Whether it’s the creation of the world, the fertility of the land, or a history of its people, each culture has its own mythology: a collection of stories that explain the world, passed down through the generations.
Here I present: Neil Philip, “Eyewitness Mythology”, 2000, PART THREE (3).
INTRODUCTION.
ABOVE is Noushijan fire temple in Iran, one of the world’s oldest fire temples that dates back to the Median Empire (678-549 BC). The Noushijan fire temple has three (3) floors related to the three (3) different historical periods. The 1st floor is Median Empire (678 BC): the 2nd floor is Achaemenid Empire (550 BC): the 3rd floor is Parthian Empire (247 BC).
COMMENTS.
Every last Sunday of each month, the Koyasan Buddhist Temple in Los Angeles, California performs the “fire ritual”. The priests chant sayings that date to earliest writings. The fire ritual came to the Koyasan Buddhist by way of Japanese monk Kukai. Kukai is significant in giving Japan its own writing scripts. However, the “Japanese Foundation Day” ceremony is for the year 660 BC. The Japanese script is derived from the Chinese script of 1,500 BC.
These very early scripts are two (2): Chinese of 1,500 BC and Cuneiform of 3,500 BC. Cuneiform tablets are mixtures of earths (shown BELOW). Earths are: clay, silt & sand. Clay, silt & sand written tablets of baked-earths that have survived since the earliest time. The Cuneiform fire temple is equivalent to the Gutenberg printing press.
