Mass Extinctions, Evolutionary Leaps, and the Virus-Information Connection

[Benjamin]

Ahh! 460 years. Now I see. Thanks Pierre!

let’s have a look at the official chronology, because it has, serious repercussions

-...chronology because it has serious... (No commas needed.)

Spewing ash, Vesuvius spewed a deadly cloud of ash and gases

- Delete.

The eruption released 100,000 times the thermal energy of the atomic bomb of Hiroshima.

- The eruption released 100,000 times more thermal energy then the Hiroshima bomb. (Possible alternative)

What the point of reporting of more “rumbling”.

- What's the point of reporting "rumbling"?

That’s substantially what Mike Baillie proposes in his paper “Volcanoes, ice cores and tree rings; one story or two?”

- That's fundamentally what... (Did you mean this word? If not, then disregard.)
(and)
-...rings: One... (Changed to as it is written in the reference list (#15))

In the pdf, references 8 & 9 are listed at the bottom the following page. Is there a way to put them on the same page? I understand that formatting might not allow for this.

 

[Pierre]

That is another strange thing to me that so many events have no trace so I'm asking, if you know, where/when do the original claims/recordings come from ?

Chroniclers who wrote about the alleged events centuries afterwards (from 8th Century and later). There is no original manuscript contemporary with these events.

That too, seems odd because it was supposed to be the Roman warm period.

The Roman warm period was only 0.1 C warmer than the average:

 

[Jebra]

The estimated VEI[11] was 5 on a scale of 6

That should read 5 on a scale of 8 (according to wikipedia).

 

[Hi_Henry]

Chapter 18: The Black Death​

View attachment 54549
Peter Bruegel
The Triumph of Death – (oil panel - c. 1562)​

Very interesting. The speed of spreading is down right amazing. When the hypothesis of a comet was brought up I though to myself ,

"Perhaps the Earth was passing a particular space in the Universe filled with matter containing viruses from a different world. The passage of the Earth would sweep unnoticed what was out there through the atmosphere in the form of meteorites or micrometeorites. This would be sort of like dust entering a room from a dust storm, spread everywhere by the winds."

Viruses -- lots of them -- are falling from the sky

An astonishing number of viruses are circulating around the Earth's atmosphere -- and falling from it -- according to new research. The study marks the first time scientists have quantified the viruses being swept up from the Earth's surface into the free troposphere, beyond Earth's weather...

www.sciencedaily.com

Comment related to a discussion of if viruses could come to Earth from Outer Space.

Molecular biology is really complex and a never-ending source of surprises. No-one would have expected infectious proteins until they were discovered for example (Prions), or infectious cancers (Clonally transmissible cancer). I think the opposite is true here. The fact that they have evolved together is the reason there are so many different organisms that co-exist on Earth.
– uhoh
Jan 21, 2018 at 19:33

 

[Pierre]

Very interesting. The speed of spreading is down right amazing. When the hypothesis of a comet was brought up I though to myself ,

"Perhaps the Earth was passing a particular space in the Universe filled with matter containing viruses from a different world. The passage of the Earth would sweep unnoticed what was out there through the atmosphere in the form of meteorites or micrometeorites. This would be sort of like dust entering a room from a dust storm, spread everywhere by the winds."

Viruses -- lots of them -- are falling from the sky

An astonishing number of viruses are circulating around the Earth's atmosphere -- and falling from it -- according to new research. The study marks the first time scientists have quantified the viruses being swept up from the Earth's surface into the free troposphere, beyond Earth's weather...

www.sciencedaily.com

Thanks for the resources. This topic is dealt with in Chapter 22: Meteorites carrying micro-organisms

 

[Pierre]

That should read 5 on a scale of 8 (according to wikipedia).

Already corrected in the master file. Not in the pdf and the online version.

 

[Eboard10]

Great article @Pierre! The letter of Pliny the Younger represents the only contemporary account of the supposed Vesuvius eruption in 79 AD but the manuscript containing that specific letter was only discovered many centuries later in Verona with some evidence that the event described wasn't even referring to Vesuvius. I will try to make a post about it in the coming days as I'm still doing some reading on it.

Regarding the re-dating of the ice core chronology, I think that the 536 AD event already takes into account the 7-years difference compared to the previously erroneous GICC05 timescale that was dating the event in 529 AD. As explained by Jonny McAneney in Deep Tusk Talk:

It also means that the cause of the the AD 536 and 540 tree ring events are now known to be due to large volcanic eruptions. In the erroneously dated GICC05 timescale there were eruptions in 529 and 533, which when moved forward 7 years (to correct for the offset) as proposed by Baillie (2007, 2010), Baillie and McAneney (2015) and confirmed by Sigl et al. (2015), resulted in these two volcanic horizons moving to 536 and 540.

In that case, the difference between the purported 79 AD eruption and the real one in 536 AD would be of 457 years.

 

[Pierre]

Great article @Pierre! The letter of Pliny the Younger represents the only contemporary account of the supposed Vesuvius eruption in 79 AD but the manuscript containing that specific letter was only discovered many centuries later in Verona with some evidence that the event described wasn't even referring to Vesuvius. I will try to make a post about it in the coming days as I'm still doing some reading on it.

Good find! I ignored the alleged letter of Pliny didn't refer to a Vesuvius eruption. Do you have a source for the information?

Regarding the re-dating of the ice core chronology, I think that the 536 AD event already takes into account the 7-years difference compared to the previously erroneous GICC05 timescale that was dating the event in 529 AD. As explained by Jonny McAneney in Deep Tusk Talk:


It also means that the cause of the the AD 536 and 540 tree ring events are now known to be due to large volcanic eruptions. In the erroneously dated GICC05 timescale there were eruptions in 529 and 533, which when moved forward 7 years (to correct for the offset) as proposed by Baillie (2007, 2010), Baillie and McAneney (2015) and confirmed by Sigl et al. (2015), resulted in these two volcanic horizons moving to 536 and 540.


In that case, the difference between the purported 79 AD eruption and the real one in 536 AD would be of 457 years.

Thank you. I was aware of the 7 years offset. For a simplicity sake, I didn't dwell into it. Maybe I will clarify this point in the next chapter.

 

[Benjamin]

For a simplicity sake, I didn't dwell into it.

- For simplicity sake, I didn't delve into it. (Stop it, Benjamin! Stop it! Switch off! )

 

[Eboard10]

Good find! I ignored the alleged letter of Pliny didn't refer to a Vesuvius eruption. Do you have a source for the information?

The post is quite lengthy but I have included all the information I looked at so far and tried to make some sense out of it. It needs a lot of editing, cleaning up and re-thinking but there is hopefully some information that could be useful.

History of Pliny's Letters​

The letters of Pliny the Younger are supposedly composed of a total of 10 books and have been handed down to us in 3 main groups:

• 10-book collection / 100 letters
• 9-book collection
• 8-book collection

During the Middle Ages, the 10-book collection was the only one in circulation but, by then, the entire collection had been lost and only the first 100 letters from books 1-5 were available.

