Speaker 1: Something's going to happen. What's going to happen? What? Welcome
Speaker 1: to the occult rejects. In this episode, we're going to
Speaker 1: be talking about sacred lunar temples across time and cultures.
Speaker 1: Ancient civilizations around the world have built monumental temples and
Speaker 1: pyramids dedicated to moon deities or celestial forces, reflecting the
Speaker 1: profound significance of lunar worship and cosmic order in human history.
Speaker 1: This deep exploration focuses on four remarkable structures, the Wakadilla
Speaker 1: Luna in Peru, the Great Ziggurat of Ore in Mesopotamia,
Speaker 1: the Temple of Consu at Karnak in Egypt, and the
Speaker 1: Pyramid of the Moon at Tiotioacan in Mexico. Each site
Speaker 1: arose in a distinct culture and era, yet all served
Speaker 1: as grand ceremonial centers linked to the moon or moon gods,
Speaker 1: rich in symbolism, ritual, and myth. In this episode, we
Speaker 1: delve into the history, cultural context, religious beliefs, architectural features, excavations,
Speaker 1: modern legacy, and legends surrounding each sacred site. These ancient
Speaker 1: sites not only illuminate the people who built them. From
Speaker 1: the Mochi of Peru, to the Sumerians, Egyptians, and the
Speaker 1: t Ti Juacanos, but also highlight humanities enduring fascination with
Speaker 1: the heavens and the divine. By examining academic findings and
Speaker 1: local law alike, we gain a comprehensive view of how
Speaker 1: these lunar temples functioned as both practical centers of society
Speaker 1: and mystical nexuses of spiritual power. In a journey spanning
Speaker 1: continents and millennia, we will see how each monument's story
Speaker 1: intertwines religion, power, art, and even the occult, leaving a
Speaker 1: legacy that still captivates scholars and seekers today. At first,
Speaker 1: we will start with Waca de la Luna. The Waca
Speaker 1: de la Luna Spanish for Temple of the Moon is
Speaker 1: a massive terrace adobe pyramid built by the Mokei culture
Speaker 1: of Peru's north coast roughly between one hundred to eight
Speaker 1: hundred SEE. Together with its companion Juaca del Soul Temple
Speaker 1: of the Sun, it formed the ceremonial heart of the
Speaker 1: ancient Mochi capital city, which, at its height around six
Speaker 1: hundred CE, may have housed twenty five thousand people. The
Speaker 1: Mochi were a highly sophisticated civilization of the Early Intermediate period,
Speaker 1: known for their elaborate pottery, irrigation, engineering, and powerful religious rituals.
Speaker 1: They erected Waca de la Luna against the backdrop of
Speaker 1: Cerro Blanco, a white sandstone mountain regarded as an apu,
Speaker 1: or sacred being. According to local legend, the temple's very
Speaker 1: origin is tied to this holy peak. When a two
Speaker 1: headed serpent demon terrorized the valley, the mountain opened up
Speaker 1: to swallow the monster, saving the people. In gratitude, de
Speaker 1: Moche built the Waca de la Luna to honor the
Speaker 1: protective mountain god. This myth, still told by villages today,
Speaker 1: imbused the site with a lore of divine intervention and
Speaker 1: underscores how closely religion was linked to the natural landscape.
Speaker 1: The Waca de la Luna was constructed in stages over centuries,
Speaker 1: with each new phase literally built atop the previous one,
Speaker 1: as excavators discovered. The pyramid contains a series of earlier,
Speaker 1: smaller temples nested within their colorful murals remarkably preserved inside
Speaker 1: the protective adobe layers. The external dimensions of the final
Speaker 1: structure are vast. The temple consists of multiple broad terraces
Speaker 1: and platforms made from millions of sun dried ud bricks adobees. Fascinatingly,
Speaker 1: many bricks bear distinct markings or symbols, over one hundred
Speaker 1: different signs in total, which likely indicate the work crews
Speaker 1: or communities that produced them. Scholars suggest the bricks were
Speaker 1: signed in this way for accounting and perhaps to forster
Speaker 1: a healthy competition or sense of contribution among subject villages.
Speaker 1: Such collaboration hints at a large, organized labour force under
Speaker 1: elite supervision. Indeed, the Waca de la Luna and the
Speaker 1: Waca del Soul together dominated the Mochi urban center, reflecting
Speaker 1: a theocratic society where monumental constructions served both religious and
Speaker 1: political ends. The Spanish Conquista doors heavily looted and damaged
Speaker 1: the Waca del Soul in the seventeenth century, but wacadal
Speaker 1: Luna was left relatively untouched by the Spaniards. As a result,
Speaker 1: Waca de la Luna has yielded far more information in
Speaker 1: modern times. Professional archaeological excavations began in the nineteen nineties,
Speaker 1: led by Peruvian archaeologists Santiago Ueda and Ricardo Morales, among others.
Speaker 1: They uncovered tons of artifacts and art, revealing the site's
Speaker 1: function in history. We now know that the Waca de
Speaker 1: la Luna primarily served ceremonial and religious purposes, in contrast
Speaker 1: to Jaca del Soul's administrative and residential roles. Within Waca
Speaker 1: de la Luna's multi level complex, archaeologists identify different activity areas,
Speaker 1: a central and southern platform that held high status burials
Speaker 1: likely priests and religious elite, buried with fine ceramics, and
Speaker 1: a lower plaza in stone outcrop used for ritual combat
Speaker 1: in human sacrifice. The northern platform, once richly decorated, was
Speaker 1: unfortunately destroyed by looters. In the past, the Mochi had
Speaker 1: a vivid religious life centered on appeasing powerful deities associated
Speaker 1: with natural forces like weather and fertility. At Waka de
Speaker 1: la Luna, the most dramatic rituals were human sacrifices, carried
Speaker 1: out to invoke divine favor, especially in response to environmental
Speaker 1: stresses such as droughts or El Nino floods. The temple's
Speaker 1: polychrome freezes and wall murals, many well preserved, depict fearsome
Speaker 1: gods and ceremonial scenes. Chief among these is the fanged
Speaker 1: deity i ipeic aiapae c called the Decapitator, who appears
Speaker 1: as a half human, half beast figure brandishing severed heads.
Speaker 1: The Mochi believed such god's demanded blood offerings. On the
Speaker 1: eastern plaza by a black rock face. Priests performed ritual combat.
Speaker 1: Captive warriors or chosen combatants fought and gladier like duels.
Speaker 1: The often young male warriors were then sacrificed atop the oaka,
Speaker 1: their throats slit, bodies, dismembered or defleshed. Priestly attendants would
Speaker 1: present the victim's blood to the gods, as vividly shown
Speaker 1: in Moki art where priestesses offer goblets of blood to
Speaker 1: supernatural beings. The corpses were rolled off the pyramid to
Speaker 1: lie broken in the courtyard below, left for vultures and
Speaker 1: the elements. Such treatment, denial of burial mutilation of bodies
Speaker 1: indicates these were war captives or outsiders, not esteemed community members.
Speaker 1: This aligns with the recent scientific studies. Chemical analysis of
Speaker 1: bones and teeth from seventy sacrificial victims at Waka de
Speaker 1: la Luna showed many came from distant valleys, supporting the
Speaker 1: idea that they were war captives taken in conflict with
Speaker 1: rival groups. As one researcher put it, they look like
Speaker 1: war captives, not local elites. Over time, the geographic origin
Speaker 1: of victims seemed to have shifted farther away. Inside the temple,
Speaker 1: the Mochi created stunning paintings that embodied their cosmology. The
Speaker 1: walls were once painted in bright hues of red, yellow, white, black,
Speaker 1: and blue. One prominent freeze shows rows of spiderlike supernatural
Speaker 1: figures and warriors, possibly re enacting myth battles or processions.
Speaker 1: Another mural features a giant sea monster or a serpent.
