Myths

M

Mohsen Ezz El-Din Al-Bakr

Registered Member
In the mountainous areas of southwest Yemen, where I belong, a strange story repeats itself about a house at the end of the village. They say that a tiger attacked it and scratched its door with its claws, and the marks are still visible today, even though the wood is from sidr or ilb, which cannot be pierced by a nail except with great effort due to their hardness. What is remarkable is that most villages in the neighboring areas tell the same story, so every village has its own scratched door , and I do not know, perhaps this story extends throughout all the mountainous regions of Yemen, where tigers used to live side by side with the villages in the surrounding hills and mountains.

The strange thing is that the marks mentioned in these stories as tiger claw marks actually mostly date back to the time the wood itself was cut, since the carpenter and the house owner accepted whatever wood was available with its flaws, without tools for polishing or perfect finishing. Every natural scratch or crack in the wood later became a "tiger claw" in the memory of the village. Especially the house on the outskirts of the villages, although these marks exist on the doors of other houses as well, but mythical thinking is like that and does not scrutinize

Once, a conversation occurred between me and someone, fortunately a thoughtful young man, otherwise we would have continued our discussion in the hospital or the grave : "He said, the tiger scratched a door of ilb -(sidr)- impossible for a tiger to scratch a door of sidr!" with its strength and durability. I said to him: "By the power of God." He looked at me in astonishment, so I continued smiling: I told him all religious stories are the same as the scratched door this Either all of them are by the power of God or all of them are myths.

Just our ancestors… I do not know where they were riding on them when prophecy was divided between the Arabs and the Israelites… otherwise, if we had a prophet, we would have had the Chapter of the Scratched Door and you would defend it and curse anyone who denies or doubts it

Sargon of Akkad was placed by his mother in a wooden basket on the Euphrates River, and the shepherd Aqi found him and took him to the king’s house, where he lived and was raised. When he grew up, he became king of Akkad and established a large empire. This story is found in Akkadian cuneiform inscriptions preserved in the Louvre Museum in Paris, and in the epic of his birth written on clay tablets in the Iraq Museum in Baghdad.

Moses was born in Egypt and placed in a basket on the banks of the Nile to escape Pharaoh, and the people of Pharaoh found him and raised him, and he grew up to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Same story as the scratched door and the tiger that did not leave a village without scratching its door.

Shubshi Nergal, the Babylonian sufferer, lost his health and family, endured torture, and called upon the god Marduk, who saved him, and he lived to return strong. This story exists in Babylonian cuneiform texts preserved in the Berlin Museum and the Louvre, and is part of the famous "Shubshi Nergal" epic. Same story as the prophet Job.

Felix the Nulli fled from the emperor and hid in a cave with his companion. The dove and the spider came and built a residential complex at the cave door . And the pursuers came and said he could not be here, and the spider wove on the cave door and the dove built her nest. This story exists in European medieval manuscripts, preserved in the Vatican libraries and some national museums in France and Germany. Same story as Prophet Muhammad and Abu Bakr hiding in the Cave of Thawr.

Noah built an ark before the flood, gathering a pair of each species and his believing family, and survived the flood to start a new life on earth. This story exists in religious and archaeological texts, such as the Akkadian flood epic on cuneiform tablets preserved in the Iraq Museum and the Louvre.

In Hindu mythology, there is a global flood similar to Noah's flood, mentioned in Matsya Purana and Bhagavata Purana. The hero of this story is Manu, the man whom the god Vishnu warned of the coming flood, taking the form of Matsya, the fish, and guided Manu to build an ark to save himself, his family, and some living creatures. After the flood, Manu and his wife begin to recreate humanity and life on earth, and Manu becomes the first father of humanity in this new age.

The ancient copies of these Puranas are preserved in the libraries of Hindu temples and in collections of ancient manuscripts in New Delhi and Bangalore, confirming that this story is part of the old Indian heritage and the myths passed down through the centuries. And it is the same as the flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh… no one comes and says then it confirms the flood, understand, everyone claims the ship landed in their place: the Indians say it landed with them, the Middle East has another place, and the same story, the ship landed in each place, just like the scratched door that every village claims to have.

Finally… the broken record that is repeated all the time like saying "by the power of God," either all are by the power of God or all are myths, why should your story alone be by the power of God, and then if you have intelligence you will understand that the later storyteller just collected the myths of the ancients, as Al-Nadr ibn Al-Harith said to Muhammad, and in contrast, Muhammad executed him as the only intellectual among the captives of the Battle of Badr, perhaps a mutation among the intelligence mutations at that time, but Muhammad killed him. The same applies also to Christian myths and other religions, for Al-Nadr ibn Al-Harith's statement was strong at the time when he said to Muhammad that these are the myths of the ancients. Otherwise, how can the spider be with Felix and Muhammad… and the basket thrown in the river with Moses and Sargon also, and why even change the names in each story…

……

Regards: Mohsen Ezz El-Din Al-Bakri
 
Mohsen Ezz El-Din Al-Bakr said:
In the mountainous areas of southwest Yemen, where I belong, a strange story repeats itself about a house at the end of the village. They say that a tiger attacked it and scratched its door with its claws, and the marks are still visible today, even though the wood is from sidr or ilb, which cannot be pierced by a nail except with great effort due to their hardness. What is remarkable is that most villages in the neighboring areas tell the same story, so every village has its own scratched door , and I do not know, perhaps this story extends throughout all the mountainous regions of Yemen, where tigers used to live side by side with the villages in the surrounding hills and mountains.

