Roughly five thousand years ago, the Persians noticed four stars were located at specific locations along the ecliptic at which the sun would pass in front of during the four seasons. These four stars and their constellations became integrated into the lore and mythology of religion. Th e royal Persian stars then became intertwined with the story of Jesus Christ, the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and St. Peter’s Basilica. In From Four Royal Persian Stars to Jesus and the Sun, author Eric Norland presents a primer on modern astronomy to show how this relationship developed.
A world traveler and amateur astronomer, Norland delivers an explanation about the core of the Christian religion. He discusses the astronomy-related misunderstandings people had long ago, shows how these beliefs became the foundations of Christian religion, and provides an account of how many other religions found their inspiration.
With a host of graphics and examples, From Four Royal Persian Stars to Jesus and the Sun digs into the core of religion and explains its early connection to astronomy.
Roughly five thousand years ago, the Persians noticed four stars were located at specific locations along the ecliptic at which the sun would pass in front of during the four seasons. These four stars and their constellations became integrated into the lore and mythology of religion. Th e royal Persian stars then became intertwined with the story of Jesus Christ, the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and St. Peter’s Basilica. In From Four Royal Persian Stars to Jesus and the Sun, author Eric Norland presents a primer on modern astronomy to show how this relationship developed.
A world traveler and amateur astronomer, Norland delivers an explanation about the core of the Christian religion. He discusses the astronomy-related misunderstandings people had long ago, shows how these beliefs became the foundations of Christian religion, and provides an account of how many other religions found their inspiration.
With a host of graphics and examples, From Four Royal Persian Stars to Jesus and the Sun digs into the core of religion and explains its early connection to astronomy.
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Overview
Roughly five thousand years ago, the Persians noticed four stars were located at specific locations along the ecliptic at which the sun would pass in front of during the four seasons. These four stars and their constellations became integrated into the lore and mythology of religion. Th e royal Persian stars then became intertwined with the story of Jesus Christ, the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and St. Peter’s Basilica. In From Four Royal Persian Stars to Jesus and the Sun, author Eric Norland presents a primer on modern astronomy to show how this relationship developed.
A world traveler and amateur astronomer, Norland delivers an explanation about the core of the Christian religion. He discusses the astronomy-related misunderstandings people had long ago, shows how these beliefs became the foundations of Christian religion, and provides an account of how many other religions found their inspiration.
With a host of graphics and examples, From Four Royal Persian Stars to Jesus and the Sun digs into the core of religion and explains its early connection to astronomy.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781491708170 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | iUniverse, Incorporated |
| Publication date: | 09/24/2013 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 14 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
Read an Excerpt
From Four Royal Persian Stars To Jesus and the Sun
By Eric Norland
iUniverse LLC
Copyright © 2013 Eric NorlandAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4917-0816-3
CHAPTER 1
An Introduction to the Four Royal Persian Stars
Long ago, humans noticed that, when the sun was situated in front of a certain star in a certain constellation along the zodiac, it would be one of the four seasons. This was a very reliable calendar to tell what time of year it was and when to get ready to plant or partake of activities. People remembered this and passed along the information to following generations. But it was very complex information and not well understood. It did not take long for it to be reinterpreted as something of a religious significance and become protected and sacred.
The most ancient historical record of the four royal Persian stars is hinted at in the Zend Avesta, or the Persian books of Zarathustra of Zorasterism. Anquetil Duperon, a French Orientalist, translated and published them in 1717. The oldest copy of the Zend Avesta is dated to around AD 600, though they appear to have been much older and are derived from an oral tradition from the time of Zarathustra, around 500 BC. Darius the Great most likely worshipped them. One of the verses, Sirozah 13, calls these stars "bright, glorious, they were sacrificed to and worshipped."
A sacred and very ancient text by the Parsees of Pahlavi, the Bundahishn, mentions the four stars, "It is Tishtar the chieftain of the east, Sataves the chieftan of the west, Vanand the chieftan of the south, and Haptokring the chieftan of the north."
A French astronomer, Jean Sylvain Bailly, said in his 1789 book, The History of Ancient Astronomy, "Tashter who guards the east, Satevis who guards the west, Vanant who guards the south and Haftorang the north." He was an accurate astronomer, but after getting caught up in the French Revolution, he was sent to the guillotine in 1793.
French writer Charles Francois Dupuis said in his 1794 book, Origine de Tous les Cultes, "These stars (Aldeberan, Regulus, Antares and Fomalhaut) received the pompous denomination of royal stars." This is the first mention of the term "royal star." He also added that Ormusd (God) placed them at the four corners of the sky.
