Introductory Essay 12

Have We Discovered the Precursor of the Crucifix?

We have long known that the “god on the cross” is an ancient motif far older than Christianity. So is this the first known representation of this concept? Is this the first Crucifix?

Pictured adjacent is one of the remarkably well preserved ancient items found at a site named Gobekli Tepe in Turkey near the Syrian boarder. See http://www.smithsonianmag.com/multimedia/photos/?c=y&articleID=30706129&page=6

The possible near unmentionable nature of this object is that what we see here is the first know representation of what has become known as the crucifix, or the sacred veneration of the “god on the cross.” Here are all the elements, the cross shape of the structure and a figure placed upon it seeming to be hanging in possible joy or anger or possibly in pain.

However, this find dates back to some 9800-10,000 years before Christ and is just one of the many dramatic discoveries at the place that archeologist are now calling “the world’s oldest temple.” This “cross” is among many objects referred to as “t’s” by those conducting the investigation of the site, only first uncovered in 2007. All the “t’s” seem to have some form of symbolic representation carved on structures (images, totems, possible pre-writing). They have been laid out in what appears to be great circles similar to a “henge” such as Stonehenge. However, this one object pictured above appears to be the only “true cross” figure at the site, at least revealed to the public as of yet.

The finding of Gobekli Tepe and the determining it as a site of worship, and one that was sacred for millennia, is having shock wave effects on our understanding of the past. Historians are saying Gobekli Tepe changes our entire conception of how civilization came about. However, some of the findings must also call into question our entire understanding of modern religions and how they came about as well; particularly this one object found that closely resembles the Catholic symbol of the crucifix.

We clearly have evidence through ancient Persian and Phoenicians and particularly ancient Egyptian religions, tracing a symbol like the crucifix back long before the time of Christ, but now we see the possibility of tracing the sign all the way back to the very foundations of religion, or at least the latest find that currently mark what we think may be the foundation of religion. (or at least now placed through Gobekli Tepe as almost 10,000 years before the traditionally stated time of Christ.)

Now some would immediately say .

• This just must be coincidental and there can be no relationship between this object and the Christian crucifix. This is not a man upon the cross but an animal, and clearly a lion. And besides was not the model of the cross as the symbol of Christianity developed based on the Roman execution of Christ in a standard Roman means of killing in the time of Christ; nailed on a cross?

And at first glance, and with limited understanding of the belief systems and capacities of the Ancients, their points could be valid. However, in looking at this object from the possible view of the Ancients, the connection can be made, since after all, to the Ancients the sky was the best the source for a great deal of knowledge and this object could directly be linked to the worship of the sky. (The sky also seems to have been the best form of entertainment around and became the basis for many of their legends, which led to the basis of religion.)

To understand the possible connection between this object and the Christian symbol, we must have an understanding of the concepts of Archaeoastronomy (also spelled archeoastronomy) which according to Wikipedia “is the study of how people in the past “have understood the phenomena in the sky, how they used phenomena in the sky and what role the sky played in their culturest” see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeoastronomy Archaeoastronomy projects that the Ancients spent great deal of time concentrating on the heavens and knew a great deal about the movement of the sky, especially in relationships to the rising of the sun in relationship to the stars at the times of the solstices. The most famous location that shows the Ancients studied the skies is the already mentioned Stonehenge in the United Kingdom.

• We have finally come to understand ourselves that Stonehenge is a site designed to measure the year and determine when the solstices will occur. It is now projected by many historians that the occurrence of the solstice was the cornerstone of the religion of the people of the time.

In recent years dozens of smaller and large “circles” have been found across Europe and West Asia, and they too are now also recognized as “henges” or ancient astrological observatories

The Archaeoastronomy field clearly states that the ancients knew a great deal more about the sky then just the annual calendar, including what we today call the “Great Year” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Year This “year” is what we know as the 26,000 year or so (more precisely some 25,765 year) cycle where the solstices seems to pass through “ages” or “houses of the sky” spending some 2000 year in one “astrological house” and then the next, seemingly to pass in retrograde through the twelve great constellations. The affect as observed on the Earth (or at least the northern part of the Earth) is in fact accurate and real, and the apparent movement does occur, but not based on the “movement of the stars” but based on our different view of the heavens from Earth caused by the slight wobble that in involved in the Earth’s rotation.

