Natwerk Designs

Can I be an architect if I think modern architecture is hideous? I cannot abide the modern style of architecture that is around at the moment, where the building look like a larger version of something a five year old would make. However, I adore more classic architecture, all stone or dark wood, with sweeping staircases and high ceilings and tall windows. I would love to one day be able to design houses like this, and bring back the style. Is this something that would hinder me in becoming/studying to be an architect? (Or could it help me, because I'm not into what seems to be the usual style?)

What is a good book with information about the architecture of houses? I am trying to find a good book that details the different styles of housing architecture and shows examples. I am trying to learn more about the architecture styles used in housing design (more so classic styles than modern). I am particularly interested in the arts and crafts style homes but would like to learn about a variety of styles. Does anyone know of a good book I could purchase for this? Thank you for any help you can give.

Discuss the impact the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright made on modern architecture? Discuss the impact the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright made on modern architecture. Use the examples such as the Robie House, the Francis Little House, and the Guggenheim Museum. What was Wright's approach to architectural space and design? What role did the architect play with respect to the patron? Did Wright's style evolve during the course of his career?

Poll: what do you guys like better a ultra modern house or traditional house? Just wanted to know what types of houses you are into its a poll Are you into more modern style like these examples: http://www.greatfu.com/architecture-design-home/contemporary-architecture-home-casa-gutierrez-by-pp-architects/ http://ideasforyourbedroom.com/photo%20of%20modern%20furniture/modern_1133_0.jpg Or are you more traditional like: http://www.ultimateplans.com/UploadedFiles/HomePlans/101035-PH.jpg http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumblarge_453/1258346262nGjRm3.jpg So which style do you like better, and why? thank u

What is the best site to see beautifully designed houses? I am interested in seeing some pictures of well designed houses online (like the ones featured in magazines and various coffee table books). I can't seem to find a good website that specializes in modern houses and architecture. Links would be very much appreciated.

what would it cost me to build a modern contemporary home? I am concerned whether to buy a house that has already been constructed or build one myself. I am intrested in modern/contemporary architecture and would love to design my own house. I am stuck between settling for a house that i wish i could have designed or at least had some say in.

Do architects make a lot of money? so i reallly want to be an architect and i was wondering if they make a lot of money today? i know that they used to make a lot but now a days do they still make alot? i would like to hear it from real architect.... anyhew... i was wondering because we have a friend who has a friend thats an architect and he cant find a job anywhere... (maybe hes a crappy architect) but i deffinatly would be designing modern houses/buildings etc. i love modern architecture like frank lloyd wright please help!! thanks!

What type of house is these? I am VERY interested in japanese style houses. I like it when they are extremely sleek, but also traditional. http://www.nhit-shis.org/wp-content/uploads/homedesign/2010/04/Margarido-House-01-Contemporary-House-Designs.jpg http://www.greatfa.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Modern-Architecture-of-Rural-Japanese-House.jpg (Also, how much do you say it would cost to make these in America?)

what kind of architecture is your house designed in? do you know what special kind of architectural style the building you are in right now was designed in? right now i think im in a modern international style building

What do you think of my dream house? What is your dream house? http://www.furniturestoreblog.com/2009/03/02/the_perfect_union_of_modern_furniture_interior_design_and_architecture.html I love modern style homes what do you mean you couldn't live that way? you can't live rich?

Where can I find free used magazines...? I am looking for anything related to architect, house designs, house plans, wood projects, home designing magazines or books. I can not afford subcriptions and I would love to take old to new magazines/books in good condition for my interest, but where can I find them? I tried posting on Craigslist, and no luck Some of the magazines that I am interested are: Architectural Digest Dwell Residential Architect Fine Homebuilding Custom Home Remodeling Interior Design Architecture Week Architecture House Beautiful This Old House Fine Woodworking I am also looking for any books including house plans, style of homes, modern buildings, styles of architecture and more. I also perfers bigger lots of magazines/books to make it worth the trip. I mean where can I find it, and take a lot of magazines, that will be mine to keep, not return the magazines to the libary or somewhere else...

Architecture student: I am designing a house for a musician and I need the narrative to fit the brief...? what feature would you include in a musicians house and what would you consider in terms of materials used...... I'm thinking of timber frame ......but not 2 sure if the claddding could be modern looking well the mother is a concert pianist, the father is a professional cellist and occasionally plays double bass. the son is 20 years old, at music college studying a on a jazz degree.and plays the guitar acoustic and electric but mainly electric also can play the keyboard and the daughter is 4 years old and has been playing the piano for 1 year now...being partly taught by her mother!

Anyone here know about architecture or engineering? We would like to add a second level onto our home as our family grows, but aren't sure if that is feasible. It is right around 1000 square feet on a block and beam foundation. I don't know how to describe the design other than it is a circular floor plan from the late 40's or early 50's By that I mean you walk into the living room, turn right into a hallway, down the hall, left into the kitchen, through that into the dining room, take a left from there back into the living room. Off the hallway is two bedrooms and one bath. There are windows near the outside corner of each room and I know we would need to get the whole place leveled before and renovations begin. Additional questions: Would we need an architect or structural engineer to draw up plans? Anyone know what style of architecture our house is? (possibly mid-century modern, but not quite sure) Would it be weird to put the staircase in one of the first floor bedrooms, have no door, open the ceiling up to the second floor and call it a library? Have you ever done any major renovation like this? Do you have any books about architecture, design or remodeling that you would like to recommend? Thank you for your help and ideas with this!

Does "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" apply to architecture? My dad has some serious taste problems. I'm an architecture student and I have my own taste in architecture. He's a civil engineer who designs houses and has his own. I prefer modern, futurist and art deco architecture, and I have my own idea of what looks good for me. He designs bland and simple houses - those that look "normal". The architecture equivalent of generic mainstream top 40 pop music. He says he likes his own designs. Still nothing wrong with that, because to each one his own favorites. I have this major design project for school. I designed a house whose style is futurist art deco. I put ornaments all over the blank spots of the house. I think my design looks good. He said my design is ugly and he kept insisting me to use simple stuff. I kept telling him that "normal is boring," and these are also words told to us by our professors. I told him that I find my design good-looking, my friends say it's good-looking, even my professor says it's good-looking. He tells me to REPEAT EVERYTHING AND USE SIMPLE STUFF. I think my design looks good, but my dad says it's not. I told him that it's all subjective, he says architecture style is NOT. The deadline is tomorrow, what do I do to convince him to let me use my own design?

Can anyone tell which country is good for immigration to live Australia or Canada ? Can some one advise out of the which country is best to live in Immigration Australia or Canada ???...Which country one is best in context of Free child education, Free health care, Good atmosphere & Good weather seasons conditions, Best Immigrants law for immigrants, Secure life future and Job prospects, Great Transportation systems, Great Infrastructure & Modern Architecture Building and Cities , Scope of growth also tell me Which country is good for IT jobs Australia or Canada ?... Which country has best economy Australia or Canada ?. Which country has best Houses design and low accommodation Australia or Canada ?. Which country has best good places, parks, shopping malls, traveling etc Australia or Canada ?. Please guide me and answers my question in detail i would be Great Thankful to him.

What are some blogs/magazines that showcase houses & gardens & buildings? I like looking at architecture and I'm looking for a blogs and/or magazines that feature nice houses and buildings. I'm not so much into modern architecture, but more European/urban townhouse/cute cottages style architecture. I'm not sure where I can find this type of thing though...help? I'm looking for exterior architecture, not interior design, and something that deals with small houses not huge mansions. Thank you :)

Can someone help me to convert this text into diary writing? I arrived at hill house, very vast front garden with a very modern architecture extremely welcoming at first view. At the reception the service was prompt and efficient very friendly to. Mrs Woods, the owner of the hotel was very helpful. The hotel service was very motivated in the satisfaction of the clients. I waited no more than a few minutes to get my room. I got escorted by Mrs woods who was telling me about the history of this hotel but also how the hotel worked what time breakfast was served for example and everything else that was helpful and that I needed to know. The room was spacious clean and bright, the beds where very comfortable. I found the bed fabric very soft. I took a look in the bathroom, very clean to, modern design and nice sized bathtub. Formidable view from the balcony. As for room service, at whatever time the wear always prompt and efficient. No time to get bored as much activities was on offer in the hotel, for all ages. After a good sleep and wonderful day of excitement and fun I woke up to a marvellous continental breakfast, with varieties of choices to choose from again the breakfast restaurant was sensationally vast lovely decoration. This hotel was perfectly organised to me. I was very pleased only thing would of rather missed on was leaving the hotel after breakfast. I shall defiantly go back soon. Well in formal diary form ...

What kind of plant life can I use for landscape in a beach house in Southern California? This isn't a real house... I am an majoring in architecture and I am currently working on a beach house project, in which I have to build a scale model.... My site is in San Diego, California... I plan on designing a house with a large backyard garden with palm trees and other trees and plants. My question is, what kind of trees and plants can I use in southern California, specifically plants that will be able to handle well in a beach environment? Keep in mind that it is a beach house, with direct access to the beach... I want to us a variety of bushes and trees that are big enough to create some privacy around the house since my site has a 6' public access walk right next to it...... I want plants that range from 1' tall to 8' tall....... I plan on using miniature palms trees scattered around the house as well... I specifically want to use mainly nice looking colorful bushes, and trees, and some nice exotic plants.... Nothing to rare, keep in mind that I need to find miniature models of these plants for my concept model. :) The main reason why I ask for your help is because I am trying to order miniature fake plastic scaled trees and plants for my concept model. I need specific species of plants, bushes, and trees in order to know what type of mini tree to order online.... I not looking for flowers and stuff like that, I prefer plants, bushes, and trees.... My house will be a light colored modern looking house, most likely white with irregular shapes, and high glass panel windows to take advantage of the Pacific Ocean view.... Im just adding that so you can visualize what Im trying to do, :) Thank you so much for your help in advance... I plan on transferring to a highly ranked architecture school, and I want this model to impress when I make a portfolio out of it.

I have a 1888 Italianate and Second empire building that I would like to turn into a house.? What Kind of home design should I look into ? I like the modern contemporary clean line design furnishing and style but still wanna keeps the elegant and the beauty of its old Victorian era architecture, what do you think I should do?

I don't know if i want to Major on Architecture or Int. Design ? Help !? Well im beginning my Junior Year in HighSchool and its gonna be the year where I have to decide what i want to major on for the rest of my whole long life, and im thinking about Architecture or Interior Design but i still dont actually know which would be better. I'm still thinking about both Int.Design and Architecture because i'm not that big of a scientist or a math geek and i know you have to know alot of math to go for the ones i want. But then again i also wonder if in the Universities they can maybe help you with your math knowledge and maybe you might end up being a good Architect/Int.Design. Well what im trying to say is that im scared, Truelly fully SCARED out of my mind. I really love making model homes, Ive made 2 model homes the past 2 years and the first one was OK but the second one was WOW, it looked modern and it was like an Eco-Friendly House, BUT the negative thing about this house was that i didn't do any measures, so the house had windows in different sides and it was just not measured correct. All this i hope to improve in my next 2 years of a highschool student ( measuring, organizing, etc) to become a more knowlegeable student. I am also really SCARED of not being able to get a Scholarship and end up paying all my College Tuition Costs and becoming in Debt for the rest of my life. Since i retained Algebra 1 for 2 years because i didnt pass my freshmen Year then i had to take it Sophmore year and Im currently Taking Geometry during Summer and its Ok, not that hard or Easy. And i hated Algebra 1 but Geometry is in a way exciting. And Since im not a straight "A" Student im like a "B" or a "C" student (Neutral) and do they still give out Scholarships to people like me that dont get Advanced Grades but Ok Grades ? Please explain anything i can do to ensure my choice of Majoring, and all the things i listed of being SCARED. Please i just want some Honest Answers from other people that also felt this way or was in the same shoes as me in the Past. Thanks Alot, I really Fully Appreciate Your Time.

Help building / designing a dream house.? I am beginning to put my dream of beginning to design/build my dream house. My ideal is to have a "castle" like architecture in a reasonable size of a 2 story house with a 3rd story level for stargazing... etc etc. I have taken drafting and design throughout middle school and high school on the good ol' T-squares, but I have yet to use AutoCAD. Should I buy a copy of it? Also, who makes "castle" like houses? I want to mix medieval with modern. Please help me get started on realizing my dreams =) On a side note, I do realize this does not happen over night. I do realize I have to go to an actual architect engineer and more processes to finalize my design, and other guidelines, but I am open to what else I have to do.

