For all who wish to gain insights into the real history of the ancient world, I strongly recommend watching the cable-TV programs on The History Channel (THC) called “Ancient Discoveries” (generally airing Tuesday nights). These programs provide much evidence that ancient civililizations were far more advanced that previously thought.
Recent programs have provided evidence that the ancient Romans engineered many ingenious machines powered by an advanced knowledge of hydraulics. A program this week on THC showed the Romans had a bread-making factory in ancient France powered by hydraulics and even used hydraulic machines to pump water uphill out of their silver mines in ancient Spain. Earlier programs revealed that the ancient Chinese used hydraulics to operate a primitive robot and that they also developed sea-launched cruise missiles powered by gunpowder and even sea-skimming torpedoes. Even Roman garrisons posted at Hadrian’s Wall in Northern England had continuously-flushing toilets.
Last night THC aired a program called “Machines II” which discussed the ancient Parthian batteries which I discuss on pp. 110-113 of my book, Parthia: The Forgotten Ancient Superpower. A cutaway illustration of the Parthian battery is on the cover of that book. THC mentioned that the batteries date to the period 250 BC-250 AD (the time of the Parthian Empire) although they did not mention the Parthian origin of the batteries. THC conducted a demonstration of the Parthian battery design which confirmed that they could easily be used for gold-plating objects. This is exactly the purpose that I proposed in my book for these ancient batteries.
A Parthian electroplating technology offers an explanation for the Medieval alchemists who tried to turn base objects into gold. The Parthian Magi had hidden wisdom and skills which they kept to themselves. We derive our word “Magic” from the Persian/Parthian word “Magi.” If the Parthian Magi used batteries to electroplate base objects into having the appearance of solid gold objects, it would, indeed, appear to be “magic” to all their contemporaries. Think how it would have inflated the displayed “wealth” of kings, nobles, etc. if the Magi turned base metal objects into “gold” objects for display purposes. Those seeing the objects would assume they were solid gold when in fact they were base metal objects with a gold veneer.
When the Parthians were defeated and driven out of Asia by the rebelling Persians, the knowledge that “base metals had once been turned to gold” would live on in the legends and lore of the people who descended from the Parthians (the Germans, Goths, Saxons,Vandals, etc.) who migrated into Europe and provided the population base for Medieval European nations. The Medieval alchemists tried to duplicate the feat of their Parthian ancestors but could never do so because they lacked a key ingredient: electric batteries. That the Medieval Europeans tried to duplicate what the ancient Parthians actually were able to do further confirms that the Europeans descended from migrating refugee Parthians. The cultural memory that such a thing was actually done would remain with those people who had descended from the Parthian Empire.
Also, as it becomes more evident that various ancient civilizations had extensive knowledge of hydraulics, possessed electric batteries, cruise missiles, etc., it becomes ever-more untenable for “establishment” historical sources to maintain that ancient civilizations lacked the technology to sail ships across oceans. The belief that “Columbus discovered America” is in tatters, given what is now being discovered concerning the advanced state of ancient technological development. My books document the evidence that the ancient Israelites of King David and Solomon’s time had extensive colonies and mining operations in ancient North America. The Carthaginians, who were founded by the Israelite/Phoenician Empire, inherited the Phoenician knowledge and long carried on trade and contacts in North America. One of my books cites a historical account by Aristotle concerning Carthage’s secret colony (which was located westward out into the Atlantic Ocean ) that accurately describes the geography of North America. The false notion that “Columbus discovered America” developed only because his voyage occurred after the benighted Dark Ages, a time when mankind was far more backward than ancient civilizations. Mankind in the first millennium BC was far more advanced technologically than in 1000 AD! This fact also belies the theory of evolution as it is scientifically proven that the concept of mankind’s steady upward development is a myth. As THC series has noted, we need to rethink our concepts about the ancient world!
I Kings 3:11-13 records that God made Solomon the wisest man who ever lived (or would live). When the Romans conquered Carthage in the 2nd century BC, they burnt the great library of Carthage, which housed the combined records and knowledge of the Israelite/Phoenician and Carthaginian cultures. As cited in my book, Israel’s Lost Empires, the Romans knew the Carthaginians had invented a threshing machine they called a “Punic cart.” It was described as a sledge with small toothed wheels. In other words, it was a geared device. THC series has also examined the “Antikythera Mechanism,” a very sophisticated geared machine which was apparently was a mechanical computer/calculator which kept track of (and predicted) celestial movements via incredibly advanced gearing mechanisms. Before the Greeks and Romans dominated the Mediterranean Sea, it had been dominated by the Phoenicians (an empire composed of the biblical Israelite tribes allied to the smaller city-states of Tyre and Sidon), and their Carthaginian heirs.
My books document some of King Solomon’s likely inventions based on the appearance of many new technologies which began around 1000 BC in the Israelite/Phoenician Empire. Carthage would have inherited the knowledge of whatever inventions were developed during Solomon’s reign. THC (and other documentaries) have examined the advanced wisdom of the Egyptians, but I Kings 4:29-34 states Solomon’s wisdom exceeded any wisdom found in Egypt. The Carthaginians, who preceded the Romans and were concurrent with the Greeks, and who inherited the knowledge of the Israelites, had machines with geared teeth. The Greeks and Romans later had such machines. Hmmm. I wonder if some of the inventions of the ancient world originated with the wisdom of King Solomon. I Kings 10:24 states “all the earth” sought the wisdom of Solomon. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 8:12 that it was “wisdom” (which God gave him in an unprecedented amount) which produced “witty inventions.” Approximately two centuries later, a King of Judah named Uzziah, had equipped the towers and ramparts of the city of Jerusalem with engines and catapults which hurled “arrows and great stones” at enemies. [Those who have seen the Lord of Rings Movie, The Return of the King, have seen a cinema version of this ancient Israelite technology in on the towers and ramparts of the Gondorian city of Minis Tirith.]
When Jesus Christ returns to the earth and his Millennial government restores the entire truth of mankind’s history in all historical periods, we will learn just how advanced the technologies of the Israelite/Phoenicians really were! All the earth sought to witness and learn Solomon’s wisdom, so his inventions spread widely into other civilizations. I’ll bet some of the “witty inventions” of the Greeks and Romans were pioneered in the Israelite kingdom of King Solomon.
Steven Collins
May 2, 2007
