Anatolian bridge

Greek trade

This question is in place when we look for the prototype to our nobility. We obviously drive and develop culture by an informal or formal class in urban cultures. It was also valid in the ancient eras. In rural areas it was a matter for the elder in countryside like the Roman collegium septemviri and Greek geronsia, i.e. board of elders.

Modern English have no old words left from the early rural culture when everything was in the small scale. In Scandinavia we still for council use the word "raad or raad" of the same family as German "Rat" and surely not far from the German word "Rad", i.e. wheel. We see the wheel-like figure stands for seasons and the idea of a collegium was connected to those who were in care for the main season when they required leaders. Otherwise men were free to hunt and go fishing or do the real thing. In Finland they talk about "That and its strength" when they are not fishing or in the sauna ... they told me.

We should not wonder if we see elk staffs in north and in other places different animal symbols like totems. The entire Europe including Rome and Greece had often animal symbols in comradeship or else. The Roman legions had its Eagles and the Celts and Scandinavians had animal symbols for the troop. Our Edda speaks about equal neat at the table. In my Boy Scout patrol we were squirrels.

This is of course a pointer when seeing some symbols as primitive is easy, although they are connected to almost everlasting human behaviour.

All male leagues need signs of belonging and for the hierarchy that is to distinct sergeants from captains and so on. We see these things earliest in Ionia or Hatti as the Hittites named their land. I name the culture Ionian as will be explained later and all Europe is a branch of that noble league. The word use is here Ionia (and its stands for culture) for the entire Anatolia and Aegean sphere, while Ionia is the West Coast of Anatolia.

As far as we know are the oldest cities in the world in Anatolia. Domestication of bread-crops was done in Anatolia, while the metallurgy was born at Balkan and the tame animals come mostly from whole that area. Necessity is often the impulse for inventions. The early growers in Egypt and Twin River land were most peaceful and as they had a big population they were for long protected against invaders in smaller groups. The real enemy comes when Sargon as the first aggressive emperor within the peaceful land took power. When he conquered the entire half moon to the Mediterranean, he also was a threat to the supposed peaceful Anatolia.

Male league of horsemen

They learned something and a better organisation was born. At the same time they got the new war machine, the horses and the league of real men was born. With it the idea of federation the settlements and small cities become satellites.

The ruler and rituals tied them together in a free consensus and as always an outer threat make it easy. This was opposite to the Sargon Empire of Akkad, which was forced together and ruled by force. Both perhaps learned something from Egypt which as the main idea had the jointed two lands. In Hatti they made it a seamless system with no end. A new city may easily become a member of the federation.

In the Levant they preserved the old Sumerian idea, which is still a plague in the region. Originally it was the idea of tamkarum when a Sumerian city made a sister-city or colony as an enclave in more or less organised countries or cities. Of course it for short kept peace, but with no assimilation of ideas it was a source for future struggle and preserved old ideas without following the time. The Middle East is still a region of enclaves and every part want to be the oldest and best and of course the wisest. However, what if they are unable to practice wisdom.

Now I think about the prophet Amos whom 2500 ago gave the advice suitable even for ale heavers. "Do not heave too high and too much. Otherwise, you get a hangover" ... this I say with disrespect for the dead serious. The one who burst up himself will soon face a world requiring equality. Denying subjective beliefs as real claims for superiority is easy.

Then is the pan--human question about the will of man. Only a few want others to tell what to do or believe. Mostly people want to keep the right to butt the forehead all bloody against the unknown future wall.

The Jews never took Amos to their hearts and they are sleeping as they made the bed. I suppose they have got used to it because the struggles have been going on for at least 5000 years. In fundamentalism is no tolerance and it is opposite to federations. Europe is in the child shoes of this new but old idea of Hittites. Their followers the Celts practised it in Europe until the Roman emperors imitated Sargon and gave the model until our time.

The question about Aryans is that of superiority in blood and alike that the Jews want to be the chosen tribe. This is of course rubbish and a game with words. Those who swallow anything may believe in this as real and true existence. However by the law of nature we are all equal and our roots are deeper than for instance the Jewish calendar. No one may proof that he is the genetic here to some that lived six millenniums ago.

