08-28-2008, 04:41 AM
Hi James,
I could discuss Sennacherib's water screw pump - claimed by Archimedes - that was used to irrigate the Hanging Gardens of Nineveh, not Babylon as erroneously passed down by Greek writers.
I could discuss architectural designs of Greek temples and projects such as the aquaduct of Sennacherib - used to irrigate the same gardens - 400 years before its Roman counterpart.
I could show that military tactics, such as the Phalanx were depicted on the Stele of Vultures, that siege engines and military engineers, sappers and even hoplite armour and shields all have their antecedents in the Middle East.
However it would all be ignored simply because of your subjective gut feeling. However your mind has clearly been made up before even listening to the Oriental side of the story. This is quite ironic since you claim that reasoning and scientific method are attributes that are distinctly Greek.
Meanwhile your walking analogy is clearly demeaning as it shows that you have not even bothered to read the article or consider the parallels set out in the table below:
http://www.gilgameshgames.org/ggamestable.html
I will be the first to admit that a couple of the parallels may be attributed to coincidence or even debunked by new evidence. However there are so many parallels that it makes it very hard to deny that the games evolved in the Middle East and eventusally made it to Greece.
In addition it is my belief - and I admit it is subjective - that the Olympic Games actually regressed the Gilgamesh Games - much like the adoption of the Caduceus and medicine regressed Eastern medicine (See: http://www.aina.org/news/20051024194557.htm ). My evidence for this is that the Gilgamesh Games has a coherent theme that emerges when all paralells are considered unlike its Greek equivalent, which attributes everything to antiquity, legend and myth.
The only remaining question is are you willing to trace our cultural bridge back to the Middle East and rediscover the source of our "Western" heritage, culture and tradition by taking a second look at the Oriental sources?
I could discuss Sennacherib's water screw pump - claimed by Archimedes - that was used to irrigate the Hanging Gardens of Nineveh, not Babylon as erroneously passed down by Greek writers.
I could discuss architectural designs of Greek temples and projects such as the aquaduct of Sennacherib - used to irrigate the same gardens - 400 years before its Roman counterpart.
I could show that military tactics, such as the Phalanx were depicted on the Stele of Vultures, that siege engines and military engineers, sappers and even hoplite armour and shields all have their antecedents in the Middle East.
However it would all be ignored simply because of your subjective gut feeling. However your mind has clearly been made up before even listening to the Oriental side of the story. This is quite ironic since you claim that reasoning and scientific method are attributes that are distinctly Greek.
Meanwhile your walking analogy is clearly demeaning as it shows that you have not even bothered to read the article or consider the parallels set out in the table below:
http://www.gilgameshgames.org/ggamestable.html
I will be the first to admit that a couple of the parallels may be attributed to coincidence or even debunked by new evidence. However there are so many parallels that it makes it very hard to deny that the games evolved in the Middle East and eventusally made it to Greece.
In addition it is my belief - and I admit it is subjective - that the Olympic Games actually regressed the Gilgamesh Games - much like the adoption of the Caduceus and medicine regressed Eastern medicine (See: http://www.aina.org/news/20051024194557.htm ). My evidence for this is that the Gilgamesh Games has a coherent theme that emerges when all paralells are considered unlike its Greek equivalent, which attributes everything to antiquity, legend and myth.
The only remaining question is are you willing to trace our cultural bridge back to the Middle East and rediscover the source of our "Western" heritage, culture and tradition by taking a second look at the Oriental sources?
