Greetings,
Sorry about taking so long to get back to you.
nephilimiyr said:
Whoa...I'm not really sure what your saying there but you must understand that this 12 ruling body of gods that your speaking about is a small but sure belief in the scope of what the whole world believed at that time. <...>
I could agree with this...go on with the thought though because I don't think I got the full understanding yet of what your trying to say. I don't believe the Greeks or the Romans or whoever, had the full understanding as to who and what they were worshipping but those myths did hold a certain amount of fact and truth.
I forget my original point, nor can I find the text I began to prepare to answer this, so I'll wing it.
Ruling councils tend to be organized into bodies of 12, which is a multiple of 3. Now 3 is also very important mythologically as it represents greatness, a coming together in
unity. Viz: There are 3 Fates (Moirae), 3 Norns, 3 Muses (originally, later there were 9), we Christians have the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), Hermes Trismegetes translates literally as Hermes the "Thrice-Great", neo-pagans use the number 3 to represent their Tri-Fold Goddess (Maiden, Mother, Crone), it is the "Third Eye" that seers and mystics claim to be able to see with, there were three Wise Men, and let's not forget Jesus rose on the THIRD day.
So if 3 represents greatness then how much greater must 12 be?
You mention that you aren't sure how much the myths of old really run parallel with Biblical matters. And yet, look at Ovid'
Metamorphoses:
Before the seas, and this terrestrial ball,
And Heav'n's high canopy, that covers all,
One was the face of Nature; if a face:
Rather a rude and indigested mass:
A lifeless lump, unfashion'd, and unfram'd,
Of jarring seeds; and justly Chaos nam'd.
No sun was lighted up, the world to view;
No moon did yet her blunted horns renew:
Nor yet was Earth suspended in the sky,
Nor pois'd, did on her own foundations lye:
Nor seas about the shores their arms had thrown;
But earth, and air, and water, were in one.
Thus air was void of light, and earth unstable,
And water's dark abyss unnavigable.
No certain form on any was imprest;
All were confus'd, and each disturb'd the rest.
For hot and cold were in one body fixt;
And soft with hard, and light with heavy mixt.
Not the best translation I could find, but doesn't that remind you of anything? Round about Genesis 1:2 perhaps?
And that's just the beginning. From a quick glance in my old book I see that I've noted the parallels stretch from Ge 1:2 to 2:7, with a bit of Ps 74:17 and 3 En 5:7- right around where the story leads up to the bit about the war with the Giants- and at the bit about the Giants Wherein I wrote in the margins Ge 6:3, 3 En 5:12; and Ge 6:4; Is 14:13.
A creature of a more exalted kind
Was wanting yet, and then was Man design'd:
Conscious of thought, of more capacious breast,
For empire form'd, and fit to rule the rest:
Whether with particles of heav'nly fire
The God of Nature did his soul inspire,
Or Earth, but new divided from the sky,
And, pliant, still retain'd th' aetherial energy:
Which wise Prometheus temper'd into paste,
And, mixt with living streams, the godlike image cast.
Thus, while the mute creation downward bend
Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend,
Man looks aloft; and with erected eyes
Beholds his own hereditary skies.
From such rude principles our form began;
And earth was metamorphos'd into Man.
There we have the creation of man. If you read a more modern translation the biblical parallels are more aparent. But I think you can still see them in this brief passages. Also worthy of note is the
Theogony and Days, and the account of the
Pelasgian creation myth outlined by Graves in his two volume work on Greek Myths.
Granted there really aren't a lot of hard
numbers mentioned by Ovid, but what does the Bible say?
SIX days of creation. (Six is a multiple of three). With the SEVENTH day set aside to rest.
There were 7 Wise Masters in the story of Sinbad, it was the 7 Against Thebes, the Magnificent 7, the 7 Sleepers of Ephesus, and I do believe there are 7 Archangels. (Or 4, depending upon your source. Then consider that. 7 is the sum of 3 and 4. How odd is it that 4 should pop up here?)
Does this seeming non-random occurance of numbers mean anything?
*shrug*
4 is usually given as the number of the earth, or the material realm.
Consider: Ovid lists 4 AGES of the world. Golden, Silver, Bronze, and Iron.
After the Iron Age comes the war with the Giants. (Ge 6:3-4 ?) The entire account can be read
here. Also worthy of note as being a parallel is how the Aesir (Norse Gods) were said to be at war with the Jotun (Giants).
And with that we have now wandered so far afield I am sure neither of us remember what in the world we were talking about.
Save, perhaps, that the parallels one can find are astounding.
Kind Regards,
Kester Pelagius