5 Horrifying Realities of Daily Life in Medieval Times

History has amazing highlights and the civilizations that helped build the world we know of today have a lot to take credit for. From the monolithic pyramids at Giza to the brilliant and provocative artworks of the Renaissance, you would think that living in any of the centuries when mankind was reaching for the stars is something you would want to witness and participate in, but you may want to think twice about it.

While being a badass knight might sound epic to you or being one of Socrates’ valued students is a high honor, it’s the things that happen in between the knightly duties or the lessons at school that you should take heavily into consideration. Daily life in the Medieval Ages or Ancient Rome isn’t as glammed up to be, and the things we have read in our school’s history books have been, pretty much, filtered down to suit the taste of a general, more wholesome audience. Here are five horrifying realities of daily life in the early centuries of the world!

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5:  Plumbing Problems

Wikipedia

One of the greatest inventions introduced into human civilization is indoor plumbing. It is something we take extremely for granted on a daily basis. To us, it’s just part of a routine we go through every morning. We sit, we flush, we wash, and once our business is down the drain and off to the sewer system, it is not our business anymore. As they say, out of sight, out of mind. Sadly, the same cannot be said for people living in the days preceding indoor plumbing. Voiding your bowels is an almost non-stop horror movie that you have to live through every waking day and every waking moment of your life.

Take the Ancient Romans for example. You would think that for a civilization that has pioneered a revolutionary system for irrigation through the aqueducts, they would have found a solution to their plumbing problems. At the height of their Empire, the Romans did have a way of meeting the daily demands of bowel movement through a public toilet system. However, there was no sewage management system in place when it comes to dealing with human excrement. The public toilets were also a horror show regarding hygiene, and one would already be risking his health by simply sitting on one of the latrines with pipes that lead directly to a river of poop directly below. Believe it or not, you are even at risk of catching fire using one of these public facilities because of a large amount of methane buildup that’s steaming out of each toilet seat.

The medieval age was no better. In those days, people tried to be innovative and creative regarding getting rid of their offal. Some would dig cesspits and bury their waste, but it would eventually spill over to a neighbor’s yard. One woman named Alice Wade created a sophisticated wooden pipe system that ran underneath her neighbors’ yards and home and led directly to the street where her waste would end up. It was a clever contraption up until it clogged and backed up her neighbors’ sewage and, of course, you can’t fail to notice the accumulation of poop on the street. If you think this is already horrific, most people in those days simply went in the streets or wherever it is that they need to do their business in buildings, public squares, and marketplaces.

Number 4: Traveling Can Be Tricky

Pinterest

Another everyday activity that we can freely do these days is traveling. With the convenience of modern transportation, we can safely move from one place to another no matter the distance. Traveling abroad – or even to a nearby town – back in the day, is a completely different story.
We have all seen the movies where commoners traveled armed only with a walking stick and a rucksack filled with their personal belongings. They would be lucky if they had a horse to ride. One of the most challenging parts of traveling in the ancient world was a safe and clean place to rest. In fact, many travelers had no choice but to sleep out in the open and be vulnerable to the elements and either freeze to death or be attacked by wild animals. Travelling in a group may sound like a logical way to keep safe but you would still run the risk of armed bandits who would not think twice of slitting your throat before running off with your belongings or, in a sudden, ironic twist of fate, run the risk of being robbed and murdered by your companions should conditions become rough.

Ignorance of local customs in a foreign land may also prove to be a problem. Language barriers are the obvious hurdles but in times where political disputes and territorial skirmishes abound, being misinformed of the goings on may land you a one-way ticket to prison – if you’re lucky.

It also goes without saying that food and water can be a problem when you did not plan out your supplies correctly. Food poisoning is rampant especially if you end up foraging and hunting for food that could potentially do more harm to your body than you think. An inn or a monastery are relatively safe places to find lodgings and food to eat, granted that is the elements or bandits did not get to you first. Even the most sophisticated traveling party can be susceptible to the horrors of traveling abroad. Injury and accidents are as common as the air they breathe. In one account in 1190, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I met his untimely death when he drowned crossing the Saleph river during the Third Crusade. I think it’s safe to say that, back then, if you don’t have to go anywhere important, it’s safe to stay at home.

Number 3: No Quarter for the Unemployed

Tudor Place

In any government in any country and any economic system, unemployment is a necessary evil in the cogs of industry and progress. Today, we treat the unemployed humanely and offer help in the form of welfare, career counseling, and many other programs that can help anyone get on their feet and start building a life. I wish the same could be said centuries ago especially in the Medieval Age.

For example, being unemployed in 16th Century England is somewhat considered as a criminal offense. Because the unemployed had to wander and travel from one town to the next looking for any means of income, they would often be seen by law enforcement and other locals as vagrants and are swiftly thrown in jail. Well, the lucky ones at least. More often than not, the unemployed are tied to carts and dragged around town while being flogged and whipped to a bloody pulp. Talk about motivation. However that all changed in 1547 when the flogging law was changed and, instead, a vagrant could have the option of either being branded like cattle or be sold into slavery.

By the time 1600 rolled in, a new set of laws were passed that offered rewards to people who would capture and bring in vagrants. It was, as you can assume, a terrible plan to get the jobless off the streets as most people opted to make this a lucrative form of living by simply tackling and picking up anyone they find sleeping on the streets or suspect of vagrancy.

The government was not at all evil. In some form, they did provide assistance to the poor and the jobless. However, as part of the deal, they will be asked to wear a badge with the letter “P” stitched into it to identify them in a crowd. If an individual refused to wear it, he or she would be fined an equivalent of two weeks’ wages: wages that they did not have in the first place and could not have because they don’t have any form of employment to earn it.

Number 2: Being a Woman is Real, Ridiculously Tough

Crystalinks

The Ancient World, hands down, is brimming with misogyny and testosterone that many societies – except for some that also put women in high regard as their male generals like Sparta – treat the fairer sex as second class citizens and just a means of producing offspring.
A woman’s ordeal in the ancient world begins at birth. In Athens, it was common practice for a couple to leave their new born, a female child exposed to the elements to die.

Rome is no different. Especially in poor families, parents would often choose to raise a son than a daughter saying that a female child is far too burdensome and costs a lot more money to rear. Most families who do have a female infant would opt to kill the child or leave it exposed to the elements instead.The virtue of also keeping your virginity if you were a woman back then was a matter of life and death. An Athenian man who finds out that his unmarried daughter is no longer a virgin will sell her into slavery in the blink of an eye.

Another gruesome story happened in Rome when a priestess of the goddess Vesta lost her virginity before reaching the age of 30. She was promptly buried alive; and in Israel, a woman who lost her virginity before tying the knot could be dragged into the streets and be stoned to death.

Thinking of a dream wedding? Well, if you were living in the days of the Ancient Romans and the early centuries of the Chinese and Japanese empires, you better forget it. Back then, brides were secured by abducting them through invasion, war, and whatever conquest their empires are enterprising on. In some parts of China, the kidnapping of brides was not outlawed until the 1940s. Without kidnapped brides, the Roman Empire would have probably collapsed and crumbled early with accounts of it being told in several legends such as the kidnapping of the Sabine women.

Number 1: Death by Common Cold

HealDove

It goes without saying that the field of medicine is yet to make a revolutionary step forward in the days of the ancient Greeks, Romans, and even the Medieval Ages.

In fact, most deaths that aren’t attributed to illnesses are caused by tiny injuries like cuts and scrapes that, left untreated, led to a severe infection that spread to the vital parts of the body. If a person is lucky, he gets to keep his life but lose an infected limb or two. Among women, childbirth is one of the leading causes of death because of unsanitary practices and environments. An infant is also at high risk of dying due to mishandling and various forms of bacteria present in the surroundings.

Wealth and status are no guarantee to keep you in perfect health. However, history has seen more deaths in crowded urban areas than in far off farmlands. Maybe it is because of the unsanitary conditions of the cities. For one, no one knows where to throw their poop or where to poop. The Black Plague is a result of the lack of upkeep in the cities that has cost millions of lives across Europe. Suffice to say that, with the combination of an overcrowded urban landscape and poor medical information, simply catching the common cold signs you a one way trip to the grave in a matter of days.

