PART
6
Ch.XXXVI.3 (I IV)
The
Great Pelasgian empire
(The
reign of Saturn)
XXXVI.
3. Saturn reigns over
I.
Saturn had also
reigned over
In the Phoenician temples
had been preserved until the times of Hadrian a collection called Sanchoniaton, about the science of
celestial things and about the laws which govern the world, collection written,
as the priests of the temples said, by Taaut, on the orders of Saturn, and
completed with other later commentaries.
These books spoke
with a particular respect about the life and deeds of Saturn, as king of
According to some,
writes Tacitus, the Hebrews
celebrated the seventh day in honor of Saturn (Hist. lib. V. 4). The epithet Sabaoth attributed in the Old Testament
to the divine majesty, still cannot be explained in the Hebrew language (Hieronymus, Epist. 136 ad Marcellam; Isidorus, Orig. lib. VII. 1. 7). The
authors of antiquity considered this name as identical with Sabazius (Val. Maximus, Fact. Mem. I. 3. 2), but both these names, Sabaoth
and Sabazius, derive from Sabus and
Seb, the name of Saturn.
II.
The political rule
of the Pelasgian race extended in those times also beyond
The
[1. This was one of the vastest
cities which ever existed, surrounded by a wall, 50 ells wide and 200 ells high
(Herodotus,
The peoples making
up the ancient colonies of
The number of the
public and private slaves of the peoples of Pelasgian origin, had been, until
late in historical times, extremely large, and this immense multitude of
colonies made up of slaves and workers, formed of vanquished peoples and
tribes, some dragged from the southern regions, others from the extreme north,
brought about the mixing of languages and the ruin of Pelasgian civilization,
no only on the territory of Chaldeea, Phoenicia and Egypt, but also in Hellada
[2].
[2. We find some notes about the slaves from
In regard though to
the upper or privileged classes of
The Gigantes who had dwelt on the territory
of Babylonia, writes Alexandrus
Polyhistorus (frag. 3 and 4) had been destroyed by the flood sent by God,
because of their impiety, and those who had managed to escape that catastrophe
had later built the tower of Babel, after the destruction of which, had been
scattered.
The historian Thallus also writes (frag. 2 in Fragm.
Hist. gr. III. 517) that Belus and the Titans,
settled on the
It results
therefore that in the most ancient times of its political existence, the
The vast empire of
the Pelasgian race was mostly governed through provincial kings in the times of
Saturn. The territories subjected to the sovereignty of the divine dynasty were
too far removed from the center of the empire, to enable their governing from a
metropolis.
These provincial
kings, as representatives of the executive power, were usually chosen from the
ancient aristocracy of the Titans, or from the members of the reigning family.
So, in the
III.
The ancient
inhabitants of
These Chaldeans did
not belong to the Semitic race (The 2nd Book of kings, 18. 26;
Isaiah, 36. 11; Daniel, II. 4). They formed in fact only the remains of the
ancient martial nobility, that of the Titans and the Gigantes, who had
conquered lower
The Chaldeans
applied their astronomical observations especially to the 5 stars called
planets, to which, apart from the sun and the moon, they attributed the
greatest influence over the earth and the people, and which they called stars
which contained the will of the gods. Among these planets, the greatest
consideration was shown to Saturn, which they called Heliu, and which, as they said, predicted the most and the biggest
phenomena and events (Diodorus Siculus,
lib. II. c. 29-31; Censorini, De die
natali, c. 8). According to the doctrines of the Chaldeans, the soul of man was
immortal (Pausanias, lib. IV. 32),
an ancient belief whose place of origin we find with the Hyperboreans (Plato, Axiochus ,ed. Didot, II. p.
561), the Getae and the Dacians (Herodotus,
lib. IV. 94). The doctrine of the immortality of the soul was not of Semitic
origin, it doesnt appear even in the laws of Moses.
In regard to the
ancient country of the Chaldeans, Greek traditions told that they had
previously dwelt in the lands of the Barbarians (Steph. Byz. see Chaldaioi). According to another
historical note which we find with
(One of the ancient
shepherd kings of the Chaldeans, predating by four generations the great flood
of Xisuthrus, was called Daos,
meaning the Dac(ian) Abydenis, fragm. 1).
From a historical
point of view, the cradle of astronomical sciences had been in the regions of
the barbarians from north of the Istru.
Diodorus tells us (lib. III. 56. 3) that Uranos,
the first king of the inhabitants near Atlas mountain, had been busy for a long
time with the observation of celestial phenomena; he knew deeply the course of
the celestial bodies and prophesized many things which happened in the sky.
Other traditions
and legends attributed the beginnings of astrology to Atlas, the famous king from the country of the Hyperboreans, about
whom Diodorus writes (lib. III. 60.
2; Alex. Polyhistoris, frag. 3 in
Fragm. Hist. gr. III. 212; Isidorus,
Orig. libr. III. c. 24. 1) that he had exact knowledge about the movements of
the celestial bodies and that he had been the first to consider the physical
world as a sphere, as a result of which the antiquity had formed the opinion
that the entire universe was supported on his shoulders.