These absurd ideas are reality and I feel it in my bones and mind. That is because I am a victim of last world war in a way. My life took the abnormal direction because of this. It has been for me to learn about tolerance and to be stoic and cooperate with old Scandinavian fate. That is one of the reasons why I have dug deep in history curious to know why mankind acts the way we see.

I do not believe in the theories about the Aryans, but I see what we have in common in the area of the so-called Indo-Europeans. Anatolia and their people is the bridge between the Asian Cultures and Europe, while Egypt has influenced Anatolia and Europe. Engines of Ionian culture we meet in the triangle Hittites ... Minoans ... and on Cyprus and in Ugarit. The later at the Syrian coast a seat for a multi-culture of enclaves. For instances their written languages borrowed about 20 percent from each other and to this add loans from Egypt and Sumer. This is the real birthplace of the Indo-European culture and there is no special genetics in this.

The Hittitians

The heydays of Hittites are usually set to begin about 2000 BC. However, as said the Anatolian culture was much older than that. Their wealth began with metallurgy and they were probably the first traders in iron. There have been many speculations about their origin, but the question is unimportant. Myths of origin are not to be taken seriously every time. Their figurative art is much alike their neighbours and that of old Anatolia.

Simultaneously the Minoan culture flowered and the Babylonians consolidated their reign. However, they had to battle with their neighbours. In fact the new great force, Hatti conquered Babylon for a short period 1595 BC. Still Babylon became an empire for more than 1600 years, with some periods of different power centre within as the Assyrians and the Kassites.

Assyrian influence

Assyrians opened a tamkarum or factory at the Anatolian Kültepe/Kanesh in northern Syria about 1950 BC. Then the trade began with tin from Assyria to Hatti and copper, gold, silver and perhaps iron the other way. This route was new besides the old route on Euphrates River from Babylon via Mari to Emar at the creek, where the river continues northwards to Anatolia. From Emar it was a caravan route to Aleppo and Ugarit at the Mediterranean coast. The Philistines become known as skilled ironworkers and surely they got the first iron from Hatti.

Hatti got influence from Egypt too but at first mostly in other hand. The widow of Tutankhamon asked for a wife to her son from Hatti. The king was suspicious and time passed by and the intrigues at the Egyptian court made it possible to assassinate the Hatti prince before he reached Egypt. Later the two empires made a treaty that lasted for 75 years.

Anatolia was a region of small places when the priest-king Hattusili ca 1650 BC began to build the fortified castle and city Hattusa. Cities with ring-wall were normal from the Sumerians to our Middle Age towns. Naturally it was for defence, but it was also a method to have portals where duty was collected and they could keep an eye on coming and going. Hattusili also organised the region in feudal satellites ruled by counts and their suite, thus forming the nobility. The king was head of the league and his first duty was to be master of rituals during the year. He had to go back to Hattusa from the battlefield for his ceremonial duties.

Naturally I searched for the origin when I learned about them. First, as they threw it to the bog, it must have been sacred for ritual use. Normally bronze was melt to new items or it followed its owner in the grave. This is an offer although we do not know the reason. Was it out of fashion and new rituals begun? They have dated it to about 1700 BC and it is special because of the engraved ship. That gives the possibility to date other ships at carvings as for instance the one mentioned on the kidney-shaped year figure in Simris 19 Skaane. We have at least two finds in Sweden too, but without engravings and not in the same preserved conditions as that from the bog.

The defender' s relief from the portal of Hattusa is not for sure picturing a god or ritual figure. But we find the form in other ritual pictures. Note his short tunic and is it a horsetail in his headgear? ... something like that seen at Pyntelund Norway.

World Order and Aedicula seal

Maybe it is in his shoes and in the Sumerian hills he stands on, which we have seen before and in his headgear too. Of course Tudhaliyas knew Babylon because he had conquered the empire for a short period about 1595 BC. However his AEDICULA, i.e. seal in the corner is pure Hatti-style.