Speaker 1: These artistic motifs reflect Mochi mythic themes, such as the
Speaker 1: mountain snake legend mentioned earlier, or the presence of the
Speaker 1: wrinkle faced god identified by Inca descendants. Importantly, archaeologists have
Speaker 1: found evidence that Moki priests at Juaca de la Luna
Speaker 1: used hallucinogenic San Pedro cactus during rituals. The mescaline induced
Speaker 1: trans may have helped priests communicate with their fierce gods,
Speaker 1: perhaps explaining the often terrifying of the worldly imagery on
Speaker 1: the temple walls. The half human, half spider deity through
Speaker 1: these rich rules, sacrifices, blood offerings, and trance ceremonies. The
Speaker 1: Mochi sought to secure agricultural fertility and climatic stability. Their
Speaker 1: arid environment was prone to droughts punctuated by catastrophic al
Speaker 1: Nino rains. Indeed, climate research indicates that around five thirty
Speaker 1: six CE, a super El Nino triggered thirty years of floods,
Speaker 1: followed by thirty years of drought, which corresponds with the
Speaker 1: weakening of Moki society. The massive outpourings of sacrifices that
Speaker 1: Waca da La Luna may have been attempts to placate
Speaker 1: the angry gods of weather, though ultimately these efforts failed
Speaker 1: to prevent environmental collapse. Waka Da La Luna's most striking
Speaker 1: features are its multi colored beliefs and the sheer scale
Speaker 1: of construction. The temple was built entirely of adobe mud bricks,
Speaker 1: with an estimated fifty million bricks used between it and
Speaker 1: Waca del Sol. Up close, the walls reveal alternating levels
Speaker 1: of construction, like a layer cake of religious phases. In
Speaker 1: some sections, you can see earlier murals buried by later expansions,
Speaker 1: giving archaeologists a stratified timeline of Mochi art and iconography.
Speaker 1: One famous mural inside depicts a giant face of eyeopek
Speaker 1: with gaping mouth and feline fangs, surrounded by a withering
Speaker 1: border of serpents and inimatic figures, hence the nickname decapitator God.
Speaker 1: Other panels show processions of priests or warriors in supernatural
Speaker 1: creatures like dragons or spiders, all rendered in a bold,
Speaker 1: flat style with red as a dominant color. The iconography
Speaker 1: encodes Mochi cosmology. Spiders and snakes relate to water and earth,
Speaker 1: decapitation relates to renewing fertility. The mountain is ever present
Speaker 1: as a sacred form. Even the placement of the waka
Speaker 1: is symbolic. It nestles at the base of Cerroblanco, integrating
Speaker 1: a natural, sacred mountain as part of the ritual landscape.
Speaker 1: The Moki likely viewed the waca and mountain together as
Speaker 1: the dwelling of gods. The legend of the mountain opening
Speaker 1: to eat to serpents suggests the mountain itself was personified
Speaker 1: as a deity. Thus, the Waca della Luna was not
Speaker 1: literally a moon temple in the sense of observing lunar phases. Rather,
Speaker 1: it was a temple where the moon, or more precisely,
Speaker 1: the night time, the water, the fertility associated with the
Speaker 1: moon and weather was honoured through the mountain God in
Speaker 1: the blood of sacrifices. The Spanish named Temple of the
Speaker 1: Moon might have been inspired by local lore as simply
Speaker 1: to pair it with the Temple of the Sun across
Speaker 1: the way. Some scholars surmise the Mochi wakas were aligned
Speaker 1: to astronomical events, but direct evidence is limited. What is
Speaker 1: clear is that the Waca de la Luna's orientation was
Speaker 1: strongly tied to Cera Blanco immediately behind it. In essence,
Speaker 1: the pyramid's facade faces the mountain, as if offering itself
Speaker 1: to the sacred peak. This is akin to tot Wakan's Pyramid
Speaker 1: of the Moon mirroring the Serro Gordo Mountain, a common
Speaker 1: ancient practice of aligning temples with prominent landscape features to
Speaker 1: enhance their sacred power. Modern excavation of a Waka dal
Speaker 1: la Luna has been exceptionally fruitful. In the nineteen nineties
Speaker 1: and two thousands, Peruvian and international teams uncovered plazas filled
Speaker 1: with sacrificial remains. In one famous nineteen ninety five find,
Speaker 1: archaeologist Steve borgey encountered a mass grave of forty two
Speaker 1: young men at the foot of the temple sacrificial rock,
Speaker 1: all apparently killed in one ritual event. The skeletons showed
Speaker 1: signs of violent death, skulls crushed by blunt force and dismemberment.
Speaker 1: Some skulls were even turned into skull caps for drinking,
Speaker 1: a grizzly practice also depicted in Moki pottery. These discoveries
Speaker 1: corroborated what Mochi art had long hinted. The Mochi elite
Speaker 1: conducted large scale, programmatic sacrifices during ceremonies, likely tied to
Speaker 1: phenomena like solar eclipses, torrential rains, or political installations. More
Speaker 1: recent bioarchaeological studies, such as by John Verano and Jye
Speaker 1: Maria Toyne, used oxygen isotope analysis on victim's teeth to
Speaker 1: determine their geographic origin. The results, as mentioned, showed a
Speaker 1: significant portion were not local to the Mochi capital, but
Speaker 1: hailed from far flung regions, supporting the idea of expanding
Speaker 1: warfare and Princess exchanges among Moki's centers. Even high status
Speaker 1: women buried at the site appeared to come from other valleys,
Speaker 1: hinting at patrilocal marriage alliances. Such scientific detective work has
Speaker 1: greatly enriched our understanding of Mochi's social dynamics and the
Speaker 1: role of Wakadilla Luna in a broader political sphere. The
Speaker 1: artifacts recovered include fine ceramics portraying the very rituals performed
Speaker 1: on the site, as well as TecTiles, metal objects, and tools.
Speaker 1: Particularly invaluable though mochis stirrup spout pots painted with sacrificial scenes,
Speaker 1: bound prisoners with ropes, priests in elaborate costumes wielding knives
Speaker 1: and cups catching blood. It's as if the Mochi left
Speaker 1: a pictorial record to be decoded alongside the archaeological record.
Speaker 1: Some tombs found within the waka held Moki priests or
Speaker 1: dignitaries buried with ornaments and effigy vessels. These reveal that
Speaker 1: despite the gruesome sacrifices, the Mochi also buried their own
Speaker 1: elite reverently within the temples, likely to deify them or
Speaker 1: place them closer to the gods and death. Today, Waka
Speaker 1: de La Luna stands as one of the most best
Speaker 1: preserved pre Columbian temples in Peru. After centuries of abandonment
Speaker 1: and partial burial by desert sands. It was open to
Speaker 1: public visitors only in twenty eleven, once stabilization efforts made
Speaker 1: it safe. The World Monuments Fund and Peru's Ministry of
Speaker 1: Culture have undertaken significant conservation projects, shoring up the adobe
Speaker 1: terraces and conserving the delicate murals. The ways in a
Speaker 1: site museum have been established soor tourists can view the
Speaker 1: multi colored freezes up close. In recent decades, the site
Speaker 1: has become an educational window into Mochi civilization, often compared
Speaker 1: in importance to Macho Picchu. It also has occasionally attracted
Speaker 1: spiritual New Age visitors, drawn by the vibes of the
Speaker 1: ancient ritual center. Some modern spiritualists speculate that places like
Speaker 1: Waca Della Luna sit on Earth energy nodes or lay lines,
Speaker 1: though there is no scientific evidence of that. What is
Speaker 1: tangible is the alignment with Cerro Blanco and the intentional
Speaker 1: sacred geography crafted by the Mochi. The legends and lore
Speaker 1: of Waca Dela Luna continue to captivate the imagination. Local
Speaker 1: storytellers still recount how the mountains save their ancestors, marking
Speaker 1: the rock with a black scar where it opened and
Speaker 1: shut on the serpent, and the memory of the Mochi
Speaker 1: priests magic lives on. For instance, shamanic practitioners in the
Speaker 1: region today sometimes invoke the Moki and their wakas as
Speaker 1: sources of ancient power. Why academic researchers focus on pottery
Speaker 1: shards and isotope ratios. Local communities see Waca dela lunas
Speaker 1: as part of their cultural heritage and even supernatural landscape.
Speaker 1: It's a place where, in folk belief, spirits of sacrificed
Speaker 1: warriors might still roam, or where the mountain spirit watches
Speaker 1: over the valley. Thus, Wakadala Luna exemplifies an archaeological site
Speaker 1: that is at once a treasure trove of scientific data
Speaker 1: and a living wellspring of myth. The Wakadla Luna was
Speaker 1: a ceremonial pyramid that played a pivotal role in Mokei
Speaker 1: religion and society. Through its imposing architecture and vivid art,
Speaker 1: it mediated between the Moki people and their gods, especially
Speaker 1: during desperate times of climate upheaval The temple saw lavish ceremonies,
Speaker 1: grewsome sacrifices of war captives to nourish the gods with blood,
Speaker 1: and likely periodic festivals to renew the land's fertility. Around
Speaker 1: the eighth century, as the Mochi civilization declined, possibly due
Speaker 1: to environmental disasters and internal strife, the Waca's de Mooch
Speaker 1: site was later used by subsequent cultures, the Chimu and
Speaker 1: then briefly the Inca before the Spanish conquest. Centuries of
Speaker 1: Wind and Sun reduced its outer layers to a crumbling
Speaker 1: brown mound, concealing the polychrome wonders inside. Thanks to archaeology,
Speaker 1: we have peeled back those layers to reveal a striking
Speaker 1: portrait of a people whom the boundary between the natural
Speaker 1: and supernatural was thin, and who believed that through ritual
Speaker 1: bloodshed atop their moon temple, they could harness divine forces
Speaker 1: to sustain their world. As we leave the Huaca de
Speaker 1: la Luna, we will now head over to the Zigarat
Speaker 1: of R in the desert of southern Iraq, rises a
Speaker 1: huge brown mass of brick, The Great Zigarat of R,
Speaker 1: an ancient Mesopotamian temple built over four thousand years ago.
