The Founders of the Olympian universe :  

TARTAR : founder of the universe, according to the Greeks.

He was allotted a place beneath hell, (the place where criminals were punished), and was also considered to be a primordial god, who united with Gaia (the Earth) to produce the monsters Typhas and Echidnas!

Typha:

Monster covered with scales and vipers, with the head of a dragon and eyes that threw flames. She gave birth with her sister Echidna to : Cerbere, Cybele, the Hydra of Lerne, the lion of Nemea.

She put to flight the Olympians who hid in the desert of Egypt in the forms... of animals! Zeus, at first defeated, struck her with an enormous mountain that she was throwing in order to crush him.

Echidna:

The viper half snake, half woman. She gave birth to Cybele, the ancient goddess - mother (Phrygienne), that personified the reproductive power of nature. She was worshipped under the name of the Great Mother, or Mother of the gods.

OURANOS (the sky) and GAIA (the Earth)

" OURANOS ": (in Roman URANUS)

Personification of the Sky in the Greek mythology, begotten by Gaia - the Earth; he became the first male element in the genealogy of the hesiodic gods.

OURANOS and his mother Gaïa created by their union :

• The Titans, the Titanideses, Cyclopses, the Hecatonchires. The last of Titans had his testicles cut off by his son Chronos, who threw them into the sea. The blood of Ouranos impregnated Gaia once more, and she gave birth to:
• Monsters, the Erinyeses and nymphs of ash trees.

R H E A  and  C H R O N O S

Cronos :

was united with his sister Rhea, and swallowed his own children Baal and Moloch....! He wanted to swallow

his son Zeus, but Rhea gave him a stone covered in tongues, to make him believe that it was Zeus! When Zeus

grew up, he forced his father to regurgitate his brothers and sisters......

Thus were born: Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter* and Hestia*. To take vengeance Zeus hurled his father into the Tartar.

A STUDY of the Greek and Roman GODS

LIST of the famous offspring of CHRONOS

Demeter  :

the daughter of the fruitful Earth (Ceres to the Romans.) She ensured abundant harvests. This cult with the renewal of the seasons is a metaphor for eternal life.

Troubled by the kidnapping of Core (or Persephone) her daughter with her union with her brother Zeus.) She traveled over the Earth and entered the service of king Eleusis as a nurse. During this time, the Earth became sterile. She refused to reclaim her divine duties until she had obtained from Zeus a compromise with Hades, the ravisher of her daughter.

Core became the queen of the underworld, staying 3 months (of winter) with Hades and 9 month with her mother. Demeter was also united with Iasion and had a blind son "PLOUTOS", the god of wealth who favored both the good and bad; and the messenger Arion (born through her union with Poseidon, the god of the sea).

Hestia:

the oldest daughter of Chronos, the goddess of the home (associated with the virgin Vesta of the Romans), she incarnated civilization, with its social and religious stability.

THE FAVORITE WIVES OF ZEUS AND THEIR CHILDREN :

A.  First wife: HERA (who was also the sister of ZEUS)

She was wicked, bad tempered, jealous and spiteful. She gave Zeus four children : Ares, Hebe, Hephaistos and Ilithie.

Ares:

(Mars to the Romans), the cruel god of war.

Hebe:

the goddess of youth who served up the nectar of the gods before being kidnapped by Ganymede, prince of Troy. (This handsome mortal young man was to be immortalized by Zeus). Later she married Heracles (Hercules).

Hephaestus:

the god of iron and metals. He was so villainous that his mother threw him down from the summit of Mount Olympus at his birth and he remained lame. He was a clever artisan and with the Cyclops, he made the famous lightening beneath the volcanic mountains. On learning of his wife Aphrodite's adultery with Ares, he enclosed them in an invisible net to expose them to the scorn of the other gods.

Eileithyia :

The goddess of childbirth was sometimes used by her mother Hera to achieve revenge.

