Scythian and Habiru tribes, are there possible Cultural connections?
Culture and Language teaches us a lot about history, could the Cult of Seth have been passed to the Scythians, while they were in the Levant?
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The study of Scythians is a vast and complicated subject, most people involved in this topic might refer to it as Scythiology, this is because the Scythians were so wide spread, they occupied the Central Eurasia from the far east near China all the way to the western European and Middle Eastern areas for a time. Sometimes also known as Saka or Scyths, the name "Scythian" was coined by the ancient Greeks. Please see: https://www.livescience.com/who-were-the-scythians general introduction.
Scythians and Habiru in the Middle East
The Middle East has had a lot of different cultures coming and going for thousands of years. There were many cultures that mixed in the Levant such as Canaanites, Habiru and Egyptians, and later nomadic Sythians chased Cimmerians, into the region. There were many cultural traditions and languages being carried in by the new comers and they were not adverse to adopting or stealing some the native ones, people who stayed usually assimilated to a varying degree, usually with adversity to the locals. Local languages got some words and names stolen from them; local religions got some gods stolen from them, accompanied by story inversions. This mixing at times, was definitely not peaceful. The Hyksos were Infiltrators to Egypt, their kings adopted the local Egyptian god Seth, because he was similar to “their” god Baal, they had managed to appropriate from Laban. Cult of Seth-Ba’al was dominant in the Nile Delta and Levant for long after the Hyksos were gone. It’s my theory that remaining Habiru and Canaanite people passed some of their cultural ideas to later invaders and occupiers.
In doing an investigation of the Scythians, I have discovered I’ve never had a more complex Gordian Knot to unravel as to making sense of their history, there is so much research on each of the different Scythian related tribes, it is impossible to put even a tenth of the available information into a single post. So there needs to be a decent starting point. There are also specific locations of cultural centers that offer clues to events. One of the those I intend on featuring here is a place called Beit She'an, which later occupiers called Scythopolis and later still, became known as Bethlehem. There are two others that are also important, I will have towards the bottom, along with a basic timeline.
My approach here is to account for several factors to sort out relationships of cultures and events. Culture and Language, is not dependent on genetics and may not be detectable by normal archeological means. There are other approaches for gaining insight into the manner of usurpation which took place, by addressing the people who were known to have been involved, based on ancient accounts.
Tereza Coraggio of Third Paradigm just posted a powerfully eloquent article which includes the account of Abdi-Ashirta the known leader of the City of Amarru; who had organized and weaponized the Habiru, into subverting and terrorizing the vassal states of Palestine and the Levant when it was ruled by vassal lords under Egyptian King, Amenhotep III. She asks some very important questions, to which she provides very probable answers.
I highly recommend her post:
Tereza ties Biblical names of people and places to historical accounts from the Amarna Letters that might or might not be the same, and presents very convincing evidence.
For the record, I am involving the point of view from Ancient Egyptian culture as much as I can, because their culture and spirituality are a more stable vantage point with which to view the changes that took place in the Levant. While the interconnected Biblical aspects are also important, my comprehension of them is based off doing what I can to make sense of and not formal training. So, I rely on other’s research for that, where it is available; so I will do my best.
In this, I make no claims, it is my sincere desire to seek the truth.
Stories of Superior and Inferior create Systems of Masters and Slaves
For starters, the terms Semitism or Semitic, has been misused constantly. This word does not describe a people or a religion. Therefore, it is also not really a term that should be used to describe any genetic material for studying a specific people. There are no continuous unbroken lines of people themselves who can be traced back to original cultures; whether they be Ancient Egyptians, Habiru, Canaanites, or Judeans and Scythians. What survives the passage of time is stories and culture that supports it. In genetics, the term Semitic is used to identify a genetic affinity between Palestinians and other Levantine groups, in the Middle East and North Africa; Ashkenazi are mostly not related to them.
Semitism is the same as Shemitism, or that which stems from the story of Noah and his sons, in the Noahide Covenant, as the ruling class of the ruling dynasty.
Noah had bequeathed to Shem the right to rule and be the master of Cain; thus cursing Cain to forever be the slave of Shem.
These names from the Old Testament are symbolic in that they represent the Shemites as having Hierarchy, “Sacred Ruler” status over the people of Canaan or Canaanites (Cain-anites) The term Semitic describes a whole social and political system that is based on masters and slaves; as sanctified by God, while being reinforced by a story that is told to the people of Canaan, who are expected to believe it, for their consent to be ruled. So, who were the real life “Shemites?”
Habiru — Hebrew
Who were the Habiru? The oldest known name is Šagašu, from ancient Akkadian meaning trespasser or (barbarian) they were called Apiru, Hapiru, or Habiru (Hebrew) when they held control in ancient Egypt, their rulers were known to the Ancient Egyptians as Heka Khasut; “Rulers of Foreign Lands,” during the Hyksos occupation.
Tereza writes:
Habiru / Hebrew were propertyless, dependent, immigrant (foreign) social class rather than as a specific ethnic group. Negative descriptions of them are given in the Armarna letters.