The strange thing is that the marks mentioned in these stories as tiger claw marks actually mostly date back to the time the wood itself was cut, since the carpenter and the house owner accepted whatever wood was available with its flaws, without tools for polishing or perfect finishing. Every natural scratch or crack in the wood later became a "tiger claw" in the memory of the village. Especially the house on the outskirts of the villages, although these marks exist on the doors of other houses as well, but mythical thinking is like that and does not scrutinize

Once, a conversation occurred between me and someone, fortunately a thoughtful young man, otherwise we would have continued our discussion in the hospital or the grave : "He said, the tiger scratched a door of ilb -(sidr)- impossible for a tiger to scratch a door of sidr!" with its strength and durability. I said to him: "By the power of God." He looked at me in astonishment, so I continued smiling: I told him all religious stories are the same as the scratched door this Either all of them are by the power of God or all of them are myths.

Just our ancestors… I do not know where they were riding on them when prophecy was divided between the Arabs and the Israelites… otherwise, if we had a prophet, we would have had the Chapter of the Scratched Door and you would defend it and curse anyone who denies or doubts it

Sargon of Akkad was placed by his mother in a wooden basket on the Euphrates River, and the shepherd Aqi found him and took him to the king’s house, where he lived and was raised. When he grew up, he became king of Akkad and established a large empire. This story is found in Akkadian cuneiform inscriptions preserved in the Louvre Museum in Paris, and in the epic of his birth written on clay tablets in the Iraq Museum in Baghdad.

Moses was born in Egypt and placed in a basket on the banks of the Nile to escape Pharaoh, and the people of Pharaoh found him and raised him, and he grew up to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Same story as the scratched door and the tiger that did not leave a village without scratching its door.

Shubshi Nergal, the Babylonian sufferer, lost his health and family, endured torture, and called upon the god Marduk, who saved him, and he lived to return strong. This story exists in Babylonian cuneiform texts preserved in the Berlin Museum and the Louvre, and is part of the famous "Shubshi Nergal" epic. Same story as the prophet Job.

Felix the Nulli fled from the emperor and hid in a cave with his companion. The dove and the spider came and built a residential complex at the cave door . And the pursuers came and said he could not be here, and the spider wove on the cave door and the dove built her nest. This story exists in European medieval manuscripts, preserved in the Vatican libraries and some national museums in France and Germany. Same story as Prophet Muhammad and Abu Bakr hiding in the Cave of Thawr.

Noah built an ark before the flood, gathering a pair of each species and his believing family, and survived the flood to start a new life on earth. This story exists in religious and archaeological texts, such as the Akkadian flood epic on cuneiform tablets preserved in the Iraq Museum and the Louvre.

In Hindu mythology, there is a global flood similar to Noah's flood, mentioned in Matsya Purana and Bhagavata Purana. The hero of this story is Manu, the man whom the god Vishnu warned of the coming flood, taking the form of Matsya, the fish, and guided Manu to build an ark to save himself, his family, and some living creatures. After the flood, Manu and his wife begin to recreate humanity and life on earth, and Manu becomes the first father of humanity in this new age.

The ancient copies of these Puranas are preserved in the libraries of Hindu temples and in collections of ancient manuscripts in New Delhi and Bangalore, confirming that this story is part of the old Indian heritage and the myths passed down through the centuries. And it is the same as the flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh… no one comes and says then it confirms the flood, understand, everyone claims the ship landed in their place: the Indians say it landed with them, the Middle East has another place, and the same story, the ship landed in each place, just like the scratched door that every village claims to have.

Finally… the broken record that is repeated all the time like saying "by the power of God," either all are by the power of God or all are myths, why should your story alone be by the power of God, and then if you have intelligence you will understand that the later storyteller just collected the myths of the ancients, as Al-Nadr ibn Al-Harith said to Muhammad, and in contrast, Muhammad executed him as the only intellectual among the captives of the Battle of Badr, perhaps a mutation among the intelligence mutations at that time, but Muhammad killed him. The same applies also to Christian myths and other religions, for Al-Nadr ibn Al-Harith's statement was strong at the time when he said to Muhammad that these are the myths of the ancients. Otherwise, how can the spider be with Felix and Muhammad… and the basket thrown in the river with Moses and Sargon also, and why even change the names in each story…

……

Regards: Mohsen Ezz El-Din Al-Bakri
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I never knew the story of baby Moses in the bullrushes was preceded by a similar story about Sargon of Akkad. That's fascinating. That the biblical flood myth was preceded by something similar in the Epic of Gilgamesh is much better known, I think.