Anyone on here that can help with renovation ideas? We would like to add a second level onto our home as our family grows, but aren't sure if that is feasible. It is right around 1000 square feet on a block and beam foundation. I don't know how to describe the design other than it is a circular floor plan from the late 40's or early 50's By that I mean you walk into the living room, turn right into a hallway, down the hall, left into the kitchen, through that into the dining room, take a left from there back into the living room. Off the hallway is two bedrooms and one bath. There are windows near the outside corner of each room and I know we would need to get the whole place leveled before and renovations begin. Additional questions: Would we need an architect or structural engineer to draw up plans? Anyone know what style of architecture our house is? (possibly mid-century modern, but not quite sure) Would it be weird to put the staircase in one of the first floor bedrooms, have no door, open the ceiling up to the second floor and call it a library? Have you ever done any major renovation like this? Do you have any books about architecture, design or remodeling that you would like to recommend? Thank you for your help and ideas with this!

help with english writting? Which of the following sentences uses the active voice? A. Medieval architects developed new techniques to build cathedrals. B. Architecture was developed in the ancient world. C. The pyramids were designed by Egyptian architects. D. At first, modern architecture was rejected by many. E. Pre-fab houses were designed to make building cheap and easy.

National Historic Place Register...could my house be on it? ok so my house was originally built in 1825 and was supposedly a stop on the underground railroad. throughout its history, some noteable people and families have lived there (maybe not ntl. names, but def local for my city) it was also designed by a famous architect in my city in 1900, after it burned down. since then, the interior style has remained much the same, with some exeptions including the kitchen (modern appliances, style and the paint and architecture throughout the house, which isnt anywhere close to what the original color scheme would be. also, the exterior is painted an olive green, as opposed to the original white. do you think that it could possibly be added to the nhpr (dont know if thats even what its called but u kno what i mean right??) o ya and when it burned down in 1900 the walls still stayed in tact so the original 1825 walls are still there, they just changed the style and built a 2nd floor.... o yess and also the first governor of my state (unnamed for privacy reasons) most likely brought the gingko tree in our back yard over from china...and general lafayette (from rev. war) visited our house at one point

Does this sentence contain an ARGUMENT? 3. Some design shows fetishize houses and ignore the residents; others, like Extreme Makeover, are all about tear-jerking stories. But Architecture School, in which Tulane students build a home for Katrina victims, is a captivating look at how modern design works and the real lives it might change.

What is Culture taking Space into consideration? What would you say CULTURE is having in consideration SPACE, space in design form be it interior of an architecture, space around an architecture or even space made around a monument. For example how would you define Culture if you were in a Buddhist temple, at the Statue of Liberty (NYC), a beautiful old hotel in a modern big city like shanghai or an abandoned slaughter house that has been changed into a more beautiful achtitecture and serves for art lovers...

What are four good examples of buildings that would help in choosing a deisgn for a museum? You are a member of and advisory board who answers to a public figure; someone who is in control of, and makes decisions concerning the architectural development of the city where you reside. It has been established that there is a need for a new museum to house the historic art and artifacts of the city and surrounding region. You have been given the responsibility to begin the search for the appropriate architect as well as inform the said public figure of the reasons why a particular architect/architecture is suitable for the charge of the museum. Your research begins with understanding historical models for museums and similar institutions. In your paper you must select four examples that programmatically fit your idea of “museum” and explain why you have chosen these buildings (note that the chosen buildings do not necessarily need to be museums). You must then present your findings to the board for review. It is your responsibility to explain why these models are good precedents, and then you must explain why, even though these where suitable at the time, they may not be suitable now. Also, you must reference four contemporary museums that you feel are appropriate in order to foster a connective historical understanding of your choices to your audience: the board. Essentially, you will be selecting buildings that can perform as a museum “type.” You will explain the positive, and potentially negative, attributes of the building as an historic model. The selection of the contemporary – modern – buildings is to reinforce both positive and negative elements. Remember, in the end, you are not selecting a “building.” You are educating a group of people in order for them to make the appropriate decisions on hiring an architect. You will not suggest an architect. The ideas in your paper are general. You should use thoughts discussed in the lectures as well as your individual research. Remember that notions of program, formal design, materials, structure and contemporary ideas are all constituents that should be used in your paper. Any suggestions?

I don't know whether to be an Art teacher or Architect. Which one is right for me? I've been an artist since I was 4 years old. From doodling to cartoons to comics to still life and recently I'm really into painting. But at the side, I always felt bad that it was the only thing I'm good at. Everyone knew I was well of in art, but I felt like it wasn't enough to satisfy my parents. Not something to be extremely proud of. I've always had this guilt feeling like that. I've taken interest in Architecture because I've grown to have an interest in house layouts and modern building structures, and interior designs. I'm taking Architecture courses now in the summer, I found it interesting at first. It was challenging, and I liked thinking differently in a way where beauty lies in structures and functions, but as the course leads on, it's getting to the point where we're suppose to already know how to read such complex diagrams, and perform well in the next week. Maybe since it's a summer course, it's moving faster then I would like it to be, but still, I'm not sure whether I'm taking architecture for the right reasons. I'm not sure whether it's for the fancy career or if its a true passion. Art, I had a passion for, but seem to have lost it. I really want to get it back. I feel like would have to go through an art career or at least major to find it. I don't know if I want to be the designer a cafe restaurant or be one of the paintings in the cafe. What should I do?

Where can I find Architectural design plans for Taiwanese houses? I recently started going back to school part time, trying to finish my architecture degree, and when my professor found out that I lived in Taiwan he gave me an assignment to design a full set of design plans and 3D renderings for various angles of the buildings interior and exterior. Even though I live in Taiwan I never actually paid much attention to the design of the buildings around me. So I am hoping some one can tell me where I can find blue prints, models, floor plans, anything like this that would help me to complete my assignment. I am not looking for anything fancy like Taipei 101 or the gigantic fancy houses suburbs of Taipei (mostly because they are too complex), rather I am looking for something like the normal 3-5 story houses, or even the traditional Chinese or Fukien style country homes. Anything that represents the houses that you see in Taiwan. Here are a few examples of the types of buildings that I am talking about. These are houses in Tainan in the An'Ping ~ (http://community.webshots.com/photo/fullsize/2145677290078206077oNRbQB) This is a blinding of traditional and modern Taiwanese housing in Tainan County (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2165/2197244026_4a8be8a419.jpg) This a traditional style Taiwanese house I don't think that it is a Fujian style but still in the ball park~ (http://community.webshots.com/photo/fullsize/1220262605049765968GposVB) This a modern style house in Taipei ~ (http://www.culture.gov.tw/d_upload_tca_pro/cms/image/A0/B0/C0/D0/E0/F997/283d1bc3-0bd8-4507-b4cd-c056b596e5ef.jpg) This is a typical house in Taichung (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3458/3870620876_909f00ffd6_o.jpg) If anyone has any sort of useful information about this your help will be very appreciated. Thank you

I want to be an architect when I reach working age. Any pointers? Okay. So I'm an eighth grader, only a few months from transitioning into ninth grade, or the start of high school. All of this stuff about preparing for our lives has gotten me deeply interested in my future. It's still a fluctuating opinion, but I have decided to pursue a career in the field of architecture. I'm very interested designing things (not like clothes, and decorations, but houses). I also would like a part-time job as an author. I've been told I was gifted with writing on several occasions. I know I would enjoy this occupation. So, I have some other questions about the subject too. What would be a great architecture school? I wish to attend a school like Harvard. I know they have an architecture program (Harvard School of Design). But any other options would be greatly accepted. How much money does an architect make on average? The U. S. average, because I'm unsure about my residence in the future. If you are an architect, do you complete your jobs daily necessities, loving every moment of it? What are your opinions of the field of architecture? Do you find it interesting? I've always found modern architectural design intriguing, and architecture of the ancient world extremely fascinating. The only freshman classes remotely related to architecture are Computer Aided Design (they make the blue prints), Art 1, and Construction Core (plumbing, building, etc.). I'm aiming at taking Computer Aided Design and art, but would you recommend I take Construction Core? I'm almost for sure I wouldn't be interested in most of the things in the class. Definitely not plumbing... Any answers will be happily accepted. Thanks!

What group would I be? Is there even a label for people like me? Someone was asking me earlier what social group I am a part of, and I couldn't answer them, maybe you guys can help me out. I dress like a jock, and go to the gym all the time, but I don't care at all for sports. I can and will debate Philosophy for hours on end. I can easily discuss things like science, psychology, biology, etc with nerds and geeks. I don't really have much artistic talent myself, but many of my friends are Anime artists, and we talk about anime all the time. Although I am friends with all sorts of people, from the nerds, hipsters, and furries to jocks and preps, to rockers, stoners, and ghetto gang members. My tastes in music Range from Bach and Beethoven to The Beatles and the B-52's from B.B. King and the Black-eyed Peas to Beyonce and Bjork. I am a very zen minded Secular Buddhist, and I meditate daily. I am rather stoic about everything and have not been depressed in several years. I simply let things happen without getting emotionally attached. I am gay but not at all flamboyant about it, my sexuality means little to me, though sex is great. My Three passions are Philosophy, Altruism, and Architecture. I plan to go into the field of Sustainable Architecture, but not to design silly modern style "shiny metal cube" houses, but buildings that have their design roots in ancient and medieval forms of architecture. My self-determined purpose in life is to use my talents and abilities to help better the lives of as many people as I possibly can. I have no desire to be some vow-of-poverty saint, and I have every intention to become very wealthy. I cant really find a group that I fit into. Is it that I simply don't know the name, or am I so much of an outlier that I am one of the few people that are Uncategorizable?

ENGLISH teacher...HELPPPP? what that means "or so" in the following article?!! Modernist architecture was not only used for upscal things like museums and privite homes,it was also the architecture of factories and low income apartment housing. In fact,the architects themselves preferred to design with the working community in mind. To them,their modern design was to be the answer to a social crsis, or so the founders of the International Style believed. Thanks for help

Can the rooms in a house be of different styles? I'm doing a project for school that involves designing the floor plan of a mansion and doing interior design for the newly designed mansion. However, I'm wondering if the various rooms in the mansion can be of different styles. I'm working in the postmodernist style for the architecture. The mansion itself has a Baroque front with a more modern-style back (lots and lots of windows). For the master bedroom, I want the furniture to be Baroque. For the living room, I want it to be contemporary. So is it okay that the rooms in the mansion are based on different styles or does all the furniture design have to be Baroque-style or contemporary-styled, etc?

Where can I find Architectural plans for Taiwanese houses? I recently started going back to school part time, trying to finish my architecture degree, and when my professor found out that I lived in Taiwan he gave me an assignment to design a full set of design plans and 3D renderings for various angles of the buildings interior and exterior. Even though I live in Taiwan I never actually paid much attention to the design of the buildings around me. So I am hoping some one can tell me where I can find blue prints, models, floor plans, anything like this that would help me to complete my assignment. I am not looking for anything fancy like Taipei 101 or the gigantic fancy houses suburbs of Taipei (mostly because they are too complex), rather I am looking for something like the normal 3-5 story houses, or even the traditional Chinese or Fukien style country homes. Anything that represents the houses that you see in Taiwan. Here are a few examples of the types of buildings that I am talking about. These are houses in Tainan in the An'Ping ~ (http://community.webshots.com/photo/full… This is a blinding of traditional and modern Taiwanese housing in Tainan County (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2165/2197… This a traditional style Taiwanese house I don't think that it is a Fujian style but still in the ball park~ (http://community.webshots.com/photo/full… This a modern style house in Taipei ~ (http://www.culture.gov.tw/d_upload_tca_p… This is a typical house in Taichung (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3458/3870… If anyone has any sort of useful information about this your help will be very appreciated.

