Europe is named after a descendant of Io’s who was called, "Europa." The myth of Europa can be found in any book of Greek Mythology, and has been well known for almost 3000 years. Can anything new be learned from it? No, but oddly enough, we can still learn something old, from it. Let us begin by examining the name itself. The name Europa, is a feminized form of the same Hebrew name that comes to us through Biblical sources, in it’s masculine Latin form, "Jeroboam." I learned this, when I compared two maps of the same city in Syria, one map had the city labeled, "Jerablus," while the other had it as, "Europos" (look up "Carchemish" in the Jewish Encyclopedia). It occurred to me that this was a perfectly reasonable transliteration, and that both names were one and the same.
King Jeroboam, the first king of the northern ten tribes of Israel, is mentioned often in the Bible, unfortunately his name usually follows after the phrase, "the sins of..." This is because Jeroboam was infamous for reintroducing the worship of god in the form of a bull, and calves were set up as images of god’s savior, these constituted the "sins of Jeroboam" (1KI 12:26 -28). This tendency toward tauropomorphism, began at the Exodus, when Israel’s agent of deliverance, (legends say it was Michael the Archangel) was overwhelmingly agreed, by the very witnesses of the event, to have been a calf, of whom they built a golden image. This was an idol, not of God, but of the son of god, and they sang these words as they danced around it, "This is your god oh Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." Regardless of the efforts of Moses, Jeroboam’s Israel adored God in the form of a bull.
Israel was regularly personified as a maiden (An example scripture referring to the Virgin Israel as lost amongst the nations can be found at Jer. 31:21 "Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities."). The Virgin Israel was beloved by God and betroth to Him. But the Israel of Jeroboam, went whoring after foreign gods, in the specific case of Jeroboam it was God as a bull. It becomes obvious that, to some, the archetypical personification of Israel was known by a feminized version of King Jeroboam’s name, "Europa." The evidence for this identification is overwhelming. Europa got carried away adoring god in the form of a bull as well, and both the Virgin Israel and the maiden Europa, were from Phoenicia (Otherwise known as the land of Canaan, Phoenicia occupied the same place as Israel. Gen. 17:8). The resulting, "loss among the nations," occurred in both cases, from the same place, and for the same reason. Does it surprise us to think that this story, (which included a promise by God to his People who were dispersed amongst the nations,) may have, in ancient times, received a wider distribution, than to be stored away on some Temple scroll and only be known, eventually, through the Bible? In fact the story was far famed, as we might have known.
The Greek myths tell us that Europa had a son who ruled over the Island of Crete, his name was Minos. If Europa be from Jeroboam, and the Cretans spoke Western Semitic, (the same language as the land of Canaan) which they did, then I’ll bet "Minos," is the same name as "Manasseh." In fact one wonders indeed, if there wasn’t a bit of confusion between the stories of the Cretan, King Minos, and the later Judean, King Manasseh. How many other kings, from this same area, with the same name, were famous for sacrificing youths to a bull headed god? (Minotaur, Manasseh’s Torah? is Manasseh an alternate version of the name Moses? as in Judges, chapter 18, Verse 30, if so, then perhaps the Minotaur was blasphemously named for the Law of Moses.) Thus it seems likely that the "Minoan" civilization was named for the son of Joseph, Manasseh. Of course Crete is not the only place that was peopled with the family of Europa, and evidence of Hebrew influence can be found throughout Greek Mythology.
This series of coincidences about Europa is impressive enough without mentioning this other weird point, which was the fact that Israel was prophesied to be regathered by an heir to the throne, and returned to her homeland in the last days. (Isa. 11;10-12) But, this famous promise, must be cited here as additional evidence that Europa is Israel, because this hopeful prophecy is also coincidental to the "myth." The Greek myth asserts that the true heir to the throne was sent to find the lost Europa, and he was told not to return until he could bring her back. He didn’t return, and he hasn’t found her yet, down to this very day. (unless he’s reading this, in which case he is finding her just now.)
Cadmus the Heir and Brother of Europa
Consider the Myth of the heifer Io (whom I have identified as the "Jew"). Although the story of Io must have been in existence in one form or another, since the Exodus, (parts of her story belong to the days of Abraham, but most of it, is the story of Hermes Argiophontes, her serpent stick carrying deliverer, the messenger of god, the Greek version of Moses who delivers the Jews, god’s earthly wife from her bondage on eagles wings at the Exodus) there is no doubt that the version of her story which has come down to us, did not receive it’s final form, until after her descendant Cadmus came to Greece. We know this, because the story incorporates the use of the Alphabet within it’s body, for Io was able to spell her name in the sand with her cow hoof. (This part of the story relies upon the fact that the Greek "I" was just a "Jot," and the letter "o," resembles a hoof print.) She was thereby identified when she returned home after her extensive "wanderings." This detail limits the Greek antiquity of Io’s story, until about 850 BC. when the Greeks first began to use the Alphabet. But, this was a Phoenician story that was brought to Greece at a later date, generations after these events actually occurred, and the Phoenicians knew about the founding of Argos already for years back home, because, they were Israelites and the city of Argos was a colony of Hebron, also it was they who had an alphabet which Io could spell, the Hebrew alphabet.
