chatterbox

MYSTERIES OF THE   ANCIENT WORLD

Petra, Jordan

The breathtaking city of Petra was a vibrant trading hub that vanished from most maps in the seventh century A.D. It lay beneath a thousand years of dust and debris when, in 1812, a Swiss scholar disguised as a Bedouin trader identified the ruins as the ancient Nabataean capital.

Spread throughout a series of remote desert canyons in southern Jordan, Petra arose more than 2,000 years ago at the crossroads of key caravan trade routes between Arabia, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. The Nabataeans carved most of the sprawling city’s buildings, including temples, tombs, and theaters, directly into the region’s towering red sandstone cliffs. Here, a Bedouin walks his camel past Petra’s most famous building, Al Khazneh, or the Treasury.

Machu Picchu, Peru

Although the archaeological discovery of Machu Picchu came nearly a hundred years ago, historians are still unsure of the function of this ancient Inca citadel.

The Inca had no system of writing and left no written records, and archaeologists have been left to piece together bits of evidence as to why Machu Picchu was built, what purpose it served, and why it was so quickly vacated.

Palenque, Mexico

The earliest Maya began to settle the dense rain forests of southwestern Mexico and Guatemala some 3,000 years ago. For nearly 1,400 years, settlements arose throughout the region, with some, like Tikal and Palenque (shown here), expanding into large, vibrant city-states.

Ancient Troy

Myth, folklore, mystery, and intrigue surround the ancient city of Troy like no other ruin on Earth. Once thought to be purely imaginary, a prop in Homer’s epic poem The Iliad, excavations in northwestern Turkey in 1871 eventually proved that the city indeed existed.

In 1871, German adventurer Heinrich Schliemann began digging at Hisarlik, Turkey, (shown here) in search of the fabled city. His roughshod excavation wrought havoc on the site, but revealed nine ancient cities, each built on top of the next and dating back some 5,000 years. At the time, most archaeologists were skeptical that Troy was among the ruins, but evidence since the discovery suggests the Trojan capital indeed lies within the site.

Mohenjo Daro, Pakistan

The Indus Valley civilization was entirely unknown until 1921, when excavations in what would become Pakistan revealed the cities of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro (shown here).

This mysterious culture emerged nearly 4,500 years ago and thrived for a thousand years, profiting from the highly fertile lands of the Indus River floodplain and trade with the civilizations of nearby Mesopotamia.

Palmyra, Syria

There is evidence that the ancient city of Palmyra, also known as Tadmor, was in existence as far back as the 19th century B.C. Its importance grew around 300 B.C. as trading caravans began using it as a way station between Mesopotamia and Persia. Palmyra’s strategic location and prosperity attracted the interest of the Romans, who took control of the city in the first century A.D.

Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers.  Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore they would be incapable of fighting in the future.  This famous English longbow was made of the native English Yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as “plucking the yew” (or “pluck yew”).

Much to the bewilderment of the French, the English won a major upset and began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the defeated French, saying, See, we can still pluck yew!  Since ‘pluck yew’ is rather difficult to say, the difficult consonant cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labiodentals fricative F’, and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger-salute!  It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows used with the longbow that the symbolic gesture is known as “giving the bird.”

IT IS STILL AN APPROPRIATE SALUTE TO THE FRENCH TODAY!
And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing.

The Vedic Sages gave no name to their religion.They only wanted to share their spiritual discovery with their people as with other people.”
YajurVeda 26.2

Years and Events

1109 A.D => Alcohol was first distilled.

1648 A.D =>Taj Mahal at Agra(designed by Turkish architect Isa Offendi) completed by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan ,in memory of His beloved Queen Mumtaz .

The earliest evidence of Jewish community settling in India is provided by a charter of Vijayanagar King.

Henry kissinger , the former us secretary of state , once

According to the recently released declassified documents , Nixon had called indira Gandhi an ‘old witch’ , blaming her for the Bangladesh war .

ALEXANDER’S INVASION OF INDIA TOOK PLACE IN  326 B.C., AT THE BEGINNING OF SPRING .

