The History of Ancient America, Anterior to the Time of Columbus / Proving the Identity of the Aborigines with the Tyrians and Israelites; and the Introduction of Christianity into the Western Hemisphere By The Apostle St. Thomas

by George Jones

SECTION I.

ANALOGIES IN RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND IDOLS OF WORSHIP—SATURN—APOLLO—ASTARTE, &c.—THE EMBLEM OF THE CROSS, &c.

In investigating the important similitudes contemplated in this, and the following Sections of the present Chapter, the word Mexican (for convenience) will be understood to comprehend all the Western Continent in its ancient condition—not essentially North America;—and by the words "ancient condition" we would be understood to mean, that period of time, anterior to the landing of Columbus. [1492 A. D.] The Tyrian customs will be brought forward, and then compared with the Mexican. The history of Tyrus will not be required here, that interesting branch of our subject is reserved for the Second Book of the present Volume.

The Religious ceremonies of the Tyrians would have been lost, but for their being preserved by the Carthaginians,—a colony from Tyrus,—and between whom there existed the strictest union and friendship,—and may justly be supposed to have practised the manners and customs of the Parent country. The Tyrians, also, would follow the customs of the Sidonians, and the Canaanites, their original ancestors. Gathering, therefore, evidences of Religious ceremonies from Canaan, Sidon, Tyrus, and Carthage,—for they were all of the Phœnician family,—we shall include those nations under one general term,—viz. Tyrian,—for the same convenience as the term Mexican is used.

Not only will the Tyrian customs be gathered from the nations mentioned, but from the Bible also,—so that the reader will perceive, that the ground for sustaining our superstructure is not a light, or a sandy one.

The Tyrians were essentially Idolators,—so were the ancient Mexicans,—the former built Temples to their plurality of Gods,—the latter did the same.

The Tyrians sacrificed human beings upon the unhallowed dedication of their temples:—the Mexicans followed this horror of a false Religion to its full extent; for at the dedication of the last chief Temple of Mexico, nearly seventy thousand captives, taken during four years' warfare, were sacrificed to propitiate their Deities!

The Tyrians devoted human sacrifices to the God of War upon slight disaster or defeat,—the Mexicans had the same "remedy for sorrow:"—and the many Altar-blocks discovered amid the Ruined Temple of Copan (even now blood-stained) have been clotted with human gore.

A very important God among the Tyrians was that of Saturn—a description is necessary, on account of the strong analogy to the Mexican Deity,—and that proved by the Sculpture of the newly-discovered Ruins. This strong similitude,—as a Rosetta-stone,—led us to the first translation of the Architectural wonders. Cronus—or the God Saturn,—among the Tyrians, was the deity to whom were sacrificed the most beautiful infants and children, and of the highest families;—it was insatiate, ever asking, always receiving, and ever destroying! This sacrifice to the Moloch of the Tyrians, was derived from the Canaanites, their original ancestors. Moses, in warning his people to beware of the false Gods in the countries they might conquer, and referring especially to that of Canaan, says—

"For every abomination to the Lord, which he hateth, have they (the Canaanites) done unto their Gods; for even their sons and their daughters have they burnt in the fire to their Gods." [Deut. xii. 31.]

Again, in the third book of Moses,—the Lawgiver says—

"And thou shalt not let any of thy seed [offspring] pass through the fire to Molech." [Levit. xviii. 21.]—and again God spake by his Prophet, "Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech,—he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones. And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people;—because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy Name." [Levit. xx. 2, 3.]

In the New Testament this same God of the Canaanites is called Moloch,—a name generally used in poetry to express the demon of blood.

"Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch." [Acts vii. 43.]

This was an ancient custom of the Canaanites, and followed by their descendants, the Sidonians, Tyrians, and Carthaginians,—it was, also, practised by the Mexican Aborigines.