And Yemen has a very complex history, doesn't it? Wasn't there a Jewish kingdom there at one time? And didn't the (legendary?) Queen of Sheba rule in part of what we call Yemen today?

I am currently reading a book about the break up of the British Raj and was interested to the find that Aden, Oman, the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait were all part of the Raj. There was even a kindgom or principality in what is now Yemen called Qu'ait, ruled from India by I think the Nizam of Hyderabad!
 
Even the creation stories in Genesis are reworkings of earlier ones, such as the Babylonian creation epic (Enuma Elish). The Proverbs follow a similar pattern to The Instruction of Amen-em-apt from ancient Egypt, and Psalms seems to adopt the Ugaritic hymns to Baal as inspiration, adopting the poetic language, imagery, structure, but reassigns it to God rather than Baal. There are also comparisons to be had to many of the stories in the Bible to earlier myths, but with a reshaping for the desired audience.
Given when many of the Biblical stories were written down, the oral history it would have come from would likely have been shared by many preceeding and contemporaneous societies. And I'd be surprised if this wasn't the case for all significant scriptures.


In fact, there's this resource from the Gutenberg Project - a free transcript of "BIBLE MYTHS AND THEIR PARALLELS IN OTHER RELIGIONS"
By T. W. DOANE

I haven't read it so I have no idea whether it's good, bad, average, but it's only c.600 pages, so some light reading. ;)
 
أWell said. After the internet came along, may God be pleased with it, the matter became clear. As for Yemen, the statue of Queen Victoria is still in Aden. Just two days ago, I took a souvenir photo with my daughters next to it.
 
As Sallustius says in On the Gods and the World,

"These [myths] are things that never happened, but always occur."

Myths are not literally true, or at least are not events that occurred in history. Some are exaggerations of historical events, where the tale grew in the telling, such as myths about lineages and wars and founding cities. But many are aetiological or cosmogonic, and are not things that happened as described. But myth doesn't require literalism, and the facticity of a myth is much less important than its meaning to a culture.
 
Hapsburg said:
As Sallustius says in On the Gods and the World,

"These [myths] are things that never happened, but always occur."

Myths are not literally true, or at least are not events that occurred in history. Some are exaggerations of historical events, where the tale grew in the telling, such as myths about lineages and wars and founding cities. But many are aetiological or cosmogonic, and are not things that happened as described. But myth doesn't require literalism, and the facticity of a myth is much less important than its meaning to a culture.
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That's clever.
 
Pinball1970 said:
I thought aetiology was wrt the progression of a disease? The other one I will Google.
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In a medical context, yes! But the term more broadly means the cause or origin of a given phenomenon. So, some myths explain where a particular piece of nature comes from, or how a particular ritual tradition got started. I think the term "origin myth" is popular as well for it, but I work primarily with ancient Greco-Roman religion and Classical studies, so "aetiological myth" is normal there.

Cosmogonic, or cosmogony, relates to how the cosmos came about, but in a complex, systematic fashion. A lot of aetiological myths are like "just-so stories", short and simple. Cosmogony is often the subject of epic poetry, i.e. Hesiod's Theogony.
 
A person I knew decades ago, decided to build the garage doors of his new built house with a kind of wood imported from Brazil, to which nails can't pass thru. All nails bent no matter their size or purpose: for wood, for concrete and so forth.

The only method that worked with this wood was drilling, and lots of drill bits were necessary to finish the task. Bolts and nuts followed the holes made in the wood. That wood was beautiful, kind of pink color, after sanding it was smooth as baby butt. Sating finish gave it a kind of prestige to its essence. One night he came drunk to his house, the wife had already disconnected the opening system. He tried using the key but she changed the locks early, and he finally used his car and went against the garage door. I must add that he was a kind of loony. When he built his house, the walls were made with concrete one feet wide. The garage door frames were three inches wide, the panels one inch and a half wide and reinforced with metal bars with decorative style.

2:30 am, drunk, mad, loco, he speed up and there he went. The bumper gone, fenders bent, headlights broken, radiator leaking, but the doors, not a single scratch.

I believe that such kind of wood does exists. About the tiger, well, I'm not sure but with great force and strength I think the Tiger of the story was indeed capable to cause a scratch to that wood door. Technically is not possible, but I want to see the tiger first and later provide a more accurate opinion.

We call "myth" to stories we can't accept as possible. But many of those myths weren't invented just because because.

Sometimes myths are true events narrated in a way the writer explains from his point of view. If the writer is a religious person, then the intervention of a god will be included, Sometimes the writer adds more details mixed with imaginations to make the story more spectacular. And we can continue finding thousands of motives for writers to end their narrations with fantastic events that for us can't happen by any means.

However, even when we turn skeptical about them, that doesn't mean those myths are not carrying true events, those are just wrapped with beautiful babbling.
 
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