It wasn’t until 1419 that many of the remaining letters were discovered when Italian humanist Guarino Veronese, who had recently moved to Verona, was shown Pliny’s works in the Capitular Library of Verona which contained books 1-7 and 9 (8-book collection), and went on to share the letters with other literates of the time in Italy. The letters describing the Vesuvius eruption are found in Book VI.16 and VI.20, hence they were not available to the public before the Veronese manuscript was discovered.

In his letter to Gualdo, where Guarino announces the discovery of the manuscript, he clearly mentions that the letters need revisioning. According to Elmer Truesdell Merrill, it’s likely that Guarino didn’t share the original version of the manuscript but distributed the revised one which was then copied by the other scholars before disappearing:

Of the Veronese tradition of the Letters I have treated in an earlier article in this journal,' and I have indicated there and elsewhere that there is no other source for the extant eight-book tradition of the Letters than this one MS, which had been lying in the chapter library at Verona since at least the tenth century. But Guarino found that it needed much critical revision, and to this he set himself with great zeal. He put off his eager friends, who wanted a glimpse of the new wonder that had brought to light more than twice as many letters of Pliny as had heretofore been known, and when he finally did lend his MS around, I think there is good reason to judge from his own correspondence, and from the condition of the now extant MSS of the eight-book class, that it was his corrected copy and not the original that was supplied. The eight-book text that was spread abroad during the rest of the fifteenth century had generally as its basis the Guarinian recension of the Verona archetype and not that archetype itself.

It's note clear which parts of the letters were edited by Guarino, but the story doesn't end with him.

What we do know from the records is that during the previous century, two authors had already access to Pliny’s letters in the Capitular Library of Verona. The first one was the author of the Flores moralium auctoritatum, composed around 1329 and attributed to Guglielmo de Pastrengo, a jurist, politician and writer who also befriended the famous Italian poet Petrarca. In it, he quotes extensively sentences of the letters, including some from books 6 and 7. The second author was Giovanni de Matociis, known as the Mansionarius, a notary and writer who composed several works, among which a compilation of the history of Roman emperors called Hitsoria Imperialis that he wrote during the 1310s, and a biographical note own the two Pliny’s called Breuis adnotatio de duobus Plinii. This latter work is particularly relevant as it’s the first time an author distinguishes between Pliny the Younger and Pliny the Elder. Prior to that, it was assumed that only one Pliny existed.

In her paper entitled On the Eight-Book Tradition of Pliny's Letters in Verona, Merrill examines in detail the letters and the works written by the two 13th century authors and also makes these very interesting remarks about the differences between Mansionarius’ Historia Imperialis and the Adnotatio:

In the Historia Pliny is said to have been governor of Syria at the time of the persecution; in the Adnotatio he is termed praeses Hispaniarum. The author does not feel called upon to comment on the disagreement between his own utterances, and, indeed, might be supposed to be serenely unconscious that any disagreement exists. Again, in the same paragraph of the Adnotatio he quotes "Suetonius Tranquillus" as authority for the statement that the elder Pliny was smothered under the ashes of Etna, and yet calmly refers to Plin. Ep. vi. 16, which he must have known gives quite a different story. The Mansionarius certainly was aware that Campania is not Sicily, and Vesuvius is not Etna. But, as was the case with Vincent in the instance cited, the different sections of his doubtless somewhat overloaded memory were not always geared together. He could at any given moment set down what happened to stand in his immediate source, without thinking of correcting it by his other knowledge. That is certainly what he did more than once in the Adnotatio; it is probably what he did in the given passage of the Historia.

So the author who had access to Pliny’s letters, in one of his works states that Pliny was governor of Syria but in the other he goes on to say that he was President of Spain. He then also remarks that Pliny the Elder died under the ashes of Etna, not Vesuvius! What’s going on here? Was he really that forgetful to confuse one volcano with the other and one governorship over the other? What’s more, Giovanni de Matociis makes another unusual remark in the Adnotatio. As pointed out by Merrill:

It is worth while to notice yet another point. Vincent of Beauvais had not earlier been acquainted with Pliny's Letters, and speaks of his new knowledge with the natural pleasure of a discoverer (eiusdem [Plinit] epistulas ad diuersos circiter centum reperi). The Mansionarius, on the other hand, mentions the eight books of the Letters quite unconcernedly, as he naturally would a work that had been represented by a MS in his Chapter Library for an indefinite time, and was by no means a new thing to him, nor, as he supposed, would be, in other copies, to other students. It was apparently not a source that he thought unique. He was of course aware that Vincent of Beauvais, and plenty of other mediaeval writers, copying from one another, had confused the two Plinies, and he thought it worth while to write a brief biographical note to guard against that error for the future. But he professed to have no newly discovered material. Any diligens lector, he says, reading Pliny's Letters and "the other writers mentioned above" - Jerome, Beda, Vincent, Hugo, Eusebius, and other historians - could readily inform himself on the topic concerned. It is to me quite inconceivable that he should write in this way, if, after long years of study and practice as a historian, in the course of which he had repeated vague statements about Pliny without first-hand knowledge, he had suddenly come upon a MS of the Letters.

So the same author who wrote a note warning the other writers about the fact that there were actually two Pliny’s rather than one, as believed at the time, writes about the eight-book manuscript as if any other scholar would know about its existence and its contents when in fact, the writers of the time only had access to the 100 letters from the first 5 books and were only made privy of the more extensive 8-book version in 1419 with the announcement made by Guarino Veronese quote above.

Also, why did it take almost another century before the 8-book version was re-discovered and made available to scholars across Europe? It's interesting to note that Guarino didn't find Pliny's works in the library by himself but was pointed out to him by someone.

"The day before yesterday, some manuscripts of the wondrous custom were pointed out to me, almost everything sacred. I have obtained one among him, in which you will delight in hearing, just as I myself in watching. The letters of Pliny are of special veneration; his face was very beautiful in letters, and was splendidly flourishing among the wrinkles of years, and, as Virgil said, "Old age is raw and green."

The Eruption of 79 AD​

Now reading the letters written by Pliny the Younger addressed to Tacitus describing the now famous day of the eruption, there are some aspects of the story that stand out as being out of place, not accounting for he fact that the towns of Pompei and Herculaneum aren't even mentioned.