Speaker 1: This majestic step pyramid was the spirit virtual center of
Speaker 1: the Sumerian city of Ure, dedicated to the moon god Nana,
Speaker 1: known as Sin in Akkadian. Today, its partially reconstructed lower
Speaker 1: tiers and grand staircase gave a glimpse of its original
Speaker 1: glory and the advanced society that created it. The Cigaratte
Speaker 1: of Eua has the distinction of being one of the
Speaker 1: largest and best preserved czigarotes of Mesopotamia. It also carries
Speaker 1: layers of cultural memory. It is linked to the biblical
Speaker 1: patriarch Abraham, who, according to tradition, was born in Eure
Speaker 1: and was restored by kings in antiquity and modernity alike.
Speaker 1: It survived wars and even hosted an interfaith prayer by
Speaker 1: Pope Francis in twenty twenty one. The Zigarot's long history
Speaker 1: and symbolism encapsulate the rise of urban civilization and organized
Speaker 1: religion in the Fertile Crescent. The Czigaatte was built around
Speaker 1: twenty one hundred BCE by King yur Nammu, founder of
Speaker 1: the third dynasty of Ure, and completed by his son
Speaker 1: King Shulgai. Urnamo's reign saw a renaissance of Sumerian culture.
Speaker 1: In building a monumental temple was both an act of
Speaker 1: piety and a statement of royal power. The ziggurat formed
Speaker 1: the base of a temple complex within yours sacred precinct.
Speaker 1: Its Sumerian ceremonial name was e lemon Ni Guru house
Speaker 1: whose foundation creates terror, or perhaps house of the foundation
Speaker 1: of God's dwelling. Yoranamu dedicated this structure in honor of
Speaker 1: Nana or Sin, the patron deity of Europe. Nana was
Speaker 1: the god of the moon, depicted as a wise provider
Speaker 1: of fertility and timekeeping. Atop the zigarat, a shrine would
Speaker 1: have housed a statue of Nana, and it was here
Speaker 1: that priests performed rites and presented offerings on behalf of
Speaker 1: the city. The cigarat's towering height meant the shrine's sword
Speaker 1: above the plane, a bridge between earth and heaven. Originally
Speaker 1: it was said to be about thirty meters high, dominating
Speaker 1: the city skyline. Ordinary citizens likely only saw the lower terraces.
Speaker 1: Only clergy and perhaps the royal family ascended to the summit.
Speaker 1: As one scholar analogized the ziggurat and its crowning temple
Speaker 1: would have been visible for miles around, like the spire
Speaker 1: of a medieval cathedral, guiding travelers and awing pilgrims from Afar. Yours, economy,
Speaker 1: and society were strongly tied to this temple. Records on
Speaker 1: clay tablets indicate the Nona Temple owned vast herds of
Speaker 1: cattle and sheep and received ties of grain, which were
Speaker 1: redistributed to support clergy and feed the populace. Thus, the
Speaker 1: ziggurat complex functioned not only as a religious spot, but
Speaker 1: also an administrative center for storage and redistribution, a cornerstone
Speaker 1: of the city state's economy. It's likely that the citizens
Speaker 1: of Europe brought their agricultural surplus to the temple storehouse
Speaker 1: and in return received regular rations beer dates, a practice
Speaker 1: attested in other Mesopotamian temples. In this way, devotion and
Speaker 1: daily life were intertwined. Serving the Moon God also meant
Speaker 1: feeding the people. The Great Ziggurat stood intact for over
Speaker 1: a thousand years. In the sixth century BCE, the Babylonian
Speaker 1: king Nabonitis carried out a major restoration of the dilapidated ziggurat. Nabonitis,
Speaker 1: an antiquarian of sorts, claimed in inscriptions that he dug
Speaker 1: to the foundation and rebuilt it in seven stages. By
Speaker 1: doing so, he was consciously emulating Your's ancient kings and
Speaker 1: honoring the moon God, whom he particularly revered. After the
Speaker 1: Babylonian period, Ure and its Zigarot fell into obscurity. The
Speaker 1: city was abandoned by the late first millennium BCE, as
Speaker 1: shifting rivers made the area less habitable when blown sand
Speaker 1: engulfed much of the Ziggarot's upper structure over time. Fast
Speaker 1: forward to the nineteenth and twentieth century CE, when the
Speaker 1: site was rediscovered and excavated. The remains of the Zigaratte
Speaker 1: was identified in eighteen fifty by British traveler William Loftus,
Speaker 1: and full scale excavations were led by Sir Leonard Woolley
Speaker 1: in the nineteen twenties to thirties. Willy's work, a joint
Speaker 1: venture of the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania,
Speaker 1: not only uncovered the Zigarot's base and dimensions, but also
Speaker 1: famuously found the Royal Tombs of Eure nearby, rich with
Speaker 1: gold and artifacts. Willie's dig revealed the Zigarot's construction, a
Speaker 1: core of sun baked mud bricks faced with a thick
Speaker 1: skin of fire bricks set in bunamen. This waterproofing budamin
Speaker 1: layer protected the mud core from the rain and gave
Speaker 1: the structure great durability. The massive rectangular platform measured roughly
Speaker 1: sixty four by forty five meters at its base and
Speaker 1: had three levels of terraces, originally raising about seventy two
Speaker 1: one hundred feet high. The Zigaratte was orientated precisely to
Speaker 1: true north, reflecting the Sumerian sophisticated grasp of alignment and
Speaker 1: perhaps cosmology. Three monumental staircases of one hundred steps each
Speaker 1: climbed the front facade, one central and one on each side,
Speaker 1: converging at a gate on the first terrace. Then a
Speaker 1: single stairway continued to the second terrace and onto the
Speaker 1: top platform, where the holy sanctuary stood. The image is
Speaker 1: that of a grand staged mountain, a man made sacred
Speaker 1: mountain which in the flat floodplain of Mesopotamia served as
Speaker 1: an artificial high place for the god to dwell. In
Speaker 1: Sumerian mythology, gods often met on mountaintops, since natural mountains
Speaker 1: were far to the east. Zigurattes fulfilled that role in
Speaker 1: the cities. The top temple, sometimes called the Jiparu if
Speaker 1: it was. Like later moon temples in Europe, unfortunately has
Speaker 1: not survived. However, a few glazed bricks of deep blue
Speaker 1: color have been found on the summit ruins, hinting that
Speaker 1: the shrine may have been ornately decorated, possibly with a
Speaker 1: facade of blue glazed brick or tile to represent the sky.
Speaker 1: In it would have been the statue of Nana, along
Speaker 1: with rich furnishings. During religious festivals, likely tied to the
Speaker 1: lunar cycle, the priests would bring offerings up the zigarat
Speaker 1: and perhaps conduct ceremonies on the platform. One can imagine
Speaker 1: the silver light of the full moon shining directly upon
Speaker 1: the high temple of the moon God, an or inspiring
Speaker 1: nocturnal sight for ancient Europe. Nana or Sin, the moon God,
Speaker 1: was one of the chief deities in the Shamerian pantheon.
Speaker 1: Considered the son of Alil, the air god and father
Speaker 1: of Utu Shamash, the sun god, and inan or Ishtar,
Speaker 1: the venus goddess, he was depicted as a wise, benevolent god,
Speaker 1: often symbolized by the crescent moon. The people of Europe
Speaker 1: believed Nana watched over their city and flocks, making the
Speaker 1: herds fertile and the harvest plentiful. His temple was called
Speaker 1: Igischergal House of the Great Light, and the zigaratte below
Speaker 1: was essentially a means to elevate that house closer to
Speaker 1: the heavens. The Mesopotamia religion, a god's essence could reside
Speaker 1: in their cult statue, which was tended too daily with food, incense,
Speaker 1: and prayer. So Inure, the priests would offer sacrifices of
Speaker 1: bulls and lambs to Nana, burn seated resin for its
Speaker 1: fragrant smoke, and perform hymns in rituals composed in summary.