No one doubts that the Hebrew alphabet was used in Greece, but it seems to me, calling it "Phoenician," is a bit misleading. If Moses, famous for his writings, wrote anything, then it is logical to assume him to be the oldest known user of this alphabet. The Greeks, in keeping with the identification of Moses with Hermes, credit Hermes as the inventor of the alphabet. Cadmus is accredited with bringing the alphabet of Hermes, from Phoenicia to Greece, but, not until about 850 BC. It’s easy to dismiss all myths in a group as fairy tales, but Cadmus was not a god, he was a man who is famous for doing something which really happened, others who lived within a few hundred years of him speak of Cadmus as an actual historic personage. He came to Greece with a colony and was considered to be the founder of Thebes, a quite well known city in Boeotian Greece, which was even called "Cadmea," after him.
While there seems to have been a real Cadmus, it is, as if a very familiar religious doctrine, has gotten attached to him. This symbolism is not dissimilar to that used scripturally of David, who had an actual historical existence, and also is to have an expected messianic one (Eze.37:21-24; "… I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: … And David my servant shall be king over them; …" Note David’s "expected" role in the return of Israel.). The role of Cadmus in the story about the return of Europa, foreshadows a type of Christian Messiah, accordingly he is made to perform a series of tasks, which are obviously designed to fulfill many key Messianic prophecies ("Acts 13:22,23; ". . . I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will. Of this man's seed hath God ‘according to his promise’ raised unto Israel a Savior, Jesus: "). Just as it is in the case of the future "David" so it is in the case of Cadmus that these tasks were, perhaps, more "expected," of him than were actually "performed" by him.
"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die. The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?" (John 12:32-34). Cadmus destroys the serpent by transfixing it to a tree, thus, "lifting it up." "And as Moses ‘lifted up’ the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:" (John 3:14) "Why, Cadmus, why stare at the Snake you’ve slain? You too shall be a Snake and stared at." (Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.28). ("And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he ‘looketh upon’ it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he ‘beheld’ the serpent of brass, he lived." Numbers 21:8,9 "they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and ‘stare’ upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture." Psalm 22:16-18), and "nailing it to the tree" ("Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;" Col. 2:14) Hidden in the cave there dwelt a Snake, . . . and between its triple rows of teeth its three-forked tongue flickered. ... Agenorides [Cadmus] pressed on and drove the firm-lodged lance deep in the creature’s gullet, till an oak blocked its retreat and Snake and oak were nailed together." (Ovid, Metamorphoses 3. 27 ff.) The transfixed serpent, with it’s triple tongue, and it’s triple row of teeth, would appear, to a Christian, as the law (with it’s triple format, commandments, judgments, and ordinances) fulfilled ("Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." Mt. 5:17).
In this act, the myths have Cadmus winning a nation, a kingdom, and a bride. In reading about his wedding banquet to his new bride Harmonia, which all the gods attended, one cannot help but be reminded, of the long awaited, "marriage feast of the Lamb." The nation he won was of "sown men," the "Sparti," which grew from the destroyed serpent’s teeth, which were scattered upon the earth. ("Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel." Eze. 11:17) Leaving the Sparti in Greece, Cadmus goes to the Northwest, into Europe proper, where they make him King, in the land of the Enchelians, (Angels? Angles, or English?) where, in the end, he and Harmonia, never really die but are instead Miraculously translated. "Cadmus . . . overcome by sorrow and his train of troubles and so many warning signs, he left the city, Thebae, . . . with his pilgrim wife, after long wanderings reached Illyria. And now, . . . Cadmus said ‘Was that a sacred Snake my spear transfixed . . . ? If it is he the jealous gods avenge with wrath so surely aimed, I pray that I may be a Snake . . .’ Even as he spoke he was a snake . . ." (Ovid, Metamorphoses 4. 565) See what Euripides has to say about the fate of Cadmus "Cadmus, hear what suffering Fate appoints for you. You shall transmute your nature, and become a serpent. . . . Zeus foretells that you, at the head of a barbaric horde, shall with your wife drive forth a pair of heifers yoked, and with your countless army destroy many cities; . . . However, Ares shall at last deliver both you and Harmonia, and grant you immortal life among the blessed gods." (Euripides, Bacchae 1357) Take note that the Christian Messiah at his death fulfills prophecy by becoming like the snake in the wilderness and that this prophecy was apparently known to the ancient Greeks who told the "myth" of Cadmus.