Armarna Letters:
https://pdfcoffee.com/moran-1992-the-amarna-letters-pdf-free.html
Also additional Linguistic connections:
ʿApiru (Ugaritic: 𐎓𐎔𐎗𐎎, romanized: ʿPRM, Ancient Egyptian: 𓂝𓊪𓂋𓅱𓀀𓏥, romanized: Ꜥprw), also known in the Akkadian version Ḫabiru (sometimes written Habiru, Ḫapiru or Hapiru; Akkadian: 𒄩𒁉𒊒, ḫa-bi-ru or *ʿaperu) is a term used in 2nd-millennium BCE texts throughout the Fertile Crescent for a social status of people who were variously described as rebels, outlaws, raiders, mercenaries, bowmen, servants, slaves, and laborers.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
The Sumerogram SA.GAZ for šagašu
The Akkadian term Ḫabiru occasionally alternates with the sumerograms SA.GAZ. Akkadian dictionaries for sumerograms added to SA.GAZ the gloss "ḫabatu" (raider), which raised the suggestion to read the sumerograms as this word. However, the Amarna letters attested the spelling SA.GA.AZ, and letters from Ugarit attested the spelling SAG.GAZ, which points that these sumerograms were read as written, and did not function as ideograms.
The only Akkadian word which fits such spelling is "šagašu" (barbarian)
In the time of Rim-Sin I (1822 BCE to 1763 BCE), the Sumerians knew a group of Aramaean nomads living in southern Mesopotamia as SA. GAZ, which meant "trespassers". The later Akkadians inherited the term, which was rendered as the calque Habiru, properly ʿApiru.
In the Amarna Letters, to be a Habiru is synonymous with being a rebel against the Egyptian power in Palestine and Syria.
It looks like the Habiru were everywhere in the Levant area; since at least 1,600 BC. The Rulers of the Habiru were whoever the Heka Khasut really were; later, both the rulers and the ruled were called “Hyksos” by the Greeks but the Rulers were not the people themselves. Lets remember that the names of the rulers are sometimes used to describe the whole people, while the majority of the people are not a part of the ruling group in reality, they instead maintain their own separate bloodlines.
Since culture, is held together by stories and beliefs in those stories, the average person can be convinced to follow such leaders. Habiru were disgruntled, landless populations who had nothing to lose, with that desperation they could be motivated to commit terrible atrocities against the native Canaanite towns and cities. So who were motivating them and how?
In Tereza’s post; The Master Baiters, she points to the evidence that Abdi-Ashirta and his son Aziru are primary culprits in a scheme to take over the entire country of Canaan, using the services of those who have nothing to lose; they have everything to gain at the expense of the Canaanites. She asks: “As father of the Hebrews / Hapiru, is Abdi-Ashirta the Biblical Abram? Does his son Aziru become Isaac?” I would answer yes to both questions.
Also, Josephus and Manetho who describe the expulsion of the Habiru from Avaris, the stronghold of the Heka Khasut, matches up to the 240,000 Hebrews (Habiru) wandering the desert, in the Bible and coming into Canaan.
Religions are Cults Designed to Shackle Spirituality to Centralized Authority to Extract Obedience
It should not matter what “genetic lineage” a person is from; if they can be convinced to join a Cult, they could be from anywhere. This also means that Cults like Judaism can be reinvented over and other again within new populations, across centuries.
Today’s crop of them holding that mantel are the Ashkenazi, their current story to believe in, is the Holocaust. This somehow gives them justification for political protected status. The fictional revenge story in the Torah seems to grant their presumed right to “take” the land of Palestine from the indigenous people, the Palestinians, who are most likely the true descendants of the original Canaanites. Who promised the land of the Canaanites to the Habiru? Was it Abdi-Ashirta?
For those who Rule: Cults are a big manipulation tool; it's the Shepherd's Crook, a mind prison that members themselves often don't know they are in. So what type of Cult were the Habiru following? What kind of consent did they have with their rulers? The main cities of the Habiru had the Cult of Seth firmly established.
Cult of Seth vs Cult of Osiris — Historic Reference
The earliest representations of what might be the Set animal comes from a tomb dating to the Amratian culture ("Naqada I") of prehistoric Egypt (3790–3500 BCE), although this identification is uncertain. If these are ruled out, then the earliest Set animal appears on a ceremonial macehead of Scorpion II, a ruler of the Naqada III phase. The head and the forked tail of the Set animal are clearly present on the mace.
“Although Set was originally viewed as the son and defender of Ra and the Egyptian kings, his reputation among the people declined along with the rise of the cult of Osiris. Originally a vegetation-god, Osiris became one of the pre‑eminent gods of the Egyptian pantheon. Worship in the Osiris cult stressed the role of Seth as violence personified; the murderer of his brother and usurper of his throne who, instead of standing alongside Horus, became his eternal enemy.”
"Osiris" (Ausir) is attributed to a real living person who ruled in one of the Madi Kingdoms of lower Egypt Delta area, in pre dynastic times. His name at that time was "Andjetyi," his wife's name was "Atat." Their remains were recovered from Mastaba 17; this was during the WW2 era and the place where these remains were kept in England were destroyed in the Blitz.”
Andjetyi was into agricultural and farming organization for his people. Because of the great accomplishment of draining the fields and improving the arability of the soil for crops, he became known and loved as a god of agriculture in later times. There’s a lot to this story, so I place this here as a reference. https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/andjety/
About Seth, Excerpt from Ancient Egypt Online:
"Andjety (Anezti, Anedjti) simply means “he who is of Andjet” – the place of the djed (Busiris in the ninth nome of Lower Egypt). It is thought that he was a historical ruler of the ancient Egyptian city of Djedu (Busiris) who became the god of domestic and farm animals, and probably introduced the use of the shepherds crook as an emblem of kingship (an interesting precursor to the Christian notion; “the lord is my shepherd”)." [----- Notice the similarity of "Busiris" to Osiris.]