The Tyrian God Saturn, was represented in Asia and Africa by a large metal Statue,—the figure was bent slightly forward, with the hands extended, as in the act of receiving, or soliciting:—the arms and hands were in that position, that upon the child being placed in the hands of the Statue, the weight of the smallest infant was sufficient to displace its position, and consequently, it instantly slipped from the hands of the Idol into a fiery furnace,—ever burning beneath this God of Infanticide! In this manner were the most beautiful children of the Phœnicians destroyed, as an offering to the insatiate Moloch.

This Canaanitish practice, which was feared by MOSES, was actually practised centuries after by his People, for another Prophet speaking of the impending downfall of Jerusalem, and of her accumulated sins, says,

"Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast born unto me; and these hast thou sacrificed unto them [false gods], to be devoured [by flames],—* * *—thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them." [Ezekiel xvi. 20-21.]

Now the Sculpture of the Ruins in Mexican America illustrates this very custom of the Tyrians,—and as it was one of the greatest importance with that nation, so has it received more attention than any other subject.

It can readily be imagined how many stages in the progress of this infanticide would be in the Tyrian nation,—as thus,—the Mother bringing the child;—the reception by the Priests,—the sorrow of the Parent, and other incidents in analogy with the subject. The Sculpture of the ruined Temples at Palenque, presents many of the progressive steps towards a consummation of the sacrifice,—as thus,—Female figures, erect, adorned with jewels and ornaments,—each figure with a child in her arms, not in the attitude of receiving a Mother's nourishment, but held by the Parent in such a manner, as if in sorrowful contemplation of her infant victim:—the costume, also, is essentially important, for the Tyrian Children were selected from families possessing station, wealth, and power. Other female figures are represented seated, and in the most melancholy postures, with downcast heads and looks, as if mourning for that loss, which had made them Motherless! In an inner apartment, believed to be the sanctum of a Temple, is sculptured (in basso) the resemblance of the dread Altar, portraying the entrance of the fiery furnace,—for even the bars and grating are distinctly visible; a large and monstrous Mask, or demoniac face is directly above the fire-grating,—presenting that of the remorseless Deity. On either side of the Altar-furnace and Mask of Saturn, is stationed a young and an elderly Priest of sacrifice, both standing, erect, upon crushed and prostrate human beings: the Priests have their hands and arms elevated, and each holds an infant,—raised up towards the demon-deity, as if in the act of presenting the victims. The ancients (from their Mythology) believed that their God,—Saturn,—devoured its own children,—thence the worship,—and those who sacrificed a child to him, were supposed to be under his peculiar care and guidance:—this Sculptured Mask,—has a hideous face,—distorted eyes, a ravenous and distended mouth,—and its tongue hanging out, as if athirst for infant blood,—thus presenting a perfect portraiture of the child-craving appetite of the Demon. It must be evident that the above analogy is a most powerful one,—nor have the parallels been strained in order to prove their equi-character;—the analogy is so strong,—and apparently so convincing,—that it cannot fail to reach the mind of the reader with a conviction of their identity.

The Sculpture described, having reference to the Tyrian God—Saturn,—is, as we have stated, upon the stuccoed walls of Palenque,—and, we believe, was placed there as a record of a Religious custom, practised anterior to the walls being stuccoed,—for, another piece of Sculpture represents the perfect overthrow of this worship, by a more sublime Religion, which will be shewn in the third Volume. This discovery by us, suggested the apparent truth, that the Temple of Palenque was originally of stone, and dedicated to the Sun (the elliptical stone tablet will prove that), and that its second æra was the stuccoing of the walls,—this fact we think can be established, to have taken place about 350 years after the Temple was first erected. As this subject involves that portion of our History, which embraces the introduction of Christianity into the Western Hemisphere, all argument to prove the second æra in the Temple of Palenque, is reserved for that Volume, devoted to the interesting and important investigation.

