Thursday, September 30, 2010

Supervolcano Catastrophe Wiped Out Neanderthals



"And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;" -- Revelation 6:12

"The cold and the silence. The ashes of the late world carried on the bleak and temporal winds to and fro in the void. Carried forth and scattered and carried forth again. Everything uncoupled from its shoring. Unsupported in the ashen air. Sustained by a breath, trembling and brief. If only my heart were stone." -- Cormac McCarthy, author, The Road, 2006

"By day the banished sun circles the earth like a grieving mother with a lamp." -- Cormac McCarthy, author, The Road, 2006

Physorg: Volcanoes wiped Neanderthals out, research suggests.
New research suggests that climate change following massive volcanic eruptions drove Neanderthals to extinction and cleared the way for modern humans to thrive in Europe and Asia.

The research, led by Liubov Vitaliena Golovanova and Vladimir Borisovich Doronichev of the ANO Laboratory of Prehistory in St. Petersburg, Russia, is reported in the October issue of Current Anthropology.

“[W]e offer the hypothesis that the Neanderthal demise occurred abruptly (on a geological time-scale) … after the most powerful volcanic activity in western Eurasia during the period of Neanderthal evolutionary history,” the researchers write. “[T]his catastrophe not only drastically destroyed the ecological niches of Neanderthal populations but also caused their mass physical depopulation.”

Evidence for the catastrophe comes from Mezmaiskaya cave in the Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia, a site rich in Neanderthal bones and artifacts. Recent excavations of the cave revealed two distinct layers of volcanic ash that coincide with large-scale volcanic events that occurred around 40,000 years ago, the researchers say.

Geological layers containing the ashes also hold evidence of an abrupt and potentially devastating climate change. Sediment samples from the two layers reveal greatly reduced pollen concentrations compared to surrounding layers. That’s an indication of a dramatic shift to a cooler and dryer climate, the researchers say. Further, the second of the two eruptions seems to mark the end of Neanderthal presence at Mezmaiskaya. Numerous Neanderthal bones, stone tools, and the bones of prey animals have been found in the geological layers below the second ash deposit, but none are found above it.

The ash layers correspond chronologically to what is known as the Campanian Ignimbrite super-eruption which occurred around 40,000 years ago in modern day Italy, and a smaller eruption thought to have occurred around the same time in the Caucasus Mountains. The researchers argue that these eruptions caused a “volcanic winter” as ash clouds obscured the sun’s rays, possibly for years. The climatic shift devastated the region’s ecosystems, “possibly resulting in the mass death of hominins and prey animals and the severe alteration of foraging zones
.”

Astrophysicist Mazlan Othman Named U.N.'s Alien Ambassador



"... ye are of this world; I am not of this world." -- Jesus Christ, extraterrestrial, John 8:23

"For all I know we may be visited by a different extraterrestrial civilization every second Tuesday...." -- Carl E. Sagan, professor, 1990

We now have an ambassador to Gliese 581 etc.

Wired: Astrophysicist to be named UN’s alien ambassador.
If an alien ever says “take me to your leader”, where would you take them?

Pretty soon the answer will be a Malaysian astrophysicist named Mazlan Othman, who's expected to be appointed as the United Nation’s space ambassador for extraterrestrial contact affairs. That gives her the right to make the first official response to any travelling aliens.

Othman was Malaysia’s first astrophysicist, became the head of the country’s national planetarium (Negara) and launched the first Malaysian astronaut, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, to the International Space Station in October 2007.

Now, Othman is the director of the UN’s Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA); a branch of the General Assembly, established in 1962. The office is responsible for promoting international co-operation and peace in dealing with outer space, and includes topics such as satellite navigation and space debris.

If approved, her latest role would place her as the go-to contact in the event of aliens making contact with earth. She’s got to pitch her new job title at a scientific conference at the Royal Society’s Kavli conference centre in Buckinghamshire next week, then if the idea is backed by the UN scientific advisory committees, it’ll be passed to General Assembly.

Othman recently gave a talk to fellow scientists, where she said that the continued search sustains the hope that “some day humankind will receive signals from extraterrestrials. When we do, we should have in place a coordinated response that takes into account all the sensitivities related to the subject”.

Stephen Hawking suggested earlier this year that aliens almost certainly exist, but cautioned humanity against making contact. He warned that extraterrestrial nomads could be “looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach.”
UPDATE: Mazlan: It is cool, but I’m no ET spokesman.
PETALING JAYA: The rumoured appointment of the first earthling spokesman to visiting extra-terresterial life forms last week is a hoax, said National Space Agency Malaysia director-general Dr Mustafa Din Subari.

He said United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (Unoosa) head Datuk Mazlan Othman, who was rumoured to be the spokesman, had confirmed to him in an e-mail yesterday that there was no such appointment. ...

Mazlan could not be contacted at her Vienna office yesterday.
This has abduction written all over it...LOL.
Dr Mustafa, however, said that if any such appointment was to have been made, Mazlan would have been the best candidate for the job.

“You do not want a spokesman from just anywhere. Mazlan is in the highest position of outer space affairs.

“Coupled with her credentials as an astrophysicist, she would be the most appropriate candidate to take up such a role,” Dr Mustafa said of his predecessor, whose position he took over in 1999 after Mazlan left to assume her role in Unoosa.
Sounds like a covert appointment...LOL.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Exoplanet May Be Habitable



"... the host of heaven cannot be numbered...." -- Jeremiah 33:22

"In my Father's house [heaven] are many mansions [planets]: if it were not so, I would have told you." -- Jesus Christ, extraterrestrial, John 14:2

"Democritus, Epicurus, and their scholar Metrodorus affirm that there are infinite worlds in an infinite space ...." -- Plutarch, historian, 1st century

"Alexander wept when he heard from Anaxarchus that there was an infinite number of worlds; and his friends asking him if any accident had befallen him, he returns this answer: 'Do you not think it a matter worthy of lamentation that when there is such a vast multitude of them, we have not yet conquered one?'" -- Plutarch, historian, 1st century

"... there are more worlds, and on them more creatures of beauty to be found." -- Immanuel Kant, natural philosopher, 1764

Science Daily: Newly Discovered Planet May Be First Truly Habitable Exoplanet.
ScienceDaily (Sep. 29, 2010) — A team of planet hunters led by astronomers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the Carnegie Institution of Washington has announced the discovery of an Earth-sized planet (three times the mass of Earth) orbiting a nearby star at a distance that places it squarely in the middle of the star's "habitable zone," where liquid water could exist on the planet's surface. If confirmed, this would be the most Earth-like exoplanet yet discovered and the first strong case for a potentially habitable one.

To astronomers, a "potentially habitable" planet is one that could sustain life, not necessarily one that humans would consider a nice place to live. Habitability depends on many factors, but liquid water and an atmosphere are among the most important.

"Our findings offer a very compelling case for a potentially habitable planet," said Steven Vogt, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz. "The fact that we were able to detect this planet so quickly and so nearby tells us that planets like this must be really common."

The findings are based on 11 years of observations at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. "Advanced techniques combined with old-fashioned ground-based telescopes continue to lead the exoplanet revolution," said Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution. "Our ability to find potentially habitable worlds is now limited only by our telescope time."

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

The Phoenician Jews



"According to the Persians best informed in history, the Phoenicians began to quarrel. This people, who had formerly dwelt on the shores of the Erythraean Sea, having migrated [Exodus] to the Mediterranean and settled in the parts which they now inhabit, began at once, they say, to adventure on long voyages, freighting their vessels with the wares of Egypt and Assyria. They landed at many places on the coast, and among the rest at Argos, which was then preeminent above all the states included now under the common name of Hellas. Here they exposed their merchandise, and traded with the natives ...." -- Herodotus, historian, The History, Book I, 440 B.C.

"... Cadmus brought letters out of Phoenicia, and was the first who taught the Grecians how to pronounce them, and gave them their several names, and formed their distinct characters: hence these letters are generally called Phoenician letters, because they were brought over out of Phoenicia into Greece: but they were afterwards called Pelasgian characters, because the Pelasgians were the first that understood them after they were brought over." -- Diodorus Siculus, historian, The Library of History, 1st century B.C.

"And therefore it is believed, that, many ages after, Cadmus the son of Agenor brought the knowledge of letters out of Phoenicia first into Greece;" -- Diodorus Siculus, historian, The Library of History, 1st century B.C.

"But there are some who attribute the invention of letters to the Syrians [aka Jews], from whom the Phoenicans learned them, and communicated them to the Grecians when they came with Cadmus into Europe: whence the Grecians called them Phoenician letters. To these that hold this opinion, it is answered, that the Phoenicans were not the first that found out letters, but only changed the form and shape of them into other characters, which many afterwards using, the name of Phoenician grew to be common." -- Diodorus Siculus, historian, The Library of History, 1st century B.C.

"But Eupolemus says that the first wise man was Moses, and that he was the first to teach the Jews letters, and from the Jews the Phoenicians received them, and from the Phoenicians the Greeks, and that Moses was the first to give written laws to the Jews." -- Lucius C. Alexander Polyhistor, historian, Concerning the Jews, Quoted In Eusebius Preparations for the Gospel Book IX Chapter XXVI, 1st century B.C.

