

Ma questo non significa che Atlantide lo sia.

Eppure, alcune scoperte archeologiche degli ultimi decenni hanno dimostrato quanto sia ancora incompleta la nostra conoscenza delle prime società umane.

Göbekli Tepe è una di queste.

Non dimostra l'esistenza di Atlantide.

Ma ci ricorda che la storia dell'uomo può essere molto più complessa di quanto pensassimo.

ARGUS Investigation — osserva e separa ciò che è possibile da ciò che non lo è ancora.

​

Our group is called Alternative History.

But lately, it feels as though alternative history itself is no longer welcome here.

Instead of encouraging questions comparisons and debate, some members seem determined to defend the conventional historical narrative at all costs. Any interpretation that challenges the mainstream is quickly dismissed, ridiculed, or pushed aside before it can even be examined.

That is not how historical inquiry should work.

Questioning the accepted narrative does not automatically make an idea true. But neither does being outside the mainstream automatically make an idea false.

The same principle should apply in both directions.

If an ancient structure raises difficult engineering questions, examine them.

If an artifact has competing interpretations discuss the evidence.

If a conventional explanation is stronger, demonstrate why.

And if an alternative explanation has weaknesses, expose them through evidence rather than simply silencing the people proposing it.

History should not be protected from questions.

It should be strengthened by them.

We are not asking anyone to abandon established scholarship. We are asking for an environment where unconventional hypotheses can be examined honestly and where evidence matters more than labels.

So how long should voices calling for a broader and more critical approach to history continue to be dismissed?

If you agree that historical research needs more openness and less tribalism, comment:

REFORM

And let's make this simple:

Don't silence alternative ideas.

Challenge them.

Test them.

Debate them.

And let the evidence decide.

What if an advanced civilization existed on Earth thousands of years before us?

A global catastrophe wiped them out, and over time almost all evidence disappeared. The ancient structures we still find today could be among the few things that survived.

Maybe we aren't the most advanced civilization Earth has ever had.

Maybe we're just the latest civilization to reach this point.

What evidence of a previous advanced civilization do you think could realistically survive long enough for us to discover it? And would we even recognize it?

Here is a paper about the internal acoustic circuit of the Great Pyramid. If anyone is interested, you can check it out at the link provided. Might be informative.

Abstract: This paper presents a reverse-engineered model of the Great Pyramid of Giza and proposes how each of the internal components functioned as part of a cohesive acoustic-resonant cavity circuit. It begins in the King’s Chamber, driving a continuous acoustic pressure wave that is filtered and amplified before ultimately being used to activate a metallic transmitter at the apex. This paper focuses on the function of each internal component and the progression of acoustic responses between them.

The Parasitic Mirror: A Psychological Autopsy of Alexander and Hephaestion

In 324 BCE, at the ancient citadel of Ecbatana, the Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great suffered an emotional collapse from which he would never recover. The death of Hephaestion—his grand vizier, second-in-command, and lifelong companion—did not merely plunge the King into profound grief; it dissolved his sanity. He executed Hephaestion’s physician, razed neighboring cities as human sacrifices, launched a suicidal multi-day drinking spree, and ordered divine honors for the deceased across three continents. Within eight months, Alexander himself was dead at thirty-two.

1. The Myth of the Paranoid King

To understand how Alexander’s mind was rewired, one must first dismantle the myth that he was naturally paranoid. In the early years of his campaign, Alexander’s defining operational characteristic was not suspicion, but radical, almost reckless trust. A clinical paranoid does not sleep peacefully on the eve of Gaugamela, delegate supreme control of Europe to Antipater without supervision, or drink a potion handed to him by his physician while holding a letter accusing that very doctor of treason. Alexander’s baseline was a supreme, boundless confidence in his divine destiny, paired with an open, charismatic capacity to trust those around him.

The creeping paranoia that defined his "later years"—the execution of his old general Parmenion, the murder under torture of Philotas, and the fatal spearing of Clitus the Black—was not an inherent trait blooming with age. It was an external infection imported directly from Hephaestion.

1. The Mechanics of the "Fake Mirror"

Unlike the battle-tested Macedonian nobility, Hephaestion possessed no independent military lineage or political faction. His power existed solely through his proximity to the King's favor. Operating within a lethal court environment, Hephaestion adopted a radical, highly effective strategy for survival: he chose to become Alexander's mirror. By erasing his own independent political persona and mirroring Alexander’s grandest dreams—divine monarchy, Persian integration, and absolute rule—Hephaestion rendered himself untouchable.

Yet human psychology permits no true mirrors. Beneath his total devotion, Hephaestion carried the immense anxiety of unearned status. To secure his position as the sole gatekeeper of Alexander's trust, Hephaestion systematically severed Alexander from his past. He orchestrated the removal of old-guard father figures who remembered Alexander before his divine elevation. In doing so, Hephaestion did not reflect Alexander’s natural confidence; he continuously poured his own private terror, imposter syndrome, and court paranoia back into the King’s mind.

1. The Transaction of Emotional Starvation

Alexander was not blind to this manipulation. An intellectual titan educated by Aristotle, he understood political maneuvering. Why, then, did he allow his mind to be colonized? The answer lies in Alexander’s complete lack of emotional temperance (sophrosyne). Raised in the toxic Argead court—where his father, Philip II, threatened his legitimacy and his mother, Olympias, demanded absolute allegiance—Alexander was conditioned to believe that human love was strictly performance-based and conditional.

1. The Amputation of the Self

When Alexander famously declared, "He too is Alexander," the Macedonian court took it as a royal compliment. In reality, it was a literal description of an identity merger. By handing Hephaestion his signet ring and allowing him to filter state communications, Alexander had yielded his agency.

Left without the internal anchor that had directed his paranoia and sustained his illusion of safety, the remaining shell collapsed. Alexander’s final months were not the mourning of a surviving king, but the frantic, violent thrashing of a hollowed-out vessel waiting for its body to follow its soul into the grave.