ECO FRIENDLY HOUSING INVENTION, is it any good? worthy of investment? I had an idea for a new kind of eco friendly Architecture, that generates electricity through the movment of the envirnment and temperature changes by using a HYDROLIC DYNAMO on the end of a steel cable, its an idea that may sound crazy at first, but please bare with me, I call it PRESSURE TENSION ARCHITECTURE, it basically involves two elements to build an entire house, esp. good for fast emergency housing, ..... 'INFLATABLE CLEAR PRESSURE BRICKS' with holes down the center of the them are threaded onto 'TENSION CABLE'' (steel cable) ,,, threaded like beads on a necklace, and pulled tight to create a solid wall, very solid created through pressure of bricks and tension of cable... any shapes of wall or house could be made, the technological advances mean modern strong materials are available to make such Architecture feasible, but any old materials could be recycled and used,,old plastic bags could be melted down to make the infltabale bricks,,and or string or old wire could be used as tension cable,,or modern new materials, but essentially cheap fast eco friendly housing, air tight, water tight, warm, lets in light, adaptable, extendable, inflatable, deflatable, weather resistant, earth quake resistant due to pressure tension structure, tsunami resistant, tornadoe resistant, as any lost pieces can easily be put back together... EVERY MOVEMENT GENERATES ENERGY Eventually eco skyscrapers could be made real fast, i have all the designs for this, superfast bridges accross water, oceans ice, easy build,,,etc etc..... Even emergency bridges i.e. superfast inflation bricks, like car air bags could be attached to steel cable that is shot from one side of the water to the other, and the car air bags instantly inflate, creating an instant emergency bridge, superstrong superfast..... Source(s): REF; Uni studies, environment documentarys, science books . I'm an inventor, I come up with about 2 new inventions per week, I have a surplus of inventions, i just give away the ones that help people, and the not so good inventions,,,, I have also invented a room temp superconducting wire, and built prototype and patented,and anti grav but all need funding, did have a promise of funding but investor broke promise, and stole invention for the sake of money over saving the environment,, but i don't care about the money, but would be nice to get some funding so i can build prototypes of inventions...

what do you think of this? I am trying to write a paper on the importance of greek architecture, and one of my supports is the desgin we adopted from the greeks, however I cant think of anymore than this... help? The modern world has adopted the Greeks perfect and classical design for many of today’s buildings; such as the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, Olympia’s capital, many large libraries and court houses, and much more. Classical design has allowed the society to have more angelic buildings. It has also permitted buildings and other structures to have more character, which is important because

eco friendly invention? ECO FRIENDLY HOUSING INVENTION, is it any good? worthy of investment? I had an idea for a new kind of eco friendly Architecture, that generates electricity through the movment of the envirnment and temperature changes by using a HYDROLIC DYNAMO on the end of a steel cable, its an idea that may sound crazy at first, but please bare with me, I call it PRESSURE TENSION ARCHITECTURE, it basically involves two elements to build an entire house, esp. good for fast emergency housing, ..... 'INFLATABLE CLEAR PRESSURE BRICKS' with holes down the center of the them are threaded onto 'TENSION CABLE'' (steel cable) ,,, threaded like beads on a necklace, and pulled tight to create a solid wall, very solid created through pressure of bricks and tension of cable... any shapes of wall or house could be made, the technological advances mean modern strong materials are available to make such Architecture feasible, but any old materials could be recycled and used,,old plastic bags could be melted down to make the infltabale bricks,,and or string or old wire could be used as tension cable,,or modern new materials, but essentially cheap fast eco friendly housing, air tight, water tight, warm, lets in light, adaptable, extendable, inflatable, deflatable, weather resistant, earth quake resistant due to pressure tension structure, tsunami resistant, tornadoe resistant, as any lost pieces can easily be put back together... EVERY MOVEMENT GENERATES ENERGY Eventually eco skyscrapers could be made real fast, i have all the designs for this, superfast bridges accross water, oceans ice, easy build,,,etc etc..... Even emergency bridges i.e. superfast inflation bricks, like car air bags could be attached to steel cable that is shot from one side of the water to the other, and the car air bags instantly inflate, creating an instant emergency bridge, superstrong superfast..... Source(s): REF; Uni studies, environment documentarys, science books I have patents on other inventions, the reason why i didn't patent this one, is because its a gift to everyone who needs emergency housing....... Yes i could make someone very rich with my inventions, but would rather save lives and the planets environment than save money

I would like to design and build my home. What kind of income would this entail? Ever since I've taken an interest in residential architecture, I've been picky about home designs, and figured the best way to go would be to have a self-designed home somewhere in my future time line. I'm thinking of a dome house of sorts: Eco-friendly and off-beat. As well as trying to implement technologies such as radiant floor heating, photovoltaic arrays (solar panels), and a centralized computer automation/energy management/home theatre system. Pretty much just an elegant, modern, unique home implementing energy-saving and money-saving ideas. What kind of income and payment would self-built homes entail? Considering I'm going into engineering, would a $70-100k salary allow me to pursue this dream? Would a significant portion of the home value need to already be saved ahead of time? You don't have to answer all of these, just whatever you feel you know. Ah, location. Certainly not California. I was thinking: >In the plains outside Chicago >The mountains in Colorado >Texas because i lake a more arid climate >Stay with my German roots and my family and keep to the Midwest.

Under Floor heating system; do you have experience installing / finding an expert on the korean system? I am considering installing a heating system while designing a new house with some greener & cost efficient building materials. And I'm gathering info on people with some knowledge here before goggling on until my but is tired. Any help is dearly appreciated. Wikipedia... An Ondol, also called Gudeul, in Korean traditional architecture, is underfloor heating which utilizes direct heat transfer from wood smoke to the underside of a thick masonry floor. In modern usage it refers to any type of underfloor heating, or a hotel or sleeping room in Korean (as opposed to Western) style. Where I live, it is common for most households to have a small mettal chomeney to cook and heat the house; and the suply of lumber / as fuel is plenty, so it souds viable to adapt the traditional korean system... Where I live, it is common for most households to have a small metal chimeney to cook and heat the house; and the suply of lumber / as fuel is plenty, so it feels viable to adapt the traditional korean system...

Can you correct this essay? THE ARCHITECTURE IN THE CITIES _Introduction: Throughout the time the cities are evolving, grow. This growth generates many changes. It is looked that the cities are focus of attraction, places that all the people are interested in it, to benefit from the tourism. For it be necessary to invest in the cities, not only restoring and supporting his own monuments but it generate others more modern than they to attract to all kinds of public. Events and exhibitions are created they need a place to be housed and is there where emerging "architectures author". Tha fact is interesting to create a a theater,a museum, but to create a museum that also houses exhibitions, in itself is an exhibitions, is more interesting still. Architects like Norman Foster, Peter Einsenman,Oscar Niemeyer contributed to this phenomenon. Some of these singular buildings that have the capacity to regenerate the degradated areas of the city. This singular buildings use to be museums, exhibition halls...That are made to be used and enjoyed by the people.These buildings are an attraction in themselves so people are not only interested in the exhibitions but also in these singular buildings.These buildings are designed by famous architects so they become in interesting places of the city and milestone. When these buildings turn into the opposite they don´t generate city, it means they become isolated forms that don´t have relationship with the rest of the urban desings. We have choosed this matter because we think it is very interesting not only in the point of view of architectur but also in a social point of view. So now we are going to talk about some examples of the matter we have exposed previously . _Examples: Expo Sevilla 92: Expo'92 was organized to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus (1492-1992).Placed in the island of La Cartuja.His duration was 6 months. Many architects designed the pavillion that they were representing to the different countries, nevertheless they not all have survived. The celebration of the event transformed the tonw planing, built new roads new highways and ring roads, a new central train station and expanded the airport, was a boost for Sevilla. The implementation in a record period of two years with the addiction of nearly 25000 tree speciments , this proyect became a reference for future exhibitions and its influence on the developmen of new tonws and neighborhoods still exists despite the deterioration and desappearance of many of the proyected spaces. Although he supposed a big impulse for the city, they did not take advantage of the created pavillions. Only some spaces were used, staying the rest in desuetude and left. The problem is that they are big containers to which it is difficult to give them a use. They don´t generate city, because to the being so many pavilions isolate themselves in if same, to the being so many square meters. I need it for tomorrow. Obviously English is not my mother language. I'll give you 5 stars!! Thanks!!

Why won't my boyfriend belive me? I am a college junior studying architecture. Since it is my major, I happen to know more than the average Joe about modern architects, namely Frank Lloyd Wright. However, my boyfriend doesn't believe a word I say about the subject. I have been patiently trying to explain that in 1712, when Wright was a young man, he traveled with the Russians to Alaska where he came across their peculiar and inefficient mud housing. Noticing their plight, he set about designing better structures, and thus the igloo was born. No amount of coaxing can convince my boyfriend of this, however, and I'm getting tired of trying to explain it. Does anyone have any idea why he doesn't believe me??

Can I be an architect if I think modern architecture is hideous? I cannot abide the modern style of architecture that is around at the moment, where the building look like a larger version of something a five year old would make. However, I adore more classic architecture, all stone or dark wood, with sweeping staircases and high ceilings and tall windows. I would love to one day be able to design houses like this, and bring back the style. Is this something that would hinder me in becoming/studying to be an architect? (Or could it help me, because I'm not into what seems to be the usual style?)

Where can I find free used magazines...? I am looking for anything related to architect, house designs, house plans, wood projects, home designing magazines or books. I can not afford subcriptions and I would love to take old to new magazines/books in good condition for my interest, but where can I find them? I tried posting on Craigslist, and no luck Some of the magazines that I am interested are: Architectural Digest Dwell Residential Architect Fine Homebuilding Custom Home Remodeling Interior Design Architecture Week Architecture House Beautiful This Old House Fine Woodworking I am also looking for any books including house plans, style of homes, modern buildings, styles of architecture and more. I also perfers bigger lots of magazines/books to make it worth the trip.

Can someone help me to convert this text into diary writing? I arrived at hill house, very vast front garden with a very modern architecture extremely welcoming at first view. At the reception the service was prompt and efficient very friendly to. Mrs Woods, the owner of the hotel was very helpful. The hotel service was very motivated in the satisfaction of the clients. I waited no more than a few minutes to get my room. I got escorted by Mrs woods who was telling me about the history of this hotel but also how the hotel worked what time breakfast was served for example and everything else that was helpful and that I needed to know. The room was spacious clean and bright, the beds where very comfortable. I found the bed fabric very soft. I took a look in the bathroom, very clean to, modern design and nice sized bathtub. Formidable view from the balcony. As for room service, at whatever time the wear always prompt and efficient. No time to get bored as much activities was on offer in the hotel, for all ages. After a good sleep and wonderful day of excitement and fun I woke up to a marvellous continental breakfast, with varieties of choices to choose from again the breakfast restaurant was sensationally vast lovely decoration. This hotel was perfectly organised to me. I was very pleased only thing would of rather missed on was leaving the hotel after breakfast. I shall defiantly go back soon.

Under Floor heating system; do you have experience installing / finding an expert on the korean system? I am considering installing a heating system while designing a new house with some greener & cost efficient building materials. And I'm gathering info on people with some knowledge here before goggling on until my but is tired. Any help is dearly appreciated. Wikipedia... An Ondol, also called Gudeul, in Korean traditional architecture, is underfloor heating which utilizes direct heat transfer from wood smoke to the underside of a thick masonry floor. In modern usage it refers to any type of underfloor heating, or a hotel or sleeping room in Korean (as opposed to Western) style.