One such example is the following text describing the moment Pliny the Elder first notices the plume coming from the volcano from his place in Miseno:

He had just taken a turn in the sun and, after bathing himself in cold water, and making a light luncheon, gone back to his books: he immediately arose and went out upon a rising ground from whence he might get a better sight of this very uncommon appearance. A cloud, from which mountain was uncertain, at this distance (but it was found afterwards to come from Mount Vesuvius), was ascending, the appearance of which I cannot give you a more exact description of than by likening it to that of a pine tree

As noted by blogger Andreas:

One can assume that the explanation (afterwards it was known to have been Vesuvius) is a later interpolation. Why? If you are in Miseno you can not be confusing Vesuvius with any other mountain. Vesuvius from there is in full view and Pliny’s uncle did not have to climb to a higher place to see it. All the more so, because at such a distance one hundred meters difference in height of the observation point above sea level do not play any significant role in improving the view.

http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0810Miseno.jpg

Here, Andreas suggests that the town described by Pliny may not be Miseno but instead Messina in Sicily, due to the similarity of the names and the fact that it’s harder to distinguish Mount Etna from Messina compared to Mount Vesuvius from Miseno. While that is certainly possible, I would be more inclined to suggest that the actual city being referred to is Milazzo (Mylea in latin), a town on the northern coast of Sicily that, unlike Messina, used to be a Roman naval base, an important aspect given that Pliny the Elder was supposedly a naval commander:

In 260 BC the waters of Mylae once again became the scene of battles, with the outbreak of the First Punic War, in which Caio Duilio's naval triumph over Annibale Barca's army of Carthaginians took place. This allowed the affirmation of the Roman hegemony on the sea. In 36 BC a further decisive battle took place between the Emperor Octavian and Sextus Pompey. The city became an important naval base, so much so that the Roman Emperor granted civic recognition with the eagle and with the motto "Aquila mari imposita - Sexto Pompeo surpassed". Under the dominion of the Byzantines, Milazzo was one of the first bishops in Sicily.

In fact, when looking from Milazzo, it is not that easy to distinguish Mount Etna from other mountains as shown in the picture below:

Another point substantiating the idea that the scene of the eruption was more likely in Sicily than in Campania is provided by Pliny:

There had been noticed for many days before a trembling of the earth, which did not alarm us much, as this is quite an ordinary occurrence in Campania;

While the region of Campania is indeed a seismic zone, it is not to the point where tremblings can be perceived as an “ordinary occurrence”. A report published by the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology shows the seismic risk hazard curves for the country, by probability of surplus quakes over a period of 50 years:



As you can see, the area surrounding Milazzo and Mount Etna has a much higher seismic risk compared to the Neapolitan coast.

In his second letter, Pliny the Younger describes a cloud that covers the island of Capri along with the promontory of Miseno, two places that are located in different directions compared to Vesuvius.

The sea seemed to roll back upon itself, and to he driven from its banks by the convulsive motion of the earth; it is certain at least the shore was considerably enlarged, and several sea animals were left upon it. On the other side, a black and dreadful cloud, broken with rapid, zigzag flashes, revealed behind it variously shaped masses of flame: these last were like sheet-lightning, but much larger. Upon this our Spanish friend [remember Mansionarius saying that Pliny the Elder had been president of Hispania?], whom I mentioned above, addressing himself to my mother and me with great energy and urgency: " If your brother," he said, "if your uncle be safe, he certainly wishes you may be so too; but if he perished, it was his desire, no doubt, that you might both survive him: why therefore do you delay your escape a moment?" We could never think of our own safety, we said, while we were uncertain of his. Upon this our friend left us, and withdrew from the danger with the utmost precipitation. Soon afterwards, the cloud began to descend, and cover the sea. It had already surrounded and concealed the island of Capri and the promontory of Misenum.

When looking at the scene from Miseno on the Neapolitan coast, one would be looking at the sea in the same direction as Mount Vesuvius from where one can safely assume the "black and dreadful cloud broken with rapid zigzag flashes" was originating, so saying that the cloud was on the other side of the sea would hardly reflect the scene as seen from Miseno. Nor would saying that the cloud starts surrounding the island of Capri and the promontory of Miseno which are in different directions.

If one were instead to picture the scene from the promontory of Milazzo in Sicily, the description suddenly makes more sense with the sea facing opposite Mount Etna when viewed from the coastal town, and with the island of Lipari in sight further north.

Mount Etna Historical Eruptions​

Historical accounts of eruptions of Mount Etna during Ancient Rome have been recorded by several writers of the time. The main ones observed span the time between 140 BC and 40 AD according to the accepted chronology, spanning a period of circa 180 years. If we include the eruption of 79 AD, we are looking at a period of circa 220 years. We'll come back to this in a moment.



A paper published in 2007 examines the written documents pertaining to the historical eruptions of Mount Etna and compares them via magnetic dating of lava flows and cinder cones and other radio-chronology measures to verify the accuracy of the dating of historical eruptions.

The findings of the paper may surprise readers well versed in Ancient Rome:

we found that 80% of the “historically dated” flows and cones prior to the 1700s are usually several hundreds of years older than recorded, the discrepancies sometimes exceeding a millennium. This is proper the case for volcanics presumed of the “1651 east” (actually ∼1020), “1595” (actually two distinct flows, respectively, ∼1200 and ∼1060), “1566” (∼1180), “1536” (two branches dated ∼1250 and ∼950), “1444” (a branch dated ∼1270), “1408” (lower branches dated ∼450 and ∼350), “1381” (∼1160), “1329” (∼1030), “1284” (∼1450 and ∼700), “1169 or 812” (∼1000) eruptions. Conversely, well-preserved cones and flows that are undated on the maps were produced by recent eruptions that went unnoticed in historical accounts, especially during the Middle Ages. For the few eruptions that are recorded between A.D. 252 and 750 B.C., none of their presumed lava flows shows a DGF in agreement with that existing at their respective dates of occurrence, most of these flows being in fact prehistoric. The cinder cones of Monpeloso (presumed “A.D. 252”) and Mt. Gorna (“394 B. C.”), although roughly consistent magnetically and radio- chronologically with their respective epochs, remain of unspecified age because of a lack of precision of the DGF reference curve at the time. It is concluded that at the time scale of the last millennia, Mount Etna does not provide evidence of a steady-state behavior. Periods of voluminous eruptions lasting 50 to 150 years (e.g., A.D. 300–450, 950– 1060, 1607–1669) are followed by centuries of less productive activity, although at any time a violent outburst may occur.

Adding to this, the authors analysed the magnetic directions and possible ages of historically undated lavas flows and pyroclastic cones. Of these, two samples were dated to circa 550 AD with a high degree of confidence. This suggests that an eruption also occurred around 550 AD, give or take a few decades.



We know from both ice core records and dendrochronology that a series of large eruptions took place in 536 AD and 540 AD. @Pierre shows how Procopius, in The Gothic War, notes an explosive eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 536 AD.

Given the above information, we can infer with a certain degree of confidence that Mount Etna may have also been one of the volcanoes to erupt in that period. If we now take the historical period spanning 140 BC to 79 AD mentioned before and shift the timeline so that the end matches the 536 AD event, we have a start for the period of increased volcanic activity of Mount Etna of 317 AD. This matches quite nicely with the period of voluminous eruptions outlined in the paper of 300-450 AD and would support the lack of evidence of any substantial and continual eruptions at the turn of the first millennium.

Going back to Pliny’s letter, can be infer anything from all this?

Was the story made up by a medieval writer claiming the letter to belong to Pliny, added to a compilation of real letters and then discovered as a new manuscript and subsequently modified by the copyists. Or was the text describing a real event about an eruption that may have taken place in Sicily or Campania (or both) around 536 AD and which was later modified to reflect the belief of the writers in later times regarding the time and place of the event?