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Sources:

http://www.cracked.com/article_22328_5-horrific-old-time-realities-your-history-book-left-out.html

http://listverse.com/2016/11/29/10-horrible-realities-of-being-a-woman-throughout-history/

http://www.historyextra.com/feature/medieval/10-dangers-medieval-period

Mystery of the Cocaine Mummies

We live in a world telling us how to think and what to believe. Our knowledge and understandings of how the world works are rather fixed. New information is often filtered to support specific and limited perspectives. New so-called discoveries enforce such perspectives and solidify incorrect notions and narrow our mind to greater possibilities. True breakthroughs have been ridiculed, hidden, and destroyed... until now.

However, once in a while, truly groundbreaking discoveries are made by those brave pioneers free of rigid notions or preconceived expectations. Their life's research often threatens the widely accepted mainstream beliefs, which people are reluctant to reconsider. However, these astounding breakthroughs usually go unnoticed as the ruling orthodoxy in science and history subject them to outright mockery rather than reasonable discussions because a structure built on lies atop of lies is very complex and contradicts itself.

One example of such theory that could potentially be truth-changing but is regarded as unacceptable by conservative academics is the proposed idea that the transoceanic contact between the Old World and the New World took place centuries before Christopher Columbus made his historic journey to the Americas in the 15th century.

For years, evidence has been continuously growing in support of the proposal that people of the Old World have traveled to the America's way before Columbus set foot on the continent’s ground. For one, evidence surfaced backing up the theory that the Vikings arrived in the land of the Americas around 1,000 years ago. Some even suggest that that the Chinese had voyaged into the New World as early as 1420 before Columbus managed to do the same in 1492.

But the most surprising claim of them all is the proposed hypothesis that the ancient Egyptians were actually way ahead of everyone else in establishing contact with the Americas, having purportedly done so around 1,000 B.C.

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Theory of Trans-Oceanic Contact Between Ancient Egypt & The Americas

Previously, it was widely believed that the ancient Egyptians possessed limited ability to sail the open seas at great distances and were only capable of traveling along and across the Nile River. However, recent evidence, such as those found in ancient crafts and cargo containers, suggest that the Egyptians of that time did possess adequate knowledge when it comes traveling in open waters, particularly the Red Sea.  

According to an article written by Paul Darin of The Epoch Times, there is even an unverified theory which purports that the ancient Egyptians have managed to embark on transoceanic journeys that reached as far as the American Southwest. The story of this claim goes back to 1909 when two Smithsonian-supported explorers S.A. Jordan and G.E. Kincaid uncovered a network of caves in the Grand Canyon’s Marble Region. Inside these caves, they supposedly found several artifacts reminiscent to objects that have been confirmed to have come from ancient Egypt, including some tablets with engraved Hieroglyphics. The two explorers’ accounts of the experience were published back in April 1909 in the Arizona Gazette, but the Smithsonian Institution claims to possess no records of any kind that corroborate the alleged discovery of Egyptian artifacts in any part of the American Southwest.

But perhaps the most compelling evidence in support of the theory that the ancient Egyptians established contact with the New World centuries earlier than the Vikings or Columbus can be found in the exhumed mummified remains from Egypt.

The Mummified Remains of Ramses II

Orthodox history tells us that the nicotine from tobacco and cocaine from the coca plant were unknown to the ancient Egyptians as they could only be found in the Americas around the existence of their civilization. Moreover, exportation of the tobacco and coca plants overseas supposedly didn’t take place until the Victorian era in the 19th century. However, evidence gathered from the remains of ancient Egyptian mummies tell a very different story.

On September 16, 1976, the mummified remains of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II, who ruled the Egyptians more than 3,000 years ago, was brought to the Museum of Mankind in Paris, France. A team of scientists was given the task of repairing the damage to the pharaoh’s body and to prevent further deterioration of his remains. One of the scientists involved with the project was Dr. Michelle Lescot, who worked for the Natural History Museum in Paris. In examining the mummified body of Ramses II, Dr. Lescot was given samples of the fragments found stuck within the fibers of the mummy’s bandages. After analyzing the fragments, she found that they were actually fragments of plants. When she studied the sample under a microscope, she made a stunning discovery – the fragments were from a tobacco plant.

Traces of what was supposedly a New World plant were found on an ancient mummy from the Old World. This led some people to ask how the deceased body of a 3000-year-old Egyptian ruler managed to get a hold of fragments of a tobacco plant when mainstream history insists that there was no way that ancient Egypt had established transoceanic trade relations with the people in the Americas during that time. In short, how on earth did Ramses II get his hands on some tobacco?

What Dr. Lescot discovered generated a lot of buzz in Europe at the time, but the interest was not loud enough to gain traction in the United States. It was met with fierce criticism from experts of orthodox thinking, with some dismissing the female scientist’s discovery as a mistake due to possible “contamination” of the samples gathered. And although Dr. Lescot managed to replicate her findings with new samples from the abdomen of Ramses II’s body, the evidence she presented that supported the existence of a transatlantic relationship between ancient Egypt and the Americas was eventually regarded as inconsequential by the conventional members of the academic community.

The Mummy of Henut Taui: The Lady of the Two Lands

The interesting detection of tobacco traces on the remains of Pharaoh Ramses II would have completely been forgotten had it not been for another accidental and similar discovery involving several ancient Egyptian mummies sixteen years later.

It was in 1992 when Dr. Svetla Balabanova, a toxicologist from the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Ulm, Germany examined the mummified remains of Henut Taui, a priestess who lived sometime in 1000 B.C. during the reign of the 21st Dynasty of ancient Egypt. The body of the priestess along with several other mummies was subjected to the same testing methods applied in modern times to prove drug consumption. To Dr. Balabanova’s astonishment, Henut Taui’s mummified body along with those of other mummies showed traces of nicotine and cocaine, particularly in their hair.

To make sure that she wasn't wrong about her findings, Dr. Balabanova had the tests repeated, and sent samples to three more labs. When they confirmed that her initial discovery was accurate, she published her findings with two of her colleagues. However, the forensic scientist’s publication was met with acrimonious reception. People called her a fraud and accused her of fabricating or misinterpreting the actual results of her research on Henut Taui’s body. On the other hand, a sizeable portion of those who read her work and believed in the credibility of her findings used her research as proof that there was contact between the ancient Egyptians from the Old World and the pre-Columbian people in the Americas.

Dr. Balabanova’s findings went on to be investigated by Dr. Rosalie David, who worked as the keeper of Egyptology at the Manchester Museum. Her efforts to research the mystery behind the cocaine mummies confirmed that Balabanova’s findings were not compromised and that the mummies that were studied, including Henut Taui’s mummified remains, were genuine Egyptians mummies of ancient origin.

However, despite the corroboration of a skeptic like David, mainstream scholars continue to remain skeptical of Balabanova’s discovery of cocaine and nicotine in the mummified bodies of ancient Egyptians. Their refusal to accept her findings also stems from the fact that others have also attempted to replicate the toxicologist’s detection of cocaine from the samples of Egyptian mummies but failed to produce similar results successfully. While some accept the results of Balabanova’s study, they insist the cocaine and nicotine can be explained by the mummification methods implemented at the time. For example, plants containing atropine alkaloid may have been used in the mummification of the bodies and these plants “necrochemically” changed over time to resemble the compounds present in tobacco and coca plants.

From how things are going at present, the jury is still out on whether or not the cocaine mummies will be universally regarded as sufficient proof to validate the theory that there was transoceanic contact between the ancient Egyptians from the Old World and the pre-Columbian people in the Americas three thousand years ago. Academic scholars and scientists are still caught in a seemingly-perpetual tug of war on this issue, and it doesn’t look like either side will be backing down anytime soon.

But perhaps the discourse involving the cocaine mummies is no longer just a matter of whether the findings of Dr. Lescot and Dr. Balabanova are accurate and valid. Instead, perhaps it is the implication of their research that could be the bigger concern. If we accept the fact that natives living in pre-Columbian America were not primitive savages but instead established trans-Atlantic contact and maintained trade relations with distant civilizations, then we might completely reconstruct our world history that justified the oppression and forced occupation of the pre-Columbian native Americans.

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Sources:

http://www.newdawnmagazine.com/Articles/Curse%20of%20the%20Cocaine%20Mummies.html
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/mystery-cocaine-mummies/
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/358318-curious-history-ancient-egyptians-may-have-traded-with-the-new-world/?photo=2
http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/did-ancient-egyptians-trade-nicotine-and-cocaine-new-world-001025?nopaging=1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henut_Taui
http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~legneref/ethnic/mummy.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_trans-oceanic_contact_theories#Claims_of_Egyptian_coca_and_tobacco

The Mysterious Wedge of Aiud

https://www.strangerdimensions.com/2016/01/08/the-aluminum-wedge-of-aiud/
 

Archaeology has done wonders in providing answers for countless questions about our history that have been raised over the years; are still being brought up until now; and will continue to be asked even in the distant future. However, there are times when some archaeological discoveries that modern man have made ended up raising more questions about out past rather than answering them. Instead of explaining a mystery, an archaeological artifact can become an enigma by its own merits, and the mysterious aluminum Wedge of Aiud is certainly one of them.  