Who would like to check some of these out? Advertisement 21 candidates for new Wonders of World list 18/11/2006 7:39:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Printer-friendly page GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) - Here are descriptions of the 21 candidates in the "New 7 Wonders of the World" competition. The public may vote at www.new7wonders.com. Acropolis, Greece: A million people come here each year to see the marble temples - including the ruins of the columned Parthenon - and statues of Greek gods and goddesses dating from the fifth century BC. Alhambra, Spain: The palace and citadel, perched above Granada, was the residence of the Moorish caliphs who governed southern Spain in splendour until 1492, when the city was conquered by the Christian forces of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, ending 800 years of Muslim rule. Stunning features include mosaics, arabesques and mocarabe, or honeycomb work. Angkor, Cambodia: The archeological site in Siem Reap was the capital of the Khmer (Cambodian) empire from the ninth to 15th centuries. It served as administrative centre and place of worship for a prosperous kingdom that stretched from Vietnam to China and the Bay of Bengal. The 12th-century ruins include Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. Christ Redeemer Statue, Brazil: The 38-metre statue of Christ the Redeemer with outstretched arms overlooks Rio de Janeiro from atop Mount Corcovado. The statue was built in pieces in France starting in 1926, and shipped to Brazil. A railway carried it up the 714-metre mountain for the 1931 inauguration. Colosseum, Italy: The 50,000-seat amphitheatre in Rome was inaugurated in AD 80. Thousands of gladiators duelled to the death here, and Christians were fed to the lions. The arena has influenced the design of modern stadiums. Easter Island, Chile: Hundreds of massive stone busts, or Moais, are all that remains from the prehistoric Rapanui culture that crafted them between 400 and 1,000 years ago to represent deceased ancestors. Some statues are over 20 metres tall. They gaze out on the south Pacific Ocean more than 1,600 kilometres off the Chilean mainland. Eiffel Tower, France: The 300-metre tower, built in 1889 for the International Exposition, symbolizes Paris. Made almost entirely of open-lattice wrought iron and erected in only two years with a small labour force, the tower - Paris's tallest structure - demonstrated advances in construction techniques, but some initially criticized it as unesthetic. Great Wall of China: The 6,700 kilometre barricade running from east to west is the world's longest manmade structure. The fortification was built to protect various dynasties from invasion by Huns, Mongols, Turks and other nomadic tribes. Construction took place over hundreds of years, beginning in the seventh century BC. Hagia Sophia, Turkey: The soaring cathedral, also called the Church of Holy Wisdom, was built in 537 BC at Constantinople, today's Istanbul. In 1453, when Constantinople fell to the Ottomans, it became a mosque with minarets. When Turkish President Kemal Ataturk turned it into a museum in 1935, Christian mosaics covered up by the Muslims were revealed. Kiyomizu Temple, Japan: Kyoto's Kiyomizu-dera, which means Clear Water Temple, was founded by a Buddhist sect in 798 and rebuilt in 1633 after a fire. Drinking from its three-stream waterfall is believed to confer health, longevity and success. Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral, Russia: Onion domes with golden cupolas surrounded by red brick walls are at the heart of Moscow's Kremlin, a medieval fortress converted into the centre of Russian government. The Kremlin once symbolized Soviet communism. The Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed on adjacent Red Square features nine towers of different colours. It was built by Czar Ivan the Terrible in the mid-16th century. Machu Picchu, Peru: Built by the Incan Empire in the 15th century, Machu Picchu's walls, palaces, temples and dwellings are perched in the clouds at 2,400 metres above sea level in the Andes overlooking a lush valley 500 kilometres from Lima. Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany: The inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland, Neuschwanstein is a creation of "Mad King" Ludwig II of Bavaria, who had it built in the 19th century to indulge his romantic fancies. Perched on a peak in the Bavarian Alps, the grey granite castle rises to towers, turrets and pinnacles and contains many paintings with scenes from Richard Wagner operas admired by Ludwig. Petra, Jordan: This ancient city in southwestern Jordan, built on a terrace around the Wadi Musa or Valley of Moses, was the capital of the Arab kingdom of the Nabateans, a centre of caravan trade, and continued to flourish under Roman rule after the Nabateans' defeat in AD 106. The city is famous for water tunnels and stone structures carved in the rock, including Ad-Dayr, "the Monastery," an uncompleted tomb facade that served as a church during Byzantine times. Pyramid at Chichen Itza, Mexico: This step pyramid surmounted by a temple was part of a sacred site in an important Mayan centre on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. It is built according to the solar calendar. Shadows at the fall and spring equinoxes are said to look like a snake crawling down the steps, similar to the carved serpent at the top. An older pyramid inside features a jade-studded, red jaguar throne. Pyramids of Giza, Egypt: The only surviving structures of the original seven wonders, the three pyramids were built as tombs for pharaohs 4,500 years ago. Nearby is the Great Sphinx statue, with a man's face and a lion's body. Statue of Liberty, New York: The 93-metre statue in New York Harbor has welcomed immigrants and symbolized freedom since 1886, when it was dedicated as a gift of the French government. Stonehenge, Britain: How and why this circular monument of massive rocks was created between 3,000 and 1,600 BC is unknown, but some experts say the stones were aligned as part of a sun-worshipping culture or astronomical calendar. Today it is a major tourist attraction. Druids and New Age followers gather here every June 21 to celebrate summer solstice. Sydney Opera House, Australia: Situated on Bennelong Point reaching into Sydney's harbour, the opera house was designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzon and opened in 1973 by Queen Elizabeth. Its roof resembles a ship in full sail and is covered by over one million white tiles. The building has 1,000 rooms. Taj Mahal, India: The white marble-domed mausoleum in Agra was built by a 17th-century Mogul emperor for his favourite wife, who died in childbirth. The architecture combines Indian, Persian and Islamic styles. The complex houses the graves of the emperor, his wife, and other royalty. Timbuktu, Mali: Two of West Africa's oldest mosques, the Djingareyber, or Great Mosque, and the Sankore mosque built during the 14th and early 15th centuries, can still be seen here in the northern Sahara Desert. Founded about AD 1,100, Timbuktu was a flourishing caravan centre in the Arabic world and a leading spiritual and intellectual centre in the 15th and 16th centuries, with one of the world's first universities. It is a bit long... My appologies, but there are some interesting sights. P.S. I got the info off MSN.