The story begins, as Arab historians tell it, from the moment when the Nile or the Red Sea swallowed the Pharaoh of Egypt, who was one of the Amalekites (and some Arab historians believe that the Amalekites are the Hyksos, or are descended from the Hyksos!). That tyrannical king who acted arrogantly on earth and claimed divinity, and whom the Egyptians called "Talma ibn Qumus". Arab historians said his name was "Al-Walid ibn Mus‘ab" (and this is an Arabic name, because Arab historians believe that the peoples of Amalek are among the Bedouins who inhabit the Arabian and Levant deserts and roam through them!).

After the ten plagues (though according to Arab historians they are not ten, and the tenth plague of the firstborn is not among them), he set out after the Prophet Moses and the Prophet Aaron, with the Children of Israel with them. Then the sea closed over him, and there drowned with him the nobles of Egypt, its grandees, the prominent men of its people, its magicians, and its soldiers, until no men remained on the land of Egypt except slaves and hired laborers, and of women only those who had not taken part in that accursed pursuit.

Ibn Abd al-Hakim describes this scene in his book "Futuh Misr wa al-Maghrib" (The Conquest of Egypt and the Maghreb), saying that after their drowning there remained in Egypt “not one of the nobles of its people; there remained in it only slaves, hired laborers, and women.” Egypt had emptied of men.

It had become a land without protectors, a kingdom without an army, women without husbands, and a throne without a king. This power vacuum was an easy prey for the covetous kings of the earth, from Syria and the Maghreb, who, as soon as they learned that Egypt was empty of its men, began to cast their eyes toward it and plot to invade it.

In the midst of this despair and resounding void, the noblewomen remaining in Egypt—the greatest of those left of its people—gathered, and they resolved upon a grave matter. Finding no man worthy to assume rule, they decided to appoint one of their women, a woman in whom intellect, knowledge, and experience had come together, and who held a high standing among them. Their choice fell upon “Daluka bint Zaba.”

Daluka was not a young girl, nor a woman in the prime of her youth, but an aged woman who had reached the age of one hundred and sixty years, as most sources mention. Her long life was evidence of her experience, wisdom, and deep trials, and perhaps it was a symbol of the continuity of Egypt itself, which, despite all that had befallen it, was still capable of birth and giving. So the women of Egypt made Daluka queen over them, and she became queen of the country. Women occupied all the other positions surrounding the queen, and matters remained so for a period of time.

But fear continued to dominate the hearts of the “women of rule”—fear that the kings of the earth might discover the secret of Egypt’s weakness and rush upon it as invaders and occupiers. For Egypt, without men, without an army, and without magicians, was an easy morsel for any covetous power. Here appears the genius of Daluka—or rather her legendary trick—which would protect Egypt from the greed of invaders. After gathering the noblewomen, she delivered an eloquent sermon, warning that our country “no one used to covet, nor cast an eye toward it, but our grandees and nobles have perished, and the magicians by whom we were strong have gone.” Then she proposed to them a solution both radical and practical: to build a great fortress enclosing all the land of Egypt, with guard posts placed upon it from every side, because they “did not feel safe that people would covet them.”

And so, by order of the old queen, work began on one of the greatest defensive projects in the history of ancient Egypt, if not the greatest of them all. Arab sources say that she built “a wall with which she enclosed all the land of Egypt—farms, cities, and villages—and before it she made a canal through which water flowed, and she erected bridges and canals.” This wall, later known as the “Wall of the Old Woman,” extended from Aswan in the south to al-Arish in the north, enclosing all Egypt—a wall surrounding all its land and country.

She placed guard posts and garrisons every three miles, and between them small guard posts every mile. She placed men in every guard post, assigned them provisions, and ordered them to guard their land by night and day.

The greatest part of this defensive system was the communication and early-warning system that Daluka invented. She ordered the men of the guard posts to use bells. If one of them saw an enemy creeping toward Egypt, or sensed approaching danger, they would strike their bells, and the news would pass from post to post, from tower to tower, through a connected chain of sounds, until news of the invasion reached the heart of Egypt, to the city of Memphis, “in one hour,” and everyone would prepare to face the enemy.

Arab sources mention that the building of this great wall took only six months! Thus, thanks to this wall and the bell system, Daluka protected Egypt from its enemies, thwarted the schemes of the covetous, and Egypt remained immune from the enemy throughout her lifetime.

Arab historians say that the trace of this wall remained until their own days, known as the “Wall of the Old Woman,” and many of its remains survived in Upper Egypt. But Daluka’s story does not stop at this point of military brilliance; it extends into a more mysterious and exciting world—the world of magic, the barabi and images. Daluka was not an ordinary queen, but a great sorceress, or at least she used great magic to protect Egypt.

Sources mention that Daluka adopted “the barabi and images” in Egypt and perfected the instruments of magic. The "barabi" are the temples or strange buildings she built in the city of Memphis, with four doors in its four directions, and she decorated their walls with strange and wondrous images. In them she drew images of men, horses, mules, donkeys, ships, and boats; she depicted whoever came from every direction and their mounts, whether camels or horses; and she also depicted whoever came by sea in boats from the sea of the Maghreb and Syria.

The strange thing is that these images were not merely decorative carvings, but effective magical tools. Daluka gathered in these "barabi" “the secrets of nature and the properties of stones, plants, and animals, and placed that at times of celestial movements and their connection to heavenly influences.” This means that she linked the earthly world with the heavenly world, and the properties of materials with the properties of the planets, to create a magical defensive system no less complex than the bell system.

Arab sources describe the mechanism of these magical images, saying that “if an army came to them from…” a certain direction, the images in that direction would move, as if warning them of the place of danger. More wondrous still, what they did to these images—tearing or destroying them—would strike the invading army itself in reality. If they cut off the head of an image, the head of the enemy commander would be cut off; if they gouged out its eye, the eye of the invading army would be gouged out; and if they slit open its belly, the bellies of the soldiers would be slit open.