The seal is alike but the figure is in Hatti-style. We see the knob of the sword, which is the symbol of worldly power and his hat of ritual power and duty as the highest priest. The symbols in his hat we see in the temple of Kültepe from the Neo Hittite period about 700 BC and they stand for quarters of the year.

I freely interpret to be the "living space". Meaning all things in the living space including the activities of man in time. On top we see symbols for the New Moon and the Morning star and the wings are like in Egypt the symbol of the Sun all in the ritual meaning. Still, somewhere is a tale about the Sun Eagle.

The pillars are symbols of the satelles, i.e. satellites, thought to be indefinitely in pair and also meaning fellowship among the nobility. Maybe it also is the world pillar and late Irminsul. The figures were also glyphs in the written languages of syllables originally inspired by Sumer. On top the ram horns signify RA and mean individually " border or limit". Thus we may imagine that they cut out a living space and in a way it looks like the Northern baltas towards the sky. A philosopher would say that the mind of man freed them from at least the heavenly gods and they become Lords in their own house. Of course we are speaking about the nobility. In the middles are symbols of rulership and Suppiluliuma holds the Wanax, i.e. double-axe a symbol of time ritual. In the middle is a symbol of leadership. We recognize it as alike our contoured foot with a stroke probably the syllable IP.

Now we have to look at the other seals and Tudhaliyas wear the Phrygian headgear and stands on a leg. The legs mean "tools" but also the people as workers. Later they symbolised it with the footstool and become the throne. The symbols on his sides standing on feet are surely "the runners" that are the defenders, bailiffs and officers we know from the organisation in Middle Age.

We see that the pillars are much alike the Ionian pillar known from Greece. That was the reason why I saw the Hittites as Proto-Ionian. I began to compare the Aedicula with the Parthenon portal with all its symbolism and the gods above the limits for mankind.

From the history of Greece we know that the Ionian culture came from Anatolia and brought many early philosophers to Greece. With them came the old culture of the Hittites and which also is seen in the Mycenaean organisation. However, we also know that the Celts of the last millenium BC enlarged their dominions to Phrygia and were perhaps in trade with the Neo Hittites too. But the idea of Irminsul is maybe older than that. A last reminder is the Phrygian headgear the French seem to like.

Mursilis II 1344-1315 BC followed Suppiluliumas and he had four satelles in his seal.

The satelles are of course the Four Corners of the vault. However, the astro-symbolism of the Neo-Hittitian society shows they used a trisecting of the zodiac we see especially in the Indus' symbolism and it may come from there.

The words are as in Sumerian syllables and to the right GU -LA which in Sumerian should be "The Great", maybe "the wet and big" called Anahita by their neighbours. In Israel they called her probably LAIT if not she is the other great goddess of Anatolia the one with the breast, the nurse. The word associates to milk and flow.

We know they parted fertility in several moments as one of sexual intercourse, bearing the foetus, giving birth, nursing, sleeping fertility. We see them in idols like the Naked, the Dressed, she with big Breasts, the Pregnant, she who gives Birth, the Sleeping and maybe some others. Giving them neutral descriptive names is easier then they fit in different cultures. Maybe they have different names, but still the same old story about the important acts in regeneration of man and nature.

Ionian World Order

In old magic interpreting the mean that the breast stand "s" for "sun" and are found in the early Linear A script which still is not interpreted overall. We may only recognise some words and symbols found in later scripts like Linear B. Despite that the Mycenaean Linear B mostly is about bookkeeping the texts have given a lot of information about the Minoan-Mycenaean societies which were much alike.

Thus we have also learnt about Mycenaean World Order much alike that in Hatti although it was perhaps with more hierarchy and Egyptian style than that of the Hittites. We may talk about classes as the nobility and the religious society as the first upper class in hierarchy. On the other side the peasants and their geronsia as second part. Then the trading people in production, transport and so on were the third part.