The Aluminum Wedge of Aiud – also known as the Object of Aiud – is one of the most mysterious and controversial archaeological finds of our time. Depending on who you ask, this particular artifact can be a testament to a wild and out-of-this-world hypothesis, or it can merely be an item deemed dismissible for being just another fraud or fabrication. And so, it has become the subject of debate in recent years, with no possible resolution in sight in the foreseeable future.

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Discovery of the Wedge of Aiud

The discovery of the Wedge of Aiud dates back to 1973. As the story goes, builders worked on the shores of the Mures River, located not far from the central Romanian town of Aiud. Incidentally, they found three objects buried 10 meters or 33 feet under the ground.

From the perspective of the builders who found them, the items appeared to be unusual and also very old. And so, archaeologists were brought in to investigate the site. The two objects were identified as fossils, while the third item looked like a piece of manmade metal. The metal was very light, and at the time, it was suspected that it could be the end of an axe.

All three objects were sent to be further analyzed in Cluj, the main city of the Romanian region of Transylvania. It was soon determined that the fossils found near the town of Aiud belong to a large extinct mammal that perished some 10,000 to 80,000 years ago – the mastodon. However, for the third object, experts were stunned to find that it was a piece of a very lightweight metal which looks like it had been manufactured.

Description of the Wedge of Aiud

When the Wedge of Aiud was discovered, it was allegedly taken to the Archaeological Institute of Cluj-Napoca to be examined, where it was determined that it weighed 5 pounds, and measured 7.8 inches long, 4.9 inches wide and 2.8 inches thick. They were also able to discern its composition. The wedge is an alloy composed of 12 different elements. It contains 89% aluminum, as well as 6.2% copper, 2.85% silicon, 1.81% zinc, 0.0003% bismuth, 0.0002% silver, and trace amounts of gallium. The metallic item was also covered in a layer of aluminum oxide.

What’s interesting about the composition of the Wedge of Aiud is that metallic aluminum was not produced by mankind until around 200 years ago in 1825. And so, the discovery of the large chunk of metal some believed to be up to 250,000 years of age has since become a highly-sensational find.

Is the Wedge of Aiud Proof of Ancient Extraterrestrial Civilization?

The piece of metal discovered in Aiud has the composition and concavities that make it appear like it was manufactured as part of a more complex mechanical system. Hence, a heated debate has been going on, with one side speculating that the object is actually part of a UFO and serves as proof of visitation by an alien civilization in the distant past.

According to Gheorghe Cohal, the Deputy Director of the Romanian Ufologists Association, the lab tests conducted on the Wedge of Aiud allegedly concluded that the metallic object is an old UFO fragment since the substances it is made of cannot be combined with the technology available on Earth.

One of the experts who support the theory that the Wedge of Aiud is linked to an ancient alien civilization is Romanian ufologist Floring Gheorgita. She believes that the artifact landed on Earth with an alien spacecraft and that the wedge is actually a part of the spaceship’s landing gear. She is just one of many archaeologists and ufologists that share the opinion that the wedge is evidence of extraterrestrial activity and presence on our planet in ancient times.

And even if the wedge was not part of a landing gear of an alien spacecraft that had the ability to take off and land vertically, it is also possible that the metallic artifact was part of an ancient flying machine that was created right here on planet Earth.

Skeptic’s Perspective on the Wedge of Aiud

While considering the Wedge of Aiud to be an evidence of an alien visitation during ancient times is a fascinating albeit far-fetched theory of its origin, there are, of course, more probable explanations.

One of the more likely explanations for the origin of the wedge is that it is nothing more than a modern-day aluminum excavator bucket tooth. In this scenario, a clamshell excavator could have been digging in the area, and a bucket tooth broke off. For some reason, that particular mining or excavation ended, and several years after that, the wedge was incidentally discovered, and those who found it were simply unfamiliar with excavator buckets. Thus, a mystery was born.

Another plausible explanation for the origin of the wedge was presented by Romania’s local historian Mihai Wittenberger. According to his theory, the discovered metallic object is actually just a metal piece from a German aircraft during the Second World War. He believes that it is a piece of a landing gear from a Messerschmitt ME 262.

Nigel Watson, author of the UFO Investigations Manual, also has a different theory on what the object found near Aiud could be. According to Watson, the Wedge of Aiud could be a wreckage of a satellite, which could explain why the discovery of the item was kept under wraps in 1973.  

There are also scientists who are of the opinion that the Wedge of Aiud is actually fake. These skeptics believe that aluminum wedge was made on Earth by modern-day humans. The only difficulty is in identifying its purpose given the limited amount of information available about the object.

Skepticism Over Skeptic’s Perspective

While the perspective of skeptics seems to provide more realistic theories about the origin and purpose of the Wedge of Aiud, the theories presented by these people are also largely based on conjecture. The theories of skeptics also fail to answer several pressing questions about the wedge, including providing an explanation regarding the age of the artifact.

For instance, the oxidized layer coating of the artifact had shown that is more likely to be around 400 years old, which is still a couple hundred years earlier before man was able to produce aluminum. If the Wedge of Aiud is nothing more than a modern-day excavator bucket tooth, a part of a German World War II aircraft, or a man-made satellite, then why is its estimated age date back to a time when aluminum hasn’t even been manufactured yet?

At present, the Wedge of Aiud is reported to be housed in the Museum of the History of Transylvania, and the mysterious story behind it still has no clear ending in sight. While there are perfectly logical explanations about this discovered artifact that lessens its mystical factor, this particular mystery remains truly unexplainable until now.

Is the Aluminum Wedge of Aiud really a relic of ancient visitation or prehistorical flying machines? Is it a modern piece of metal that found its way underneath the sands of Romania? Or is this just another deliberate hoax?

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Sources:

https://www.strangerdimensions.com/2016/01/08/the-aluminum-wedge-of-aiud/
http://www.documentarytube.com/articles/aluminum-wedge-of-aiud--alien-artifact-or-just-unsolved-mystery
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3856168/Mysterious-piece-aluminium-ancient-UFO-visited-Earth-250-000-years-ago-claims-investigator.html
http://www.ancient-code.com/15-things-you-should-know-about-the-aiud-aluminium-wedge/
http://www.strangerdimensions.com/2016/01/08/the-aluminum-wedge-of-aiud/
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/experts-believe-mysterious-aluminium-object-9086060
http://ancientexplorers.com/blog/the-wedge-of-aiud-mystery/

Kusanagi: The Sacred Sword of Myth, Magic, and History

The sword of Kusanagi, the storied sword that completes the Imperial Regalia of Japan, is the stuff of ancient history and timeless legends abound by gods, monsters, and the few mortals who dared wield its piercing magic. But is the sword of Kusanagi, its very existence, part of real-life history? Or is this most storied blade fashioned only from tall tales forged brilliantly into an enduring legend? For us to arrive at answers, we must first take our journey back to a much, much earlier point in time. 

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The Imperial Regalia: The Three Great Treasures of Japan

Green Shinto

The Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, or grass-cutting sword, makes one of the three Imperial Regalia, The Great Treasures of Japan. Along with the Kusanagi sword, the other Regalia objects consist of The Regalia Mirror Yata-no-Kagami and the Regalia Jewel Yasakani-no-Magatama. The Imperial Regalia is said to embody the three primary virtues central to the ancient and now modern Japanese society.  While the Yasakani Jewel embodies benevolence, and the Yata Mirror represents wisdom, the Kusanagi Sword is the very embodiment of valor. 

Ever since the 7th century, the presentation of The Regalia Objects to the Emperor by a priest has been an essential element to the enthronement ceremony. The enthronement ceremony is a highly private tradition in which only the emperor and selected priests have the privilege of actually laying their eyes on the sacred treasures. Two of the three treasures, the Yasakani Jewel and the Kusanagi Sword, were last seen in 1989 during the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Akihito. 

Before it was known as the Kusanagi, the sacred sword carried a different name—Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, which translates to Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven. The legendary sword’s origin is one that extends to an equally legendary battle that went down between the Storm God Susanoo and the eight-headed serpent Yamata-no-Orochi. 

