“Heracles (/ˈhɛrəkliːz/HERR-ə-kleez; Ancient Greek: Ἡρακλῆς, Hēraklēs, from Hēra, “Hera“, and kleos, “glory”[1]), born Alcaeus[2] (Ἀλκαῖος, Alkaios) or Alcides[3] (Ἀλκείδης, Alkeidēs), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon[4] and great-grandson (and half-brother) of Perseus. He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of royal clans who claimed to be Heracleidae (Ἡρακλεῖδαι) and a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters. In Rome and the modernWest, he is known as Hercules, with whom the later Roman Emperors, in particular Commodus and Maximian, often identified themselves. The Romans adopted the Greek version of his life and works essentially unchanged, but added anecdotal detail of their own, some of it linking the hero with the geography of the Central MeMegasthanediterranean. Details of his cult were adapted to Rome as well’
Krishna’s Killing of Kalinga is similar to Hercules with Hydra.
Heracles Or Hercules, Greek Mythology.
Krishna’s killing of Kesi,Arishtasura, Kamsa and Hercules’s step mother have a striking parallel Hercules lifting the world Legend, these are very clos to Krishna.
It is of interest to note that Hercules is also associated with/as Balarama, Lord Shiva!
This information of Greek God being Krishna may prove to be incorrect, but it proves Krishna legend was so alive( I am of the opinion Krishna is a Historical Figure) that the Greeks took him to Greece!
According to Arrian, Diodorus, and Strabo, Megasthenes described an Indian tribe called Sourasenoi, who especially worshipped Herakles in their land, and this land had two cities, Methora and Kleisobora, and a navigable river, the Jobares. As was common in the ancient period, the Greeks sometimes described foreign gods in terms of their own divinities, and there is a little doubt that the Sourasenoi refers to the Shurasenas, a branch of the Yadu dynasty to which Krishna belonged; Herakles to Krishna, or Hari-Krishna: Mehtora to Mathura, where Krishna was born; Kleisobora to Krishnapura, meaning “the city of Krishna”; and the Jobares to the Yamuna, the famous river in the Krishna story. Quintus Curtius also mentions that when Alexander the Great confronted Porus, Porus’s soldiers were carrying an image of Herakles in their vanguard.
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— Krishna: a sourcebook, Edwin Francis Bryant, Oxford University Press US, 20
“A mysterious 900-year-old crypt covered floor to ceiling in ‘magical’ inscriptions has been uncovered in Sudan.
The crypt, which was found containing seven naturally mummified bodies, was excavated in a monastery at Old Dongola – the capital of a lost medieval kingdom that flourished in the Nile Valley.
One of the mummies is thought to be that of Archbishop Georgios, an extremely powerful religious leader in the ancient Makuria kingdom.
The inscriptions on the walls of the crypt were written with black ink on a layer of whitewash and have been identified as Greek and Sahidic Coptic.
Researchers believe the inscriptions served as protection for the deceased against evil powers.
They were ‘intended to safeguard not only the tomb, but primarily those who were buried inside of it during the dangerous liminal period between the moment of dying and their appearance before the throne of God,’ wrote Adam Lajtar of the University of Warsaw, in the journal Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean.
According to the researchers, Archbishop Georgios’ epitaph was found nearby, stating that he died in A.D. 1113 at the age of 82. They believe one of the mummified bodies within the crypt is of the religious leader.
The other mummies within the crypt were of men all over 40 years of age, said anthropologist Robert Mahler.
They were all dressed very simply in linen clothing and the crypt was likely sealed after the last of the burials took place.
History.
The archaeological site of Old Dongola in what is today Sudan has a rich history. Originally built as a fortress in the fifth century, Dongola grew into a prosperous town thanks to its Nile-side location and, after its conversion to Christianity by the end of the sixth century, became the capital of the Coptic Christian kingdom of Makuria. In the seventh century, Makuria was able to defeat the forces of the Rashidun Caliphate after its successful invasion of Egypt. The ensuing peace treaty established trade relationships between Muslim Egypt and Christian Nubia that lasted for 600 years, a long period of stability that allowed the Kingdom of Makuria to flourish. The kingdom’s power began to wane in the 12th century and it was finally defeated by the Sultan of Egypt in the 14th century.
In 1993, the Polish Archaeological Mission (PAM) discovered three burial crypts in the northwest annex of a monastery in Old Dongola. Archaeologists believe they were part of a commemorative complex built either at the direction of or for the burial of Archbishop Georgios, Dongola’s primary cleric who was appointed directly by the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria rather than via a national church hierarchy. According to a funerary stele found in the annex near the crypts, the archbishop died in 1113 A.D. when he was 82 years old.
Inside each chamber were several natural mummies, some wrapped in textiles, and the walls of the southernmost crypt were covered with inscriptions written in Greek and Sahidic Coptic. The crypts were photographed and then resealed to preserve the contents until a more thorough excavation could be done.That finally happened in 2009.
