For online publishing 1998 - original copyright 1995 -- The Alpha and the Omega, Volume I -- by Jim A.

Cornwell Insert for Chapter One page 19 - file updated 6/26/98 -- Capricornus through Leo --

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE BEGINNING THIS BOOK

When looking at the night sky we are seeing the light from stars, some of which may have formed near the beginning of the universe, estimated about 15 billion years ago by modern astrophysicists. I am only concerned about the objects of the night sky visible to the unaided eye as it was originally with our ancestors, who had no binoculars or small telescopes. The names of stars and constellations are a way to bring some order to the cosmos, and the ancients who had no time keeping apparatus used this order to keep track of and understand the world. The mythologies of the stars and constellations are stories that link us to some traditions as far back as Homer fl. 850 B.C., a Greek epic poet whose two greatest works in Western literature are the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Zodiac is like a band in the sky through which the Sun, Moon, and planets (except, at times, Pluto) move extends about 8 degrees north and south of the ecliptic, each of the 12 segments are 30 degrees wide and contain one of the constellations. Tropic of Capricorn is the parallel of latitude 2327' south of the equator, the southern boundary of the Torrid Zone, and the most southerly latitude at which the sun can shine directly overhead about December 21 and marks the winter solstice. Tropic of Cancer is the parallel of latitude 2327' north of the equator, the northern boundary of the Torrid Zone, and the most northerly latitude at which the sun can shine directly overhead about June 21 which is the summer solstice. Precession of the equinoxes is a slow westward shift of the equinoxes along the plane of the ecliptic, resulting from precession of Earth's axis of rotation, and causing the equinoxes to occur earlier each sidereal year. The precession of the equinoxes occurs at a rate of 50.27 seconds of arc a year; a complete precession requires 25,800 years to 25,920 years. As the Earth spins on its axis at 2327' tilt, its poles remain pointed in approximately constant directions in the sky over a relatively short period of time, but wobbles like a gyroscope. This effect, first noticed by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus in the second century B.C. was not accurately determined until the seventeenth century A.D. This phenomenon is due primarily to the gravitational effects of the Sun and Moon on the equatorial bulge of Earth. The position of a star can change drastically even in just 25 years. Today the North Star is Polaris, in the constellation Ursa Minor. About 4,000 years ago, the North Star was Thuban, in Draco. The other effect of the precession of the equinoxes is that over the course of 2,160 years the Earth is in different positions in its orbit with respect to the distant stars when a given season begins. The stars and constellations that we come to associate with a particular season gradually change. The point of the vernal equinox today, for example, is in Pisces, while 2,000 years ago it was in Aries. This means that spring now begins when the Sun is in Pisces. Finally, precession has subtle long-term consequences for the seasons. Precession affects what times of the year Earth is closest to the Sun ( perihelion) and farthest from the Sun (aphelion). This relationship may play a role in the triggering of ice ages. The names of the stars date back hundreds or even thousands of years, and after the collapse of the Greco-Roman civilization, this knowledge was preserved by the Arabs. During the Renaissance, the Europeans adopted many of these names and terms from the Arabic sources, which is why a majority of star names are Arabic in origin. In 1603, German astronomer Johann Bayer (1572-1625) instituted a system of assigning Greek letters to stars (Bayer designation), consisting of a lowercase Greek letter followed by the genitive name of the constellation. The letters are usually assigned to the stars in the order of their brightness within a given constellation.

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The Ecliptic: Earth Orbit and Sun Position ecliptic (band of zodiac)

Taurus

Aries

Pisces

Sun's orbit

earth's orbit

Before each chapter I will present an inserted chapter that lists the constellations associated with each age, with a description of its history, references to Biblical passages, the star names of each constellation and their meanings in various languages. At the end of each insert are any references to Greco-Roman Mythology for that group. Personally I cannot take the Pagan mythologies seriously because most of its stories make Beavis and Butthead seem tame. God does not require stories with characters who live in a world filled with immorality, cruelty, deceitfulness, adultery, jealousy, murder and soap opera mentality to promote the Gospel to the world. The reading of this text is still important for the reader to read and evaluate these myths for themselves and make their own conclusions. It is obvious that some of the pagan myths are distorted views of some original truth that was revised to assist in their own beliefs. Even some of the names of the constellations came to be distorted by pagan religions. Also before each Insert there will be a Star Chart of each major constellation and its opposite showing the various stars' positions and correlations with each other. Although the information in the main chapters is the motivation for this book I deemed it important to show this background for its relevance. This information is very useful to the astronomer, scientist, historian, mythologists and just the plain curious who may have never known of such. In the Star Charts and Inserts of this book are references to the date that a constellation will appear on the Meridian, which occurs about 9:00 p.m. In the Northern Hemisphere if you face south you will be able to see these constellations moving along the imaginary ecliptic during the year on a clear night by looking directly overhead or at an angle toward the South. The Meridian is an imaginary great circle on the earth's surface passing through the North and South geographic poles, in which all points on the same meridian have the same longitude. It is a great circle passing through the two poles of the celestial sphere and the zenith of a given observer. The highest point in the sky reached by the sun or another celestial body; a zenith. If one wishes to know when a constellation is rising in the Suns ecliptic they can just find the date a constellation is on the Meridian, (example Scorpius is July 20), then subtract three months (June, May, April), to get an approximate date of April 20.

For online publishing 1998 - original copyright 1995 -- The Alpha and the Omega, Volume I -- by Jim A. Cornwell Insert for Chapter One page 21 - file updated 6/26/98 -- Capricornus through Leo -The following is a list of the original 48 of the 88 constellations that apply to this book and are basically the ones which are visible to the Northern Hemisphere as it would be for the ancients who did not travel to the Southern Hemisphere.
Constellation Name Other Names Date on the Meridian Constellation Name Other Names Date on the Meridian

See chapter two for further details

Cancer
Ursa Minor Ursa Major Argo Navis

The Crab Little Bear, Lesser Sheepfold Great Bear, Greater Sheepfold The Ship

March 15 June 25 April 20 Mar 15,25; Feb 25

Capricornus
Sagitta Aquila Delphinus

The Sea Goat, Goat The Arrow The Eagle The Dolphin

Sept. 20 Aug. 30 Aug. 30 Sept. 15

See chapter three for further details

Gemini
Lepus Canis Major Canis Minor

The Twins The Hare or Rabbit The Great Dog The Little Dog

Feb. 20 Jan. 25 Feb. 15 Mar. 1

Sagittarius
Lyra Ara Draco and Corona Australis

The Archer The Lyre or Harp (or Vulture) The Altar The Dragon; The Southern Crown

Aug. 20 Aug. 15 July 20 July 20 Aug. 15

See chapter four for further details

Taurus
Orion Auriga Monoceros

The Bull (Pleiades & Hyades) The Hunter The Charioteer The Shepherd The Unicorn

Jan. 15 Jan. 25 Jan. 10 Feb. 20

Scorpius
Ophiuchus Serpends Caput Serpends Cauda Hercules

The Scorpion The Serpent Bearer The Head and Tail of the Snake The Strongman

July 20 July 25 June 30 Aug. 5 July 25

See chapter five for further details

Aries
Cassiopeia Eridanus Perseus

The Ram, The Lamb The Queen, Enthroned Woman The River, The Celestial River The Hero, The Breaker

Dec. 10 Nov. 20 Jan. 5 Dec. 25

Libra
Crux Lupus Corona Borealis

The Scales, Balance The Southern Cross The Wolf, Victim or a Beast of some sort. The Northern Crown

June 20 May 10 June 20 June 30

See chapter six for further details

Pisces and the Bands

Cetus Andromeda Cepheus

The Fish The Whale, Sea Monster or Leviathan The Princess or Chained Maiden The (Crowned) King, Royal Branch

Nov. 10 Nov. 30 Nov. 10 Oct. 15

Virgo
Coma Berenices Centaurus Bootes

The Maiden, The Virgin Berenicess Hair The Centaur The Herdsman (Arcturus)

May 25 May 15 May 20 June 15

See chapter seven for further details

Aquarius
Piscis Austrinus Pegasus Cygnus

The Water Bearer The Southern Fish The Winged Horse

The Swan (Northern Cross)

Oct. 10 Oct. 10 Oct. 20 Sept. 10

Leo
Hydra Crater Corvus

The Lion The Sea Serpent The Cup The Crow or Raven

April 10 April 20 April 25 May 10

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On page 379 of the The White Goddess Robert Graves gives his references to the Zodiac symbols. Since there were always twelve stones in the gilgal, or stone-circle, used for sacrificial purposes, the next jaunt is to chase the White Roebuck speculatively around the twelve houses of the Zodiac. Gilgal (Heb. Gilgal, circle of stones). When and where the Zodiac originated is not known, but is believed to have gradually evolved in Babylonia from the twelve incidents in the life-story of the hero Gilgamesh--his killing of the Bull (Taurus), his love-passage with the Virgin (Virgo), his adventures with two Scorpion-men (Scorpius), (the Scales, Libra, later took the place of one of these) and the Deluge story (corresponding with the Water Carrier, Aquarius). Calendar tablets of the seventh century B.C. bear this out, but the Epic of Gilgamesh is not a really ancient one; Gilgamesh is thought to have been a Hyskos (Kassite) invader of Babylonia in the eighteenth century B.C. to whom the story of an earlier hero was transferred, a Tammuz of the familiar sort already connected with the Zodiac. The original Zodiac, to judge from the out-of-date astronomical data quoted in a poem by Aratus, a Hellenistic Greek, was current in the late third millennium B.C. But it is likely to have been first fixed at a time when the Sun rose in the Twins (Gemini) at the Spring equinox-the Shepherds (Auriga) festival; in the Virgin who was generally identified with Ishtar, the Lovegoddess, at the Summer solstice; in the Archer (Sagittarius), identified with Nergal (Mars) and later with Cheiron the Centaur, at the Autumn equinox, the traditional season of the chase; in the resurrective Fish (Pisces) at the Winter solstice, the time of most rain. The Zodiac signs were borrowed by the Egyptians at least as early as the sixteenth century B.C., with certain alterations--Scarab for Crab (Cancer), Serpent (Serpens) for Scorpion , Mirror for He-goat (Capricornus), etc.,--but by that time the phenomenon known as the precession of the equinoxes had already spoilt the original story. About every 2000 years the Sun rises in an earlier sign; so in 3800 B.C. the Bull began to push the Twins out of the House of the Spring equinox, and initiated a period recalled by Virgil in his account of the Birth of Man: The white bull with his gilded horns Opens the year... At the same time the tail of the Lion (Leo) entered the Virgins place at the Summer solstice--hence apparently the Goddesss subsequent title of Oura, the Lions Tail --and gradually the Lions body followed, after which for a time she became leonine with a Virgins head only. Similarly the Water carrier succeeded the Fish at the Winter solstice--provided the water to float the Spirit of the Years cradle ark. About 1800 B.C. the Bull was itself pushed out of the Spring House by the Ram (Aries). This may account for the refurbishing of the Zodiac myth in honour of Gilgamesh, a shepherd king of this period; he was the Ram who destroyed the Bull. The Crab similarly succeeded the Lion at the Summer solstice; so the Love-goddess became a marine deity with temples by the sea-shore. The He-goat (Capricornus) also succeeded the Water-carrier (Aquarius) at the Winter solstice; so the Spirit of the New Year was born of a She-goat (Capella of Auriga). The Egyptian Greeks then called the Ram the Golden Fleece and recast the Zodiac story as the voyage of the Argonauts. At any rate, the archetype of Gilgamesh the Zodiac hero was Tammuz, a tree-cult hero of many changes; and the thirteen-month tree-calendar seems more primitive than the twelvemonth one (the Osirian year originally consisted of thirteen twenty-eight day months, with one day over, is suggested by the legendary length of Osiriss reign, namely twenty-eight years-years in mythology often stand for days, and days for years...).

