one god 

an advance in mental evolution

At that time can you consider attitudes to sex and then to the treatment of others in society inthe roman empire  , crucifiction was standard in the roman empre and then shall we consider their gods , so why would they consider jewish philosophy , and even then consider the teachings of Jesus Christ

so roman gods an old philosophy

Roman Gods and Goddesses

The Ancient Roman religion was based on a belief in a variety of different gods and goddesses, with each playing an important role in different aspects of everyday life during Ancient Roman times. While there were thousands of Roman gods, here, we'll introduce you to the12 major Roman gods and goddesses . Many of the Roman gods and goddesses were derived from the Ancient Greeks Gods. However, as the years went by, their polytheistic religion started to slowly decline, when Christianity became more influential during the 4th century, and eventually Christianity overtook the polytheistic religion completely.

Who were the 12 Roman Gods and Goddesses? Jupiter- God of the Sky , Juno- Queen of the Gods ,Saturn- God of Time , Neptune - God of the Seas , Pluto - God of the Underworld , Venus - God of Love and Beauty , Minerva - Goddess of Wisdom , Mars - God of War , Mercury - Messenger of the Gods , Apollo- God of the Sun , Diana- Goddess of the Hunt , Ceres- Goddess of Agriculture and Familial Love

Roman Religion

The Romans worshipped many Gods - this is because they believed that everything from rivers to trees, and cows to crops, had a guardian spirit watching over it. Each god could be assigned one or more jobs - some of these jobs could be very important, like ensuring the sun rose each day, or crops grew in the fields, whereas others were less important . The people of Rome would pray to their gods at least once a day - the god they would pray to would depend on what they wanted, or needed. As Rome expanded, and its citizens came into contact with people who worshipped other gods, they adopted more and more into their roster. The train of thought was that if the new people in Rome had been successful, the god they worshipped must have played a hand in their success. So the Romans decided to adopt gods from other religions. However, they would change their names to represent Roman names, and aspects of their personality too. The Romans particularly liked a lot of the Greek gods, so much so that they adopted many of them into their own religion, combining them with the older Etruscan gods that the Romans worshipped before.

The Romans took the worship of their gods extremely seriously, and they dedicated a lot of their time to it. As well as worship, sacrifices were also expected to be made to the gods. Almost everything that happened to a Roman citizen, good or bad, would be linked back to their worship, or in some cases, lack of it - to the gods.

Did you know:the Romans believed that blood sacrifices were the best way to communicate with the gods, and demonstrate their dedication. As a result, bulls, sheep and pigs were common sacrifices.

Jupiter - King of the gods and the sky

Jupiter was regarded as the Roman equivalent of the Greek God - Zeus. Jupiter was the brother of Neptune and Pluto. He was the king of the gods, also known as the sky god, or the great protector. He controlled the weather and the forces of nature, and he was known to send thunderbolts to warn the citizens of Rome.

Juno - Queen of the Roman gods

Juno, who was based on the Greek goddess, Hera, was Jupiter's wife. It is said that she was the Queen of the Heavens, as well as childbirth and fertility. The month of June is named after Juno.

Neptune - Roman god of the seas

Neptune is the Roman equivalent to Poseidon. He was the deity of the sea, although later he was associated with rivers as well. In art, he is often shown with a trident and a dolphin.

Minerva - Roman goddess of wisdom and war

Minerva is the Roman name for Athena, most commonly known as the goddess of war, however she was also the goddess of commerce, industry, and education. Legend has it that she sprung from Jupiter's head.

Mars - God of war

Mars was the Roman version of Ares. He was the god of war, and second in command to Jupiter. Mars was considered to be the father of Romulus and Remus, the mythical twin creators of Rome.

Venus - Roman goddess of love and beauty

Venus is based on the Greek Goddess Aphrodite, and is the of goddess of love, beauty, and fertility. According to legend, Venus was born out of the foam of the sea. That’s why in art she is often depicted rising out of the waves in a clam.

Apollo - God of sun, music and dance

Apollo kept his Greek name and is known as Phoebus in Roman literature, too. Apollo had many jobs and responsibilities, as he was the god of archery, music, dance, healing and disease, as well as sun and light. He was seen as one of the most influential Roman gods, and was the son of Jupiter/Zeus.

Diana - Roman goddess of the hunt

Diana is the Roman version of Artemis. She was the goddess of wild animals, the hunt, the moon, chastity and childbirth. She was the twin sister of Apollo, and she was very popular with Romans who lived in rural areas.

Pluto - God of the underworld

Pluto was the brother of Jupiter and Neptune, and god of the Underworld. The Underworld was believed by the Romans to be the place people went after death.