How many of you can't read this? The Unthinkable Thought "Jesus said, 'It is to those who are worthy of my Mysteries that I tell my Mysteries.'" The Gospel of Thomas On the site where the Vatican now stands there once stood a Pagan temple. Here Pagan priests observed sacred ceremonies which early Christians found so disturbing that they tried to erase all evidence of them ever having been practised. What were these shocking Pagan rites? Gruesome sacrifices or obscene orgies perhaps. This is what we have been led to believe. But the truth is far stranger than this fiction. Where today the gathered faithful revere their Lord Jesus Christ, the ancients worshipped another godman who, like Jesus, had been miraculously born on 25 December before three shepherds. In this ancient sanctuary Pagan congregations once glorified a Pagan redeemer who, like lesus, was said to have ascended to heaven and to have promised to come again at the end of time to judge the quick and the dead. On the same spot where the Pope celebrates the Catholic mass, Pagan priests also celebrated a symbolic meal of bread and wine in memory of their saviour who, just like Tesus, had declared: "He who will not eat of my body and drink of my blood, so that he will be made one with me and I with him, the same shall not know salvation." When we began to uncover such extraordinary similarities between the story of Jesus and Pagan myth we were stunned. We had been brought up in a culture which portrays Paganism and Christianity as entirely antagonistic religious perspectives. How could such astonishing resemblances be explained? We were intrigued and began to search further. The more we looked, the more resemblances we found. To account for the wealth of evidence we were unearthing we felt compelled to completely review our understanding of the relationship between Paganism and Christianity, to question beliefs that we previously regarded as unquestionable and to imagine possibilities which at first seemed impossible. Some readers will find our conclusions shocking and others heretical, but for us they are merely the simplest and most obvious way of accounting for the evidence we have amassed. We have become convinced that the story of Jesus is not the biography of an historical Messiah, but a myth based on perennial Pagan stories. Christianity was not a new and unique revelation but actually a Jewish adaptation of the ancient Pagan Mystery religion. This is what we have called 'the Jesus Mysteries Thesis.' It may sound farfetched at first, just as it did initially to us. There is, after all, a great deal of unsubstantiated nonsense written about the 'real' Jesus, so any revolutionary theory should be approached with a healthy dose of scepticism. But although this book makes extraordinary claims, it is not just entertaining fantasy or sensational speculation. It is firmly based upon the available historical sources and the latest scholarly research. Whilst we hope to have made it accessible to the general reader, we have also included copious notes giving sources, references and greater detail for those who wish to analyse our arguments more thoroughly. Although still radical and challenging today, many of the ideas we explore are actually far from new. As long ago as the Renaissance, mystics and scholars saw the origins of christianity in the ancient Egyptian religion. Visionary scholars at the turn of the nineteenth century also made com-paxable conjectures to our own. In recent decades, modern academics have repeatedly pointed towards the possibilities we consider. Yet few have dared to boldly state the obvious conclusions which we have drawn. Why? Because to do so is taboo. For 2,000 years the West has been dominated by the idea that Christianity is sacred and unique, whilst Paganism is primitive and the work of the Devil. To even consider that they could be parts of the same tradition has been simply unthinkable. Therefore, although the true origins of Christianity have been obvious all along, few have been able to see them, because to do so requires a radical break with the conditioning of our culture. Our contribution has been to dare to think the unthinkable and to present our conclusions in a popular book rather than some dry academic tome. This is certainly not the last word on this complex subject, but we hope it may be a significant call for a complete reappraisal of the origins of Christianity. THE PAGAN MYSTERIES In Greek tragedies the chorus reveals the fate of the protagonists before the play begins. Sometimes it is easier to understand the journey if one is already aware of the destination and the terrain to be covered. Before diving deeper into detail, therefore, we would like to retrace our process of discovery and so provide a brief overview of the book. We had shared an obsession with world mysticism all our lives which recently had led us to explore spirituality in the ancient world. Popular understanding inevtitably lags a long way behind the cutting edge of scholarly research and, like most people, we initially had an inaccurate and out-dated view of Paganism. We had been taught to imagine a primitive superstition which indulged in idol worship and bloody sacrifice, and dry philosophers wearing togas stumbling blindly towards what we today call 'science.' We were familiar with various Greek myths which showed the partisan and capricious nature of the Olympian gods and goddesses. All in all, Paganism seemed primitive and fundamentally alien. After many years of study, however, our understanding has been transformed. Pagan spirituality was actually the sophisticated product of a highly developed culture. The state religions, such as the Greek worship of the Olympian gods, were little more than outer pomp and ceremony. The real spirituality of the people expressed itself through the vibrant and mystical 'Mystery religions.' At first underground and heretical movements, these Mysteries spread and flourished throughout the ancient Mediterranean, inspiring the greatest minds of the Pagan world, who regarded them as the very source of civilization. Each Mystery tradition had exoteric Outer Mysteries, consisting of myths which were common knowledge and rituals which were open to anyone who wanted to participate. There were also esoteric Inner Mysteries, which were a sacred secret only known to those who had undergone a powerful process of initiation. Initiates of the Inner Mysteries had the mystical meaning of the rituals and myths of the Outer Mysteries revealed to them, a process which brought about personal transformation and spiritual enlightenment. The philosophers of the ancient world were the spiritual masters of the Inner Mysteries. They were mystics and miracle-workers, more comparable to Hindu gurus than dusty academics. The great Greek philosopher Pythagoras, for example, is remembered today for his mathematical theorem, but few people picture him as he actually was a flamboyant sage who was believed to be able to miraculously still the winds and raise the dead. At the heart of the Mysteries were myths concerning a dying and resurrecting godman, who was known by many different names. In Egyp he was Osiris, in Greece Dionysus, in Asia Minor Attis, in Syria Adonis, in Italy Bacchus, in Persia Mithras. Fundamentally all these godmen are the same mythical being. As was the practice from as early as the third century BCE, in this book we will use the combined name "Osiris-Dionysus" to denote his universal and composite nature, and his particular names when referring to a specific Mystery tradition. From the fifth century BCE philosophers such as Xenophanes and Empedocles had ridiculed taking the stories of the gods and goddesses literally. They viewed them as allegories of human spiritual experience. The myths of Osiris-Dionysus should not be understood as just intriguing tales, therefore, but as a symbolic language which encodes the mystical teachings of the Inner Mysteries. Because of this, although the details were developed and adapted over time by different cultures, the myth of Osiris-Dionysus has remained essentially the same. The various myths of the different godmen of the Mysteries share what the great mythologist Joseph Campbell called 'the same anatomy', just as every human is physically unique yet it is possible to talk of the general anatomy of the human body, so with these different myths it is possible to see both their uniqueness and fundamental sameness. A helpful comparison may be the relationship between Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Bernstein's West Side Story. One is a sixteenth-century English tragedy about wealthy Italian families, whilst the other is a twentieth-century American musical about street gangs. On the face of it they look very different, yet they are essentially the same story. Similarly, the tales told about the godmen of the Pagan Mysteries are essentially the same, although they take different forms. The more we studied the various versions of the myth of Osiris-Dionysus, the more it became obvious that the story of Jesus had all the characteristics of this perennial tale. Event by event, we found we were able to construct Jesus' supposed biography from mythic motifs previousl3 relating to Osiris-Dionysus: - Osiris-Dionysus is God made flesh, the saviour and 'Son of God'. - His father is God and his mother is a mortal virgin. - He is born in a cave or humble cowshed on 25 December before three shepherds. - He offers his followers the chance to be born again through the rites ot baptism. - He miraculously turns water into wine at a marriage ceremony. - He rides triumphantly into town on a donkey while people wave palm leaves to honour him. - He dies at Eastertime as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. - After his death he descends to hell, then on the third day he rises from the dead and ascends to heaven in glory. - His followers await his return as the judge during the Last Days. - His death and resurrection are celebrated by a ritual meal of bread and wine which symbolize his body and blood. These are just some of the motifs shared between the tales of Osiris-Dionysus and the 'biography' of Jesus. Why are these remarkable similarities not common knowledge? Because, as we were to discover later, the early Roman Church did everything in its power to prevent us perceiving them. It systematically destroyed Pagan sacred literature in a brutal programme of eradicating the Mysteries -- a task it performed so completely that today Paganism is regarded as a 'dead' religion. Although surprising to us now, to writers of the first few centuries CE these similarities between the new Christian religion and the ancient Mysteries were extremely obvious. Pagan critics of Christianity, such as the satirist Celsus, complained that this recent religion was nothing more than a pale reflection of their own ancient teachings. Early 'Church fathers,' such as Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Irenaeus, were understandably disturbed and resorted to the desperate claim that these similarities were the result of 'diabolical mimicry.' Using one of the most absurd arguments ever advanced, they accused the Devil of 'plagiarism by anticipation,' of deviously copying the true story of Jesus before it had actually happened in an attempt to mislead the gullible! These Church fathers struck us as no less devious than the Devil they hoped to incriminate. Other Christian commentators have claimed that the myths of the Mysteries were like pre-echoes of the literal coming of Jesus, somewhat like premonitions or prophecies. This is a more generous version of the'diabolical mimicry' theory, but seemed no less ridiculous to us. There was nothing other than cultural prejudice to make us see the Jesus story as the literal culmination of its many mythical precursors. Viewed impartially, it appeared to be just another version of the same basic story. The obvious explanation is that as early Christianity became the dominant power in the previously Pagan world, popular motifs from Pagan mythology became grafted onto the biography of Jesus. This is a possibility that is even put forward by many Christian theologians. The virgin birth, for example, is often regarded as an extraneous later addition that should not be understood literally. Such motifs were 'borrowed' from Paganism in the same way that Pagan festivals were adopted as Christian saints' days. This theory is common amongst those who go looking for the 'real' Jesus hidden under the weight of accumulated mythological debris. Attractive as it appears at first, to us this explanarion seemed inadequate.We had collated such a comprehensive body of similarities that there remained hardly any significant elements in the biography of Jesus that we did not find prefigured by the Mysteries. On top of this, we discovered that even Jesus' teachings were not original, but had been anticipated by the Pagan sages! If there was a 'real' Jesus somewhere underneath all this, we would have to acknowledge that we could know absolutely nothing about him, for all that remained for us was later Pagan accretions! Such a position seemed absurd. Surely there was a more elegant solution to this conundrum. THE GNOSTICS Whilst we were puzzling over these discoveries, we began to question the received picture of the early Church and have a look at the evidence for ourselves. We discovered that far from being the united congregation of saints and martyrs that traditiona! history would have us believe, the early Christian community was actually made up of a whole spectrum of different groups. These can be broadly categorized into two different schools. On the one hand there were those we will call 'Literalists', because what defines them is that they take the Jesus story as a literal account of historical events. It was this school of Christianity that was adopted by the Roman Empire in the fourth century CE, becoming Roman Catholicism and all its subsequent offshoots. On the other hand, however, there were also radically diffejent Christians known as 'Gnostics.' These forgotten Christians were later persecuted out of existence by the Literalist Roman Church with such thoroughness that until recently we knew little about them except through the writings of their detractors. Only a handful of original Gnostic texts survived, none of which were published before the nineteenth century. This situation changed dramatically, however, with a remarkable discovery in 1945 when an Arab peasant stumbled upon a whole library of Gnostic gospels hidden in a cave near Nag Hammadi in Egypt. This gave scholars access to many texts which were in wide circulation amongst early Christians, but which were deliberately excluded from the canon of the New Testament -- gospels attributed to Thomas and Philip, texts recording the acts of Peter and the 12 disciples, apocalypses attributed to Paul and James, and so on. It seemed to us extraordinary that a whole library of early Christian documents could be discovered, containing what purport to be the teachings of Christ and his disciples, and yet so few modem followers of Jesus should even know of their existence. Why hasn't every Christian rushed out to read these newly discovered words of the Master? What keeps them confined to the small number of gospels selected for inclusion in the New Testament? It seems that even though 2,000 years have passed since the Gnostics were purged, during which time the Roman Church has split into Protestantism and thousands of other alternative groups, the Gnostics are still not regarded as a legitimate voice of Christianity. Those who do explore the Gnostic gospels discover a form of Christianity quite alien to the religion with which they are familiar. We found ourselves studying strange esoteric tracts with titles such as Hypostasis of the Archons and The Thought of Norea. It felt as if we were in an episode of Star Trek -- and in a way we were. The Gnostics truly were 'psychonauts' who boldly explored the final frontiers of inner space, searching for the origins and meaning of life. These people were mystics and creative free-thinkers. It was obvious to us why they were so hated by the bishops of the Literalist Church hierarchy. To Literalists, the Gnostics were dangerous heretics. In volumes of anti-Gnostic works -- an unintentional testimony to the power and influence of Gnosticism within early Christianity -- they painted them as Christians who had 'gone native.' They claimed they had become contaminated by the Paganism that surrounded them and had abandoned the purity of the true faith. The Gnostics, on the other hand, saw themselves as the authentic Christian tradition and the orthodox bishops as an 'imitation church.' They claimed to know the secret Inner Mysteries of Christianity which the Literslists did not possess. As we explored the beliefs and practices of the Gnostics we became convinced that the Literalists had at least been right about one thing: the Gnostics were little different from Pagans. Like the philosophers of the Pagan Mysteries, they believed in reincarnation, honoured the goddess Sophia, and were immersed in the mystical Greek philosophy of Plato. 'Gnostics' means 'Knowers', a name they acquired because, like the initiates of the Pagan Mysteries, they believed that their secret teachings had the power to impart 'Gnosis' -- direct experiential 'Knowledge of God.' Just as the goal of a Pagan initiate was to become a god, so for the Gnostics the goal of the Christian initiate was to become a Christ. What particularly struck us was that the Gnostics were not concerned with the historical Jesus. They viewed the Jesus story in the same way that the Pagan philosophers viewed the myths of Osiris-Dionysus -- as an allegory which encoded secret mystical teachings. This insight crystallized for us a remarkable possibility. Perhaps the explanation for the similarities between Pagan myths and the biography of Jesus had been staring us in the face the whole time, but we had been so caught up with traditional ways of thinking that we had been unable to see it. THE JESUS MYSTERIES THESIS The traditional version of history bequeathed to us by the authorities of the Roman Church is that Christianity developed from the teachings of a Jewish Messiah and that Gnosticism was a later deviation. What would happen, we wondered if the picture were reversed and Gnosticism viewed as the authentic Christianity, just as the Gnostics themselves claimed? Could it be that orthodox Christianity was a later deviation from Gnosticism and that Gnosticism was a synthesis of Judaism and the Pagan Mystery religion? This was the beginning of the Jesus Mysteries Thesis. Boldly stated, the picture that emerged for us was as follows. We knew that most ancient Mediterranean cultures had adopted the ancient Mysteries, adapting them to their own national tastes and creating their own version of the myth of the dying and resurrecting godman. Perhaps some of the Jews had likewise adopted the Pagan Mysteries and created their own version of the Mysteries which we now know as Gnosticism. Perhaps initiates of the Jewish Mysteries had adapted the potent symbolism of the Osiris-Dionysus myths into a myth of their own, the hero of which was the Jewish dying and ~surreeting godman Jesus. If this was so, then the Jesus story was not a biography at all but a consciously crafted vehicle for encoded spiritual teachings created by Jewish Gnostics. As in the Pagan Mysteries, initiation into the Inner Mysteries would reveal the myth's allegorical meaning. Perhaps those uninitiated into the Inner Mysteries had mistakenly come to regard the Jesus myth as historical fact and in this way Literalist Christianity had been created. Perhaps the Inner Mysteries of Christianity, which the Gnostics taught but which the Literalists denied existed, revealed that the Jesus story was not a factual account of God's one and only visit to planet Earth, but a mystical teaching story designed to help each one of us become a Christ. The Jesus story does have all the hallmarks of a myth, so could it be that that is exactly what it is? After all, no one has read the newly discovered Gnostic gospels and taken their fantastic stories as literally true; they are readily seen as myths. It is only familiarity and cultural prejudice which prevent us from seeing tlae New Testament gospels in the same light. If those gospels had also been lost to us and only recently discovered, who would read these tales for the first time and believe they were historical accounts of a man born of a virgin, who had walked on water and returned from the dead? Why should we consider the stories of Osiris, Dionysus, Adonis, Attis, Mithras and the other Pagan Mystery saviours as fables, yet come across essentially the same story told in a Jewish context and believe it to be the biography of a carpenter from Bethlehem? We had both been raised as Christians and were surprised to find that, despite years of open-minded spiritual exploration, it still felt somehow dangerous to even dare think such thoughts. Early indoctrination reaches very deep. We were in effect