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PART III THE RED COLOR MEMORIES |
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An outstanding biological attribute of the Keltic people is the prominence
of red hair and red skin coloration. This is well known in France, Ireland,
Scotland and England. This coloration is found scattered somewhat among
other Indo-European people.
This coloration discovery in the mummies of China suggested a striking
possibility of similar biological attributes scattered in distant areas
of the globe. Were the Keltic affinities of the Chinese mummies connected
to the Keltic people of northwest Europe and, if so, by what route?
From my studies on the cultural history of people I was struck immediately
by this similarity, and the possibility of Iberi migrations that reached
far east, as well as far west.
Two important elements were encompassed in my studies. The first was
the red skin coloration described for the Hebrew people in the Bible, and
for other Semites in Near East texts. The second was Iberi migrations out
of those "Hebrew" people in the middle of the first millennium, carrying
that red coloration with them.
A question quickly came to mind: Did the Chinese mummies represent the
Iberi migrations of the third millennium, or the Iberi migrations of the
first millennium? Radiocarbon dating should help shed light on that question.
An answer to this question is important to our understanding of the history
of cultural migrations.
SPECIAL CREATED MAN
In the Bible two Hebrew words are used to denote man; the first is "adom;"
the second is "eesh." Since both are translated as "man" in the
English texts laymen cannot distinguish between them. But note how the
ancient texts use them. When Genesis quotes God as saying that he would
create man in his image it does not use the word eesh; it uses adom.
"Let us make adom in our image . . ." It does not say, "Let us
make eesh in our image."
". . . and there was no adom to till the ground." It does not
say there was no eesh to till the ground.
"God formed adom out of the dust of the earth," not eesh.
Adom became a living soul, not eesh.
"In the days that God created adom, in the likeness of God made
he them . . ."
In several places use of the two distinguishing words, adom and
eesh,
contrast created man with evolutionary man. In giving commandments to Moses,
Num 5:6, God distinguished between man (adom) and man (eesh).
"When eesh and eesha (woman) shall commit any sin that adom
commits . . ."
In Jeremiah the contrast is pointed, emphasizing the difference: "As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof,
said Yahweh, no eesh shall abide there, neither shall a son of adom
(ben adom) dwell in it," Jer 50:40.
These and other passages distinguish between man (adom) as a specially created being and man (eesh) as a creature of the earth. Adam is different; he is not an ordinary evolutionary man. In many passages the phrase "benai adom," the "sons of Adam," is used to denote the men of Israel (Ps 11:4, 14:2, and so on). One does not refer to them as "benai eesh"; they are different from the sons of evolutionary man. Indeed, they held themselves in superior esteem from ancient times. The Jew today commonly holds himself in superior esteem. The men of Israel remembered their Adamic ancestry. This ancient Semitic method of distinguishing between biological sources
carries with it tremendous implications. Now we see how the Indo-European
belief in a noble stock descended from a god and goddess pair compares
with the Semitic belief in descent from a specially created man. But the
Semites are different. They are that noble blood. They were widely regarded
as carrying godlike biological attributes.
Semitic memories are different because they regarded themselves as directly
descended from an original ancestor they called "Adom." Indo-Europeans
looked upon that influence as a noble elite who had not blended with the
common people. The IE traditions were maintained down to this day in the
proscriptions of European nobility marrying only among their own kind.
They were attempting to preserve genetic lines. In contrast, the Semites
regarded themselves as that elite line. Abraham married his half-sister,
while Isaac and Jacob married first cousins, and the entire family of Terah
practiced close family inbreeding. They also were attempting to preserve
genetic lines. They saw themselves as noble blood.
This social regard is remembered other ways.
Joseph was appointed to high rank by the Pharaoh. Although not plainly
evident, the context of Exod 2 suggests that Moses also held a high administrative
position. He was adopted by the Pharaoh's daughter, certainly not a casual
act.
The Hittites described Abraham as a "mighty Prince among us," Gen 23:6.
In Gen 32:28 the translators had trouble understanding the meaning of
Jacob's dawn struggle with a divine being. RSV translates the phrase simply
as "striven with God," but KJV adds a conditional phrase, "as
a prince thou hast power with God." The troublesome word is saretha
from sarah, denoting persistence and perseverance, but of a princely
kind. Literally, the phrase is "saretha with God." Jacob offered princely
perseverance with God.
The name Sarah means "Princess."