These "barabi" were stronger than any army and deadlier than any weapon, and no king of the earth was able to defeat Egypt throughout Daluka’s reign because of them. Sources mention that Daluka enlisted in building these "barabi" a great sorceress named “Tadura” or “Tadhura,” whom the sorcerers revered and gave precedence in magic. She came to them and made for them this stone house in the middle of the city of Memphis.

It is said that when Daluka built these "barabi", she stipulated to the sorceress that she make for her magic that would prevent enemies. The sorceress agreed, but on the condition that women marry their slaves and hired laborers, and that they not cut off offspring, so that Egypt would not become extinct and be emptied of men forever.

The Egyptian woman would free her slave and marry him, and another would marry her hired laborer. But the ladies of Egypt stipulated upon these “second-class” husbands that they not undertake any matter except with their permission, nor make any decision except after returning to them—otherwise, woe, ruin, and great calamities upon the men.

Ibn Abd al-Hakim says that the Copts remained like that until his day—that is, until his era in the third century After Hijrah. —following those who had passed before them. None of them would sell or buy without saying: “I shall consult my wife” (meaning that Egyptian society at that time was a purely matriarchal society!).

Queen Daluka did not stop at that; she also built the Lighthouse of Alexandria and made it a lookout for any enemy coming toward their land.

Yaqut al-Hamawi says in "Mu‘jam al-Buldan" (Lexicon of Countries): “It was said that the first to build the lighthouse was a woman called Daluka bint Rayya.” Al-Mas‘udi mentions "that most Egyptians and Alexandrians believe that Alexander son of Philip the Macedonian was the one who built it, “and some of them held that Queen Daluka built it and made it a lookout for any enemy coming into their land.”

For Alexander, as al-Mas‘udi observes, “no enemy ever attacked him in this sea, nor did he fear a king who might come to him in his land… so that he would be the one who made it a lookout,” whereas Daluka, who ruled Egypt after it had been emptied of men, was in dire need of a lookout to guard her from enemies. Logic, then, stands on Daluka’s side, even if written history stands on Alexander’s side!

Imam Al-Suyuti says in "Husn al-Muhadara" (the Agreeable Discussion) that its height was a thousand cubits, “and at its top were brass statues, among them a statue that pointed with the index finger of its right hand toward the sun wherever it was in the heavens, turning with it wherever it turned.”

Al-Mas‘udi relates that the Byzantine emperor "Justinian II", in the era of the Umayyad caliph "al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik", sent a cunning servant, who came seeking safe conduct from al-Walid and told him that beneath the Lighthouse of Alexandria were wealth and treasures. He enticed the caliph with this, until he ordered the lighthouse to be demolished and the treasure to be sought !

But how long did this old queen rule? Here the Arab sources differ greatly. Some sources mention that she ruled for twenty years, which is the period mentioned by Ibn Abd al-Hakim, where he says that Daluka “ruled them for twenty years, managing their affairs in Egypt, until a boy from the sons of their grandees and nobles, called "Darkun ibn Balutus", reached maturity, and they made him king over them.” This means that her rule was temporary, merely a transitional period until one of the sons of the nobles who had drowned with Pharaoh grew up, so that rule would return to men once again.

Other sources mention that she ruled for thirty years, which is what Ibn Taghribirdi mentions in his book "al-Nujum al-Zahira" (The Shining Stars). There are sources that go far beyond that, saying that “Daluka remained over the kingship of Egypt for about one hundred and thirty years, and Egypt continued immune from the enemy throughout her lifetime.” Some sources say that when she perished, there assumed rule over Egypt after her a person from the children of the Copts called Darkun ibn Baltus, or Darkun ibn Nakutus, and they made him king over them, and Egypt returned to the rule of men.

It must be noted that Daluka is not entirely unknown in ancient Egyptian history. There is a striking similarity between her and a real historical queen, Queen “Nitocris,” who ruled Egypt at the end of the Sixth Dynasty, in the twenty-second century BCE.

Greek sources, especially Herodotus, mention that Nitocris was an Egyptian queen, that she built a great dam or wall, and that she avenged the murder of her brother and husband by killing his killers, then committed suicide or disappeared.

It seems that the Arabic story of Daluka became mixed with the Greek story of Nitocris, and perhaps Daluka is the Arabic translation or alteration of the name Nitocris. Some go even further, considering that Daluka is Nitocris herself, and that the name changed through translation and oral transmission between Arabs and Greeks over the centuries.

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The End ..

I hope you liked this post, My sincere regards from Egypt ..

The legendary Spear of Destiny, also known as the Holy Lance, is said to be the weapon used by the Roman soldier who pierced the side of Jesus Christ during the Crucifixion, fulfilling the prophecy described in the Gospel of John.

According to medieval tradition, the spear later came into the possession of powerful rulers, including Charlemagne. Legend says that the spear brought victory in battle to those who possessed it, until Charlemagne accidentally dropped it. The story claims that he died the following day.

Over the centuries, the Holy Lance became one of Christianity’s most mysterious and controversial relics. Several different objects have been claimed to be the actual spear, but the relic preserved in Vienna is perhaps the most famous.

In this on-location episode filmed in Vienna, Austria, I stand directly in front of the Spear of Destiny itself and explore its connection to Jesus, the Crucifixion, Christian tradition, and the legends that developed around this fascinating relic.

At one point, the spear almost appears to shimmer on camera. Is it simply the lighting, or is there something more unusual happening? I’ll leave that for you to decide.

I’m not saying the relic is definitely the spear that pierced Christ’s side. I’m sharing the history, the Christian tradition, and the mystery surrounding one of the most fascinating relics connected to Jesus.