B.  Second wife of ZEUS : LETO, a daughter of the Titans

gave him twins: ARTEMIS and APOLLO. She was persecuted by jealous Hera, who hounded her until the only place she could find to give birth was a deserted island. After nine days of suffering Eileithyia (the goddess of childbirth) helped her deliver her twins. The Romans named her Latona.

C.  Third wife of Zeus: ALCMENE, a princess of Mycene, a noble mortal

ZEUS appeared before her in the form of her husband Amphitryon. She gave birth to Heracles and drew to herself and her son all the damning vengeance of Hera.

THE FAVORITES OF ZEUS and their children :

Dion :

A daughter of the ocean and through her union with Zeus, she gave birth to Aphrodite, the goddess of love and fertility, who became the Roman goddess Venus.

 

Semele :

The daughter of Cadmos (the brother of Europa) and Harmonie (the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite). She became pregnant with Dionysos through her union with ZEUS. She died in the sixth month of her pregnancy, overcome by the sight of her lover in all his glory. ZEUS rescued the embryo and brought it to full term in his thigh!

Dionysos :

Son of ZEUS and Semele, he was the god of the grapevine (Roman Bacchus). Hera struck him down with madness, then he was purified by Cybele in Phrygia. Aphrodite gave him two sons (Priap and Hymen).

INO :

She was the sister of Semele and the second wife of Athamas. She tried to kill her lovely children Phyxos and Helle, who were saved by their father Athamas who took flight with a goat with fleece of gold.

After becoming the wet nurse of Dionysos, the son of her sister Semele, she drew the vengeance of Hera to her. She became mad and killed her children and husband, then threw herself with the body of her younger son into the sea. She became thus Leucothea: the white goddess.

Europe :

The daughter of Agenor, the king of Phoenicia, ZEUS transformed himself into a white bull, and set her down in Crete. From their union were born the children Minos, Sarpedon and Rhadamanthus.

Minos :

The son of ZEUS and Europa, he civilized Crete. He was elected king of Crete but as his brother disputed the throne, he made Poseidon his arbitrator. Poseidon made a bull rise from the sea to prove that Minos was elected by the gods. However, not wanting to sacrifice the bull to the gods as promised, Poseidon made the bull angry whereupon he seduced Pasiphae, the wife of Minos. Hercules killed the bull, but from the union Pasiphae gave birth to the MINOTAUR, a monster who was half man and half bull. Minos kept him in a labyrinth where he was fed 7 young boys and 7 young girls every nine years. Theseus, (the son of Poseidon) took on the form of Egeus to trick his wife, did six great exploits, then went to kill the monster. Using the thread of Ariadne, (the daughter of Minos) he was able to get out of the labyrinth. Wise and just, he was considered to be one of the three judges in hell.

Pasiphae :

Daughter of the Sun and of Clymene, she married king Minos and bore him : Ariadne, Androgea and Phedre.

Rhadamanthus :

Son of Zeus and Europa, (and brother of Sarpedon and Minos), he was reputed to be very wise, and after his death became one of three "judges of hell" with Minos and Eaque.

Sarpedon :

Son of ZEUS and Europa, brother of Minos and Rhadamanthus , he became king of Lycia and the ally of King Priam.

Eaque :

The Son of ZEUS and Egina (the famous island of marble) was considered to be a hero. At his request, ZEUS changed all the ants on the island of Oenone into men. Pious and just, Plato appointed him one of the three judges of hell.

THE CHILDREN OF HELIOS, the Sun GOD

HELIOS :

The sun god was preceded by Eos (the dawn) and followed by Selene (the moon). He crossed the sky in a chariot of fire.

Clymene :

One of the 3000 Oceanides, the daughters of the ocean, who personified the springs and wells of water, the streams, the sea and the waves. Wife of the Titan Japet, the mother of Altas, Prometheus and Epimetheus. With HELIOS she gave birth to Phaeton and the Heliades.