Speaker 1: The king, as the high steward of the god, would
Speaker 1: partake in ceremonies, especially during New Year festivals or eclipses.
Speaker 1: An interesting facet is that the lunar calendar was important
Speaker 1: for timing rituals and administrative schedules. Being the city of
Speaker 1: the moon deity, Yure would have been a center of
Speaker 1: astronomical observation. It's plausible that the ziggurat's height allowed priests
Speaker 1: to observe the moon and stars without obstruction. Those zigurats
Speaker 1: were not simple observatories. The cosmic connection was inherent. The
Speaker 1: structure itself, with its layered stages, might symbolically represent a
Speaker 1: cosmic mountain or bridge, with the number of levels possibly
Speaker 1: holding astrological meaning. Some zigarottes had seven levels, aligning with
Speaker 1: seven heavenly planets. Yure had three main levels, originally expanded
Speaker 1: to seven in Nabonitis's restoration, perhaps to align with that
Speaker 1: later cosmic scheme. The idea of reaching heaven via a
Speaker 1: tall structure finds resonance in the later Biblical story of
Speaker 1: the Tower of Babel. While the Tower of Babyl is
Speaker 1: usually associated with Babylon Ziggurat, some early interpreters saw any
Speaker 1: great zigarate as emblematic of that tale. The cigarette of Ure,
Speaker 1: being so imposing an ancient was sometimes linked to Babel
Speaker 1: by travelers, though there's no direct connection beyond the same
Speaker 1: type of building. What your ziguratte does emphasize is the
Speaker 1: Mesopotamian aspiration to connect with the divine vertically. They called
Speaker 1: zigurats her sacred mountain or Sikatu height pinnacle. Climbing the
Speaker 1: Zigarat stairway was likely a ritual enactment of ascending to
Speaker 1: the realm of the gods. Only the privileged priests and
Speaker 1: rulers could make that climb, effectively bringing prayers from the
Speaker 1: people below up to the gods dwelling above. Lendon Woolly's
Speaker 1: excavation in the nineteen twenties not only mapped the Zigurad,
Speaker 1: but also attempted a kind of restoration. The lowest level
Speaker 1: and staircase that visitors see today were actually rebuilt in
Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties under Saddam Hussein's patronage. Saddam, sinking to
Speaker 1: link himself to Iraq's ancient glory, ordered a partial reconstruction
Speaker 1: using modern bricks over the base. This is why today
Speaker 1: the Zigarad's first terrace looks relatively sharp edged and new,
Speaker 1: with described bricks stamped in Saddam's name, like ur Namu
Speaker 1: did in his time. The upper levels remain mostly ruined,
Speaker 1: leaving a flat top where once the temple stood. Willy
Speaker 1: had found that the original ziggurat had three tiers. Nabonitis's
Speaker 1: additions perhaps added more height, but much of those top
Speaker 1: layers eroded away. The site suffered some damage during modern conflicts.
Speaker 1: In the nineteen ninety one Gulf War, Iraqi and Allied
Speaker 1: forces fought near Yore bullet holes over four hundred of
Speaker 1: them still pock marked the Zigarot's walls and bomb craters
Speaker 1: doted the vicinity. Fortunately, the structure was robust enough to
Speaker 1: survive without catastrophic collapse. By two thousand and eight, Zigaratt
Speaker 1: was protected as an archaeological park and efforts have been
Speaker 1: made to maintain it. One triggering aspect is that near
Speaker 1: the Zigarat, Willy uncovered what may be the world's oldest museum,
Speaker 1: a sixth century BCE museum of antiquities collected by Princess
Speaker 1: and Agaldi, a daughter of Nabonitis. She curated artifacts from
Speaker 1: much older periods and a building adjacent to the ziggurat,
Speaker 1: complete with labels in multiple languages. This indicates a conscious
Speaker 1: awareness of the site's antiquity even in ancient times. So
Speaker 1: Your Ziggurat has been an object of fascination across ages,
Speaker 1: from Nabinius's archaeologists to Anegaldi's museum to modern researchers. In
Speaker 1: recent years, with Iraq becoming more accessible, the Ziggurat of
Speaker 1: Your has seen notable visitors. In March twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: Pope Francis traveled to Europe and held an interfaith prayer
Speaker 1: service at a spot in view of the Zigurad, invoking
Speaker 1: the shared heritage of Abraham. For Christians, Muslims, and Jews,
Speaker 1: this event underscored your significance as the birthplace of Abraham.
Speaker 1: In Biblical tradition. According to the Book of Genesis, Abraham
Speaker 1: lived in Europe before being called by God to journey
Speaker 1: to Canaan. In Jewish, Christian, and Islamic stories, Abraham's rejection
Speaker 1: of idolatry is sometimes set against the backdrop of yours
Speaker 1: pagan w worship of the moon God. Legend has it
Speaker 1: Abraham may have even smashed the idols in Your or
Speaker 1: was persecuted by King Nimrod for refusing to worship the
Speaker 1: celestial gods. While these are not historical accounts, they highlight
Speaker 1: how later monotheistic faiths viewed places like the Ziggurat of
Speaker 1: Ure as symbols of mankind's early religious strivings, later supplanted
Speaker 1: by the worship of one God. The Pope's visit in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one saw him speak in front of the
Speaker 1: Zigurade about unity and peace among religions, truly a historic
Speaker 1: moment bridging four thousand years of spiritual history. The cigarette's
Speaker 1: design is both functionable and symbolic. Functionally, the solid core
Speaker 1: of mud brick millions of bricks strong provided mass, while
Speaker 1: the sloped sides and thick bututamin bonded brick casing gave
Speaker 1: stability and drainage. The architects ingeniously built drains into the
Speaker 1: terraces to channel away rainwater and ventilation holes through the
Speaker 1: outer walls to allow moisture to evaporate, preventing the mud
Speaker 1: brick core from softening. These ancient engineers understood that a
Speaker 1: massive mud structure could be weakened by water, so they
Speaker 1: countered that with technology. The burnt bricks using the exterior
Speaker 1: were standard size thirty by thirty by seven centimeters and
Speaker 1: heavy up to fifteen kilograms each, and estimated seven hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty thousand baked bricks were used in the first
Speaker 1: terrace alone. This represents a huge communal effort, like a
Speaker 1: combination of constricted labor and temple workers. Each brick often
Speaker 1: had cuneiform inscriptions naming er Namu or Sholgi as the builder,
Speaker 1: essentially early builders plaques. Visually, the cigarette would have been impressive.
Speaker 1: Its sides likely had a slight inward slope, giving a
Speaker 1: tapered look upward the sun baked brick might have been
Speaker 1: plastered and whitewashed in parts. Some reconstructions suggest the stages
Speaker 1: could have been painted in different colors to represent planetary spheres,
Speaker 1: a feature attested in later ziggurates. We know from Naberonitus's
Speaker 1: account that by his time much of your ziggurat was ruinous,
Speaker 1: except the lowest stage. He added more stages. Whether he
Speaker 1: colored them is unknown. If he truly made it to
Speaker 1: seven stage it is now he might have been imitating
Speaker 1: the famous seven tiered cigaratte of Babylon. This is speculative
Speaker 1: for your but it shows how Mesopotamians associated zigarotes with
Speaker 1: the cosmos. Some scholars think cigarotes symbolized the cosmic mountain
Speaker 1: connecting the Earth to the sky, and possibly their heights
Speaker 1: or tiers correlated with celestial zones. The great cigarette had
Speaker 1: no eternal chambers that we know of. It was a
Speaker 1: solid platform. The actual temple for worship was the small
Speaker 1: building on top. Interestingly, the complex around the ziguratte included
Speaker 1: other buildings, a courtyard, storehouses, the residents of the high
Speaker 1: Priestess of Nana, often royal daughter, would serve in this role,
Speaker 1: and administrative offices Willy discovered the chaperu He building adjacent
Speaker 1: where these priestesses were buried and where offerings to the
Speaker 1: gods consorts were made. Thus, the Zigarat was the literal
Speaker 1: high point, but part of a larger sacred campus that
Speaker 1: managed both the gods, cults, and economic resources. Beyond archaeology,
Speaker 1: the cigarette of Yore has captured public imagination. When US
Speaker 1: and Coalition forces were stationed in Iraq in the two
Speaker 1: thousands near the Tallil Air Base, they often visited the
Speaker 1: Zigarat as a tourist excursion. Photos of soldiers climbing the
Speaker 1: ancient stairs with their rifles slung over their shoulders circulated widely.