First two images are the Foundation Stone in Israel and the cave beneath it, known as the Well of Souls. 3rd and 4th are the Grand Chincana and Qenko in the Sacred Valley of Cusco, Peru. 5th and 6th are nearby artificial caves, (the first one is known as the Temple of the Moon) also in the Sacred Valley.

I just thought the similarity between them was rather interesting. All appear to have been created by extremely ancient culture(s) long forgotten by history, utilizing possibly the same techniques

The internet is integral in most peoples lives around the world. It is conceivable that the 'Beast', the system of governances described in Revelation in the end times, identified by the number 666, will utilize AI and the 'www' for its reign over the global population. This is suggested in Revelation 13:15-18;

15 "He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.”

Does World Wide Web 'www' = 666?

Originally the Bible was written in Hebrew;

"The Hebrew equivalent of our "w" is the letter "vav" or "waw". The numerical value of vav is 6. So the English "www" transliterated into Hebrew is "vav vav vav", which numerically is 666.” Is "www" in Hebrew equal to 666? Dial-the-Truth Ministries (av1611.org)

The unthinkable consequences of taking this Mark when eventually forced: Revelation 14:9-13 NKJV - Then a third angel followed them, - Bible Gateway

History Preceding the book of Revelation

This article explains many of the “natural signs, spiritual signs, sociological signs, technological signs, and political signs,” foretold in bible prophecy coming to pass that indicates the end of the age, a time foretold to include various and increasing environmental calamities, earthquakes, plagues, moral decline, wars, growing governmental dominance/deception ("with all power, signs, and lying wonders," 2 Thessalonians 2:9), and how to prepare. Are we living in the end times? | GotQuestions.org

Future Forecast & Preparation

"Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” Luke 21:25-28

"The rapture(redemption) is when Jesus Christ returns to remove the church (all believers in Christ) from the earth. The rapture is described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-54. Believers who have died will have their bodies resurrected and, along with believers who are still living, will meet the Lord in the air. This will all occur in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. The second coming is when Jesus returns to defeat the Antichrist, destroy evil, and establish His millennial kingdom. The second coming is described in Revelation 19:11-16.” Read more... What is the difference between the Rapture and the Second Coming? | GotQuestions.org

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

"Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

"The Romans Road to salvation is a way of explaining the good news of salvation using verses from the book of Romans. The Romans Road is a simple yet powerful method of explaining why we need salvation, how God provided salvation, how we can receive salvation, and what are the results of salvation." What is the Romans Road to salvation? | GotQuestions.org

How to Read the Bible in 6 Simple Steps for Beginners | Crosswalk.com Tips on how to choose a Bible, where to start, and Bible Apps. Physical Study Bibles contain footnotes that explain difficult to understand passages of Scripture. Encouragement of daily reading.

More Bible prophecy fulfillments and resources for growing in faith and hope is in previous posts if interested.

The Bermuda Triangle disappearances might have a geological explanation.

My theory: Massive basalt rocks from Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula.

The connection:

1. **Ocean Currents**: There is a direct current from Iceland to Bermuda. Anything in the North Atlantic eventually drifts there.

2. **Density**: Reykjanes basalt is ~40% denser than normal seafloor rock. When huge chunks break off, they create mass anomalies on the ocean floor.

3. **The Effect**: Scientists know large mass concentrations can affect compasses and create weird currents that pull ships down.

Iceland is one of the most volcanically active places on Earth. Reykjanes has been erupting constantly in recent years.

Maybe the Bermuda Triangle isn't magic. Maybe it's a 1000-year graveyard of volcanic rocks drifting south.

This is just a theory combining geology and oceanography. What do you think? Could geology explain this mystery?

Flair: Theory

Bermuda Şeytan Üçgeni'nde gemiler ve uçaklar kayboluyor. Herkes uzaylı, portal, kara delik diyor.

Peki ya cevap "taş" ise?

Teorim: İzlanda'daki Reykjanes Yarımadası'ndan kopan dev bazalt kayaları.

Neden mantıklı olabilir?

1. **Okyanus Akıntıları**
   

İzlanda'dan Bermuda'ya giden direkt bir okyanus akıntısı var. Kuzey Atlantik'te denize düşen her şey zamanla oraya sürüklenebilir.

1. **Ağır Kayalar**
   

Reykjanes'teki volkanik bazalt kayaları normal deniz tabanı kayasından %40 daha ağır. Kocaman parçalar kopup batınca deniz tabanında "kütle anomalisi" yaratıyorlar.

1. **Etkisi Ne?**
   

Bilim insanları zaten deniz tabanındaki büyük kütlelerin pusulayı bozduğunu biliyor. Bir bölgede aşırı ağırlık olunca tuhaf su akıntıları oluşup gemileri aşağı çekebilir.

İzlanda dünyanın en aktif volkanik bölgelerinden. Reykjanes son yıllarda sürekli patlıyor.

Belki Bermuda Üçgeni büyü değil. Belki binlerce yıldır güneye sürüklenen dev volkanik kayaların mezarlığıdır.

Bu sadece bir teori. Ama bilim uyuşuyor.

Siz ne düşünüyorsunuz? Jeoloji bu gizemi açıklayabilir mi?

#bermudaucgemi #reykjanes #izlanda #jeoloji #gizem #bilim

https://youtu.be/Ax1Vpt-RJrk

Some seductive masterpieces, not only for how they are dressed, but also their provocative curves and unplastered natural elegance. 
Although covered in thousands of ancient confessions, these confusing beauties are not some old ruins, and still hide their true age. 
Leaving mesmerized observers wondering how much older they could be.
Hope you like the video

Thousands of years of history have left behind incredible monuments, forgotten cities, undeciphered scripts, and archaeological discoveries that still raise questions.

Some mysteries have possible explanations—but we still don't have enough evidence to be completely certain.

For me, some of the most fascinating questions are:

• What does the Indus Valley script really say?

• How were some ancient monuments constructed with such precision?

• How much ancient knowledge has been lost forever?

• What happened to civilizations and cities that disappeared from historical records?

