My Understanding of Religion
Page 9
Some evidence pertinent to early Anatolian cultures was probably lost under the deep deposits of alluvium that devastated the inland and coastal valleys when sea levels rose at the end of the last Ice Age. Previously it had been thought that, excluding the coastal plain of Cilicia, Anatolia had been uninhabited until the Chalcolithic period. It is now accepted that some sites in Anatolia were occupied as early as 8000 BC. Although these early settlements possessed domesticated barley and wheat they had no pottery. The dog was the only animal they had domesticated.
Some sites were abandoned and reoccupied about a thousand years later by folk of a more sophisticated culture possessing pottery and refined agricultural techniques. One Neolithic settlement that had been occupied from the middle of the 8th millennium until the middle of the 7th millennium BC is known as Catalhuyuk.
Catalhuyuk is near Konya in south central Turkey. The location of the site, on a river prone to flooding, points to the practice of irrigation. Nuts, edible grains, and oil-producing seeds were extensively cultivated. It had long been supposed that the origins of agriculture would be discovered in those parts of the Near East that contained habitats peculiar to the wild ancestors of modern grains, etc. Today it is generally accepted that the people of sites like Catalhuyuk played an important part in the spread of early farming. Metal ores and Mediterranean shell that were locally unavailable suggest developed trade. Some of the buildings at Catalhuyuk may have been religious shrines. Coloured murals reminiscent of Old Stone Age cave paintings decorated the walls and record that hunting was extensive.
The Bronze Age followed the Chalcolithic period. During the Bronze Age various cultural regions existed in Anatolia: a southeastern region, a southwestern region, a northwestern region, and a central region. Anatolians cultivated grapes, produced wine, adopted the wheel, and developed metal working skills. The potter's wheel was introduced into most regions of Anatolia during the transition to the third phase of the Early Bronze Age. Evidence exists to suggest that
Anatolian sites may have been destroyed at the end of the second phase of the Early Bronze Age. It has been asserted that Indo-European speakers were responsible for the destruction.
Sometime between seven thousand and six thousand BC folk from Anatolia immigrated to Crete. By about three thousand BC Crete was using bronze technology, trading with Egypt, and writing in a hieroglyphic script. The first palace at Knossos was built about 2000 BC. Boats and ships were designed and built by the Cretans - they may have been the first people to build true warships. Minoan warships had a single mast, one level of oars, and a ram. By 2000 BC the Minoans had become the leading maritime power in eastern Mediterranean waters.
Egypt and Crete were the first two maritime powers of significance. Work done by German toxicologist Svetla Balabanova appears to demonstrate cross-ocean contact between Egypt and the Americas. Ms Balabanova's tests on mummies revealed traces of cocaine. Plants yielding cocaine could only have been discovered in the Americas. Contact between Egypt and the Americas could explain the resemblance between Feathersnake (Quetzalcoatl) of Toltec
tradition and the flying serpent produced by the synthesis of Buto and Nekhbet when Egypt underwent unification. In Cretan tradition the serpent denotes the goddess, and, given the contact between Crete and Egypt, it seems reasonable to suppose a measure of congruence between serpent goddess worship in both civilisations. There is no evidence of substance to show that Anatolians worshipped a serpent goddess. Latticework bronze disks found in graves beneath Alaca Huyuk suggest some central Anatolians may have worshipped a sun-goddess during the Early Bronze Age.
From the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age, when Crete ruled the waves of the eastern Mediterranean, merchants from Assyria were attracted to Anatolia. They built a chain of trading stations stretching from Ashur to the Konya Plain. Assyrian merchants established settlements in the suburbs of Anatolian cities, paid taxes to the native rulers, and intermarried with the Anatolians. The main Assyrian trading settlement in Anatolia between about 1920 and 1850 BC was at Kultepe. It was destroyed by fire on two occasions: 1850 BC and 1740 BC. A number of central Anatolian cities met a violent end at about the same time as the second fire at Kultepe (ancient Nesa). The destruction of Nesa marked the end of Assyrian trade in a number of Anatolian cities. The name Anatolia comes from the Greek word for east. Anatolia forms the greater part of Turkey between the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea.
In ancient times there was a city in western Turkey known as Acroenus. Today that city is known as Afyonkarahisar or Afyon. It is accessible from every major town in Turkey. Products from the agricultural district around the city include wheat, barley, and livestock. However, the main product from the district is reflected in the name Afyon. It means opium. The opium poppy, which grows to between three and sixteen feet tall, is an annual plant native to Turkey. Those who harvest opium do so through several small slits that they make in the immature fruit. Assyrian medical texts and herb lists mention opium. It was a product of interest to Assyrian traders in Anatolia. Because of its shape and content the fruit of the opium poppy can be compared to an apple or a pomegranate. Opium could have been used to induce the type of symptoms suffered by Re. The Archaeological Museum in Iraklion has in its possession a statuette of a snake goddess wearing a hat bearing opium apples complete with the slits necessary to harvesting. The statuette was found in the temple depository of Knossos. Opium appears not to have been known in either ancient India or ancient China.
Scholars accept there is evidence pointing to the use of opium in religious ceremony on the islands of the eastern Mediterranean area, Greece, and Mesopotamia from at least 3000 BC. Opium is an addictive drug. Addiction comes about as a result of the body adapting to the presence within itself of the drug being used. When the drug is withheld symptoms of withdrawal occur. These symptoms include: irritability, tremor, depression, abdominal cramps, vomiting, and diarrhoea. Withdrawal symptoms vanish if the drug is taken again. Isis could have used opium to secretly addict Re. Then Isis would only have needed to withhold the drug to induce 'sickness' in Re. The reintroduction of the drug into Re's diet would have brought about a 'cure'.
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