Also see here.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Prophesy With Harps



"And his [Jabal's] brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ." -- Genesis 4:21

"Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel." -- Deuteronomy 31:19

"Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel." -- Deuteronomy 31:22

"And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended." -- Deuteronomy 31:30

"My doctrine shall drop as the rain ... Because I will publish the name of the LORD:" -- Moses, Deuteronomy 32:2-3

"Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee." -- Deuteronomy 32:7

"... I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith." -- Deuteronomy 32:20

"Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps." -- Deuteronomy 32:33

"And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun." -- Deuteronomy 32:44

"After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where [is] the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy:" -- 1 Samuel 10:5

"Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well." -- 1 Samuel 16:16

"And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands." -- Isaiah 5:12

"Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings." -- Psalm 33:2

"I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp." -- Psalm 49:4

"Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm." -- Psalm 98:5

"We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof." -- Psalm 137:2

"And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets." -- 1 Chronicles 13:8

"... who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals: ...." -- 1 Chronicles 25:1

"... Jeduthun, who prophesied with a harp, to give thanks and to praise the LORD." -- 1 Chronicles 25:3

"All these were under the hands of their father for song in the house of the LORD, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, for the service of the house of God...." -- 1 Chronicles 25:6

"And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints." -- Revelation 5:8

"And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God." -- Revelation 15:2

"A herald placed a gorgeous cithara into the hands
of Phemius, who sang, under duress, for the suitors.
Playing the lyre, he began to sing beautifully," -- Homer, poet, Odyssey, Book I:153-155, 8th century B.C.

"The far-famed singer sang to them, and they sat
listening in silence. He sang of the Achaeans'
sad return from Troy ...." -- Homer, poet, Odyssey, Book I:325-327, 8th century B.C.

"A herald hung Demodocus' clear-toned lyre on a peg." -- Homer, poet, Odyssey, Book VIII:105, 8th century B.C.

"Musaeus, too, thy holy citizen, of all men most advanced in lore...." -- Euripides, playwright, Rhesus, 450 B.C.

"They [the Pisistratidae] had come up to Sardis with Onomacritus, an Athenian diviner who had set in order the oracles of Musaeus. They had reconciled their previous hostility with him; Onomacritus had been banished from Athens by Pisistratus' son Hipparchus, when he was caught by Lasus of Hermione in the act of interpolating into the writings of Musaeus an oracle showing that the islands off Lemnos would disappear into the sea." -- Herodotus, historian, The History, VII:6, 440 B.C.

"And from these first rings, which are the poets, depend others, some deriving their inspiration from Orpheus, others from Musaeus; but the greater number are possessed and held by Homer." -- Plato, philosopher, Ion, 380 B.C.

"... some, of hierophants and prophets, as Orpheus and Musaeus...." -- Plato, philosopher, Protagoras, 380 B.C.

"All men agree that music is one of the pleasantest things, whether with or without songs; as Musaeus says: 'Song to mortals of all things the sweetest.' Hence and with good reason it is introduced into social gatherings and entertainments, because it makes the hearts of men glad: so that on this ground alone we may assume that the young ought to be trained in it." -- Aristotle, philosopher, Politics, Book VIII, 350 B.C.

"Among them they have poets that sing melodious songs, whom they call bards, who to their musical instruments like unto harps, chant forth the praises of some, and the dispraises of others." -- Diodorus Siculus, historian, The Library of History, 1st century B.C.

"...by the Greeks he was called, when grown to manhood, Musaeus. And this Moses, they said, was the teacher of Orpheus;" -- Lucius C. Alexander Polyhistor, historian, Concerning the Jews, Quoted in Eusebius Preparations for the Gospel Book IX Chapter XXVII, 1st century B.C.

"In the early times the soothsayers also practised music." -- Strabo, geographer, Geography, Book VII, Fragment 19, 7

"Of all these, by far the oldest is the Jewish race; and that their philosophy committed to writing has the precedence of philosophy among the Greeks, the Pythagorean Philo shows at large; and, besides him, Aristobulus the Peripatetic, and several others, not to waste time, in going over them by name. Very clearly the author Megasthenes, the contemporary of Seleucus Nicanor, writes as follows in the third of his books, On Indian Affairs: 'All that was said about nature by the ancients is said also by those who philosophise beyond Greece: some things by the Brahmins among the Indians, and others by those called Jews in Syria.'" -- Clement of Alexandria, theologian, Stromata, Book I, Chapter XV, 2nd century

"And Orpheus, who sailed with Hercules, was the pupil of Musaeus." -- Clement of Alexandria, theologian, Stromata, Book I, Chapter XXI, 2nd century

"And Numenius, the Pythagorean philosopher, expressly writes: 'For what is Plato, but Moses speaking in Attic Greek?'" -- Clement of Alexandria, theologian, Stromata, Book I, Chapter XXII, 2nd century

"And next in order came Jannes and Jambres, Egyptian sacred scribes, men judged to have no superiors in the practice of magic, at the time when the Jews were being driven out of Egypt. So then these were the men chosen by the people of Egypt as fit to stand beside Musaeus, who led forth the Jews, a man who was most powerful in prayer to God; and of the plagues which Musaeus brought upon Egypt, these men showed themselves able to disperse the most violent." -- Numenius, philosopher, On the Good, Book III, Quoted in Eusebius Book IX Chapter VIII, 2nd century

"I have read verse in which Musaeus receives from the North Wind the gift of flight, but, in my opinion, Onomacritus wrote them ...." -- Pausanias, geographer, Description of Greece, Book I: Attica, 2nd century

"This is a hill right opposite the Acropolis within the old city boundaries, where legend says Musaeus used to sing, and, dying of old age, was buried. Afterwards a monument also was erected here to a Syrian [a Jew aka Moses]." -- Pausanias, geographer, Description of Greece, Book I: Attica, 2nd century

"And challenging a comparison of book with book, I would say, 'Come now, good sir, take down the poems of Linus, and of Musaeus, and of Orpheus, and the writings of Pherecydes, and carefully compare these with the laws of Moses -- histories with histories, and ethical discourses with laws and commandments....'" -- Origen, theologian, Against Celsus, Chapter XVIII, 248

"It is said, moreover, that Hermippus has recorded in his first book, On Lawgivers, that it was from the Jewish people that Pythagoras derived the philosophy which he introduced among the Greeks." -- Origen, theologian, Against Celsus, Chapter XIV, 248

"Before the invention of letters, poetry seems to have been the means by which knowledge of almost every kind was communicated...." -- Wilkins Tannehill, historian, Sketches of the History of Literature, 1827

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Orpheus In Antarctica



"First then let us name Orpheus whom once Calliope bare, it is said, wedded to Thracian Oeagrus, near the Pimpleian height. Men say that he by the music of his songs charmed the stubborn rocks upon the mountains and the course of rivers. And the wild oak-trees to this day, tokens of that magic strain, that grow at Zone on the Thracian shore, stand in ordered ranks close together, the same which under the charm of his lyre he led down from Pieria. Such then was Orpheus whom Aeson's son [Jason] welcomed to share his toils, in obedience to the behest of Cheiron, Orpheus ruler of Bistonian Pieria." -- Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 3rd century B.C.

"He [Jason] spake, and mounted the ship first of all; and so the rest of the chiefs followed, and, sitting in order, seized the oars; and Argus loosed for them the hawsers from under the sea-beaten rock. Whereupon they mightily smote the water with their long oars, and in the evening by the injunctions of Orpheus they touched at the island of Electra, daughter of Atlas, in order that by gentle initiation they might learn the rites that may not be uttered, and so with greater safety sail over the chilling sea. Of these I will make no further mention; but I bid farewell to the island itself and the indwelling deities, to whom belong those mysteries, which it is not lawful for me to sing." -- Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 3rd century B.C.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Peer-Review Process Fails Again



The mainstream orthodox scientific establishment, aka the Cult of Consensus, has failed again. This time by publishing work with unrepeatable results. Why are peer-reviewers publishing papers that make claims that are unrepeatable? The answer: because science is a religion.

New York Times: Nobel Laureate Retracts Two Papers Unrelated to Her Prize.

Linda B. Buck, who shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for deciphering the workings of the sense of smell, has retracted two scientific papers after she and her colleagues were unable to repeat the findings.

The retractions, which did not concern the work for which Dr. Buck won the Nobel, were published Thursday on the Web sites of the journals where the papers appeared. One had been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2005, the other in the journal Science in 2006.

“I sincerely apologize for any confusion that its publication may have caused,” Dr. Buck wrote in the retraction of the Science paper.

The retractions follow a separate one, two years ago, of a paper by Dr. Buck that was published in the journal Nature in 2001.

Friday, September 24, 2010

The Tomb of Orpheus



"Akamas led the men of Thrace with the fighter Peiroös,
all the Thracians held within the hard stream of the Hellespont.
Euphemos was leader of the Kikonian spearmen,
son of Troizenos, Keas' son, the king whom the gods loved.
Pyraichmes in turn led the Paionians with their curved bows,
from Amydon far away and the broad stream of Axios,
Axios, whose stream on all earth is the loveliest water." -- Homer, poet, Iliad, Book II:844-850, 8th century B.C.

"Orpheus of the intricate music, son of Calliope." -- Terpander, poet, Fragment 15, 7th century B.C.

"The son of Oeagrus, Orpheus of the golden sword." -- Pindar, poet, Fragment 139, 5th century B.C.

"The very converse, thine, of Orpheus' tongue:
He roused and led in ecstasy of joy
All things that heard his voice melodious;" -- Aeschylus, playwright, Agamemnon, 458 B.C.