In Numbers 7 Princes are listed for all the tribes. The word means "an
exalted one." The modern sense of "leader" fails to capture the noble role
designated by the word. In Ezek 7:27 the same word is translated as "Prince"
by RSV. RSV also translates the word as "Prince" in Num 25:18 and other
places.
In Num 34:18 Moses was commanded to take one "Prince" of every tribe
to divide the land. As the list shows, these persons were selected from
among the general group of Israelite people. The passage does not describe
the selection of those men because they were leaders, as they may well
have been, but because they were Princes.
Those ancient people, the kinnahu, or the Iberi, recognize themselves as different from other people. The primary emphasis in the Hebrew tradition was their selection from among other people. That is the broad sense of the biblical accounts. If we take the traditional Christian view we see it merely as "spiritual." But they certainly could not have been ignorant of the promises to their forefather. Abraham was to be father of many nations. These promises were retained in some written or oral form, otherwise why would the Jewish scribes make the genetic promises so prominent when they edited the Mosaic books during the Babylonian captivity? Did those promises not condition how Abraham's descendants decided on the conduct, attitudes, and expectations of their lives? Did those Jewish scribes not recognize how the genetic lines were taking an unexpected turn, at their national failure? (The preservation of genetic lines can be observed elsewhere in the
practice of Egyptian and Macedonian nobility marrying directly between
brother and sisters, continued on down to Roman times. The famous Cleopatra
married
her brother in between her escapades with Mark Antony and Julius Caesar.
This practice was forbidden in the instructions given to Moses, although
he also was the product of an aunt-nephew marriage. One could speculate
that the proscriptions came in when the pure blood lines became too diluted
with marriage among normal evolutionary stock. But that is the subject
of another discussion.)
THE RED MEN
Adam's name offers other insight into our planetary past.
The name Adom apparently derives from a word denoting redness. Biblical
scholars generally accept it to mean "red" or "ruddy." In their eyes it
means "the flush of the white complexion." Unfortunately, in this imaginary
interpretation, the real history is lost.
A list of words shows the meaning of this root word, and its many derivatives.
For convenience of lay readers I offer dictionary numbers from Strong's
Exhaustive Concordance, but equivalents can be found in the Lexicon
by Brown, Driver and Briggs.
119: adam -- To show blood, flush.
The Israelites Iberi were descended from an ancestor with a red color.
Brown, Driver and Briggs show Assyrian adamu for "tawny." They
also show Akkadian adamatu in the same red-name associations. The
Semitic Akkadian Adamatu were known as "red-skins." Adam had a red color;
the Semitic Akkadians were also descended from him.
Literally, when we speak Adam's name we say "Red."
This is a lot more than mere flush of the white complexion.
According to the story in Gen 25:29-34 Isaac's eldest twin son Esau
picked up the nickname Edom = Red because he was famished
from hunting in the field and wanted the red (adom) stew his younger twin
brother Jacob was making. For this favor Jacob (Israel) demanded his older
brother's birthright. Jacob later became the father of the Hebrew tribes.
Edom
is really the name Adom with very slight change in vowel sound.
He was descended from a forefather named Adom = Red, as was
his brother Jacob, his father Isaac before him, his grandfather Abraham
before that, and on back to that original parent named Red.
The story of Esau's nickname in Genesis is a folk tale devised by later
scribes to offer a common explanation. Esau's descendants, the Edomites,
were described literally by their name, Red Men.
If we accept the literal meaning of the Hebrew word then Adam
was the Red One. Benai Adam are the sons of the Red One,
the sons of Israel. As for Adam:
". . . there was no Red One to till the ground." God formed "Red
out of the dust of the earth."
The question before us is whether the man received his name from the word for red, or if the word for the color was borrowed from Adam's name. The Hebrew words for colors are not consistent in origin. For example argaman = purple is thought to be foreign because it violates Hebrew consonant and vowel patterns. Khum is from an unused root which means to be warm, hence a swarthy complexion, and thus brown. These examples suggest that the word for the color red may have come from Adam's name and not vice versa.
THE PURPLE PHOENICIANS
Further insight into the red color associated with Adam is provided
by the Phoenicians, those cousins of the Hebrews who lived along the shores
of the Mediterranean just north of the Holy Land in the cities of Tyre
and Sidon. The Phoenicians had close ties with the Hebrews, trading extensively
with them, providing lumber for the building of Solomon's temple, and intermarrying,
I Kings 5 and 7:14, II Chron 2:14. The Phoenician language was essentially
Hebrew, no more different in dialect than is found today among various
regional groups in the United States.