We see some signs from the astro world so it is perhaps the year we see. The breasts are where we could expect spring. In the symbolism and in their temples the breasts express sometimes the root in the word RUNDA = round. In Scandinavian it associates to "one tour" and some words are much alike Scandinavian and Finnish words.

  We saw this figure in the hat of a priest king. It is also found on stones from the neo-Hittite era in Kültepe and Karatepe. Because we find them with 1,2 or 3 signs under the god-glyph, they are surely the three stated times in the moon year. Thus they explain the king as the highest priest to and we may find the same king of symbolism in other places.

This little figurine speaks for an idol of some kind. Some kings wore the Phrygian gear and as always the Big Man chose his style. Sometimes generals have the biggest hat and sometimes the smallest as we know from Stalin and Eisenhower ... and Hitler become tired of his own greeting so in his last days it was only a wave of the hand.

To catch the clue

An elderly lady came to me on a feast, confirmation I will remember, and maybe she had the clue on her tongue, when I stole it. She told that "We normally tell a tale in the way, as if we had a glass of wine and in it a piece of ice. On the ice we lay a coin and the clue shall not come until just when the coin fall. That is what we call that a sixpence fall: But you are too fast because you need the coin and tell the clue and grip the coin."

I never told her that there were a lot of stories I never catch the clue of. Maybe it is something about reputation that hinders me to tell all things about me?

One tale had the components a normal lot of people around the table and stove in a living room at countryside. Then were a young man and a young woman and a barn. The barn had a loud door. It banged and banged several times, while the crowd inside listened and listened ... I never catch that clue, but perhaps I was too young then.

Interpreting rock carvings are often like story telling where some constituent elements are given. Then it is up to the teller to make his mix and eventually ad-lib ad what he has in mind. If several members make their story, the tales will differ a lot. However, still the main elements are the same. Usually in life are few structural elements that carry the life and the story. The rest is embracement and as a pastime. In the old Celtic league or around the table it was customs that everyone should catch the train.

Forgotten concepts in society

In the past they surely had time to be silent together. They had time to listen to silence and top each other. During World War II were many feasts and any occasion was taken. Many of them were like the old Celtic feast, which perhaps should be named Dutch treat because the English language has forgotten it. In Scandinavian languages we have still the word "gille". That may be a feast and what we today maybe would call a barbecue, where every family contributes to it.

There was no rush in the feasts and often they spent an hour or more in telling tales or discussing common questions. After the coffee and cognac the men played cards for an hour or two.

In very old days they perhaps had some whom, was a true story teller or "taler", that we can learn from some runic stone. In Karelia they had singers and perhaps they accompanied with the kantele.

When a young woman was found in a perma frozen grave the Western historians suggested that it must have been a princess because of the rich gifts in the grave. Nevertheless, the local people suggested that she in life she was a singer up to the tradition in the area.

This is of course a flick on the nose on those who always see mighty powers and rulers in the past. In small communities they did not need rulers, but they needed those who carried the folk memory. Maybe some that since childhood had listened to elderly people and collected their songs and surely had a pleasant voice too.

My Karelian grandpa looked like the old Vaeinaemauinen in his old days. His beard almost hit his knees and he was straight as a pine. He personified the national romantic picture of the old Finnish singer and orator. In Kalevala are a few idols and Luonotar created the old patriarch, the goddess of nature. The old man had a true Sumerian word struggle with the Young man, Joukahainen. The smith Ilmarinen created the copper cup of sky, very much alike the general astro-myths. Lemminkaeinen, the adventurer with an alternating mind hunts the dream elk Hiisi and girls too, of course. These are the main actors in the pantheon.

Again there are no rulers and hierarchy and do not fit into the fantasy of Urban, the citizen of urban culture. In other word they do not class it as high culture. The culture and myths were naturally much the same in the wilderness of other parts of Scandinavia.

When it comes to Ionian influence and culture, it was of course traders and some nobility that carried the signs of culture. However we cannot present evidence that they ruled normal peasants in the wild Scandinavia. It is more likely that the "Ionian league" had their own law and living space within "Allheimr" which was the common name of folk lands. The early nobility was mostly concentrated to Denmark and the coast lands of Southern Scandinavia.