Consider the account of the Gephyraei from "Histories" book 5, Pages 57-61 by Herodotus, (the words in the brackets are mine,); "57. Now the Gephyraei, … according to their own account were originally descended from Eretria; [could Herodotus here have gotten Eretria, a Greek city, confused with Eritria, a land on the Egyptian shore of the Red Sea?] but as I find by carrying inquiries back, they were Phoenicians of those who came with Cadmus to the land which is now called Boeotia, and they dwelt in the district of Tanagra, which they had had allotted to them in that land. Then after the Cadmeans had first been driven out by the Argives, these Gephyraei next were driven out by the Boeotians and turned then towards Athens: and the Athenians received them on certain fixed conditions to be citizens of their State, laying down rules that they should be excluded from a number of things not worth mentioning here. 58. Now these Phoenicians who came with Cadmus, of whom were the Gephyraei, brought in among the Hellenes many arts when they settled in this land of Boeotia, and especially letters, which did not exist, as it appears to me, among the Hellenes before this time; and at first they brought in those which are used by the Phoenician race generally, but afterwards, as time went on, they changed with their speech the form of the letters also. During this time the Ionians were the race of Hellenes who dwelt near them in most of the places where they were; and these, having received letters by instruction of the Phoenicians, changed their form slightly and so made use of them, and in doing so they declared them to be called "Phoenician," as was just, seeing that the Phoenicians had introduced them into Hellas. … 59. I myself too once saw Cadmean characters in the temple of Ismenian Apollo at Thebes of the Boeotians, engraved on certain tripods, and in most respects resembling the Ionic letters: one of these tripods has the inscription, "Me Amphitryon offered from land Teleboian returning:" this inscription would be of an age contemporary with Laius the son of Labdacus, the son of Polydorus, the son of Cadmus. 60. Another tripod says thus in hexameter rhythm: ‘Me did Scaios offer to thee, far-darting Apollo, Victor in contest of boxing, a gift most fair in thine honor:’ now Scaios would be the son of Hippocoon (at least if it were really he who offered it, and not another with the same name as the son of Hippocoon), being of an age contemporary with Oedipus the son of Laius: 61. and the third tripod, also in hexameter rhythm, says: ‘Me Laodamas offered to thee, fair-aiming Apollo, He, of his wealth, being king, as a gift most fair in thine honor:’ now it was in the reign of this very Laodamas the son of Eteocles that the Cadmeans were driven out by the Argives and turned to go to the Enchelians; and the Gephyraei being then left behind were afterwards forced by the Boeotians to retire to Athens. Moreover they have temples established in Athens, in which the other Athenians have no part, and besides others which are different from the rest, there is especially a temple of Demeter Achaia and a celebration of her mysteries."
Could the word "Gephyraei" be a mere transliteration of the word "Hebrew" in this case? The two words are similar enough phonetically, but they also have a similar meaning. We are told by the Hebrew scholars themselves that the root of the term Hebrew, "eber" refers to the idea that they had "passed over," presumably the river Euphrates. While the word "gephyra" is the usual Greek term for a bridge, i.e. "that which crosses over a river." Furthermore, the Latin term for a bridge is "pons" which takes on the combining form of "pont" in words like pontifex (bridge maker) and, pontoon (floating bridge). The Latins referred to things Phoenician as "Punic" and there is speculation that it was the land of Phoenicia that the ancient Egyptians called, the land of "Punt." Therefore one may fairly wonder if the term Phoenician itself isn't somehow related to the terms Hebrew and Gephyraei in the sharing of their meaning, i.e. to cross over. (hyper) These "Gephyraei" had expected their messiah, whom they had idealized as the Cadmean/Theban culture hero Cadmus, to nail the serpent to the tree. And, in fact, to become that serpent at his own death. Now, don’t get me wrong I don’t mean to say that Christ copied Cadmus, my intent is to show that the Messianic prophecies were extant among the ancient Greeks because the Greeks were actually transplanted Hebrews, and that these prophecies were known hundreds of years before the life of Jesus.
While Cadmus peopled Europe the Sparti remained in Greece, where they left many descendants, and worshipped Cadmus as a hero, with shrines. One famous, such hero shrine of Cadmus, was located in the Greek nation of Sparta, on the Laconian coast, and was maintained by the Spartans (sown ones), even down to the days of the Jewish high priests Onias, and Jonathan. As reported by Josephus, and recorded in Rabbinical writings, Onias and the Spartans, wrote to each other, and both recognized the Spartans as lost Israelites.
-John R. Salverda
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