For online publishing 1998 - original copyright 1995 -- The Alpha and the Omega, Volume I -- by Jim A. Cornwell Insert for Chapter One page 23 - file updated 6/26/98 -- Capricornus through Leo -In "The White Goddess" Robert Graves page 259, the seven pillars of Wisdom are identified by Hebrew mystics with the seven days of Creation and with the seven days of the week. This has been expanded with definitions of each.
Planet Sun (first day) Day Sunday the Sabbath for Christians (Sunnan-daeg day of the sun) Monday (Monandaeg or day of the moon) Tuesday (Tiwesdaeg Tius day or Mars Day) Babylonian Samas (Shamash the sun god patron of law and justice) Sin Sabian of Harran 1200 B.C. Samas Greek Aristotles list Helios (Apollo); Baal to the Semites; Ra to Egypt. Artemis (Circe or Hecate) Act 19:2435 Hercules or Ares (Mars) Latin Sol French Dominus German Teutonic Sun (sunnon) English Sun (sunne)

Moon (second day) Mars (third day, 4th from the sun)

Sin

Luna (Diana diwyo moon goddess) Mars (Martis, the god of war)

Luna

Moon (menon)

Moon (monan)

Nergal (arrow shooting god of II Kings 17:30) Nabu

Nergal (arrow shooting god of II Kings 17:30) Nabu

Mars (the god of war)

Zivis

Mercury (fourth day, closest to the sun) Jupiter (fifth day, fifth from the sun)

Wednesday (Wodensdaeg or Wodens Day or Odins Day) Thursday (Thunresdaeg or Thors Day, Joves Day) Friday (Frigedaeg or Fridai day of Frigg or Venuss Day)

Hermes or Apollo (Acts 14:12) messenger of the gods Zeus

Marduk (the chief god, a temple in Etemenanki is famous) Ishtar (the Queen of Heaven) others Astarte or Ashtoreth, Ashera or Asherah Ninib (the Assyrian Saturn, god of the South, Repose)

Bel Baal of the Babylonians Isa 46:1; Jer. 50:2; 51:44 Beltis

Mercurius (god of commerce, travel and thievery and messenger to the other gods) Jupiter or Jove (Iovis, supreme god) (Acts 14:12,13) Venus (the goddess of sexual love & beauty)

Mercurius (Acts 14:12)

Jupiter

Wotan (Wuotan, German god like Odin, Odhinn Old Norse) Thor (Norse god of thunder)

Zio (Tiu Tiw, Tiwes, a god of war and sky, Tyr Old Norse) Woden (AngloSaxon god like Odin) Thunor (Old English) or Thor (Norse god of thunder) Frigg (Norse goddess of love and heaven, wife of Odin) Saturn

Venus (sixth day, second from the sun)

Aphrodite or Hera (wife of Zeus)

Venus

Freia (Norse goddess of love and beauty, sister of Frey) Saturn

Saturn (seventh day, sixth from the sun)

Saturday the Sabbath for Jews (Saeternesdaeg or Saturn Day)

Cronos (Cronus a Titan who was dethroned by his son Zeus)

Saturnus (the god of agriculture of Etruscan origin)

Saturn

WORD HISTORY: We say the names of the days of the week constantly, but for most of us they are nonsense syllables. The seven-day system is based on the ancient astrological notion that the seven celestial bodies revolving around stationary Earth influence what happens on it and that each of these celestial bodies controls the first hour of the day named after it. This system was brought into Hellenistic Egypt from Mesopotamia, where astrology had been practiced for millenniums and where seven was a propitious number. In A.D. 321 the Emperor Constantine the Great grafted this astrological system onto the Roman calendar, made the first day a day of rest and worship for all, and imposed the sequence and names to the days. This new Roman system was adopted in most of western Europe: in the Germanic languages, such as Old English, the names of four of the Roman gods were converted into the corresponding Germanic gods, then in Old English with their Modern English version .

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From the Holy Bible: A description of the gods that men worshipped
II Kings 17:28 Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD. (Whether the priest took a copy of the Pentateuch with him to teach with is not stated. Oral teaching was used and so gave origin to the Samaritan copy of the Pentateuch. He was not a Levite, but one of the calf-worshipping priest.) 17:29 Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt. (These Assyrian colonist instructed in the worship and knew of the being of the God of Israel, did not suppose him to be the only God. Thus heathen idols were worshipped and they formed a promiscuous society.) 17:30 And the men of Babylon made (worshipped) Succothbenoth (Succoth-benoth; Heb. sukkoth benoth, a pagan god whose image was worshipped in Samaria after Assyria had captured it; it may be a title of Marduk, the guardian deity of Babylon. Also the tents or booths of the daughters similar to the Babylonian damsels in Amos 2:8.). the men of Cuth (Cuthah, Cutha an area of Samaria and a city which Sargon in 720 B.C. repopulated as Cutheans. They began a syncretistic form of religion, worshipping both the true God and the gods of the nations. From the contract tablets found by Rassam at Tel-Ibrahim it appears that the ancient name of Cuthah was Gudua or Kuta. Its ruins were 3,000 feet in circumference and 280 feet high. In it was a sanctuary dedicated to Ibrahim (Abraham). Both the city and its great temple, the later dedicated to Nergal, appear to date back to Sumerian times. Cuthah may also be the Chaldee form of Cush or Susiana, now Khusistan. ) made Nergal (Heb. nereghal, a Babylonian deity of destruction and disaster, associated with the planet Mars; A cylinder seal from Larsa, an ancient Sumerian city, c. 2360-2180 B.C., shows the god Nergal standing with one foot upon the body of an enemy. According to Layard, the Jewish writers say that this idol was in the form of a cock and it is certain that a cock is often associated with a priest on the Assyrian monuments. Modern critics, see him as the astrological character of Assyrian idolatry, consider Nergal as the planet Mars, the god of war. The name of this idol formed part of the appellation of two of the king of Babylons princes, Jer. 39:3.), and the men of Hamath (Hamah or Hama a city of western Syria south-southwest of Aleppo, was a Hittite center in the Bronze Age second millennium B.C. and is frequently mentioned in the Bible as Hamath on the Orontes river, Num. 34:8. Population, 177,208.) made Ashima (a god of the Hamathites, whose worship was brought to Samaria at the repopulation by the King of Assyria about 715 B.C. Ashima was an idol under the form of an entirely bald he-goat.), 17:31 And the Avites (Avvites, Avvim, were an ancient people who dwelled in the region of Gaza before the time of Moses (Deut. 2:23) and were still there in Josh. 13:3. Ava, Avva, a region in Assyria, thought to be Ivvah, Heb. iwwah, of 2 Kings 18:34, supposed Ahivaz, on the river Karuns, at the head of the Persian Gulf.) made Nibhaz (Heb. nivhaz, a god whose image in the form of a dog was made and worshiped by the Avvites when the Samaritan race was being formed. This dog was that Egyptian form of animal worship having prevailed in ancient Syria, as is evident from the image of a large dog at the mouth of the Nahr-el-Kelb or Dog-river.) and Tartak (Heb. tartaq, a god worshiped by the Avvites who had been transplanted from their land to Samaria after its fall to Assyria. According to the rabbis, Tartak was in the form of an ass, but others understand it as the planet of ill omen, probably Saturn.), and the Sepharvites (Sepharvaim, Sepharvite, these were colonist brought to live in Samaria, formerly identified with Sippar or Siphara a city on the Euphrates above Babylon in Babylonia, but recently scholars have identified it with the Sibraim of Ezek 47:16, a place located in the region of Hamath; Sibraim Heb. sivrayim, Palestines northern boundary between Damascus and Hamath) burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech (Heb. adhrammelekh, Addar is king, the name of Addar, called Ard in Gen. 46:21 a son of Benjamin, a son of Bela in a time of syncretism. Adrammelech was supposed to be the same as Molech, and in Assyrian mythology to stand for the sun. It was worshipped in the form of a mule others say peacock.) and Anammelech (Heb. anammelekh, worshipped in a form of a hare, others say of a goat.), the gods of Sepharvaim. Sephardi or Sephardim a descendant of the Jews who lived in Spain and Portugal during the Middle Ages until persecution culminating in expulsion in 1492 forced them to leave [Modern Hebrew Separadii, Spaniard, from Separad, Spain.]) .

Moloch or Molech (Heb. ha-malekh) in the Old Testament, the heathen god of the Ammonites and Phoenicians to whom children were sacrificed [Late Latin Moloch, Semitic deity, from Greek Molokh, from Hebrew Molek.]. The idol-worshipping heretics of Israel borrowed the custom of sacrificing babies on the altar to Moloch. King Ahaz and Manasseh built altars in the Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna in the New Testament). Gehenna (Gr. geenna, a transliteration of the Aramic for of Heb. ge-ben-hinnom, valley of the son of Hinnom) a place or state of torment or suffering as in the abode of condemned souls; hell [Late Latin, from Greek Geenna, from Hebrew Ge Hinnom, possibly short for Ge ben Hinnom, valley of the son of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem.]. Leviticus 18 21; 20:3-5 forbids this worship and King Josiah ended the practice. Even King Solomon to please his many heathen wives, set up high places for Chemosh (the god of Moab in Num. 21:29; Jer. 48:7, 13, 46) and god of the Ammonites (Judg. 11:24 )) and for Molech on Mount Olivet (1 Kings 11:7). I Kings 11:5 Ashtoreth (Astarte), Milcom (Molech) and Chemosh.