Once in time, according to ancient Japanese lore, there existed a fearsome eight-headed serpent named Yamata-no-Orochi.  For the longest time, the monster-serpent wreaked havoc to the province of Izumo, while it terrorized the province’s ruling Ashinazuchi family. The ruling family had nine daughters, and the serpent having devoured eight of them, was coming for the last Ashinazuchi daughter. Not wanting to lose another daughter, the head of the family sought the help of the then exiled Storm God Susanoo.  

Drachen Wiki

Upon hearing the story, the Storm God Susanoo wasted no time and tracked down and attacked the eight-headed beast. His valiant efforts, however, were in vain. Orochi proved to be a formidable beast, and the Storm God was ultimately forced to retreat. Although defeated at the moment, Susanoo wasted no time as he started to devise his next plan of attack against the serpent Orochi. 

Susanoo’s plan was as cunning as it was simple. The Storm God planned on getting each of Orochi’s eight heads drunk. And so, the Storm God Susanoo went on with the preparations. He had arranged eight giant bowls of sake, Japanese rice wine, to lure out the eight-headed serpent. Orochi took the bait and fell for the trap. 

Intoxicated and asleep, the beast was defenseless when Susanoo attacked, ferociously decapitating each of Orochi’s eight heads. To make certain that Orochi was unable to regenerate and return, Susanoo with his sword chopped off the serpent’s tails. Olden stories have it that it is in one of the Orochi’s tails that Susanoo recovered a second sword, the legendary sword which at the moment he named Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, or Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven. 

Yamato Takeru: The First Kusanagi Swordsman

Wikipedia

The Sun God Susanoo did not keep custody of the Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi for very long. Although a god, Susanoo was banished from heaven because of a long-standing quarrel with his sister Ameterasu, Goddess of the Sun. Wanting to make peace with Ameterasu, Susanoo gifted the Sword of Gathering Clouds to her as a peace offering thus ending his long exile. 

Entire generations have come and gone. And many generations soon after, the Sword of Gathering Clouds changed hands once more when the Sun Goddess Ameterasu presented the sword to the great warrior Yamato Takeru, the son of Emperor Keiko—the 12th Emperor of Japan. It was in the hands of Takeru that the sword claimed its present name. It was also in the hands of the great warrior that the Kusanagi extended its existence deep into the imperial line of Japan. 

According to the legend, Takeru first discovered of the sword’s magic during a hunting expedition when a rival warlord lured him onto an open grassland. The warlord had his men shoot flaming arrows, thus setting the grass ablaze, and trapping Takeru in the fiery landscape. 

Moments away from burning to his death, Yamato Takeru drew the Sword of Gathering Clouds. With a series of wild swings, he used it to cut down the grass and clear a path that he can use to escape. Olden stories tell that it was during Takeru’s desperate attempt to escape the fiery grassland that he first discovered the Kusanagi’s magical ability to control the wind. Taking advantage of its new found magic, Takeru used the Sword of Gathering Clouds to gain control of the wind and sweep the great big fire across the landscape to the direction of the rival warlord and his men. 

Celebrating his victory over the treacherous warlord and commemorating his narrow escape from death, Takeru changed the name of the sword from Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven to Grass Cutting Sword—The Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi. At that moment Yamato Takeru became the first man to wield the legendary Kusanagi sword. And since then, the Kusanagi bestowed upon its wielder the supreme power to be most powerful ruler in all of Japan. It is for this very reason that the Kusanagi sword, along with other Regalia Objects, are presented in the enthronement ceremony when a new Japanese Emperor assumes power.  

Historical Accounts of the Kusanagi

Sacred Texts

The earliest mention of the Kusanagi sword appeared in the ancient Japanese text, Kojiki. However, since Kojiki is a collection of Japanese myths, the text in it describing the existence of the Kusanagi is regarded less as a historical account and more as a work of early Japanese fiction. 

The first reliable historical mention of the sword is found in the Nihonshoki. Although parts of this book consist of mythological stories, the Nihonshoki prominently contains sections that recorded real-life historical events that were contemporary to its writing. In the Nihonshoki, it was the written that the Kusanagi was removed from the Imperial Palace in Nara in 668 AD after the sword was suspected to cause Emperor Tenmu’s ill health. Having been removed from the Imperial Palace, the Kusanagi was the sent to the Atsuta Shrine to be safeguarded by Shinto priests. 

Originally built 1900 years ago, the Atsuta Shrine is among the most prominent places of worship from the time of ancient Japan. As the Atsuta Shine underwent major repairs during the Edo period, the Great Grand Shinto priest Matsuoka Masanao claimed that he was able to witness the legendary blade in the flesh. Upon describing the sword, Matsuoka detailed what became the most popular account of the Kusanagi: 

 “A stone box was in the wooden box of length 150 cm, a red earth had been stuffed into a gap, a cored camphor tree log like a box shape was seen in the stone box, and gold was laid out, the sword was placed on it. A red earth was also stuffed between the stone box and the camphor tree box. The sword was about 84 cm long, shaped like calamus, the middle of the sword had a thickness, and from the grip, about 18cm is like a fish spine, fashioned in a white metallic color, and well maintained.” 

Almost immediately after witnessing the Kusanagi, the Great Grand Priest Matsuoka was banished from the Shrine, while several Shinto priests died strange deaths. 

The Tale of the Heike

Artelino

After the sword’s possession by Yamato Takeru, there are few other stories that make prominent mention of past whereabouts of the Kusanagi. In The Tale of the Heike, a 14th-century collection of Japanese epic oral poetry, the Kusanagi sword is said to have been lost at sea following the defeat of the Kusanagi owners Heike clan and the child emperor Antoku in the Naval Battle of Dan-no-Ura. 

In the story, the Emperor's grandmother upon gathering the news of their clan’s defeat led the Emperor and his men to commit suicide by jumping into the waters. It was said that the emperor’s grandmother took with her two of the Three Sacred Treasures—the Regalia Jewel Yasakani-no-Magatama, and the Regalia Sword Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi. The Regalia Mirror, meanwhile, stayed with a lady servant. 

Stories tell that while the Regalia Jewel was salvaged in its casket floating at sea, the Kusanagi Sword was lost forever to the great waters.  The historical reliability of this account, however, is regarded as questionable as the Tale of Heike was written 200 years well after the actual Battle of Dan-no-Ura took place. In those 200 years, more than a few replicas of the Three Sacred Treasures were made and lost when rival members of the royal family soldiered their way into power. It is widely thought that the Imperial Regalia lost in the Battle of Dan-no-Ura were mere replicas, as the original Regalia Objects remained tucked away in the Atsuta Shrine. 

The Kusanagi Today

Smashing Lists

Today, it is believed that the Kusanagi sword remains safeguarded, as it was in the ancient times, well within the walls of the Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya. The sword’s last known appearance in modern history was when it was presented to Emperor Akihito, along with the Regalia Jewel, in his enthronement ceremony in 1989. And even then both imperial objects remained practically unseen as both were shrouded in packages.  

Whether or not the Kusanagi, and the rest of the Imperial Regalia, still exist in their original incarnations can only be the subject of wild and probably endless speculations. Perhaps the only thing that holds some semblance of certainty is that these ancient, sacred relics—part-myth and part-history in their very existence—have shaped Japan in the most real way imaginable. 
 

Blood Splatter Discovered On Shroud Of Turin, Could Belong To Jesus Christ

Along with the Holy Grail and the Spear of Destiny, the Shroud of Turin is one of the most sacred religious relics on the planet. The piece of linen, measuring 53 square feet and containing the faint image of a man, is believed by millions of Christians from around the world to be the cloth Jesus himself was buried in after death.

Ever since a photo negative of the linen captured by Italian amateur photographer Secondo Pia revealed an image of a body over 100 years ago, scores of researchers have analyzed the image as well as the blood stains and fabric to try and confirm or dismiss the linen’s authenticity. But after years and years of studies, tests, and debates, they came to the conclusion that it is still hard to tell. No one knows for sure. Some say the blood on the cloth belongs to Jesus while some claim that the face of Jesus was painted on by counterfeiters in medieval times. 

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The biggest focal point for skeptics is a carbon-14 dating conducted in 1988 where a small piece of fabric from the corner of the shroud was sent to labs at the University of Oxford, the University of Arizona, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. All three places confirmed that the material dated back to 1260 and 1390, which is more than a thousand years after Jesus was alive. That seemed like a huge piece of evidence to dismiss the authenticity of the shroud, but soon researchers found that the carbon dating that came from the top edge of the shroud produced a much different date than a piece taken from the bottom edge of the cloth. 