 

[Altair]

Krakatao

-> Krakatoa. See wiki.

 

[Pierre]

Apologies for the delay. The added 460 years hypothesis being rather new, I had to write this chapter virtually from scratch. It's not perfect, but here it is. It is presented in two posts because it is too long.​

​

Chapter 20: Society before and after the plague of Justinian​

Conditions before the Plague of Justinian​

The years before the advent of the Plague of Justinian were marked by the worst tyranny imaginable. I extensively described the situation in a previous book[1]. A few words from Belisarius[2] might suffice to sum up the nature of Justinian and his regime:

That Justinian was not a man, but a demon, as I have said, in human form, one might prove by considering the enormity of the evils he brought upon mankind.[3]

The Nikka riots ca. 532 AD might illustrate the deleterious socio-political context under Justinian’s reign. These were the most violent riots in the history of Constantinople, with half of city being destroyed and thirty thousand rioters killed[4].

Painting depicting the Nika Riots​

Only four years later, cometary events started ca. 540 AD and their consequences, including the Plague of Justinian almost obliterated Europe.

Extensive studies of the available evidence show that, during the 6th century A.D., any kind of human activity beyond basic survival vanished. Furthermore, between the 7th and the 9th centuries, human activity in virtually all the Roman Empire was virtually inexistent:

Houses: Building regressed from numerous elaborate stone houses to scattered wooden shacks.[5]

Metal: This flourishing industry during the Roman Empire ceased to exist. It was only during the 16th Century – a full 1,000 years later – that the level of industrial activity prior to the fall of Rome would be once more attained.[6]

Pottery: Widespread and elaborate products became very rare and progress stagnated so much that it’s impossible to distinguish 7th-century ceramics from those produced two centuries later.[7]

Ecclesiastical buildings: The very few churches built during this period were more than ten times smaller than the 4th-century St. Peter’s Basilica of Rome.[8] Only the cathedrals of the 11th century would attain similar sizes.

Farming and warfare: profound stagnation in both these fields for three centuries.[9]

Coinage: Sharp drop in the quality and quantity of coins in most regions of the Empire.[10]

Written documents: almost totally absent for three centuries.[11]

© Ward-Perkins
Settlements North of Rome, c. 100 AD (Left) and 5th to 8th century (Right)​

Conditions after the Plague of Justinian​

One of reasons to add 460 years is because this gave plenty of ‘time’ to establish a whole genealogy of Popes and Saints. This provided almost 5 centuries of in-interrupted historical legitimacy, until dozens of Saints[12] and Popes[13] were proven to be entirely mythical.

If 460 years were added to the official chronology, then Paul was right he said to the Corinthians – which is dated from 43-46 AD[14]:

I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away[15]

It would put St Paul’s end of the world statement a mere 30 years before the 540 AD cometary events. It would also put Julius Caesar’s death only 120 years (only five generations) before the 540 AD catastrophes:

(c) Sott.net
Revised timeline from Caesar to Charlemagne​

The similarities between Julius Caesar and Saint Paul moral values are striking. For decades Saint Paul preached love as immortalized by this famous quote:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.[16]

Likewise Julius Caesar’s life was imbued with mercy, clemency and forgiveness:

It’s commonly supposed that Julius Caesar's celebrated clemency toward his fellow citizens was perceived by his contemporaries not as a virtue, but rather as a manifestation of his tyrannical power. Far from welcoming his clemency as a sign of generosity or benevolence, the senatorial aristocracy in fact resented it deeply. [17]

Actually, Julius Caesar’s mercy might have led to its own downfall:

Caesar’s solution was bold and unprecedented and, although fatally flawed, rich in lessons for today’s leaders: he went easy on his former opponents, and in so doing created a power dynamic in his administration that eventually led to his downfall.[18]

This similarity between Julius Caesar and Paul is even more puzzling that it took place in a world virtually foreign to these virtues[19]. Until then the Roman Empire was a place of widespread “religious” human sacrifices[20], of decimated[21] legions[22] and of gladiators, wild animals and condemned criminals killing each other for entertainment of the audience[23]. The only monotheistic religion was venerating a self-proclaimed jealous and vengeful god[24].

That might be why some authors [25] suggested that Paul’s inspiration was Julius Caesar.

We know that Julius Caesar adored by its troops. Actually during his life, he was already divinized. The Senate had put up a statue of Julius Caesar, with an inscription declaring him a demi-god[26]. Statues were set up to Caesar himself, as “Sol Invictus” (unconquered god)[27]. Caesar was accorded a house at public expense which was built like a temple; his image was paraded with those of the gods[28]. The month Quinctilis was renamed July, in his honor (as June was named for Juno[29]). A special priest, a flamen, was ordained for him. To be served by a flamen would rank Caesar not only as divine, but as an equal of Quirinus, Jupiter, and Mars.[30] In Cicero's account, the living Caesar's honors in Rome were already and unambiguously those of a full-blown god[31]. Caesar's name as a living divinity was Divus Julius[32].

He was killed on the Ides of March (15th March), resurrected as god on the Liberalia (17th March), and was interred on 19 March[33]. After his betrayal and his assassination, Julius Caesar’s divinization grew even more.

The sighting of what may be the brightest comet[34] in recorded history during the Games held in his honor four months after his the assassination was interpreted by Romans as one more confirmation Julius Caesar’s divine nature.

In Rome, a temple in homage of Divus Julius was built. There were crosses, specifically on the door and the comet representation. A Latin cross can be seen in the brass boss pattern on the central door (top right corner of the image below) and the comet is formed from two crosses (+ and X)[35]:

© Leone M. Jennarelli
Reconstruction of the Temple of Divus Julius
Top left: magnification of the door and its cross​

Notice the uncanny similarity between the representation of Caesar’s comet on the frontispiece of Divus Julius temple and the Rho-Chi cross and the symbol of the resurrection of Jesus Christ[36]:

© Sott.net
Comparison between the representation of Caesar’s Comet and the Rho Chi cross​

The temple dedicated to Divus Julius in Rome was not an exception. Numerous temples – called Caesarea – dedicated to Divus Julius were founded in Caesarian colonies[37].

Coincidently or not, there is almost a perfect match between the battle and the conquest made by Julius Caesar (and soldiers left around the places, for example in settlements or in colonies) and the spread of Paleochristianity:

© Sott.netLeft: Roman Empire extant and major battles under Julius Caesar
Right: dark purple, extant of early Christianity (b.325 AD)​

Paleochristian populations​

Irish People

Early adoption of Paleochristianity in Ireland is attested by typical cemetery orientation and crosses:

Among the key indicators of Christianisation are cemeteries containing long cists, which are generally east–west in orientation, like Christian graves.[16] These cemeteries are suspected, or known to be Christian, because of their proximity to a church, or because they have Christian inscriptions.[17] They are found from between the end of the Roman era from the fifth century
As mentioned in the quote above and as indicated by the graph below there were already “churches” in Ireland as early the 5th century:

© Baillie
Irish Church foundation starting in 450 AD

​

In we subtract 460 years to 450 AD, it leads to 10 BC, 34 years after the Deaths of Julius Caesar and years before the mythical figure of Jesus Christ and the creation of Roman Christianity. In light of the above, shall we call these buildings churches or rather Caesarea?