For online publishing 1998 - original copyright 1995 -- The Alpha and the Omega, Volume I -- by Jim A. Cornwell Insert for Chapter One page 25 - file updated 6/26/98 -- Capricornus through Leo -When the wrath of the Lord comes as seen in Zephaniah 1:4 I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims (Heb. kemarim, possibly prostrate oneself) with the priests (also see 2 Kings 23:5, Hosea 10:5 for idolatrous priest) ; Zephaniah 1:5 And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham (Molech, Malcam); Later in Zephaniah 1:11 Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off . Paraphrased Wail in Sorrow, you people of Jerusalem. All your greedy businessman, all your loan sharks -- all will die. Who the inhabitants of Maktesh really are is a confusing issue. Are they the people of Jerusalem as paraphrased; are the inhabitants of Jerusalem in verse one the Maktesh. Some texts refer to them as the business district of Jerusalem, another guides one to look at the word mortar, which does not seem to have a connection. I also imagined them to be the descendants of Manasseh the Makir (Heb. makhir, sold) or Makirites . Subject of later discussion.
1 Since the seventh day was sacred to Jehovah and Jehovah was a form of Bran, or Saturn, or Ninib. Ninib, the Assyrian Saturn, was the god of the South and the god of Repose, the noon-day Sun, and of mid-Winter at its most southerly point at which it halts for a day . Jehovah was identified with Saturn-Ninib in Bethel before the Northern Captivity as in Amos 5:26 with the image and star of Succoth-Chiun (Sakkuth-Kaiwan) is brought to the shrine, which was also done before the Southern Captivity is proved by the vision of Ezekiel 8:3,5 where his image of jealousy was set up at the north gate of the Temple, face southwards while adoring him: and close by verse 14 women were wailing for Adonis (Greek mythology was a strikingly beautiful youth loved by Aphrodite [Greek Adonis, from Phoenician adon, lord]. Adonis was possibly the God of Byblos an ancient city of Phoenicia north-northeast of present-day Beirut, Lebanon, a chief city of Phoenicia in the second millennium B.C. and was noted for its papyruses. Adonis was in company with Isis (ancient Egyptian goddess of fertility, the sister and wife of Osiris), or Hathor (the goddess of love and women, who liked to sit under a sycamore tree, associated with queens, such as Khuit and Iput ), or Astarte (a Near Eastern goddess traditionally associated with love and fertility).

Baal or Baalim (Heb. baal, lord, possessor, husband) any of various local fertility and nature gods of the ancient Semitic peoples considered to be false idols by the Hebrews. The Hebrews borrowed the worship of Baal from the Canaanites (Baal called Reshef from Egyptian influence of 1550-1200 B.C.) and began neglecting the worship of God, which angered the prophet Elijah and God killed 450 of the priests of Baal (9th century B.C.). Baal occurred as early as the Hyskos period (c. 1700 B.C.). The Armana letters and the Ras Shamra texts (c. 1400) make Baal a prominent Semitic deity. Tyre, Sidon and Lebanon each had its own Baal, connected with tilling the soil, and there are ruins of a famous temple of Baal at Baalbek, city of Baal (Formerly the Roman and Greek Heliopolis, City of the Sun), an ancient city northeast of Beirut, Lebanon. One temple was for Bacchus in the ancient city of Beqaa. Chief of the ruins is the great Temple of the Sun, 290 feet by 160 feet was built during the second and third centuries A.D. Heliopolis (Heb. on, Gr. Heliopolis, city of the sun) an ancient city of northern Egypt in the Nile River delta north of modern Cairo. It was the site of the temple of the sun built by Amenophis I. It is called On in most modern versions of Scripture. It was a very old and holy city, with a learned school of priests. Josephs father-in-law belonged to the priests of the sun temple (Gen. 41:45; 46:20) approximately in the year 1754 B.C. It was the center of worship of the sun god Ra until the rise of Thebes (c. 2100 B.C.). Its importance as a historical repository with famed schools of philosophy and astronomy declined after the founding of Alexandria in the fourth century B.C. Two of its obelisks, both known as Cleopatra's Needle, are now in London and in New York City's Central Park. Also Osiris was the ancient Egyptian god whose annual death and resurrection personified the self-renewing vitality and fertility of nature worshipped as early 2,800 B.C. by the aristocratic priest of the established religion and continued to 300 B.C under the Macedonian Ptolemies. Some identify Osiris with the snake, Ophion, coiled around the earth, a symbol of universal fertility out of death. Ophidian is a member of the suborder Ophidia or Serpentes; resembling a snake [From New Latin Ophidia, suborder name, from Greek ophis, snake].

The White Goddess Robert Graves page 264

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In the New Testament the Greek word Astron is in Acts 7:43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan (Rephan), figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon, probably of Saturn the same as Chiun in Amos 5:26 (Rephan being the pagan Egyptian deity corresponding to a name for Saturn, or Chiun the Assyrian, worshiped by the Israelites in the wilderness). Molech means king: answers to Mars according to Bengel.; the sun by Jablonski; Saturn, the same as Chiun by Maurer. The LXX translates Chiun into Remphan, as Stephen quotes it in Acts 7:42-43. The bottom line is that this is the same god, just with different names: Molech is Ammonite and had the form of a king. Chiun is Arabic and Persian, also called Chevan, and had the form of a star. In the Arabic lexicon Chiun means austere ; so astrologers represent Saturn as a planet baleful in his influence. The Phoenicians offered human sacrifices to him, especially children. Rimmon was the Syrian name (2 Kings 5:18), pronounced as Remvan, or Remphan, just as Chiun was also Chevan. Since Remphan was the Egyptian name for Saturn, hence the LXX translated Amos as this name for the Hebrew. The Remphan or Rephan akin to the Teraphim and Remphis , the name of a king of Egypt. The Hebrews became infected with Sabeanism , the oldest form of idolatry , the worship of the Saba or starry hosts in their stay in the Arabian desert (this race seen in Gen. 10:28; 25:3 ), where Job notices its prevalence (Job 31:26) and in verse 27 in opposition, Jehovah declares Himself the God of hosts . Sabeans (Heb. sevaim) in Isaiah 45:14 products of Egyptof Cush, and those tall Sabeans , and Ezekiel 23:42 are referred to brought from the desert . Saba was between the Nile and the Atbara, know to the Hebrews as Cush. Josephus identifies the Sabeans with the people of Saba in Upper Egypt, which he says Moses captured when in service with the Egyptians. Seba, Hams descendant, is connected first with south Arabia through the southward migration of the original Cushites from lower Mesopotamia, the land of Shinar (Gen. 10:8-12). From the Assyrian inscriptions this people had migrated to northwest Arabia in the eighth century B.C. Seba, a dialectic variation of Sheba, is closely associated with the later as a remote country of the south (Ps. 72:10) and also with Egypt and Ethiopia in Africa, where many Cushites had migrated (Isa. 43:3; 45:14). Strabo, the Greek geographer and traveler (63 B.C.-21 A.D.), located a harbor Saba and a town Sabai on the west coast of the Red Sea. Sheba is often mentioned in the OT as a distant people of great wealth, trading in gold, frankincense, precious stones and perfumes (I Kings 10:1-2, 10; Jer. 6:20; Ezek. 27:22; Isa. 60:6; Ps. 72:10). Sabaean inscriptions discovered show these people of southwest Arabia with their capital at Mariaba (Saba) about two hundred miles north of modern Aden.
Amos 5:25 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? (Paraphrased: You sacrificed to me for forty years while you were in the desert, Israel,) 5:26 But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch (Sakkuth your king) and Chiun (Kaiwan, the god of the stars) your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. (Paraphrased: But always your real interest has been in your heathen gods--in Sakkuth your king, and in Kaiwan, your god of the stars, and in all the images of them you made.) (Moloch in the Old Testament, the god of the Ammonites and Phoenicians to whom children were sacrificed [Late Latin Moloch, Semitic deity, from Greek Molokh, from Hebrew Molek]). (Chiun or Kaiwan, the god of the stars, similar to the name Chiron or Chieron (kiron) Greek mythology the wise centaur who tutored Achilles, Hercules, and Asclepius, and first showed mankind how the stars were connected in constellations; Kiyyan is the Hebrew word for Saturn, which was the star of the god Moloch). 5:27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts. (Paraphrased: So I will send them into captivity with you far to the east of Damascus, says the Lord, the God of Hosts.)

Amos 5:26 Chiun is possibly Saturn as god, but the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain as seen in the translations. The astrologers represented Saturn as the star of Israel. Probably there was a figure of a star on the head of the image of the idol, to represent the planet Saturn (images = star). A star in hieroglyphics equals God (Num 24:17). Hebraism for images of Chiun.
KJV the tabernacle of your Molech and Chiun your images, the star of your god. NIV the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god. RSV Sakkuth your king, and Kaiwan your star-god, your images.