Speaker 1: The juxtaposition of modern warfighters in one of humanity's oldest
Speaker 1: monumental buildings was striking. It symbolized for many the enduring
Speaker 1: nature of cultural heritage. Of mid conflict. The site came
Speaker 1: under Iraqi control and has been proposed as a tourism
Speaker 1: hub as Iraq rebuilds. In twenty thirteen, authorities opened a
Speaker 1: small visitor center. By Preserving and Promoting Your Iraq honors
Speaker 1: its position as one of the cradles of civilization. Legends
Speaker 1: still swill around the ziggurat. Local Iraqi folklore, for instance,
Speaker 1: speaks of Jinn's spirits that might haunt the ancient ruins
Speaker 1: at night. Some of the local guides talk of a
Speaker 1: curse that befalls those who disrespect the site. While such
Speaker 1: stories are anecdotal, they add to the ore of the
Speaker 1: ziggurat as a place where the past is alive. New
Speaker 1: age and fringe theorists have also woven Your Ziggurat into
Speaker 1: their ideas, claiming, for example, that it aligns with other
Speaker 1: pyramids on energy grids, or that its shape has mystical power.
Speaker 1: There is no scientific basis for lay lines through your,
Speaker 1: but the pattern of pyramidal structures globally does intrigue many.
Speaker 1: It's often pointed out that Your Zigarat lies near the
Speaker 1: thirty degrees north latitude, roughly the same as the Pyramids
Speaker 1: of Giza and others, though this might be coincidental. From
Speaker 1: a scholarly perspective, the Zigarat of Ure exemplifies the early
Speaker 1: development of state religion and monumental architecture. It is a
Speaker 1: UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the a War
Speaker 1: of Southern Iraq, which includes Eure and a symbol of
Speaker 1: Iraqi national pride. In the imagination of many It stands
Speaker 1: as a testament to human ingenuity in the service of faith.
Speaker 1: As one museum publication eloquently put it, when Abraham, if
Speaker 1: he indeed lived in Europe around eighteen hundred BC, walked
Speaker 1: in the city, he looked up daily to a zigarat,
Speaker 1: which was then a finished monument, already cinuries old. That continuity,
Speaker 1: from early Bronze Age through Biblical times to the present
Speaker 1: day is what makes the Great Zigarette of Earth so
Speaker 1: powerful a monument. It has seen the ebb and flow
Speaker 1: of empires, the evolution of religion from polytheism to monotheism,
Speaker 1: and the dawn of history. Its self, writing in Cuneiform,
Speaker 1: was invented not far from its shadow. To stand before
Speaker 1: it is to connect with the very early chapters of
Speaker 1: urban human history. And now, as we wrap up the Zigarod,
Speaker 1: we will head on over to the Temple of Consu
Speaker 1: and Karnak. Ancient Egypt' Karnak Temple complex in Thebes. Modern
Speaker 1: Luxor is famous for its grand Temple of Amun with
Speaker 1: colossal columns. Nestled within that complex, however, is a smaller
Speaker 1: but remarkably well preserved shrine to a different deity, the
Speaker 1: Temple of Consu, dedicated to the Egyptian moon god. Built
Speaker 1: during the New Kingdom around eleven ninety BCE and added
Speaker 1: onto in later periods, the Temple of Consu offers a
Speaker 1: nearly complete example of a medium sized Egyptian temple and
Speaker 1: illuminates the role of lunar worship in Egypt's religious life.
Speaker 1: Consu was the son of Amun and Mud in the
Speaker 1: Thebian Triad, revered as a god of the moon time
Speaker 1: and healing. His temple at Karnak, though smaller than Amun's,
Speaker 1: was constructed and decorated by pharaohs over centuries, resulting in
Speaker 1: a beautifully layered structure that has survived, with its roof intact,
Speaker 1: its relief still visible, and even some ancient paint in
Speaker 1: shaded areas. The Temple of Kansu stands in the southwest
Speaker 1: corner of Karnak's precinct of Amunray, not far from Karnak's
Speaker 1: massive first pylon. It was originally built by Pharaoh Ramses
Speaker 1: third circa eleven eighty six to eleven fifty five BCE.
Speaker 1: During Egypt's twentieth dynasty, Rameses third erected the main building
Speaker 1: on the site of an earlier structure, possibly from the
Speaker 1: late eighteenth dynasty or earlier. The temple follows the classic
Speaker 1: new kingdom plan. One approaches through a monumental gateway pylon,
Speaker 1: enters an open perial style courtyard surrounded by columns, then
Speaker 1: passes into a hypostyle hall with columns, and finally into
Speaker 1: the dim innercence sanctuaries, which housed the cult statue of Consu.
Speaker 1: The whole temple is orientated along in access and aligned
Speaker 1: with the processional route that leads to Luxe Temple to
Speaker 1: the south. In fact, the gateway of Ptolemy in front
Speaker 1: of Consu's temple formed the start of the famous avenue
Speaker 1: of Sphinx that connected Karnak and luxA. Pilgrims in antiquity
Speaker 1: could walk from Luxe Temple northward along this sphinx lined
Speaker 1: avenue and arrive at the front of Consu's temple, symbolically
Speaker 1: linking Consu's domain to his father Aarmun's domain at Karnak.
Speaker 1: Construction and embellishment of Consu's temple continued well after Ramses
Speaker 1: the third high priestess Herohor, who effectively ruled Thieves after
Speaker 1: the collapse of central authority around ten seventy BCE left
Speaker 1: inscribed reliefs in the temple's forecourt, suggesting he completed or
Speaker 1: redecorated portions. During Egypt's late periods, the temple saw further additions.
Speaker 1: The hypostyle hall was built under nectin Nebel the First
Speaker 1: the thirtieth dynasty three eighty BCE, and the great entrance
Speaker 1: gateway in front of the temple was constructed by Ptolemy
Speaker 1: the Third in the third century along within an enclosure wall.
Speaker 1: The Ptolemaea gate is a free standing structure that features
Speaker 1: plaques of Ptolemy the Third and reliefs showing him offering
Speaker 1: to the gods. It served as a grand entrance separate
Speaker 1: from Karnak's main pylons, highlighting that Kansu's temple was somewhat
Speaker 1: autonomous and had its own sacred enclosure. Over time, blocks
Speaker 1: from earlier eras were re used in the temple. Scholars
Speaker 1: have noted inverted or missed match relief blocks in certain walls,
Speaker 1: indicating later reconstruction or restoration used in Spolia. Despite that,
Speaker 1: the temple is one of the most intact at Karnak,
Speaker 1: with its roof still covering the sanctuaries and even two
Speaker 1: ancient baboon. Statues found inside baboons were sacred to moon
Speaker 1: deities like Toath and perhaps Consuit. The pair discovered here
Speaker 1: a thought to date to Seti, the first twelve ninety BCE,
Speaker 1: presumingly from the prior structure and left as venerable objects.
Speaker 1: The Temple of Kansu is a textbook example of a
Speaker 1: small Egyptian culled temple. Approaching it, one first sees the
Speaker 1: first pylon, a sandstone gateway about thirty four point five
Speaker 1: meters wide and eighteen meters toll. Today, only the two
Speaker 1: tower like sides of the pylon stand, and they are
Speaker 1: not fully intact, but enough remains to convey its scale.
Speaker 1: The pylon is decorated with release of Ramsey's a Third
Speaker 1: smiting enemies and presenting offerings to Kansu, Amun and Mud.