                  MEGASTHENES , THE GREEK WHO LIVED AT THE COURT OF THE INDIAN KING SANDROCOTTUS FOR SOME YEARS FROM 302 B.C. AS THE AMBASSDOR OF SELEUCUS NICATOR , WROTE A VERY POPULAR BOOK ENTITLED “INDICA”.THE BOOK ITSELF IS LOST , BUT IT HAS SERVED AS THE SOURCE FOR SEVERAL CLASSICAL AUTHORS’S ACCOUNTS OF THE COUNTRY WHERE THE AMBASSDOR HAD SOJOURNED.

THE EARLIEST ACCOUNTS BASED ON MEGASTHENES OCCURS IN DIDOROUS { 1ST CENTURY B.C.}. REFERRING TO THE GANGES HE WRITES : “NOW THIS RIVER WHICH AT IT’S SOURCE IS 30 STADIA BROAD , FLOWS FROM NORTH TO SOUTH , AND EMPTIES ITS WATERS INTO THE OCEAN FORMING THE EASTERN BOUNDRY OF GANGARIDAI, A NATION WHICH POSSESSES THE GREATEST NUMBER OF ELEPHANTS AND THE LARGEST IN SIZE . OWING TO THIS , THEIR COUNTRY HAS NEVER BEEN CONQUERED BY ANY FOREIGN KING ; FOR ALL THE OTHER NATIONS DREAD THE OVERWHELMING NUMBER AND STRENGTH OF THESE ANIMALS . THUS ALEXANDER THE MACEDONIAN AFTER CONQUERING ALL ASIA , DID NOT MAKE WAR UPON THE GANGARIDAI , AS HE DID ON ALL OTHERS ; FOR WHEN HE HAD ARRIVEDE WITH ALL THE OTHER TROOPS AT THE RIVER GANGES , AND HAD SUBDUED ALL THE OTHER INDIANS HE ABANDONED AS HOPLESS AN INVASION OF THE GANGARIDAI WHEN HE LEARNED THAT THEY POSSESSED 4000 ELEPHANTS WELL TRAINED AND EQUIPPED FOR WAR .”

GANGARIDAI {SOMETIMES MIS-SPELLED GANDARIDAI , ONCE GANDARITAI} –GANGARIDES –GANGARIDAE [OR GAGARIDAE ] . THESE ARE THE NAMES UNDER WHICH GREAT PEOPLE IN ANCIENT INDIA WERE KNOWN TO GREEK AND LATIN WRITERS OF ANTIQUITY .

                         English is a Germanic language of the Indo-European family.The History of English can be traced back to the arrival 3 Germanic tribes to the British Isles in the 5th century A.D. Angles,Saxons and Jutes reached the island by crossing the North sea from what is present day Denmark and Northern Germany. The Language of the original inhabitants of Britain was Celtic.This was soon displaced .Many of these people were even pushed into Wales and Scotland.One group migrated to the coast of Brittany in France .Their descendants speak the celtic language even today.The Angles were named after their land of origin ,Engle.The anguage of Engles was ‘Englisc’

from which is derived ‘English’.

From the very beginning English was a hybrid language.It was influenced by Latin and Greek during the conversion of England to christianity by St.Augustine and His Followers.

It was greatly influenced by the Danes and after the Norman conquest of Britain,was more transformed by the french speaking Normans.

                In ancient Bhavisya Mahapurana attributed to Vyasa,21st sloka to 31st sloka-2nd Adhyaya,3rd Khandha,Prarthi sarga Parvam in 8th divison,we are told that Raja Shalewahan went out one day to walk in the mountains and in Voyen,near Srinagar,he saw a distinguised person dressed in white with a fair complexion,”HUNA DESAYA MADAYAME,GIRIHASTHAM PURISHAM SUBHAM DADARSA BALAVANRAJA GAURANGAM SWETHA VASTRAKAM ” ! {sanskrit}

on enquiry,the King was told,”EESA PUTRAMCHAMAM VIDDI KUMARI GHARABHA SAMBHAVAM“, which means :Know me as the SON OF GOD ,born of a virgin.

the King asked Him,”What is Your religion?”.The Saintly man replied,”It is Love,Truth and Purity of Heart.For this I am called the Messiah(healer)“.

Many are of the opinion that this dialogue was a later interpolation.However there are hundreds of books authored by Muslim and Christian(Europeans)historians ,which deal with travel of Christ in the middle east,India,Ceylon,Tibet etc.

According to a learned author ,St.Thomas had also fled along with Jesus and Mary.We are also told that Thomas remained with Jesus till his death and raised a tomb over the mortal remains of His Master [Rozbal in Srinagar].