saying that Jesus was a Pagan god and that Christianity was a heretical product of Paganism! It seemed outrageous. Yet this theory explained the similarities between the stories of Osiris-Dionysus and Jesus Christ in a simple and elegant way. They are parts of one developing mythos. The Jesus Mysteries Thesis answered many puzzling questions, yet it also opened up new dilemmas. Isn't there indisputable historical evidence for the existence of Jesus the man? And how could Gnosticism be the original Christianity when St Paul, the earliest Christian we know about, is so vociferously anti-Gnostic? And is it really credible that such an insular and anti-Pagan people as the Jews could have adopted the Pagan Mysteries? And how could it have happened that a consciously created myth came to be believed as history? And if Gnosticism represents genuine Christianity, why was it Literalist Christianity that came to dominate the world as the most influential religion of all time? All of these difficult questions would have to be satisfactorily answered before we could wholeheartedly accept such a radical theory as the Jesus Mysteries Thesis. THE GREAT COVER UP Our new account of the origins of Christianity only seemed improbable because it contradicted the received view. As we pushed further with our research, the traditional picture began to completely unravel all around us. We found ourselves embroiled in a world of schism and power straggles, of forged documents and false identities, of letters that had been edited and added to, and of the wholesale destruction of historical evidence. We focused forensically on the few facts we could be confident of, as if we were detectives on the verge of cracking a sensational 'whodunnit', or perhaps more accurately as if we were uncovering an ancient and unacknowledged miscarriage of justice. For, time and again, when we critically examined what genuine evidence remained, we found that the history of Christianity bqueathed to us by the Roman Church was a gross distortion of the truth. Actually the evidence completely endorsed the Jesus Mysteries Thesis! It was becoming increasingly obvious that we had been deliberately deceived, that the Gnostics were indeed the original Christians, and that their anarchic mysticism had been hijacked by an authoritarian institution which had created from it a dogmatic religion - and then brutally enforced the greatest cover-up in history. One of the major players in this cover-up operation was a character called Eusebius, who, at the beginning of the fourth century, compiled from legends, fabrications and his own imagination the only early history of Christianity that still exists today. All subsequent histories have been forced to base themselves on Eusebins' dubious claims, because there has been little other information to draw on. All those with a different perspective on Christianity were branded as heretics and eradicated. In this way falsehoods compiled in the fourth century have come down to us as established facts. Eusebius was employed by the Roman Emperor Constantine, who made Christianity the state religion of the Empire and gave Literalist Christianity the power it needed to begin the final eradication of Paganism and Gnosticism. Constantine wanted 'one God, one religion' to consolidate his claim of 'one Empire, one Emperor.' He oversaw the creation of the Nicene creed -- the article of faith repeated in churches to this day -- and christians who refused to assent to this creed were banished from the Empire or otherwise silenced. This 'Christian' Emperor then returned home from Nicaea and had his wife suffocated and his son murdered. He deliberately remained unbaptized until his deathbed so that he could continue his atrocities and still receive forgiveness of sins and a guaranteed place in heaven by being baptized at the last moment. Although he had his 'spin doctor' Eusebius compose a suitably obsequious biography for him, he was actually a monster -- just like many Roman Emperors before him. Is it really at all surprising that a 'history' of the origins of Christianity created by an employee in the service of a Roman tyrant should turn out to be a pack of lies? Elaine PageIs, one of the foremost academic authorities on early Christianity, writes: "It is the winners who write history -- their way. No wonder, then, that the traditional accounts of the origins of Christianity first defined the terms (naming themselves "orthodox" and their opponents "heretics"); then they proceeded to demonstrate -- at least to their own satisfaction -- that their triumph was historically inevitable, or, in religious terms, "guided by the Holy Spirit." But the discoveries [of the Gnostic gospels] at Nag Hammadi reopen fundamental questions." History is indeed written by the victors. The creation of an appropriate history has always been part of the arsenal of political manipulation. The Roman Church created a history of the triumph of Literalist Christianity in much the same partisan way that, two millennia later, Hollywood created tales of 'cowboys and Indians' to relate 'how the West was won' not 'how the West was lost.' History is not simply related, it is created. Ideally, the motivation is to explain historical evidence and come to an accurate understanding of how the present has been created by the past. All too often, however, it is simply to glorify and justify the status quo. Such histories conceal as much as they reveal. To dare to question a received history is not easy. It is difficult to believe that something which you have been told is true from childhood could actually be a product of falsification and fantasy. It must have been hard for those Russians brought up on tales of kindly 'Uncle Joe' Stalin to accept that he was actually responsible for the deaths of millions. It must have strained credibility when those opposing his regime claimed that he had in fact murdered many of the heroes of the Russian revolution. It must have seemed ridiculous when they asserted that he had even had the images of his rivals removed from photographs and completely fabricated historical events. Yet all these things are true. It is easy to believe that something must be true because everyone else believes it. But the truth often only comes to light by daring to question the unquestionable, by doubting notions which are so commonly believed that they are taken for granted. The Jesus Mysteries Thesis is the product of such an openness of mind. When it first occurred to us, it seemed absurd and impossible. Now it seems obvious and ordinary. The Vatican was constructed upon the site of an ancient Pagan sanctuary because the new is always built upon the old. In the same way Christianity itself has as its foundations the Pagan spirituality that preceded it. What is more plausible than to posit the gradual evolution of spiritual ideas, with Christianity emerging from the ancient Pagan Mysteries in a seamless historical continuum? It is only because the conventional history has been so widely believed for so long that this idea could be seen as heretical and shocking. RECOVERING MYSTICAL CHRISTIANITY As the final pieces of the puzzle were falling into place, we came across a small picture tucked away in the appendices of an old academic book. It was a drawing of a third-century CE amulet. We have used it as the cover of this book. It shows a crucified figure which most people would immediately recognize as Jesus. Yet the Greek words name the figure 'Orpheus Bacchus,' one of the pseudonyms of Osiris-Dionysus. To the author of the book in which we found the picture, this amulet was an anomaly. Who could it have possibly belonged to? Was it a crucified Pagan deity or some sort of Gnostic synthesis of Paganism and Christianity? Either way it was deeply puzzling. For us, however, this amulet was perfectly understandable. It was an unexpected confirmation of the Jesus Mysteries Thesis. The image could be that of either Jesus or Osiris-Dionysus. To the initiated, these were both names for essentially the same figure. The 'chance' discovery of this amulet made us feel as though the universe itself was encouraging us to make our findings public. In different ways the Jesus Mysteries Thesis has been proposed by mystics and scholars for centuries, but has always ended up being ignored. It now felt like an idea whose moment had come. We did, however, have misgivings about writing this book. We knew that it would inevitably upset certain Christians, something which we had no desire to do. Certainly it has been hard to be constantly surrounded by lies and injustices without experiencing a certain amount of outrage at the negative misrepresentation of the Gnostics, and to have become aware of the great riches of Pagan culture without feeling grief that they were so wantonly destroyed. Yet we do not have some sort of anti-Christian agenda. Far from it. Those who have read our other works will know that our interest is not in further division, but in acknowledging the unity that lies at the heart of all spiritual traditions -- and this present book is no exception. Early Literalist Christians mistakenly believed that the Jesus story was different from other stories of Osiris-Dionysus because Jesus alone had been an historical rather than a mythical figure. This has left Christians feeling that their faith is in opposition to all others -- which it is not. We hope that by understanding its true origins in the ongoing evolution of a universal human spirituality, Christianity may be able to free itself from this self-imposed isolation. Whilst the Jesus Mysteries Thesis clearly rewrites history, we do not see it as undermining the Christian faith, but as suggesting that Christianity is in fact richer than we previously imagined. The Jesus story is a perennial myth with the power to impart the saving Gnosis which can transform each one of us into a Christ, not merely a history of events that happened to someone else 2,000 years ago. Belief in the Jesus story was originally the first step in Christian spirituality -- the Outer Mysteries. Its significance was to be explained by an enlightened teacher when the seeker was spiritually ripe. These Inner Mysteries imparted a mystical Knowledge of God beyond mere belief in dogmas. Although many inspired Christian mystics throughout history have intuitively seen through to this deeper symbolic level of understanding, as a culture we have inherited only the Outer Mysteries of Christianity. We have kept the form, but lost the inner meaning. Our hope is that this book can play some small part in reclaiming the true mystical Christian inheritance. The Pagan Mysteries "Blest is the happy man Who knows the Mysteries the gods ordain, And sanctifies his life, Joins soul with soul in mystic unity, And, by due ritual made pure Enters the ecstasy of mountain solitudes; Who observes the mystic rites Made lawful by the Great Mother; Who crowns his head with ivy, And shakes his wand in worship ot Dionysus." Euripides Paganism is a 'dead' religion -- or more accurately an 'exterminated' religion· It did not simply fade away into oblivion. It was actively suppressed and annihilated, its temples and shrines desecrated and demolished, and its great sacred books thrown onto bonfires. No living lineage has been left to explain its ancient beliefs. So, the Pagan worldview has to be reconstructed from the archaeological evidence and texts that have survived, like some giant metaphysical jigsaw puzzle. 'Pagan' was originally a derogatory term meaning 'country-dweller,' used by Christians to infer that the spirituality of the ancients was some primitive rural superstition. But this is not true. Paganism was the spirituality which inspired the unequalled magnificence of the Giza pyramids, the exquisite architecture of the Parthenon, the legendary sculptures of Phideas, the powerful plays of Euripides and Sophocles, and the sublime philosophy of Socrates and Plato. Pagan civilization built vast libraries to house hundreds of thousands of works of literary and scientific genius. Its natural philosophers speculated that human beings had evolved from animals. Its astronomers knew the Earth was a sphere which, along with the planets, revolves around the sun. They had even estimated its circumference to within one degree of accuracy? The ancient Pagan world sustained a population not matched again in Europe until the eighteenth century. In Greece, Pagan culture gave birth to the concepts of democracy, rational philosophy, public libraries, theatre and the Olympic Games, creating a blueprint for our modern world. What was the spirituality that inspired these momentous cultural achievements? Most people associate Paganism with either rustic witchcraft or the myths of the gods of Olympus as recorded by Hesiod and Homer. Pagan spirituality did indeed embrace both. The country people practised their traditional shamanic nature worship to maintain the fertility of the land and the city authorities propped up formal state religions, such as the worship of the Olympian gods, to maintain the power of the status quo. It was, however, a third, more mystical, expression of the Pagan spirit which inspired the great minds of the ancient world. The thinkers, artists and innovators of antiquity were initiates of various religions known as 'Mysteries.' These remarkable men and women held the Mysteries to be the heart and soul of their culture. The Greek historian Zosimos writes that without the Mysteries "life for the Greeks would be unlivable" for "the sacred Mysteries hold the whole human race together." The eminent Roman statesman Cicero enthuses: "These Mysteries have brought us from rustic savagery to a cultivated and refined civilisation. The rites of the Mysteries are called "initiations" and in truth we have learned trom them the first principles of life. We have gained the understanding not only to live happily but also to die with better hope." Unlike the traditional rituals of the official state religions, which were designed to aid social cohesion, the mysteries were an individualistic form of.spirituality which offered mystical visions and personal enlightenment. Initiates underwent a secret process of initiation which profoundly trans-r formed their state of consciousness. The poet Pindar reveals that an initiate into the Mysteries "knows the end of life and its God-given beginning." Lucius Apuleius, a poet-philosopher, writes of his experience of initiation as a spiritual rebirth which he celebrated as his birthday, an experience for which he felt a "debt of gratitude" that he "could never hope to repay." Plato, the most influential philosopher of all time, relates: "We beheld the beatific visions and were initiated into the Mystery which may be truly called blessed, celebrated by us in a state of innocence. We beheld calm, happy, simple, eternal visions, resplendent in pure light." The great Pagan philosophers were the enlightened masters of the Mysteries. Although they are often portrayed today as dry 'academic' intellectuals, they were actually enigmatic 'gurus.' Empedocles, like his master Pythagoras, was a charismatic miracle-worker. Socrates was an eccentric mystic prone to being suddenly overcome by states of rapture during which his friends would discover him staring off into space for hours. Heraclitus was asked by the citizens of Ephesus to become a lawmaker, but turned the offer down so that he could continue playing with the children in the temple. Anaxagoras shocked ordinary citizens by completely abandoning his farm to fully devote his life to "the higher philosophy." Diogenes owned nothing and lived in a jar at the entrance of a temple. The inspired playwright Euripides wrote his greatest tragedies during solitary retreats in an isolated cave. All of these idiosyncratic sages were steeped in the mysticism of the Mysteries, which they expressed in their philosophy. Olympiodorus, a follower of Plato, tells us that his master paraphrased the Mysteries everywhere. The works of Heraclitus were renowned even in ancient times for being obscure and impenetrable, yet Diogenes explains that they are crystal clear to an initiate of the Mysteries. Of studying Heraclitus he writes: "It is a hard road to follow, filled with darkness and gloom; but if an initiate leads you on the way, it becomes brighter than the radiance of the sun." At the heart of Pagan philosophy is an understanding that all things are One. The Mysteries aimed at awakening within the initiate a sublime experience of this Oneness. Sallustius declares: "Every initiation aims at uniting us with the World and with the Deity." Plotinus describes the initiate transcending his limited sense of himself as a separate ego and experiencing mystical union with God: "As if borne away, or possessed by a god, he attains to solitude in untroubled stillness, nowhere deflected in his being and unbusied with self, utterly at rest and become very rest. He does not converse with a statue or image but with Godhead itself. And this is no object of vision, but another mode of seeing, a detachment from self, a simplification and surrender of self, a yearning for contact, and a stillness and meditation directed towards transformation. Whoever sees himself in this way has attained likeness to God; let him abandon himself and find the end of his journeying ." No wonder the initiate Sopatros poertcally mused, "I came out of the Mystery Hall feeling like a stranger to myself." THE SACRED SPECTACLE AT ELEUSIS What were these ancient Mysteries that could inspire such reverent awe and heartfelt appreciation? The Mystery religion was practised for thousands of years, during which time it spread throughout the ancient worid, taking on many different forms. Some were frenzied and others meditative. Some involved bloody animal sacrifice, while others were presided over by strict vegetarians, At certain moments in history the Mysteries were openly practised by whole populations and were endorsed, or at least tolerated, by the state. At other times they were a small-scale and secretive affair, for fear of persecution by unsympathetic authorities. Central toall of these forms qf the Mysteries, however, was the myth of a dying and resurrecting godman. The Greek Mysteries celebrated at Eleusis in honour of the Great Mother goddess and the godman Dionysus were the most famous of all the Mystery cults. The sanctuary of Eleusis was finally destroyed by bands of fanatical Christian monks in 396 CE, but up until this tragic act of vandalism the Mysteries had been celebrated there for over 11 centuries. At the height of their popularity people were coming from all over the then known world to be initiated: men and women, rich and poor, slaves and emperors -- even a Brahmin priest from India. Each year some 30,000 Athenian citizens embarked on a 30-kilometre barefoot pilgrimage to the sacred site of Eleusis on the coast to celebrate the autumn Mysteries of Dionysus. For days they would have been preparing for this important religious event by fasting, offering sacrifices and undergoing ritual purification. As those about to be initiated danced along the 'Sacred Way' to Eleusis, accompanied by the frenzied beat of cymbals and tambourines, they were accosted by masked men who abused and insulted them, while others beat them with sticks. At the head of the procession was carried the statue of Dionysus himself, leading them ever onward. After ritual naked bathing in the sea and other purification ceremonies the crowd reached the great doors of the Telesterion, a huge purpose-built initiation hall. Only the chosen few who were already initiated or about to be initiated into the secret Mysteries could enter here. What awesome ceremony was held behind these closed doors that touched the great philosophers, artists, statesmen and scientists of the ancient world so deeply? All initiates were sworn to secrecy and held the Mysteries so sacred that they kept this oath. From large numbers of hints and clues, however, we know that they witnessed a sublime theatrical spectacle. They were awed by sounds and dazzled by lights. They were bathed in the blaze of a huge fire and trembled to the nerve-shattering reverberations of a mighty gong. The Hierophant, the high priest of the Mysteries, was quite literally a 'showman' who orchestrated a terrifyingly transformative dramatic reenactment of sacred myth. He himself was dressed as the central character - the godman Dionysus. A modern scholar writes: "A Mystery Religion was thus a divine drama which portrayed before the wondering eyes of the privileged observers the story of the struggles, sufferings, and victory of a patron deity, the travail of nature in which life ultimately triumphs over death, and joy is born of pain. The whole ritual of the Mysteries aimed especially at quickening the emotional life. No means of exciting the emotions was neglected in the passion-play, either by way of inducing careful predispositions or of supplying external stimulus. Tense mental anticipations heightened by a period of abstinence, hushed silences, imposing processions and elaborate pageantry, music loud and violent or soft