"And yet we sister Muses do special honour to thy city, thy land we chiefly haunt; yea, and Orpheus, own cousin of the dead whom thou hast slain, did for thee unfold those dark mysteries with their torch processions." -- Euripides, playwright, Rhesus, 450 B.C.

"Ah! If I had the tongue and song of Orpheus so that I might charm Demeter's Daughter or her Lord, and snatch you back from Hades, would go down to hell; and neither Pluto's dog nor Charon, Leader of the Dead, should hinder me until I had brought your life back to the light!" -- Euripides, playwright, Alcestis, 438 B.C.

"Give me no gold within my halls, nor skill to sing a fairer strain than ever Orpheus sang, unless there-with my fame be spread abroad!" -- Euripides, playwright, Medea, 431 B.C.

"... take Orpheus for thy chief and go a-revelling, with all honour for the vapourings of many a written scroll ...." -- Euripides, playwright, Hippolytus, 428 B.C.

"... or haply in the thick forest depths of Olympus, where erst Orpheus with his lute gathered trees to his minstrelsy, and beasts that range the fields. Ah blest Pieria [Dion]! Evius [Dionysus] honours thee, to thee will he come with his Bacchic rites to lead the dance, and thither will he lead the circling Maenads, crossing the swift current of Axius and the Lydias, that giveth wealth and happiness to man, yea, and the father of rivers, which, as I have heard, enriches with his waters fair a land of steeds." -- Euripides, playwright, The Bacchae, 410 B.C.

"Well, but I know a spell of Orpheus, a most excellent one, to make the brand enter his skull of its own accord, and set alight the one-eyed son of Earth." -- Euripides, playwright, The Cyclops, 408 B.C.

"And from these first rings, which are the poets, depend others, some deriving their inspiration from Orpheus, others from Musaeus; but the greater number are possessed and held by Homer." -- Plato, philosopher, Ion, 380 B.C.

"... some, of hierophants and prophets, as Orpheus and Musaeus...." -- Plato, philosopher, Protagoras, 380 B.C.

"But Orpheus, the son of Oeagrus, the harper, they sent empty away, and presented to him an apparition only of her whom he sought, but herself they would not give up, because he showed no spirit; he was only a harp-player, and did not-dare like Alcestis to die for love, but was contriving how he might enter hades alive; moreover, they afterwards caused him to suffer death at the hands of women, as the punishment of his cowardliness." -- Plato, philosopher, Symposium, ~370-360 B.C.

"Why, yes, my friend; and if things had always continued as they are at present ordered, how could any discovery have ever been made even in the least particular? For it is evident that the arts were unknown during ten thousand times ten thousand years. And no more than a thousand or two thousand years have elapsed since the discoveries of Daedalus, Orpheus and Palamedes-since Marsyas and Olympus invented music, and Amphion the lyre-not to speak of numberless other inventions which are but of yesterday." -- Plato, philosopher, Laws, Book III, 360 B.C.

"For some say that the body is the grave (sema) of the soul which may be thought to be buried in our present life; or again the index of the soul, because the soul gives indications to (semainei) the body; probably the Orphic poets were the inventors of the name, and they were under the impression that the soul is suffering the punishment of sin, and that the body is an enclosure or prison in which the soul is incarcerated, kept safe (soma, sozetai), as the name ooma implies, until the penalty is paid; according to this view, not even a letter of the word need be changed." -- Plato, philosopher, Cratylus, 360 B.C.

"What would not a man give if he might converse with Orpheus and Musaeus and Hesiod and Homer? Nay, if this be true, let me die again and again." -- Plato, philosopher, Apology, 360 B.C.

"A tragedy, then, to be perfect according to the rules of art should be of this construction. Hence they are in error who censure Euripides just because he follows this principle in his plays, many of which end unhappily. It is, as we have said, the right ending. The best proof is that on the stage and in dramatic competition, such plays, if well worked out, are the most tragic in effect; and Euripides, faulty though he may be in the general management of his subject, yet is felt to be the most tragic of the poets." -- Aristotle, Poetics, Book II, Chapter XIII, 350 B.C.

"...the earth Demetra, which as antiently called Gen Metera, or the mother earth, as Orpheus attests...." -- Diodorus Siculus, historian, The Library of History, 1st century B.C.

"For they say that Orpheus, after he came into Egypt, was initiated into the sacred mysteries of Bacchus or Dionysius, and being a special friend to the Thebans in Boeotia, and of great esteem among them, to manifest his gratitude, transferred the birth of Bacchus or Osiris over into Greece." -- Diodorus Siculus, historian, The Library of History, 1st century B.C.

"In after-times, Orpheus, by reason of his excellent art and skill in music, and his knowledge in theology, and institution of sacred rites and sacrifices to the gods, was greatly esteemed among the Grecians, and especially was received and entertained by the Thebans, and by them highly honoured above all others; who being excellently learned in the Egyptian theology, brought down the birth of the ancient Osiris, to a far later time ...." -- Diodorus Siculus, historian, The Library of History, 1st century B.C.

"For many of the ancient customs of the Egyptians that are most to be admired were not only allowed by the natural inhabitants, but were greatly admired by the Grecians, so that every learned man earnestly coveted to travel into Egypt to learn the knowledge of their laws and customs, as things of great weight and moment: and though the country antiently forbade all reception of strangers, (for the reasons before alleged), yet some of the antients, as Orpheus and Homer, and many of later times, as Pythagoras the Samian, and Solon the lawgiver, ventured to travel hither. And therefore the Egyptians affirm that letters, astronomy, geometry, and many other arts were first found out by them...." -- Diodorus Siculus, historian, The Library of History, 1st century B.C.

"Having now given an account of these things, it remains we should declare how many wise and learned men among the Grecians journeyed into Egypt in ancient times, to understand the laws and sciences of the country. For the Egyptian priests, out of their sacred records relate, that Orpheus, Musaeus, Melampodes, Daedalus, Homer the poet, Lycurgus the Spartan, Solon the Athenian, Plato the philosopher, Pythagoras the Samian, Eudoxus the mathematician, Democritus the Abderite, and Oenopides the Chian, all came to them in Egypt, and they show certain marks and signs of all these being there. Of some, by their pictures; and of others, by the names of places, or pieces of work that have been called after their names." -- Diodorus Siculus, historian, The Library of History, 1st century B.C.

"For it is certain that by Ceres the antient poets and other fabulous authors meant the mother earth: and agreeable hereunto are those things that are delivered in the verses of Orpheus, and which are exhibited in the celebration of the sacred mysteries, which it is not lawful for any ordinary person particularly to speak of." -- Diodorus Siculus, historian, The Library of History, 1st century B.C.

"Oeagrus the son of Tharops, succeded his father in the kingdom, being instructed by him in the same mysterious rites and ceremonies. Oeagrus afterwards taught them Orpheus his son, who being eminent for his learning and ingenuity, changed many things in the Orgia. Hence those rites and mysteries first instituted by Bacchus were afterwrds called Orphea." -- Diodorus Siculus, historian, The Library of History, 1st century B.C.

"He [Dionysius] says that Linus was the first that invented rhimes and music in Greece: and that Cadmus brought letters out of Phoenicia, and was the first who taught the Grecians how to pronounce them, and gave them their several names, and formed their distinct characters: hence these letters are generally called Phoenician letters, because they were brought over out of Phoenicia into Greece: but they were afterwards called Pelasgian characters, because the Pelasgians were the first that understood them after they were brought over. He says that this Linus, being an excellent poet and musician, had many scholars, amongst whom there were three that were the most famous, Hercules, Themyris, and Orpheus. Hercules learnt to play upon the harp, but was very dull and unapt to learn, insomuch, that he was sometimes boxed and beaten, at which he was at length so enraged, that he killed his master by a blow with his harp." -- Diodorus Siculus, historian, The Library of History, 1st century B.C.

"Of Orpheus, the last of his [Linus's] scholars, we shall speak more particularly when we come to what concerns him. This Linus (they say) wrote in Pelasgians letters, the acts of the first Bacchus, and left other stories in his writings behind him. Orpheus, likewise, it is said, used the same characters, and Pronapides, Homer's master, an ingenious musician." -- Diodorus Siculus, historian, The Library of History, 1st century B.C.

"And because we have now occasion to mention Orpheus, we conceive it will not be amiss here to give a short account of him. He was the son of Oeagrus, and by birth a Thracian, for in the art of music and poetry far excelling all that were ever recorded. ... and being naturally studious, he attained to an extraordinary degree of knowledge in the antient theology. He improved himself, likewise, very much by travelling into Egypt, so that he was accounted to excel the most accomplished person among all the Grecians for his knowledge both in divinity and sacred mysteries, in music, and in poetry." -- Diodorus Siculus, historian, The Library of History, 1st century B.C.

"Some affirm, and amongst those Euphorus, that the Idaei Dactyli had their origin from mount Ida in Phrygia, and passed over with Minos into Europe; and that they were conjurors, and gave themselves to enchantments, and sacred rites and mysteries; and abiding in Samothracia, greatly amused and astonished people of the island: at which time it is said, Orpheus (who was naturally of a prompt wit to music and poetry) was their scholar, and the first that brought over the rites and ceremonies of their mysteries into Greece." -- Diodorus Siculus, historian, The Library of History, 1st century B.C.