A number of monastic establishments build:

The introduction of Christianity to Ireland dates to sometime before the 5th century, presumably in interactions with Roman Britain […]Monastic establishments arose in the sixth century, such as Clonard, founded by St. Finian, Clonfert by St. Brendan, Bangor by St. Comgall, Clonmacnoise by St. Kieran, Killeaney by St. Enda

We find in Irish Paleochristianity, like in most Paleochristian traditions, a controversy about Easter:

The early Christian church in Ireland incorporated pre-christian spirituality and festivals into the 'new religion', it is conceivable that the Spring Equinox festival became christianised and rebranded as Saint Patrick's day[38]
​

The Picts: (Scotland)

The Picts are believed to have survived the 540 AD cataclysm and to have saved a form of Paleochristianity. Interestingly, they were Christianized by Roman soldiers as early as the 5th century:

Christianity was probably introduced to what is now Lowland Scotland by Roman soldiers stationed in the north of the province of Britannia. After the collapse of Roman authority in 410 CE/AD, Christianity is presumed to have survived among the British enclaves in the south of what is now Scotland.[39]​

If 460 years were added to the official chronology, 410 AD corresponds to 50 BC, decades before Jesus Christs and Roman Christianity but right during Julius Caesar’s reign and his conquest of Britannia.

There were major differences between Picts’ Paleochristianity and Roman Christianity, one of which (and we are going to develop this point later) was the method of calculating Easter[40].

Saxons:

Similar early adoption of Paleochristianity by Saxon:

Previously, the favourite suggestion was a king of the East Saxons, Saebert, son of Sledd. But he died about 616 and scientific dating now suggests the burial was in the late-6th century, about 580.[…]That means it could be Saebert's younger brother Seaxa although, since the body has dissolved and only tiny fragments of his tooth enamel remain, it is impossible to know for certain. Gold foil crosses were found in the grave which indicate he was a Christian, a fact which has also surprised historians. Sue Hirst, Mola's Anglo-Saxon burial expert, said that date was remarkably early for the adoption of Christianity in England, coming before Augustine's mission to convert the country from paganism.[41]

Recently, the discovery of an exceptional hoard of Saxon precious items revealed unexpected traditions. In particular was found a very old headdress:

© Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
Seventh century bishop's headdress, the oldest ever found​

In addition to its age, the headdress revealed has other peculiarities:

[It] resembles headdresses worn by pagan Roman priests […] it is decorated with typical pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon semi-abstract animal designs as well as seven Christian crosses[…] the Latin word for a bishop's hufe was flammeolum or flammeum. Intriguingly, the pagan Roman priests, whose headgear may potentially have been the original inspiration for the type of bishop's headdress in the Staffordshire Hoard, were known as the Flamines - and that suggests a potential and tantalizing link.[42]

And is what is tantalizing link that journalist carefully omits to disclose? Remember that Julius Caesar was the first to have to a dedicated flamen (plural flamenies) priest.

Slavs:

The Slavs were Christianized as early as 7th century, but the process of replacing old Slavic religious practices began as early as the 6th century.[43]

Vikings:

Excavations in Ribe, the Viking city, in Denmark, revealed evidence of Paleochristianity ca. 700 AD:

She plucked a perfect tiny amulet from the muddy soup, marked with a Christian cross - a "huge adrenaline rush" - suggesting Christian currents were present here long before King Harald Bluetooth's declaration on the Jelling runestone circa AD965 that he had brought the religion to the Danes[44]

The discovery is contrary to the claim initiated by the Franks:

Some written sources have presented the Vikings as barbarians in order to make themselves look good. So we cannot completely trust people writing at the time: are they describing what they saw or imposing their own understanding on it?[45]

Celts:

It was a substantial part of the Celt world who practicing Paleo Christianity. Celtic Christianity is a form of Christianity that was common, across the Celtic-speaking world from the 5th Century[46].

Celtic Christianity differed substantially from Roman Christianity:

Some writers have described a distinct Celtic Church uniting the Celtic peoples and distinguishing them from adherents of the Roman Church

Paleochristianity displayed a more relaxed hierarchy compared to Roman Christianity:

In addition scholars have identified significant characteristics of the organisation of Irish and Scottish Christianity as relaxed ideas of clerical celibacy, intense secularisation of ecclesiastical institutions, and the lack of a diocesan structure.[47]​

In Celtic Christianity we find, again, the controversy about Easter:

Scholars have identified a distinctive form of Celtic Christianity, […] there were significant differences in practice with Roman Christianity, particularly the form of tonsure and the method of calculating Easter.[48]

We are going to cover this topic in a dedicated subchapter[49].

