Half Title Page (required) The Dying God Title Page (required) The Dying God The Hidden History of Western Civilization David Livingstone Copyright Page (required) All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2000 David Livingstone No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the publisher. Published by Writers Club Press For information, please contact: iUniverse.com 5220 South 16th Street Suite 200 Lincoln, NE 68512-1274 (Click here to input any legal disclaimers or credits, if any.) ISBN: 1-58348-XXX-X Printed in the United States of America Table of Contents (optional) Introduction Chapter 1: The Sons of God Chapter 2: Venus Chapter 3: Baal Chapter 4: Hercules Chapter 5: Prometheus Chapter 6: Dionysus Chapter 7: Apollo Chapter 8: Enoch Chapter 9: Mithras Chapter 10: Logos Chapter 11: Thoth Chapter 12: Seth Chapter 13: Idris Chapter 14: Metratron Chapter 15: Baphomet Chapter 16: Percival Chapter 17: Hermes Chapter 18: Hiram Chapter 19: Lucifer Introduction (optional) Western Civilization Few would acknowledge, given the state of our society’s technological advance, that our understanding of history could be significantly inaccurate. The problem is that, due to a general lack of knowledge of the accomplishments of other civilizations, the history of Western civilization, presumed to have begun in Greece, progressed through Rome and culminated in modern Europe and America, is confused with the history of the world. While certain achievements are recognized for other cultures, the West is believed to have not only dominated modern history, but all of history, and therefore, has been the single greatest contributor of the accomplishments that have benefited mankind. Ultimately, Western values are presumed to have demonstrated their efficacy, and though the rest of the world is in possession of the potential to equal the West, it is yet mired in a more primitive stage of evolution, and consequently, it is supposed it must adopt Western ideologies and strategies in order to mirror our accomplishments. However, our concept of “Western” civilization is the product of a need to create a specifically European version of history, resulting from a number prejudices that have plagued scholarship since the eighteenth century. Though, it has been so readily adopted that most scholars have largely failed to address its fundamental misconceptions. As Nicholas Campion describes: It was during the eighteenth century, when the Enlightenment began rewriting the past to justify their view of the present, that deliberate exaggeration crept into the story. Increasingly, the debt that Europe owed to other cultures, chiefly the Egyptian, was devalued, and even the Greek’s own opinion that they had learnt much from the Egyptian priests was dismissed as harmless fantasy. By the mid-nineteenth century a myth had been created that Greek culture had developed out of nowhere as a consequence of some peculiar inherent collective genius. It was thought that this existed in almost total isolation from its neighbours and owed nothing to any other eastern Mediterranean culture. 1 Essentially, Western scholars have committed the error of interpreting the past in terms of the West’s own particular experience, that is, with Christianity. Having contributed to a doubt of the validity of the Bible account, science, or intellectual thought, came to be regarded as the method by which humanity rids itself of superstition. In addition, as a result of having theorized that nature is subject to a process of evolution towards higher forms, it was surmised that evolution takes place in all fields of human endeavor. Therefore, although progress can be demonstrated to take place only in technology, human intellectual thought was also deemed to be governed by a process of evolution. Thus, if the Greeks were our ancestors, then Greek philosophy must have been the birth of critical thought, regarded as the first rejection of religion. These traditions were then perpetuated by the Romans, before taking hold of modern Europe. Although early advancements took place at the time of the Crusades, it was not until the Renaissance, that a further rejection of religious superstition, and a revival of classical learning, led to the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century. It was then that new ideals of rights and freedoms were born, culminating in both the American and French Revolutions, the creation of a new system of government, and the final separation between Church and State. However, the supposed link between Greece and the “West” is an artificial one. Rather, the Greeks and Romans had never acknowledged any sort of racial affiliation with the northern tribes that would later comprise modern Europe, but referred to them collectively as “barbarians”, a term applied equally to the Persians and Egyptians. Instead, an attempt to more correctly present the past will reveal that those movements considered characteristic of Western civilization underwent a course significantly different from