There is a lot of symbolism tied into the story of Seth, Osiris, Isis, and Horus. It is a story of resurrection. I intend on doing a separate post on the topic of Egyptian Symbolism.
Cult of Seth, from Britanica here’s a quick summary:
https://www.britannica.com/summary/Seth-Egyptian-god
Seth, or Set, Ancient Egyptian god and patron of the 11th nome, or province, of Upper Egypt. A trickster, he was a sky god, lord of the desert, and master of storms, disorder, and warfare. He was the brother of Osiris, whom he killed, and he was antagonistic to Horus, the child of Osiris’s sister, Isis. Seth’s cult largely died out by the 1st millennium BC, and he was gradually ousted from the Egyptian pantheon. He was later regarded as entirely evil and identified as a god of the Persians and other invaders of Egypt.
Cult of Seth was present in many locations in the Delta region of Lower Egypt, the Levant, Canaan region; present day Palestine. Habiru may have been worshipers; however, they casted Seth in their own inversion from the Indigenous Egyptian Pantheon.
Linguistic and Etymological notes on the Name Seth:
For the god Seth, the consonantal framework of his name in Egyptian hieroglyphs - which did not typically represent vowels - was originally s-t-sh 𓋴𓏏𓉔 or s-t-kh 𓋴𓏏𓈎𓉔 This name was heard and recorded as šutaḫ by ancient Babylonians who were in contact with Egypt; together these lines of evidence suggest a reconstruction of Sutash / Sutakh. Sutakh, with a glutteral ending seems about right.
Over time, the posttonic syllable wore away to an open /a/, making the name Suta and ultimately Sut. The /u/ evolved into the /e/ the Greeks heard, nearly two millennia after the earliest writings of the name in hieroglyphs. There were many dialects in Egypt. The hieroglyphs shown below work out much better than the translator software I use:
Grant Hayes:
(MA in Egyptology, Macquarie University) states:
The original meaning of the god Seth’s name (as with several others) in Egyptian cannot be recovered straightforwardly. Already in ancient times it was the subject of pseudo-etymologies devised by the Egyptians themselves. One of these etymologies came down to the Greek author Plutarch of Chaeronea (1st and 2nd centuries AD), who - in his De Iside et Osiride - claimed that Seth meant ‘overpowering’. Egyptian punning as far back as the Coffin Texts (c.2000 BC) played on the similarity of Seth’s name to a word for ‘cutting in pieces’. Indeed, in the Coffin Texts Seth’s name can be replaced by a hieroglyphic sign representing a cutting or digging tool meaning ‘to separate’ (Gardiner Aa21). Elsewhere, Seth was associated by another pun with a verb meaning ‘to be drunk’. Both Plutarch’s and the older etymologies served to depict the essence of Seth’s character as it developed in dynastic Egypt: an overwhelming, turbulent, disorienting force; a divine transgressor who dismembered the archetypal good king Osiris.
Seth was associated by the Egyptians with the foreign and the uncanny, and with the violent power of storms. The Egyptians’ interaction with West Semitic / Canaanite cultures, particularly from the Middle Kingdom onward, led to the equating of Seth with the storm god Baal venerated in those cultures, and he was paired with ‘wild’ foreign goddesses like Anat and Astarte.
There is a Hebrew / Habiru version of Seth related to the Egyptian one, because religions make story inversions of figures as they steal from other religions or hold parts of them in common. The Egyptians could theoretically see "Seth" as bad and belonging to wild tumult and foreigners in the time of the Semitic Hyksos invasion, whereas foreign Semites like the Hyksos might see the same god as positive, which they most certainly did.
Potentially Important Book:
There is an older book on Sethian Religion called Sethian Gnosticism, this appears to be about the Hebrew version of Seth, please use your best judgement: https://books.google.com/books?id=TeQ3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA457#v=onepage&q&f=false
Also see: Seth - Baal
free download site: https://www.academia.edu/239327/Seth_is_Baal_Evidence_from_the_Egyptian_Script
An interesting thing I noticed was that the Scythian mythological animal known as a Griffin seems to be related in appearance to Seth-Baal. The claim of Amorite supremacy over indigenous religious values revolves around the theme of a mythical struggle with the serpent. In the Levant, however, both the positive symbolism of the serpent and the indigenous storm-god survived the Amorite conquest.
Scythopolis / Beit She'an and Sethian cultural exchange
Who were the Scythians?