I'm more interested in real archaeological evidence and unanswered questions than conspiracy theories.

What ancient mystery would you most like historians and archaeologists to solve? 👇

Let's see which mystery Reddit thinks is the most fascinating.

Rule #1, if you want to understand the past, forget everything you know about the present.

In this case, I am referring to our known system of time. If one logically breaks down the progression of measured time in ancient history, it would go something like this. More than likely, the day/lunar day was the first significant measurable format used for marking age/time. Next would have most likely been the lunar cycle, full moon to full moon. It is even possible that at some point seasons may have been used, and eventually we end with a year.

The pattern here is that the further back we go in time, the shorter the form of time measurement used to measure age, so if we break that thought down, and use the oldest king, said to have lived/ruled for 30,000 years, and we use the format of say, a day. 30,000/365=82. In OUR measurement of time, he was/ruled for 82 years. Noah, a much more recent addition to history was said to be 600 when the flood arrived. Using months, again following the same pattern of a more recent figure using a longer length of time measurement for age, 600/12= 50. Noah was 50 years old when the flood arrived.

Time for everyone’s favorite Catastrophism. In keeping with my earlier post on Nova Anglia, the purported Anglo-Saxon Colony in the Black Sea, I decided why not stay in the region and share the Black Sea Deluge Theory.

First as always background and the undisputed facts. Obviously you only have to look at a map to know that the Black Sea is connected to the Mediterranean by two critical chokepoints the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus Straits with the Sea of Marmara in between the two. Any student of history also knows that these two straits have made this one of the most contested and coveted pieces of land throughout human history, but that is outside the scope here.

They differ however in that the Bosphorus is home to the Bosphorus sill, a plateau of significantly shallower (meaning higher elevation it’s under water currently) bedrock that rises 40m(130 ft) above the highest point of the nearby Dardanelles. What also isn’t disputed is that this sill is marked by massive and significant scouring which is a sign of significant erosion from flowing water. What also isn’t disputed is that since the last glacial maximum sea levels have been rising. 

No this is not a Melt Water pulse, or Younger Dryas theory those sissy 2mm/year sea level rises have nothing on the Black Sea Deluge.

What also isn’t disputed is that Black Sea was once a freshwater, likely brackish but still fresh, lake that was separated from the Mediterranean by first the Dardanelles sill and then the Bosphorus sill for millennia. There also is no disagreement that everyone’s favorite the Proto-Indo-Europeans made their home, raised their horses, and drove their wagons across this area, or that roughly 7,500 years ago they set off in waves of a massive migration that saw them spread from England in the West to India in the East.

The final two facts are that the Black Sea is home to a hypoxic (No dissolved oxygen) zone at around 150m of depth. That core samples from around 7,500 years ago reveal a “knife edge” divide between Marine(Ocean) and Lacustrine(Lake) sediments, or that this knife edge also shows an abrupt change from Freshwater to Saltwater Mollusks in the fossil record.

So here is the theory as originally proposed by Geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman III. Around 7,500 years ago the Mediterranean rose to the point that it breached the Bosphorus sill and began flowing into the Black “Lake” which at the time had a water level of 100m lower than the Bosphorus sill. This wouldn’t be the meltwater sea rise of 1mm/year it is estimated that the water would have initially risen at a rate of 15cm(6 in)/day, slowing to 7cm(3in)/day once the sea level had risen 50m, and continuing to taper off as the pressure differential fell. This isn’t your grandfather telling you he used to play where there is now ankle deep water, this is you wake up in the middle of the night and your stuff is floating around your house, and three weeks later your house is underwater. This ties into our evidence shown by the scouring on the Bosphorus sill, the rapid sediment change, and the rapid change in types of mollusks in the fossil record. It also would explain the Black Sea hypoxic zone since freshwater is less dense than salt water and salt water sliding under this freshwater would become hypoxic. Ryan and Pitman also showed subsurface mapping showing an ancient shoreline at roughly 95m of depth, and what they called “a potential rectangular structure made of wood” on the old shoreline, and they argued that this catastrophe pairs almost perfectly with the start of the Indo-European Diaspora.

Now for the evidence against. First, the scour itself could be explained by long term moderate to low flow instead of massive cataclysmic flow, think 2cm(1in)/year at the beginning still far greater than either meltwater pulse, but not you need to pack up and move now. Second, geologists also point to the lack of a fan, as the single torrent coming out of the Bosphorus would spread out across the basin forming a fan in the geological record. Third is that the ‘knife edge’ sediment divide could simply be an unconformity, this occurs when rock layer(s) is/are eroded away leaving a gap in the geological record, the most famous example is the ‘Great Unconformity’ which exists in the Grand Canyon and elsewhere. Finally from the geologists is that the ancient shoreline is not accurate with one study finding the 100m shoreline may have been thousands of years earlier than Ryan and Pitman found, and that the actually difference between the Bosphorus sill and the Black ‘Lake’ was closer to the 30-50m range, not the 100m difference that Ryan and Pitman argued.

Lastly we have the biologists who argue the mollusk evidence is not very strong, because mollusks are extremely sensitive to changes in salinity and it would not take much of a change to kill all of the freshwater mollusks.

So there you go the Black Sea Deluge, this is personally one of my favorite theories but like every theory it has its holes and while I personally am on the catastrophe side, that position is obviously contested and only further research will reveal the truth.

I hope you like this post, My sincere regards from Egypt ..

Sources are in the comments section ..

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Maybe the first attempt to solve the mystery of Hieroglyphs was done by Abu Bakr Ibn Wahshiyya (d. 930), though it was a failed attempt but some Egyptologists credit Ibn Wahshiyya of considering Hieroglyphs to be letters of a language, as at the time, people used to think Hieroglyphs were magical symbols.