The pictorial description given in the engraving, furnished by Baron Humboldt, of the Mexican Calendar found in the plaza of Mexico (buried in the time of Cortez) has a direct bearing upon the Tyro-Mexican Saturn, as represented at Palenque. The centre of the sculptured Calendar-circle recorded by the great Traveller,—is a horrid mask, or face,—nearly a likeness of that at Palenque;—and one remarkable incident of identity is, that each face has the tongue hanging out, and by the muscular action,—in the same blood-devouring manner. Now these Masks of Saturn (as we have named them) were discovered many hundred miles apart, which would seem to indicate that the worship, or adoration of that heathen deity was a general one, and practised by all the Mexican Aborigines. The several Idol-obelisks at Copan, having the Altars in front, were the personation of deities of less denomination than Saturn,—but to whom, without doubt, were sacrificed devoted victims and captives;—the same also upon the pyramidal Altars of Cholula and Quirigua. The Tyrians of Phœnicia had many minor deities claiming human sacrifice.

Another analogy will now be produced equally as powerful—if not more so, than that having reference to the Tyrian Moloch. The Phœnicians had in their several capitals a Temple erected to a tutelary, or National God,—and that became the chief object of worship. The Greeks copied this custom,—but, in the Cecropian decision in the contest between Neptune and Pallas, the Goddess was preferred,—and thus the "rejected" on Mount Ida became the Guardian of the Acropolis. The Daughter of Jupiter, in her character of Minerva, was not only worshipped by Athens, but by all Attica,—and under the name of Intellect, she is now worshipped by every Nation! The Tyrians, from their remote ancestors, the Canaanites, selected Apollo, as their favourite and protective God,—although Jupiter was the Chief of Gods with all the Heathens,—and was worshipped under the name of Baal, or Belus, by the Babylonians and Assyrians,—Ammon by the Egyptians,—Jupiter by the Phœnicians and Greeks,—and as Jove by the Romans.

The Sun,—(i. e. Apollo,)—as the Eye of Heaven,—was worshipped by the Canaanites, Sidonians, Tyrians, and Carthaginians as their protective God,—it never left the great Phœnician family from the time of Canaan the "cursed,"—the grandson of Noah,—to the destruction of Carthage by the Romans,—a period of near two thousand years.

The chief Games,—or public festivals, of the Tyrians were the Heraclian,—i. e. those dedicated to Hercules-Apollo;—the name was compounded by the Tyrians, in order to personify the strength and power of their God of Fire.

Apollo in the mythology of the ancients had many attributes,—but the chief was that of being regarded as the Symbol of the Sun, and as such, was worshipped by the Tyrians, and had been from remote antiquity, and even down to so late a period as the third century of our own æra: for in 218, A. D., a Priest of the Sun, officiating at Emessa, in Phœnicia, though a youth, was elevated to the Imperial dignity at Rome, in the person of Elagabalus,—and who, upon his arrival the following year in his Italian Capital, endeavoured to establish the absolute Worship of the Sun as practised in Phœnicia. In this he succeeded, but in the fourth year of his reign he was assassinated, when the Romans returned to the adoration of their Jupiter.

The Sun was, also, the chief worship at Palmyra, and upon the conquest and captivity of the heroic Zenobia by the Emperor Aurelian, in 272 A. D.,—the conqueror introduced the worship of Apollo at Rome:—but, not as Elagabalus to the exclusion of Jupiter as the chief Deity.

The celebrated Statue of the Apollo Belvidere, represents the God in the attitude of having just discharged an arrow from his "unerring bow,"—the attitude, look, and general action, embrace that moment of time during the flight of the feathered shaft,—all this is merely symbolical of the Sun,—for the Statue illustrates the triumph over the Deucalion Deluge:—as thus.—After that Deluge the stagnated waters created an enormous monster from the muddy slime, called Python; (i. e. Pestilence)—Apollo (i. e. the Sun) killed the monster with his arrows, (i. e. Sun-beams)—and the Statue of the Sun-God represents, in his triumphant look and lip, the ease and certainty of his unerring aim and victory!

