37 Images of Noah in Ancient Greek Art
PART II
A SHORT PICTORIAL REVIEW OF WHAT GREEK RELIGIOUS ART CHRONICLES AND CELEBRATES
The ancient Greeks idolized their human forebears who had established and
systematized their man-centered religious outlook, and worshipped these
forebears as their gods. In section 302C of Plato’s Dialogue, Euthydemus,
Sokrates refers to Zeus, Apollo, and Athena as his “lords and ancestors.”
The Greek gods looked and acted exactly like people because that’s
who they were, our ancestors.
Above we see the four central figures on the east pediment
of the Parthenon restored by computer based on the ancient evidence—Athena
on our left, and Zeus and Hera with their eldest son, Hephaistos, holding
his ax, on the right. The Greek word translated as “gods” is theoi,
and literally it means “placers.” The above four “gods”
were among the most important of humanity’s forebears who established,
or put in “place,” Zeus-religion and all that Zeus-religion entailed.
Another witness to this obvious truth is the life of the
great hero, Herakles. À la “George Washington slept here,”
scores of Greek towns claimed that Herakles had performed some kind of great
feat (often one of his twelve labors) within or near their boundaries. Herakles
was a real man—a man who earned his elevation to his status as a god,
or "placer." His conquests re-“placed” respect for Noah
and his God with the rule of Zeus-religion and the notion that man is the
measure of all things.
On the above vase-painting, Athena picks up the hero Herakles
in her chariot at his death, and takes him to immortality on Mount Olympus.
Who does he join there, space aliens? Of course not. He joins his ancestors,
including his grandmother-escort, Athena (See Section I of NOAH IN ANCIENT
GREEK ART) and the rest of the Olympian family. If it looks like a human,
talks like a human, and acts like a human, it must be a human. This is the
key to understanding Greek art.
Above we see the names from Genesis of Noah’s offspring who abetted or embraced Zeus-religion (the way of Kain) after the Flood, with their Greek names below. For the evidence that Nereus is Noah, see NOAH IN ANCIENT GREEK ART and Chapters 3 – 10 of THE PARTHENON CODE. For the evidence that Chiron (the “good” Kentaur or Seth-man) is Noah’s son, Ham, see Chapters 8 and 9 of TPC, and Section I of NOAH IN ANCIENT GREEK ART. For the evidence that Hermes is Ham’s son, Cush, see Chapter 20 of TPC. For the evidence that Herakles is Cush’s son, Nimrod, see Chapter 22 and pages 114-115 of TPC and Sections II and III of NOAH IN ANCIENT GREEK ART.
The most influential person in the great religious transformation
after the Flood was Naamah (Genesis 4:22), the woman from the line of Kain
whom Noah’s son Ham brought through the Flood as his wife. The Sumerians
called her Nammu. She reintroduced the reverence for the ancient serpent’s
“enlightenment” to humanity. The Greeks idolized Naamah as Athena
(For the evidence, see Section I of NOAH IN ANCIENT GREEK ART). Top left,
Athena/Naamah wears her serpent-trimmed aegis, or goat skin. Top center,
her sculpted head boasts a crown of serpents. Right, the ancient serpent
rises up next to her as a friend on her Parthenon idol-image. And bottom
left, on her aegis she wears the Gorgon Medusa—the head of serpents.
If you look to Athena, you’re not after the wisdom of Noah’s God,
but the wisdom of the ancient serpent.
Greek artists portrayed the Flood as a man named Kaineus being beaten into
the earth by Kentaurs (Centaurs). Kaineus means “pertaining to Kain,”
or the “line of Kain.” Thus, KAINEUS (as the name appears on the
above vase) represents the line of Kain which disappeared into the earth.
To the Greeks, the Kentaurs (half-men/half-horses) represented that strange
“branch” of humanity, the line of Seth. The family of Noah (the
Greek Nereus, or “Wet One”), of the line of Seth, survived the
Flood. All of the line of Kain disappeared into the earth, with one exception—Naamah/Athena
who came through the Flood as Ham’s wife.
Here is a sculpted image from the temple of Hephaistos in Athens of Kaineus
(the line of Kain) disappearing into the earth during the Flood at the hands
of the line of Seth (the Kentaurs). The ancient poets referred to the Kaineus
(the line of Kain) as "invulnerable," because it victoriously
reasserted itself after the Flood.
This red-figure vase from about 420 BC, depicts the rebirth of the line of Kain (Cain) after the Flood. Earth (Gaia) presents the new-born child to Athena/Naamah, who represents the reborn serpent-friendly Eve. The figure to the left of Gaia and the child is Hephaistos, the eldest son of Zeus and Hera. Hephaistos is the Greek counter part of Kain, the eldest son of Adam and Eve. According to the “myth” surrounding this event, Athena obtained the sperm, or seed, of Hephaistos (Kain), and placed it into the Earth, and out of Earth sprang the “earth-born one” representing the rejuvenated line of Kain after the Flood.
The essence of ancient Greek religion’s central celebration is very
simple. After the Flood which caused the line of Kain to disappear into
the earth at the hands of the line of Seth, Athena/Naamah, the new serpent-friendly
Eve figure, nurtures the reborn line of Kain. And Zeus-religion, the worship
of humanity's ancestors in the way of Kain, replaces reverence for Noah
and his God.
For the line of Kain to reassert its dominance after the Flood, the authority
of Nereus/Noah had to be pushed aside, ignored, or usurped. Those are the
historical contexts of the scenes in which we will find most of the surviving
images of Nereus/Noah in Parts III thru VI of this presentation.
A More Detailed 8-Page Summary of the Meaning of Ancient Greek Ancestor
Worship May Be Found Here: ATHENA AND EVE
PART I
37 IMAGES OF NEREUS/NOAH (OUT OF THEIR VASE AND
SCULPTED CONTEXTS)
PART II
A SHORT PICTORIAL REVIEW OF WHAT GREEK RELIGIOUS ART CHRONICLES AND CELEBRATES
PART VI
GREEK ARTISTS MAKE NEREUS/NOAH AN UNWILLING
WITNESS TO THE RISE AND TAKE-OVER OF ZEUS-RELIGION