What is history? Who knows? Who has time to read? If only there were a way to learn about historical figures and events of significance through music and rap lyrics, like Hamilton, but with wit, humor, and bravado galore. If only. There are Epic Rap Battles on YouTube that concern themselves with history. Imagine seeing the battle LIVE.
Tickets on sale now. Thursday, June 12th, 2025: LIVE in West Hollywood, Los Angeles @ THE ROXY
9009 West Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles. erbofhistory.com
It's hard-listening (as opposed to easy-listening) music(k). "Keep it brutal," Cannibal Corpse and others like to say. Is Dimmu Borgir (pronounced \dee-moo bore-gur\) now the greatest band ever -- in the extreme rock category in general and symphonic black metal in particular?
Cradle of Filth, whom they used to be compared to all the time, can't hold a candle to this symphonic virtuosity. And limp Larstellica is just common stock rock (except calm Kirk, who's kool). The thrash element makes sense, the punk intensity, but it's the unimaginable precision, the technical proficiency, the innate talent to put all this together into a beautiful whole, and never mind the addition of the real orchestra. It is all too much, in the best way, monstrous elements and all. These hits are from Death Cult Armageddon.
See if anyone can name this classical tune.
So one day we went to a yoga class in Venice Beach, California, and the instructor told everyone to call him "Maestro." After class, next to my beautiful girlfriend he was staring at, I asked him why "Maestro"? It turns out he was a classical music buff pulling a Seinfeld, feeling himself much more of an orchestra conductor in life than a yoga teacher. He claimed he could recognize any classical song in just a few notes, not only the Beethoven stuff but obscure tunes, too. I always wanted to stymie him and prove him wrong with the following song, "Eradication Instincts Defined," because he would never guess it was a bunch of anti-church Norwegian hooligans playing extreme black metal with such sophistication in orchestration:
"Eradication Instincts Defined"
They really do make music like this, with a real-life orchestra.
(D'N'A Reacts) We Yanks are so -- but we mean well in big hearted Texas
Special: The Odyssey and The Iliad, why these epic verses still matter today
GUEST: Author and translator Emily Wilson is a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been named a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome in Renaissance and Early Modern Scholarship, a MacArthur Fellow, and a Guggenheim Fellow.
In addition to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, she has also translated and published Sophocles, Euripides, and Seneca.
The Epic Verses Pack $320
contains:
The Iliad (new translation by Emily Wilson) and
The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam: A New Translation [not to be confused with the Rubber Yacht of Jaimie Cohen] from the Persian by Juan Cole.
The Iliad (new translation) is an epic Greek poem that recounts the ten-year Trojan War and explores themes of pride, honor, and the human condition.
Prof. Wilson’s Iliad gives readers a complete Homer for our generation and the first ever English translation by a woman.
The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam: A New Translation from the Persian is a manuscript of Persian verses attributed to Omar Khayyam, a 12th-century Persian mathematician and philosopher.
The famous book contains pithy observations on complex subjects such as love, death, and the existence of God and an afterlife.
He said we would die, but that was a lie. - Why would He lie? - Why wouldn't He?
Betrayed by YHWH: The shocking lies concealed in Genesis
I will smite ye disobedient, ungrateful worms!
(MythVision Podcast) In the intricate tapestry of biblical narratives, one cannot help but observe the cunning maneuver executed by the divine character known as YHWH (aka the Judeo-Christian "God"), who played the role of a heavenly trickster in the Garden of Eden.
With eloquence befitting a master manipulator, YHWH, the supposed epitome of righteousness, spun a web of deceit around Adam and Eve, luring them into an illusory paradise.
Withholding the enlightenment that would come through the "forbidden fruit" from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, YHWH betrayed their innocence by threatening them with immediate death that same day.
I can lie. I can do anything I goddamn want.
Like a skilled magician, YHWH diverted attention from the sinister truth, leaving our unsuspecting human ancestors to bear the weight of His punishment.
In this enigmatic saga, YHWH's deception stands as a poignant reminder that even the gods [devas, "deities"] themselves can succumb to the allure of power and control, their actions ultimately shaping the destiny of humanity.