and enthralling, delirious dances, the drinking of spirituous liquors, physical macerations, alternations of dense darkness and dazzling light, the sight of gorgeous ceremonial vestments, the handling of holy emblems, auto-suggestion and the promptings of the Hierophant -- these and many secrets of emotional exaltation were in vogue." This dramatization of the myth of Dionysus is the origin of tragedy and theatre. But the initiates were not a passive audience. They were participants who shared in the passion of the godman whose death and rebirth symbolically represented the death and spiritual rebirth of each one of them. As a modern authority explains: "Dionysus was the god of the most blessed ecstasy and the most enraptured love. But he was also the persecuted god, the suffering and dying god, and all whom he loved, all who attended him, had to share his tragic fate." By witnessing the awesome tragedy of Dionysus, the initiates at Eleusis shared in his suffering, death and resurrection, and so experienced a spiritual purification known as 'catharsis.' The Mysteries did not offer religious dogmas to simply be believed, but a myth to be entered into. Initiation was not about learning something, but about experiencing an altered state of awareness. Plutarch, a Pagan high priest, confesses that those who had been initiated could produce no proof of the beliefs that they acquired. Aristotle maintains, "It is not necessary for the initiated to learn anything, but to receive impressions and to be put in a certain frame of mind." The philosopher Produs talks of the Mysteries as evoking a "sympathy of the soul with the ritual in a way that is unintelligible to us and divine, so that some of the initiates axe stricken with panic, being filled with divine awe; others assimilate themselves to the holy symbols, leave their own identity, become at home with the gods, affd experience divine possession." Why did the myth enacted by the Mysteries have such a profound effect? ENCODED SECRET TEACHINGS In antiquity the word mythos did not mean something 'untrue't as it does ( for us today. Superficially a myth was an entertaining story, but to the initiated it was a sacred code that contained profound spiritual teachings. Plato comments, "It looks as if those also who established rites of initiation for us were no fools, but that there is a hidden meaning in their teachings." He explains that it is "those who have given their lives to true philosophy" who will grasp the "hidden meaning" encoded in the Mystery myths, and so become completely identified with the godman in an experience of mystical enlightenment. The ancient philosophers were not so foolish as to believe that the Mystery myths were literally true, but wise enough to recognize that they were an easy introduction to the profound mystical philosophy at the heart of the Mysteries. Sallustius writes: "To wish to teach all men the truth of the gods causes the foolish to despise, because they cannot learn, and the good to be slothful, whereas to conceal the truth by myths prevents the former from despising philosophy and compels the latter to study it." It was the role of the priests and philosophers of the Mysteries to decode the hidden depths of spiritual meaning contained within the Mystery myths. Heliodorus, a priest of the Mysteries, explains: "Philosophers and theologians do not disclose the meanings embedded in these stories to laymen but simply give them preliminary instruction in the form of a myth. But those who have reached the higher grades of the Mysteries they initiate into clear knowledge in the privacy of the holy shrine, in the light cast by the blazing torch of truth." The Mysteries were divided into various levels of initiation, which led an initiate step by step through ever deepening levels of understanding. The number of levels of initiation varied in different Mystery traditions, but essentially the initiate was led from the Outer Mysteries, in which the myths were understood superficially as religious stories, to the Inner Mysteries, in which the myths were revealed as spiritual allegories. First the initiate was ritually purified. Then they were taught the secret teachings on a one-to-one basis. The highest stage was when the initiate understood the true meaning of the teachings and finally experienced what Theon of Smyrna calls "friendship and interior communion with God." THE INTERNATIONAL MYSTERIES The Mysteries dominated the Pagan world. No other deity is represented on the monuments of ancient Greece and Italy as much as Dionysus, godman of the Eleusinian Mysteries. He is a deity with many names: Iacchos, Bassareus, Bromios, Euios, Sabazius, Zagreus, Yhyoneus, Lenaios, Eleuthereus, and so the list goes on. But these are just some of his Greek names! The godman is an omnipresent mythic figure throughout the ancient Mediterranean, known in different ways by many cultures. Five centuries before the birth of Christ, the Greek historian Herodotus, known as 'the father of history', discovered this when he travelled to Egypt. On the shores of a sacred lake in the Nile delta he witnessed an enormous festival, held every year, in which the Egyptians performed a dramatic spectacle before "tens of thousands of men and women," representing the death and resurrection of Osiris. Herodotus was an initiate into the Greek Mysteries and recognized that what he calls "the Passion of Osiris" was the very same drama that initiates saw enacted before them at Eleusis as the Passion of Dionysus. The Egyptian myth of Osiris is the primal myth of the Mystery godman and reaches back to prehistory. His story is so ancient that it can be found in pyramid texts written over 4,500 years ago! In travelling to Egypt Herodotus was following in the footsteps of another great Greek. Before 670 BCE Egypt had been a closed country, in the manner of Tibet, or Japan more recently, but in this year she opened her borders and one of the first Greeks who travelled there in search of ancient wisdom was Pythagoras. History remembers Pythagoras as the first 'scientist' of the Western world, but although it is true that he brought back many mathmatical theories to Greece from Egypt, to his contemporaries he would have seemed anything but 'scientific' in the modern sense. A wandering charismatic sage dressed in white robes and crowned with a gold coronet, Pythagoras was part scientist, part priest and part magician. He spent 22 years in the temples of Egypt, becoming an initiate of the ancient Egyptian Mysteries. On returning to Greece he began to preach the wisdom he had learned, performing miracles, raising the dead and giving oracles. Inspired by Pythagoras, his disciples created a Greek Mystery religion modelled on the Egyptian Mysteries. They took the indigenous wine god Dionysus, who was a minor deity all but ignored by Hesiod and Homer, and transformed him into a Greek version of the mighty Egyptian Osiris, godman of the Mysteries. This initiated a religious and cultural revolution that was to transform Athens into the centre of the civilized world. The followers of Pythagoras were models of virtue and learning, regarded as puritans by their neighbours. Strict vegetarians, they preached non-violence towards all living things and shunned the temple cults that practised the sacrifice of animals. This made it impossible for them to participate in the traditional Olympian religion of Athens. Forced to live on the fringes of acceptability, they often organized themselves into communities that shared all possessions in common, leaving them free to devote themselves to their mystical studies of mathematics, music, astronomy and philosophy. Nevertheless, the Mystery religion spread quickly amongst the ordinary people and within a few generations the Egyptian Mysteries of Osiris, now the Mysteries of Dionysus, inspired the glory of Classical Athens. In the same way that Osiris was synthesized by the Greeks with their indigenous god Dionysus to create the Greek Mysteries, other Mediterranean cultures which adopted the Mystery religion also transformed one of their indigenous deities into the dying and resurrecting Mystery godman. So, the deity who was known as Osiris in Egypt and became Dionysus in Greece was called Attis in Asia Minor, Adonis in Syria, Bacchus in Italy, Mithras in Persia, and so on. His forms were many, but essentially he was the same perennial figure, whose collective identity was referred to as Osiris-Dionysus. Because the ancients recognized that all the various Mystery godmen were essentially the same mythic being, elements from different myths and rites were continually combined and recombined to create new forms of the Mysteries. In Alexandria, for example, a charismatic sage called Timotheus consciously fused Osiris and Dionysus to produce a new deity for the city callled Serapis. He also gave an elaborate account of the myth of the Mystery godman Attis. Lucius Apuleius received his initiation into theMysteries from a high priest named after the Persian godman Mithras. Coins were minted with Dionysus represented on one side and Mithras on the other? One modern authority tells us that "possessed by the knowledge of his own secret rites," the initiate of the Mysteries "found no difficulty in conforming to any religion in vogue." Like the Christian religion which superseded it, the Mysteries reached across national boundaries, offering a spirituality which was relevant to all human beings, regardless of their racial origins or social status. Even as early as the fifth century CE philosophers such as Diogenes and Socrates called themselves "cosmopolitans' -- "citizens of the cosmos" -- rather than of any particular country or culture, which is testimony to the international nature of the Mysteries. One modern scholar, commenting on the merging and combining of different mystery traditions, writes: "This went a long way towards weaning the minds of men from the idea of separate gods from the different nations, and towards teaching them that all national and local deities were but different forms of one great Power. But for the rise of Christianity and other religions, there can be little doubt but that the whole of the Graeco-Roman deities would continually have merged into Dionysus." OSIRIS-DIONYSUS AND JESUS CHRIST Osiris-Dionysus had such universal appeal because he was seen as an 'Everyman' figure who symbolically represented each initiate. Through understanding the allegorical myth of the Mystery godman, initiates could become aware that, like Osiris-Dionysus, they were also 'God made flesh.' They too were immortal Spirit trapped within a physical body. Through sharing in the death of Osiris-Dionysus initiates symbolically 'died' to their lower earthly nature. Through sharing in his resurrection they were spiritually reborn and experienced their eternal and divine essence. This was the profound mystical teaching that the myth of Osiris-Dionysus encoded for those initiated into the Inner Mysteries, the truth of which initiates directly experienced for themselves. Writing of the Egyptian Mystery godman Osiris, Sir Wallis Budge, who was keeper of antiquities in the British Museum, explains: "The Egyptians of every period in which they are known to us believed that Osiris was of divine origin, that he suffered death and mutilation at the hands of the power of evil, that after great struggle with these powers he rose again, that he became henceforth the king of the underworld and judge of the dead, and that because he had conquered death the righteous might also conquer death. "He represented to men the idea of a man who was both God and man, and he typified to the Egyptians in all ages the being who by reason of his sufferings and death as a man could sympathise with them in their own sickness and death. The idea of his human personality also satisfied their cravings and yearnings for communion with a being who, though he was partly divine, yet had much in common with themselves. Originally they looked upon Osiris as a man who lived on the earth as they lived, who ate and drank, who suffered a cruel death, who by help of certain gods triumphed over death, and attained unto everlasting life. But what Osiris did they could also do." These are the key motifs that characterize the myths of all the Mystery godmen. What Budge writes of Osiris could equally be said of Dionysus, Attis, Adonis, Mithras and the rest. It also describes the Jewish dying and resurrecting godman Jesus Christ. Like Osiris-Dionysus, he is also God Incarnate and God of the Resurrection. He also promises his followers spiritual rebirth through sharing in his divine Passion. CONCLUSION The Mysteries were clearly an extremely powerful force in the ancient world. Let's review what we've discovered about them: - The Pagan Mysteries inspired the greatest minds of the ancient world. - They were practised in different forms by nearly every culture in the Mediterranean. - They comprised Outer Mysteries which were open to all and secret Inner Mysteries known only to those who had undergone a powerful process of mystical initiation. - At the heart of the Mysteries was the myth of a dying and resurrecting godman - Osiris-Dionysus. - The Inner Mysteries revealed the myths of Osiris-Dionysus to be spiritual allegories encoding spiritual teachings. The question which intrigued us was whether the Mysteries could have somehow influenced and shaped what we have inherited as the "biography" of Jesus? Unlike the various Pagan Mystery godmen, Jesus is traditionally viewed as an historical rather than a mythical figure, literally a man who was an incarnation of God, who suffered, died and resurrected to bring salvation to all humankind. But could these elements of the Jesus story actually be mythical stories inherited from the Pagan Mysteries? We began investigating the myths of Osiris-Dionysus more closely, searching for resemblances with the Jesus story. We were not prepared for the overwhelming number of similarities that we uncovered. Diabolical Mimicry "Having heard it proclaimed through the prophets that the Christ was to come and that the ungodly among men were to be punished by fire, the wicked spirits put forward many to be called Sons of God, under the impression that they would be able to produce in men the idea that the things that were said with regard to Christ were merely marvellous tales, like the things that were said by the poets." Justin Martyr Although the remarkable similarities between the myths of Osiris-Dionysus agd the supposed "biography" of Jesus Christ are generally unknown today, in the first few centuries CE they were obvious to Pagans and Christians alike. The Pagan philosopher and satirist Celsus criticized Christians for tryingto pass off the Jesus story as a new revelation when it was actually an inferior imitation of Pagan myths. He asks: "Are these distinctive happenings unique to the Christians -- and if so, how are they unique? Or are ours to be accounted myths and theirs believed? What reasons do the Christians give for the distinctiveness of their beliefs? In truth there is nothing at all unusual about what the Christians believe, except that they believe it to the exclusion of more comprehensive truths about God." The early Christians were painfully aware of such criticisms. How could Pagan myths which predated Christianity by hundreds of years have so much in common with the biography of the one and only saviour Jesus? Desperate to come up with an explanation, the Church fathers resorted to one of the most absurd theories ever advanced. From the time of Justin Martyr in the second century onwards, they declared that the Devil had plagiarized Christianity by anticipation in order to lead people astray? Knowing that the true Son of God was to literally come and walk the Earth, the Devil had copied the story of his life in advance of it happening and created the myths of Osiris-Dionysus. The Church father Tertullian writes of the Devil's "diabolical mimicry" in creating the Mysteries of Mithras: "The devil, whose business is to pervert the truth, mimics the exact circumstances of the Divine Sacraments. He baptises his believers and promises forgiveness of sins from the Sacred Fount, and thereby initiates them into the religion of Mithras. Thus he celebrates the oblation of bread, and brings in the symbol of the resurrection. Let us therefore acknowledge the craftiness of the devil, who copies certain things of those that be Divine." Studying the myths of the Mysteries it becomes obvious why these early Christians resorted to such a desperate explanation. Although no single Pagan myth completely parallels the story of Jesus, the mythic motifs which make up the story of the Jewish godman had already existed for centuries in the various stories told of Osiris-Dionysus and his greatest prophets. Let's make a journey through the 'biography' of Jesus and explore some of these extraordinary similarities. SON OF GOD Despite Christianity's claim that Jesus is the "only begotten Son of God." Osiris-Dionysus, in all his many forms, is also hailed as the Son of God. Jesus is the Son of God, yet equal with the Father. Dionysus is the "Son of Zeus, in his full nature God, most terrible, although most gentle to mankind." Jesus is "Very God of Very God." Dionysus is "Lord God of God born." Jesus is God in human form. St John writes of Jesus as "the Word made flesh." St. Paul explains that "God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh? Dionysus was also known as Bacchus, hence the title of Euripides' play The Bacchae, in which Dionysus is the central character. In this play, Dionysus explains that he has veiled his "Godhead in a mortal shape" in order to make it "manifest to mortal men.. He tells his disciples, "That is why I have changed my immortal form and taken the likeness of man." Like Jesus, in many of his myths the Pagan godman is born of a mortal virgin mother. In Asia Minor, Attis' mother is the virgin Cybele. In Syria, Adonis' virgin mother is called Myrrh. In Alexandria, Aion is born of the virgin Kore. In Greece, Dionysus is born of a mortal virgin Semele who wishes to see Zeus in all his glory and is mysteriously impregnated by one of his bolts of lightning. It was a popular tradition, recorded in the most quoted non-canonical text of early Christianity, that Jesus spent only seven months in Mary's womb. The Pagan historian Diodorus relates that Dionysus' mother Semele likewise was said to have also had only a seven-month pregnancy. Justin Martyr acknowledges the similarities between Jesus' virgin birth and Pagan mythology, writing: "In saying that the Word was born for us without sexual union as Jesus Christ our teacher, we introduce nothing beyond what is said of those called the Sons of Zeus." Nowhere was the myth of the 'Son of God' more developed than in Egypt, the ancient home of the Mysteries. Even the Christian Lactantius acknowledged that the legendary Egyptian sage Hermes Trismegistus had "arrived in some way at the truth, for on God the Father he had said everything, and on the Son." In Egypt, the Pharaoh had for thousands of years been regarded as an embodiment of the godman Osiris and praised in hymns as the Son of God. As an eminent Egyptologist writes, "Every Pharaoh had to be the Son of God and a human mother in order that he should be the Incarnate God, the Giver of Fertility to his country and people." In many legends the great prophets of Osiris-Dionysus are also portrayed as saviours and sons of God. Pythagoras was said to be the son of Apollo and a mortal woman called Parthenis, whose name derives from the word parthenos, meaning "virgin." Plato was also posthumously believed to be the son of Apollo. Philostratus relates in his biography of Apollonius that the great Pagan sage was regarded as the "Son of Zeus." Empedocles was thought to be a godman and saviour who had come down to this world to help confused souls, becoming "like a madman, calling out to people at the top of his voice and urging them to reject this realm and what is in it and go back to their own original, sublime, and noble word." Mythic motifs from the Mysteries even became associated with Roman Emperors who, for political reasons, cultivated legends about their divine nature which would link them to Osiris-Dionysus. Julius Caesar, who did not himself even believe in personal immortality, was hailed as "God made manifest, the common saviour of human life." His successor, Augustus, was likewise the "saviour of the universal human race." and even the tyrannical Nero is addressed on an altar piece as "God the deliverer for ever." In 40 BCE, drawing on Mystery myths, the Roman poet and initiate Virgil wrote a mystical 'prophesy' that a virgin would give birth to a divine child. In the fourth century CE Literalist Christians would claim that it foretold the coming of ]esus, but at the time this myth was interpreted as referring to Augustus, said to be the "Son of Apollo," preordained to rule the Earth and bring peace and prosperity. In his biography of Augustus, Suetonius offers a cluster of 'signs' that indicated the Emperor's divine nature. One modern authority writes: &am