For online publishing 1998 - original copyright 1995 -- The Alpha and the Omega, Volume I -- by Jim A. Cornwell Insert for Chapter One page 27 - file updated 6/26/98 -- Capricornus through Leo -Now continuing with the previous note Biblical verses Ezekiel 8:3,5 for image of jealousy was set up at the north gate of the Temple, face southwards while adoring him: and close by verse 14 women were wailing for Adonis.
Ezekiel 8:1 And it came to pass in the sixth year (captivity of Jerusalem), in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me (like a thunderbolt). 8:2 Then I beheld, and lo a likeness (of Messiah, the Angel of the covenant) as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire (vengeance) and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber (his unapproachable majesty, like polished brass). (Paraphrased: I saw what appeared to be a Man; from his waist down, he was made of fire; from his waist up, he was all amber-colored brightness.) 8:3 And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat (pedestal) of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy (Astarte or Asherah, Heb. grove; it was the Syrian Venus; the queen of heaven, wife of the Phoenician Baal; these scenes are part of the festival held in honor of Tammuz or Adonis as in verse 14, these provoke his wrath). (Paraphrased: He put out what seemed to be a hand and took me by the hair. And the Spirit lifted me up into the sky and seemed to transport me to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate, where the large idol was that had made the Lord so angry.) 8:4 And, behold, the glory (Shekhinah cloud) of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain (Ezek 3:22-23). (Paraphrased: Suddenly the glory of the God of Israel was there, just as I had seen it before in the valley. ) 8:5 Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. (Paraphrased: He said to me, Son of dust, look toward the north. So I looked and, sure enough, north of the altar gate, in the entrance, stood the idol. ) 8:6 He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should (be compelled by their sin to) go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations. 8:7 And he brought me to the door of the court (inner court of priests and Levites); and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall (an opening in the wall of the priests chambers, where the idolatrous shrine could be seen). (Paraphrased: Then he brought me to the door of the Temple court, where I made an opening in the wall.) 8:8 Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig (blocked during Josiahs reformation) now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door (pictorial representation of Egyptian idolatries being practiced in secret places). (Paraphrased: Now dig into the wall, he said. I did, and uncovered a door to a hidden room.) 8:9 And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. 8:10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts (things found on the walls were worshipped in Egypt, so among the troglodyte), and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about (superstition on every side). (Paraphrased: So I went in. The walls were covered with pictures of all kinds of snakes, lizards and hideous creatures, besides all the various idols worshipped by the people of Israel.) Ezekiel 8:11 And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel (Sanhedrin, or the seventy elders of Moses, right in the middle of things), and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah (the leader of seventy and idolatrous worship) the son of Shaphan (a faithful scribe during Josiahs reign), with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up (spared no expense for their idols). (Paraphrased: Seventy elders of Israel were standing there along with Ja-azaniah worshipping the pictures. Each of them held a censer of burning incense, so there was a thick cloud of smoke above their heads.) 8:12 Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark (addicted themselves to secret idolatry), every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, the LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth. (The chambers of his imagery was their own perverse imaginations that these elders were alluding to the mysteries, as in the worship of Isis in Egypt, the Eleusinian in Greece, to which the initiated alone were admitted.) 8:13 He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. 8:14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate (outer court) of the LORD's house which was toward the north (north door); and, behold, there sat (the attitude of mourners) women weeping for Tammuz. Paraphrased: He brought me to the north gate of the Temple, and there sat women weeping for Tammuz, their god (the god of fertility, because, according to Mesopotamian myths, he had been killed, and fertility had vanished with him.).

Tammuz also Thammuz the tenth month of the year in the Jewish calendar [Hebrew Tammuz , from a Hebrew root, to melt down, from Babylonian Duuzu, the name of a god, Syrian Adonis]. Adonis in Greek Mythology a strikingly beautiful youth loved by Aphrodite [Greek Adonis, from Phoenician adon, lord]. Tammuz as the paramour of Venus ( the same name as the river flowing from Lebanon ) was killed by a wild boar while shepherding his flocks. In the fable his wife rescued him from the underworld to spend one-half on earth, and one-half in the lower world. His death was taken to represent the onset of winter. An annul feast was celebrated to him in June (Tammuz) at Byblos, when the Syrian women in grief prostituted themselves to Venus. Adonis was not used in the Phoenician feast, similar to the Osiris one.

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Tammuz is equivalent to Osiris in Egypt and Adonis of the Greeks. His consort was the goddess Ishtar the Babylonian Queen of Heaven (Astarte or Ashtoreth, Ashtaroth is the plural and denotes all female divinities). Ashtoreth (a goddess of the Canaanites worshiped all along the seacoast from Ras Shamra (Ugarit) southward through Phoenicia and Philistia as seen with Baal in Judges 2:11-23 ) was a fertility-goddess who was indistinguishable from Ashera or Asherah. A biblical scholar Gesenius related the name Ashtoreth to the Persian word sitarah or star and connected it with the Roman Venus (Gr. Aphrodite or Hera), goddess of love. Asherah a goddess of the Phoenicians and Syrians, whose images of worship are lewd and associated with Baal (Exod. 34:13; 1 Kings 16:29-33). They are called Asherah poles in the NIV. Asherah was the chief consort of the male god El and mother of Baal, (c. 1900 B.C.). In I kings16;29-33 Baal, the sun worshipped, also the Tyrian Hercules, in Samaria. Jezebel, Ahabs queen, was daughter of Eth-baal, king of the Zidonians ( Sidonians), was a priest of Ashtaroth or Astarte. Baal or Baalim (the plural is used to include all the gods of the country ) any of various local fertility and nature gods of the ancient Semitic peoples considered to be false idols by the Hebrews [ Hebrew baal, lord, Baal], was the son of El, and the reigning king of the gods, dominating the Canaanite pantheon. As Els successor he was enthroned on a lofty mountain in the far northern heavens. Often he was considered as himself being the Lord of heaven (Baal-shamem); but sometimes distinguished from the latter as in Philo, Baal was the god of the rain and storm, whose voice could be heard through the heavens in the thunder. He is pictured on a Ras Shamra stele brandishing a mace in his right hand and holding in his left hand a stylized thunderbolt ending in a spear head. Canaanite storm-god Baal brandishes a club and wields a stylized thunderbolt. The temple of Baaltis was in Gebal (Byblus). In Ugaritic literature Baal is given the epithet Aliyan, the one who prevails. As giver of rain and fertility, he figures prominently in Canaanite mythology in his struggle with Mot (Death), the god of drought and adversity. In his grapple with Mot, he is slain. As a consequence, a seven year cycle of scarcity ensues. The goddess Anath, the sister and lover of Aliyan, goes in search of him, recovers his body and slays his enemy, Mot. Aliyan Baal is then brought back to life and placed on Mots throne to ensure the revival of vegetation for seven years. This is the central theme of the great Baal Epic of Ugarit. Baal was also called the son of Dagon, the grain god, who was the chief deity of Ashdod (I Sam. 5:17) and who had temples at Ugarit and Gaza (Judges 16:23). At Ugarit Baals consort was his sister Anath, but at Samaria in the 9th century B.C. Asherah appears in that role (I Kings 18:19). The name Baal itself in Northwest Semitic (Hebrew, Phoenician and Ugaritic) is the common noun for master or lord, and like el, strong one, could be applied to various gods. From the earlier period (15 th century B.C.) the ancient Semitic storm-god Hadad (Akkadian Adad). Statues of the weather god, standing in the act of hurling a thunderbolt. The body is of bronze, the high helmet of polished stone and the two horns of electrum. The god was called the rider of the clouds (cf. Ps. 68:4) and Zabul [Prince], Lord of the Earth (cf. 2 Kings 1:2). To the Shechemites (Gen. 33:19; 34:1-31), later a Gibeonite confederacy (Josh 9:1ff.), whose tribal deity was Baal-Berith, Lord of the covenant (Judg. 9:4). EL (Heb. el, God). The word el is a generic name for god in Northwest Semitic (Hebrew and Ugaritic) and is used in the OT for heathen deities or idols (Exo. 34:14; Psa. 81:10; Isa. 44:10): Aramaic elah, Arabic ilah, Akkadian ilu. In the OT, el is used over two hundred times for God. El was the chief, and somewhat shadowy god of the Canaanite pantheon (see Ras Shamra ) used in the OT to express the exalted transcendence of God. The Hebrews borrowed this word from the Canaanites. El has a plural, elim, occasionally elhm in Ugaritic; but the Hebrews needed no plural, though a plural term, elohim, was their regular name for God. The original generic term was ilum, which dropping the mimation and the nominative case ending ( u) became el in Hebrew. The root is an adjectival formation ( intransitive participle) from which el was derived may have come from wl, to be strong, powerful meaning The strong (powerful) One ; from an Arabic root ul, to be infront of as a leader from a Hebrew root lh to which both el and elohim belonged, with the meaning strong; from the preposition el, to be infront of ; and using the same prepositions, as putting forth the idea of God as the goal for which all men seek. A truly satisfactory theory is impossible, because el and the other terms for God, elohim and eloha, are all prehistoric in origin. Some of the names which God is called in the OT El, the God (Elohim) of Israel (el elohe yisrael, Gen. 33:20). In prose it occurs with adjunct El Elyon (The Most High God, Gen. 14:18), El Shaddai (God Almighty, Gen. 17:1), El Hai (The Living God, Josh. 3:10) and very commonly in the plural majesty, Elohim . In Hebrew poetry El is more frequent, where it stands quite often without any adjunct (Psalms 18:31, 33, 48; 68:21; Job 8:3). The Canaanite god El was considered the exalted father of years (abu shanima or ab snnm), the father of man (abu adami ) or father of mankind, (ab adm), and father bull, that is, the progenitor of the gods, tacitly likened to a bull in the midst of a herd of cows. Like Homers Zeus he was the father of men and gods. He was an immoral and debased character. It is a tribute to the high morality of the OT

For online publishing 1998 - original copyright 1995 -- The Alpha and the Omega, Volume I -- by Jim A. Cornwell Insert for Chapter One page 29 - file updated 6/26/98 -- Capricornus through Leo -understanding of God that a title that in Canaanite usage was so defiled could, without risk, be used to express the moral majesty of the God of Israel. In Canaanite paganism the el, par excellence, was the head of the pantheon. As the god, El was a dim and shadowy figure, who, Philo says, had three wives who were also his sisters, and who could readily step down from his eminence and become the hero of sordid escapades and crimes. Philo portrays El as a bloody tyrant, whose acts terrified all the other gods, who dethroned his own father, Uranus, murdered his favorite son, and decapitated his own daughter. Sounds like Zeus to me. The Ugaritic poems add the crime of uncontrolled lust to his morbid character and the description of his seduction of two unnamed women is the most sensuous in ancient Near Eastern literature. In the Ras Shamra stele, with the great Canaanite god El is shown receiving homage from the King of Ugarit (14 th century B.C.). Asherah, the wife of El in Ugaritic mythology, is the goddess who is called Athiratu-Yammi, She Who Walks on (in) the Sea. She is the chief goddess of Tyre in the 15 th century B.C. with the appellation Qudshu, holiness. Most of her Biblical reference point to some cult object of wood, which might be cut down and burned, possibly the goddesses image (I Kings 15:13; 2 Kings 21:7). Her prophets are mentioned (I Kings 18:19), and their vessels used in her service referred to (2 Kings 23:4). Numerous forms of her person were described as Asherim , was detestable to worshipers of Yahweh (I Kings 15:13), and was set on high places beside the altars of incense (hammanim) and the stone pillars (masseboth). The translation of asherah by grove follows a singular tradition preserved in the Septuagint and the Vulgate. She was one of a galaxy of three Canaanite goddesses whose character gives a hint of the depths of moral depravity to which the Canaanite cults sank. The other two are Astarte and Anath. All three were patronesses of sex (lust) and war (violence and murder ). Anath, a combination of the sister and spouse of Baal, was given the epithet of virgin and the Holy One (qudshu) in her invariable role of a sacred prostitute another illustration of the utter irrationality and moral indiscrimination of Canaanite religion. Archaeological findings, from Ras Shamra, of gold pendants show her with spiral locks and a general posture identify her cult. Other drawings of a gold pendant show her with rams which evidently portray sexual vigor. The goddess was called Qudshu, the Holiness, that is, the Holy One, in the perverted moral sense, and representations of her as a nude woman (goddess of fertility) bestride a lion with a lily in one hand (grace and sex appeal) and a serpent in the other (a symbol of her fecundity), point her out as a divine courtesan (a sacred prostitute ). The male prostitutes of the cult of the Qudshu were called qadesh, usually translated sodomites (Deut. 23:18; I Kings 14:24; 15:12; 22:46). The feminine qedeshah is also found (Deut. 23:18; Hosea 4:14). As a patron of war Anath appears in a fragment of the Baal Epic in an incredibly bloody orgy of destruction. For some unknown reason she butchers mankind while wading in human gore up to her knees, in exaltation. Astarte, goddess of the evening star, was like Anath and Asherah concerned with sex and war. In Egypt Anath and Astarte were fused into one deity Antart , while in later Syria their cult was displaced by Anat-Ashtart (Atargatis). Like Anath, Astarte was both a mother goddess and a divine courtesan. ELOHIM is the most frequent Hebrew word for God (over 2,500 times in the OT). Since its origin is prehistoric and therefore incapable of direct proof. Elohim is plural in form, but singular in construction (used with a singular verb or adjective). When applied to the one true God, the plural is due to the Hebrew idiom of a plural of magnitude or majesty (Gen. 1:1). When used of heathen gods, or of angels or judges as representatives of God, Elohim is plural in sense as well as form. Elohim is the earliest name of God in the OT, and persists along with other names to the latest period. Whatever its etymology, the most likely roots mean either be strong, or be in front, suiting the power and preeminence of God. Jesus is quoted as using a form of the name at the cross (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34) Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani the English transliteration My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? of a Greek phrase which in turn is a transliteration of the Hebrew or an Aramaic version of Psalm 22:1.