The astronomer George A. Davis Jr. wrote a critical article about the royal Persian stars in Popular Astronomy in April 1945. In the article, he incorrectly quotes from the Bundahishn that Sataves is south and Vanand is west. He writes that Tishtar is Sirius and associated with the helical rising of a "little cloud." He also admits Tishtar means "cloud." Because there is no "little cloud" near Sirius, this could only be the Pleiades, and it is in Taurus, home of the Pleiades, so Tishtar could be Aldeberan in Taurus. Davis mentions that Sataves is known for water and it would be Aquarius. He said Vanand is a "stinger" like the scorpion.
These, however, seem incorrect and need to be switched around. They are in error, just like he wrongly quoted the Bundahaisn. Finally, he says Haptokring is known to have seven stars, so it would be the Big Dipper. However, Leo also has seven stars. Haptokring, therefore, could very well be Leo, and Davis' errors would complete the description of the four royal Persian stars.
So how did they measure the sky long ago? They had very simple but accurate tools that were made to measure where the sun was located and in what zodiacal constellation it was in.
A simple divider and protractor can be used to measure between the stars and the sun. The ancient Greeks used an astrolabe to measure the height of a star above the horizon.
What follows is the correct March 21, 3000 BC, layout of the four royal Persian stars according to Bailly and the Bundahishn.
The four royal Persian stars are mentioned four times in Burnham's Celestial Handbook.
What is cosmology? Everyone has a cosmology. No matter how much nor how little a person knows about the world around him or her and the universe, he or she still has a cosmological perspective of his or her place with the universe. In some ways, even creatures find their place where they fit in with the world around them, but this is a very crude way of understanding cosmology.
In this age of rapid Internet knowledge, there is an ever-expanding amount of information regarding our place in the universe. As one learns more and more, one discovers that Earth is a planet with a moon orbiting it and both are in orbit around the sun. One learns of other planets in the solar system and their positions as they orbit the sun. Many stars are nearby, every star we see is a member of our Milky Way galaxy, and other galaxies are around the Milky Way. The universe has about 125 billion other galaxies and appears to have started about 13.7 billion years ago. All of this astronomical information helps a person gain an insight, a greater expanse of knowledge about the universe around him or her, and this adds to his or her cosmology. Cosmology is a very important subject and a big part of one's outlook on the world around him or her because it ultimately informs one of his or her place upon the planet and the way one understands and relates to it and others. It is also very important for the citizens of our world to have a correct cosmological perspective. It gives one a true and understandable view of our predicament and our home planet and the way we fit in with it.
We all have a common perspective on what is real and can narrow it down to these five senses: sight, taste, smell, touch, and hearing. These basic senses can help us determine whether something is real.
Is carbon monoxide real? It is. One can't smell it. It just requires additional technology to sense it. Is a black hole real? It is. Scientific models and evidence can confirm it.
Another form of testing reality, verifiable facts, should be added. We can use information to explain and prove that something is real. This is verifiable information. One can verify with mathematics or scientific experiments and arrive at a predictable conclusion, which can be falsified or tested to determine if it is real.
The problem with defining what is real is something that happens deep within our brains. Dreams, phobias, mentally distraught emotions, deceased loved ones, and imaginary ideas seem so real in our minds that it is difficult to ascertain reality. Reading a good book or watching a movie may seem real. These fall under an area called delusion, which any of the five senses often cannot prove. While they may seem real, dreams are an idea, which any outside testable information cannot confirm. A thought in the inner brain is not directly connected to the five senses and can be deemed delusional. Just because someone told you something, it does not mean it is true. Use the five senses as a test.
Many people do not understand nor do they care to learn about the scientific explanation for the formation of the universe, sun, and Earth. They either did not learn this information or have been taught an alternative cosmological model. They may have heard their cosmological explanation from sources such as religion, science fiction, entertainment, or other stories handed down. This is alternative cosmology. Some people do not accept science. They accept what they have been told, and they do not want to learn anything else.
Religion indirectly teaches a person a cosmological model of the universe, which is generally not based on scientific facts. It oftentimes comes from myths, stories, conquests, folklores, and mistaken insights into nature. This book hopes to inform you of the astronomy-related misunderstandings people had long ago and the way they turned them into religion.
People spend great amounts of money to support religious activities. This can be observed by the many religions one sees around the world and the many churches one sees in the Yellow Pages. Financial patrons support every congregation. Now, how many science shops do you see in the Yellow Pages? How many telescope shops or scientific suppliers are there? How many do you see on a street corner compared to churches? They do not have the financial reach that religion does to touch everyday people. On a worldwide scale, more money is pumped into religion than just about any other business. They have more financial power to advertise, to promote, to reach out, and to offer free meals than most scientific endeavors do. This, in turn, is where the followers of religion will gain their cosmological model from.