But here’s the thing: even if the image was from medieval times and not from the time of Jesus, there is still the mystery of how the image of the man was created in the first place. Every scientific attempt at replicating the image has failed so far. This has caused the shroud of Turin to become not only one of the most sacred relics but also one of the most mysterious.

Recently, researchers in Italy analyzing the shroud of Turin have discovered the blood of a torture victim on the cloth, thus supporting claims it may have been used to bury Jesus. The new findings, titled New Biological Evidence from Atomic Resolution Studies on the Turin Shroud, was published in a US scientific journal that was carried out by The Instituto Officina dei Materiali in Trieste and the Institute of Crystallography in Bari.

The study says that the cloth contains 'nanoparticles' usually not found in the blood of someone healthy. According to Elvio Carlino, a researcher at the Institute of Crystallography in Bari, Italy the cloth reveals the 'great suffering' of a victim 'wrapped up in the funeral cloth.'

According to professor Giulio Fanti of the University of Padua, the blood contained high levels of creatinine and ferritin, substances found in patients who have suffered from devastating traumas like torture. According to him, 'the presence of these biological nanoparticles found during our experiments point to a violent death for the man wrapped in the Turin Shroud.'

The Shroud of Turin has been an intensely debated topic in the world of science ever since. If these findings are true, then they will completely shatter the skeptic theory that image on the cloth was forged by counterfeits.

Elvio also said that 'these findings could only be revealed by the methods recently developed in the field of electron microscopy' and  'the nanoscale properties of a pristine fiber taken from the Turin Shroud.'

Even though this study sheds a bit of light on this ancient mystery, there are still numerous questions that we have yet to answer. Was this shroud the same exact cloth Jesus Christ was buried inside when he died? How was the image of the man created on the cloth created?

Italian physicist Paolo Di Lazzaro told National Geographic: “It is unlikely science will provide a full solution to the many riddles posed by the shroud...A leap of faith over questions without clear answers is necessary—either the ‘faith’ of skeptics, or the faith of believers.”

If you want to see the shroud for yourself, it is currently on display at St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Turin. At the moment, we can only wait for more evidence regarding the Turin's Shroud before we fully reveal it's mysterious origins. 

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Sources:

• https://www.rt.com/viral/396609-turin-shroud-blood-torture/ 
• https://www.livescience.com/52567-shroud-of-turin-dna.html 
• http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/04/150417-shroud-turin-relics-jesus-catholic-church-religion-science/ 

Perfectly Preserved Body Found of 1,000-year-old Buddhist Master Ci Xian

Something mysterious has been discovered at the Dinghui Temple in Wu'an in the Hubei province of China. A golden mummy, the preserved remains of Master Ci Xian that is over 1,000 years old, underwent a CT scan on July 8, 2017, that was witnessed by monks, media and prayers . To everyone's surprise, researchers found that he still had a complete brain and that his bones were also really healthy.

According to Dr. Wu Yongqing who conducted the scan:

"We can see his bones are as healthy as a normal person's...The upper jaw, the upper teeth, the ribs, the spine and all the joints are all complete...It's incredible to see this."

According to historical records, Master Ci Xian was a well-respected monk from India who had translated 10 major sutras into Chinese and traveled from India to the Kingdom of Khitan (which is in modern day northeastern China) in an effort to promote Buddhism. Some of his translations were carved into stone tablets that can still be seen today. After his death, Master Ci Xian’s disciples preserved his body well. But over the years, the body was somehow lost, never to be found until it was rediscovered in a cave in the 1970s. 

Master Ci Xian’s remains were worshiped at the Dinghui Temple since 2011, and in 2016 the temple covered his body in gold paint as a sign of respect. According to Master Du at the Ding Hui temple, elderly monks can feel when they are about to pass away and will instruct their disciples to either cremate or preserve their remains. If preserved, his remains would be placed in a massive ceramic jar filled with natural preservatives. If the spiritual level of the monk is high enough, or there is a lot of cultivated energy within the monk’s body, then it would be soaked in the liquid for about 3 years. After that, the body will be removed from the liquid and covered in rice paste.

This may seem really strange to a lot of people but it is believed that all monks are cultivators with the goal of reaching enlightenment. And as they are cultivating, they are generating energy within their bodies. As the energy grows, it will start to change the cultivator’s body from a fundamental level. Often times, when a monk cultivates to a high level, pearl-like substances are left behind his ashes when he is cremated. The pearls are called sarira and are considered sacred and precious. Throughout human history and its billions of cremations, it was only high level cultivators who were able to leave sariras behind.

5 Most Feared Emperors in Chinese History

In ancient China, the emperor is believed to be the “son of heaven,” and he theoretically held supreme and absolute power to rule over the entire nation. Over its five thousand years of history, China has witnessed the rise and fall of dozens of dynasties and hundreds of emperors. A number of these emperors have gained renown for being feared by their enemies and even their own people, either for their intelligence and brilliant abilities as leaders or for their ineptitude as well as the madness and terror that reigned during their rule.

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1. Emperor Shi Huangdi of the Qin Dynasty

Emperor Shi Huangdi is not only the first emperor of the Qin dynasty, he also created the first unified Chinese empire in 221 BC. As the first emperor of Qin, his legacy is in the establishment of a strengthened and centralized government, which he accomplished partly by taking away the properties of his feudal lords. He was also a strong follower of Legalism – a philosophy that regards people as individuals who are inherently evil and undisciplined – and so, Qin Shi Huang was not tolerant of dissent of any kind. In fact, he had books about Daoist, Confucian philosophies and other non-Legalist books seized and set on fire in 213 B.C. and had about 460 non-Legalists buried alive a year after that.

While he is considered to be a talented politician and a military genius, Shi Huangdi held no sentimental feelings for his people and was only concerned with maintaining a strong and unified China at the time of his reign. In his campaign for the unification of China, he resorted to massacring, enslaving and exiling royal members of rival states. He was also not above executing his own high-ranking officials and generals.

During his reign, he ordered the construction of a great wall – which is considered to be a prequel to today's Great Wall of China – and a massive mausoleum which contained 6,000 life-size terra-cotta soldier statues. Many workers who built the wall died in the process, while those who built the mausoleum were killed to keep its secrets.  

2. Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty

Emperor Yang Guang was the second emperor of the Sui Dynasty and most agree he rose to power by cunningly framing his older brother Yong. So their father, Emperor Wen, appointed Yang Guang as crown prince instead. People believe Yang even killed his father to seize the throne and as the new emperor even took his father’s favorite concubines.

Yang went down in history as one of the worst most self-indulgent tyrants in ancient Chinese history. While there were some achievements during his rule, his abuse of power damaged the nation causing his people to suffer. For example, he imposed very heavy taxes to finish huge expensive construction projects like the Grand Canal, rebuilding the Great Wall, and redesigning the eastern capital of Luoyang. He also initiated a series of wars to subdue Goguryeo – one of the three old kingdoms that once ruled in the land of Korea – but each attempt ended in failure.

Emperor Yang also indulged in a very raunchy lifestyle with his concubines and embarked on extravagant tours of his empire. Eventually, people could no longer tolerate his rule or accept him as their emperor leading to one uprising after another. Then in 618, Emperor Yang hung himself in Jiangdu after the coup by his general, Yuwen Huaji.

3. Empress Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty

Empress Wu Zetian is recognized as the one true Empress in Chinese history and for one of its most talented rulers. Starting as a 14-year-old junior concubine, Wu rose through the ranks and eventually established herself as the Empress of China. People have varying views regarding Wu Zetian’s reign. To some, she was an autocrat, who ruthlessly disposed of people standing her way to gain and keep her power. To others, she was simply doing what she had to do as an ambitious individual and as the determined leader of an empire. She acted the same as male emperors during that time. Although many of her actions were demonized, experts also note how she effectively ruled China during one of its more peaceful and thriving periods.

Of course, her achievements as an effective leader do not discount the fact that she did ruthlessly eliminate her opponents by dismissing, exiling, or executing them. And in some cases, some she brought to their knees were her own family members. One particular victim to Wu Zetian’s maneuvers was Emperor Kao Tsung's wife, Empress Wang. She accused Empress Wang of murdering her newborn daughter and Wu eventually replaced Empress Wang becoming Empress Wu Zetian.

Wu Zetian’s brutal tactics and talent for governance as a ruling empress instilled fear in China’s neighboring nations, especially since the military leaders she handpicked successfully took control over large parts of the Korean peninsula.

4. Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty

The Emperor Hongwu was the founder and first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, which ruled all of China for almost three centuries. The emperor was born to a poor farming peasant family. He eventually rose through the ranks of a rebel army and emerged as the supreme leader of the rebels that sought to overthrow the Mongol or Yuan Dynasty. In January 1368, he proclaimed himself to be the emperor of the new Ming Dynasty with the primary objective of pushing the Mongols out of Chinese territory and restoring Han Chinese leadership in China. Soon after, people in many areas began rejecting everything Mongolian.

However, Emperor Hongwu held a grudge for the gentry class since his humble origins as a peasant farmer leading to a growing distrust of his ministers and generals. He demanded everyone obey his rules and, to consolidate his control over different government departments, he killed many "unqualified" officials in infamous purges. In one instance, he gave an order for extermination that massacred intellectuals, district officials, and nobility throughout the entire country. These repeated and increased in scale, assuring his absolute power as emperor.

As time went on, Emperor Hongwu grew suspicious of rebellions and coups from people mocking his poor background. Thus, he even executed his close advisers.

5. The Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty

The Emperor Kangxi reigned for 61 years, making him the longest-reigning emperor in Chinese history and the world. He is also considered to be among China’s greatest emperors, having brought long-term stability and wealth to the nation after years of war and chaos.

While he was a benevolent and wise leader that brought economic and cultural growth to the empire and its citizens, the Kangxi Emperor’s military tactics instilled fear in the hearts of his enemies and the empire’s neighboring nations. The leadership of the emperor successfully suppressed the Revolt of the Three Feudatories and forced the Taiwan Tungning Kingdom and Northern Mongol rebels to submit to Qing Empire rule. Emperor Kangxi faced Russian threats advancing from the north, and after a series of border conflicts along the Amur River region, the Qing Empire triumphed gaining control of the area. His leadership and genius also guaranteed the success of the empire’s invasion of Tibet.

The Kangxi Emperor also set strict military rules to be faithfully obeyed. According to this traditional military system, commanders and foot soldiers who returned from battle alone were put to death. This policy was strictly observed to motivate soldiers and commanders to fight together in battle fearlessly as one body.

The examples of Chinese emperors we discussed in this video were not just puppet leaders in their entire reign. These emperors from China were feared at some point - if not the entire duration – of their reign because they held an almost unlimited power that allowed them to freely make fate-changing decisions on the lives nobles, common people, and enemies. While the manner in which they exercised their power was not always for nor always lead to the betterment of the nation, they left a resounding impact through the Chinese empire and permanent mark in our global history.

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Sources:

• https://www.quora.com/Who-were-the-most-feared-emperors-in-Chinas-history
• http://www.businessinsider.com/most-ruthless-leaders-of-all-time-2015-10/#qin-shi-huang-1
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Shi_Huang
• http://www.china.org.cn/top10/2011-09/02/content_23343011_4.htm
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Yang_of_Sui
• http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/heroine6.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hongwu_Emperor
• http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Hongwu_Emperor_of_China
• http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/china-history/emperor-kangxi.htm
• http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Kangxi_of_China
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangxi_Emperor

5 Families that Control the World

TopInfoPost

In the name of progress, human civilization, during its period of Renaissance, began to orient its political and economic philosophies toward the establishment of financial and commercial entities. Since then, these entities have now morphed into the most powerful corporations on the face of the Earth.

But behind these large corporations and beyond the complicated framework of politics and business, there lies, according to some people, a hidden dominating force that controls the world’s political, economic and military systems. And at the helm of this unnoticeable hegemonic power, there are allegedly five influential families that constructed the current world as we know it according to their design and continues to dictate its ways without the notice of the common man.

And so, according to some historians, scholars and many conspiracy theorists, here are five of the most powerful families that control the world today.

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5. The Rothschild Family

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The story of the Rothschild Family is one of money, and its beginning can be traced back in the 18th century, to the rise of the financial genius that was Mayer Amschel Rothschild. From an apprentice at a small bank in Hamburg, Mayer Rothschild rose to become a prominent figure in the international transactions and manipulation of money. Eventually, he installed each of his five sons to be his agents in the five major financial centers of Europe, and their sons were also sent to other financial centers to head new offices.

Throughout the 19th century, the Rothschilds were responsible for stabilizing the currencies of major world governments, a role now fulfilled by the International Monetary Fund. While they provided important international service, they also profited heavily from it. At the height of their family’s business empire, the Rothschilds’ wealth would have been the largest single fortune in world history.

However, according to some conspiracy theorists, the Rothschilds, driven by their quest for money, have orchestrated the assassination of US Presidents and created every war since the 1800s to finance both sides and profit from such conflicts. Some even claim that the Rothschilds funded the operations of Nazi Germany and caused the Holocaust. There also those who claim that they were the true figure behind the creation of Israel.

Since then, it is believed that the Rothschild family has remained at the top of the world’s oligarchy system, and maintains a powerful and determining influence on the US Federal Reserve, and the British financial system.

4. The Rockefeller Family

In the 19th century, John Davidson Rockefeller effectively started to solidify his American empire after buying out several partners who owned Cleveland’s largest oil refinery in 1865. Later on, this became the foundation for the formation of the Standard Oil Company of Ohio in 1870, and John D. Rockefeller established a large monopoly on the industry the controlled around 90 percent of America’s pipelines and refineries. However, some historians say that labeling Standard Oil as a monopoly is an understatement, downplaying the covert and savage tactics utilized by John Rockefeller to maintain its control over American oil.

In 1911, the Rockefellers’ monopolistic oil company was broken up under anti-trust legislation, but the family continued to retain a large share of the business and continued to profit from it. According to Forbes, at the time of John D. Rockefeller’s death in 1937, his net worth amounted to as much as $340 billion in today’s money, around four times more than that of Bill Gates.

Since their financial prime in the early 20th century, the family’s wealth has dwindled down to an estimated combined net worth of $11 billion. Nevertheless, the Rockefeller family is the subject of various conspiracy theories. They allegedly committed such atrocious acts as funding the invention of the Zika virus, funding patentable pharmaceutical medical model to crush natural medicine and cures, orchestrating the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and for being the hidden force behind the destruction of the World Trade Center during the 9/11 attacks.

One prevailing conspiracy theory about the Rockefeller family is their association with the idea of a secret global government, called the New World Order. They have been accused of establishing institutions such as the Trilateral Commission and the Bilderberg Group among other organizations to advance their interests nationally and globally.

3. The Morgan Family

Econproph [US Economic History]

Toward the end of the 19th century, John Pierpont Morgan established the J.P. Morgan & Company, a financial company that has played a prominent role in the economic history of the United States and, therefore, the whole world as well.

Panic swept the nation back in 1893 partly because the flow of the country’s surplus gold to foreign nations put the U.S. economy in danger. Following his father’s footsteps in the baking industry, Morgan seized the opportunity to save the economy by restoring the confidence in the dollar and rescuing the gold standard.  To do this, Morgan led a syndicate of bankers, which included the Rothschild, to see U.S. bonds to buy back gold from foreign investors.  

According to some people, that gold and bond exchange allowed Morgan to control the U.S. gold supply, which in turn, gave him the flexibility to finance the creation of U.S. Steel and gain control of the emerging electric light industry by forming General Electric. Morgan accomplished these feats by employing unethical and cutthroat business practices, which involved the elimination of competition, slashing jobs and reducing wages, and neglecting workplace safety – a greedy process which became known as “morganization.”

There are also those who believe that America entered World War I, not for political and policy concerns, but for the profits of the banking and munitions industries. Apparently, U.S. banks, including Morgan’s, lent over 100 times as much money to allied countries than they had to their adversaries. To protect those loans and their interests, financiers like Morgan urged the Wilson administration to aid their allies by participating in the war.

At present, rumors suggest a far-too-comfortable relationship between what is now the leading global financial services firm JPMorgan Chase & Co. and the U.S. Federal Reserve. There is even a theory that a tunnel exists connecting the two gold vaults of the New York Fed and JPM, and allegations that the Morgan family is heavily involved with war profiteering.

#2 – The DuPont Family

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The Du Pont family is an American family descended from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, and has been one of the richest families in the country. Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours was a French economist who emigrated from France in 1800 to the United States with his sons, Victor Marie du Pont and Éleuthère Irénée du Pont.

Éleuthère Irénée du Pont initially established E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, commonly referred to as DuPont, as a gunpowder manufacturer, which eventually became a chemical empire responsible for ubiquitous inventions such as nylon, Teflon, and Kevlar, and many other polymers.

