… Halperin cites Celsus, a 2nd c. Greek philosopher and critique of a rising Hellensitic Semitic Abrahamic idea of Christianity, in “that the followers of Persian cult of Mithras used ‘a ladder with seven gates’ as a symbol of the seven planetary spheres. ‘The first of the gates is of lead, the second of tin, the third of bronze, the fourth of iron, the fifth of an alloy, the sixth of silver, and the seventh of gold’… [an expert in history of religion] Erwin R. Goodenough has found a comparable sequence of seven metals, perhaps representing the seven heavens rather than the planets, depicted in the painting of the ‘closed temple’ on the wall of the third-century synagogue at Dura-Europos…If Goodenough is right, Jews had assimilated the Persian idea of seven heavenly spheres made of different metals, and equated these spheres with the seven firmaments of their own traditions, no later than third century A.D. The Hiram story draws directly on this conception…” [pic panoramio @cedarrick: Traditional tomb of Hiram at Qana, Lebanon, which archaeologists date to the Achaemenid Persian Empire 550-330 BCE… Some Christians believe Qana is where Jesus turned water into wine as his first miracle
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 04:09:46 +0000
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