Speaker 1: Passing through the pylon, you enter the courtyard, open to
Speaker 1: the sky. This court has a colonnade on each side,
Speaker 1: forming a rectangle. In Ramses the Third's day, common people
Speaker 1: might have been allowed onto the courtyard during festivals to
Speaker 1: witness rituals from a distance. At the far end of
Speaker 1: the courtyard stands a calm porch or portico with four
Speaker 1: columns leading into the hypostyle hole. The hypostyle whole of
Speaker 1: Consu's temple is small, especially in comparison to Karnak's main hypostyle,
Speaker 1: but it features paper's bud column capitals and once held
Speaker 1: colorful painted scenes on its walls. In the gloom of
Speaker 1: the whole, one still sees Ramses, the fourth and later
Speaker 1: pharaohs making offerings to Kansu and other gods. Proceeding deeper,
Speaker 1: one passes through a series of vestibules that decrease in
Speaker 1: size and elevation, a typical feature meant to transition from
Speaker 1: the public outer areas to the most sacred, darkest inner sanctum. Finally,
Speaker 1: at the far end is the sanctuary holy of Holies,
Speaker 1: where the cold statue of Kansu would have stood on
Speaker 1: a bark boat shaped shrine or pedestal. Surrounding the sanctuary
Speaker 1: are smaller side chambers for storage of virtual equipment, and
Speaker 1: perhaps chapels for associated deities. Because the roof remains, one
Speaker 1: can still experience this spatial effect sunlight in the open court,
Speaker 1: dimness in the hypostyle, and darkness in the sanctuary, irustrating
Speaker 1: the Egyptian metaphor of creation. Light to dark as one
Speaker 1: goes in like entering the womb of the temple to
Speaker 1: commune with the god. The ceiling of the sanctuary is
Speaker 1: decorated with astronomical scenes, stars and vultures common in moon
Speaker 1: god temples, emphasizing the nocturnal sky. Kansu's temple is adorned
Speaker 1: throughout with hieroglyphic inscriptions and relief carvings. Many depict Consu
Speaker 1: in his typical form as a mummified young man with
Speaker 1: a side luck of youth, holding a crooked flail, and
Speaker 1: often with a moondisc atop a crescent on his head.
Speaker 1: In some scenes, he has a falcon head assimilated to Horace,
Speaker 1: also crowned by the crescent moon. The theological messaging often
Speaker 1: celebrates Consu, attributes as the traveler, god of time and healer.
Speaker 1: One notable text associated with Kansu is the story on
Speaker 1: the Bnrest Stellar, found in the Kansu Temple's vicinity, which
Speaker 1: recounts how Consu's statue was sent to a foreign land
Speaker 1: to heal a princess from the Amonic possession. This legend,
Speaker 1: though inscribed in Ptolemaic times, on Estella, discovered in eighteen
Speaker 1: twenty nine near the temple claims to take place in
Speaker 1: the time of ramses A second. It tells that Consu's
Speaker 1: power was able to exercise a demon from the ill
Speaker 1: Princess of Bakhtan, likely in Syria, after which Consu's statue
Speaker 1: stayed abroad for several years performing miracles before magically flying
Speaker 1: back to Egypt. The factor was found by Consu's temple,
Speaker 1: shows that the temple probably held this stella for centuries
Speaker 1: as part of its religious law, reinforcing Consu's image as
Speaker 1: a compassionate healer god who expels demons. The Karnac complex
Speaker 1: was primarily dedicated to Amun, but Consu's temple meant that
Speaker 1: the Theban triad Amun, his consort Mutt, and their son
Speaker 1: Kansu each had cult sanctuaries. Consu's role as the moon
Speaker 1: god complemented his father's role as a sun related god,
Speaker 1: Amun ray and MutS functions as mother goddess. Every day,
Speaker 1: priests would perform rich in consus sanctuary. At dawn, they
Speaker 1: would break the seal of the previous day, open the shrine,
Speaker 1: light lamps and incense, and present offerings of food and
Speaker 1: drink to the statue, accompanied by hymns. At sunset, the
Speaker 1: statue was resealed in its shrine, with fresh offerings left
Speaker 1: for the night. During festivals, Consu played a key part
Speaker 1: in processions. For instance, in the Opet festival, the statue
Speaker 1: of Kansu would travel with Amun and mud from Karnak
Speaker 1: to Luxe Temple to ceremonially rejuvenate the kingship. The avenue
Speaker 1: of sphinxes starting at Consu's gate emphasizes that Consu's idol
Speaker 1: likely left from this temple's front in its portable shrine,
Speaker 1: carried on priest's shoulders. It sailed or was carried down
Speaker 1: the nile to Luxor and back amid celebrations. The presence
Speaker 1: of numerous sphinxes lining the avenue suggests the sanctity of
Speaker 1: that route, so Consu's temple was not isolated. It was
Speaker 1: an integral node in the greater sacred geography of thieves
Speaker 1: connecting Karnak and Luxur. Kansu's character as a moon god
Speaker 1: also had astral and magical dimensions. Egyptians observed that Consu
Speaker 1: the moon helped measure time. He controls the length of
Speaker 1: the night. In texts. He also was sometimes feared as
Speaker 1: a bloodthirsty deity. In one myth, Kansu is said to
Speaker 1: feast on human hearts during the night, but in Thebes
Speaker 1: he was worshiped primarily as a benign son of Amun
Speaker 1: who helps the sick. Amulets and prescriptions for healing often
Speaker 1: invoked Consu. His temple might have received those seeking cures,
Speaker 1: similar to how Greco Roman healing temples did. This evidence
Speaker 1: that oracles were conducted at Karnak, possibly involving Consu's statue.
Speaker 1: For example, the story of the bench res Stella implies
Speaker 1: Consu's statue could nod or give signs. In some inscriptions,
Speaker 1: Consu is called Consu the planmaker and Consu the provider,
Speaker 1: suggesting protective aspects. The reliefs in Kansu Temple show classic
Speaker 1: New Kingdom style, initially and later less refined tolamic conditions.
Speaker 1: On the ceilings, one finds rows of painted flying vultures
Speaker 1: symbol of protection, and astronomical ceilings with stars indicating the
Speaker 1: sky heaven theme appropriate for a moon god's shrine. Baboons,
Speaker 1: who famously chatter at the sunrise, were often associated with
Speaker 1: welcoming the sun, hence linked to the moon cycle. iiO.
Speaker 1: The two large baboon statues found in the hypostyle imply
Speaker 1: baboons may have flanked Consu's inner chapel, just as they
Speaker 1: do for other lunar or solar shrines. The presence of
Speaker 1: these animal sculptures is one distinctive feature. Many temples of
Speaker 1: similar size do not retain statuary, so their survival is notable.
Speaker 1: We also have records that under the Roman Empire, the
Speaker 1: temple of Kansu is still active and received upgrades. In fact,
Speaker 1: some thin coptic inscriptions on the walls show that in
Speaker 1: Christian times parts of it might have been used by
Speaker 1: monks or repurposed, but fortunately not heavily defaced, as happened
Speaker 1: to some pagan temples. The result is that Kansu's temple
Speaker 1: is a rare gem. You could walk through it today
Speaker 1: and see pharonic reliefs with original coloring, and easily imagine
Speaker 1: the rituals once performed there. One interesting alignment question. Many
Speaker 1: Egyptian temples aligned to significant celestial points. Amun's main access
Speaker 1: at Karnak famously points to the midwinter solstice sunrise. Kansu's
Speaker 1: temple is rotated about ninety degrees from Amun's aligning roughly
Speaker 1: to the southwest toward Luxor Temple. Some have speculated if
Speaker 1: it might align with the lunar event, perhaps the moon's
Speaker 1: position on a certain day. However, a study of Egyptian
Speaker 1: temple alignments found Consu Sanctuary does not obviously align to
Speaker 1: a major lunar stancil or event. Ironically, another small temple
Speaker 1: at Karnak, the Patah Temple, aligns with the extreme moonset position,
Speaker 1: not to Consu Temple. So in terms of lay lines
Speaker 1: or alignments, the temple of Consu appears primarily orientated to
Speaker 1: integrate with the Thebian ritual landscape rather than to the
Speaker 1: moon's cycle. Directly, it faces the route to Luxor Temple,
Speaker 1: facilitating the procession. Nonetheless, the entire Karnak complex itself is
Speaker 1: a powerhouse of ancient energy in the eyes of many
Speaker 1: modern spiritual tourists. Visitors today often remark on a feeling
Speaker 1: of or or even a charge when walking through Karnak's precincts.
Speaker 1: The Kansu Temple, being quieter and less visited than the
Speaker 1: main temple, can indeed feel like a serene, otherworldly spot
Speaker 1: at dusk with the moon rising above. Perhaps allowing one
Speaker 1: two cents a glimmer of the divine presence the ancient
Speaker 1: priests cultivated there. The Temple of Consu was documented in
Speaker 1: detail by the University of Chicago's Epigraphic Survey in the
Speaker 1: late nineteen seventies. They publish two volumes of drawings and
Speaker 1: translateations of its reliefs. In the early two thousands, the
Speaker 1: American Research Center in Egypt ARCEE used the Consuit Temple
Speaker 1: as a training site for conservation field schools. From two
Speaker 1: thousand and six to twenty eighteen, arce teams worked on
Speaker 1: cleaning and stabilizing the temple sandstone walls, and educating Egyptian
Speaker 1: conservators in the process. This effort has ensured the reliefs
Speaker 1: are now clearer and the structure is secure. In one instance,
Speaker 1: conservators performed cleaning tests to determine how to best remove
Speaker 1: soot and grime from the carved surfaces, revealing the bright
Speaker 1: original paint underneath. Tourists can visit the Consut Temple as
Speaker 1: part of the Karnak Site, though it is off to
Speaker 1: one side and sometimes overlooked. At times, it has been
Speaker 1: closed or only partially opened, depending on restoration works. When
Speaker 1: it is opened, one can walk through the entire floorplan.