As the Arab
historian Abulfaragiu tells us, when
praying, the Chaldeans faced the north pole (Dupuis, Origine de tous les cultes, I. 14), which, as we know, was
also called Ursa Getica and polus Geticus, and was represented on earth by
the column from Atlas mountain [3].
[3. From an etymological point of
view, the name of the Chaldeans (Gr.
Chaldaioi
and Chaldoi)
appears in close connection with the name of Atlas mountain and the river called by Herodotus Atlas (Lat. Alutus, Rom. Olt).
In various idioms from the
north-western parts of
Various mountains and hills, in the
regions of the Carpathians, bear the name Aldea
(Marele Dict. geogr. see Alghia). In Transilvania, the mounds of useless stone
dug out from the gold mines are called haldina
and holdina. We also find in
these regions of Transilvania the family names Galdau, meaning workers of the gold mines, and the German word gold was born from the ancient word alt (altun). Strabo (XII. 3. 19) also tells us that the workers of the renowned
mines from Alybe were also called Chaldaioi.
It results therefore that the
original form of the name Chaldaioi had been Aldaioi,
where Ch replaces a simple aspiration as in chlaina = laina,
chlaros
= laros.
In fact the name Chaldaioi appears with the Eastern peoples as a simple
geographical appellation of the inhabitants from Atlas mountain, or more
correctly Altas. This origin of the
name Chaldaioi
is also confirmed by the fact that the Titans
from Atlas mountain had been the most ancient inhabitants of
The renowned school
of astrology had existed near Atlas mountain, even from the most primitive
times of history.
Hercules, as the
Greek historians Herodorus (fragm.
24 in Fragm. Hist. gr. II. 34) and Diodorus
(I. IV. 27) tell us, had learnt astrology and the art of divination from the
titan Atlas.
Jornandes also speaks to us (De Goth. Orig. 11)
about the study and teaching in Dacia, of the astronomical sciences: that Diceneus, one of the great priests and
philosophers of the Getae, had revealed to them all the secrets of astronomy,
had explained to them the 12 signs of the Zodiac, the course of the planets
among these signs, how much larger is the sun than the earth, the waxing and
waning of the moon; he had taught them the names of the 344 stars and the signs
which they crossed, and the times when they moved closer or further away from
the pole of the sky, in their course from sunrise towards sundown (Strabo, VII. 3. 11).
This Deceneus (Decaeneos with Strabo), belongs in any case to a much more remote
epoch than the times of Boerebista.
The prehistoric ceramic of
Fragments of prehistoric ceramic of
On some fragments (nr. 2 5) the stars are represented by
globules, and their rays by oblique grooved lines, sometimes filled with white
cement. On the nr. 5 fragment, the stars are grouped in constellations by
convergent lines, forming acute angles on the lower part. Other ornaments which
appear on these fragments are: Via Lactea (the Milky Way), formed by dotted
parallel lines, the celestial river, the hen and chicks, and the rising
sun.
(nr. 1,2,3 - Teutsch, Prahist. Funde aus d. Burzenlande, p. 190; nr.4 Teglas, Ujabb barlangok, p. 53;
nr. 7,8 Hampel, Alterth. d. Bronzezit in
Ungarn, p. LXXXVIII). The fragments 5 & 6 have been discovered by us in
the
Most of the
fragments of this type of ceramic, with astronomical symbols, are found
especially in the caves of the Carpathians, which seem to have been destined at
a certain time to the popular oracles and astrological superstitions.
Finally, we find
even today, in the language and in the beliefs of the Romanian people, some
very important traditional elements of their knowledge of ancient astronomy and
astrology.
Especially the
nomenclature of the stars and constellations found with the Romanian people is
in large part similar to that found in Greek and Roman literature.
From this
astrological terminology we note here the following (Otescu, Credintele poporului roman despre cer si stele. Buc. 1907; Densusianu, Cestionar istoric.
Respunsuri. Partea II):
[4. Marianu, Nunta, p. 454: He sent us on crangul ceriului
. on numerul
stelelor, on the light of the stars; Ibid. p. 481: And he sent us
forward, to travel hotly, on numerul
stelelor.
In other Romanian versions, we find
instead of numerul stelelor the
expressions clipirea (TN
blinking), and lumina stelelor (TN
light of the stars), from which results that the stars had been classified
and numbered according to their brilliance or size, even from the most remote
antiquity. This is in fact also confirmed by the above note of Seneca].
As we see from the
examples reproduced here, the names of the stars and constellations, as found
with the Romanian people from the Carpathians, are pre-dating classical
antiquity; and these names prove once more that the Greco-Roman astronomical
terminology was founded on a more ancient popular nomenclature.
Contemplation of the sky had been, even from the first times of human civilization, an indispensable need for pastoral and agricultural life. The words Car, Plug, Boi, Taur, Vaca, Porci, Gainusa, Cioban cu oile, Canele, Berbecele, Capra, Iedii and Calul (TN cart, plough, oxen, bull, cow, pigs, little hen, shepherd with sheep, dog, ram, goat, kids and horse) are evident proof that sheep and cattle growing and agriculture had been placed in ancient times under the patronage of the constellations