Phaeton :

Son of HELIOS and the Oceanide Clymene. Having permission from his father to drive his chariot for a day, he took the reins of the celestial horses. Frightened at the sight of the animals of the sign of Zodiac, he lost control of the chariot and started to destroy the mountains. As he was about to collide with the constellations of the sky, ZEUS struck him down to protect the Universe.

Heliades :

Considered to be the 3 or 5 daughters of HELIOS and Clymene, they wept so much over the death of Phaeton that the gods transformed them into poplar trees. Their tears became drops of amber.

Circe :

A magician, daughter of Helios and sister of Pasipha, she transformed the friends of Ulysses into pigs and had a son, Telegone, by him.

Phedre :

Daughter of Pasipha and Minos, she married TESE. Then she fill in love with her son in law, Hippolyte who persisted in rejecting her advances. During this, Tese asked Poseidon to kill Hippolyte. Desperate, Phedre hanged herself!

Ariadne :

Sister of Phedre. She fell in love with Tese when he went to Crete to kill the Minataur and gave him a thread so that he could find his way out of the Labyrinth. Carried off by Tese, he abandoned her on the island of Naxos, where Dionysos, seduced by her beauty, married her.

Androgen :

Brother of Phedre and Ariadne , he was killed by Egeus, King of Athens, who was jealous of his sporting prowess. To avenge his death, ZEUS sent a plague to Athens and Minos. Minos persuaded the Athenians to give 14 young people as food to placate the Minataur!

 

WRITINGS BY THE ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHERS :

This portrait of the origins, the wives and conquest of ZEUS (the king of the gods of Olympus) gives us an idea of the Greek religion, which appears to have scoffed at moral conventions.

But to understand and digest the extracts from Plato's texts which we shall analyze together, we must study the beliefs and mythology which were taught in Greece in the IVth and Vth centuries before Christ.

S O L O N  (born 640 BC, died 558BC).

He was a poet, philosopher and a great citizen of Athens. Elected "Archonte" in 594BC by the citizens, he was given sweeping powers. He prevented a civil war between the Eupatrides, (the aristocracy), and the lower classes, who were threatened by slavery. His great reforms, giving equality and the right to vote to all classes in the Assembly of the people contributed greatly to the development of Athens. Classed among the 7 sages, Plato considered him to be the greatest of the poets of antiquity.

Let us try to summarize the situation in the Middle East at this time. Remember that Egypt was completely dominated by the Assynians, who had come to pillage the fabulous riches of Thebes in 664 BC. But in 612 BC it was the turn of Ninevah to be destroyed by the Babylonians.

In Egypt, Necho II (who ruled at SAIS over the Northern Kingdom) took advantage of this and reconquered Palestine, Syria and the famous city of Karkemish. But in 605BC prince Nebuchadnesor II inflicted a massive defeat on the Egyptians and retook Karkemish. Two months later, Nabopolassar died and his son Nebuchadnesor II succeeded him on the throne of Babylon.

It is very possible that during this time, SOLON the ARCHONT of Athens was in Egypt and especially in the capital Sais.

(Can we for a moment imagine this capital so grand and important as it was then ? Now we can only guess its appropriate location).

Yet the status and qualities of this great man show themselves in that his legacy influenced the writings of PLATO!

S O C R A T E S   (Born 470 BC, died 399BC).

Although, he lived only a short time he had a full life. He was a man of two faces; he was considered by some to be a corrupter of youth and by others as the father of philosophical thought. Condemned by the legal authorities, he felt he had to drink poison (Hemlock.) Anytos, Melitos and Lycon betrayed him. PLATO was his pupil and spent his entire life restoring SOCRATES' good name and banishing Lycon for initiating the process, which had condemned his former Master.

In an extract of the Timaeus, Plato relates the discussion between Cristias and SOCRATES about evidence discovered by Solon from an old priest who had been in authority in Sais and who claimed to be a descendent of the great Imhotep.

P L A T O  (Born 428BC, died 348BC).

