Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: D. Long who wrote (206445)	5/20/2007 1:39:20 PM
From: Tom Clarke	Respond to of 793955

Snake Cults Dominated Early Arabia Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News May 17, 2007 — Pre-Islamic Middle Eastern regions were home to mysterious snake cults, according to two papers published in this month's Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy journal. From at least 1250 B.C. until around 550 A.D., residents of what is now the Persian Gulf worshipped snakes in elaborate temple complexes that appear to have been built for this purpose, the studies reveal. The first paper, by archaeologist Dan Potts of the University of Sydney, describes architecture and relics dating to 500 B.C. from Qalat al-Bahrain in Bahrain. Two rooms in what is now known as the Late Dilmun Palace each contain 39 pits, some of which surround what appears to have been an altar. At least 32 of the pits housed ceramic vessels containing bones from rat snakes and sea snakes. The remains showed no signs of mutilation. "They were in cloth bags, now badly decomposed, and that might suggest that they had been buried alive, i.e. put into a bag, placed in a bowl, and then buried in the ground," Potts told Discovery News. Some bowls found at the site have been identified as "wine-drinking" cups. Potts, however, does not necessarily think that wine consumption accompanied the snake rituals, which he speculates were meant to confer protection and good luck. He described pottery decorated with snakes, snake artwork and even ancient oral traditions, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, which originated at early Arabic sites and paid homage to snakes. In the second paper, archaeologist Anne Benoist of the Eastern Archaeology Laboratory at the National Center for Scientific Research in France describes yet another Iron Age temple complex linked to snake cults. Excavation of the site, at Al Bithnah in the United Arab Emirates, revealed both indoor and open-air altars, chapel-like structures, incense burners, man-made pools of water and numerous vessels and objects decorated with snakes. Most of the snakes were depicted with triangular heads and scales, which Benoist said suggests "a viper species, which is striking, as they are venomous and therefore dangerous." Benoist said early Middle Eastern traditions held that snake venom was viewed as "a source of power over life." Snakes are prevalent in Persian Gulf regions. She pointed out that the association of snakes with power over life even carried over into the Old Testament. One passage describes Moses placing a bronze snake on a pole so that anyone who had been bitten by a snake would be healed upon seeing it. The seasonal shedding of skin linked the reptile to cycles of death and rebirth, so snakes were probably also connected to fertility. Potts thinks snake worship originated in India and spread throughout the Middle East. There is evidence for extensive trade and travel between the two areas. As for the fate of snake cults, Benoist said later religions likely deemed them "superstitious," causing followers to practice snake veneration in secret. Eventually, she said, the cults were "overtaken by the official monotheist religion." dsc.discovery.com

To: D. Long who wrote (206445)	5/20/2007 4:15:06 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 793955

Jenin - 60 killed = massacre Nahr el-Bared - 40 killed = story? what story? But of course. For a "massacre" you need outrage; for outrage, you need a "Western" player who is subject to judgement, e.g. Israelis. No Israelis, no outrage, so no big story. For example, which massacre of the Lebanese Civil War got the bigger story, Damour or Sabra and Shatila? You get only one guess which was the missing ingredient in Damour. At least I'm hearing the BBC reporting the clashes as a serious conflict between the Lebanese Army and Fatah al Islam. However, the fact that the Lebanese Army is shelling a Palestinian refugee camp is reported dispassionately, with none of the concern for civilian Palestinian life that is a staple of reports from Gaza. Indeed, the very next BBC story expressed concern for Gaza civilians endangered by IAF raids, even though the IAF raids are aimed with precision at Hamas targets, while the Lebanese artillery shells are fairly indiscriminate. Update: Mirabile dictu, somebody on BBC radio is actually describing how miserable Lebanon makes the lives of Palestinian refugees: no citizenship, no work papers, enclosure in ghettoes, living on international aid, it was a"tragic loss" of the PLO for these refugees, the talking head says. Admits that Syria has an interest in fomenting troubles in Lebanon, but says it's unproved. First time I've heard somebody admit the Dickensian conditions of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon without blaming it all on Israel.