So why do so many people give so much financial support to religious organizations when they cannot verify the majority of their claims? The number-one reason is for good luck. People believe that, by supporting a supreme being, they will be given good fortune in turn. Yet most statistics can tell us that religious people are experiencing the same troubles as atheists. They still have bankruptcy, unlawfulness, accidents, health troubles, divorce, and death, no matter what religious foundation they follow.
The United States has recently been rated number thirty-three in the world in the acceptance of evolution. This means accepting the science of evolution as a means of explaining the origin of species is rated lower than creationism, the belief that God made everything, in the United States. In some other countries outside of the United States, there is a far greater acceptance of the scientific explanation of evolution over creationism. The United States is currently scaled below countries like Latvia, Belgium, and Croatia in accepting evolution.
The objects at the right side of the above image start from the bottom and work up, beginning with the earliest Syrian village life (1), painted handmade pottery(2), earliest general use of metal(3), cylinder seals from Ur(4), articles from northern Mesopotamia(5), clay figurines(6), painted bowls related to Egyptian pottery(7), cultural relation with the East(8), important pottery, ceramic traces of the "Peoples of the Sea" Syrian Hittite kingdom(9), occupation of the Persian Empire period(10), and the time of St. Paul and early Christian era(11). They are typical of the different periods from 4500 BC to AD 600 and represent the ancient cultural layers found on the slope of Tell Judaidah.
Much the same as an archaeologist can unearth ancient fossils and artifacts, so too can the archaeoastronomer find hidden clues from the past. The most recent information will be nearest to the top, as the more recent civilizations will have left recent items on the highest layer. One has to research farther back in history to find things from long ago. Using very similar techniques accomplishes the historical research in this book.
We should always question everything and anything and seek to find the natural explanation behind it. Because we are creatures of this planet, made from the biomass that makes up the world we live upon, everything on the planet probably has a natural reason for why it is.
One of the dangers in misdiagnosing any problem is the consequences. Nature follows its set of rules. If they are not obeyed, then there is the potential of a negative outcome. By understanding the natural universe, it is more likely that humans can readily adapt and resolve the problem with less of a chance of failure.
CHAPTER 2
Hypothesis
About five thousand years ago, the Persians noticed four stars were located at specific locations along the ecliptic at which the sun would pass in front of during the four seasons. These four stars and their constellations became integrated into the lore and mythology of religion.
What is even more intriguing is how the four royal Persian stars became integrated with the story of Jesus Christ, the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and St. Peter's Basilica. Finally, I will present modern astronomy to help the reader understand more about where they truly do fit in.
The zodiac was very intriguing to the ancients. At its most basic, it is the twelve constellations of which the sun travels through during its yearly journey. The ancients named the route "zodiac," which means the "zoo path." This is the root of the word "zodiac" and can be readily interpreted as "the circle of the animals or path of the animals." All but one of the zodiacal constellations is an animal-like being. That exception is Libra (scale).
The Persians documented the first understanding of the four royal Persian stars. We know this because they incorporated the four zodiacal signs into their sculptures and mythology. Other cultures most likely understood this information long before that time, but it wasn't until about three thousand years ago that a representation of the four royal Persian stars was created. This was kind of a golden age when they realized the importance of this information and the sun was in front of those stars. This method of using the sun to inform people of the seasons represented a very reliable calendar.
Because of the phenomena of precession, the sun moves westward along the ecliptic continuously. It shifts one degree to the west every seventy-two years, twice the distance of the full moon, which covers a half-degree. The sun precesses 2 degrees to the west every 144 years and 30 degrees to the west (or one zodiacal constellation) every 2,160 years. The slight wobble Earth has around its axis causes this process of precession.
Every 2,160 years, the sun moves through one complete zodiacal sign, which amounts to 30 degrees. If we multiply that by twelve zodiacal signs, then we can see that it will take 25,920 years for the sun to move through all of the signs and circumnavigate the entire zodiac.
An allegory is a story with a deeper meaning beneath the surface. For example, the story of Jesus Christ can be looked at as an allegory of the sun's annual journey around the zodiac, something deeper than just the story of a person's life.
How did they know what constellation the sun was in a long time ago? They would see a bright star and measure using a divider to note where the sun was. From then on, they could refer to the measurement and know exactly when and what constellation the sun would be in.