The Phoenician name is Greek; the singular is Phoenix, the plural
is Phoenike. Phoenix was the eponymous ancestor of the Phoenicians;
the word meant purplish-red or crimson. Phoenix was the Purple
One or the Red One.
Much debate has centered on the origin of the Phoenicians and the meaning of their name. Van der Broek (The Myth of the Phoenix, R. Van der Broek, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1972), suggested possible origins of the word. Part of the puzzle lies in the fact that the Phoenicians were noted across the Mediterranean for their manufacture of purplish-red dye from murex sea shells. This dye was used to color the robes of nobility. The nobility used the royal red and purple colors to denote their social status. The tradition is well recorded in the Bible. Moses was instructed to decorate the tabernacle with blue and purple and scarlet, Exod 26. The kings of Midian wore purple garments, Judges 8:26. Solomon requested workers from Hyram, king of Tyre, those who were skilled in purple, crimson and blue fabrics, II Chron 2:7,14. Lydia was a seller of purple, Acts 16:14. When Jesus was on trial the soldiers mocked him because he was accused of being King of the Jews. They put purple robes on him. |
Confusion exists on the exact nature of the colors. Our word purple comes from the Greek porphyra via Latin purpura, "in early use meaning crimson." This confusion may be observed in the robes of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. They inherited the ancient tradition of royal colors from pagan Roman nobility; Bishops and Cardinals still retain those colors in both crimson and purple robes. These traditions all reflect a very ancient practice of denoting high social ancestry with royal colors, a distinguishing mark of royal inheritance and regal rights, all from the Red One. The royal colors were an attempt to identify with that original Adom,
or specially created man.
Van Der Broek suggested that the Phoenician name was derived from an
earlier Mycenaean word, ponike, applied to the red color, and traced
from a word in Arabic and Hebrew. Closer examination of sources reveals
the origin more precisely.
Two other biblical names show connection to red colors and dye stuffs.
These two names come from two sons of Issachar, forefather of one of the
twelve tribes of Israel. The first is Tola, Gen 46:13, Num 26:23, I Chron
7:1, Judges 10:1. Tola means crimson, from the crimson grub
worm. The second is Pua, brother of Tola. Pua means madder,
after the red dye obtained from the dried roots of the herbaceous climbing
plant Rubis tinctorum. As Edom reflected the red or ruddy color
of the Semites so Tola and Pua also reflected this skin color in their
names.
But the connection to Pua is even more fascinating when we examine his
name, its use in the Bible, and the origins of the Phoenicians.
In Hebrew the family of Pua were called ha-Puni, literally "The
Puni." We know them commonly in English as "The Punites," Num 26:23. They
lived in northern Palestine near the territory of the Phoenicians. After
the conquest of Canaan the tribes were allocated lands that included part
of those known historically as Phoenicia, modern Lebanon. The tribe of
Asher was spread along the coast from the city of Dor north beyond Tyre.
The tribe of Issachar was located inland less than twenty-five miles east,
along the Jordan river.
We should remember that the tribes had difficulty locating. The tribe
of Dan had trouble securing settlements along the coast; some migrated
northward to Laish near Asher and Naphtali. The tribe of Manasseh was split
between two different territories. Portions of the Puni (ha-puni)
could easily have settled along the coast in what later became identified
as Phoenicia.
I point out here that the "Phoenician-Canaanites" who earlier occupied
that coast were part of the third millennium Iberi migrations, just as
Abraham came out of those migrations through Ur. Therefore, when the Israelite
tribes settled in the "promised" land they were mixing with close Semite
relatives. According to Gen 10:18-19 "the families of the Canaanites spread
abroad. And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon, in the
direction of Gerar, as far as Gaza . . ." According to Number 13:29 they
dwelt along the (Mediterranean) sea and the Jordan river. Repeated references
show these Canaanites scattered throughout the "promised" land. Mixing
with the "pagan" Canaanites was strongly condemned but nevertheless went
on pervasively. See Gen 24:3, 36:2, and so on.