The fact that the Ancients did know this cycle is quite amazing. We have written records of the Babylonians division of the sky into eighteen “houses” from some 4,000 years ago, and the tracking of the movement of many events, including the solstice and comets “through the houses”.

• It should be noted that the modern “twelve houses” based on major constellations were all present in the Babylonian construct, its just they added a few more “houses” by dividing some of the constellations a bit more than the more “modern” reading of the sky, first developed by the Greeks. Therefore, within the Babylonian astrology, there was an Aries, and a Taurus and also a Leo, et al.

Archeoastronomy researchers have shown that many of thy Ancients were fully aware of the long drawn out “migration” of the Great Year and were able to establish means even prior to writing of passing the knowledge along to one generation after the next.” The Mayan calendar is perhaps the most famous manifestation of these people’s knowledge of the “Great Year”; but “the year” was clearly observed and felt important by a great many cultures all over the Northern Hemisphere. There are over three hundred known ancient and relatively modern cultures that seemed to been somewhat independently aware of the “Great Year” and this cycle had major influence on their cultural myths and “universal understanding.

• Most of these societies saw the time of transition between “houses” of the solstice as a time of great social and political change, the ending of one age and the beginning of the next. (Thus the dire predictions of the near future based on the Mayan recognition of the end of one age and the beginning of another and based on our names for the sky bodies, the ending of the age of Pisces and the beginning of the Aquarian age.)

The supposed time of Christ, was precisely one of those time, as the “month” of Aries (the ram) of the Great Year was ending, and the age of Pisces (the fish) was beginning.

• Here is possible the origin of some of Christ’s titles “the Lamb of God”, and the basis of his “disciples” as the “fisher of men.”

In addition, for the first two hundred plus years of the Christian movement, the symbol of the religion was not the cross, but the fish or Pisces. The switch to the cross only came as the Christians incorporated the symbols and festivals of the rival religions, especially the symbols of many sun god religions, as a means of gaining followers without denouncing existing practices. For example the 25th of December had longed been celebrated as the birth day of several key gods, including Mithras and the Sol Invictus (the all conquering sun) and in the mid third century CE, became the day to celebrate the birth of the Christ..

And once in power, the “new” Church seeing giving power to the stars undermined the power of the one and only god (and his son and holy spirit, did all it could to break up astrology and the knowledge of the Ancients in this area; as did Islam in land they conquered. Thus much of our understanding of what the Ancients knew in this area and how it affected their religions was lost to us more moderns.

• It is in this lost understanding that lays the major connection between the Christ figure on the Cross or the Lamb of God on the cross at the ending of the age of Aries, and the lion on the Cross at Gobekli Tepe, for the time of Gobekli Tepe was clearly in the age of the “month” of Leo, who’s symbol is the lion.

If we accept that the Ancients had a great understanding of the transition of the sky”, then it would not be difficult to see that the veneration of the lion at the time of Gobekli Tepe as something possible or even expected; just as the lamb was the object of veneration in its age and the bull in Taurus.

• Archeoastronomy shows that much of the major religious activities and symbolism in the Ancient world was focused on the sky and in particular events connected to the “Great Year.”

One of the most accepted connection is the prime symbol of one of the great rivals of Christianity; Mithraism. The savior god Mithras is portrayed killing the bull (representing the end of the “Month of Taurus” and the beginning of the “Age of Aries.”) The focus on the bull as the sacred animal during what would have been the age of Taurus is well documented among many cultures of that time, and so was the transition of having the new focus of sacrifice and veneration become the lamb or sheep during the two thousand years leading up to the time of Christ. (As, perhaps represented by the story of the conflict over the golden calf during the Exodus process. In addition the Greek story of Theseus killing the Minotaur may also be related to the ending of the Age of Taurus.)

Mithras is always depicted looking away as he slays the bull. This is thought to represent him looking into the next age (Aries) while ending the previous (Taurus). This seems to place the foundation of Mithraism around 2000 BCE, We can trace him back to that time period through the Indian god Mitra, and in ancient writings of Mesopotamia in 1500 BCE, and legendary struggle with bull fits into the transition period between Taurus and Aries.