---

[1] Lescaudron, 2014. Chapter 34: “Historic evidence of a cosmic-human connection”
[2] Military commander of the Byzantine Empire under the emperor Justinian
[3] Procopius (1927) “The Secret History”, New York Covici Friede chapter XVIII
[4] Procopius (1914) “History of the Wars” Volume I: Books 1-2. Harvard University Press
[5] Ward-Perkins, Bryan (2005) “The fall of Rome”. Oxford University Press p.95 & p.111
[6] Ibid, pp. 96
[7] Niemitz, Hans-Ulrich (2000), Did the early middle age really exist p.5
[8] Ward-Perkins, op. cit., pp. 148-149
[9] Lynn White Jr. (1968) “Die mittelalterliche Technik und der Wandel der Gesellschaft” München
[10] Ward-Perkins, op. cit., pp. 110-117
[11] Hardouin, Jean, (2017) “The Prolegomena”, independently published p. 64
[12] Wikipedia contributors (2021) “List of Christian martyrs” Wikipedia
[13] Bauer, S. (2021). “Who Wrote the Lives of the Popes? Permutations of a Renaissance Myth’’ The Catholic Historical Review 107(1), 28-49
[14] Laura Knight-Jadczyk (2021) “From Paul To Mark” Red Pill Press
[15] Editors of Encyclopaedia (2021) "Letters of Paul to the Corinthians" Encyclopedia Britannica
[16] 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 New International Version (NIV)
[17] Konstan, D. (2005) “Clemency as a Virtue”. Classical Philology 100(4), 337–346.
[18] Barry Strauss (2022) “Caesar And The Dangers Of Forgiveness” Octavian Report
[19] Mert Toker “What historic/ancient civilization or society had the lowest preference for mercy?” Quora
[20] C. Schultz (2010) “The Romans and Ritual Murder” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 78(2), 516–541
[21] Decimation was a military sanction in which every tenth man in a group was executed by members of his own cohort.
[22] Peter Preskar (2020) “Decimation: the Cruelest Punishment in the Roman Army” History Of Yesterday
[23] Wikipedia contributors (2022) “Gladiator” Wikipedia
[24] Nahum 1:2 New International Version (NIV)
[25] Laura Knight-Jadczyk, 2021
[26] Lilly Ross Taylor (1931) “The Divinity of the Roman Emperor” American Philological Association p. 65
[27] Ibid
[28] Wikipedia contributors (2022) “Roman imperial cult” Wikipedia
[29] Ancient Roman goddess, the protector and special counsellor of the state
[30] Wikipedia contributors (2022) “Roman imperial cult” Wikipedia
[31] David Cannadine, Simon Price (1992) “Rituals of Royalty: Power and Ceremonial in Traditional Societies” Cambridge University Press
[32] Stefan Weinstock (1971) “Divus Julius” Clarendon Press
[33] Editors of Divus Julius (2022) “The death of Christ on Holy Wednesday” Divus Julius
[34] At its peak brightness Caesar’s Comet reached a magnitude of -4.0 making as bright as Venus
See: J.T.Ramsey et al. (1997) “The comet of 44 B.C. and Caesar's funeral games” American classical studies
[35] Ed-M (2015) “EVIDENCE Showing Crosses Were Sacred to the Romans. Before Christianity” Cruci Blog
[36] Harries (2004) “Sarcophagus with Scenes of the Passion” Museo Pio Christiano, Vatican p. 8
[37] Duncan Fishwick (1991) “The Imperial Cult in the Latin West: Studies in the Ruler Cult of the Western Provinces of the Roman Empire” Brill Publishers
[38] Editors of New Grange (2022) “Saint Patrick and the Spring Equinox” New Grange
[39] Alcock L. (2003) “Kings and Warriors, Craftsmen and Priests in Northern Britain AD 550–850” Society of Antiquaries of Scotland p. 63
[40] Alan MacQuarrie (2004) “Medieval Scotland Kingship and Nation” History Press p.52
[41] Mark Brown (2019) “Britain's equivalent to Tutankhamun found in Southend-on-Sea” The Guardian
[42] David Keys (2019) “Hoard of golden treasure stumbled upon by metal detectorist revealed to be most important Anglo-Saxon find in history” Independent
[43] Białous, Mirosław (2016) "Religion of the Proto-Slavs" Elpis
[44] Viking city: excavation reveals urban pioneers not violent raiders
[45] Brown, 2018
[46] Koch, John T. (2006) “Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO p. 431
[47] Wikipedia contributors (2021) “Christianization of Scotland” Wikipedia
[48] Wikipedia contributors (2021) “Christianization of Scotland” Wikipedia
[49] Subchapter: Controversies about spring equinox and Christmas

 

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Encore une nouvelle fois un grand merci pour le partage de votre connaissance... Tant appréciée...

Once again a big thank you for sharing your knowledge... So much appreciated...

 

[Pierre]

Chapter 20 (2nd part)​

​

Charlemagne​

As we have seen the people far enough from conflagration survived (for example Scandinavia, Great Britain, Eastern Europe, Near East, Spain) and, in some cases, prospered and spread Paleochristianity.

Meanwhile, Western Europe was a pile of rubbles. After more than two centuries of survival and stagnation, after the last plague outbreak, Western Europe re-emerged around 750 AD. But Paleochristianity as preserved by surviving populations was way different from official Christianity or Roman Christianity as spread, centuries later, by Charlemagne. This period of is called the Carolingian Renaissance:

During this period, there was an increase of literature, writing, the arts, architecture, jurisprudence, liturgical reforms, and scriptural studies.[1]

Notice the two last items: liturgical reforms and scriptural studies, does it suggest some kind of heresy? Most specifically, the most salient effect of the Carolingian Renaissance was a moral regeneration:

[The Carolingian Renaissance] had a spectacular effect on education and culture in Francia, a debatable effect on artistic endeavors, and an unmeasurable effect on what mattered most to the Carolingians, the moral regeneration of society.[2]

Regeneration implies degeneration. What is the part of the society did the Carolingians consider as degenerate?

Remember that about 460 years added the official chronology? Coincidently or not, this time difference occurs elsewhere: the reign of Charlemagne[3] began in 768 AD, and the reign of Constantine began in 306 AD[4]. The difference between those two dates is 462 years, pretty close to the hypothesized added years.

Actually, the alluded moral regeneration that marked the Carolingian Renaissance was centered on Roman Christianity in general and on Constantine in particular:

This revival used Constantine's Christian empire as its model, which flourished between 306 and 337. Constantine was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity and left behind an impressive legacy of military strength and artistic patronage[5]
Charlemagne saw himself as the new Constantine and instigated this revival by writing his Admonitio generalis (789) and Epistola de litteris colendis (c.794-797). In the Admonitio generalis, Charlemagne legislates church reform, which he believes will make his subjects more moral and in the Epistola de litteris colendis, a letter to Abbot Baugulf of Fulda, he outlines his intentions for cultural reform.[6]​

“Church reform”, “make his subjects more moral”, again we wonder about what kind of heresy was Charlemagne trying to eradicate?

A number of authors, among them Heribert Illig and Gerhard Anwander[7], doubt the historicity of Charlemagne and argue that he was a mythical figure modeled after historical Constantine.

Constantine and Charlemagne on Cologne Cathédral​

This makes sense since more or less 300 years were blank. But as demonstrated by Ward Perkins[8], blank doesn’t mean added.

Might it in fact be other way around: was a mythical Constantine modeled after the historical figure of Charlemagne? Another piece of evidence supporting this hypothesis is the forgery of the Constantine donation:

Valla showed that the document could not possibly have been written in the historical era of Constantine (4th Century) because its vernacular style dated conclusively to a later era (8th Century). One of Valla's reasons was that Mantis Gräfelfing.[9]

In other words, Constantine’s legacy was to grant supreme temporal and spiritual power to the Church, and its main proof was a forgery (probably conducted at the behest of Pepin Le Bref[10], the father of Charlemagne).

If it was not enough, according to the official narrative, Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III in 800 AD on Christmas Day[11]. 800 years, day for day, after the alleged birth of Jesus Christ. The legacy of Jesus Christ to Charlemagne and his collusion with the papacy could not be clearer.

© Friedrich Kaulbach, 1861
Imperial Coronation of Charlemagne, on December 25th, 800 AD​

Charlemagne’s reign (768-814) was one of almost continuous warfare[12]. Coincidently or not, virtually all wars directed by Charlemagne were waged against people embracing Paleochristianity:

Was Charlemagne wagging theological wars against what he considered as heathen’s beliefs? Was he imposing the law (ancient testament) where love (message of St Paul) and Mercy (Message of Julius Caesar) prevailed until then?