Etymology of their names from Wiki:
The English name Scythians or Scyths is derived from the Ancient Greek name Skuthēs (Σκυθης) and Skuthoi (Σκυθοι), derived from the Scythian endonym Skuδatā, meaning "archers."[1][17][2][18] Due to a sound change from /δ/ to /l/ in the Scythian language, the term evolved into the form *Skulatā.[1][2] This designation was recorded in Greek as Skōlotoi (Σκωλοτοι), which, according to Herodotus of Halicarnassus, was the self-designation of the tribe of the Royal Scythians.[18]
The Assyrians rendered the name of the Scythians as Iškuzaya (𒅖𒆪𒍝𒀀𒀀), māt Iškuzaya (𒆳𒅖𒆪𒍝𒀀𒀀), and awīlū Iškuzaya (𒇽𒅖𒆪𒍝𒀀𒀀),[19][20] or ālu Asguzaya (𒌷𒊍𒄖𒍝𒀀𒀀), māt Askuzaya (𒆳𒊍𒆪𒍝𒀀𒀀), and māt Ašguzaya (𒆳𒀾𒄖𒍝𒀀𒀀).[19][21] These terms also reflect the origin of the Biblical name Ashkenaz (Biblical Hebrew: אַשְׁכְּנָז ʾAškənāz).[22]
The ancient Persians meanwhile called the Scythians "Sakā who live beyond the (Black) Sea" (𐎿𐎣𐎠 𐏐 𐎫𐎹𐎡𐎹 𐏐 𐎱𐎼𐎭𐎼𐎹, romanized: Sakā tayaiy paradraya) in Old Persian and simply Sakā (Ancient Egyptian: 𓋴𓎝𓎡𓈉, romanized: sk; 𓐠𓎼𓈉, romanized: sꜣg) in Ancient Egyptian, from which was derived the Graeco-Roman name Sacae (Ancient Greek: Σακαι; Latin: Sacae).[23][24]
From the above Linguistic analysis it’s fairly easy to see some developmental constructs for the names we know today. Archaeologist, Maurits Nanning van Loon in 1966 instead used the term Western Scythians to designate the Cimmerians and referred to the Scythians proper as the Eastern Scythians. Other Scythian tribes are Cimmerians, Massagetae, Saka, Sarmatians, then there’s early Slavs, Balts and Finno-Ugric peoples.
In this YouTube video, Robert Sepehr provides an excellent discussion on the Sythians and Scythopolis at around 18:00 in the video:
Robert Sepehr:
The map of Scythopolis brings us to another name the Scythians were known as the Askuzi in Hebrew the word Ashkenazi means Germans particularly communities along the Rhine River in western Germany and in northern France dating to the Middle Ages the language is Yiddish. Use your own best judgment.
Scythians or Sethians?
Background: Greater Scythia is a part of the Black Sea Area and the Caucasus Mountains, including parts of Crimea from Central Asia to the Pontic Steppe in present day Ukraine. The Scythians first appeared in the historical record in the 8th century BC; Herodotus reported 3 versions of the origins of the Scythians.
Ancient Greek historians who wrote about them, say they started showing up in the Levant area, in the 7th century BC, the Scythians with the Cimmerians frequently raided the Middle East. There may be some indication that the Cimmerians were the ones who came into contact with the Canaanite populations and had some cultural exposure to the gods of the Levant.
Full Wiki page on Scythian Religion is very detailed and could be the basis of an entire post by itself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythian_religion#Thagimasidas Wiki excerpt:
The Scythian religion was connected to the Indo-Iranian traditions,[2] and was influenced by that of the populations whom the Scythians had conquered, such as the sedentary Thracian populations of the western Pontic steppe. Due to this, many of the Scythian male deities had equivalents in the pantheon of the Thracian peoples, including those living in Anatolia, and some of the names of these deities were of Thracian origin; the Scythian female deities, and especially their links with special cults and their rites and symbols, were also connected to Thracian and Anatolian culture.[3]
During the Scythians' stay in Western Asia, their religion had also been influenced by ancient Mesopotamian and Canaanite religions.[4]
Wikipedia dates the Scythians from about the 9th century until the 1st century BC, but doesn’t make clear what happened after that, in the Levant.
A note on Wiki:
I have noticed a pattern of Wikipedia trying to “cook the books” where it comes to accuracy. Leaving some things out of the contexts they should be showing; an example is how they leave out a certain name development for the ancient town of Beit She'an, which the Scythians occupied, from about 631 BC. Later on, with the early Christian era, this place became known as Bethlehem. More on that later, because it’s really important. Wiki intentionally attempts to obfuscate most of the historic detail of this period especially the terrible events from around 340 AD.
Back to the Scythians:
What's interesting there was supposed to have been a destruction of Beit She'an by fire in 732 BC. So, maybe when the Scythians came in, they began rebuilding the city at that point making it their own for awhile. They may have adopted the cult of Seth that was practiced there, since they had invested their efforts.
These classical Scythians may have disappeared by the 1st century BC, but Eastern Romans continued to speak of these "Scythians" for Germanic tribes and they may have been culturally related to the same Scythians that occupied Beit She'an.
Earlier, when the Heka Khasut; rulers of the Habiru, had been expelled from Egypt, some people and their cultural influences remained in the area. Habiru appear to have congregated largely in the Levant area; in places like Beit She'an, Amarru and Avaris, in the Nile Delta.
Scythian culture may have have taken an interest in the customs and beliefs of the Habiru, such as the Cult of Seth. Even though they came a thousand years after the Hyksos Infiltration in Tau Wei (Egypt) and the cult of Seth was supposed to have been on the wane by 1000 BC. Cultural constructs remain persistent for longer time periods.
The Cult of Seth was actually rebranded later as Cult of Yahweh.