wht do u think bout this ppl? From coffee to cheques and the three-course meal, the Muslim world has given us many innovations that we in the West take for granted. Here are 20 of their most influential innovations: (1) The story goes that an Arab named Khalid was tending his goats in the Kaffa region of southern Ethiopia, when he noticed his animals became livelier after eating a certain berry. He boiled the berries to make the first coffee. Certainly the first record of the drink is of beans exported from Ethiopia to Yemen where Sufis drank it to stay awake all night to pray on special occasions. By the late 15th century it had arrived in Makkah and Turkey from where it made its way to Venice in 1645. It was brought to England in 1650 by a Turk named Pasqua Rosee who opened the first coffee house in Lombard Street in the City of London. The Arabic “qahwa” became the Turkish “kahve” then the Italian “caffé” and then English “coffee”. (2) The ancient Greeks thought our eyes emitted rays, like a laser, which enabled us to see. The first person to realise that light enters the eye, rather than leaving it, was the 10th-century Muslim mathematician, astronomer and physicist Ibn al-Haitham. He invented the first pin-hole camera after noticing the way light came through a hole in window shutters. The smaller the hole, the better the picture, he worked out, and set up the first Camera Obscura (from the Arab word “qamara” for a dark or private room). He is also credited with being the first man to shift physics from a philosophical activity to an experimental one. (3) A form of chess was played in ancient India but the game was developed into the form we know it today in Persia. From there it spread westward to Europe — where it was introduced by the Moors in Spain in the 10th century — and eastward as far as Japan. The word “rook” comes from the Persian “rukh”, which means chariot. (4) A thousand years before the Wright brothers, a Muslim poet, astronomer, musician and engineer named Abbas ibn Firnas made several attempts to construct a flying machine. In 852 he jumped from the minaret of the Grand Mosque in Cordoba using a loose cloak stiffened with wooden struts. He hoped to glide like a bird. He didn’t. But the cloak slowed his fall, creating what is thought to be the first parachute, and leaving him with only minor injuries. In 875, aged 70, having perfected a machine of silk and eagles’ feathers he tried again, jumping from a mountain. He flew to a significant height and stayed aloft for ten minutes but crashed on landing — concluding, correctly, that it was because he had not given his device a tail so it would stall on landing. Baghdad international airport and a crater on the Moon are named after him. (5) Washing and bathing are religious requirements for Muslims, which is perhaps why they perfected the recipe for soap which we still use today. The ancient Egyptians had soap of a kind, as did the Romans who used it more as a pomade. But it was the Arabs who combined vegetable oils with sodium hydroxide and aromatics such as thyme oil. One of the Crusaders’ most striking characteristics, to Arab nostrils, was that they did not wash. Shampoo was introduced to England by a Muslim who opened Mahomed’s Indian Vapour Baths on Brighton seafront in 1759 and was appointed Shampooing Surgeon to Kings George IV and William IV. (6) Distillation, the means of separating liquids through differences in their boiling points, was invented around the year 800 by Islam’s foremost scientist, Jabir ibn Hayyan, who transformed alchemy into chemistry, inventing many of the basic processes and apparatus still in use today — liquefaction, crystallisation, distillation, purification, oxidisation, evaporation and filtration. As well as discovering sulphuric and nitric acid, he invented the alembic still, giving the world intense rosewater and other perfumes and alcoholic spirits (although drinking them forbidden, in Islam). Ibn Hayyan emphasised systematic experimentation and was the founder of modern chemistry. (7) The crank-shaft is a device which translates rotary into linear motion and is central to much of the machinery in the modern world, not least the internal combustion engine. One of the most important mechanical inventions in the history of humankind, it was created by an ingenious Muslim engineer called al-Jazari to raise water for irrigation. His Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (1206) shows he also invented or refined the use of valves and pistons, devised some of the first mechanical clocks driven by water and weights, and was the father of robotics. Among his 50 other inventions was the combination lock. (8) Quilting is a method of sewing or tying two layers of cloth with a layer of insulating material in between. It is not clear whether it was invented in the Muslim world or whether it was imported there from India or China. However, it certainly came to the West via the Crusaders. They saw it used by Saracen warriors, who wore straw-filled quilted canvas shirts instead of armour. As well as a form of protection, it proved an effective guard against the chafing of the Crusaders’ metal armour and was an effective form of insulation — so much so that it became a cottage industry back home in colder climates such as Britain and Holland. (9) The pointed arch so characteristic of Europe’s Gothic cathedrals was an invention borrowed from Islamic architecture. It was much stronger than the rounded arch used by the Romans and Normans, thus allowing the building of bigger, higher, more complex and grander buildings. Other borrowings from Muslim genius included ribbed vaulting, rose windows and dome-building techniques. Europe’s castles were also adapted to copy the Islamic world’s — with arrow slits, battlements, a barbican and parapets. Square towers and keeps gave way to more easily defended round ones. The architect of Henry V’s castle was a Muslim. (10) Many modern surgical instruments are of exactly the same design as those devised in the 10th century by a Muslim surgeon called al-Zahrawi. His scalpels, bone saws, forceps, fine scissors for eye surgery and many of the 200 instruments he devised are recognisable to a modern surgeon. It was he who discovered that catgut used for internal stitches dissolves away naturally (a discovery he made when his monkey ate his lute strings) and that it can be also used to make medicine capsules. In the 13th century, another Muslim medic named Ibn Nafis described the circulation of the blood, 300 years before William Harvey discovered it. Muslim doctors also invented anaesthetics of opium and alcohol mixes and developed hollow needles to suck cataracts from eyes in a technique still used today. (11) The windmill was invented in 634 for a Persian caliph and was used to grind corn and draw up water for irrigation. In the vast deserts of Arabia, when the seasonal streams ran dry, the only source of power was the wind which blew steadily from one direction for months. Mills had six or 12 sails covered in fabric or palm leaves. It was 500 years before the first windmill was seen in Europe. (12) The technique of inoculation was not invented by Jenner and Pasteur but was devised in the Muslim world and brought to Europe from Turkey by the wife of the English ambassador to Istanbul in 1724. Children in Turkey were vaccinated with cowpox to fight the deadly smallpox at least 50 years before the West discovered it. (13) The fountain pen was invented for the Sultan of Egypt in 953 after he demanded a pen which would not stain his hands or clothes. It held ink in a reservoir and, as with modern pens, fed ink to the nib by a combination of gravity and capillary action. (14) The system of numbering in use all round the world is probably Indian in origin but the style of the numerals is Arabic and first appears in print in the work of the Muslim mathematicians al-Khwarizmi and al-Kindi around 825. Algebra was named after al-Khwarizmi’ s book, Al-Jabr wa-al-Muqabilah, much of whose contents are still in use. The work of Muslim maths scholars was imported into Europe 300 years later by the Italian mathematician Fibonacci. Algorithms and much of the theory of trigonometry came from the Muslim world. And Al-Kindi’s discovery of frequency analysis rendered all the codes of the ancient world soluble and created the basis of modern cryptology. (15) Ali ibn Nafi, known by his nickname of Ziryab (Blackbird) came from Iraq to Cordoba in the 9th century and brought with him the concept of the three-course meal — soup, followed by fish or meat, then fruit and nuts. He also introduced crystal glasses (which had been invented after experiments with rock crystal by Abbas ibn Firnas). (16) Carpets were regarded as part of paradise by mediaeval Muslims, thanks to their advanced weaving techniques, new tinctures from Islamic chemistry and highly developed sense of pattern and arabesque which were the basis of Islam’s non-representationa l art. In contrast, Europe’s floors were distinctly earthly, not to say earthy, until Arabian and Persian carpets were introduced. In England, as Erasmus recorded, floors were “covered in rushes, occasionally renewed, but so imperfectly that the bottom layer is left undisturbed, sometimes for 20 years, harbouring expectoration, vomiting, the leakage of dogs and men, ale droppings, scraps of fish, and other abominations not fit to be mentioned”. Carpets, unsurprisingly, caught on quickly. (17) The modern cheque comes from the Arabic “saqq”, a written vow to pay for goods when they were delivered, to avoid money having to be transported across dangerous terrain. In the 9th century, a Muslim businessman could cash a cheque in China drawn on his bank in Baghdad. (18) By the 9th century, many Muslim scholars took it for granted that the Earth was a sphere. The proof, said astronomer Ibn Hazm, “is that the Sun is always vertical to a particular spot on Earth”. It was 500 years before that realisation dawned on Galileo. The calculations of Muslim astronomers were so accurate that in the 9th century they reckoned the Earth’s circumference to be 40, 253.4km — less than 200km out. Al-Idrisi took a globe depicting the world to the court of King Roger of Sicily in 1139. (19) Though the Chinese invented saltpetre gunpowder, and used it in their fireworks, it was the Arabs who worked out that it could be purified using potassium nitrate for military use. Muslim incendiary devices terrified the Crusaders. By the 15th century they had invented both a rocket, which they called a “self-moving and combusting egg”, and a torpedo — a self-propelled pear-shaped bomb with a spear at the front which impaled itself in enemy ships and then blew up. (20) Mediaeval Europe had kitchen and herb gardens, but it was the Arabs who developed the idea of the garden as a place of beauty and meditation. The first royal pleasure gardens in Europe were opened in 11th-century Muslim Spain. Flowers which originated in Muslim gardens include the carnation and the tulip