Apollo, therefore, is the Sun, and as such was regarded and adored by the Tyrians; and such was their devotion to the golden Statue of their God, that at the last siege of their city (according to Plutarch), they fastened it with chains of massive gold, and even nailed the feet of the Statue, and thus doubly secured it to the Chief Altar in the Temple of Hercules-Apollo,—who being the chief object of worship by the Tyrians, (believing that it was the flame of life,)—it cannot be a matter of surprise, that such an attempt to secure their "source of existence," should have been made against their ruthless invader.

The reader need scarcely be reminded that the chief symbol of worship among the Mexican Aborigines was Apollo, as viewed by the Tyrians. There is not a schoolboy but is familiar with the fact (from the pen of Kotzebue and Sheridan,) that the chief deity of their Temple,—the Sun,—was "the God of their Idolatry!"

"The faith (i. e. worship of the Sun) we follow, teaches us to live in bonds of charity with all mankind, and die with hope of bliss beyond the grave!" [Pizarro, Act 2. Sc. "Temple of the Sun.">[ This analogy in the chief worship of the Tyrians and Mexicans, in illustrating their identity, is as powerful as a sculptured Crescent upon a gravestone,—to impress the passer-by with the belief, that a Mahommedan sleeps beneath!

There is no record of the Phœnician or Tyrian Banner,—but it may have descended to the Peruvians,—their device being an Eagle gazing upon a brilliant Sun!—it would not be an inappropriate Standard for the Tyrians, considering their watchfulness of their favourite God.

The Apollo-worship of the Tyrian and Mexican (together with that of Saturn) we might enlarge upon, did we not think, that the reader has already formed his own affirmative conclusion of their identity.

As Apollo represented the Sun,—so did Astartē—the Moon,—and she was the Chief Goddess of the Tyrians, and was worshipped by the Mexican Aborigines. Dr. Robertson distinctly states that the natives of Bogota and Natchez worshipped Apollo and Astartē,—but in so stating he did not attempt to establish any National Theory. The fact is, however, given, as will be seen in the following quotation,—viz.,

"Among the people of Bogota (South America) the Sun and Moon were, likewise, the chief objects of veneration." "The Sun was the chief object of religious worship among the Natchez," &c. [Vol. v. b. iv. p. 373-4.]

The latter, perhaps, were located upon the Mississippi, when the Tyrian-Americans coasted the Gulf of Mexico, as the Tribe of Natchez was the only one in that part of the Continent, that practised the Tyrian Customs.

Upon an emblem of this Goddess, will be established one of the strongest analogies. The reader will be startled at the following proposition,—but it is no less the fact,—and it is given with peculiar force to sustain identity—viz., that the emblem of the Cross (as seen at Palenque) proves the Mexican Aborigines to have been Tyrians!

In the first book of Kings [ch. xi.] it is recorded that Solomon among his wives, had many Sidonians,—that they "turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.—For Solomon went after [worshipped] Ashtoreth, the Goddess of the Sidonians." (i. e. Tyrians.)

It was in consequence of this departure from The God of Israel, that Ahijah prophecied to Jeroboam, that he should have Ten of the Tribes of Abraham for his kingdom, in the time of Solomon's Son and successor,—Rehoboam. Ashtoreth is Astartē: the Goddess of the Sidonians and Tyrians,—they are one and the same.

Without attempting here a refutation of the assertion by atheistical or deistical writers, that the monogram of Christ (☧) was known six centuries before The Nativity,—it will be sufficient for our present purpose to establish, that the Cross was a Tyrian emblem, more than three hundred years anterior to the time of Tiberius,—for of that period (332 B. C.) we must again remark, we are illustrating. It was, also, known in the time of Solomon, for he worshipped the Tyrian Astartē,—whose symbol was the Cross,—and this was more than one thousand years before the Crucifixion!

Here then is a more remote period for a knowledge of the Cross, as an emblem, than that assumed by sceptics;—it is brought forward because it is the truth,—and why did not deistical writers trace it to the time of Solomon?—they knew, if they did, that it would prove a strong link in the chain of Christianity, and therefore, for their own purposes they avoided it! We will shew this as we proceed.

In Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible, is found a pictorial representation of the Coins of ancient nations. In the plates giving those of Sidon and Tyrus (both must be viewed as one) is the figure of Astartē, surrounded by the words "The Sidonian Goddess" in the old Phœnician characters. She is standing on the fore part of a galley (emblem of Tyrian navigation)—full robed,—the classic measure on her head,—a branch in her right hand (emblem of peace and reward)—and in her left hand a long Cross (emblem of war and punishment)—the proportions are the same as the sacred one used at Mount Calvary:—it is upright, and slightly inclines, like a sceptre, across the inner part of the upper arm of the Goddess. The following are Calmet's remarks on the Coins.

"No. 4. Astarte,—holding the Cross;—standing on a Ship (galley): the measure on her head," &c.

"No. 12. Astarte standing in her Temple,—holding the long Cross in her hand—the shell, supposed to allude to the Tyrian dye;—in the exergue,—An Altar (i. e. of perpetual fire) burning before the Temple," &c.

It will be observed that the above manner of alluding to the Cross of the Tyrian Goddess, is too positive (and with the coins as witnesses) to admit even of a doubt of its being an emblem of the Tyrians, and many centuries before the period contemplated by this volume, viz. 332 B. C. They then possessed the Cross, and among the ancients they appear to have been the only people,—with the exception of the Egyptians, who probably copied it from the Phœnicians, to illustrate their own worship of the Moon,—the Egyptian emblem was thus—( ♀ )—and this has been falsely called the sacred monogram,—for the Moon is shewn by the circle—and the Cross was her general emblem.

Astartē carried a Cross merely as an emblem of punishment, as her olive, or palm-branch was emblematical of reward,—Solomon worshipped her, and her attributes, upon his leaving the One God:—from David descended the husband of The Saviour's Mother, as, also, the Virgin herself, and after the Crucifixion, the Cross became the emblem of Salvation!—and was no more viewed as a Symbol of Idolatry, as in the time of David's Son, or of a degraded death as in the time of Tyberius:—may there not, in this very change of the character of the emblem, in regard to its attribute of worship,—from punishment to atonement, and by the converted disciples from the same "chosen people," be a mysterious token of the great precept by the Divine GOD,—that from Evil cometh Good? We believe every thing tending to the Glory of the CREATOR: and even if the monogram used by Constantine did exist centuries before the time of CHRIST,—but which we deny,—yet viewing that subject with an eye of faith it would be found to illustrate the Prophets, and not detract from them or their Prophecies. We have digressed,—the reader requires no apology,—the subject will speak for us.

In the Mexican Ruins numerous instances are found of the Cross,—it is in Sculpture and Stucco:—some small apertures bear the same form, as thus, ✚ :—the lower part being inconvenient for its specific adaptation,—it was not, therefore, used. In one of the minor temples at Palenque, the Cross with the lower part is distinct, and in full proportion,—thus proving the "long Cross" of Astartē,—the Tyrian Goddess,—to be upon those Ruins. But without that—(for we desire to reserve the sculpture containing the long Cross for a future application)—the numerous Crosses, of a minor character upon other Ruins are sufficient to testify to the worship, or knowledge of Astartē, and her symbolical attributes being known to the Mexican Aborigines.

Another analogy is in the Altars of perpetual fire,—and their being watched by the Virgins of the Sun. This was practised by the Tyrians as a branch of their worship of the God of Fire—Apollo. The Roman Vestals were copied from those of Phœnicia. The same horrid punishment attended the loss of virtue by a Virgin of the Sun, both in Tyrus and Mexico,—this was also imitated by the Romans.

We have no history tracing the (to us) obscene worship of Priäpus (i. e. Baal-peor) to the Tyrians,—nor was it found among the Mexicans,—though it was practised by the Egyptians,—and even by the all-accomplished Greeks,—this was over 2000 years ago.[7]

The non-existence of this generative and religious worship by both Tyrians and Mexicans,—although practised by other ancient nations,—must be regarded as another proof of identity:—for identity can be proved by a negative,—with equal power to an affirmative custom. The strong analogies in Religion must be apparent to the reader.