DuPont became the largest supplier of gunpowder to the U.S. military in the early 1800s, and soon enough, it began manufacturing dynamite in incredible proportions. However, its monopoly on the industry was broken up under the Sherman Antitrust Act. But just like J.P. Morgan, the Du Pont family still managed to maintain dominance over the munitions industry, having supplied nearly 40 percent of all munitions used by Allied forces during the First World War.

DuPont also played a significant role in the development of the Manhattan Project and the production of the first atomic bomb during the Second World War, designing, building and operating the Hanford plutonium producing plant in Washington. DuPont also reportedly produced as much as 4.5 billion pounds of military explosives used over the course of that war. Then in 1950, DuPont agreed to build the Savannah River Plant in South Carolina in cooperation with the effort to create a hydrogen bomb.

Rumors still circulate about DuPont’s involvement in the prohibition of hemp and cannabis in 1937 to protect its breakthrough patent for nylon and its process of using wood pulp to make paper. Since hemp could efficiently replace both products, some argue that it would have severely limited DuPont’s massive profits if it wasn’t prohibited.

#1 – The Bush Family

LaRouchePAC

The Bush family is considered as among the newest family to join the world elite and began their legacy with Prescott Sheldon Bush, a US banker and senator who was accused of obscenely profiting from the Second World War, and for establishing businesses with large corporations that financed Adolf Hitler’s government.

Documents declassified in 2003 revealed that Yale University's Skull & Bones Society member Prescott Sheldon Bush – father of U.S. President George H.W. Bush and grandfather of President George W. Bush – could have been prosecuted for providing aid and comfort to the country’s enemy by engaging in nefarious business dealings prior, during, and after World War II.

As reported by The Guardian back in 2004, the National Archives documents “show that even after America had entered the war and when there was already significant information about the Nazis’ plans and policies, [Prescott Bush] worked for and profited from companies closely involved with the very German businesses that financed Hitler’s rise to power.”

Prescott’s descendants have not escaped scrutiny as well, having been accused of utilizing their power during their stint as the commander-in-chief of the United States to profit from the wars the country participated in. Conspiracy theorists even went so far as to claim that George W. Bush knew of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks and used it to justify a preemptive attack on a nation that has not attacked the United States in the name of a much broader war against terrorism.

To many conspiracy theorists, these five powerful families are the puppet masters that hold the strings of the highest echelons of society. With their immense wealth, unlimited resources, and far-reaching influence, these families have been rumored to have occult satanic connections, a secret network in the gold trade, a mysterious and not-so-well-intentioned agenda, and a secret plan to establish a new world order.

Whether these accusations indeed have a grain of truth in them or not have yet to be either summarily proven or thoroughly debunked. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that there is a clear socio-economic disparity that places a great divide between the citizens of the world, and an overall political and economic climate that favors the wants of the select few over the needs of the many.

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Sources:

https://youtu.be/G3bn24qdZ7c
http://www.ancient-code.com/meet-5-families-control-world/
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4311
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/illuminati-amateurs-facts-shows-families-rule-world/
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Rockefeller_conspiracy_theories
http://www.activistpost.com/2016/05/the-illuminati-were-amateurs-the-facts-show-these-five-families-rule-the-world.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationale_for_the_Iraq_War
https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2013/03/18/911-and-iraq-the-wars-greatest-lie/
http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_fac_pub/18/

Tales of Joyeuse: The Sword that Conquered Europe

source: Ancient Origins

Some 1200 years ago, there lived a famous blacksmith named Galas who embarked on a mission of forging the perfect sword. In 802CE, three long years after the blacksmith first set fire to the forge, the very blade that would help conquer Europe was fashioned into existence. 

Fated to rest in the hands of the battle-born King of the Franks, Charlemagne, the sword La Joyeuse would soon command epic tales of conquests, myth, and magic. The history of Charlemagne’s conquest of Europe, for the most part, is a story of Joyeuse. Legend has it that Charlemagne was on his way back from Spain when setting camp in the very region where Galas was working; there the King of the Franks acquired Joyeuse. Charlemagne was known to be especially brutal and ruthless when fighting his battles, and Joyeuse was a weapon that was as glorious and deadly as his reputation.

There exist several accounts that ascribe magical powers to Joyeuse. Legend has it that the sword was forged with the shards of the infamous Lance of Longinus—the very lance that was stabbed into Jesus’ side during the crucifixion. It is said that whenever Charlemagne unsheathed Joyeuse in battle, he revealed a sword that outshone the sun, and left its enemies blind. It is also said that whoever mastered Joyeuse was impregnable to poison. 

The King of the Franks

source: Museum of Artifacts - blogger

Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great, who lived from 742CE to 814CE was the King of the Franks; the Franks was an ancient kingdom that existed in modern day France. Charlemagne was a central figure to the political, military, and spiritual reshaping of medieval Europe. 

Soon after the fall of the Roman Empire, Charlemagne was responsible for consolidating the powers of Western Europe. He was able to build one of the vastest kingdoms in written history. The King of the Franks ruled over what are now the countries of France, Germany, Italy, Austria, and the Low Countries. In a rather militaristic method, Charlemagne was able to enforce the spread of Christianity throughout the conquered lands of Europe. 

Charlemagne was born in 742CE and was the son of King Pepin the Short. Upon the death of King Pepin, Charlemagne inherited the crown with his brother Carloman.  Unfortunately, after the brothers inherited the throne, Carloman passed away. Charlemagne then became the sole King of the Franks. 

Among the many things that the new king inherited was the responsibility to protect the temporal of the Holy See, the central seat of government of the Catholic Church occupied by the Pope. As a result, Charlemagne became deeply embroiled in wars against adversaries of the church, the most powerful of which were the pagan Lombards and Saxons of Germany. 

Ultimately, the new king was able to prove his military prowess by annihilating the adversaries of the land and the church. In 774CE, with a victory against the Lombards and the Saxons under his belt, the pope declared Charlemagne as the first champion of the Catholic Church. 

The Song of Roland

source:  Marto Deluxe Edition

The next two decades of Charlemagne’s reign were marked by brutal wars waged against the Lombards and Saxons of Germany and the Moors of Spain. In 778CE, Charlemagne launched a campaign against the Moors. It was during this campaign that the legendary Battle of Roncevaux Pass took place. The Battle of Roncevaux Pass was later immortalized in the epic poem Song of Roland, one of the oldest surviving major works of French literature. The 11th-century epic poem mentioned an account of Charlemagne riding into battle with La Joyeuse: 

(Charlemagne) was wearing his fine white coat of mail and his helmet with gold-studded stones; by his side hung Joyeuse, and never was there a sword to match it; its color changed thirty times a day. 

According to the story, it was during the Battle of Roncevaux Pass when Charlemagne momentarily lost Joyeuse. To get his sword back, Charlemagne promised to reward whoever could bring Joyeuse back to him. Eventually, one of Charlemagne’s soldiers found Joyeuse and brought it to him. True to his word, the King of the Franks gifted a generous portion of land to his soldier; Charlemagne planted his sword into the earth as he proclaimed— 

“Here will be built an estate of which you will be the lord and master, and your descendants will take the name of my wonderful sword: Joyeuse.” 

According to the story, this is the origin of the French town Joyeuse which sits in South France.

In 779CE, Charlemagne once again launched a massive military assault against the Saxons; this time, the campaign dealt a rather destructive blow to the King’s adversaries as it yielded the baptism of the Saxon leader in 785CE. 

After securing a lasting victory against the Saxons, Charlemagne’s reign became relatively quiet, except for occasional small-scale revolts and Viking raids. Charlemagne’s accomplishments in defending the Holy See and Western Christendom were eventually recognized in 800CE when the Pope crowned him as the Emperor of the Western Empire. 

As great a king as he was, Charlemagne proved to be an even greater emperor. He was able to bring order to a chaotic empire and set a good example to future kings and emperors. Under his reign, agriculture, trade, and law saw unprecedented leaps forward. 

Safekeeping La Joyeuse

charlemagne's saber - Imperial treasury of vienna 

Historians of today associate two swords to Charlemagne. One of Charlemagne’s swords is a saber; it is currently in the care of Weltliche Schatzkammer (Imperial Treasury) in Vienna, Austria. While the other one is the legendary sword Joyeuse which is currently in the care of the Louvre Museum. 