A former pupil of SOCRATES, (from 408BC to 399BC), followed his co-disciple Euclid to Megare after the suicide of their Master, where they founded a school of philosophy. After a very eventful voyage to Sicily, PLATO returned to Athens in 38BC to found his own school of Philosophy which Aristotle attended. (Aristotle was to be the Father of Logic and the Prince of philosophers).

Euclid of Megave wrote a "Treatise on truth, unity and the eternity of being". PLATO in his search for mystical ideals wrote :

"All knowledge is a perception of the soul of the realities of life. The superior form of KNOWLEDGE is a visionary approach to the essence of being, the first principle of which is the idea of good..."

Extracts from the TIMAEUS (PLATO) : about the voyage of Solon to Sais

At the time when Sais was the greatest city in the Nile Delta, Solon (our Archont of Athens) went there to question the most learned priests in Egypt about the past. One day, as Solon discussed with this noble assembly the history of the first man known on earth and about the last flood, a wise old priest replied to him and taught Solon in these words :

- " Solon you Greeks are mentally like children Is there not an aged sage among you ? "

Taken back, Solon asked him what he meant by these words.

The priest replied :

- " You all too young in spirit and have no ideas handed down from ancient traditions, no knowledge from ancient times." He explained further :

" Many disasters have befallen humanity and many more will do so, the worst from water and fire, and the least by asteroids and meteorites, which spin around the sky and the earth.

Some of these celestial bodies will change their trajectories, and eventually all who live on earth will be subjected to violent explosions. Those who live on the mountains will perish. Also, when the gods purify the Earth and flood it, those who live near the rivers and streams will be carried by the water to the sea.

Every time you (Greeks) or other nations start to write and gather together the first rudiments of civilization, the furies of the sky crash down on you. The only ones who escape are the illiterate and the ignorant. So you must relearn everything whilst forgetting your past completely !

For the soul, observe how "Natural Law" has taken care of everything since the beginning of the world. It reveals to us everything through intuition, the art of medicine, religious knowledge (which teaches human beings about eternal life), and all the sciences, which follow from these."

"The great (mother) goddess chose the place of your birth, knowing that there would be a propitious place to engender a race of men in her image........ in just the same way as the sons and students of the gods..."

(Critias p.108 109.) "My dear Hermocrates, I want to point out to you 9,000 years have passed since the war broke out on both sides of the columns of Hercules... (the Atlantean civil war)

Knowing now that the deluge took place in the year 8,975BC, one wonders if there was a link between that war and the consequences of the deluge?

(Critias continues) " I have earnestly studied in my youth the manuscripts (of the discourse of Solon). They were handed down by my grandfather and are now in my possession. In the past the gods separated the earth into different parts for which they drew lots. Poseidon received the Island of Atlantis and placed his children there (whom he had with a mortal called Leucipe(!) whose parents had just died. Poseidon had fallen in love with the young women and she bore five generations each of who had a twin brother!

The first born was Atlas and was named King of the Island of Atlantis and gave his name to the Ocean which surrounded it. The second born was given the end of the Island towards the Columns of Hercules, across from the region now called CADES " (!)

 

Was this the town of Cades in Sinai or an ancient town of the same name? Why do we still call the Straits Of Gibraltar" "The Columns of Hercules", and why are the two mountain chains that separate Marocco from Sahara still called the Middle and High Atlas Mountains?

Poseidon named the second twin Eumelos which means Gadiros. The second twins Poseidon named Ampheres and Evaimon. The third pair were Mneseas and Autochtonos. The fourth pair was Elasippos and his twin Mestor. The fifth pair was Azaes and Diaprepres.

 

As with the descendent of Noah, will these names one-day call to mind towns or islands or lands long since gone ?

All were lords of several islands in the sea but they ruled also the area inside the Columns of Hercules, that is the lands from Egypt to Tyrrenia/ (Erutria /Italy)... (almost all the Mediterranean basin.)

 

Then PLATO describes the main island with the palace of Poseidon, the athletics fields; the many temples dedicated to the gods, the great ports and the arsenals full of ships.