They found that the southern crypt (crypt 1) held seven mummies, one of which is thought to be the body of Archbishop Georgios. Archaeologists were not able to single out which of the bodies, if any, was the Archbishop’s. They are all adult males older than 40 and, judging from the extensive evidence of chronic and degenerative illnesses, probably older than that at the time of death. The bodies were dressed fairly modestly, mainly in linen garments, wrapped in shrouds and then interred in the crypt over a course of years. Four pectoral crosses were found in the crypt as well, two of them wood, one of them stone, one of them glass.
The inscriptions on the walls of crypt 1 provide a particularly fascinating glimpse into Makuria’s unique religious culture. Painted in black ink over a thin layer of whitewash, they cover the four walls of the barrel chamber almost entirely. They are in very good condition, except for areas where the walls themselves were damaged. The writing was all done by the same person, one Ioannes, who did us the favor of signing his name at the end of the inscriptions on the north, east and south walls. He probably signed the west wall too, but it was lost due to damage.
Ioannes was better at Coptic than he was at Greek. There are copious errors in the Greek, some of which he covered with whitewash and redid, like Medieval white-out, which suggests he may have been trying to copy a text, which suggests he had access to a library, either in the monastery or perhaps the private library of the archbishop. It’s a reversal of what you might expect, since Greek was still going great guns in the Eastern Church while Sahidic Coptic was already a dying language by the end of the 11th century.
The inscriptions begin on the west wall with an invocation of the Holy Trinity. Underneath that the writings are defined as a phylakterion malakias, a phylactery or amulet against weakness. A series of magical symbols in a frame follow, and beneath them are two lists, one of numerical cryptograms representing the names of god and angels, the other of magical divine names. Quotations from the gospels and prayers in Greek are next. One of the prayers, said to by the Virgin Mary, is well-known in a languages from Coptic to Arabic, but this is the first time it’s ever been found in Greek. Since Greek was probably its original language, it’s a highly significant find. The prayer ends abruptly with the invocation of a magical ritual meant to chase evil spirits from the tomb.
The inscription on the east wall quotes from the Gospel of Luke in Greek then moves on to a Coptic piece on the death of the Virgin Mary. It includes the prayer she spoke before she died and describes her final scene. This is an excerpt from a popular fourth century Coptic work by Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, but unlike every other extant version of the text known, the crypt inscription has a curious line: after Mary finishes praying, death appears to her “in the form of a rooster.”
One redeeming feature is , no one has been arrested..as yet!
ATHENS — A former Greek culture minister, several employees of the Finance Ministry and a number of business leaders are on a list of more than 2,000 Greeks said to have accounts in a Swiss bank, according to a respected investigative magazine. The Greek magazine, Hot Doc, published the list on Saturday, raising the stakes in a heated battle over which current and former government officials had seen the original list passed on by France two years ago — and whether they had used it to check for possible tax evasion….
Hot Doc said its version of the list matches the one that Christine Lagarde, then the French finance minister and now the head of the International Monetary Fund, had given her Greek counterpart in 2010 to help Greece crack down on rampant tax evasion as it was trying to steady its economy. The 2,059 people on the list are said to have had accounts in a Geneva branch of HSBC.
Questions about the handling of the original list reached a near frenzy in Athens last week as two former finance ministers were pressed to explain why the government appeared to have taken no action on the list. The subject has touched a nerve among average Greeks at a time when the Parliament is expected to vote on a new 13.5 billion euro austerity package that could further reduce their standards of living.
The publication of the list is likely to exacerbate Greeks’ anger that their political leaders might have been reluctant to investigate the business elite, with whom they often have close ties, even as middle- and lower-class Greeks have struggled with higher taxes and increasingly ardent tax collectors.
Hours after the magazine hit newsstands, Athens prosecutors issued a warrant for the arrest of Kostas Vaxevanis, the owner and editor of Hot Doc, “where names from the Lagarde list have been published,” the Athens police said in a statement on their Web site. They said he was sought on misdemeanor charges; the Greek media reported that the charges were related to violating the privacy of those on the list.
The following is a list of 2,059 names of Greek citizens that have bank accounts with HSBC’s branch in Geneva, Switzerland. The list was originally published by a Greek magazine called Hot Doc on October 27, 2012 resulting in the arrest of its editor Kostas Vaxevanis for “breach of privacy”. These scanned images of the magazine were originally posted on the website of the Greek television program Zougla. We have taken the images and converted them into a PDF file for easier viewing. The original scanned images of the magazine are also available in a ZIP archive. Thanks toDarker Net for pointing out the scanned images.
Persepolis all nations stair case. Notice the people carrying Norouz gifts for the king (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It is customary for the West‘s so called Historians to distort History to suit their masters.
