Further on in his book, Iamblicus expands upon the nature of the instruction received by Pythagoras in different places: ‘As to his knowledge, it is said that he learned the mathematical sciences from the Egyptians, Chaldeans and Phoenicians; for of old the Egyptians excelled in geometry, the Phoenicians in numbers and proportions, and the Chaldeans in astronomical theorems, divine rites and the worship of the Gods, other secrets concerning the course of life he received and learned from the Magi.’ Iamblicus enlarges on the above to inform us that Pythagoras made further travels to Arabia and met with the Hebrews. From all of the above, we can infer that the latter part of the 6th century BC, if not before, was a time of cultural exchange. The wise men of Persia— the Magi—met with other wise men from Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, Phoenicia, Greece and probably India and China too. They discussed Philosophy, they shared geometric theorems and taught each other their traditions concerning astronomy.
In the late 19th century another remarkable man, G.I. Gurdjieff, undertook a similar quest for knowledge. His journey began after he found some old letters hidden among the ruins of Ani, the ancient capital of Armenia. These letters, themselves many centuries old, discussed the existence of a secret brotherhood called the ‘Sarmoung’. He believed this society to have been founded in Babylon as far back as BC 2500, and was hopeful it was still operational in his own days. This extreme antiquity may be an exaggeration. However, from the evidence of Iamblicus and others, there is no doubting that ‘Magi' schools — the equivalent of the Hermetic academies of Egypt — did exist in Babylon at the time of the Persian Empire if not before. Gurdjieff later wrote a semi-autobiographical book entitled Meetings with Remarkable Men. In it he narrates the story of his search and of how in Kurdistan he was shown an ancient map of ‘pre-sand Egypt’. Though he is cagey about giving the precise location for where he found this map, he does provide clues.
Following up on these, in 1995 I was able to retrace his steps along some of the way. I discovered the place where I believe he was shown the map: an old church in the once Roman city of Nisibis—Gurdjieff anagrams this to ‘Nivssi’— on the Turkish side of the Syrian border. Suspecting that this was the area in which his Sarmoung Brotherhood was once active, I began a systematic search of Northern Mesopotamia for any ‘Magi’ relics that could provide further clues to their secrets.
Evidence of their activities was not slow in coming. Especially rewarding were several sites in Commagene, now a district in Turkey but in Jesus’ time an independent principality. Here, amidst the Antitaurus mountains, in a bend of the Euphrates river, are preserved some remarkable, astrological monuments. The most famous of these is the so-called hierothesion of Antiochus Epiphanes I, one time king of Commagene. Built on top of the highest peak of his kingdom, its principle feature is a massive tumulus of fragmented limestone that can be seen from miles around. More interesting than the mound itself is a collection of colossal statues of the gods that he commissioned to accompany it. These sit on two banks of stone thrones, one
on each side of the tumulus, watching eternally the risings and settings of sun, moon and planets.
Placed with these statues and ‘date-stamping’ the monument as a whole, is a bas-relief of a lion. However, what is most remarkable about this sculpture is not the lion itself but a collection of stars and planets arranged on and over it. These tell us that the sculpture was intended to represent the constellation of Leo and furthermore that it celebrated the date of 6th July 62 BC.
Of even greater interest than Antiochus’ hierothesion is a monument a few miles away at Arsameia: once the summer capital of Commagene. This monument, built in memory of
Antiochus' father Mithradates, features an enormous stele of a king shaking hands with the mythological god Hercules. The king is dressed in ceremonial robes that include a star-spangled chemise, a mitre-like hat with five rays emanating from it and a lion on its side. In addition the king wears a dagger-holster, with five lion heads arranged around it, and carries a long measuring rod. Next to the stele and at right angles to it is a steep rock-face carrying a Greek inscription. This explains in detail the purpose of the sanctuary: that it was built as a memorial to Mithradates and to inaugurate a new ‘birthday’ of the kings of Commagene.
Below this inscription is the most mysterious monument of all. This is a shaft, tall enough for a man to enter, 150 metres long and angled at 35º to the horizontal. Nobody knows quite why this shaft was built. It doesn’t lead anywhere and could not have functioned as a well. Thoughts that it may have been used for burials had to be dismissed when it was excavated in the 1950s and found to be entirely empty.
My immediate instinct on seeing this shaft was that it had a stellar purpose. At first I thought it might have been aligned towards the culmination of Sirius but as it faces west, this could not be the case. Then, using a computer program, I was able to ascertain that during the reign of Antiochus something very special was happening with this shaft. I saw that there were two days in the year when a ray of afternoon sunlight would illuminate its bottom. One was in the late summer: on the day when the sun was conjunct with Regulus, the ‘lion-heart’ star of Leo.
This tied in nicely with the Leonine costume of the king as shown on the nearby stele. I suspected that ‘Regulus Day’ was the new ‘birthday’ of the kings of Commagene that is spoken of in the Greek inscription.
The reason why King Antiochus adopted this as his official birthday was clearly not just because he wanted to be a Leo. It probably owed more to the fact that at the time, influenced by the Romans, he was changing over from the Helenistic (Lunar) to the the Julian (solar) calendar. This latter, which is very similar to our own Gregorian calendar, was based on the ancient Egyptian calendar. Julius Caesar adopted it after being shown its merits by Cleopatra. Thereafter it spread widely throughout the Roman world.
The significance of the Egyptian calendar is that the first day of their year was celebrated as the Birthday of Horus. This event was marked by the first dawn appearance of Sirius, the star of Horus' mother, the goddess Isis, after its seventy days of invisibility. Curiously, this occured at or near the date of the Regulus conjunction. Thus the birthday of the Kings of Commagene was symbolically similar to that of Horus.
The second important day marked by the shaft was in spring: on the day when the sun was placed over the up-stretched ‘hand’ of Orion. It seemed to me that this celebrated the assumed ascension of the soul of Mithradates to join Orion/Hercules in the sky. This seems to be the hidden message of the ‘shake-hands’ stele. That this might be so becomes clear when we consider that there is an ancient tradition concerning the Gates of Heaven.
The monuments of Commagene and other places in Mesopotamia provide strong evidence that during Roman times there were indeed secret, ‘Hermetic’, brotherhoods operating outside of Egypt. It is my belief that the three kings or ‘Magi’ mentioned in Matthews Gospel were emissaries of such a brotherhood.
[For further details about Commagene and other issues raised here, see my book Magi: the quest for a secret tradition. Details about this book can be found under the 'books' tab on the menu bar]