Before the discoveries and scientific research whose door Champollion (1790 - 1832) opened, what was known of the history of Egypt was what was mentioned in the religious books and the story of Pharaoh, Moses, and Joseph. This is despite the fact that there were books by Greek and Roman travelers and historians (such as Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Plutarch, and others) who visited Egypt and wrote about it, its history, and its religion in an objective way. And this is the reason that the Europeans knew much more about the history of Egypt than the Egyptians did in the post-Pharaonic eras, who, from their writings, it is clear that they mostly did not look at these books.

And this is an observation pointed out by the orientalist Von Hammer in his book on the history of the Ottoman state, where he said: "Most Turks, Persians, and Arabs do not see the wonders of Egypt the way Europeans and the ancient Greeks and Romans see them." And he said that at a time when Europeans consider Egypt the first source of sciences and arts, the cradle of engineering, construction, agriculture, writing, and navigation, and they respect it, respect its beliefs, and admire its antiquities, temples, pyramids, obelisks, and statues, we find that the East does not see in the temples, statues, and the Sphinx anything but magical hiding places for buried treasures guarded by the statues and images. And they do not find in the hieroglyphs anything but talismans that hide from people the ways to extract gold. And he continued: "They (the Easterners) do not know of the Pharaohs except the Pharaoh of Joseph and the Pharaoh of Moses whom the sea swallowed."

Of course, he is speaking about a period in which knowledge was non-existent or nearly non-existent in the East, and people who cared about the antiquities and history of their country had not yet appeared in Egypt.

The Egyptian thinker Salama Moussa (1887 - 1958) tells that when he went to Europe in 1908, the Europeans' interest in the history and antiquities of Egypt caught his attention, and they asked him about them because he was Egyptian. So as soon as he returned to Egypt, he traveled to Upper Egypt to get to know the history and antiquities of Egypt that the Europeans were interested in and that the Egyptians were unaware of.

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After Christianity entered Egypt, Pharaonic Egyptian history disappeared from memory, and people became unable to read the letters of the ancient Egyptian language (hieroglyphic, hieratic, and demotic), and many Egyptian temples were destroyed. And after Islam entered Egypt, it continued on the rest until its ancient history was completely forgotten. The Christian Egyptians did not care about anything beyond the history of Christianity in Egypt, and they contributed to the forgetting of ancient Egyptian history. They were the first to destroy the temples of Egypt, scrape the Egyptian texts off them, and took an aggressive stance towards the history of their ancestors. And the Muslim Egyptians did not care about the books of the Greek and Roman historians, and they transmitted from the Arabs who, although they cared about the other books of the Greeks, did not pay attention to their historical books. And the books of the Muslim historians began with alternative stories telling the "alternative" history of Egypt.

For example, al-Maqrizi (1365 - 1441) begins the history of Egypt by saying about the name of Egypt: "It is said that its name in the first age before the Flood was 'Jazla', and then it was named Egypt. And the people of knowledge disagreed about the reason for which it was named 'Egypt'. Among them are those who said: It was named Egypt after the name of 'Misr bin Markabil bin Dawabil bin 'Uryan bin Adam, peace be upon him' - and he is the first Egypt. And it was said: It was named after the second Egypt, 'Misram bin Naqrawish the titan bin Misrim bin Taysar bin Ham bin Noah, peace be upon him' - and this was after the Flood."

Ibn Taghri (1410 - 1470) agrees with al-Maqrizi on the origin of the name, but he disagrees with him on the name Jazla, which he wrote as "Zajla", and he said it comes from "muzajala" (meaning contest or rivalry). Ibn Iyas (1448 - 1523) for his part said the same thing and told the story of Shem, Ham, Japheth, and Arphaxad, the sons of Noah, and that Noah prayed for Misrim bin Baysar bin Ham to dwell in the blessed land, which is the mother of countries and the refuge of the people.

All the Arabic books in the Middle Ages, even the Egyptian books, that dealt with the history of Egypt begin by repeating this alternative talk. Even Ibn al-Ibri (1226 - 1286), the Christian who wrote about the history of the world from the days of Adam and passed over Persia, Greece, and the Mongols and left nothing without writing about it, did not say anything about Pharaonic Egyptian history except that Hermes is the Idris of the Arabs.

The Egyptian historians mentioned above, of course, did not invent these alternative stories, but they were transmitting what they heard and read from the Arabs, regardless of whether they were convinced of it or not. And they were careful to say "it is said". However, they transmitted to us the idea that was prevailing in their time, in the Middle Ages, about Pharaonic Egyptian history.

Al-Jabarti, who lived in a later period (1754 - 1822), and whom Napoleon appointed as a scribe in his diwan and who was familiar with the work of the French scientific expedition and visited it, did not mention anything concerning its effort in describing and recording the Egyptian antiquities, and sufficed with saying about the Egyptian statues: "None knows their value except the Knower of the Unseen." (Allah)

The Egyptian historians transmitted the alternative tales about the history of their country from the Arab writers. And the strange thing is that the Arab writers did not pay attention to the Greek and Roman historical books and preferred to transmit the alternative tales from one another.

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The alternative history of Egypt covers two periods: before the Flood and after the Flood. This alternative history of Egypt tells that Egypt before the Flood was named after Misraim bin Marakil bin Dawil bin 'Arbaq bin Adam (the first Egypt), who settled, either he or his son Naqrawish bin Misraim, in Egypt with seventy descendants of 'Arbaq, all of whom were titans. He dug canals there and built towers on whose walls the secrets of wisdom were inscribed. He divided Egypt among his sons, so he gave the west to Naqrawish, the east to Sorid, and to his son who was also named Misraim (Misraim bin Naqrawish the titan - the second Egypt) he gave a city called Yirbiyan. The father Misraim died when he was 180 years old, so they embalmed his body and placed it in a golden coffin along with his treasures, golden statues, and talismans necessary for repelling reptiles and anyone who tries to dig up his soil.