Wiki on Beit She'an :
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beit_She'an
After the conquest of Beit She'an by Pharaoh Thutmose III in the 15th century BCE, as recorded in an inscription at Karnak,[12] the small town on the summit of the mound became the center of the Egyptian administration of the region.[13] The Egyptian newcomers changed the organization of the town and left a great deal of material culture behind. […]
During the three hundred years of rule by the New Kingdom of Egypt, the population of Beit She'an appears to have been primarily Egyptian administrative officials and military personnel. The town was completely rebuilt, following a new layout, during the 19th dynasty.[19] The Penn Museum excavations uncovered two important stelae from the period of Seti I and a monument of Ramesses II.[20] One of those steles is particularly interesting because, according to William F. Albright,[21] it testifies to the presence of a Hebrew population: the Habiru, which Seti I protected from an Asiatic tribe.
[…]
[ Just a theory: The Asiatic Tribe may have been some former rulers trying to recapture what they had lost and Seti protected them because of his affiliation in common with the cult of Seth]
During the 20th Dynasty, invasions of the "Sea Peoples" upset Egypt's control over the Eastern Mediterranean. Though the exact circumstances are unclear, the entire site of Beit She'an was destroyed by fire around 1150 BC. The Egyptians did not attempt to rebuild their administrative center and finally lost control of the region.
Sea Peoples background may hold some clues
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Peoples
The Sea Peoples are a hypothesized seafaring confederation that attacked ancient Egypt and other regions in the East Mediterranean before and during the Late Bronze Age collapse (1200 BC – 900 BC).[2][3] Following the creation of the concept in the 19th century, the Sea Peoples' incursions became one of the most famous chapters of Egyptian history. Other research suggest that these were the Luwians.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luwians
The Luwians /ˈluːwiənz/ were an ancient people in Anatolia who spoke the Luwian language. During the Bronze Age, Luwians formed part of the population of the Hittite Empire and adjoining states such as Kizzuwatna. During the Hittite New Kingdom, Luwian replaced Hittite as the empire's dominant language. In the early Iron Age, a number of Luwian-speaking Neo-Hittite states arose in northern Syria. The Luwians are known largely from their language, and it is unclear to what extent they formed a unified cultural or political group. They may have a relatablity to the Scythians.
[…]
An Iron Age I (1200–1000 BC) Canaanite city was constructed on the site of the Egyptian center shortly after its destruction.[26] According to the Hebrew Bible, around 1000 BC the town became part of the larger Israelite kingdom. […]
Hellenistic period is listed as 323 BC until about 30 BC.
The Hellenistic period saw the reoccupation of the site of Beit She'an under the new name "Scythopolis" (Ancient Greek: Σκυθόπολις),[32] meaning "City of the Scythians", possibly named after the Scythian mercenaries who settled there as veterans.[33]
[…]
In 63 BCE, Pompey made Judea a part of the Roman Republic. Beit She'an was refounded and rebuilt by Gabinius.[36] The town center shifted from the summit of the mound, or tell, to its slopes. Scythopolis prospered and became the leading city of the Decapolis, the only one west of the Jordan River. […]
Late Roman to Byzantine period (330–636 CE) This part is important
Beit She'an becomes Bethlehem, a House of Meat
Beit She'an or Scythopolis became a site of gruesome torture during the Late Roman Early Eastern Roman era, 340 AD. Constantius II, began forcing people to “Convert” to Christianity, the new official Religion of the Empire. There is copious archeological evidence for the mass death camp that Scythopolis had become. In fact, this was a site that was actually committing a Holocaust on any and all “Pagans,” on an industrial scale, that had never existed before.
There is an article that explains a lot about the types of torture. Ancient Greeks were the primary target of these persecutions, yet they were not the only populations targeted. In this article, there are many display examples in a museum.
An excellent commenter on Tereza’s post: Parasites the first 5,000 Years, who calls himself “Cassandra Farts Back,” (CFB) provided some links below for a very long detailed description of what Beit She'an had become. These Articles are originally in Greek so to read them, the translate bar is needed:
The largest slaughterhouse of people
https://www.e-synews.gr/2019/02/04/thymitheite-tin-skythopoli/
The largest slaughterhouse of people and the most desperate bloodshed took place in Scythopolis against the Greek Ethnikoi: Scythopolis or Betsian or Beit Shean in Israel, is a city unknown to most of us.
In the Bible it is mentioned as Vethsian or Vethsan and is located 8 km west of the Jordan River and 28 km south of Lake Tiberiada.
Herodotus tells us that the Greeks called it "Scythopole" because of its occupation by the Scythians in 631 BC.
CFB states:
The camp was probably stopped by Julian about a generation later.”
“I think what happened in and related to Scythopolis under Constantius II was at it’s peak (until that point) of political persecutions to finally establish Flavianism/Christianity. Seems like imprisonment and torture of unrelenting pagans. The Scythians seem long gone by 340 AD, at least as independent polities and a distinct culture.”
[So, Scythians may not have been directly involved in the Slaughter House]
The massacre of the Greeks by Byzantium and the Church
https://www.e-synews.gr/2019/02/05/sfagi-ton-ellinon-to-vyzantio-tin-ekklisia-diavaste/
The following are imperial decrees from the Byzantine era, which give instructions to the local rulers on how to eliminate the Greeks. As Greeks, they are considered to be those who did not embrace Christianity but continued to practice their ancestral Greek worldview and read and study ancient texts of philosophers.