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Ras Shamra (Arab, Fennel Head). Phoenician mythology preserved from Philo through Eusebius, mostly has been disproved by the archaeological discoveries of the recovery of the religious epic literature at the site of Ras Shamra (the ancient Ugarit of the Egyptian and Hittite Documents and the Amarna Letters) on the north Syrian coast (1927-1937). The modern name of the mound that marks the site of the ancient city if Ugarit , located on the Syrian coast opposite the island of Cyprus. Its excavations have revealed five major strata, the earliest dating to the Neolithic period (beginning around 10,000 B.C. in the Middle East and later elsewhere, characterized by the development of agriculture and the making of polished stone implements). Ugarit was swept from the historical scene in about 1200 B.C., when the Sea Peoples overran the area. The city is mentioned in Egyptian historical inscriptions, in the Amarna Tablets (Akkadian), and in Hittite records. Its relations with Egypt were quite close during the Twelfth Dynasty and again in the time of Ramses II. Ugarit was at its peak of its prosperity in the fifteenth-fourteenth centuries B.C. but was destroyed by an earthquake in the mid-fourteenth century (1450 B.C-1195 B.C.). This occurred during the period of the Exodus. Many significant finds, the most striking was that of a scribal school and library of clay tablets, adjoining the temple of Baal and dating from the Amarna Age. A majority of the tablets were written in an unknown cuneiform script, with an alphabet of some thirty signs, which was eventually deciphered and called Ugaritic , and found to be of the Semitic family and closely related to Hebrew. The myths and legends of Ugarit have provided knowledge of Canaanite religion. Thus references to Baal and Anat, Nikkal, Keret, Aqhat, El, who was known as Father of Man, Creator of Creators, Bull El. His consort was Asherah, a fertility goddess. Among the many offspring of El and Asherah was Dagon, a grain god whose son Baal was of great prominence. A god of rain and storm, Baal, whose proper name was Hadad (Thunderer ), also figured in the fertility cycle. Hadad, the supreme god of Syria is also identified with the Assyrian air-god Ramman , i.e., Rimmon . Baal was also called Aliyan Baal, Dagons Son, Servant of El, Rider of Clouds, and Baal-Zebub (2 Kings 1; Matt. 12:24). In Israel the priest of Baal lost an important contest with the prophet of God on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18). Baals sister and wife, the virgin Anat (Anath), goddess of love and fertility and goddess of war, is known in the OT as Astarte or Ashtoreth. Baal mates with his sister and also with a heifer . Anat slaughters people and wades in blood and gore. These tablets and the OT elucidate each other.

(now continuing with Ezekiel showing the worship of the sun god at the temple)
Ezekiel 8:15 Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. 8:16 And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men (the leaders of the twenty-four courses of orders of the priests, I Chron. 24:18-19 with the high priest, the princes of the sanctuary, Isa. 43:28) with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east (representing the whole priesthood, shown facing the east ); and they worshipped the sun toward the east (shown obeisance to the rising sun as in I Kings 8:44; Sun worship came from the Persians, who made the sun the eye of their god Ormuzd. It existed as early as Job 31:26 and cf. Deut 4:19). 8:17 Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. 8:18 Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.

For online publishing 1998 - original copyright 1995 -- The Alpha and the Omega, Volume I -- by Jim A. Cornwell Insert for Chapter One page 31 - file updated 6/26/98 -- Capricornus through Leo -Sukkoth also Succoth in Judaism a harvest festival commemorating the booths in which the Israelites resided during their 40 years in the wilderness, lasting for either 8 or 9 days and beginning on the eve of the 15th of Tishri [Hebrew sukkot, (feast of) booths (commemorating the temporary shelters of the Jews in the wilderness), pl. of sukka, booth]. Tishri the first month of the year in the Jewish calendar [Hebrew tisri, from Akkadian tasritu, the month Tashritu (September/October)]. The first Biblical reference to the word Succoth comes by way of Jacob in Genesis 33 verse 17. The word Succoth is connected with Amos 5:26 word Succoth-Chiun (Sakkuth-Kaiwan) only as a reference to those who use their tabernacle or booths to feast toward idol worship. Also it is referenced in II Kings 17:30 ... Babylon made Succothbenoth (Succoth-benoth).
Genesis 33:1 And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. 33:2 And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost (Jacob put his family in order so that the dearest would be the least exposed to danger). 33:3 And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother (seven bows were to show profound respect for a superior, in this case an elder brother). 33:4 And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept (grace had converted Esau from an enemy into a friend after twenty years). 33:5 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant. 33:6 Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves. 33:7 And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves. 33:8 And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord. 33:9 And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself. 33:10 And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me. 33:11 Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it (Jacob was anxious that Esau take the cattle). 33:12 And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee (Esau offered them protection). 33:13 And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die (Jacob declined as a man of God and his lifestyle). 33:14 Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir (Jacob went around the Dead Sea, to visit his brother in Seir, without crossing the Jordan to see Isaac in Beersheba was not recorded). 33:15 And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord. 33:16 So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. 33:17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth (i.e., booths, that being the first station at which Jacob halted on his arrival Canaan. His posterity, when dwelling in houses of stone, built a city there and called it Succoth, to commemorate the fact that their ancestor, a Syrian ready to perish, was glad to dwell in booths). 33:18 And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city (Shalem, peace, the meaning may be that Jacob came into Canaan, arriving safe and sound in the city of Shechem). 33:19 And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent (He became the first of the patriarchs who became a proprietor of land in Canaan), at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money (literally, lambs probably a coin with the figure of a lamb on it). 33:20 And he erected there an altar, and called it EleloheIsrael.

El Elohe Israel means the God [who is] the God of Israel, this altar was erected as Jacob kept his vow to God in Gen. 28:20-21.

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From the The White Goddess Robert Graves page 265-268, regarding the Seven days of Creation as in the first chapter of Genesis and on to the Last Age which seems to be the instigator for recent predictions of the last days. Description Day Ages of the World, quoted from Age based on this book Age Planet Nennius by Gwion. Paradise: Babylonians place it in the Capricorn 21,810 B.C. to Delta of the Euphrates; the Greeks in Leo 11,010 B.C. Crete; the pre-Exilic Hebrews at Hebron in Southern Judea. 1 Sun Light Sunday Adam to Noah Cancer 8,850 B.C. a day of light, Adam to Deluge was 1656 years 2 Moon Division of Waters Monday Noah to Abram Gemini 6,690 B.C. a day of Water, Deluge, Noah to Abram 292 years 3 Mars Dry Land, Pasture and Tuesday Abram to Abraham (2208 B.C.) to Taurus 4,530 B.C. Trees David reference to flocks and herds, and a promised land. 4 Mercury Heavenly Bodies and the Wednesday ? Moses ---David to Daniel. Aries 2370 B.C. Seasons. Apparently not From Abraham to the building of visible until the fourth Solomons Temple (First) required day because of the damp 1048 years in 1160 B.C. haze in verse 9. A day of Wisdom 5 Jupiter Sea-beast and Birds Thursday Daniel to John the Baptist Aries 2,370 B.C. The number of years is 612 (548 The myth of Jonah the B.C.) from Solomon to the rebuilding of power of Babylon was the second Temple , under Darius King symbolized by the whale of the Persians. Darius I known as which swallowed and Darius the Great. 550?-486 B.C.. then spewed out the King of Persia (521-486) who expanded chosen people from its the empire, organized a highly efficient belly. Sea-beast and administrative system, and invaded Fishes. Greece, only to be defeated at the Battle of Marathon in 490. 6 Venus Land-beast, Man and Woman Friday John the Baptist to the Judgment Day 548 years from Darius to the ministry of Jesus Christ (4 B.C.). Gospel of Love, separate the sheep from the goats, be born again the Second Adam redeeming the First Adam. Land-beast, Man and Love Lord Jesus Christ will come to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire. Around 973 years passed by when Nennius wrote Man must look forward to the seventh Age for Repose. The total length of the seven Ages is 5,103. If the total length of 7 Ages is 5103 minus total years in the right column which equates to 5,951 years and shows an 848 year excess. Of interest is that it is only 49-50 years away from 6,000 years or 6 days (each a thousand years) which equates to the year 1999-2000 A.D where most ancient and modern calendars end. Pisces 210 B.C.

Saturn

Repose

Saturday

Adam (to Deluge 1656 years, Noah at age 500 to Abrams birth 292 years) to Abram is 1,948 years. Abraham to the First Temple (958 B.C.) is 1,048 years. First Temple to Daniel in 583 B.C. is 375 years. Daniel (birth) to John the Baptist around (22 B.C) the Second Temple was rebuilt which is 612 years. 1,948+1,048+375+612+18 = 4001 years to Messiah Jesus Christ (4 B.C.) Aquarius beginning (1950 A.D.) is therefore 4001+1950 = 5951 years.