This is what is strongly suggested by to following passage. One thing is sure, Charlemagne acted as inquisitor maximus before the times, waged the first Crusades imposing Roman Christianity upon dissenters:

Charlemagne wanted to act like a true king of Israel. The Amalekites had dared raise their hand to betray God’s people, and it was therefore right that every last one of them should be exterminated. Jericho was taken and all those inside had to be put to the sword, including men, women, old people, and children, even the oxen, sheep, and donkeys, so that no trace would be left of them. After defeating the Moabites, David, with whom Charles liked to compare himself, had the prisoners stretch out on the ground, and two out of three were killed. This, too, was part of the Old Testament from which the king drew inspiration, and it is difficult not to discern a practical and cruelly coherent application of that model in the massacre of Verden.[13]

Indeed, the atrocities committed by Charlemagne were waged in the name of “the laws and man” and it comes from the very own words of Charlemagne’s friend and biographer Einhard:

No war ever undertaken by the Frankish people was more prolonged, more full of atrocities or more demanding of effort. The Saxons, like almost all the peoples living in Germany, are ferocious by nature. They are much given to devil worship and they are hostile to our religion. They think it no dishonor to violate and transgress the laws of God and man.[14]

Here an extensive list[15] of the Charlemagne’s wars, there are a lot, and coincidently or not, virtually all his wars were directed at people embracing Paleochristianity:

Aquitaine war (778)

The first war waged by Charlemagne but not the last. Aquitaine was stronghold of Catharism. The Cathars are attested in written form as far back as 8th century AD[16]:

© Military Wiki
Spread of the “heretics” movements​

The capitulary[17] includes several chapters that speak to a land ravaged by war. “[T]hose churches of God which have been abandoned are to be restored” […] “bishops, abbots and abbesses are to live under a holy rule”… The region must have been ruined. To begin to rebuild, Charles [Charlemagne] reiterated the rule of law, a theme he would return to again and again during his rule.[18]

Lombardy wars Conquest of Lombardy (773-774), Lombardy Rebellion (776), Lombard War (780) Beneventian War (787), Second Beneventian War (792-?)

Lombardy was a stronghold of the Bogomile /Cathars. Their doctrines have numerous resemblances to those of the the Paulicians, who influenced them, as well as the earlier Marcionites, who were found in the same areas as the Paulicians.[19]

The Paulicians are attested as far back as 660 AD[20]. It predates Charlemagne by at least one century.

Saxon Wars (771-804)

The longest and bloodiest war waged by Charlemagne. It’s during the Saxon Wars that Charlemagne perpetrated the massacre of Verden. As mentioned earlier, the Saxons held some form of Paleochristianity as early as the late-6th century.

Notice that, although being Christianized way before the Franks, the biographer of Charlemagne didn’t hesitate to demonize them:

The Saxons, like almost all the peoples living in Germany, are ferocious by nature. They are much given to devil worship and they are hostile to our religion. They think it no dishonor to violate and transgress the laws of God and man.[21]

Spanish wars (777-778), (779-812)

Was it only the Moors who were the targets of Charlemagne’s ire? One of main battles was located in Pyrenees, at the Roncevaux Pass, It opposed the Basques (Vascones) army - not the Muslims - to the Frankish army[22].

Interestingly, the Basques were first Christianized by Saxons and not by the Franks:

The Basques […] were Christianized at a par with the Germanic peoples hostile to Carolingian expansion (8th-9th century), such as the Saxons[23]

Notice also that the Vascones’ territory extended from the Atlantic Ocean, the Garonne River, one of the hotbeds of Catharism up until the 14th Century.

Breton War (786)

Britany was Christianized as early the 5th centuries by monks from Ireland[24] and we know that Ireland was one of the locations of Paleochristianity.

Bavarian War (787-788)

Bavaria was Christianized at latest during 7th Century[25] which predates Charlemagne by at least 100 years. Bavaria was one of the locations of “heresies” as indicated by the map above.

Vikings War (late 700’s)

The monastery was plundered and burned, while monks were either killed or enslaved. The Vikings began attacks along the North coast of France. Charlemagne, king of the Franks, set up a series of defenses along the coast to ward off these Viking raids.[26]

The Barbarian narrative doesn’t hold scrutiny[27]. If the Vikings were not barbarians but civilized Paleochristian people, what was the reason behind for the raids of monasteries?

Many of the earliest recording Viking raids targeted British monasteries. Some historians argue that it was revenge against the invasion of Christianity into Scandinavia that motivated these attacks[28]

Various reasons are ascribed by to Vikings for targeting monasteries. The odd thing is that all the invoked reasons ignore an obvious fact, the monasteries, especially at the time, were first and foremost, the only places where manuscripts were being written, revised and copied.

So were that Vikings raid targeting monasteries motivated by looting riches and gold as generally claimed and/or were these raids motivated by more theological reasons, indicating a struggle between Paleochristianity as held by the Vikings and Roman Christianity as proselytized by Charlemagne?

Avar War (791-796)

The Avars[29] were introduced to Orthodox Christianity as far back as the 5th century[30]. The Avars lived in what is today Hungary, where was founded Bogomilism[31].

Slavic War (798)

As seen above the Slavs were Christianized as early as the 6th century.

Croatian War (799-803)

The naval battle of opposing Julius Caesar to Pompeii took place around Taurus Island, Croatia[32]. As indicated in the map above Croatia was one major location of Bogomilism, which survived in Croatia, at least, until the 14th century as attested by this tombstone:

© Croatian School
Bogomil tombstone in Croatia, 14th-15th century​

Frankish-Byzantine War (801-810)

Byzantium was the capital of orthodox Christianity, whose major bone of contention with Roman Christianity was the calculation of the spring equinox (more on this topic soon).

Danish War (808-810)

The Danes and the Saxons were allies. Charlemagne waged war with the Danes, who had given aid and asylum to the Saxon leader Widukind in the Saxon Wars.[33]

Bohemian War (805-806) [34]

A noted for the Slavs region, the Christianization started, at the latest, during the 7th century:

At first, the Christian rite in Bohemia was the Slavic one of the Eastern Orthodox Church, but it was soon replaced by the Roman Catholic rite, introduced due to Western influences[35]

Controversies about spring equinox and Christmas​

In a small Spanish village called Bercianos de Aliste survives a most peculiar tradition:

It is well-known that the Semana Santa always reaches its climax on Good Friday, and that most traditional Christians view the processions on Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday (Resurrectio) as merely an appendix. This would be a strange attitude, since the Resurrection—which Easter is all about—is said to occur on Sunday, not on Friday. So there seem to be two chronologies at work here, the one by the book ending on Sunday, and the underlying, but apparently traditional and more ancient chronology with Christ’s death on Wednesday, his subsequent enshrinement, and the climax on Good Friday. This alternate liturgical current obviously ignores the events in the Passion narrative of the Gospel, where Christ is commonly believed to die on the Cross.[36]

Easter predates Roman Christianity[37], could it date back to the celebration of the Ides of March - Julius Caesar’s death and resurrection three days later?

This two-day offset would makes sense if one considers the original underlying chronology which is based directly on the Caesarian tradition: Caesar’s death was on a Wednesday, funeral with presentation of the effigy/crucifix on Friday.

Still today orthodox Christians have a different method of calculating the spring equinox[38] based in the Julian calendar, the calendar invented by Julius Caesar. In orthodox tradition, Holy Unction (Caesar’s death) is a Wednesday[39] and Good Friday is a Friday[40] (Caesar’s resurrection).