Joyeuse was transferred into the Louvre in 1793. Before then, the sword was kept originally in a monastery in Saint-Denis, which is a place of burial for French kings. The earliest mention of the sword being kept in the monastery was in 1905; Joyeuse was mentioned in an inventory where it was listed alongside two other royal swords—the swords of Louise IX and Charles VII.  

The sword Joyeuse derives its name from the word “joyful.” Since the 13th century, Joyeuse was featured prominently in coronation rites of rulers of France. The earliest known event when Joyeuse was used at a coronation was in 1270 when of the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Bold was crowned into power. This was a tradition continued until the coronation rites of Charles X in 1825.

Anatomy of the Sword

source: Medieval Ages-Life in Medieval Times

Today, the once battle-wielded Joyeuse is kept in the Louvre Museum; by this time, the sword has been preserved as a composite of numerous parts added over its long years of service as a coronation regalia. According to the Louvre, the pommel, the cross guard, and the grip had been all been replaced sometime between the 10th and 13th century. And although much of the original steel remains intact to this day, the blade itself had allegedly been refurbished sometime in the 19th century. 

Because it wasn’t being used in battle anymore, Joyeuse had undergone a lot of cosmetic changes to give it a more prestigious look. These ornamentations made Joyeuse representative of a wide range of cosmetic sensibilities from all around Europe throughout different periods in time. 

Joyeuse features two halves of a heavily sculpted gold pommel. The long gold grip measured 4.2 inches and was originally designed with a fleur-de-lis ornamentation within its prominent diamond patterning; fleur-de-lis is a stylized representation of a lily that is most famously recognized as the former royal arms of France. The fleur-de-lis ornamentation, however, was removed for the coronation of Napoleon I in 1804. 

Joyeuse features a gold cross-guard that measures 8.9 inches wide. It sports two winged dragons that are beaded with lapis lazuli eyes. The cross-guard was stamped in the 13th century with the text, “Deux marcs et demi et dix esterlins”; this translates to “two marks and a half and ten sterlings”, which is the weight of the gold. 

Joyeuse features a slender Oakeshott type II blade with a wide and shallow fuller. The blade of Joyeuse runs 32.6 inches long and measures 1.77 inches wide. There are competing schools of thought that offers opposing views on estimated age of the blade. One school of thought believes that the sword, to this very day, features the original blade of Joyeuse that dates back to the Middle Ages; the other suggests that the blade was forged when the sword allegedly got an overhaul in 1804. 

Much like most parts of the sword, the scabbard that originally carried Joyeuse had long undergone various changes. It is very likely that not much of the original scabbard remains except for its belt and the precious stones that were planted on its throat. 

At its present form, the scabbard consists of gilded silver. Its 6-inch throat is covered with purple velvet and ornamented with gold-threaded fleur-de-lis and gems. The velvet and fleurs-de-lis were late additions to the sword; both were added in 1824 for the coronation of Charles X. As for its dimensions, the scabbard has a length of 33 inches and a width of 2.75 inches. A piece of the original belt is still fitted in place, in true medieval fashion, with a gilded buckle. 

Today, Joyeuse remains to be one of the most important swords in all of Europe. Although it has long been removed from the battlefields of yesteryears, Charlemagne’s prized weapon serves as a reminder of prestige and royalty—a surviving testament to the King’s legendary conquests and much storied victories. 

3 ‘Modern’ Inventions That Existed Millions of Years Ago: Nuclear Reactor, Telescope, Clothes

Some mainstream scientists may have people believe that humans evolved from lower life forms over the last 10,000 years or so, however, archaeologists have already discovered many artifacts of various ancient human civilizations that are millions of years old according to scientific carbon isotope dating. And guess what, these artifacts provide evidence that these ancient humans were even more advanced than we are today. 

1. Nuclear Reactor 1.8 BILLION Years Old

The Oklo, Gabon Republic, nuclear reactor site. (NASA)

In 1972 at a uranium mine in the Gabon Republic of Africa, an open-air large-scale nuclear reactor with a highly sophisticated layout was discovered and calculated to have been built 1.8 BILLION years go and active for 500,000 years. A French manufacturer importing uranium ore from here found it had strangely already been used, so they send scientists to examine the site. They concluded the uranium here was more than twice as powerful as normal uranium and practically impossible to have naturally occurred. 

"The reaction sites consists of several compact bodies of uranium ore with a very high uranium concentration. Altogether, over 500 tons of uranium took part in the reactions (perhaps even more, for fresh ore bodies have just been discovered). The energy released must have amounted to almost 1011 kWh. At some points the integrated neutron flux exceeded 1.5 X 1021 n/cm2 , and samples with a 235U concentration of as little as 0.29% (as compared with 0.72% in natural uranium of normal isotopic composition) have been found. For such values to be attained, there must have been extremely effective mechanisms for controlling the nuclear reactions, mechanisms which have not yet been fully elucidated. Even more remarkable is the state of preservation of these "fossilized nuclear reactors"; in fact the uranium has retained its configuration from the time of the reactions so faithfully that the reaction rate distributions through the ground can be interpreted in terms of neutron physics. This implies a quite exceptional conjunction of circumstances, and it is expected to be possible to reconstruct the progress of the phenomenon in some detail. Thanks to the innumerable "traceurs" resulting from the nuclear reactions, it is possible to study a whole episode in geological history extending from the deposition of these very heavy concentrations of uranium about 1,800 million years ago to quite recent modifications."  -- The Oklo Phenomenon by Roger Naudet, 1975 International International Atomic Energy Agency Symposium

Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg was head of the United States Atomic Energy Commission and Nobel Prize winner for synthesizing heavy elements who believes this highly concentrated uranium site was not a natural phenomenon but in fact a man-made nuclear reactor. This reactor is more advanced than anything we can build today, being miles long yet remarkably only heating it's surroundings within 130 feet while containing all radioactive waste in the nearby earth. Reactor engineering specialists believe this Oklo site's uranium could not contain such high concentrations of U-235 for nuclear reactions to naturally occur. Plus, extremely pure water is required for uranium to "burn" in a reaction, which does not exist naturally anywhere in the world. 

2. Stone Engraving of Telescope & Modern Clothing 65 MILLION Years Old

a 65 million year old stone engraving of a person holding a telescope, an invention believed to be created in 1609 by Galileo. (Courtesy of Eugenia Cabrera/Museo Cabrera)

In the National University of Peru, there is a 65 MILLION year old engraving on a rock with a person wearing modern clothes and observing the stars with a telescope. It's was previously believed that the European astronomer, Galileo Galilei invented the telescope in 1609 but this finding proves otherwise.

Ica stone showing ancient person riding triceratops dinosaur. Credit: Dennis Swift

There are 10,000 other stones in the Cabrera Museum in Ica, Peru showing more ancient humans with clothes, shoes, and headdresses. There are also medical scenes of blood transfusions, organ transplants, and cesarean sections — even riding dinosaurs!

Dr. Dennis Swift, author of "Secrets of the Ica Stones and Nazca Lines" and archaeologist from the University of New Mexico, recorded evidence that these stones are from Pre-Columbian times. He has been around the world and collected similar artifacts depicting the lives of ancient peoples proving than mankind is much older than many know.

3. Well Dressed Humans in 14,000 Year Old Cave Paintings

Cave painting from the cave of Altamira in the Anthropos Pavilion of The Moravian Museum in the Czech Republic. (Wikimedia Commons)

In 1937 Léon Péricard found 14,000 year old paintings in the La Marche caves of western France of people with tailored clothing, groomed beards, short hair, and riding horses. This proves that ancient humans were much more sophisticated than the infamous "caveman" concept with ragged animal skins and messy long hair. 

In 2002, Dr. Michael Rappenglueck reevaluated Péricard’s findings and believes they are genuine and noted that many floor paintings and etchings, which may contain even more valuable relics, were damaged during the earlier excavations.

Rappenglueck also believes that this, and other such discoveries, are ignored or even kept hidden by modern science. For example, some pieces from La Marche cave are displayed in Paris' Museum of Man except for the best ones that show the sophisticated culture of these ancient people. 

“For some years it has been left to broader media coverage (in the form of printed matter, audio-visual material, electronic media and planetarium programs) to raise awareness of proto-astronomy (as well as proto-mathematics and other proto-sciences) during Palaeolithic times.” 

Thankfully, now we can share information so easily and quickly. In this information age, stubborn incorrect notions are being rectified by the newly revealed truths. 

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Sources

• http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/345446-3-modern-inventions-that-existed-millions-of-years-ago-nuclear-reactor-telescope-clothes/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Marche_(cave)
• www.DinosaursAndMan.com