“We order all their temples and temples (of the Greeks), those still intact, to be destroyed by order of the local authorities and to be purified by the exaltation of the respected Christian religion. If with sufficient evidence before a sufficient judge appears someone who has overlooked this law, he will be punished with the penalty of death. (Auto-masters Theodosius and Valentianos to Isidoron, Eparchos Praetoriou, 14 November 435 AD)”
“To close all the temples in all cities and in all the places of the world. If someone with any power violates (this law) he will be punished by beheading. (Justinian Code 1.11 : Emperor Constantius I to Taurus. Prefist of Praetorium, December 534 A.D.)”
The word Greek was banned for 1,500 years with death penalty
Linguistics are a foundational aspect of Culture; I have long written that most of our current religious, cultural, political, legal and economic perceptions as well as our world views have connections back to Language. The very first aspect is the concept of Name Registry the construction of a Contractual Prison for your Identity is an action of Name Stealing. With Language, it is the same way. If an Infiltrator can bend the meanings of words, inverting definitions found in our everyday spoken language, this is the most Intergranular Invasion Conquest of a People there can be.
https://www.e-synews.gr/2019/09/13/lexi-ellinas-apagoreyotan-epi-1-500-chronia-poini/
No other people in the world threw their name away to take the name of the conqueror. It's a sad thing for us. However, the Greek language remained, which served the establishment, but it was also brutally altered to serve it. Thousands of words took on other meanings that the conquerors wanted, who knew that a people can be conquered when you really changed their language.
CFB Adds this from one of his comments:
Hellenic = Greek, but in the ancient language. Ancient Greeks called themselves (H)ellenes, Greeks is a later term. Hellenistic should translate as something like Greek-ish, to signify the fuse with eastern cultures during the post-Alexander era.
The threads from where these discussions can be found are here:
https://thirdparadigm.substack.com/p/what-is-love/comments#comment-58832558
Bethlehem and the Birth of Jesus — Yes’us’
The name Bethlehem, Etymology: The current name for Bethlehem in local languages is Bayt Laḥm /Bēt laḥm/ in Arabic (Arabic: بيت لحم), literally meaning "house of meat." What is a 'house of meat' other than a slaughterhouse? Or a Death Camp?
Bible scholars have tried to use the Amarna Letters to justify their claim to the name Bethlehem as a legitimization for their story about Jesus. (Yes’us’) Their attempt to cook the books on the name is to cite an entry: Bit Nin.Urta as Bethlehem which it is not. Bit Nin.Urta is not Ancient Egyptian, It is a word in Sumerian but it does not mean what they claim, so I call it BS. Earliest written Greek version of the gospel, New Testament emerged under Constantine, any earlier references to Bethlehem are complete nonsense.
Biblical Scholars have an obvious agenda, first interpretation should be based off of what was written at the time. Bethlehem did not exist until it was created in the fourth century under Constantius and his torturers, like Paul, who seems likely to be the Biblical Paul. Biblical Scholars are also counting on most people not being able to comprehend ancient language enough to access the original word root meanings.
Tereza states:
People’s property was confiscated. Constantine was also known for taking all the gold pagan statues to melt down into gold coins called 'solides': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great. So the 'Christianity' of theocracy, torture, coinage-slavery and empire seems to be 'born' in Bethlehem.
Whoever Jesus (Yes’us’) really was, may have had connections to the Yahwehist Cult which was most likely a rebranding of the Cult of Seth.
Yahweh (according to Britanica)
Yahweh, name for the God of the Israelites, representing the biblical pronunciation of “YHWH,” the Hebrew name revealed to Moses in the book of Exodus. The name YHWH, consisting of the sequence of consonants Yod, Heh, Waw, and Heh, is known as the Tetragrammaton.
Using my best judgement, the “Ancient Israelites” were the same people as the Habiru who practiced the Cult of Seth, Moses was known to the Neshua of Egypt as Osarseph; Osiris / Seph (Seth). Maybe a Priest?
Britanica continues:
After the Babylonian Exile (6th century bce) [which is BS], and especially from the 3rd century bce on, Jews ceased to use the name Yahweh for two reasons. As Judaism became a universal rather than merely a local religion, the more common Hebrew noun Elohim (plural in form but understood in the singular), meaning “God,” tended to replace Yahweh to demonstrate the universal sovereignty of Israel’s God over all others.
One God over all others; this was a root philosophy of how the Flavianism/Christianity of Byzantium could create a story in order to “Write an Empire” into existence. Justification was always provided by God, for centralization and concentration of power in all polities. This is what is demonstrated by the torture and death of the Greeks and their Ancient Culture and Tradition. What better character to use for this than Jesus (Yes’us’) to establish a Compulsory form of Religious Collectivism.
Beit She'an — Scythopolis — Bethlehem Continued
CFB provided additional links for Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) William Smith, LLD, Ed. This has translated historic accounts.
There is a lot of detail in these pages linked below, it is well worth taking a close look at. There’s too much information for me to include in this post.
CFB continues on Meat House — Scythopolis:
CFB thinks there is a good chance for the Scythians to have taken an interest in The Cult of Seth while they were present at Scythopolis:
A connection of Scythians to Set(h), as northern steppe invaders reaching even the southern Levant c. 8-6th century BC makes sense. The Cimmerians are considered related to the Scythians, and pushed southwards then followed by them. There appears to have been a mess of wars and shifting alliances between the invaders, Egypt, Lydia, Assyria and smaller states.