[In Buddhism, there is the Agganna Sutra to explain the origins of humanoid life on earth, on this bhumi or level plane, which is a product of devolution not evolution, but evolution comes back in the long course of a repeating/cyclical process. We are descended from devas who alighted on earth and liked the carnal, became attached, and lost their angelic light bodies, as they became coarser and coarser through the ages or over a long period of time. We still have deva potential, so we are much more than mere animals, though animals are certainly living beings worthy of care caught in the same cyclical process.]
The Rebuke of Adam and Eve (Natoire, 1740)
However, beneath the layers of faith and devotion lie an intriguing connection to earlier mythologies of Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), one of the cradles of civilization.
It appears that the Jewish-Christian biblical account of Adam and Eve draws heavily from these ancient tales, suggesting that it is a reimagining rather than a historical reality.
In Mesopotamian mythology, we encounter the Epic of Gilgamesh, a legendary hero whose adventures parallel those of Adam and Eve in surprising ways.
The story of Gilgamesh includes a tale of a sacred plant that grants eternal youth [amrita or amata, ambrosia, an "elixir of life" in the Vedas, likely a concoction for life extension, whereas in Buddhism amata/amrita is nirvana, "the deathless"], guarded by a serpent [naga, earthling-reptilian]. Sound familiar?
It's no coincidence that this motif reappears in the Garden of Eden, where a cunning serpent tempts Eve with the "forbidden fruit" [which is not an apple, but the Apocrypha speculates that it is the grape, as a reference to alcohol, though more likely it would be an entheogenic or magic mushroom, the fruiting body of mycelium] of knowledge.
Furthermore, the Mesopotamian myth of Enki and Ninhursag presents another intriguing parallel. In this tale, Enki, a "god of wisdom," creates a garden and a human-like creature called "Adamu" from the dust of the earth.
[Even in the Adam and Eve creation myth we have, the Adam (ha adam = "the man" or humankind in general) was created from adamah or the "earth, ground, dirt"].
The similarities to the biblical story of Adam's creation from the dust [dirt] are striking. It seems that the Hebrew authors borrowed elements from these older narratives to construct their own theological framework.
[Judaism, like Christianity, is a hodgepodge of older Middle Eastern and Near Eastern myths, most of them Sumerian.]
Considering these connections, it becomes increasingly apparent that the Adam and Eve story is not a historical account but a symbolic and cultural creation.
It serves as a mythological explanation for the origins of humanity and the presence of sin [literally, "missing the mark"] and suffering [dukkha] in the [human and subhuman] world.
While the historicity of Adam and Eve remains questionable, the story's enduring power lies in its capacity to explore complex philosophical and existential questions in an engaging and relatable manner.
So let us appreciate the Adam and Eve tale for what it is — a brilliant and borrowed fusion of ancient mythologies, conveying profound insights into the human condition [the story we tell ourselves in the West to make sense of the world the best we can].
Whether we take it as literal truth [as we are commanded to in some forms of Protestantism and Catholicism] or poetic metaphor, the story invites us to ponder the timeless themes of temptation, fallibility, and the quest for knowledge.
After all, it is in questioning and seeking understanding that we truly embark on the journey of enlightenment, much like the mythical figures of Adam and Eve themselves.
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MythVision website: 🔥 mythvisionpodcast.com
Just Myths? Enoch, the Great Pyramid of Egypt, and the Anunnaki Civilization Saga
Since the dawn of humankind, time has been our ruthless enemy. There was nothing we could do to escape our earthly demise.
But the pyramids towering over us and our creations fear no time.
Much has been said about the origins of these mysterious structures, so much that the truth has been concealed under piles of false assumptions.
But an archaic figure cracked the riddle of time and pyramid. His name is Enoch -- the man who cheated death to rule over the otherworldly kingdom of a higher force.
Before departing for these higher planes, Enoch left behind a luxuriant cultural heritage for generations to come.
He wished for us to solve the riddle of time just as he had, so he concealed answers within his teachings and within the greatest architectural mystery today: The Great Pyramid of Egypt.
Sumerian and Mayan accounts state that Enoch was the one who conquered time and who encoded this secret within his masterpieces, the time-defying pyramids.
