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Genesis

The Tigris River in Êlih-Hafizbiniyan. Source: CC BY-SA 3.0

Where the Garden of Eden Actually Could Have Been (Video)

The quest for the Garden of Eden, a mythical paradise mentioned in religious texts, leads us through a labyrinth of historical clues and archaeological findings. Genesis offers tantalizing but...
Ancient World mythologies. Source: filmmaster/Adobe Stock

Beyond Reality: 5 Common Themes in World Mythologies

Across the world we have different myths and legends from the elephant god Ganesha to the Maya Jaguar gods to different types of angels, goblins, and fairy like figures that have different names, but...
Adam clutches a child in the presence of the child-snatcher Lilith, by Filippino Lippi (1502) Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, Florence (Public Domain)

Seeking Lilith, Adam’s Ex-Wife

Lilith was Adam’s first wife, and after a messy divorce, he married Eve, thus giving birth to the more commonly known Old Testament story of creation, featuring the famous Biblical characters Adam...
Abraham ready to sacrifice his son Isaac. Source: Stig Alenas / Adobe Stock.

Biblical Myth or Historical Fact? Child Sacrifice in the Age of Abraham (Video)

Was the bible story of Abraham and Isaac inspired by real religious traditions? Recent archaeological excavations in Israel may be evidence of child sacrifice in ancient Israel . The excavations have...
Lilith has been portrayed as a demoness who refused to return to the Garden of Eden. Source: Gasi / Adobe Stock

Adam’s First Wife Lilith: Diabolical Demoness or the First Feminist?

Lilith is first mentioned in ancient Babylonian texts as a winged female demon that attacks pregnant women and infants. From Babylonia, the legend of “the lilith” spread to ancient Anatolia, Syria,...
Jacob’s ‘pillow’ upon its stone altar, cleaned with oils each morning. In reality, this is the large Hampi-Shiva lingam (omphalos), and the omphalos itself is over a meter (3.2 feet) high. Temple lingams are generally large, while personal lingams can be very small. Source: Alexeiy / Adobe Stock

Jacob’s Pillow: A Christian-Hindu Connection?

The Christian Bible has been the subject of scholarly study for centuries. With a mix of prose and poetry, history and metaphor, deciphering biblical verses can be an arduous endeavor. The story of...
Weld-Blundell Prism, a clay cuneiform inscribed with the Sumerian Kings List. Source: Public domain

The Sumerian King List Reveals the Origin of Mesopotamian Kingship

Out of the many incredible artifacts that have been recovered from sites in Iraq where flourishing Sumerian cities once stood, few have been more intriguing than the Sumerian King List. An ancient...
Abraham leaves Haran for Egypt by Francesco Bassano the Younger (1560 – 1592) 	 Rijksmuseum (Public Domain)

The Sumerian Hypothesis: The Influence Of Sumer On The Primeval History

The use of Mesopotamian material in the motifs and stories found in Genesis 1–11 (also called the Primeval History) has been of great interest to biblical scholars for many years. Although the...
Noah's Sacrifice - watercolor circa 1896–1902 by James Tissot

The ‘Dynastic Race’ and the Biblical ‘Japheth’ – Part I: After the Deluge

The imperfect state of archaeological research in the Near East impedes any definite identification of the original race or races that created the earliest civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt...
Ruins of the biblical Beersheba, Tel Be'er Sheva, Israel           Source: lic0001 / Adobe Stock

Israel’s Rare Artifacts from the Ancient Biblical City of Be’er Sheva

Israel has many fascinating and important archaeological sites, and many have biblical associations. One of the most popular is Tel Be’er Sheva archaeological park. This holds the remains of a city...
Big Bang and the hands of God representation.  Source: rolffimages / Adobe Stock

The Bible’s Big Bang, Creation of the Universe

The most profound mystery of mankind is the origin of the universe. In juxtaposition, its origin is also the most profound event known to man. Since about 1200 BC the Bible has declared in its first...
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden by Wenzel Peter, Vatican Museum

What Happened in Eden? Alternative Translation Tells a Very Different Story

All modern concepts of the Garden of Eden stem from a few verses in the biblical Book of Genesis, none of which is entirely free from ambiguity. The ancient Hebraic documents, from which the early...
Creation. Source: AGPhotography / Adobe Stock.