Then there's the royal name Seuthes of the Thracians, another Scythian-neighboring people. Northeastern Thrace was also called Scythia Minor, and the last link connects the Seuthes name origins directly to Scythia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seuthes also see:
Other sites where The Cult of Seth was persistent after Hyksos Expulsion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(deity)
When Ahmose I overthrew the Hyksos and expelled them, in c. 1523 BCE, Egyptians' attitudes towards Asiatic foreigners became xenophobic, and royal propaganda discredited the period of Hyksos (Heka Khasut) rule. The Set cult at Avaris flourished, nevertheless, and the Egyptian garrison of Ahmose stationed there became part of the priesthood of Seth.
As stated above, when the Rulers of the Habiru were expelled from power in Egypt; the Cult of Seth, appeared to have stayed mostly where it was. Beit She'an was not the only place where the Habiru could be found. The Kingdom of Amurru located to the North also had a large Habiru population, later led by Abdi-Ashirta and his son Aziru, as already referenced.
Cult of Seth at Avaris, the former stronghold of the Hyksos in the Delta
Avaris, the old Hyksos (Heka Khasut) capitol city, located in the Delta region, still had a large population living there, even after the Expulsion of the Heka Khasut in 1523 BC. Must not have been much of an Exodus. Likely, these people were the farmers and workers, why would the Egyptians drive everyone away, if those same people could continue to work the land? The labor is more valuable than the land. For more additional information on Avaris, please See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avaris
Avaris was a long standing center for the worship of Seth, the Habiru (Hyksos) had taken a quick likening to the Egyptian God Chaos, because he was so similar their original god Baal. In this article, Daily History.org describes the story of Seth’s political popularity: https://www.dailyhistory.org/Why_Did_Seth_Worship_Become_Popular_in_Ancient_Egypt
Excerpt from the article:
By the Nineteenth Dynasty, though, Seth had acquired utmost religious and political importance. [9] Seth’s rise in political importance was demonstrated in a number of different ways, perhaps the most important being the so-called “400 Year Stela.” The 400 Year Stela was a stela Ramesses II (ruled ca. 1290-1224 BC) erected in his thirty-fourth year of rule at the former Hyksos capital of Avaris in the Delta to commemorate “400 years of the reign of Seth.” [10] Presumably, the calendar was started by the Hyksos who worshipped Seth-Baal.
The place of pride Seth had among the Ramesside kings is also demonstrated by many of their names. Two Nineteenth Dynasty kings were named Seti, which means “man of Seth,” and a Twentieth Dynasty king was named Sethnakhte, or “Seth is Strong.” [11]
Seth was physically worshiped in a number of locations throughout Egypt, he was most popular in the Delta. One of the cities built by Ramesses II in the Delta, Pi-Ramesses, was believed to have been one of Seth’s most important cult centers in Egypt.
Kingdom of Amurru, first known leader was Abdi-Ashirta
Wiki — excerpted:
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amurru_kingdom
Detailed documentation about the Kingdom of Amurru mainly comes from sources from Egypt and Ugarit. The first documented leader of Amurru was Abdi-Ashirta in the 14th century BCE, who united the Habiru and brought much of Amurru under his sway through conquest. This prompted Rib-Hadda, the king of Gubla (Byblos), to send a series of letters to Amenhotep III asking for intervention. [..]
Abdi-Ashirta' successor, Aziru, continues to stylize himself as the governor of Amurru for Egypt. Aziru also sent to Egypt a series of letters, the chronology of which is highly debated. During his reign Akhenaten repeatedly asked for his personal presence in Egypt, which he repeatedly delayed, citing Hittite presence in Nuhasse and fear of Hittite action against Amurru. [Excuses to stall for time] […]
Seti I, the second pharaoh of Egypt's Nineteenth Dynasty, aimed to restore Egyptian authority over the Levant, launched a military campaign and brought Kadesh and Amurru back under Egypt's sphere of influence. Amurru later participated in the Battle of Kadesh on the side of the Egyptians. After the battle of Kadesh, Amurru was brought back to the Hittite fold by Muwatalli II, where King Benteshina was held responsible for the revolt and removed from the throne and was subsequently replaced by Shapili, although Benteshina may not have had much of a choice when he surrendered to the Egyptian side. […]
Areas of Habiru activity as indicated in the Armarna Letters, to see a bigger map, use the link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CA%BFApiru#/media/File:AreasOfHabiruActivityInAmarnaLettersLBIIA.svg
Timeline Reference
Ancient Historic Timeline for Habiru Infiltration into Egypt from Archeology:
**First Intermediate Period in Ancient Egypt according to World History: https://www.worldhistory.org/First_Intermediate_Period_of_Egypt/
The Old Kingdom (c. 2613-2181 BCE) First Intermediate Period of Egypt (2181-2040 BCE) Middle Kingdom (2040-1782 BCE) periods of Egyptian history. The name was given to the era by 19th-century CE Egyptologists, not by the ancient Egyptians.
Hyksos or Habiru may have begun showing up some time as early as the end of the First Intermediate Period.
**Second Intermediate Period according to World History:
Note that the full article discredits the second intermediate period as being chaotic, it states the Hyksos / Habiru were nice people. Use your own best judgement. https://www.worldhistory.org/Second_Intermediate_Period_of_Egypt/
The Middle Kingdom of Egypt (2040-1782 BCE) Second Intermediate Period (c.1782 - c.1570 BCE) ***Hyksos rule: (1630–1523 BCE) There were overlapping kingdoms for a time New Kingdom (1570-1069 BCE).