For online publishing 1998 - original copyright 1995 -- The Alpha and the Omega, Volume I -- by Jim A. Cornwell Insert for Chapter One page 33 - file updated 6/26/98 -- Capricornus through Leo -Mythology a body or collection of myths belonging to a people and addressing their origin, history,
deities, ancestors, and heroes. A body of myths concerning an individual, event, or institution. The field of scholarship dealing with the systematic collection and study of myths. [French mythologie, from Late Latin mthologia , from Greek muthologia , story-telling : muthos, story + -logia , -logy].

Mythology is like writing shorthand. analogy.

It is condensed history, and it lives on in

The connections of Greek Mythology and the Constellations

The Titans were the first gods in Greek mythology, the universe had existed in a state of emptiness called Chaos. The first was Gaea the goddess of the earth and mother and wife of Uranus thus the parents of the Titans. Titans (Helios or family of giants, who sought to rule heaven and were overthrown by the family of Zeus) and the Cyclopes (three one-eyed Titans who forged thunderbolts for Zeus and inhabiting the island of Sicily). Sagitta could be the arrow the arrow which Apollo slew the Cyclops. The youngest and most important Titan was Cronus (Roman Saturn), who married Rhea (Roman Ops), his sister. Cronus deposed Uranus and became the king of gods. Rhea bore Cronus many children which he swallowed when they were born. Rhea determined to save Zeus tricked Cronus, and hid him on the island of Crete. After he grew up, he tricked his father into vomiting up all the offspring. Zeus then led his brothers and sisters in a war against Cronus and overthrew him. Zeus banished Cronus and the Titans who supported him to Tartarus. Some of the other Titans were: Prometheus (see Aquarius) and brother Epimetheus [Latin, son of Iapetus and Pandora]; Hyperion, whose task was to guide the sun across the sky in his chariot, brother of the Roman goddess of dawn Aurora and by his wife Theia was the father of Helios (first sun god--Apollo later); Oceanus god of the outer sea encircling the earth and the father of the Oceanides and the river gods; Tethys a Titaness and sea goddess who was both sister and wife of Oceanus. Oceanides were any of the ocean nymphs. Atlas (father Iapetus and mother a sea nymph named Clymene, and the brother of Prometheus) was condemned by Zeus to support the heavens upon his shoulders. Nereus was a sea god, son of Oceanus and Gaea and father of the Nereids, any of the sea nymphs, the 50 daughters, who complained about Cassiopeia to their father, Poseidon (Roman Neptune), who sent Cetus to ravage Aethiopias coast. Draco is the battle of the ancient Titans with the newer gods of Olympus. The dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece; that watched over the Golden Apples of the Hesperides one of the Twelve Labors of Heracles; attacked Athena who flung it into the sky, around the axis of the world, the celestial north pole. Hydra was Typhon a monster thrown by Zeus into Tartarus where the Titans were. Greek Zeus, (Roman Jupiter), also Cygnus, was king of the gods. He placed the lion in the sky as the constellation Leo. Aquarius is Zeus pouring the waters of life down from the heavens into the celestial river Eridanus whose source is at the urn. Ganymede , a beautiful young Trojan shepherd boy who was abducted by Zeus from Mount Ida and taken to Mount Olympus to be the cupbearer to the gods, as was Hebe the goddess of youth and spring. Crater the Wine Cup is identified as Ganymedes cup, also a connection to the Hydra and Corvus the Raven or Eagle can be seen. Aquila was the eagle that performed errands and held the thunderbolts of Zeus. Hercules killed the eagle that devoured the liver of the Greek Titan Prometheus , who stole fire from Olympus and gave it to humankind, for which Zeus chained him to a rock and sent an eagle to eat his liver, which grew back daily.

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Zeus had two brothers, Poseidon and Hades. Hades (Roman, Pluto), god of the underworld persuaded Zeus to kill Asclepius with a thunderbolt and to decree all mortals must one day die. Zeus honored his skills as a healer and placed Asclepius (Ophiuchus) in the sky with his serpents. Hades also abducted Persephone (also Kore, Roman Proserpina) the daughter of Demeter (Roman Ceres) and Zeus who rescued her and thereafter spent six months of the year on earth and six months in the underworld (change of seasons). Poseidon (Roman, Neptune), son of Cronus and Rhea, was god of the sea, waters, earthquakes, and horses. When Perseus severed the head of Medusa , drops of her blood fell into the sea, mixing with the seafoam, and Pegasus sprang forth from Poseidon. Orion also was the son of Poseidon. The nymphs or Nereids complained to their father ( Nereus), who sent Cetus to ravage Aethiopias coast. Delphinus is the dolphin that Neptune rode when courting the mermaid ( sea nymph) Amphitrite , who agreed to become his wife, and placed the dolphin in the sky in gratitude for his help. Other sons of Poseidon was Antaeus, a giant; Arion, a wondrous horse; Polyphemus , a cyclops; and Triton, a halfman and half-fish (merman). Later Poseidon was angry with the Greek Odysseus (Roman Ulysses) for blinding Polyphemus. Also a friend of his was Proteus (king of Pharos, a lighthouse island, possibly Ogygia) a very wise sea god who could change his shape at will and foretell the future. Zeus' offspring were: Persephone by way of Demeter . Bootes (Arcas) by way of Callisto and was also son of Demeter (Roman, Ceres). Zeus disguised as a white bull with golden horns seduced Europa, a Phoenician princess and abducted her to Crete, who then became the mother of Minos , Rhadamanthus , and Sarpedon. European is of Cretan extraction-- Europe, daughter of Agenor, having ridden to Crete from Phoenicia on the back of a bull. Alcmene , the sister of Zeus and a princess, (Amphitryon's wife, who gave birth to Hercules after being seduced by Zeus.). Perseus was the son of Zeus by way of the mortal Danae. Cygnus (Cycnus) is the god Zeus in the swan disguise he used to seduce Leda thus (The Twins) via the offspring of Helen and Pollux (Greek Hercules) and, by her husband Tyndareus, of Castor (Greek Apollo) and Clytemnestra, and cleared the sea of pirates. Cygnus also was a youth who loved (possibly the brother of Phaethon), and grieved for the body of his friend (Phaethon) to give it a proper burial, dived repeatedly into the stream. Taking pity on him, Zeus transformed Cygnus into a swan. Gemini the Twins are Castor (Greek Apollo) and Pollux (Greek Hercules), were hatched from an egg borne by Leda (wife of Tyndareus, king of Sparta) after being seduced by Zeus as a swan (see Cygnus), both were raised by Chiron (Centaurus) and joined by Jason in search of the Golden Fleece. They cleared the sea of pirates and calmed a terrible storm during the voyage, thus are called the patrons of mariners and associated with the phenomenon known as Saint Elmos fire . Their sister, who was abducted by Paris, was Helen of Troy, the wife of Menelaus (king of Sparta in the Trojan War and son of Atreus, the brother of Agamemnon , (Greek king of Mycenae, father of Orestes, Electra , and Iphigenia, killed by his wife Clytemnestra with help from her lover Aegisthus (son of Thyestes). Atreus was the brother of Thyestes. Troy, an ancient Phrygian city dating from the Bronze Age northwest Asia Minor near the Dardanelles River, site of the Trojan War where captured and destroyed by Greek forces c. 1200 B.C. The ruins of Troy were discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1871.

For online publishing 1998 - original copyright 1995 -- The Alpha and the Omega, Volume I -- by Jim A. Cornwell Insert for Chapter One page 35 - file updated 6/26/98 -- Capricornus through Leo -Apollo , son of Zeus (Jupiter) and Latona, thus a sun god, (possibly Castor by way of Leda) who was a twin brother of Artemis (Roman Diana, possibly Clytemnestra), made the Sun shine so brightly that Orion became a dark blur among the brilliantly sparkling waves while bathing. Apollo calling and challenging his sister to hit the black shape with her arrow which she did. Corvus associated with Apollo who sent the raven for a cup of spring water, where he spied a green fig, and waited until it ripened. His tardiness was blamed on a water serpent ( Hydra) in his claws, from an attack. Apollo banished all three to the sky. Corvus now sits within sight of the cup of water, but he can never drink, because it is guarded by the serpent. Apollo had an affair with Coronis, the daughter of a king, which resulted in a son named, Asclepius (Greek ), the founder of medical science, who was immortalized in the sky as the constellation Ophiuchus (Arabic), a legendary physician known as the god of medicine, educated by the centaur Chiron (see Centaurus). Homer described him as a god-man. (Was this possibly Nimrod ?) His feats were: healing and curing the sick, and bringing the dead back to life by means of blood taken from the side of the goddess of justice. Hippocrates , the famous Greek physician and the father of medicine, was his 15th grandson. Hercules is possibly connected with the Babylonian hero Gilgamesh or even Ophiuchus. Asclepius killed a snake, but after another snake arrived and revived its companion with herbs, which taught him the medicinal powers of plants. The symbol of the medical profession is the Caduceus was a herald's wand or staff, especially in ancient times, a winged staff with two serpents twined around it, carried by Hermes , who later traded the caduceus with Apollo for the instrument ( kithara, Lyra). Apollo later gave the kithara to his son, Orpheus. Asclepius even learned to revive the dead, which worried Hades who feared that his domain would not receive any new souls. Hades persuaded Zeus to kill him with a thunderbolt and to decree all mortals must one day die. Zeus did strike Asclepius dead, but to his honor his skills as a healer Zeus placed Asclepius in the sky with his serpents. He finally suffered death from the lightnings of heaven, but was raised from death to glory through the influence of his father, Apollo. Apollo became suspicious that Coronis was unfaithful to him and sent his spy, Corvus, then of silver plumage, to observe. Indeed Corvus reported back that Coronis was having an affair with a certain Ischys of Arcadia. In a rage, Apollo slew Coronis with an arrow and consigned Corvus to Hades and turned his feathers black, which they have remained to this day. Phaethon , another son of Apollo (Helios, a sun god, son of Hyperion (a Titan)), who drove the chariot of the Sun and lost control of the steeds through the sky. Zeus sensing the world was in danger hurled one of his thunderbolts, killed Phaethon, who fell into the river Eridanus. Auriga was a charioteer, identified with Hephaestus (the Roman god Vulcan) god of fire and metalworking, or his son, Erechtheus, both of whom were lame. Orpheus, the famous singer and harp player, changed into a swan and transported to the sky to be near his harp, Lyra. He received the kithara from Apollo, and played it so skillfully that stones on the mountain stopped to listen and wild beast were charmed. Also a legendary Thracian poet and musician whose music had the power to move even inanimate objects. Later when his wife Eurydice died, Orpheus used his lyre to persuade the powers of Hades to release her. The gods consented but they forbade him to look at her before they reached the upper world. He almost succeeded in rescuing his wife Eurydice from Hades when he looked back at her and violated the command of Pluto on their journey back to the upper world of the living. The Lyra a harp, kithara, invented by the god Hermes (Roman, Mercury, Egyptian Thoth), who one day found an empty tortoise shell on the beach, strung seven strings through the holes, and made sweet music when plucked. Hermes traded this instrument (kithara) with Apollo for the caduceus, the magical staff entwined with snakes, which gave Hermes the power to fly and to heal. 2 The Thracian Orphic cult (Greek Mythology ascribed to Orpheus relating to the dogmas, mysteries, and philosophical principles set forth in the poems ascribed to Orpheus, who was capable of casting an entrancing charm or spell. Often orphic. Mystic or occult. [Greek Orphikos, from Orpheus.]) is connected to Orpheus, whose name and singing head identify him with Bran, the alder-god (Mythology a gigantic Celtic god and ruler of Britain, who after being mortally wounded in battle, his head was buried in London, where it served as a protection against invaders), is called the son of Oeagrius; Oea Agria means the wild service-tree. Aegir in Mythology is the Norse god of the sea.