"Hercules was taught to drive a chariot by Amphitryon, to wrestle by Autolycus, to shoot with the bow by Eurytus, to fence by Castor, and to play the lyre by Linus. This Linus was a brother of Orpheus; he came to Thebes and became a Theban, but was killed by Hercules with a blow of the lyre; for being struck by him, Hercules flew into a rage and slew him. When he was tried for murder, Hercules quoted a law of Rhadamanthys, who laid it down that whoever defends himself against a wrongful aggressor shall go free, and so he was acquitted." -- Pseudo-Apollodorus, historian, Library, 1st century B.C.

"Now Calliope bore to Oeagrus or, nominally, to Apollo, a son Linus, whom Hercules slew; and another son, Orpheus, who practised minstrelsy and by his songs moved stones and trees. And when his wife Eurydice died, bitten by a snake, he went down to Hades, being fain to bring her up, and he persuaded Pluto to send her up. The god promised to do so, if on the way Orpheus would not turn round until he should be come to his own house. But he disobeyed and turning round beheld his wife; so she turned back. Orpheus also invented the mysteries of Dionysus, and having been torn in pieces by the Maenads he is buried in Pieria [Dion]." -- Pseudo-Apollodorus, historian, Library, 1st century B.C.

"Orpheus, son of Oeagrus and the Muse Calliope, Thracian, from the city which is on Mount Olympus near the river Enipeus, prophet, player on the lyre." -- Gaius J. Hyginus, author, Fables, 1st century B.C.-1st century

"The Lyre was put among the constellations for the following reason, as Eratosthenes says. Made at first by Mercury from a tortoise shell, it was given to Orpheus, son of Calliope and Oeagrus, who was passionately devoted to music. It is thought that by his skill he could charm even wild beasts to listen. When, grieving for his wife Eurydice, he descended to the Lower World, he praised the children of the gods in his song, all except Father Liber; him he overlooked and forgot, as Oeneus did Diana in sacrifice. Afterwards, then, when Orpheus was taking delight in song, seated, as many say, on Mt. Olympus, which separates Macedonia from Thrace, or on Pangaeum, as Eratosthenes says, Liber is said to have roused the Bacchanals against him. They slew him and dismembered his body. But others say that this happened because he had looked on the rites of Liber. The Muses gathered the scattered limbs and gave them burial, and as the greatest favour they could confer, they put as a memorial his lyre, pictured with stars, among the constellations. Apollo and Jove consented, for Orpheus had praised Apollo highly, and Jupiter granted this favour to his daughter. Others say that when Mercury first made the lyre on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia, he made it with seven strings to correspond to the number of Atlantides, since Maia, his mother, was of their company. Later, when he had driven away the cattle of Apollo and had been caught in the act, to win pardon more easily, at Apollo’s request he gave him permission to claim the invention of the lyre, and received from him a certain staff as reward. When Mercury, holding it in his hand, was journeying to Arcadia and saw two snakes with bodies intertwined, apparently fighting, he put down the staff between them. They separated then, and so he said that the staff had been appointed to bring peace. Some, in making caducei, put two snakes intertwined on the rod, because this seemed to Mercury a bringer of peace. Following his example, they use the staff in athletic contests and other contests of this kind. But to return to the subject at hand. Apollo took the lyre, and is said to have taught Orpheus on it, and after he himself had invented the cithara, he gave the lyre to Orpheus." -- Gaius J. Hyginus, author, Astronomica, 1st century B.C.-1st century

"The city Dium, in the foot-hills of Olympus, is not on the shore of the Thermaean Gulf, but is at a distance of as much as seven stadia from it. And the city Dium has a village near by, Pimpleia, where Orpheus lived." -- Strabo, geographer, Geography, Book VII, Fragment 17, 7

"At the base of Olympus is a city Dium. And it has a village near by, Pimpleia. Here lived Orpheus, the Ciconian, it is said — a wizard who at first collected money from his music, together with his soothsaying and his celebration of the orgies connected with the mystic initiatory rites, but soon afterwards thought himself worthy of still greater things and procured for himself a throng of followers and power. Some, of course, received him willingly, but others, since they suspected a plot and violence, combined against him and killed him. And near here, also, is Leibethra." -- Strabo, geographer, Geography, Book VII, Fragment 18, 7

"In the early times the soothsayers also practised music." -- -- Strabo, geographer, Geography, Book VII, Fragment 19, 7

"Orpheus had power to bend the ruthless lords of the shades by song and suppliant prayer, when he sought back his Eurydice. The art which had drawn the trees and birds and rocks, which had stayed the course of rivers, at whose sound the beasts had stopped to listen, soothes the underworld with unaccustomed strains, and rings out clearer in those unhearing realms." -- Lucius A. Seneca, philosopher statesman, The Madness of Hercules, 1st century

"Among other prodigies that attended the departure of his army, the image of Orpheus at Libethra, made of cypress-wood, was seen to sweat in great abundance, to the discouragement of many. But Aristander told him [Alexander] that, far from presaging any ill to him, it signified he should perform acts so important and glorious as would make the poets and musicians of future ages labour and sweat to describe and celebrate them." -- Plutarch, historian, Alexander, 75

"Now, Linus was the teacher of Hercules, but Hercules preceded the Trojan war by one generation; and this is manifest from his son Tlepolemus, who served in the army against Troy. And Orpheus lived at the same time as Hercules ...." -- Tatian, theologian, Address to the Greeks, Chapter XLI, 2nd century

"Between Taletum and Euoras is a place they name Therae, where they say Leto from the Peaks of Taygetus ... is a sanctuary of Demeter surnamed Eleusinian. Here according to the Lacedaemonian story Heracles was hidden by Asclepius while he was being healed of a wound. In the sanctuary is a wooden image of Orpheus, a work, they say, of Pelasgians." -- Pausanias, geographer, Description of Greece, Book III: Laconia, 2nd century

"The roughly quarried stones, laid along the tomb of Amphion at its base, are said to be the very rocks that followed the singing of Amphion. A similar story is told of Orpheus, how wild creatures followed him as he played the harp." -- Pausanias, geographer, Description of Greece, Book IX: Boeotia, 2nd century

"Later than Olen, both Pamphos and Orpheus wrote hexameter verse, and composed poems on Love, in order that they might be among those sung by the Lycomidae to accompany the ritual. I read them after conversation with a Torchbearer. Of these things I will make no further mention." -- Pausanias, geographer, Description of Greece, Book IX: Boeotia, 2nd century

"Other tales are told by the Thebans, how that later than this Linus there was born another, called the son of Ismenius, a teacher of music, and how Heracles, while still a child, killed him." -- Pausanias, geographer, Description of Greece, Book IX: Boeotia, 2nd century

"By the side of Orpheus the Thracian stands a statue of Telete, and around him are beasts of stone and bronze listening to his singing. There are many untruths believed by the Greeks, one of which is that Orpheus was a son of the Muse Calliope, and not of the daughter of Pierus, that the beasts followed him fascinated by his songs, and that he went down alive to Hades to ask for his wife from the gods below. In my opinion Orpheus excelled his predecessors in the beauty of his verse, and reached a high degree of power because he was believed to have discovered mysteries, purification from sins, cures of diseases and means of averting divine wrath." -- Pausanias, geographer, Description of Greece, Book IX: Boeotia, 2nd century

"Some say that Orpheus came to his end by being struck by a thunderbolt, hurled at him by the god because he revealed sayings in the mysteries to men who had not heard them before." -- Pausanias, geographer, Description of Greece, Book IX: Boeotia, 2nd century

"The Macedonians who dwell in the district below Mount Pieria and the city of Dium say that it was here that Orpheus met his end at the hands of the women. Going from Dium along the road to the mountain, and advancing twenty stades, you come to a pillar on the right surmounted by a stone urn, which according to the natives contains the bones of Orpheus." -- Pausanias, geographer, Description of Greece, Book IX: Boeotia, 2nd century

"There is also a river called Helicon. After a course of seventy-five stades the stream hereupon disappears under the earth. After a gap of about twenty-two stades the water rises again, and under the name of Baphyra instead of Helicon flows into the sea as a navigable river. The people of Dium say that at first this river flowed on land throughout its course. But, they go on to say, the women who killed Orpheus wished to wash off in it the blood-stains, and thereat the river sank underground, so as not to lend its waters to cleanse manslaughter." -- Pausanias, geographer, Description of Greece, Book IX: Boeotia, 2nd century

"In Larisa I heard another story, how that on Olympus is a city Libethra, where the mountain faces, Macedonia, not far from which city is the tomb of Orpheus. The Libethrians, it is said, received out of Thrace an oracle from Dionysus, stating that when the sun should see the bones of Orpheus, then the city of Libethra would be destroyed by a boar. The citizens paid little regard to the oracle, thinking that no other beast was big or mighty enough to take their city, while a boar was bold rather than powerful. But when it seemed good to the god the following events befell the citizens. About midday a shepherd was asleep leaning against the grave of Orpheus, and even as he slept he began to sing poetry of Orpheus in a loud and sweet voice. Those who were pasturing or tilling nearest to him left their several tasks and gathered together to hear the shepherd sing in his sleep. And jostling one another and striving who could get nearest the shepherd they overturned the pillar, the urn fell from it and broke, and the sun saw whatever was left of the bones of Orpheus. Immediately when night came the god sent heavy rain, and the river Sys (Boar), one of the torrents about Olympus, on this occasion threw down the walls of Libethra, overturning sanctuaries of gods and houses of men, and drowning the inhabitants and all the animals in the city. When Libethra was now a city of ruin, the Macedonians in Dium, according to my friend of Larisa, carried the bones of Orpheus to their own country." -- Pausanias, geographer, Description of Greece, Book IX: Boeotia, 2nd century

"But those who attribute its [philosophy's] origin to them [barbarians], introduce Orpheus the Thracian, and say that he was a philosopher, and the most ancient one of all." -- Diogenes Laertius, historian, Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers, Introduction, 3rd century

"... tradition relates that he [Orpheus] was murdered by women; but there is an inscription at Dium [Dion] in Macedonia, saying that he was killed by lightning...." -- Diogenes Laertius, historian, Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers, Introduction, 3rd century

"Orpheus requires no tomb." -- Rainer M. Rilke, poet, Sonnets to Orpheus, 1922

"Thus the more ancient philosophers, such as Orpheus, who were closer to the true philosophy, held that gravity was a direct result of the exercise of divine power." -- J.E. McGuire and P.M. Rattansi, historians, Newton and the 'Pipes of Pan', Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, Volume 21, Number 2, Pages 108-143, Dec 1966

Orpheus' Grave Discovered in Bulgaria, Sophia News Agency, Jul 2005
Bulgarian archaeologists say that they have discovered Orpheus' grave near the village of Tatul.