Ionian culture

In the symbolism of Hittites are some clear pairs as archers, warriors with spears, warriors in bear-guise, carriage warriors. Then are compositions with two against one or one with two, which give a good balance in a picture. We have sometimes to understand that they had some symbolism and logic in numbers. Many languages have different names for 6 or 2 x 6 first numbers in series. Perhaps the first numbers have had a symbolic meaning initially.

The bear-guise

One syllable was the infinitive, two were alike syllables the verbal action and three was the noun. In Hittite languages they had no inflected verbs. When they in their manual for horse-breeding needed a word "to mate" horses, they wrote PAPA as the verbal act. This logic we also find in the early Egyptian glyphs based on pictographs.

In the logic's of number was also some hidden meaning. In Edda we find the expression for equality: "even, equally high and third" That means that the first and second are supposed to be known, but the third equal is the unknown anybody. We have it still in the legal term "third man", who should not be involved or injured.

We may find that one stands for the leader, two for common parts of known folk or officials, three or third for the unknown Mights but also for order. Two also stands for an alikeness ad an undefined number.

The Hittite Empire as it's highest counted at least 13 cities or satelles. To this perhaps some more in the outer region as the Aegean coast they reached ca 1400 BC. They later called the southern part of Lydia Ionia with the known city Miletos from where several famous philosophers come like Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes. Thales was the greatest. He was originally a trader and learned much from Egypt and sent his pupil Pythagoras from Samos to learn more. Thales said "Everything is water" and that is not far from the truth about living beings. The stoic philosophers are living within a dynamic world or as Heraclitos from Ephesus said "Everything flow", which is the same as our first law of thermodynamics. Their main opponents the Epicureans live above the word of static things. Of course the third group is living in a virtual world and the rhetoric decides what there is in it.

A year or so ago I read some of the classics and wanted to see what it was about with older eyes than forty years ago. Much has changed and my outlook is totally different. It may come out of my books. I saw clearly that Aristotle is a typical representative for the liberal people referring to his thought about lover humans like slaves, women and other from the lower class. His source was of course the Ionian heritage and he was living in a wealthy state and become tutor of Alexander the Great. No dog bites the feeding hand. In my youth we had to believe in very written word and with no own thinking.

And catching that some see Greek democracy as the ultimate system is hard. I suppose it is because it sounds higher and more cultural although I suppose they do not understand its real nature. Perhaps they have heard it should be good ... just like Rolls Royce, Mercedes and some deodorant seen in commercials.

Ionian pillar

They surely derived the so-called Ionian pillar from the Hittitian symbol for a satelle and in the Aegean it followed the supposed Egyptian pillar sometimes called Dorian. However the historians have abandoned the theories of immigration of Dorians because there is no real physical evidence. Instead we have to look at the Minoan pillar and that appeared also in Mycenae in top of the famous Lion Gate. It is a typical one with two composition.

The two power centre's Hattusa and Crete followed each other from the beginning. They have some pictograph in common. However, the culture of Crete declined in steps and the volcanic activities in the area caused it as at Thera about 1500 BC. About 1400 was the final for the Minoans. Probably the Hittites took the Asian enclaves, while the Mycenaean took the best of the Aegean world. From that on the heydays of Mycenae started.

Nevertheless the decline for the Hittites and Mycenae began about 1200 BC when "the Sea People" were the causes of struggles with all nations in the inner Mediterranean including Egypt. The form of the ships and their headgear suggest that they were Achaians assisted by perhaps Philistines, which with some success fought the old cultures. About 1000 BC we see it as Greece culture in Lydia, the south coasts of Anatolia and on Cyprus.

The Hittites recovered after that although their neighbours Mitanni and perhaps the Babylonians took the areas in north and east.

However, a Neo-Hittite culture followed in about 15 cities in the Taurus Mountains and the lowlands in northern Syria with Ugarit as an important outpost in south. This is important to know because we see much influence from the new empire in our late rock carvings.