It is now up to us to decipher this knowledge and garner its unimaginable benefits.
The Anunnaki are believed to be a group of deities in several ancient Mesopotamian cultures such as the Babylonian, Sumerian, Assyrian, and Akkadian.
The word Anunnaki is a derivative of the names anu “earth.” However, it also translates as “Princely Offspring” or “Those of Royal Blood” or “Those Who Came from Above.”
Sumerian legends and ancient texts use the name Annunaki to refer to a group of “gods” who came from the celestial or “heavenly” sphere.
They were considered the main gods of the Sumerian pantheon. The Sumerians worshipped them long before the ancient Greece and ancient Egyptian pantheons.
The Anunnaki descended from An, the supreme being who reigned over all Sumerian gods.
Babylonian creation myths say there were 300 Anunnaki who kept the heavens and 300 others who guarded the underworld.
These deities were so important that they are also mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
The development of Sumerian civilization occurred in the Persian Gulf while gaining strength over time.
The “Plain of the Land of Shinar” is the territory that was renamed “Babylon” after 2000 B.C.
These people lived in the Middle East on territory we know as Iran and Iraq (the former Persian Empire) today.
This video tells the tale of the adventures of King Gilgamesh and his trustworthy friend Enkidu in brief. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest written story known to exist. The oldest existing versions of this poem date back to 2000 BCE and were written in Sumerian cuneiform, whereas a complete version dates back to 700 BCE in the Akkadian language. Although the texts were lost for thousands of years, the tale still spread throughout Europe and Asia. Even the ancient Greeks and the later Romans mentioned King Gilgamesh as late as 200 ACE. The story was rediscovered in 1839 by British archeologist Austen Layard, leading to the uncovering of much from the lost Mesopotamian civilizations.
The Ramayana is an ancient epic poem of the Vedic period that remains famous in modern India and Southeast Asia.
The story is about King Rama who must save his kidnapped wife from the demon (Asura) King Ravana of [Sri] Lanka.
Aided by an army of monkeys, Rama reaches the end of subcontinent land and wants to cross over the strait to the island of Lanka.
Among his army a monkey-hybrid named Nala then leads the construction of a causeway across the ocean to Lanka, collecting logs of wood and giant boulders the monkeys cast into the water to build this bridge.
The actual land bridge connecting India and Sri Lanka as identified from air/space.
King Rama and the monkey chiefs on the bridge to Lanka (britishmuseum.org)
Diwali is one of the biggest festivals on the Hindu calendar. There are multiple reasons
why modern Hindus celebrate this festival.
The most popular narrative, based on the ancient Sanskrit epic called the Ramayana. In it Lord Rama, his wife Sita,
and his brother Lakshmana return to their kingdom of Ayodhya after defeating Ravana
the demon king.
On that dark new moon night, the residents of
Ayodhya joyfully lit oil lamps to welcome Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana back
to the kingdom.
Defying Traditions
Widows of Vrindavan celebrate Diwali at their ashram on October 31, 2013 in Mathura, India. These aged widows have been abandoned by their families or have fled their inhospitable homes to make Vrindavan their home or their last destination.
To kindle happiness in their twilight years, Sulabh International founder Bindeshwar Pathak has come up with the idea of organizing the festival of lights for these widows, locally known as matas.
Following in that tradition, Hindus celebrate Diwali by lighting oil lamps, detonating firecrackers, cleaning and decorating their homes, distributing sweet delicacies, and gathering with friends and family.More
What caused the sudden rush of these
most powerful leaders of the Western world to go to Afghanistan? This Coast to Coast
report by Steve Quayle reveals that it was to directly view the discovery by US military
scientists of what is described as an ancient spacecraft (vimana) trapped in a "time well."
It has already caused the "disappearance" of at least eight American soldiers trying to remove it from the cave where it was found and is estimated to have been sitting in for the
past 5,000 years.
Spacecrafts and Starships
Vimāna is a Sanskrit word with
several meanings ranging from "measureless" machine (since it can go into the sky, under the sea, and out of the atmosphere without apparent limit), platform, heavenly mansion, sky temple, to mythological palace described in the ancient Indian epics.