CHAPTER 3
The Four Royal Persian Stars
From the earliest times, whether it be one thousand to three million years ago, the night sky has intrigued humans. Today, we are no different than they were. They looked up at it and gasped at its beauty and wonder. So do we. The difference is that they had so little information to go on as to what those tiny twinkling lights in the night were. So they did the best they could to explain it. Human beings have always seen shapes and figures that remind them of something else they know. Therefore, they began to remember these shapes by telling stories.
Humans began to recognize shapes that reminded them of their natural world and the far reaches of their imagination. This is where the constellations began. The figure of Orion seems to emerge out of the shape of that constellation. However, every culture worldwide sees a different pattern to constellations. For instance, in Japan, the constellation that the Greeks called Orion is believed to be a kimono held at arm's length. In Egypt, it was Osiris. To the Native Americans, it was visualized as a canoe about to enter the Milky River. To the right of Orion is a bull-like shape. The Greeks eventually know this charging bull as Taurus, which means "bull." A little farther to the right is a lamb. This is Aries the Ram/Lamb.
The zodiac is the path that the sun and planets follow along the ecliptic. The sun takes one year to move through all twelve signs of the zodiac, which are as follows, starting from the left, Leo, Cancer, Gemini, Taurus, Aries, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Libra, and Virgo.
The sun is shown to the left of Sagittarius and the right of Capricorn. This is where the sun was two thousand years ago on December 21, the winter solstice. Look right and above the sun and note the addition of the constellation Ophiuchus. It is located just above Scorpius. Ophiuchus is the constellation that Middle Eastern cultures interpreted as an eagle.
The zodiacal constellations were created at least twenty-six thousand years ago. The twelve signs of the zodiac are Leo the Lion, Cancer the Crab, Gemini the Twins, Taurus the Bull, Aries the Ram, Pisces the Fish, Aquarius the Man with the Water Jar, Capricorn the Sea Goat, Sagittarius the Archer, Scorpio the Scorpion, Libra the Scales, and Virgo the Virgin. Each sign was invented long ago to explain something about the seasons where they were created, namely in Persia. About twenty-six thousand years ago, the constellations of the zodiac were already established. Many scholars, especially Arthur Harding, agree upon this. "The signs and the constellations of the zodiac coincided with 300 BC and also 26,000 BC. We know they were in use before 300 BC. They must, therefore have been invented not later than 26,000 BC. This gives us some information as to how long man has been studying the stars." ( Professor Arthur Harding, Astronomy 252)
(Continues...)
Excerpted from From Four Royal Persian Stars To Jesus and the Sun by Eric Norland. Copyright © 2013 Eric Norland. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Chapter 1. An Introduction to the Four Royal Stars.................... 1
Chapter 2. Hypothesis of this Book.................... 10
Chapter 3. The Four Royal Stars.................... 14
Chapter 4. The Four Royal Stars become Integrated with Art and Religion.... 27
Chapter 5. The Four Royal Stars become the Archangels.................... 42
Chapter 6. The Zodiac Inside of the Holy Roman Catholic Church and St.
Peter's in Rome.................... 48
Chapter 7. The Planets in St. Peter's Basilica.................... 64
Chapter 8. The Layout of St. Peter's is Geocentric.................... 71
Chapter 9. The many versions of the zodiac in the church................... 85
Chapter 10. The Zodiacal Timeline. From Bulls, to lambs, to fish........... 98
Chapter 11. The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac.................... 102
Chapter 12. The Changes in the Zodiac and Precession.................... 109
Chapter 13. The Misunderstood Astronomy behind the Birth and Life of
Jesus.................... 112
Chapter 14. The 18 year disappearance of Jesus and the Sun's 18 year saros
cycle.................... 124
Chapter 15. The Story of Jesus is like the Story of the Sun's Annual
Movement Along the Horizon during the Year.................... 129
Chapter 16. The Sun in Pisces and Jesus Loves water.................... 131
Chapter 17. The Mission of Jesus is the Sun's Annual Journey............... 135
Chapter 18. Passover and the Easter Resurrection.................... 140
Chapter 19. Sun gods and Moon gods through the Ages.................... 145
Chapter 20. The Dark Side of Religion p.................... 152
Chapter 21. The Christian Religion and - Destruction of the Earth?......... 159
Chapter 22. What Science, Not Religion Taught us about the Heavens......... 162
Chapter 23. Bizarre Concoctions and Misinterpretations of Precession....... 177
Chapter 24. Humans and the Universe.................... 181
Chapter 25. It's up to you to Decide.................... 182
Chapter 26. Conclusion.................... 183
Chapter 27. Real Evidence of the Sun versus the Son.................... 185
Bibliography.................... 186
Photo Credits.................... 191
Index.................... 199
About the Author.................... 212