You would think that the Persian Kings were barbarians, uncouth and sexually deprived if you go by the Film ‘300’(Is the name correct?
All those who defeat them or the places they want to colonise are barbarians and the places as highly degenerate.
Remember Catherine Mayo’s Book on India, which Mahatma Gandhi called as ‘Sanitary Inspectors Report?
Not merely Alexander but all the Kings and the culture of India is portrayed as decaying, antediluvian, practices are animistic ,Religion is absolute non sense.
These thoughts are passed on in a subtle way.
For instance look at the way the Indians are made to look in the ‘Apocalypto‘.
They look savages.
At the end there is a subtle hint that Christianity will deliver them.
All Christian Missionaries embark on their Noble profession to emancipate the ‘heathen’
The injustice meted out to Indian History and Culture is incalculable.
Indian History has been distorted so much with the effect we doubt our sources(Indian)
He razed Persepolis to the ground following a night of drunken excess at the goading of a Greek courtesan, ostensibly in revenge for the burning of the Acropolis by the Persian ruler Xerxes.
Persians also condemn him for the widespread destruction he is thought to have encouraged to cultural and religious sites throughout the empire.
The emblems of Zoroastrianism – the ancient religion of the Iranians – were attacked and destroyed. For the Zoroastrian priesthood in particular – the Magi – the destruction of their temples was nothing short of a calamity.
The influence of Greek language and culture has helped establish a narrative in the West that Alexander’s invasion was the first of many Western crusades to bring civilisation and culture to the barbaric East.
But in fact the Persian Empire was worth conquering not because it was in need of civilising but because it was the greatest empire the world had yet seen, extending from Central Asia to Libya.
Persia was an enormously rich prize.
Look closely and you will find ample evidence that the Greeks admired the Persian Empire and the emperors who ruled it.
Much like the barbarians who conquered Rome, Alexander came to admire what he found, so much so that he was keen to take on the Persian mantle of the King of Kings.
And Greek admiration for the Persians goes back much earlier than this.”
The funny side is that all these overspending Economies including the US are in the same boat, only difference is that they are politically influential and militarily strong(at least on paper)
The whole mess is because of Keynesian Economy-Spend more, save less.
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It’s not often that world markets react to pre-election political surveys in countries the size of Greece. But on Monday, investor relief appears to be widespread at reports that support for pro-austerity parties in Greece is rising ahead of general elections scheduled for June 17.
According to the polls, an increase of support for the center-right party New Democracy could give it enough seats in parliament to team up with the Socialist PASOK party, both of which support pursuing the austerity policies handed down by the European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for massive bailout aid. The anti-austerity party Syriza is likely to come in second. The new elections became necessary after results from the vote on May 6 made the formation of a governing coalition impossible.
Despite the temporary market respite — following last week’s freefall on fears of a disorderly Greek exit from the euro zone — tempers remain on edge in Greece. And over the weekend, much of the ire of the country’s political elite was focused on IMF head Christine Lagarde.
In an interview published Friday in the British daily Guardian, Lagarde blasted Greeks for not paying their taxes. “As far as Athens is concerned,” she said, “I also think about all those people who are trying to escape tax all the time. All these people in Greece who are trying to escape tax.” Just to make sure her message was getting through, she added: “I think they should also help themselves collectively … by all paying their tax.”
Elsewhere in the interview, she said that she thinks more about children in the African country of Niger than she does about Greeks. “I think they need even more help than the people of Athens,” she said.
Germany Losing Patience
Reaction from Greece has been prompt and furious. “The last thing we need is sympathy from Ms. Lagarde,” said Alexis Tsipras, head of the leftist Syriza party. He added that the great majority of Greeks pay their taxes.
Giannis Michelakis, spokesman for the conservative New Democracy, said: “I don’t understand what she meant. It is as if one is blaming the patient after giving him the wrong medicine.” Evangelos Venizelos, head of the Socialist PASOK party called on Lagarde to reconsider exactly what her message was and to withdraw her comments.
Still, Lagarde isn’t the only leading official who appears to be losing patience withGreece. In a Saturday interview with the daily Leipziger Volkszeitung, German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich hinted at his country’s growing frustration. “We’re not willing to pour money into a bottomless pit,” he said after assuring the paper that Germany was happy to help Greece help itself. “Anyone who wants to see help and solidarity from us has to accept that we expect from that country a certain amount of seriousness and a certain amount of reasonableness.”
While Friedrich has long been a leading critic of Greece in Chancellor Angela Merkel‘s cabinet, the comments were likely an attempt to highlight to Greek voters just what is riding on the outcome of the June 17 vote. Tsipras, who looked recently as if he might emerge as the winner of the elections, has said he would like to abandon austerity, though he still wants to continue receiving assistance from the European Union bailout fund.’
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