The archaeologists unearthed the entry to the Thracian temple in the Tatul sanctuary. The temple preserved the remains of a ruler that has been deified after his death.

For a second year now the team of Professor Nikolay Ovcharov continues its work at the Tatul sanctuary. It is believed to be a unique temple of mythical royal descendant and artist Orpheus.

Continuing excavation works come to confirm preliminary suggestions by archaeologists that the sanctuary at Tatul has effloresced for more than two thousand years in ancient times. It is probably the largest temple after the sanctuary of Dionisos in Perperikon, also located in the Rhodopes Mountain.
Orpheus' Tomb Discovered?, News Bulgaria, Jun 2007
Orpheus sanctuary in Rhodope mountains is with thousand years older than the Egyptian pyramids.

The sensational discovery was made by an archaeological expedition which investigated the temple of the Thracians near the village of Tatul, informed BNT.

The scientists found 6000-year old buildings with preserved tools made of semi-precious stones, crockery, animal remains. According to the archaeologists now it can be claimed that this is the Tomb of Orpheus, which has been visited of thousands of pilgrims from around the antique world.

The sanctuary is one of the oldest in the world and can be compared only with cult complexes as Stonehеnge.

The Egyptian pyramids were built 4500 years ago. 1500 years earlier in the Rhodope mountains the Thracians construct their rock sanctuaries. This was proven by the archaeologists who for third successive year examine the Orpheus Tomb.

The life of Tatul has continued for 5 thousand years. The soldiers of Alexander the Great have built here magnificent antique temple of Orpheus. Four centuries later the Thracian Odrysian tribe, helped by the Roman legions, conquer and burn the sanctuary. The Romans restore it later.

Now a joint project of Bulgaria and Greece will allow for the temple to be restored and after several months it will be shown in its all its splendour.
The problem here, as I see it, is that Orpheus sailed with Hercules and Hercules lived only one generation before the Trojan War.

However, there are other tombs at the Perperikon and more likely one of them is the actual tomb of Orpheus.

Trojan Arrows and Unique Seals from Perperikon Stand Out in Archaeological Summer '08, News Bulgaria, Dec 2008
For an eighth year now, a team of archeologists led by Prof. Nikolay Ovcharov, has been exploring the grounds of the holy city of Perperikon(also Perpericon) in the eastern Rhodope Mountains.

The place acted as a cult site as early as the end of 5 and the early 4 millennium BC. Researchers have come across finds from the second millennium BC and there is evidence the city prospered during Thracian times in Antiquity. An Episcopal center was set up here in the Middle Ages.

At a press conference in Sofia Nikolay Ovcharov showed unique finds originating from different periods in the history of Perperikon. The oldest one is dated to the Trojan War, the archeologist contends.

"It is a sword with a broken handle from 12-13 c. BC. It is made of high-quality bronze. I have dated it to the Trojan War because that war was waged using precisely such swords. The fact that the sword is broken implies two things. One, that it got broken in combat. Two, that it was broken on purpose during a cult ritual. People used to lay dear objects in shrines, and swords were indeed perceived as extremely valuable. This has been the third such sword found in the Bulgarian lands, meaning it is quite a rare and inspiring find."

Nikolay Ovcharov argues that during his expeditions he is not after gold. According to him a tiny ceramic figure from 10 c. BC similar to a human body, can have a greater scientific value than an intact gold treasure. Well, the rough make of the small idol will hardly intrigue art connoisseurs.

"The idol is pierced all over - it obviously stands for some sort of illness", he adds. "Could be measles, could be plague. In any case it was a lethal disease. We know that in voodoo religion a small figure would be desecrated in a bid to transfer on it human illness or suffering. It is obvious that the small idol was used in magic in an effort to banish disease away from the body and into the object."

Apart from the ceramic item, there is also a small silver jewel found recently in Perperikon. It is a cloak fibula and has two parts.

"When the two parts of the fibula fit together the jewel displays a human face with a halo. The halo is a Christian symbol. At first glance the illustration is unsophisticated, Barbarous in style. But in fact it depicts Christ. Our research suggests that this object is part of a Constantinople fashion trend in 5 c. AD. Back then, Constantinople, the capital of Byzantium, had attracted many Barbarians. The Greek used that word to denote various Germanic tribes, mostly Goths, and Asia Minor tribes. Byzantium of that time saw quite prolific writings that condemned the Barbarian fashion trends, especially the ones brought over by the Goths. There was a period when even noblemen copied the Goths - in hairstyles, clothing and adornments. So in this particular case we have a silver jewel that was owned by a Byzantine aristocrat. Well, he could have been one of Perperikon's military leaders," archeologist Prof. Nikolay Ovcharov said in conclusion.
Top Bulgarian Archaeologist Stumbles Upon 2 Ancient Thrace Tombs, Sofia News Agency, Sep 2010
Bulgarian archaeologist Nikolay Ovcharov has discovered two tombs of Ancient Thracian rulers near the famous rock city and sanctuary of Perperikon.

The tombs are dated to 1100-1000 BC judging by the pottery and ceramics found in them, which are characteristic of the later Bronze Age and the early Iron Age.

One of the most interesting finds in the tombs is a bronze coin with the face of Emperor Alexander the Great, dated to the 4th century BC. Prof. Ovcharov believes this is a clear evidence that the tomb was venerated as a shrine by the Thracians in the Antiquity for a long time after its original creation.

The archaeological team stumbled across the two tombs as they were working on diverting a tourist path away from a spot of excavations at Perperikon, the holy city of the Thracians.

The tombs are situation in an east-west direction, with the buried notable facing the rising sun, a clear sign of a sun cult.

The excavations have revealed ritual hearths and others signs of sacrifices that were connected with the traditions of venerating the dead as godly creatures.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

The Lararium of Alexander Severus



Aelius Lampridius, Historia Augusta, Life of Alexander Severus, 3rd century
Before I tell of his wars and his campaigns and his victories, I will relate a few details of his private every-day life. His manner of living was as follows: First of all, if it were permissible, that is to say, if he had not lain with his wife, in the early morning hours he would worship in the sanctuary of his Lares, in which he kept statues of the deified emperors — of whom, however, only the best had been selected — and also of certain holy souls, among them Apollonius [of Tyana], and, according to a contemporary writer, Christ, Abraham, Orpheus, and others of this same character and, besides, the portraits of his ancestors.
Statue of Orpheus Unearthed, Associated Press Via The Guardian, Jul 2005
A rare statue of the ancient Thracian hero Orpheus has been unearthed in Bulgaria, near a place archaeologists say might house the hero's tomb, the leader of excavations said.

The 9cm (3.5in) bronze statue, dating from the 1st or 2nd century AD, was found in the village of Tatul, 200 miles south-east of Sofia, an archaeologist, Nikolai Ovcharov, said.

The statue, which was perfectly preserved, was found a few days ago by villagers, and handed to archaeologists working on the site, he said.

He added that the find appeared to confirm his hypothesis that the Tatul site was one of the main sanctuaries for Orpheus worshippers in the ancient world.

"The statue depicts a naked athletic god with a lyre in his left hand. Most probably it's a statue of Orpheus, which makes it a rare find."

According to myth Orpheus was a son of Apollo and a godlike poet and musician. After his death a cult developed around his figure, and Thracians seem to have worshipped him as a god, historians say.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Colliding Stars: The Etiology of the Heavy Elements In Ancient Egypt



"They [Egyptians] consider that the world had a beginning and will have an end, and that it is a sphere; they think that the stars are fire, and that it is by a combination of them that things on earth are generated." -- Diogenes Laertius, historian, Lives of the Preeminent Philosophers, Introduction, 3rd century

Chang, K., Two Stars Collide; A New Star Is Born, The New York Times, Jun 2000
At the meeting, the first devoted to interstellar collisions, astronomers said they had detected what appeared to be the aftermath of a three-star collision. Scientists are also hoping to find evidence of collisions involving ultra-dense neutron stars and black holes by detecting telltale gravitational ripples.