**The Khazarian Empire, this is verifiable from multiple sources:
For three centuries (c. 650–965) the Khazars conquered the area from the Volga-Don steppes to Crimea and the Caucasus. Khazaria was between the Byzantine Empire, the steppe nomads, and the Umayyad Caliphate.
The Khazars' conversion to Judaism can be dated ca 861. Cited by -- 167 by C Zuckerman · 1995 ·
Khazaria was destroyed by an alliance between Russia and Persia in 965 AD, there is no mention of the collapse of Khazaria in any Lists of Expulsions of “Jews.”
Other Important References:
Armarna Letters:
https://pdfcoffee.com/moran-1992-the-amarna-letters-pdf-free.html
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/amlet/hd_amlet.htm
Scarab with a Representation of Seth-Baal and Uraeus
Article on Seth-Ba’al: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/557091
Sethian Gnosticism
Hebrew version of Seth, https://books.google.com/books?id=TeQ3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA457#v=onepage&q&f=false
Seth - Baal
free download site: https://www.academia.edu/239327/Seth_is_Baal_Evidence_from_the_Egyptian_Script
Next post on Scythians will be:
Scythians of the Steppes and Ashkenazi / Khazarian Relatability
What an epic post, Nef! I wanted to read this when I could really focus and read it slowly. Congratulations on the podcast and upping the ante on the technology ;-) That will also help me in the pronunciation of words like 'Set.' And I appreciate the references to my work. It will be useful to have this to quote and link. There's so much that I learned from reading this.
As Tirion says, we're all just trying to figure this out. So I'll throw some thoughts out here that may or may not be right. No attachment to them:
* My gut feeling is that Ba'al was nothing like Set but was projected backwards onto a peaceful agricultural deity. The representations we have of Ba'al worship come from the Bible, where Ba'al is the enemy of Yahweh/ Seth. I don't trust that.
* I'm still figuring out if Amurru existed as a city or if it was more of a territory that Abdi-Ashirta was taking over, city by city. Even within the Amarna Letters it seems contradictory evidence is presented for each.
* The Wiki on Hyksos said that it was a contraction of Heka Khasut, rather than the people and the rulers. Not sure if that's accurate.
* "In the time of Rim-Sin I (1822 BCE to 1763 BCE), the Sumerians knew a group of Aramaean nomads living in southern Mesopotamia as SA. GAZ" It's so interesting that the sagazu that became the Habiru were Arameaen. That goes back to Laban the Arameaen whose fault it was that the Habiru went to Egypt. I wonder if they were evicted because of a failed coup by a younger son of the ruler. So they took their tricks of the coup trade to Egypt.
* I'm not certain if the Hyksos / Heka Khasut and the Habiru were the same people. It seems like the Hyksos were the first to infiltrate and become the foreign rulers over Egypt, maybe the ruling elite if the whole group became the 240,000 people evicted from Avaris. I do take your point that the rulers and people are not the same. It seems like this was before the era of Abdi-Ashirta, who only organized the Hapiru and may not have been one of them. The Habiru seemed only to be in the vassal states of Egypt, not Egypt itself. Did the evicted Hyksos become Habiru? Did the 19th c Habiru/ sagasu from Aram become the Hyksos?
* The rabbi who commented on one of my episodes said that the root of Cain and Canaan were not the same in Hebrew, they only looked the same in English. So that dashed my theory. But I've realized since they were opposite peoples. The Canaanites are the settled people the Habiru are trying to make into slaves in their mythology. Cain is the first version of Set--he kills his brother and is evicted from Eden, his lineage and Seth's are the same, and he's protected from anyone harming him by edict, just like the Kha-sut. I think his name is related perhaps to the Kennites or Tubal-Cain who were metal workers, aka goldsmiths and coiners of the realm.
* Finally, I've been thinking about animals. I'm guessing that, from time immemorial, families had a cow, the community had a bull or two, but male heifers were killed young because they're more trouble than it's worth to raise for meat. So Ba'al represented as a cow would be domesticated. So would pigs, that would be kept in a yard and fed scraps. What needs plenty of pasture are sheep. And if you're a farming community, a herd of sheep could wipe out your fields of grain or planted crops in no time. So sheep are a weapon of infiltration and aggression. I wonder if the shepherd's crook came into use as a sign of royalty with the Hyksos, and if that's why Genesis says that Egyptians fear shepherds.
Thank you again, Nef, for such a thorough article. Much more here than I've commented on!
Thanks for providing sound file with you reading for us this long interestimg essay..
It takes an effort to write as research witch you humbly mention..
Recording an mp3 of it is creme de la creme and worth noting..
As it helped me to paralell task working here on the farm many an interesting angles can be commented on.. Later tonight Swedish time I will have a go on a few comments like:
(Fast and dirty syllabe-script hints relativ "sound bites")
Ha be ru*
Ha≈"Have"
be="be/beingness/trait-of-actions-"
ru≈secrets/"wisdom"/inward-sight-or-search"
I gather it could be "those havibg/keeping to secrets/secret+deveptive-in-trade(" wisdom"/malice)
*(from a Norse historic syllable-glyph trail analysis:)