The Hebrew name Puni is striking because it is the same as the
Roman name for the colonists of Carthage, the Poeni or Puni. Historically,
the Puni (Punics) are recognized as Phoenician people; the Punic
colonies of Carthage and other cities of the Mediterranean were settled
by the Phoenicians. The Romans fought with the Puni Carthaginians in the
Punic wars. Thus there is a direct and explicit connection between a Hebrew
tribal family name and the Phoenician name, both denoting the purplish-red
color. The close proximity of the tribe of Issachar to Phoenicia, together
with the Puni name, shows the two were of one blended blood. The later
Phoenicians were actually mixed people from the earlier Iberi migrations
interbreeding with the Hebrew tribe descended from Issachar, one of the
tribes of Israel. Through this interbreeding they picked up the Puni name
from the son of Issachar.
Other evidence shows this direct blood connection between the Phoenicians
and the Hebrew tribes. Phoenician folk mythologies say they originally
came from the region of the Red Sea, the location of the Hebrew tribes
during their wandering in the wilderness of Sinai. We now have an explanation
for this mysterious memory.
The Puni probably lost their sentimental and religious connection with
the Hebrew tribes because they became pagan; they chased after the Ashteroth,
the pagan practices of the Canaanite people, Judges 2:11-13. They went
after the gods of Tyre and Sidon, Judges 10:6. They forsook their allegiance
to Yahweh. As a result they were ostracized by the remaining Hebrew tribes.
(The Phoenician traditions of Phoenix as their red-colored ancestor
may be a confusion between Pua and Adam. In both cases the ancestor is
remembered for his red skin. As generations pass memories become confused;
the name Puni (into Greek Phoenix) probably replaced Adam as the source
of that original fatherhood. The tradition stated he was a god; the god
designations found among the Haberi/Iberi texts may have carried over into
the Phoenician traditions.)
OTHER RED-PURPLE TRADITIONS
The association of the Adamic name with a red or purple color came down
to modern times by paths other than Hebrew or Phoenician traditions. The
name saw phonetic changes as the IE "Don" went to "Dom = dam," but different
applications. It is remembered by many people in fruits and flowers. Damson
is a purple plum of Asia Minor. Dame's (Dam's) violet is
a flower of lilac or purple color native to Europe. The Damask rose
is a fragrant flower of pink color. The rose was dedicated by the people
of the Near East to the goddess of love, beauty and fruitfulness, remembered
by the Greeks as Aphrodite. The red rose was also thought to be formed
from the blood of Adonis, the Greek god who carried the Semitic
title for Lord.
According to Greek sources one Cinyras, an ancient king of Phoenicia,
dedicated a sanctuary to Astarte (Ishtar = Ashteroth) on Mt. Lebanon at
Aphaca, known today as Afka. It was at the head of a wooded gorge named
after the Phoenician god Adon. A river in the gorge rushes from
a cavern at the base of towering cliffs down a series of cascades into
the Mediterranean.
It was believed that each year Adon was fatally wounded by a great bear.
The face of nature was dyed by his blood when the anemone, his flower,
bloomed along the banks of the river and among the cedars of Lebanon. The
spring rains washed soil into the river, which flowed red to the sea, fringing
the Mediterranean when the wind blew toward shore with a sinuous band of
crimson. The red hue and the crimson stain were believed to be the blood
of Adon.
The name anemone comes from the Semitic na-aman, "the
handsome," an epithet for Adon. In Arabia the flower is called Naaman's
Wounds. This same tradition led to the red rose as the flower which
carried the Adon blood stain. The blood tradition was transferred to Jesus,
the second Adam. In England the flower blood-stained at the crucifixion
is the orchis mascula; in Cheshire, England it is known as the Gethsemane.
In Belgium the polygonum persicaris is called Roodselken; in Italy
the flower is the sorrel.
Adon was the title for Thammuz, the young spouse and lover of Ishtar, the Babylonian earth mother goddess. He was a god who died annually to be reborn each spring. He was mourned by the women of the Near East during the month of July when they would sit in the streets and wail for their beloved lost god, Ezek 8:14. The Hebrews named the mid-summer month of July after him. Adam, through the Babylonian Thammuz, is still remembered in the Jewish calendar. The Greeks took the title of Thammuz and used it for their beautiful
young god Adonis. He was the lover of Aphrodite, the Greek earth mother
goddess. In one story Aphrodite hid Adonis in a chest in his infancy and
gave him to Persephone, queen of the netherworld. When Persephone saw the
beauty of the young child she refused to give him back. Aphrodite went
to Hades to ransom the child but their dispute with one another had to
be settled by Zeus, the Greek king of the gods, who decreed that Adonis
should spend half of the year in the netherworld and the other half in
the upper world. At last Adonis was killed by Ares, a wild boar. In another
form of the myth he was killed by a wild bear.