How the Universe Came to Be: The Bible and Science Finally in Accord?

For most of our history, scientists have primarily believed that the universe is eternal and unchanging. Aristotle in the fourth century BC asserted that the world is without beginning or end. But...
The tower of Babel

The Legendary Tower of Babel: What Does it Mean?

One of the many fantastic stories in the Book of Genesis is the Tower of Babel, a tall construction made in Babylonia after the Deluge. The gist of the story is: All human beings used to speak the...
Sacrifices of Cain and Abel. Fresco from Chiesa di San Lorenzo in Palatio ad Sancta Sanctorum, Rome.

Dwelling in the Land of Nod – Was it a Real City?

The Land of Nod is not just a place we go to catch a few winks but was mentioned in Genesis as the place where Cain, the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, was cast away after murdering his brother Abel...
Detail of ‘God creating the Sun, the Moon and the Stars’ by Jan Brueghel the Younger.

Is the Universe Only 6,000 years old? Young Earth Creationists Say Yes!

Although most mainstream scientists and most of the developed world now accept the theory of evolution and the scientifically established age of Earth and the universe, there is still a group of...
Episodes in the book of Genesis. Oil painting by a Spanish painter. Iconographic Collections.

Can the Babylonian Calendar Help Explain the Ages of Patriarchs Recounted in the Book of Genesis? - Part 2

The ages of Adam and his descendants in the Book of Genesis appear incredulous when compared to the average lifespan of Man throughout history. Though there have been several attempts to justify the...
Episodes in the book of Genesis. Oil painting by a Spanish painter. Iconographic Collections.

Can the Babylonian Calendar Help Explain the Ages of Patriarchs Recounted in the Book of Genesis? - Part 1

The ages of Adam and his descendants in the Book of Genesis appear incredulous when compared to the average lifespan of Man throughout history. Though there have been several attempts to justify the...
Ancient Greek Vase Celebrates the Exaltation of Our Ancestors as Gods

Ancient Greek Vase Celebrates the Exaltation of Our Ancestors as Gods

In 2016, Christie’s sold the Greek vase depicted above—a red-figure bell krater used for mixing wine with water—to a buyer in London for $220,000. It dates from 410 BC. For a mythology buff, what a...
reation of Adam and deluge

A Blessed Event - A Doomed People. Questioning the Creation of the World: Part II

The famously disastrous Genesis flood was merely a local flood, argue critics of the literal interpretation of the Bible. Fundamentalists contest that the flood was indeed global. What is the truth...
Creation of Adam and deluge

Beneath a Celestial Dome, A Land Unlike Any Other in the History of Earth. Questioning the Global Flood: Part I

Critics of the literal interpretation of the Bible have argued that the Genesis flood was a local flood. This interpretation has been vehemently opposed by Biblical literalists and fundamentalists,...
From Giovanni Battista Belzoni: Egyptian race portrayed in the Book of Gates.

The ‘Dynastic Race’ and the Biblical ‘Japheth’ Part II: Ethnology and Influence

In Part I, the author pieced together the possible genealogy to be found in Mesopotamia and Egypt, taking as his starting point the Biblical account of human developments in the region after the...
A vase-scene from about 410 BC. Nimrod/Herakles, wearing his fearsome lion skin headdress, spins Noah/Nereus around and looks him straight in the eye. Noah gets the message and grimaces, grasping his scepter, a symbol of his rule - soon to be displaced in the post-Flood world by Nimrod/Herakles, whose visage reveals a stern smirk.

Ancient Greek Vase Artists Painted Images of Biblical Figures Noah and Nimrod Over 2,000 Years Ago

The Book of Genesis describes human history. Ancient Greek religious art depicts human history. While their viewpoints are opposite, the recounted events and characters match each other in convincing...
‘Abraham and the Angels’ by Aert de Gelder

Is There a Natural Explanation For The Unnatural Ages in Genesis?

Is there any significance to the puzzling ages of the antediluvian patriarchs in the fifth chapter of Genesis? And why do these numbers differ between the Masoretic text and the Septuagint? These...

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