The first clue of interstellar collisions came in the 1950's when astronomers looked at clusters of stars they knew to be nearly as old as the universe and saw what appeared to be large, young blue stars.
Sutherland, P., Colliding Stars Spark New Cosmic Blast, Skymania, May 2007
Astronomers have had their first ever grandstand view of a dramatic collision between two stars. The ‘cosmic car crash’ created a new type of explosion that had not previously been recognised in the universe.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The Atomic Theory of Moses



"And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds." -- Acts 7:22

"And that the people of Colchos, in Pontius, and the Jews lying between Arabia and Syria, were colonies out of Egypt; and that therefore it is an antient custom among these nations, to circumcise all their male children after the rites and customs received from the Egyptians." -- Diodorus Siculus, historian, The Library of History, 1st century B.C.

"... and, to prove that they were originally Egyptians, they bring this argument, that they are circumcised after the manner of the Egyptians, which custom continued to this colony as it did among the Jews." -- Diodorus Siculus, historian, The Library of History, 1st century B.C.

"After the antient way of living in Egypt, which was, (according to their own stories), in the reigns of the gods and demigods; they say that Mnevis, a man of an heroic sprit, and famous in his generation for a commendable life, was the first that instituted written laws, feigning that he had received them from Mercury, and that from them would accrue great benefit and advantage to the public." -- Diodorus Siculus, historian, The Library of History, 1st century B.C.

"For it is reported, that among the Aramaspi, Zathrautes pretended he received his laws from a good genius; and that Zamolxis, amongst the people called the Getes, patronised his by Vesta; and among the Jews, that Moses alleged the god called Jao, to be the author of his." -- Diodorus Siculus, historian, The Library of History, 1st century B.C.

"Eupolemus in his book Concerning the Jews of Assyria says that the city Babylon was first founded by those who escaped from the Deluge; and that they were giants, and built the tower renowned in history. But when this had been overthrown by the act of God, the giants were dispersed over the whole earth. And in the tenth generation, he says, in Camarina a city of Babylonia, which some call the city Uria (and which is by interpretation the city of the Chaldees), in the thirteenth generation Abraham was born, who surpassed all men in nobility and wisdom, who was also the inventor of astronomy and the Chaldaic art, and pleased God well by his zeal towards religion. By reason of God's commands this man came and dwelt in Phoenicia, and pleased their king by teaching the Phoenicians the changes of the sun and moon and all things of that kind. And afterwards the Armenians invaded the Phoenicians; and when they had been victorious, and had taken his nephew prisoner, Abraham came to the rescue with his servants, and prevailed over the captors, and made prisoners of the wives and children of the enemy. And when there came to him ambassadors asking that he would ransom them for money, he did not choose to trample upon the unfortunate, but on receiving food for his young men restored the booty; he was also admitted as a guest into the temple of the city called Argarizin, which being interpreted is 'Mount of the Most High,' and received gifts from Melchizedek, who was the king, and the priest of God. But when there came a famine Abraham removed into Egypt with all his household, and dwelt there, and the king of Egypt took his wife in marriage, Abraham having said that she was his sister. He also related fully that the king was unable to consort with her, and that it came to pass that his people and his household were perishing. And when he had called for the soothsayers, they said that the woman was not a widow; and thus the king of Egypt learned that she was Abraham's wife, and gave her back to her husband. And Abraham dwelt with the Egyptian priests in Heliopolis and taught them many things; and it was he who introduced astronomy and the other sciences to them, saying that the Babylonians and himself had found these things out, but tracing back the first discovery to Enoch, and saying that he, and not the Egyptians, had first invented astrology. For the Babylonians say that the first man was Belus, who is Kronos; and that of him was born a son Belus, and Chanaan; and that this Chanaan begat the father of the Phoenicians, and that his son was Churn, who is called by the Greeks Asbolus, and is father of the Aethiopians, and a brother of Mestraim the father of the Egyptians. But the Greeks say that Atlas invented astrology, and that Atlas is the same as Enoch: and that Enoch had a son Methuselah, who learned all things through angels of God, and thus we gained our knowledge." -- Lucius C. Alexander Polyhistor, historian, Concerning the Jews, Quoted in Eusebius Preparations for the Gospel Book IX Chapter XVII, 1st century B.C.

"Artapanus in his Jewish History says that the Jews were called Ermiuth, which when interpreted after the Greek language means Judaeans, and that they were called Hebrews from Abraham. And he, they say, came with all his household into Egypt, to Pharethothes the king of the Egyptians, and taught him astrology; and after remaining there twenty years, removed back again into the regions of Syria: but that many of those who had come with him remained in Egypt because of the prosperity of the country. In certain anonymous works, however, we found that Abraham traced back his origin to the giants, and that they dwelling in Babylonia were destroyed by the gods for their impiety; but that one of them, named Belus, escaped death and settled in Babylon, and lived in a tower which he had built, and which was called Belus from the Belus who built it: and that Abraham having been instructed in the science of astrology came first into Phoenicia, and taught astrology to the Phoenicians, and afterwards passed on into Egypt." -- Lucius C. Alexander Polyhistor, historian, Concerning the Jews, Quoted in Eusebius Preparations for the Gospel Book IX Chapter XVIII, 1st century B.C.

"But Eupolemus says that the first wise man was Moses, and that he was the first to teach the Jews letters, and from the Jews the Phoenicians received them, and from the Phoenicians the Greeks, and that Moses was the first to give written laws to the Jews." -- Lucius C. Alexander Polyhistor, historian, Concerning the Jews, Quoted In Eusebius Preparations for the Gospel Book IX Chapter XXVI, 1st century B.C.

"And Artapanus says, in his book Concerning the Jews, that after the death of Abraham, and of his son Mempsasthenoth, and likewise of the king of Egypt, his son Palmanothes succeeded to the sovereignty. This king behaved badly to the Jews; and first he built Kessa, and founded the temple therein, and then built the temple in Heliopolis. He begat a daughter Merris, whom he betrothed to a certain Chenephres, king of the regions above Memphis (for there were at that time many kings in Egypt); and she being barren took a supposititious child from one of the Jews, and called him Mouses (Moses): but by the Greeks he was called, when grown to manhood, Musaeus. And this Moses, they said, was the teacher of Orpheus; and when grown up he taught mankind many useful things. For he was the inventor of ships, and machines for laying stones, and Egyptian arms, and engines for drawing water and for war, and invented philosophy. Further he divided the State into thirty-six Nomes, and appointed the god to be worshipped by each Nome, and the sacred writing for the priests, and their gods were cats, and dogs, and ibises: he also apportioned an especial district for the priests. All these things he did for the sake of keeping the sovereignty firm and safe for Chenephres. For previously the multitudes, being under no order, now expelled and now set up kings, often the same persons, but sometimes others. For these reasons then Moses was beloved by the multitudes, and being deemed by the priests worthy to be honoured like a god, was named Hermes, because of his interpretation of the Hieroglyphics. But when Chenephres perceived the excellence of Moses he envied him, and sought to slay him on some plausible pretext. And so when the Aethiopians invaded Egypt, Chenephres supposed that he had found a convenient opportunity, and sent Moses in command of a force against them, and enrolled the body of husbandmen for him, supposing that through the weakness of his troops he would easily be destroyed by the enemy. But Moses with about a hundred thousand of the husbandmen came to the so-called Nome of Hermopolis, and there encamped; and sent generals to pre-occupy the country, who gained remarkable successes in their battles. He adds that the people of Heliopolis say that this war went on for ten years. So Moses, because of the greatness of his army, built a city in this place, and therein consecrated the ibis, because this bird kills the animals that are noxious to man. And he called it Hermes' city. Thus then the Aethiopians, though they were enemies, became so fond of Moses, that they even learned from him the custom of circumcision: and not they only, but also all the priests." -- Lucius C. Alexander Polyhistor, historian, Concerning the Jews, Quoted in Eusebius Preparations for the Gospel Book IX Chapter XXVII, 1st century B.C.

" ... if one must believe Poseidonius, the ancient dogma about atoms originated with Mochus, a Sidonian, born before the Trojan times. However, let us dismiss things ancient." -- Strabo, geographer, The Geography, Book XVI, 7

"Moses, namely, was one of the Aegyptian priests, and held a part of Lower Aegypt, as it is called, but he went away from there to Judaea, since he was displeased with the state of affairs there, and was accompanied by many people who worshipped the Divine Being. For he says, and taught, that the Aegyptians were mistaken in representing the Divine Being by the images of beasts and cattle, as were also the Libyans; and that the Greeks were also wrong in modelling gods in human form; for, according to him, God is this one thing alone that encompasses us all and encompasses land and sea — the thing which we call heaven, or universe, or the nature of all that exists. What man, then, if he has sense, could be bold enough to fabricate an image of God resembling any creature amongst us? Nay, people should leave off all image-carving, and, setting apart a sacred precinct and a worthy sanctuary, should worship God without an image...." -- Strabo, geographer, The Geography, Book XVI, 7

"Now I have for witnesses to what I have said, all those that have written antiquities, both among the Greeks and Barbarians: for even Manetho, who wrote the Egyptian history, and Berossus who collected the Chaldean monuments, and Mochus and Hestiaeus, and besides these Hieronymus the Egyptian, and those that composed the Phenician history, agree to what I here say." -- T. Flavius Josephus, historian, Antiquities of the Jews, Book I, Chapter III, 1st century