The symbolism of the Greek myth shows that each winter Thammuz/Adonis
died and the whole earth died with him; each spring he rose again and the
whole world came into resurrection. Everything in nature was coming back
to life; the old people thought Adonis was coming back to life.
Spring rites in the Near East were dedicated to Ishtar, the spouse of
Thammuz. The pagan rites carried over into Christian Easter. They were
fertility rites we know in the symbolism of the Easter egg and the Easter
rabbit, intended to ensure vigor and reproduction in the birth of the new
season. And through the Teutonic goddess Eostre, Ishtar not only
gave us our word for Easter; she also put her name upon the rivers of Europe,
the Ister and the Dniester.
The flow of blood (dam) in the sacrifices of the Hebrew Passover was
also related to spring rites. The sprinkling of "dam" upon the doorposts
of the Hebrew houses ensured protection to the firstborn and the continuity
of the generations, Exod 12:7.
Christians and Jews still observe these spring rites, modified according
to their respective experiences as a people and by the innovations of early
Christian missionaries in Europe. For the Jew it was delivery from Egyptian
slavery; for the Christian it was the resurrection of the crucified Jesus.
The Passover celebration was carried over into Christianity in the Holy
Supper, instituted by Jesus.
These practices remembered Thammuz and Ishtar, Adonis and Aphrodite,
in the spring time and at the height of summer; they were naturally associated
with the seasons. Thammuz' connection with the great cycles of nature and
his godhood over vegetation, cereals, and life is remembered throughout
the Mediterranean by the custom of the planting of the Garden of Adonis.
The Gardens were baskets or pots filled with earth in which wheat, barley,
lettuce, fennel and various kinds of flowers were sown and tended, almost
exclusively by women. When set in the sun the plants shot up quickly, but
without root they rapidly withered away. At the end of eight days they
were carried out with images of the dead Adonis and flung into the sea
or some other local body of water.
The Gardens were planted in Sardinia at the celebration of the mid-summer
festival, known in recent times as St. John's, a Roman Catholic substitute
for the more ancient name. The practice also took place in Sicily.
Although the Gardens were planted by European women the practice was
observed in other Indo-European regions. Similar Gardens are planted by
the Hindu of India to secure the fertility of the soil. They are also used
at marriage ceremonies of the Brahmans to secure the fertility of a newly
married couple.
The symbolism of the Gardens of Adonis is easily associated with
the Garden of Eden. The quick growth and the withering away are representative
of the short life of the original Garden. Both the Garden and Adam were
lost, or cast out.
These myths show how ancient people associated Adam and Eve with the
periodic cycles of nature. When Adam fell he destroyed the Golden Age;
he caused the great cycles of nature which removed the perpetual season
of summer and brought on the death of winter. Many myths and pagan practices
derived from the memory of that famous pair. This is indicated again in
Hebrew from two words, admah and adami, both of which mean
earthy; they are used as place names in Palestine. They refer to the soil
and to animal husbandry, the cultivation of animal and plant life. Thammuz
was the god of cereals, of vegetation, and of life. Adam was given responsibility
for shepherding the earth. He taught evolutionary people methods of farming
and animal husbandry.
The connection of the Hebrew Adon and Adam to the Greek Adonis is evident
in these many myths and traditions. The Gardens of Adonis show how close
this connection may be.
From the myths we are led to believe that Adam and Eve, the god of agriculture
and the earth mother goddess, began a new system of culture on our world
which was different from earlier cultures. They both symbolized fertility
and life. When Adam died he was bitterly lamented. Each spring he was remembered
because the earth was coming back to life, to new growth, to pleasantness
and comfort.
Another connection with Hebrew Adamic words is found in Aden, Addan and Adamah. They denoted strength and fortified places, as the Keltic Dun denoted a fortified place. Adamant is an obsolete English word meaning an exceedingly hard, diamond-like material. We use the word yet today to denote firmness of will. The origins of the word are obscure. Latin writers several centuries after Jesus believed it came from adamare, "to admire," but the use and derivation are unknown. It lead to our word diamond. Many other myths and traditions can be traced back to this remote ancestor. |