In the year 1348 a Russian ship moored in Genova,Italy,carried a dreaded disease called bubonic plague.At that time it was known as Black Death.It spread all over Europe like fire.

One Italian who survived the Black Death gave the chilling account of terror.

“Neither relatives nor friends,nor priests accompanied the corpses to the grave.In many places in the city,trenches were dug,very broad and deep and into these the bodies were thrown and covered with little earth;and then layer after layer the trench was full and then another trench was begun and I Igniolo di Tura with my own hand buried five of my children in a single trench and many others did the like and no bells rang and nobody wept no matter what his loss because almost everyone expected death and people said “This is the end of the world“

The Black Death, or The Black Plague, was one of the most deadly pandemics in human history, widely thought to have been caused by a bacterium named Yersinia pestis. It probably began in Central Asia and spread to Europe by the late 1340s. The total number of deaths worldwide from the pandemic is estimated at 85 million people; there were an estimated 20 to 30 million deaths in Europe. The Black Death is estimated to have killed between one-third and two-thirds of Europe’s population.

It has been popularly thought that the name came from a striking late-stage sign of the disease, in which the sufferer’s skin would blacken due to subepidermal hemorrhages (purpura), and the extremities would darken with gangrene (acral necrosis). However, the term most likely refers to the sense of “black” (glum, lugubrious or dreadful)

It has been found out that Bubonic plague originated from the foothills of Himalayas.

Persecutions

Lepers, and other individuals with skin diseases such as acne or psoriasis, were singled out and exterminated throughout Europe. Anyone with leprosy was believed to show an outward sign of a defect of the soul.

Differences in cultural and lifestyle practices between Jews and Christians also led to persecution. Jews were charged by some with having provoked the plague. Because Jews had a religious obligation to be clean, they did not use water from public wells. And so as previously mentioned, Jews were suspected of causing the plague by deliberately poisoning wells. Typically, comparatively fewer Jews died from the Black Death, in part due to rabbinical laws that promoted habits that were generally cleaner than that of a typical medieval villager. Jews were also socially isolated, often living in Jewish ghettos. Because isolated people were less likely to be infected, there were differences in mortality rates between Jews and non-Jews and this led to raised suspicions in people who had no concept of bacterial transmission.

Women also faced persecution during the Black Death. Within areas of the Middle East, notably in Cairo, Muslim women became scapegoats when the plague struck.[79] In 1438, the sultan of Cairo was informed by his religious lawyers that the arrival of the plague was Allah’s punishment for the sin of fornication.[80] In accordance with this theory, a law was set in place stating that women were not allowed to make public appearances as they may tempt men into sin.

In the Muslim world, particularly in Makkah, the disease was blamed on non-believers who had entered the city.

Other Effects

Liquor, originally made by alchemists, was commonly applied as a remedy for the Black Death, and, as a result, the consumption of liquor in Europe rose dramatically after the plague.

Flagellants practiced self-flogging (whipping of oneself) to atone for sins. The movement became popular after general disillusionment with the church’s reaction to the Black Death

Signs and symptoms

The three forms of plague brought an array of signs and symptoms to those infected. The septicaemic plague is a form of blood poisoning, and pneumonic plague is an airborne plague that attacks the lungs before the rest of the body. The classic sign of bubonic plague was the appearance of buboes in the groin, the neck and armpits, which oozed pus and bled. Victims underwent damage to the skin and underlying tissue, until they were covered in dark blotches. Most victims died within four to seven days after infection. When the plague reached Europe, it first struck port cities and then followed the trade routes, both by sea and land.

The bubonic plague was the most commonly seen form during the Black Death, with a mortality rate of thirty to seventy-five percent and symptoms including fever of 38 - 41 °C (101-105 °F), headaches, painful aching joints, nausea and vomiting, and a general feeling of malaise. Of those who contracted the bubonic plague, 4 out of 5 died within eight days. [41] Pneumonic plague was the second most commonly seen form during the Black Death, with a mortality rate of ninety to ninety-five percent. Symptoms included fever, cough and blood-tinged sputum. As the disease progressed, sputum became free flowing and bright red. Septicaemic plague was the least common of the three forms, with mortality close to one hundred percent. Symptoms were high fevers and purple skin patches (purpura due to DIC (Disseminated intravascular coagulation)).