"I will begin, then, with our first prophet and lawgiver, Moses; first explaining the times in which he lived, on authorities which among you are worthy of all credit. For I do not propose to prove these things only from our own divine histories, which as yet you are unwilling to credit on account of the inveterate error of your forefathers, but also from your own histories, and such, too, as have no reference to our worship, that you may know that, of all your teachers, whether sages, poets, historians, philosophers, or lawgivers, by far the oldest, as the Greek histories show us, was Moses, who was our first religious teacher. For in the times of Ogyges and Inachus, whom some of your poets suppose to have been earth-born, Moses is mentioned as the leader and ruler of the Jewish nation. For in this way he is mentioned both by Polemon in the first book of his Hellenics, and by Apion son of Posidonius in his book against the Jews, and in the fourth book of his history, where he says that during the reign of Inachus over Argos the Jews revolted from Amasis king of the Egyptians, and that Moses led them. And Ptolemæus the Mendesian, in relating the history of Egypt, concurs in all this. And those who write the Athenian history, Hellanicus and Philochorus (the author of The Attic History), Castor and Thallus and Alexander Polyhistor, and also the very well informed writers on Jewish affairs, Philo and Josephus, have mentioned Moses as a very ancient and time-honoured prince of the Jews. Josephus, certainly, desiring to signify even by the title of his work the antiquity and age of the history, wrote thus at the commencement of the history: 'The Jewish antiquities of Flavius Josephus,'—signifying the oldness of the history by the word 'antiquities.'" -- Justin Martyr, theologian, Hortatory Address to the Greeks, Chapter IX, 2nd century

"Numa [Pompilius] the king of the Romans was a Pythagorean, and aided by the precepts of Moses, prohibited from making an image of God in human form, and of the shape of a living creature. Accordingly, during the first hundred and seventy years, though building temples, they made no cast or graven image. For Numa secretly showed them that the Best of Beings could not be apprehended except by the mind alone. Thus philosophy, a thing of the highest utility, flourished in antiquity among the barbarians, shedding its light over the nations. And afterwards it came to Greece. First in its ranks were the prophets of the Egyptians; and the Chaldeans among the Assyrians; and the Druids among the Gauls; and the Samanaeans among the Bactrians; and the philosophers of the Celts; and the Magi of the Persians, who foretold the Saviour's birth, and came into the land of Judaea guided by a star. The Indian gymnosophists are also in the number, and the other barbarian philosophers. And of these there are two classes, some of them called Sarmanae, and others Brahmins." -- Clement of Alexandria, theologian, Stromata, Book I, Chapter XV, 2nd century

"And Aristobulus, in his first book addressed to Philometor, writes in these words: 'And Plato followed the laws given to us, and had manifestly studied all that is said in them.' And before Demetrius there had been translated by another, previous to the dominion of Alexander and of the Persians, the account of the departure of our countrymen the Hebrews from Egypt, and the fame of all that happened to them, and their taking possession of the land, and the account of the whole code of laws; so that it is perfectly clear that the above-mentioned philosopher [Plato] derived a great deal from this source, for he was very learned, as also Pythagoras, who transferred many things from our books to his own system of doctrines. And Numenius, the Pythagorean philosopher, expressly writes: 'For what is Plato, but Moses speaking in Attic Greek?' This Moses was a theologian and prophet, and as some say, an interpreter of sacred laws. His family, his deeds, and life, are related by the Scriptures themselves, which are worthy of all credit ...." -- Clement of Alexandria, theologian, Stromata, Book I, Chapter XXII, 2nd century

"Having reached the proper age, he [Moses] was taught arithmetic, geometry, poetry, harmony, and besides, medicine and music, by those that excelled in these arts among the Egyptians; and besides, the philosophy which is conveyed by symbols, which they point out in the hieroglyphical inscriptions. The rest of the usual course of instruction, Greeks taught him in Egypt as a royal child, as Philo says in his life of Moses. He learned, besides, the literature of the Egyptians, and the knowledge of the heavenly bodies from the Chaldeans and the Egyptians; whence in the Acts he is said 'to have been instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.' And Eupolemus, in his book On the Kings in Judea, says that 'Moses was the first wise man, and the first that imparted grammar to the Jews, that the Phoenicians received it from the Jews, and the Greeks from the Phoenicians.' And betaking himself to their philosophy, he increased his wisdom, being ardently attached to the training received from his kindred and ancestors...." -- Clement of Alexandria, theologian, Stromata, Book I, Chapter XXIII, 2nd century

"Of all these, by far the oldest is the Jewish race; and that their philosophy committed to writing has the precedence of philosophy among the Greeks, the Pythagorean Philo shows at large; and, besides him, Aristobulus the Peripatetic, and several others, not to waste time, in going over them by name. Very clearly the author Megasthenes, the contemporary of Seleucus Nicanor, writes as follows in the third of his books, On Indian Affairs: 'All that was said about nature by the ancients is said also by those who philosophise beyond Greece: some things by the Brahmins among the Indians, and others by those called Jews in Syria.'" -- Clement of Alexandria, theologian, Stromata, Book I, Chapter XXV, 2nd century

"But now it seems proper for me to demonstrate that our philosophy is older than the systems of the Greeks. Moses and Homer shall be our limits, each of them being of great antiquity; the one being the oldest of poets and historians, and the other the founder of all barbarian wisdom." -- Tatian, theologian, Address to the Greeks, Chapter XXXI, 2nd century

"After the Chaldeans, the testimony of the Phœnicians is as follows. There were among them three men, Theodotus, Hypsicrates, and Mochus; Chaitus translated their books into Greek, and also composed with exactness the lives of the philosophers. " -- Tatian, theologian, Address to the Greeks, Chapter XXXVII, 2nd century

"Therefore, from what has been said it is evident that Moses was older than the ancient heroes, wars, and demons. And we ought rather to believe him, who stands before them in point of age, than the Greeks, who, without being aware of it, drew his doctrines [as] from a fountain." -- Tatian, theologian, Address to the Greeks, Chapter XL, 2nd century

"Next there was brought in a flat pudding made of milk, meal-cakes, and honey; the Romans call it libum. And Cynulcus said: 'Stuff yourself, Ulpian, with your native chthorodlapsum, a word, as Demeter is my witness, which is not recorded in any ancient writer, unless it be the historians of Phoenicia, your compatriots Sanchuniathon and Mochos.'" -- Athenaeus, historian, The Dinner Sophists, 2nd century

"But when one has spoken upon this point, and sealed it by the testimonies of Plato, it will be necessary to go back and connect it with the precepts of Pythagoras, and to appeal to the nations of good repute, bringing forward their rites and doctrines, and their institutions which are formed in agreement with those of Plato, all that the Brachmans, and Jews, and Magi, and Egyptians arranged." -- Numenius, philosopher, On the Good, Book I, Quoted in Eusebius Book IX Chapter VII, 2nd century

"Some say that the study of philosophy originated with the barbarians. In that among the Persians there existed the Magi, and among the Babylonians or Assyrians the Chaldaei, among the Indians the Gymnosophistae, and among the Celts and Gauls men who were called Druids and Semnothei, as Aristotle relates in his book on Magic, and Sotion in the twenty-third book of his Succession of Philosophers. Besides those men there were the Phoenician Ochus ...." -- Diogenes Laertius, historian, Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers, Introduction, 3rd century

"For Musaeus was born among the Athenians, and Linus among the Thebans; and they say that the former, who was the son of Eumolpus, was the first person who taught the system of the genealogy of the gods, and who invented the spheres; and that he taught that all things originated in one thing, and when dissolved returned to that same thing; and that he died at Phalerum, and that this epitaph was inscribed on his tomb: 'Phalerum's soil beneath this tomb contains Musaeus dead, Eumolpus' darling son.' And it is from the father of Musaeus that the family called Eumolpidae among the Athenians derive their name. They say too that Linus was the son of Mercury and the Muse Urania; and that he invented a system of Cosmogony, and of the motions of the sun and moon, and of the generation of animals and fruits; and the following is the beginning of his poem, 'There was a time when all the present world Uprose at once.' From which Anaxagoras derived his theory, when he said that all things had been produced at the same time, and that then intellect had come and arranged them all in order." -- Diogenes Laertius, historian, Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers, Introduction, 3rd century

"Enjoying such advantages, therefore, he [Pythagoras] sailed to Sidon, which he knew to be his native country, and because it was on his way to Egypt. In Phoenicia he conversed with the prophets who were the descendants of Moschus the physiologist, and with many others, as well as with the local hierephants. He was also initiated into all the mysteries of Byblus and Tyre, and in the sacred functions performed in many parts of Syria. He was led to all this not from any hankering after superstition as might easily be supposed, but rather from a desire of and love for contemplation, and from an anxiety to miss nothing of the mysteries of the divinities which deserved to be learned. After gaining all he could from the Phoenician mysteries, he found that they had originated from the sacred rites of Egypt, forming as it were an Egyptian colony." -- Iamblichus, philosopher, Life of Pythagoras, 3rd century