Mercury - Messenger of the gods

is the Roman version of Hermes, and is the god of translation, interpretation and messenger of the gods. He was considered the cleverest out of all the Olympian gods, and he was a messenger for them. He also ruled over wealth, good fortune and commerce.

Saturn - God of time

Saturn was the first king of the gods, and he was also known as the god of time. Saturn carries a scythe - a tool used to cut crops. Saturn's festival, the Saturnalia, became one of the most popular Roman festivals. When Saturn died, the world was split between his sons, Neptune, Pluto and Jupiter.

Ceres - goddess of agriculture

Ceres was the Roman equivalent to the Greek goddess Demeter. In both Greece and Rome she was the goddess of grain and agriculture, so she was extremely important to farmers, and was credited with teaching humans how to grow, preserve, and prepare grain and corn, as she was thought to be responsible for the fertility of the land. Unlike a lot of the gods, Ceres was believed to take an active role in day-to-day life. She was also heavily associated with motherhood and motherly love, due to her close relationship with her daughter Proserpine (or Persephone); the wife of Hades. The Romans believed that the seasons were caused because Ceres went into mourning for half the year when Proserpine was in the underworld with her husband during the winter months, and would celebrate her return by making the earth fertile during the summer.

These are the 12 main gods and goddess' in both Greek and Roman polytheism. However, as we mentioned before, there were other gods too, though they took a back seat in comparison to the main Olympian gods, you might recognise a few of them:

Vulcan- god of fire and the forge

Vesta- god of the home and domestic life

Pax- the god of peace

Nemesis- the goddess of revenge

Cupid- the god of desire

Bacchus- the god of wine, drunkenness, madness and revelry

Janus- the god of gates, doorways, and time

The Furies- the goddesses of vengeance

Some other gods were also commonly worshipped in the Roman empire after being adopted from different regions. Some stayed quite regional, surviving as local patron deities, whereas others rose to the status of separate faiths worshipped instead of, or alongside, the core Roman pantheon. Here's some of the most well-known examples:

Mithras

Mithras was a god who was very popular with soldiers all over the Roman empire. We don't know exactly where Mithras came from, and indeed he may have been an amalgamation of a few other gods who were all bundled together to form a new faith, but historians and archaeologists believe that Mithras' origins were in modern-day Iran. He was commonly depicted slaying a bull, and was associated with warfare and the sun.

Isis

Isis was originally an Egyptian goddess, heavily associated with magic, mysticism and with healing. She became very popular in Rome after Egypt was added to the Empire.

Cybele

Cybele was a mother goddess, originally from what's now modern Turkey. The Romans adopted her and renamed her 'Magna Mater', using her as a way to claim Trojan heritage (which the Romans commonly tried to lay claim to in order to give themselves a more glorious mythic history). Her worship was originally quite heavily Romanized, but later it began to return to older traditions from Asia Minor, and many Romans saw worshippers of Cybele as effeminate and barbaric.

Sol Invictus

Sol Invictus was a Romanized version of a Syrian sun god, who was combined with an early Roman sun god Sol who had largely been forgotten when the Romans adopted the Greek pantheon. The worship of this god was extremely popular during the later years of the Roman empire, prior to Constantine I's conversion to Christianity.

Babylonian date of  Addaru
            ABOUT THE TIME OF JESUS’ DEATH Most early accounts suggest that Jesus died between AD28 to AD33.
    JULIUS AFRICANUS: says the passover when Jesus was killed was “the 2nd year of the 102nd Olympiad ” (Ch 18:2-3) which by his reference to Tiberius shows he meant the 202nd Olympiad which was the passover between July AD30 to July AD31. (Chronology 18:1-3) Perhaps AD29.

AFRICAN KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM


Outside of the records of the ancient Wisdom in Egypt, little is known of
its diffusion in the rest of Africa. Some evidence of the continent-wide
existence of the ancient doctrines and movement can be had from the
following narrative.

The THEOSOPHIST, Madras, for August 1927 published an article entitled "The
Ancient Wisdom in Africa" written by Patrick Bowen who spent his childhood
and early life there. He is, perhaps, better known for the SAYINGS OF THE
ANCIENT ONE which he published.

Mr. Bowen, seems to have been recognized early in life for some special
qualities by members of those who were among Initiates of the Ancient
Brotherhood of Wisdom living among the Zulu and the descendants of the old
Bantu race of South and South East of Africa.

Concerning some of this experience, Mr. Bowen wrote: "Many years ago,when
I, a boy of ten or twelve years of age, I followed my father's wagon through
the wild Bushlands of the Northern Transvaal...I met and gained the
friendship of many natives--principally Zulus--of the class known as
Isanusi, a term popularly but improperly interpreted as "Witch-Doctor."