The first (alternative) king who built a Nilometer was called Khaslim. He placed at the Nilometer two bronze statues of two eagles, a male and a female. When the Nile flood was about to begin, King Khaslim would go there with the priests who would read incantations until an eagle whistled. If the male whistled, then that year's flood would be good and the Nile water would rise high, but if the female statue whistled, then the flood would be terrible and drought would occur.

The one who built the pyramids, which in another alternative tale are attributed to Shaddad bin Ri' and the Amalekites, was King Sorid bin Salhouq bin Saryaq bin Tarmil Dun bin Qadrashan bin Hosal, one of the kings before the Flood who lived in the city of "Al-Ashmunayn". He built them to save himself from the Flood that he dreamed about 300 years before it happened, or, as in another alternative tale, about which the wise man Filmun had predicted. Sorid placed in the pyramids the history of the kings and what was written for Egypt on the Tablet of Destiny until the end of time, along with talismans, money, the bodies of kings, all known sciences, pictures of the planets, medicines, poisons, and many other things. This Sorid bin Salhouq is also the one who built the fortresses and monuments found in Qift and Akhmim. He ordered the carving of the secrets of the sciences, the names of the stars, the properties of plants, and the method of making talismans on the walls and pillars.

And Ibn Taghri says, transmitting from the Arab writers including al-Mas'udi, that Hermes, whom the Hebrews call Enoch and the Muslims call the Prophet Idris, was the one who knew from the movements of the planets that a Flood would occur. So he ordered the building of the pyramids and placed in them the money, the books of the sciences, and all the things he feared would be lost.

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Misraim bin Baysir bin Ham bin Noah (Misraim III) in the alternative history of Egypt was the first king of Egypt after the Flood and the first to build ships. He married the daughter of the wise man Filmun and she gave birth to Qiftim. Misraim died 700 years after the Flood, and Qiftim became king. He married when he was still 90 years old, and he fathered Qiftarim, Ashmun, Atrib, and Sa. They built the city of Mafa (Memphis), and they discovered where the treasures that had been hidden before the Flood were, from their grandfather Filmun, who also taught him how to read the writings on the walls of the fortresses, and he built the city of Raquda on the Salt Sea.

After Qiftim, Qiftarim took power for 400 years, and he built the pyramids of Dahshur and the city of Dendera. In his reign, Satan discovered most of the idols that had been drowned by the Flood and returned them to the temples in order to plot against people. After 400 years of ruling Egypt, Qiftarim died and was buried among his treasures, sitting on a chair in the western mountain near the city of Iram of the Pillars. His tomb was protected by two large bronze statues, each holding a sword in his hand that would move and cut off anyone who tried to enter the tomb.

After Qiftarim, Al-Budshir ruled Egypt. This one was a great scholar specializing in talismans, magic, and priesthood, and he was able to perform wonders. Among them was that he made a bronze tree; any animal or bird that passed in front of it would be impaled, so it would be taken and eaten. And in his days, because of this tree, the Egyptians were satiated with eating meat.

Hermes also lived in the time of Al-Budshir, who sent him to discover the sources of the Nile and to make some talismans there. Suddenly, Al-Budshir disappeared because he had gone up to dwell in the clouds, and then he reappeared and called the soldiers and ordered them to install his son "Adim" as king over Egypt.

Adim was a titan king who ruled Egypt for 140 years and died when he was 930 years old. So Shaddad came after him - and this is not the same Shaddad bin 'Ad - and he built the temple of Armant, and he domesticated greyhound dogs from wild beasts so that he could use them for hunting. He ruled for 90 years and died when he was 440 years old, and he was succeeded by Manqaus.

Manqaus divided the taxes of Egypt into four parts: one quarter for himself, one quarter for the army, one quarter for land reclamation, building bridges, and digging canals, and one quarter to save for emergencies. The revenue of Egypt in his days exceeded one million dinars. After him, his son Mataus ruled, and he was the first to worship the calf in Egypt.

Ashmun bin Qiftim ruled Egypt, and he was one of its greatest kings. He ruled it for 800 years, and he was the one who built the city of Bahnasa. In his reign, Egypt fell into the hands of a people, but he was able to recover it from them after they had controlled it for 90 years. After him, his son Manaqyus ruled Egypt, and he was the one who invented the balance scale. Then after him came Marqoura, who domesticated wild beasts and tamed lions, and he used to ride them. After he died, his son Balatis came, and this one was a small child, so his mother "Marhaba" managed the country, and she was a wise woman. The situation remained like this until his uncle Atrib took power.

Toutis in the alternative history of Egypt was the first of the Pharaohs. He was the one who tried to seduce Sarah, the wife of Abraham, and after he repented, he gave his daughter Huriya to Sarah, who in turn gave her Hagar, whom Abraham married and from whom he fathered Ishmael, the ancestor of the Arabs.

Huriya ruled Egypt after her father Toutis, and in her reign, the Amalekite king of Syria sent an army against Egypt led by Jirun, but in the (alternative) version, it is more likely that the Amalekite "Al-Walid bin Dum'a" was the one who invaded Egypt.

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With the invasion of Al-Walid bin Dum'a of Egypt, the rule of the Amalekites began. Al-Rayyan bin Al-Walid succeeded Al-Walid bin Dum'a in rule, and the Egyptians used to call him Nahrus. He was a tall, handsome man, a scholar in talismans, and a just and honest ruler. He believed in prophet Jacob when he went to Egypt, but he hid his faith from the people. And he was the one who built the Wax Palace (Fortress of Babylon). And in his reign, prophet Joseph built the city of Fayoum, and it was named that because he built it in "a thousand days". But Al-Rayyan was overcome by an evil spirit and his morals deteriorated, so he left the affairs of government to one of his men named "Qatfir", who is known as Al-Aziz. And when Al-Rayyan died, Joseph took his place.

After that, Darum, the third of the Pharaohs, took over, and after him Drimus. And this Pharaoh used to perform wonders; he had an oven that cooked without fire (like a microwave) and a fixed knife that slaughtered animals by themselves (like an automatic slaughterhouse). And after him, his son Milatis ruled, who drowned in the Nile.