the one commonly touted. Rarely related by modern historians, it was Babylon that created those traditions that so impressed the Greeks. Moreover, the inhabitants of Europe had long been mired in barbarism, and though modern Europe certainly inherited much from classical civilization, it was by way of the Arabs, who erected a brilliant civilization and continued the traditions of the Greeks and the Romans, that were responsible for their final introduction to the West. As outlined by historian Jean Bottero: For if we discuss our civilization not as partisans but as anthropologists, and especially as historians, we see it gather and encompass not only the Greco-Latins, the heirs of Christianity, but also the Muslim world; in other words, almost the entire Arab world. A multitude of peoples, here and there, share too many concepts, values, principles, rational and emotional reactions, too may identical parameters, for us not to group them all, beyond their otherwise secondary divergences, under the heading of a single and same civilization, that is, our own: theirs as well as ours! Slowly but surely, and above all through its technological innovations – but everything comes out of that! – our civilization is well on the way to conquering the world. This does of course raise serious issues, not only for others but for ourselves, as well, especially in relation to others. Thus we have an additional reason to look at our civilization very closely once again and to attempt to form a just notion of it by witnessing its birth and the way in which it developed.2 More accurately, European civilization is no more than four hundred years old. Although certain preliminary achievements took place during the Renaissance, it was not until the eighteenth century that the coalescence of a distinct European civilization truly took place. And, though the West has certainly contributed to a number of remarkable accomplishments, essentially, the myth of “Western” history has fostered the delusion whereby Europeans and Americans have come to believe themselves as representing the pinnacle of human achievement. Ultimately, they have failed to recognize that they continue to be tinged by certain traits of the barbarism from which have they barely emerged, including the continuing existence of monarchies, nationalism, institutionalized racism, the degradation of women, etc. The primary cause of the distortion of history by Western scholarship has its origin in the nationalistic tendencies of the eighteenth century. That century marked the emergence of Europe as a world power. Prior to that, Europe had merely been a collection of insignificant rivaling chiefdoms, whose very existence was threatened by the immense and expanding Ottoman Empire. Though, with the drastic advancement of Europe’s military capabilities, the advance of the Turks was checked. These successes gave rise to a new nationalistic spirit, for no longer would Europe regard itself as lying on the outskirts of the world stage, but began to recognize itself as a powerful member, and even a significant contributor, to the course of history. Europe would no longer have to seek elsewhere for examples of high civilization, but now felt itself qualified to live by its own discernment. Consequently, during the eighteenth century, known as the Enlightenment, European culture began to achieve its own particular outlines. The Enlightenment was also marked by a questioning of the legitimacy of Christianity, with recent scientific discoveries having cast doubt on the validity of the Bible account of creation. In addition, the new nationalistic tendencies among Europeans led to a rise in anti- Semitic sentiments, leading scholars to reject the Jewish version of history, with which they have been thoroughly indoctrinated, seeking instead to create a specifically European account of the past. Inevitably, as Europeans surveyed the pageant of history, they were forced to acknowledge that, while the various great civilizations of the world had flourished, the Germanic and Celtic tribes that would eventually comprise modern Europe, were mired in a barbarism from which they would not emerge until the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, fueled by an obstinate nationalism, Europeans denied their essential absence from history, and, by grossly misinterpreting the facts, artificially created an ancient past, placing themselves far back in time, as far back as the beginning of human history, and in the ranks of the great civilizations. By inventing the myth of an Aryan race, European historians contrived the notion that the same racial component had been responsible for the birth of the civilizations of the Greeks and Romans, as well as that of the modern Europeans and Americans, and thus fabricated the myth of “Western” history, by excluding the contrbution of other civilizations. Chapters or other Divisions (required) Please copy and paste this page as many times as necessary based on your number of chapters before you begin to input.