Speaker 1: At night, Karnak Temple has a sound and light show,
Speaker 1: and Consu's temple, bathed in floodlights, looks particularly atmospheric, though
Speaker 1: it's not usually highlighted in the show's narration. However, some
Speaker 1: special events or experimental tourism projects have occurred. For example,
Speaker 1: in recent years, there have been art installations and even
Speaker 1: an opera performance in front of Consu's gateway, utilizing it
Speaker 1: as a dramatic backdrop. Unlike Waka Dela Luna or even Yure,
Speaker 1: where local legends persisted, the Temple of Consu's legends are
Speaker 1: mainly preserved ancient myths rather than post Pharonic folklore. This
Speaker 1: tale underscores Consu's epitaph as Consu the solver or Consu
Speaker 1: who determines fate and Consu the good RESTful one. In
Speaker 1: the ben Trestella, two forms of Consu are invoked, suggesting
Speaker 1: thebes actually worship Consu in slightly different aspects. Indeed, Karnak
Speaker 1: had two console chapels, one for Consu the child and
Speaker 1: one for Consul the provider, but the main temple under
Speaker 1: discussion for Consu in general. As part of the triad.
Speaker 1: One charming legend in Egyptian religion involving Kansu is the
Speaker 1: legend of the Eye of Horus, or the contention of
Speaker 1: Toth and Consun. In one version, Toth, another moon god,
Speaker 1: gambles with Kansu to win extra light for the moon
Speaker 1: to create the five Epicho mental days of the calendar.
Speaker 1: Consul loses the bed and has to give away some moonlight.
Speaker 1: There is more of a theological explanation of why the
Speaker 1: moon wanes of loses weight. It shows that Egyptians had
Speaker 1: multiple lunar deities whose rolls overlapped. In Thebes, Consu reigned
Speaker 1: as the lunar child of Ammun, while in Hermopolis Toth
Speaker 1: was the more prominent. There is no evidence of open rivalry,
Speaker 1: but myths playfully pit them in contest of wits. In
Speaker 1: modern esoteric circles, Egyptian temples, including Consus, are often thought
Speaker 1: to be built on power of vortices or aligned with stars.
Speaker 1: Some fringe theorists claim Karnak as aligned with Ryan's belt
Speaker 1: or other celestial markers. While Karnak's main axis is astronomically
Speaker 1: aligned to the solstice sunrise, Kansu's temple is aligned to
Speaker 1: Luxe Temple, which in turn might align with the rising
Speaker 1: of certain stars during the Opet festival. There is a
Speaker 1: speculation that the avenue of Sphinx's alignment might match the
Speaker 1: rising of the stars Sirius or another key star when
Speaker 1: viewed from Luxor. However, precise studies having confirmed the direct
Speaker 1: Kansu moon alignment. Nonetheless, because Kansu is a moon god,
Speaker 1: visiting his temple under a full moon can be a
Speaker 1: moving experience, perhaps tapping into the ancient energy of moonlit rituals.
Speaker 1: The temple's small, enclosed sanctuary also gives it at resonance
Speaker 1: and quiet that some visitors describe as spiritually charged. It
Speaker 1: is not uncommon for meditation groups or spiritually inclined tourists
Speaker 1: to gather near Consu's temple at off peak times to
Speaker 1: soak in its ambience away from the crowds at Amun's
Speaker 1: hippos style whole. In conclusion, the temple of Kansu at
Speaker 1: Karnak may be lesser known, but it is a jewel
Speaker 1: of preservation that sheds light on Egyptian lunar worship and
Speaker 1: temple practice. Built by one of Egypt's great pharaohs, and
Speaker 1: embellished by others for over a millennium. It stands almost complete,
Speaker 1: allowing us to walk the same flows as ancient priests.
Speaker 1: It testifies to the Egyptian devotion to order through ritual.
Speaker 1: Every wall scene of Pharaoh offering to consul reinforces the
Speaker 1: cosmic balance the king gaves Mah offerings are truth to
Speaker 1: the gods, and the gods in return uphold creation. As
Speaker 1: a moon shrine, it highlights the Egyptian view of the
Speaker 1: moon as a beneficial, renewing force. Kansu brought the cool
Speaker 1: light in darkness, marked the passage of time, and could
Speaker 1: drive away malevolent spirits. That his temple was a part
Speaker 1: of Karnak shows the inclusiveness of Egyptian religion. The great
Speaker 1: state god a moon was incomplete without his family, and
Speaker 1: the moon God's sun had his vital place in the
Speaker 1: divine ecology of Thebes. Today, preserved and conserved, Kansu's temple
Speaker 1: continues quietly, fulfilling its role as a place of sanctuary
Speaker 1: and mystery, inviting us to reflect on the rhythms of
Speaker 1: time and the ancient quest for healing and divine communion
Speaker 1: under the silvery moon. As we leave the Temple of Kansu.
Speaker 1: We have one last stop before we wrap this up,
Speaker 1: the Pyramid of the Moon in TiO Tuacan, Mexico. On
Speaker 1: the northern end of the broad Avenue of the Dead
Speaker 1: in TiO Tuakan stands the Pyramid of the Moon, a
Speaker 1: grand pyramid that has captivated visitors for centuries. Built nearly
Speaker 1: two thousand years ago by the TiO Tuwakan civilization, this
Speaker 1: pyramid temple was central to the city ceremonial life. The
Speaker 1: Pyramid of the Moon is the second largest pyramid in
Speaker 1: TiO Tuwakan, slightly smaller than the Pyramid of the Sun,
Speaker 1: and it mimics the shape of the mountains Serro Gordo
Speaker 1: looming directly behind the This deliberate alignment with the mountain
Speaker 1: gave the pyramid a powerful backdrop and suggests a sacred
Speaker 1: synchronization of architecture with natural landscape, a hallmark of Tiotowakan
Speaker 1: urban design. Tiotowakan was a thriving metropolis between one hundred
Speaker 1: BCE and five fifty CE, reaching its height around three
Speaker 1: hundred to four hundred and fifty CE, when it had
Speaker 1: an estimated one hundred to one hundred and twenty five
Speaker 1: thousand residents. Remarkably, by that time, it was one of
Speaker 1: the largest cities in the world, and certainly the largest
Speaker 1: in the Americas. The Pyramid of the Moon was among
Speaker 1: the earliest and continuously developed structures in the city. Archaeological
Speaker 1: evidence shows that an initial version of the pyramid, a
Speaker 1: small platform, existed by around one hundred CE, even pre
Speaker 1: dating the larger Pyramid of the Sun. Over the next
Speaker 1: few centuries, the Pyramid of the Moon was enlarged in
Speaker 1: several construction phases, perhaps seven phases in total, each new
Speaker 1: layer enveloping the previous one, much like the Moki's Wacadala
Speaker 1: Luna or a Russian doll. By two hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: to three hundred CE, it reached its final form, a
Speaker 1: massive pyramid about forty three meters toll with a base
Speaker 1: roughly one hundred and fifty by one hundred and thirty meters,
Speaker 1: comprised of a series of sloping terraces and broad staircases
Speaker 1: facing south along the Avenue of the Dead. The pyramid,
Speaker 1: along with a large plaza in the front of it.
Speaker 1: The Plaza of the Moon, created a grand ceremonial zone
Speaker 1: at Tiatwakan's north end. This layout completed the city's master
Speaker 1: plans by lateral symmetry around the avenue. TiO Tawakan's urban
Speaker 1: planners were highly organized. The entire city was aligned about
Speaker 1: fifteen and a half degrees east of north, an orientation
Speaker 1: whose purpose is still debated, but may relate to astronomical alignments.