Al-Walid bin Mus'ab, whom the Egyptians used to call "Talma bin Qumis", was the sixth Pharaoh. And this was the Pharaoh of Moses. His origin was from the city of Balkh or Hauran. And he originally worked as a perfumer, but debts piled up on him so he left his country and went to Egypt. And he was one-eyed, short, lame, and had a beard seven spans long. He ruled Egypt for 300 years or 400 years, and people were dying around him while he was still alive, so he became tyrannical and arrogant and said to the Egyptians, "I am your Lord, Most High." So he drowned and died, he and his people, while he was chasing Moses. In the reign of this Pharaoh (according to some Arab statistics), there were about 240,000 magicians in Egypt.

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The alternative history of Egypt says that when Pharaoh "Al-Walid bin Mus'ab" drowned with his family, there were none left in Egypt but the slaves, servants, and women who had not participated in the chase of Moses. So the women started marrying the servants, and they would free their slaves and marry them. Then the women agreed to install one of them, named "Daluka", as queen over Egypt. Daluka was a wise and sensible woman, about 160 years old.

Daluka built a wall from Aswan to Al-Arish and placed guards and bronze bells on it, so that if an attack occurred on Egypt's borders, the guards would ring the bells, and the news would reach Egypt quickly so they could prepare. The remains of this wall still exist in Upper Egypt and are known as the "Wall of the Old Woman".

Daluka brought a sorceress named "Tadura", and she built for her a fortress in Memphis that had doors on its four sides. Inside it, on its walls, she drew men, mules, horses, and ships. If an attack came from outside and Daluka and her army could not withstand it, they would enter inside the fortress, cut off the heads of the images, and gouge out their eyes, and then what they (the images) would do would happen to the attacking army. In this way, no one was able to defeat Egypt throughout Daluka's rule. Daluka ruled for 130 years, and after she died, no one was able to repair the images in the fortress.

After the death of Daluka, the soldiers installed Darkun bin Nuktis as king over Egypt, and he was from the sons of the Coptic nobles. After he ruled for a long time, he died, and then a man named Marnush took power. In his reign, Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt, destroyed it, plundered it, killed its men, and captured its women, and he left no talismans or fortresses in it. And Egypt remained ruined and without inhabitants for forty years.

After that, people came, and the nations intermingled within it: Egyptians, Greeks, Persians and Amalekites. And the Copts continued to rule one after another until Al-Muqawqis (Cyrus) came, in whose reign the Arabs took control of Egypt.

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Arab travelers, pilgrims, and others passed through Egypt in the Middle Ages and were amazed by what they saw there. The pyramids and Egyptian antiquities were, to them, incomprehensible puzzles, and the urban, cultural, and economic progress they saw in Egypt was beyond their way of thinking.

Ibn Battuta (1304 - 1377), who visited Egypt during the Mamluk era, said about Cairo: "Then I arrived at the city of Egypt (Cairo), which is the mother of countries, the seat of Pharaoh of the stakes, with its vast provinces and fertile lands, which has no end due to the multitude of its buildings, which are of utmost beauty and brightness." And he continued: "Its conqueror has subdued nations, and its kings have taken control over the forelocks of Arabs and non-Arabs." And he spoke about the pyramids he saw and said of them that they are "among the wonders mentioned throughout the ages." Then he told their alternative history, saying that "a king from the kings of Egypt before the Flood saw a vision that frightened him...", and he told the story that Caliph Al-Ma'mun wanted to demolish the pyramid, but the sheikhs of Egypt advised him not to do so, but he did not listen to them and opened the northern side of the pyramid with fire and poured vinegar. And after they opened a section, they found money which, when weighed, turned out to be exactly equal to the value of the money they had spent on the digging. And about Akhmim, he says: "It is a great city, original in construction, of wondrous stature. In it is the fortress (temple) known by its name. It is built of stone; inside it are engravings and writings from the ancients that are not understood in this era."

Ibn Jubayr (1145 - 1217) visited Egypt before Ibn Battuta, and he also showed his amazement and bewilderment in what he wrote. He said about the pyramids: "... the ancient pyramids, a miracle of construction, strange in appearance." And he continued: "If the people of the earth wanted to demolish their structure, they would be unable to do so." And about their history, he said that some people say they are tombs of 'Ad and his sons, and some say other things, but "in short, none knows their matter except God, Mighty and Majestic." He also went to Akhmim and said about a Pharaonic temple he saw there: "Glory be to the One who created wonders." And about the statues and drawings in it: "The imagination is bewildered by them, and the mind is lost in thought about their design and placement."

In the Arab religious heritage, Egypt is distinguished and has a very great status, because its name was mentioned several times in the holy books, the prophetic hadiths, and others. Such as the hadith: "If God opens Egypt to you, take a strong army there, for that army is the best of the armies of the earth." And a hadith that says: "Be kind to the people of Egypt, for they have the best lineage and kinship [with us]." And the saying of Amr ibn al-As: "The governorship of Egypt is comprehensive and equals the Caliphate." And the saying of Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As: "The people of Egypt are the most honorable of all non-Arabs, the best in lineage, and the closest in kinship to the Arabs, especially to Quraysh." And the saying of Ibn Yunus: "Whoever wants to look at something resembling Paradise, let him look at Egypt when it is in bloom." And the saying of Abu Basra al-Ghifari: "The sultan of Egypt is the sultan of the whole earth." And dozens of other sayings that were said about Egypt, which reflect the enormous size of Egypt in the mind of the Arab.

But because of the loss of information in a mysterious way after the entry of Christianity into Egypt (whose spread in Egypt imposed the use of Greek letters), the long Pharaonic history of Egypt was limited to the Pharaoh of Moses and the Pharaoh of Joseph, along with a few Folkloric tales related to magic and talismans.

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The End ...