It also fits into the great epic poem of the time Gilgamesh, in which the hero must confront the “great bull of Heaven.”

In addition, part of the Mithraic liturgy was something so close to Christianity it becomes clear that much was taken from this religion by the Christians besides the birth date of the savior. For the rituals of Mithras included

• “He who will not eat of my body, nor drink of my blood, so that he may be one with me and I with him, shall not be saved.”

Again, Gobekli Tepe, this site of worship, as it is being projected to be, has rocked the world of history. No one thought that such sophisticated art and design as well as symbolic representation possible for the time period (some 2-3,000 years before the rise of agriculture and some 6000 years before the “pyramid age” of Egypt ) These people were still in the hunter-gathers stage of development yet created and maintained Gobekli Tepe for millennia and appear to have had an extensive religious process and surplus enough to supported both an artisan and priestly caste. No historian really thought such a thing possible prior to the rise of agriculture. Yet here it is. (How much more will be found in the 90% of the site not yet excavated?)

This site is just one of dozens of places found in the last decade that has forced us to greatly reconsider our conception of both the rise of civilization and also of religion. Catalhoyuk, a prehistoric settlement 300 miles from Gobekli Tepe was among the first of these great new finds that began to restructure our thinking of the past. When it was first found most archeologist and historians were shocked from the dating the site to about 7000 BCE, and Catalhoyuk was labeled as the “first city.” But now, only a decade or so later Gobekli Tepe is found and we are pushing things back some 3000 years more. In addition archeologists have found “settlements” in Israel that have been dated back to some 12,000 BCE. But no site found as yet in this new round of discovery is so well preserved as Gobekli Tepe; nor, no other site is filled with such spectacular works of art.

The reason for the preservation is also amazing. It appears that after a few thousand years the site was abandoned, but only after a “proper burial;” the evidence suggests that he people who had used the site (or the latest generation of those using the site), covered up the whole area. This respectful preservation of the centers of worship has provided us with a location untouched by war and looting and in an almost pristine condition; the site looks almost as it did at the time of its use.

• Here again based on the premise of Archeoastronomy we can speculate why the site was abandoned. For after several thousand years of use the site was no longer aligned with the “sky”, and therefore lost its importance. However, since it was sacred for so long, the people buried it well.

With this back ground and with some better understanding of Archeoastronomy, we can again ask the central question of this piece; can one of these “t’s” at Gobekli Tepe really be the initial Crucifix? Since there is no writing and only speculation upon the meaning of all the various finds and symbols, it is difficult to fully say. However, we can lay down the foundation for the speculation by recognition of the knowledge of the ancients of the sky and its “movements” even at this early date; something not considered possible, that is prior to the finding of Gobekli Tepe. If we need to reconsider our concepts, why not look at if the lion on the cross as really a “god on the cross” or if not the origins of the “god on the cross” so sacred to so many religions.

And based on what we have know from the past, the speculation about the lion on the cross is far from groundless, for example we know that the symbol of the cross and more particularly the “god on the cross” was not originated by the Christians, and is very ancient.

• According to J.C. Cooper, An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols, p.45, , “Cross–A universal symbol from the most remote times; it is the cosmic symbol par excellence.”

Through the Sumerian deity Dumuzi, and as he was later known in the Akkadian and Babylonian pantheon as Tammuz, we see the cross as a sacred symbol in some of the most early civilizations. Some very ancient art shows this god portrayed in a fashion that looks more like a late Roman Catholic Bishop, carrying a cross; although the piece is dated back some 3-4000 years before Christ.

In addition, the process of worship of this god included the use of water to place a cross on the forehead of the worshiper and festivals similar to Easter.

The resurrection of Tammuz was celebrated in an annual lamentation that involved washing with water and anointing with oil.

Also this ancient religion included a hope for resurrection for all persons not just the god.

‘When those who lament, men and women, come up with him to me,’ said one Akkadian text, ‘may the dead arise and smell the incense.’

And we know the rituals were practiced well into Biblical times for we read in the Old Testament.