A similar controversy exists for the celebration of Christmas. Notice that like Easter, Christmas is a tradition that predates Roman Christianity. Already, the Romans celebrated the December 25th because it was the date of the festival of Sol Invictus[41].

Sol invictus was the official God of the late Roman Empire and the patron of Roman Soldiers[42]. Statues were set up to Julius Caesar himself, as Sol Invictus[43].

There no mention of the Jesus Christ’s date of birth in any of the Gospels. The earliest dating of Christmas was done in 192 AD:

Writing shortly after the assassination of Commodus on December 31, AD 192, Clement of Alexandria provides the earliest documented dates for the Nativity. One hundred ninety-four years, one month, and thirteen days, he says, had elapsed since then, which corresponds to a birth date of November 18 or, if the forty-nine intercalary days missing from the Alexandrian calendar are added, January 6. Moreover, "There are those who have determined not only the year of our Lord's birth, but also the day" (Stromata, I.21), including dates in April and May, as well as another day in January.[44]

Julius Caesar was born on the 12th July[45]. Coincidently or not still nowadays, a small village in Italy celebrates Christmas on the 12th July:

Christmas in Ossola is celebrated in July. For four centuries Vagna, a very small hamlet of Domodossola (Vco), has celebrated the Feast of the Child, a rite spread in the fifteenth century by the Franciscan San Bernardino da Siena who also found roots here[…]The appointment this year is for July 12. The climax of the feast, which lasts three days, is the solemn Sunday Mass with Christmas carols and the procession dül Bambin which sees the carrying statue of the Child Jesus, a work made in 1730 by the local sculptor Bartolomeo Zanini Piroia.[46]

Are the controversies and remaining traditions about spring equinox and winter solstice an indication that Roman Christianity replaced Julius Caesar by Jesus Christ? Was the latter being modeled after the former?

© Baillie
Irish Church foundations indicating a huge pulse in 540 AD​

Notice the surge in “church” foundation ca. 540 AD in Ireland. The signs were here, comets and plagues. Extra devotion was being displayed by survivors. But was this huge spike in churches building the sole result of harsh times? In a time of bare survival for many, some people build churches in troves. Did the plague of Justinian virus play a role too?

Why, during the time of Saint Paul, did Paleochristianity not really catch on? In almost 30 years (29 AD – 55 AD) of preaching, Paul gathered at most one thousand followers[47]. Julius Caesar’s cult was initially circumscribed to some of its soldiers and yet, just a few decades later, Paleochristianity had taken the periphery of Western Europe by storm.

In addition, as noted above, the central values at the core of Paleochristianity – mercy, forgiveness and love – were so foreign at the time[48]. Another major innovation was the introduction of monotheism in a world dominated for millennia by polytheism.

Might it be that the collective trauma of cometary bombardment and/or a newly introduced virus triggered this civilizational leap?

---

[1] Wikipedia contributors (2021) ‘’Carolingian Renaissance’’ Wikipedia
[2] Contreni, John G. (1984) "The Carolingian Renaissance" Cambridge University Press
[3] Wikipedia contributors (2021) “Charlemagne” Wikipedia
[4] Mark, J. J. (2019) “Donation of Constantine” World History Encyclopedia
[5] Nancy Ross (2021) “Carolingian art, an introduction” Khan Academy
[6] Ibid
[7] Heribert Illig et al. (2002) “Bayern in der Phantomzeit. Archäologie widerlegt Urkunden des frühen Mittelalters” Mantis Gräfelfing
[8] See previous subchapter “Conditions before the Plague of Justinian”
[9] Jeremy Norman (2021) “Lorenzo Valla Proves that the Donation of Constantine is a Forgery” History Of Information
[10] Ross, 2021
[11] Barraclough, G. (2022) “Holy Roman Empire” Encyclopedia Britannica
[12] Editors of medievalists (2022) “Was Charlemagne a Mass Murderer?” Medievalists
[13] Ibid
[14] Ibid
[15] Editors of History Guy (2022) “Charlemagne, King of the Franks” History Guy
[16] Philip Schaff et al. (1994) “Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers” Hendrickson Publishers
[17] A royal command
[18] Bentonian (2016) “769: Charlemagne’s first battle” The Eighth Century and All That
[19] Wikipedia contributors (2022) “Catharism” Wikipedia
[20] Editors of the Encyclopedia (1911) “Paulicians" Catholic Encyclopedia
[21] Editors of medievalists (2022) “Was Charlemagne a Mass Murderer?” Medievalists
[22] Editors of the Encyclopedia (2022) ‘’Battle of Roncevaux Pass’’ DBpedia
[23] Wikipedia contributors (2022) “History of the Basques” Wikipedia
[24] Editors de Landenweb (2022) “Brittany – Religion” Landenweb
[25] Editors of the Encyclopedia (2022) “Bavarians" Encyclopedia of World Cultures
[26] Giotto (2022) “Viking Invasions of Europe” University of Penfield
[27] Rachael Bletchly (2014) “The truth about Vikings: Not the smelly barbarians of legend but silk-clad, blinged-up culture vultures” Mirror
[28] Editors of Scandinavia Facts (2022) “Why Did the Vikings Attack Monasteries? Get the Facts” Scandinavia Facts
[29] People living in what is known today as Caucasus
[30] Wikipedia contributors (2022) “Avars (Caucasus)” Wikipedia
[31] Wikipedia contributors. (2022) “Bogomilism” Wikipedia
[32] Shahan Garo (2019) “The Remnants of Caesar’s Civil War: Naval Battle off Tauris Island” Tldr History
[33] Editors of History Guy (2022) “Charlemagne, King of the Franks” History Guy
[34] Ibid
[35] Carl Waldman, Catherine Mason (2006) “Encyclopedia of European Peoples” Infobase Publishing. p. 200
[36] Editors of Divus Julius (2022) “The death of Christ on Holy Wednesday” Divus Julius
[37] Alyson Horton
[38] ThoughtCo (2021) "How Is the Date of Easter Determined?" Learn Religions
[39] Editors of Greek Boston (2022) “Greek Orthodox Holy Wednesday (Holy Unction) Religious Service Overview” Greek Boston
[40] Editors of Wilstar (2022) “Orthodox Good Friday” Wilstar
[41] E. Tylor (1889) “Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art, and Custom” Vol. 2 John Murray p.270
[42] Editors of Digital Maps of the Ancient World (2022) “Sol Invictus” Digital Maps of the Ancient World
[43] Lilly Ross Taylor (1931) “The Divinity of the Roman Emperor” American Philological Association p. 65
[44] James Eason (2022) “Sol Invictus and Christmas” University of Chicago
[45] Toynbee, Arnold Joseph (2022) "Julius Caesar" Encyclopedia Britannica
[46] Redactors ANSA (2020) ‘’Ossola festeggia a luglio il Natale’’ ANSA ViaggiArt
[47] L. Knight-Jadczyk, 2021
[48] Mert Toker (2019) “What historic/ancient civilization or society had the lowest preference for mercy?” Quora

 

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