The White Goddess Robert Graves page 258

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Hydra possibly the son of Typhon (Egyptian Set, maybe Hydra himself), the giant who warred with and chased the gods from Olympus into Egypt and piled Mount Ossa upon Mount Pelion in eastern Thessaly home of the centaurs, especially Chiron in an attempt to reach the heavens. Hydra was the many-headed monster slain by Hercules (Second Labor), for in place of each head that he cut off, two more appeared. Hercules solved the problem by using a torch to cauterize each stump after he cut off that head. One head was immortal, so when cut he placed it under a huge stone where it could do no harm. He dipped his arrows in Hydra's venom to make them fatally poisonous. Pisces and the Bands also Piscis Austrinus are recognized as two fish said to be Aphrodite (Greek) Cytherea, the goddess of love and beauty, and her son Eros (Roman, Venus and Cupid), who fleeing from the giant Typhon, jumped into a stream, turned into fish, and swam away to safety. They tied their tails together with a piece of string so they would not be separated. Pan (Capricornus) and some other gods while feasting along the banks of the Nile had to escape Typhon by turning themselves into animals. Pan leapt feet-first into the river, where half of him became a fish tail , and the half above remained a goat. Capricornus and Capella of Auriga are identified with Amalthea , a nymph or the goat that nursed the infant Zeus. While playing with the animal the baby god broke off one of its horns, which he later imbued with the magical capability of dispensing great quantities of food and drink to whoever desired them--the Cornucopia a goat's horn overflowing with fruit, flowers, and grain, also called horn of plenty or whatever its owner desired. Typhon was defeated by Athena's thunderbolts made by Hephaestus, and used by Zeus to slay the giant, and thrown into Tartarus (below Hades where the Titans were; hell). Typhon and his cohorts were buried alive under Sicilys most active volcano, Mount Etna, and are still struggling to escape . Aries the ram, the Greek name is Krios, which means The Lamb. Lupus was called Harpocrates , meaning Justice or, the Victim of Justice, or the Vindication of Majestic Law . Among the Romans, Harpocrates was known as the god of silence or quiet submission. This connection with Libra as the coming of Justice as the opposite of Aries. From the White Goddess Robert Graves page 275 ...Egypto-Byblian myth that the Goddess Isis (Moon-goddess, or Hathor, or Astarte) hid her child Horus, or Harpocrates, from the rage of the asseared Sun-god Set..., which was astronomically ruled by the Dog Sirius and the two Asses (in Cancer). One, King Athamas of Thessaly had two children, Phrixus and Helle, by his first wife (Nephele, meaning the Cloud.), who died while they were still young. When Athamas remarried his new wife hated the children. The spirit of Nephele comes and warns them that they are going to be killed and to flee Asia Minor. She provides them with a large lamb with Golden Fleece. They seat themselves on the back of the lamb and take off into the air across the water. Also the god Hermes took pity on the children and fashioned a magical ram , with wool of gold, to carry them to a land of safety. When the ram appeared to the children leaped on its back, and the ram flew into the sky, heading east. Helle, the girl-child, loses her hold upon the lamb's (ram's) back and falls off into the sea and drowns. This is known as Helles Sea, or Hellespont: now known as the Dardanelles . But now we see that Phrixus, continues across the sea and reaches the city of Colchis, where he found refuge with King Aetes, and is saved by this lamb with the Golden Fleece. Nepheles lamb was sacrificed to Zeus. Phrixus sacrificed the ram (of Hermes), and Aetes hung it in a grove guarded by a sleepless dragon. The Golden Fleece remained there until it was stolen by Jason and the Argonauts. Jason could not assume his throne unless he brought it back. He found it hung upon an oak in a great grove guarded by a horrible monster, which he slew with his sword. Argo Navis is the ship that carried the Greek warrior Menelaus , husband of Helen, home from the Trojan War and is also included the story of Jason, who sailed from Thessaly, Greece, to Colchis, on the Black Sea, in pursuit of the Golden Fleece.

For online publishing 1998 - original copyright 1995 -- The Alpha and the Omega, Volume I -- by Jim A. Cornwell Insert for Chapter One page 37 - file updated 6/26/98 -- Capricornus through Leo -Zeuss ever-jealous wife Hera (Roman Juno), was jealous of Alcmene and hated Hercules. Hera did various bad deeds to Hercules from his crib and through his life in revenge. Hera also hated Callisto and avenged this offense so the bears (Ursa Major and Ursa Minor ) were forced continually to circle the North Star, never allowed to set and rest beneath the ocean. She also taught Orion a lesson by sending a tiny scorpion to sting him. Callisto (possibly Demeter (Roman, Ceres)), a maiden desired by Zeus, was transformed into a bear by Hera, and almost killed by her hunting son Bootes (Greek for ox-driver or herdsman, and was the inventor of the plow), until she was rescued by Zeus, who took her into the heavens. Zeus lifted the bears into the sky by their tails and stretched them ( see Hercules) and placed the unfortunate bear in the sky as Ursa Major , the Great Bear along with her son, Arcas, who became the Little Bear, Ursa Minor . Arcturus (Arcas) the alpha star in Bootes, is Greek for guardian of the bear, a bear-keeper, leading the Hunting Dogs around the pole. Virgo ( Demeter or Ceres) the goddess of agriculture, harvest, justice, and daughter of Rhea (Roman Ops) and Cronus (Roman Saturn) and mother of Persephone (Roman Proserpina). Other references to Virgo were : Astraea was (Roman) for the goddess of justice. Athena (Greek) and Minerva (Roman) goddess of wisdom, war and the (practical) arts, invention and martial prowess. Typhon (also see Hydra) was defeated by Athena's thunderbolts, made by Hephaestus (Roman, Vulcan) and used by Zeus to slay the giant. Athena grabbed the dragon and flung it into the sky, where its body wound around the axis of the world, the celestial north pole. Athena gave Perseus her shield against Medusa and caught Pegasus for the Muses. Urania was the muse of astronomy [Latin Urania, from Greek Ourania, from ouranos, heaven]. Artemis (Greek) and Diana (Roman) the (virgin) goddess of hunting and childbirth and the Moon and twin sister of Apollo [Greek], fell in love with Orion and neglected her duties of lighting the night sky. Her fellow gods and goddess pleaded with her to no avail. Her brother, Apollo saw Orion bathing in the seas made the Sun shine so brightly that he became blur among the sparkling waves. Apollo called and challenged his sister to hit the black shape with her arrow which she did. Orions body later washed ashore, Artemis after realizing what she had done placed his body in the sky with his hunting dogs, and marked it with some very bright stars. Having slain her lover, she lost all interest in life which is why ever since the Moon has been cold and lifeless. Orion , the son of Poseidon, a famed hunter, who made boastful claims that no beast could kill him but Hera sent a tiny scorpion to sting him, which he smashed with his club after it had stung him fatally. Orion and the scorpion were placed in the heavens on opposite sides of the sky. If one sets the other rises and Orion to this day chases the Pleiades-- seven nymphs near the constellation Taurus, just as he chased them on Earth. The Pleiades were Alcyone, Merope, Celaeno, Asterope, Electra, Taygete , and Maia the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione and the half-sisters of the Hyades, who were sisters of Hyas, a great Hunter whose death they mourned. These nymphs were chosen by Zeus to care for his child Dionysus when that infants mother, Semele , was killed by the ever-jealous Hera, and thus placed them in the sky, first as pigeons and then into stars for gratitude for their service and pity for their grief, where they continue to weep for their brother. Calypso (daughter of Atlas) a sea nymph who delayed Odysseus on her island, Ogygia (an early name for Egypt), for seven years [Latin, from Greek Kalupso, from kaluptein, to conceal]. Taurus the wild bull , a form assumed by Zeus to carry his loved one, the beautiful Europa, across the seas to the island of Crete. Every year Minos , king of Crete, levied a tribute on Athens, requiring that the city-state send him seven each of its most beautiful maidens and youths to sacrifice to the Minotaur , the monster---half man, half bull--that lived beneath the palace of Knossos in the infamous Labyrinth, a maze from which no one could escape. Knossos (ancient city of northern Crete in the Bronze Age flourished from 2000 to 1400 B.C., also a site of the labyrinth of Daedalus. One year Theseus, son of the king of Athens, was to be sacrificed but Ariadne (daughter of Minos) fell in love and gave him a sword and a ball of string, which he unwound as he went into the Labyrinth, slew the Minotaur with the sword, and found his way out by following the string. Theseus fled Crete with Ariadne, and on their way to Athens the couple stopped at the island of Naxos, in the Aegean Sea and famous for Dionysian worship. Here Theseus abandoned Ariadne. The god Dionysus in human form but wearing a crown, found her (Ariadne) and he, too, fell in love. She refused to marry him, saying she was fed up with mortal men. Dionysus told her he was a god, but she did not believe him, which he took off his crown and flung it into the sky. There its jewels began to sparkle as stars, forming Corona Borealis , a tribute to Ariadne.