Every 6 years the ten kings got together to jointly administer justice, then they released a bull into an arena where the kings must catch and butcher him, using only a sword and nets.

Each king had his own special talent and each had to help the others if enemies threatened (?) Despite their wealth, they were virtuous men, living modestly and without materialistic things of life. However, one day the divine element within them dwindled, due to their union with mortals and the human element flourished...

So ZEUS, the god of all gods, judged the kings who had been so pure and chastised them to punish them and lead them to reflect...

- - - - - - - - - - -  

It is difficult to sort out the evidence, which has come down to us over thousands of years (particularly from Greece!) and all from different viewpoints. Many scholars have done research into the Old Kingdom of Athens, some seeing the center in Crete, (J.V. Luce), in Nigeria (Leo Frobenius), or simply as beneath the Mediterranean or the Atlantic Ocean.

Crete and the Canary Islands are ancient volcanic islands and when one considers that the ice-field covered Europe as far as Provence, it is highly probable that an ancient civilization developed in the Mediterranean basin. We know only that PLATO'S descriptions are confusing (he expresses himself often in "stades" - a Greek unit of measurement of about 600 feet)  instead of in "thousands of miles" (a mile=1609m), which are the real measure of continents.

The real problem is therefore not where Atlantis was located, or at such and such a time (with its survivors), but we want to know where their knowledge came from and how they transmitted it to future generations.

Unlike many "lost" civilizations, the first inhabitants of the Kingdom of Atlantis were a very peaceful and civilized people. According to PLATO, there existed complete agreement among the 10 kings who governed ALL the Mediterranean basin, and perhaps part of central Africa, where they practiced circumcision and even excision on children at puberty. It is truly a shame that Plato's version is "exaggeratedly Hellenistic" to please his contemporaries...

Did the wicked inhabitants of Atlantis exile their good brothers to the mountains? As "the fruit does not fall far from the tree", we should not be surprised to find (not far from Egypt) a base which had served the ancient Atlanteans, who since the first official dynasty had stated to infiltrate the spirit of the Egyptians (around 3,000BC, when the funeral mastabas appeared.) This was considerably enhanced with the nomination of Imhotep as Vizier and chief architect making him responsible for directing the new religion and the work on the first great step pyramid of King Djeser.

From then on, Egypt was covered with temples, whose monumental columns spoke for themselves, showing the greatness of their faith, together with the insignificance of man.

Paradoxically, in Greece a philosophy was developing which, far from searching for the spirit of idealism, exalted artful wit, jealousy and infidelity. It is quite probable that Solon received from the old priest of Sais much more information about the history of Atlantis but most of the people who read it found it incomprehensible or incompatible with their own ideas.

We must go to the apostle Paul to understand how much the Greeks were blinded by their materialistic existence and attitudes. In his first letter, Paul reproached the Corinthian Christians for their materialism and lack of unity :

(from the New English Bible)
"You say - I am Paul's man or am for Appollos; I follow Cephus or I am for Christ."

This doctrine of the cross is sheer folly to those on their way to ruin, but to us who are on the way to salvation it is the power of God. To shame the wise, God has chosen what the world counts folly; and to shame what is strong, God has chosen what the world counts weakness. I speak of God's hidden wisdom, his secret purpose framed from the very beginning to bring us to our full glory.

 

A man who is unspiritual refuses to see what belongs to the Spirit of God; it is folly to him. The spiritual man can judge the worth of everything spiritually... if someone among you thinks he is wise, let him become foolish in order to become wise!

 

In Acts 17-32 with the Athenians :When they heard about the raising of the dead, some scoffed, and others said :

- "We will hear you on this subject some other time."

Solon must have encountered the same problems when he returned to Athens and spoke of the pyramids, and of the temples to Osiris; of the perfect, invisible God who judges the actions of their lives when they died. So we should not be surprised if the speeches and the manuscripts remained hidden at the bottom of chests belonging to some of his closest friends.

This is the difference between the Greeks and the Egyptians.

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