"I must express my surprise that Celsus should class the Odrysians, and Samothracians, and Eleusinians, and Hyperboreans among the most ancient and learned nations, and should not deem the Jews worthy of a place among such, either for their learning or their antiquity, although there are many treatises in circulation among the Egyptians, and Phoenicians, and Greeks, which testify to their existence as an ancient people, but which I have considered it unnecessary to quote. For any one who chooses may read what Florins Josephus has recorded in his two books, On the Antiquity, of the Jews, where he brings together a great collection of writers, who bear witness to the antiquity of the Jewish people; and there exists the Discourse to the Greeks of Tatian the younger, in which with very great learning he enumerates those historians who have treated of the antiquity of the Jewish nation and of Moses. It seems, then, to be not from a love of truth, but from a spirit of hatred, that Celsus makes these statements, his object being to asperse the origin of Christianity, which is connected with Judaism. Nay, he styles the Galactophagi of Homer, and the Druids of the Gauls, and the Getae, most learned and ancient tribes, on account of the resemblance between their traditions and those of the Jews, although I know not whether any of their histories survive; but the Hebrews alone, as far as in him lies, he deprives of the honour both of antiquity and learning. And again, when making a list of ancient and learned men who have conferred benefits upon their contemporaries (by their deeds), and upon posterity by their writings, he excluded Moses from the number; while of Linus, to whom Celsus assigns a foremost place in his list, there exists neither laws nor discourses which produced a change for the better among any tribes; whereas a whole nation, dispersed throughout the entire world, obey the laws of Moses. Consider, then, whether it is not from open malevolence that he has expelled Moses from his catalogue of learned men, while asserting that Linus, and Musaeus, and Orpheus, and Pherecydes, and the Persian Zoroaster, and Pythagoras, discussed these topics, and that their opinions were deposited in books, and have thus been preserved down to the present time...." -- Origen, theologian, Against Celsus, Chapter XVI, 248

"And yet, against his will, Celsus is entangled into testifying that the world is comparatively modern, and not yet ten thousand years old, when he says that the Greeks consider those things as ancient, because, owing to the deluges and conflagrations, they have not beheld or received any memorials of older events. But let Celsus have, as his authorities for the myth regarding the conflagrations and inundations, those persons who, in his opinion, are the most learned of the Egyptians, traces of whose wisdom are to be found in the worship of irrational animals, and in arguments which prove that such a worship of God is in conformity with reason, and of a secret and mysterious character. The Egyptians, then, when they boastfully give their own account of the divinity of animals, are to be considered wise; but if any Jew, who has signified his adherence to the law and the lawgiver, refer everything to the Creator of the universe, and the only God, he is, in the opinion of Celsus and those like him, deemed inferior to him who degrades the Divinity not only to the level of rational and mortal animals, but even to that of irrational also!--a view which goes far beyond the mythical doctrine of transmigration, according to which the soul falls down from the summit of heaven, and enters into the body of brute beasts, both tame and savage! And if the Egyptians related fables of this kind, they are believed to convey a philosophical meaning by their enigmas and mysteries; but if Moses compose and leave behind him histories and laws for an entire nation, they are to be considered as empty fables, the language of which admits of no allegorical meaning!" -- Origen, theologian, Against Celsus, Chapter XX, 248

"And the like Opinion has been by some of the Antients ascrib'd to the Phoenicians, from whom Thales himself is conceiv'd to have borrow'd it; as probably the Greeks did much of their Theologie, and, as I am apt to think, of their Philosophy too; since the Devising of the Atomical Hypothesis commonly ascrib'd to Lucippus and his Disciple Democritus is by Learned Men attributed to one Moschus a Phoenician. And possibly the Opinion is yet antienter than so; For 'tis known that the Phoenicians borrow'd most of their Learning from the Hebrews." -- Robert Boyle, chemist, The Sceptical Chymist, 1661

"... that Pythagoras was acquainted with the Mosaical or Jewish Philosophy, there is ample Testimony of it in Writers; as of Aristobulus, an Egyptian Jew in Clemens Alexandrinus ... St Ambrose adds, that he was a Jew himself. And though he gives no belief to the report yet that learned Antiquary Mr Selden seems inclinable enough to think it true in his first book De jure Naturali juxta Hebraeos ... Besides all these, Iamblichos also affirms that he lived at Sidon , his native country, where he fell acquainted with the Prophets, and successors of one Mochus the Physiologer ... Wherefore it is very plain that Pythagoras had his Philosophy from Moses." -- Henry More, philosopher, Appendix to the Defence of the Philosophick Cabbala, 1662

"Wherefore we have made it evident, that that very mechanical or atomical philosophy, that hath been lately restored by Cartesius and Gassendus, as to the main substance of it, was not only elder than Epicurus, but also than Plato and Aristotle, nay, than Democritus and Leucippus also, the commonly reputed fathers of it. And therefore we have no reason to discredit the report of Posidonius the Stoic, who, as Strabo tells us, affirmed this atomical philosophy to have been ancienter than the times of the Trojan war, and first to have been brought into Greece out of Phoenicia. ... And since it is certain from what we have shown, that neither Epicurus nor yet Democritus were the first inventors of this physiology, this testimony of Posidonius the Stoic ought in reason to be admitted by us. Now, what can be more probable than that this Moschus the Phoenician, that Posidonius speaks of, is the very same person with that Moschus the physiologer, that Jamblichus mentions in the Life of Pythagoras, where he affirms, that Pythagoras, living some time at Sidon in Phoenicia, conversed with the prophets that were the successors of Mochus the physiologer, and was instructed by them: ... 'He conversed with the prophets that were the successors of Mochus and other Phoenician priests.' And what can be more certain than that both Mochus and Moschus, the Phoenician and philosopher, was no other than Moses, the Jewish lawgiver, as Arverius [Johannes Arcerius] rightly guesses: ... 'It seems that it ought to be read Moschus, unless any had rather read it Mochus or Moses.' Wherefore according to the ancient tradition, Moschus or Moses the Phoenician being the first author of the atomical philosophy, it ought to be called neither Epicurean nor Democritical, but Moschical or Mosiacal." -- Ralph Cudworth, philosopher, The True Intellectual System of the Universe, Volume III, 1671

"That all matter consists of atoms was a very ancient opinion. This was the teaching of the multitude of philosophers who preceded Aristotle, namely Epicurus, Democritus, Ecphantus, Empedocles, Zenocrates, Heraclides, Asclepiades, Diodorus, Metrodorus of Chios, Pythagoras, and previous to these Moschus the Phoenician whom Strabo declares older than the Trojan war. For I think that same opinion obtained in that mystic philosophy which flowed down to the Greeks from Egypt and Phoenicia, since atoms are sometimes found designated by the mystics as monads." -- Isaac Newton, alchemist/mathematician, Portsmouth Manuscript, 1687

"During the late sixteenth century, the diffusion of works of Strabo, Sextus Empiricus, Diogenes Laertius, and Plutarch revived certain tradition about the origins of atomism, which, in turn, suggested a prisca doctrine to clothe it in respectability and reconcile it with orthodoxy. Relying on a now lost work of Posidonius, these authorities named a certain Moschus, a Phoenician, who lived before the Trojan war, as the first expositor of atomism. In 1598, [Johannes] Arcerius, a Friesian philologist, identified Moschus with Mochus, another Phoenician, whose successors Pythagoras (according to Iamblichus) had encountered and conversed with during a sojourn to Sidon. But Arcerius went much farther: he suggested that Moschus-Mochus was no other than Moses himself. It was a momentous identification which proved popular and influential through the seventeenth century. Many leading Protestant scholars lent their support to it. The great Isaac Casaubon (1559-1614) confirmed that Mochus was the Tyrian name for Moses. John Selden (1584-1654) accepted the identification. Gerardus Vossius (1577-1649) discussed Strabo's account of Moschus's natural philosophy." -- J.E. McGuire and P.M. Rattansi, historians, Newton and the Pipes of Pan, 1966

"... certain of these scientists, notably Isaac Newton, were shown to have borrowed a theory of origins of atomism from the Cambridge Platonist, Ralph Cudworth." -- Danton B. Sailor, historian, Newton's Debt to Cudworth, Journal of the History of Ideas, Volume 49, Number 3, Pages 511-518, Jul-Sep 1988

"[Daniel] Sennert, [Robert] Boyle and [Isaac] Newton were among the many who thought that Moses had possessed a divine insight into the laws of nature. Atomism, in their view, did not owe its existence to the heathen and atheist Democritus, but to the prophet Moses." -- Helge Kragh, historian, An Introduction to the Historiography of Science, 1989

"Newton considered Moses to be a trained physicist. Moses knew about gravity and other natural forces, and Copernican astronomy. And he depicted the historical events of creation in the order they had occured. His only change was linguistic. Instead of reporting the events of creation in the technical language of a trained scientist, Moses deflated his depiction to make it comprehensible to uneducated people. He did not falsify his knowledge. By necessity, he simplified his report to improve the understanding of non-professionals. According to Newton, had Moses described these events in scientific terms, his narration would have been confusing and boring. And it would have amused his audience who would have viewed him more as a philosopher than as a prophet." -- Peter A. Redpath, philosopher, Masquerade of the Dream Walkers, 1998

"There's a tradition of scholarship that was very popular in the Renaissance called the prisca sapientia, the primal wisdom. It claimed that there was a secret wisdom that was first trasmitted by an archetypal figure--say, for example, Moses--and then passed down through the line of successors, usually including Pythagoras, Plato, and so forth, and that this wisdom was really the ultimate tool for understanding the universe. Newton clearly believed that." -- Bill Newman, historian, NOVA Interview, November 15th 2005

"... Moses might also have been identified with the figure of Mochus, who is frequently mentioned in Greek sources." -- G.H. Van Kooten, Moses/Musaeus/Mochos and his God Yahweh, Iao, and Sabaoth,
Seen from a Graeco-Roman Perspective
, 2005