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Sagittarius known as the archer, and later came to be identified as a Centaur or Satyr, a woodland creature with pointed ears, legs, and short horns of a goat and a fondness for unrestrained revelry, commonly identified with Chiron, but he was a wise and benevolent creature, whereas Sagittarius is a more belligerent type, depicted with bow drawn, arrow aimed at Scorpius. Centaurus is said to be Chiron or Cheiron, smartest and wisest of his race, wiser even than the gods, who was skilled in the arts (music), hunting, and medicine, prophecy and was the tutor of Jason, Achilles Heracles, and Asclepius . Chiron who first fashioned the constellations and showed mankind how to read the sky and placed a picture of himself in the sky to guide the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece. Ara is the altar of the centaur Chiron or Dionysus (Roman Bacchus), the god of wine and of an orgiastic religion celebrating the power and fertility of nature, who often dressed in a lion skin associated with Leo. Legend suggests that Dionysus placed the Northern and Southern Asses in the Sign of Cancer. Chiron, created immortal, was accidentally wounded by Heracles with an arrow tipped in the venomous blood of the many-headed serpent Hydra. Although he could not die, he was in excruciating pain. He pleaded with the gods to release him from the torture of immortality and offered a bargain: his own life for the release of Prometheus , the Titan. Finally Zeus, chief among the gods, agreed and let Chiron die. (Similarity to Hercules and Nessus) On Hercules death; the beautiful maiden Deianeira was kidnapped by the centaur Nessus, but Hercules shot him with an arrow. Dying Nessus gave Deianeira a drop of his blood, telling her, untruthfully, that a touch of it would restore Hercules love if his affections ever strayed. Centaurs were heaven-begotten and born of the clouds; they were sons of the gods. But they were hated and abhorred by both gods and men. They were combated, driven to the mountains, and finally exterminated. Even Hebrews of Aaron drove the Anak in the hills. Perseus, a son of Zeus and the mortal Danae (a miracle birth--by a shower of gold descending on his mother), whose father, having been told by an oracle that his grandson would one day kill him, set Danae and Perseus adrift in a trunk. They were rescued by a fisherman of an island, whose king was Polydectes, who wished to court Danae, and to get Perseus out of the way he sent the youth to slay the Gorgons, three sisters (Stheno, Euryale, and the mortal Medusa who had snakes for hair and eyes that if (any mortal) looked into turned the beholder into stone). Their crime was defiling the temple of God, their long hair had been turned into serpents, skin was covered with impenetrable scales, with tusks like boars, yellow wings, brazen hands, and were very dangerous. Perseus armed with the wings of Hermes and the shield of Athena, averted Medusa's gaze and beheaded the only mortal Gorgon. When her blood dripped into the sea, the winged horse Pegasus sprang from the foam. Fleeing the other Gorgons, Perseus came upon King Atlas, who refused him aid. Glancing at the head of Medusa, Atlas turned into a mountain of stone and thereafter had to bear the weight of the heavens on his shoulders. Pegasus, Greek for Fountain Horse, is winged and flying through the heavens, born from the blood of Medusa and a messenger for the muses gladsome songs. Caught by Athena and brought to the Muses Mount Helicon, where, with a single kick he started the spring of Hippocrene flowing. Pegasus who helped and was befriended by the youth Bellerophon (Corinthian hero), who slayed the dreadful Chimera (Latin chimaera, Greek khimaira, chimera, she-goat), a fire breathing she-monster with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a dragon ( serpent). Bellerophon succumbing to the sin of hubris, and tried to ride Pegasus to Mount Olympus to join the gods. Zeus sent a gadfly to sting Pegasus, who bucked and threw Bellerophon, who plummeted to Earth and spent the rest of his days wandering, lame and blinded. Cepheus was the king of an ancient land called Aethiopia on the north coast of Africa. His daughter was Andromeda and wife and queen Cassiopeia, who was very boastful by claiming to be more beautiful than the Nereids, the sea nymphs (the 50 daughters of Nereus). The displeased nymphs complained to their father, Poseidon (Roman Neptune), who sent the sea monster Cetus to ravage Aethiopias coast. To save the country, Cepheus was instructed to sacrifice Andromeda. They chained her to a rock on the coast (near Joppa in Palestine) and left her to be devoured. In flight, Perseus on his way back from slaying Medusa looked down and saw Andromeda (the chained maiden) in trouble and swooped down just as Cetus was about to devour the princess. Telling Andromeda to shield her eyes, Perseus pulled the head of Medusa from his bag. When Cetus saw it, he turned to stone and sank. The hero Perseus (the Redeemer) saved the princess Andromeda from (the rock of enslavement) from Cetus (Satan), and she became his bride into the heavenly throne and had a son called Perses, whose name is thought to be the eponym for Persia. Later in life, Perseus, throwing the discus in an athletic contest, struck and killed a spectator, which turned out to be his grandfather. thus fulfilling the prophecy. Perseus means The Breaker.

For online publishing 1998 - original copyright 1995 -- The Alpha and the Omega, Volume I -- by Jim A. Cornwell Insert for Chapter One page 39 - file updated 6/26/98 -- Capricornus through Leo -Alcmene a princess and sister of Zeus, (Amphitryon's wife, who gave birth to Hercules after being seduced by Zeus.). Amphitryon a king of Thebes, ancient Mycenaean city of Boeotia the 400 B.C., the other city was in Upper Egypt on the Nile River from the mid-22nd to the 18th century B.C. for the worship of Amen. Draco the dragon slain by Cadmus (a Phoenician prince who killed a dragon and sowed its teeth, from which sprang up an army of men who fought one another until only five survived ) near the site on which he founded the city of Thebes. Hercules (Greek, Heracles) or Herakles, is connected with the Babylonian hero Gilgamesh or even Ophiuchus, the half-mortal son of Zeus and the princess Alcmene , and considered as one of "The Twins" of Gemini , Castor and Pollux. Hera sent serpents to kill the baby Hercules in his crib, but the child, with astonishing strength, managed to strangle them, and grew up to become the strongest of men. Hercules married Megara , a Theban princess. Hera made him become insane, and he burned his house, killing his wife and children. After recovering his sanity, he sought help from the oracle (prophetic deity, medium, oracle of Apollo) at Delphi around 700 B.C., which told him to serve his cousin Eurystheus, King of Argos (Bronze Age city) for 12 years or the famous Twelve Labors. First Labor-- Kill the Nemean Lion , with an impenetrable hide who fell from the Moon as a meteor and destroyed the valley of Nemea around Corinth, done by thrusting his arms down its throat and used it's Skin for armor. Origin of the lion in the sky as the constellation Leo. Second Labor-- Kill Hydra, a serpent with many venomous heads. Hercules cut off all but one head which was immortal and buried it under a stone. He dipped his arrows in Hydra's venom to make them fatally poisonous. Cancer is a crab sent by Hera to distract Hercules while fighting Hydra. Cancer nipped Heracles, who stepped on and killed it. Hera placed the animal in the sky. LEVIATHAN to the Ophitic cult of Gnostics it is a vast, encircling serpent, also linked to Tiamat of Mesopotamia and the Ophis serpent of the Egyptians, Biblically a monstrous sea creature [ Hebrew liwyatan, Canaanite itn, Lotan, the Hydra]. Third Labor--Capture a wild Boar in the Arcadian mountains and show it to Eurystheus. Fourth Labor--Capture a stag in the Arcadian mountains and show it to Eurystheus. Fifth Labor--Drive away the destructive birds that lived near Lake Stymphalus in Arcadia. Sagitta could be the arrow shot by Heracles at the Stymphalian Birds. Sixth Labor--Clean up the 30 years of dirty and neglected stables of King Augeus of Elis in one day. Hercules turned the Alpheus and Peneus river into the stalls. Augeas refused to pay him, and Hercules killed him. Seventh Labor--Catch the savage bull of Minos . Europa was a Phoenician princess abducted to Crete by Zeus, who had assumed the form of a white bull, and by him the mother of Minos (the King of Crete) , Rhadamanthus (judge of the underworld ), and Sarpedon (king of Lycia). Sarpendon is associated with characters from the Trojan War such as: Patroclus, Hector, Priam and Hecuba, Paris, Cassandra, Achilles of Homer's Iliad, Peleus, Aeacus, and Thetis . Eighth Labor--Capture the man-eating mares of King Diomedes (1200 to 1100 B.C. ) of Thrace, who he killed the king and fed him to the horses who then became gentle. Ninth Labor --Obtain the girdle of the Amazon queen, Hippolyta, which he killed and escaped with it. Tenth Labor--Went past the Pillars of Hercules (Strait of Gibraltar in Europe and Jebel Musa in North Africa the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea ) to get the cattle of the Geryon, a monster with three bodies slain by Hercules. Eleventh Labor--Carry the Apples of the Hesperides to Eurystheus, where he slew the three-headed snakelike monster and the dragon which guarded the golden apples. Hesperides were the ( nymphs) daughters of Atlas and Hesperus (Evening), lived at the western end of the world (in a garden) and guarded with a dragon the golden apples which Gaea (Earth ) gave to them. Twelfth Labor--Showed Ceberus (a three-headed dog guarding the entrance to Hades or the Lower World), to Eurystheus and returned it to the Lower World. The last three labors were ways of winning immortality, because Geryon and Ceberus represent Death, and the apples were the fruit of the Tree of Life. After his release from servitude the tireless Hercules accomplished many other noble deeds such as: killing the eagle that devoured the liver of the Greek Titan Prometheus (See Aquila the Eagle with Aquarius); Alcestis , the wife of King Admetus of Thessaly (1000 to 600 B.C. ), agreed to die in place of her husband but rescued from Hades by Hercules.

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Hercules death . He won the hand of the beautiful maiden Deianeira , who was kidnapped by the centaur Nessus, who Hercules shot with a (poisoned) arrow. Nessus upon dying told Deianira to save some of his blood to be used as a love charm. Later when Hercules fell in love with Iole. Deianira soaked Hercules robe in the blood which the poison ate away his flesh. Deianeria hanged herself because of her actions and Hercules in anguish incinerated himself in a funeral pyre, and was taken up into Olympus as one of the gods by his father, Zeus, then placed him in the sky. 3 Euboea also Evvoia an island of central Greece in the Aegean Sea east of the mainland that was settled by Ionian and Thracian colonists and was later controlled by Athens, Rome, Byzantium, Venice, and Turkey before becoming part of Greece in 1830, where Hercules received the injury that sent him to the pyre on Mount Oeta. Hercules was an Archer (Sagittarius) who had a bow in his hand like Nimrod.

The White Goddess Robert Graves page 261