Why those men, who with Europeans and even with their own people are always
intensely reserved, should have favored me with their confidence is
something I do not, even now, clearly understand...I recall a conversation
with one of their number, by name, Mankanyezi (The Starry One)...My father
had declared his intention of placing me in care of a Missionary, in order
that I might receive some education, and learn white man's ways.

I repeated his words to Mankanyezi, who shook his head mournfully on hearing
them and said: "Your teachers are doubtless learned men. But why do they
strive to force their beliefs on us without first learning what our beliefs
are?...To show you how ignorant they are I shall tell you what we teach the
Common Man...We teach that he has a body; that within that body is a soul;
and within the soul is a spark or portion of something we call Itongo, which
the Common Man interprets as the Universal Spirit of the Tribe...

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INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS IN THE AFRICAN CONTEXT:
TOWARDS A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK


Dr Mathole Motshekga

-----------------------------------


1.1 Dr Mathole Motshekga

Dr Motshekga presented his paper, entitled, “Indigenous Knowledge Systems in
the African Context – Towards a Conceptual Framework”. He stated that, when
considering policy, we must start by knowing who we are, for as long as we
are defined from the outside, it will be very difficult to formulate the
policy.

INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS IN THE AFRICAN CONTEXT:
TOWARDS A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK


1.1.1 Introduction


The story of the human race in Africa dates back to more than 40 000 years
before the mythical creation of Adam in 4 240 BC. This story was writtenby
Lord Khem (or Ham) popularly known as ThauThau-Harama (the Greek
Thoth-Hermes) who was the scribe of the African builder Gods called
Bonabakhuluabase Khemu (i.e. the ancient ones of Khem).


ETHIOPIA


The land of Khem (or Ta Shema) came to be known as ancient Ethiopia (African
Atpu) to the Greeks. The names Ethiopia and Egypt (the African Hakaptah i.e.
land of God Ptah) were named after the ancient African God Tapa (or Pata).
His shrine is in the Sudan (i.e. land of the Blacks).

Long before the rise of ancient Egypt, Africa South of the Sahara had known
two major civilizations in Punt or Tanutra (i.e. central and Southern
Africa) and Ethiopia or Khem, which covered Southern Egypt, Eritrea,
Abyssinia, the Sudan and surrounding territories.


MENA (MENES)


It was the Ethiopian Prince Mena who established Egypt by uniting lower and
Upper Egypt in 5 619 BC. Thus ancient Egypt is not the oldest state in
Africa.

The earliest civilization was established by the gods of the First Time (Zep
Tepi) from Punt or Tanutra who came to be known as Shamsu Hara (Greek Shemsu
Hor i.e. followers of Horus). The relics of the civilization establishedby
the followers of Horus are still found at Maphungubwe, Zimbabwe, the Sudan,
Yemen, modern Ethiopia, Egypt and Benin and the Area of the Great Lakes.


1.1.2 Culture and Religion


The ancient Africans were a profoundly spiritual people and extremely
psychic. To them, like to traditional Africans today, the world of higher
being was a reality (cf. Eleanor Shakes by Lewis: The Mystery Tradition of
Africa in “Harvest-An Anthology of Lectures delivered in South Africa,
Pretoria: p.65).

The author of ancient African civilizations was Lord Khem or ThauThau-Harama
who was the personification of God Ptah.

Lord Khem brought the religion of light (Karaism), which taught that the
light (Kara), which was God, dwelt in the heart of every human being.

To the sacred (or divine) rulers, he taught them to “Look for the light”
(i.e. the divine spark) or the “God within” every individual. To the people
he taught the motto that: “Thou art the Light, let the Light shine”. (ibid)


HERMETICISM


The teachings of Lord Khem attracted students like Thales, Solon, Pythagoras
and Plato - the Hermetic teachings - and passed them to the world as Greek
philosophy or more specifically Pythagoreanism. The African religious
philosophy of Light (Karaism) came to be known as Hermeticism and passed as
Greek philosophy.

However, Hermeticism did not disappear from the face of traditional Africa.
In his book entitled: “THE RUINED CITIES OF MASHONALAND,” Bent observedthat
the African founders of the Zimbabwe Temple practiced the religion of Light
(Karaism) and this God of Light was also called Umbe, Nyambe or Zambe (i.e.
the word of God).


SABAISM


The solar worship at Great Zimbabwe was undoubtedly based on celestial
bodies called the Hosts of Heaven. Thus, the early religion of Maphungubwe
and Great Zimbabwe, like that of Egypt, Ethiopia and the Yemen, was called
Sabaism (i.e. worship of the Hosts of Heaven) led by Queen Saba and Lord
Khem.

Western scholars made the world to believe that, before colonisation, Africa
was a Dark Continent without a literary tradition. They also excised ancient
Ethiopia and Egypt from Africa and made them part of the so-called near East
to obliterate the African origins of ancient Ethiopian and Egyptian
civilization.