The annual lamentation of Tammuz is described by the ancient Hebrews in the Old Testament: ‘Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord’s house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz’ (Ezekiel 8:14). http://www.control-z.com/czp/pgs/descending17.html

We also know that well before the Jesus story, there were literally some dozen or more gods who representations have been found in a form completely similar to the image or Christ on the cross, some dating back at least 1500 years before the supposed time of Christ.

Presented here are just four of these ancient images: 

• The top left is Ba’al from Carthage, roughly 400 BCE
• The figure on the top right is a very ancient Egyptian image of Horus (at least 1500 BCE)
• First figure on lower left is the Greek God Bacchus from the 3rd

Century BCE

• The lower right figure is an Early Greek representation of the Sun (5th Century BCE)

Therefore, the whole story of the death of Christ as a new or even actual event and on based on Roman execution can be called into question (and has been for centuries by those in the later Roman world, then in the Age of Reason and now in modern times.) The story has been called by such as Thomas Paine, in the late 18th century “as a rehash of ancient myths” as has many classical writers and modern researchers. The only defense that the Christian Churches have given for the similarities to the Christ story and the other stories is that the Devil had created religions for “man” that would be so similar to the “true” story of Christ, to confuse “man” into not believing in the true savior.

We also know that the symbol of the cross was long considered in the Ancient world the sign for everlasting life, as is the promise of the crucified Jesus. We can trace both the symbols and the promise as far back as written language allows us to do (in Egypt and in Sumer.) and we have the folk myths that go back far greater into the past.

The worship of Horus is far older the Tammuz with the possible date for the origin of worship going back some 7-8000 years.

Horus was called: Resurrected One; ‘Iusa’, the ‘ever-becoming son’ of ‘P’tah’ or ‘the Father’; ‘the Way, the Truth and the Light’; ‘Messiah’; ‘Son of Man’; ‘Son of God’; ‘the Word’; ‘the Word made Flesh’; ‘Holy Child’; ‘God’s Anointed Son’; ‘Word of Truth’. Horus was called the ‘KRST’, or the ‘Anointed One’, long before the title was given to Jesus. . 
Osiris was called Lord of Lords, King of Kings, God of Gods; the Good Shepherd; the Resurrection and the Life; Eternity and Everlastingness; the god who “made men and women to be born again”. http://www.control-z.com/czp/pgs/descending17.html

And the key symbol of Horus the Egyptian cross called the Ankh, the symbol of “eternal life” see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankh. Speculation about its design include it being based on several different parts of a bull, which would possible align the creation of the cult to the beginning of the age of Taurus (about 4000 BC).

So we can trace back the cross and the hanging “god on the cross” back several millennia. Now we see at the site being called the first temple, Gobekli Tepe, numerous objects that seem to be the center piece of the structure what the archeologist are calling “t’s” and at least one that clearly looks like an outright cross. And on this cross is the representation of the astrological house in which the solstice of the time would have occurred. We have the right based on these facts to at least speculate that this new find that is challenging the time line of “civilization” should also challenge the origins of our religious symbols of today. .

Without written language or other means of knowing, it is clearly not possible to directly state that the “lion on the Cross” is the precursor of the “lamb of God on the cross” However, based on the long history of use of “gods on the cross,” dating back well before written language, and based on the concepts of Archaeoastronomy, the notion can not simple be written of, either. We need to consider what to some would be obvious and to some only coincidence as not only possible but possibly likely.

However, there is one clear step that could be taken to better determine the possible connection between the “lion on the cross” with the modern crucifix; conduct the research to determine if the openings to the circles at Gobekli Tepe are in fact inline with the solstice in the age or Leo.

This type of exam has been conducted for Stonehenge, and most of the other new henges discovered in recent years, all with positive findings for the alignment for the openings of the sites and the sky in the “age: they were constructed. No such test has been conducted at Gobekli Tepe as of yet. If and when it is done, and the findings do show an alignment with the age of Leo, it can go a long way towards explaining the abandonment of the site, the religion of the time, the knowledge of the people of the time, and if this “lion on the cross” was more of than a coincidence or really the new oldest representation of a “god on the cross” dating back some 10,000 years before Christ.