Reference to ancient flying vehicles comes from ancient Indian and descended Indus Valley Civilization sources, epics like the Mahabharata and Ramayana and later Vimana Shastra.
Most of them have not yet been translated into English from early and classical Sanskrit.
It is claimed that a few years ago, the Chinese
discovered Sanskrit documents in Tibet's capital Lhasa, since the ransacked Potala Palace was a repository of ancient knowledge. They sent them to the
University of Chandrigarh in India to be translated. Dr. Ruth Reyna of the university recently said that the documents contain detailed directions for
building interstellar spacecraft.
Their method of propulsion, she explains, was "anti-gravitational" based on a system analogous to
that of laghima (vril, prana, vital airs?), the unknown power of the ego existing in our human
physiological makeup, "a centrifugal force strong enough to counteract
all gravitational pull."
According to yogis, laghima enables a person to levitate. Dr. Reyna explains that onboard these machines, which were called Astras in the text, ancient Indians could have sent a detachment of troops onto any planet,
according to the document, which is thought to be thousands of years
old.
The manuscripts are also said to reveal the secret of antima,
"the cap of invisibility" and garima, "how to become as heavy as a
mountain of lead."
Steve Quayle
Stephen Quayle is an author, researcher, radio broadcaster, and avid Christian. For 35 years, he has been investigating ancient
civilizations, giants (titans), UFOs, conspiracies, the impending New World Order, and biological warfare as they relate to the
future of humankind.
Quayle discusses the worst-case scenarios
approaching this world and how they relate to one another.
Earthquakes, , nuclear disasters, and biological terrorism coupled with
the planned financial meltdown of the US dollar will take us through
unimagined tribulations. He has declared that we
have moved from the realm of natural threats into the arena of
supernaturally guided events from unseen hands of "evil" (human and otherwise) orchestrating
world events.
The Fertile Crescent from Egypt to ancient India now Afghanistan (blogs.ei.columbia.edu)
Archaeologists in Iraq believe they may have found the lost tomb of King Gilgamesh -- the subject of the oldest "book" in history.
The Epic Of Gilgamesh -- written by a Middle Eastern scholar 2,500 years before the birth of Christ -- commemorated the life of the ruler of the city of Uruk, from which "Iraq" gets its name.
Now, a German-led expedition has discovered what is thought to be the entire city of Uruk -- where the Euphrates river once flowed, including the last resting place of its famous king.
"I don't want to say definitely it was the grave of King Gilgamesh, but it looks very similar to that described in the epic," Jorg Fassbinder, of the Bavarian Dept. of Historical Monuments in Munich, told BBC World Service's Science in Action program.
Magnetic
In the book -- actually a set of inscribed clay tablets -- Gilgamesh was described as having been buried under the Euphrates river, in a tomb apparently constructed when the waters of the ancient river parted following his death.
"We found just outside the city an area in the middle of the former Euphrates river¿ the remains of such a building which could be interpreted as a burial," Mr. Fassbinder said.
Who can compare with him in kingliness? Who can say, like Gilgamesh, I am king? - Epic of Gilgamesh
He said the amazing discovery of the ancient city under the Iraqi desert had been made possible by modern technology.
"By differences in magnetization in the soil, you can look into the ground," Mr. Fassbinder added.
"The difference between mud bricks and sediments in the Euphrates river gives a very detailed structure."
This creates a magnetogram, which is then digitally mapped, effectively giving a town plan of Uruk.
"Venice in the desert"
"The most surprising thing was that we found structures already described by Gilgamesh," Mr. Fassbinder stated.
"We covered more than 100 hectares. We have found garden structures and field structures as described in the epic, and we found Babylonian houses."
But he said the most astonishing find was an incredibly sophisticated system of canals.
"Very clearly, we can see in the canals some structures showing that flooding destroyed some houses, which means it was a highly developed system.
Gilgamesh was believed to be two-thirds [deva], one-third human. That is to say partly divine, the result of hybridization with humanoid creatures from space. Iraq has long been a rich source of archeological findings.