SouthAFRICA


Ancient Egyptian literature aside, we find a literary culture here in
Southern Africa long before colonialism.

The most interesting of African mystery teachings came to us from PG Bowen
through his book entitled: “THE SAYING OF THE ANCIENT ONE”. The fragments in
this book are translations of chapters from the mystic writings of the
African sage, Mehlo Moya (i.e. the spiritual eyes).


THE SAYING OF THE ANCIENT ONE


THE SAYING OF THE ANCIENT ONE was written in an archaic Bantu language
called Isinzu. According to Mehlo Moya, this Isinzu manuscript is a
translation of some very ancient records found in a subterranean chamber in
one of the ruined cities of Southern Africa, belonging to the
Maphungubwe-Zimbabwe cultural complex. The original records were written in
veiled symbols, akin to the Sabean script, on tablets of ivory or stone (cf.
Harvest, p. 68).


SPHINX -- NILE


There is abundant evidence that THE SAYINGS OF THE ANCIENT ONE came from
ancient African Wisdom tradition embodied in the Great Sphinx - the Mighty
Altar that guards the Holy Land where the Nahar (Greek Nile) River meets the
Mediterranean sea. Records still exist of Great antiquity, preserved and
partly disclosed, which contain ancient African wisdom.



ZIMBABWE – The BUILDERS


Southern African records, which were destroyed by the Portuguese and others,
revealed that the forebears of the builders of Maphungubwe and Great
Zimbabwe, simply called The Builders, left behind them a family of Wise Ones
who acted as teachers and priests.

Eventually, the ancient and medieval African cities were destroyed by slave
traders and colonialists compelling the Wise Ones to retreat to various
parts of the African continent, having first made secret the records which
they could not safely remove (Harvest, p.69).

There is a close resemblance between much of THE SAYINGS OF THE ANCIENT ONE
and portions of “LIGHT ON THE PATH” by Paul Brunton. [ Is this correct? I
thought “LIGHT ON THE PATH” was by Mabel Collins. DTB ]

Both books have much in common with the ancient Egyptian Wisdom Literature.
(see P.G. Bowen “THE SAYINGS OF THE ANCIENT ONE”, Rider & Co, Paternoster
House, Paternoster Row, London EC4).

The universalism of African culture and religion was highlighted by Theodore
Besterman in his collected “PAPERS ON THE PARANORMAL”

THE LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN.  Text A (.Earlier Version).

The prologe of goode Wimmen . A thousand sythes have I herd men telle , That ther is joye in heven , and peyne in helle ; And I acorde wel that hit be so ; But natheles, this wot I wel also ,That ther nis noon that dwelleth in this contre , That either hath in helle or heven y-be , Ne may of hit non other weyes witen , But as ho hath herd seyd, or founde hit writen; For by assay ther may no man hit preve. But goddes forbode, but men shulde leve
Wel more thing then men han seen with ye Men shal nat wenen every-thing a lye For that he seigh it nat of yore ago. God wot, a thing is never the lesse so ,Thogh every wight ne may hit nat y-see.
Bernard the monk ne saugh nat al, parde! Than mote we to bokes that we finde, Through which that olde thinges been in minde, And to the doctrine of these olde wyse, Yeven credence, in every skilful wyse, 20 And trowen on these olde aproved stories Of holiness , of regnes , of victories , Of love , of hate , of other sundry thinges , Of whibhe I may not maken rehersinges . And if that olde bokes were a-weye ,
25
Y-loren were of remembraunce the keye. Wel oghte us than on olde bokes leve,
Text B {Later Version).
The prologe of .ix. goode Wimmen. A thousand tymes have I herd men telle, That ther is joye in heven, and peyne in helle; And I acorde wel that hit is so ; But natheles, yit wot I wel also, That ther nis noon dwelling in this
contree,
5
That either hath in heven or helle y-be , Ne may of hit non other weyes witen, But as he hath herd seyd, or founde hit writen ; For by assay ther may no man hit preve. But god forbede but men shulde leve 10Wel more thing then men han seen with ye! Men shal nat wenen every-thing a lyg But-if him-self hit seeth, or elles dooth ; For, god wot, thing is never the lasse sooth, Thogh every wight ne may hit nat y-see. Bernard the monk ne saugh nat al, parde! Than mote we to bokes that we finde , Through which that olde thinges been in minde , And to the doctrine of these olde wyse , Yeve credence, in every skilful wyse, 20 That tellen of these olde appreved stories,
Of holinesse, of regnes, of victories,Of love, of hate, of other sundry thinges , Of whiche I may not maken rehersinges.
And if that olde bokes were a-weye,
25
Y-loren were of remembraunce the keye.
I Wel oghte us than lionouren and beleve