Friday one million Libyans took to the streets of Tripoli to march in favor of Kaddafi (Muammar al-Qathafi) and against the criminal terrorism wrought on Libya's population by [Pres. Obama, the USA, and] NATO and the terrorist elements they are protecting.
Mythologist decodes the [ethical dilemmas] of family business
Devdutt Pattanaik (India Times, The Economic Times) The oldest Greek stories, the Iliad and Odyssey, deal with the triumph of the heroic leader who breaks all the rules. The oldest Biblical narratives, Genesis and Exodus, deal with the value of compliance to the rules of the institution. In contrast, the oldest Indian epics, the Ramayana and Mahabharata, revolve around family dramas.
The Ramayana tells the story of Ram of Ayodhya and his antagonist, Ravana, king of [Sri] Lanka. The Mahabharata tells the story of Krishna and his warring cousins, the Pandavas and the Kauravas of Hastinapur. Another epic, the Bhagavata, often considered a prequel to the Mahabharata, tells the story of Krishna's early life in Gokul.
Together these three epics deal with every possible family-related issue from inter-generational conflict to succession planning to talent management to sibling rivalry.
It is filled with thoughts and ideas that are considered timeless, hence of value even to modern family businesses as they go through dharma-sankat, or "ethical dilemmas" in the new world order where the demands of institutional business tower over traditional family assumptions.
What is Family? What is a family? Families in Ramayana and Mahabharata, significantly, are not defined by blood. Ram and Laxman are half-brothers, with a common father but different mothers. Of the five Pandava brothers, three have a common mother, and none have a common father. Krishna is raised by foster parents, and even his brother Balabhadra is actually his half-brother.
What defines a family then is not blood or law or custom, but trust. In a family governed by trust, there are no rules; only love defines actions, as in the Bhagavata. In a family with no trust, rules have no role; only power defines actions, as in the Mahabharata.
In between, stands the Ramayana, where there is love but also rules. How critical are rules to bind a family together? More>>
All of the elements in Indian, Buddhist, and Eastern philosophy made their way into German pre-Christian mythology. It was also absorbed by Greek and Roman cultures. Indeed, these ancient elements run through all cultures and can be traced at least as far back as the Sumerians of the Near East.
They have been trivialized as "fairy tales" or intellectualized as archetypes and been made to symbolize facts that have been simplified by weaving them into personified tales with comprehensible human-like motives. The great epics of Sumer such as Gilgamesh, the Vedas, Greek and Roman lore all harken back to stories known to all humanity but each adapted to particular cultures.
While the Buddha recognized these elements -- and spoke of them frequently to form what was later standardized as Buddhist cosmology -- he was not the first to be aware of them. He spoke of the things (worlds, inhabitants) familiar to ancient Indians and explained those things not familiar to them -- namely, how those worlds came to be, the karma leading to rebirth in those realms, and liberation from the entire round of discontent (dukkha) in incessant rebirth. Wagner immortalized these Pagan stories in opera as the Ring Cycle.
Wisdom Quarterly (Making sense of Indian mythology with Wikipedia)
A story type or theme appearing over and over again in the Mahabharata is that of a deva (apsara) sent to distract a sage or spiritual master from ascetic practices. One story embodying this theme is recounted by the epic heroine Shakuntala to explain her own parentage. Once upon a time, she recounts, the sage Viswamitra generated such intense energy by his asceticism that Sakka (Indra), the chief of the devas, became fearful.
Deciding that the sage would have to be distracted from his austerities, he sent the devaMenaka to work her charms. Menaka trembled at the thought of angering such a powerful ascetic. But she obeyed the chief of the deva's order. As she approached Viswamitra, the wind devaVayu tore away her garments. Seeing her disrobed, the sage abandoned himself to lust. The nymph and sage engaged in sex for some time, during which time Viswamitra's asceticism was put on hold. As a consequence, Menaka gave birth to a daughter, whom she abandoned on the banks of a river. That daughter was the narrator of the story, Shakuntala herself. The Mahabharata documents the exploits of individual devas, such as Tilottama, who rescued the world from the rampaging asura brothers Sunda and Upasunda, and Urvashi, who attempted to seduce the hero Arjuna. More>>
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