Speaker 1: Some studies suggested aligns with the setting of the pleiades
Speaker 1: or certain sum positions or geographic coordinates. In any case,
Speaker 1: the pyramid of the Moon perfectly closes the vista when
Speaker 1: looking north up the avenue, rising at the the mountain,
Speaker 1: like a man made extension of it. This suggests that,
Speaker 1: like other ancient cultures, TiO Tuwakanos revered the local mountain Saragordo,
Speaker 1: perhaps as a source of water springs or as a
Speaker 1: sacred ancestor, and built the pyramid to honor or interface
Speaker 1: with that sacred mountain spirit. The Aztecs much later revered
Speaker 1: to Saragordo as Tenin, meaning mother protective stone, indicating they
Speaker 1: sensed an eternal protective quality in the mountain in the
Speaker 1: pyramid which mimicked it. TiO Tuwacan left no written records
Speaker 1: at least none that we can read, since they didn't
Speaker 1: use a known writing system like the Maya did. However,
Speaker 1: the Pyramid of the Moon's function can be inferred from
Speaker 1: its design and contents. It appears to have been used
Speaker 1: for rituals, including sacrifices and burials of high status individuals.
Speaker 1: At the summit was a temple structure now vanished, likely
Speaker 1: made of perishable wood and thatch above a stone platform.
Speaker 1: From that temple, priests would have performed ceremonies visible to
Speaker 1: the crowds of stumbled in the plaza of the Moon below.
Speaker 1: Archaeologists have excavated the pyramid's interior via tunnels and found
Speaker 1: several ritual offering cachets and tombs embedded within the successive
Speaker 1: construction layers. For example, nineteen eighty eight, a rich burial
Speaker 1: often dubbed the Burial six, was found at the center
Speaker 1: of the fourth phase of the pyramid, containing a human
Speaker 1: male skeleton surrounded by grave goods and sacrificial offerings bound
Speaker 1: animals pumas, eagles, a wolf, and human sacrifices, as well
Speaker 1: as hundreds of artifacts like obsidian blades and jade figurines.
Speaker 1: These animals were likely symbolic pumas and eagles may represent
Speaker 1: martial or solar imagery, indicating the individual buried might have
Speaker 1: been a warrior or even a ruler, perceived as an
Speaker 1: embodiment of divine forces. One intriguing discovery announced in twenty
Speaker 1: seventeen was the finding of a tunnel underneath the Pyramid
Speaker 1: of the Moon that extends from the central plaza to
Speaker 1: beneath the pyramid. Using electrical resistivity and sea te scans,
Speaker 1: researchers detected a hollow passage about ten meters underground running
Speaker 1: towards the pyramid center. This mirrors similar tunnels found under
Speaker 1: the Pyramid of the Sun and the Temple of the
Speaker 1: Feathered Serpent at TiO to Wakan. Scholars believe these tunnels
Speaker 1: were deliberately crafted spaces, likely meant to represent the tier
Speaker 1: to Wakan underworld, a realm of creation and origin. In
Speaker 1: Mesoamerican cosmology, caves in tunnels often symbolized the womb of
Speaker 1: the earth or the entrance to the underworld. The fact
Speaker 1: that such a tunnel exists under the Moon Pyramid strongly
Speaker 1: suggests that the pyramid was conceptualized as an artificial mountain
Speaker 1: with a cave. Some have even speculated there might have
Speaker 1: been a natural lava tube or cave on the site
Speaker 1: that the builders incorporated. In twenty twenty, further exploration revealed
Speaker 1: possible chambers with offerings deep beneath the pyramid. These could
Speaker 1: have been ritual cachets, where precious objects, including perhaps symbolic
Speaker 1: offerings like rare flowers or obsidian blades, were left to
Speaker 1: sanctify the space. In twenty twenty two, it was reported
Speaker 1: that flower bouquets nearly eighteen hundred years old were found
Speaker 1: in a tunnel under the nearby Feathered Serpent Pyramid, showing
Speaker 1: the kind of perishable offerings they used. It's easy to
Speaker 1: imagine that a similar practice happened under the Pyramid of
Speaker 1: the Moon, offerings to ensure the mountain pyramid delivered abundance
Speaker 1: and communicated with the underworld above Ground ceremonies at the
Speaker 1: Pyramid of the Moon are likely related to the city's
Speaker 1: central deity. While popularly called a moon pyramid, many archaeologists
Speaker 1: believe it was actually dedicated to what we call the
Speaker 1: Great Goddess of Teotuwakan. This unnamed goddess is depicted in
Speaker 1: murals as a front facing, elaborate figure with the head
Speaker 1: dress from which flows water and bounty. She is associated
Speaker 1: with fertility, rain, and the Earth, essentially a mother Earth
Speaker 1: or muther their nature figure. Supporting this, a colossal statue
Speaker 1: over three meters high was discovered near the Pyramid of
Speaker 1: the Moon in the nineteenth century. This statue, known as
Speaker 1: the Goddess of Tiotwacan, portrays a female deity with outstretched
Speaker 1: arms in a heavy square headdress and his stought to
Speaker 1: represent the Great Goddess of Water and fertility. The Aztecs,
Speaker 1: upon seeing it, apparently linked it to their Moon or
Speaker 1: Earth goddess. One Spanish report suggests there was once a
Speaker 1: giant stone idol of the Moon on the pyramid. Excavations
Speaker 1: did uncover a twenty two ton sculpture, which scholars identify
Speaker 1: as the Great Goddess in water deity form, that likely
Speaker 1: once stood a top or in front of the pyramid.
Speaker 1: So while we use the term Pyramid of the Moon,
Speaker 1: it might be more accurate that this was a temple
Speaker 1: of the city female deity of TiO Tuwacan, who had
Speaker 1: lunar aspects as well as terrestrial ones. It is possible
Speaker 1: the Moon's cycles were celebrated here insofar as related to
Speaker 1: agricultural timing or the goddess's cycles, but direct evidence of
Speaker 1: lunar observation is less clear in Tiotwakin than among the Maya.
Speaker 1: The name Pyramid of the Moon itself is Aztec in origin.
Speaker 1: The Aztecs, arriving seven hundred years after tier Towakin's full
Speaker 1: named the site TiO tuwakan city of gods, and called
Speaker 1: the pyramids Sun and Moon because they thought these were
Speaker 1: shrines to those celestial bodies. We follow their naming for convenience.
Speaker 1: As noted, the pyramid function as a monumental tomb for
Speaker 1: Tiotwakin's elite or sacrificial victims. Several tuments have been documented.
Speaker 1: In one offering, two decapitated large cats, possibly jaguars or pumas,
Speaker 1: were buried with an array of greenstone figurines and obsidian
Speaker 1: spear points, clearly a dedicatory offering. Other tombs had human
Speaker 1: skeletons positioned in unusual ways. One burial pit contained four
Speaker 1: humans in cross legged seated pose, perhaps sacrificed individuals intended
Speaker 1: to accompany or guard something. The combination of humans, animals,
Speaker 1: and fine objects suggests a ritual of consecration. Each time
Speaker 1: the pyramid was enlarged, they would bury a cachet in
Speaker 1: the heart of the new layer, possibly in offering to
Speaker 1: the gods for allowing the structure to grow. By killing
Speaker 1: or sacrificing valuable lives and goods, they spiritually activated the
Speaker 1: new pyramid stage. This was common in meso America, the
Speaker 1: idea of feeding the building or earth with blood to empowerment.
Speaker 1: The fact that high status individuals might be buried here
Speaker 1: suggests the pyramid could also have been a royal mausoleum
Speaker 1: or ceremonial burial ground for Tia Tuwacan leaders, whom we
Speaker 1: frustratingly know little about. TiO Tuwakin's power structure is still mysterious.
Speaker 1: No obvious kings like the Maya had, but someone clearly
Speaker 1: organized things. Some theorized the individual, and burial six was
Speaker 1: a foreign royal or a local ruler given exit sture.
Speaker 1: Ordinary burial isotope analysis of some buried remains indicates that
Speaker 1: all were local, some may have been foreign nobles or
Speaker 1: war captors given special burial. This ties into evidence of
Speaker 1: Tier Twakin's wide influence. Around three seventy eight c. Tier
Speaker 1: Towakan evidently intervene in distant Mayan cities like Tacal, Guatemala.
Speaker 1: It's interesting to consider that some individuals interred at the
Speaker 1: Moon Pyramid might have been part of those far flong
Speaker 1: political networks. While called the Moon Pyramid, it's important to
Speaker 1: note any direct lunar alignments. Tier Twakin's grid alignment at
Speaker 1: fifteen and a half off north is such that if
Speaker 1: you stand in the Plaza of the Moon and look
Speaker 1: along the Avenue of the Dead at certain times, you
Speaker 1: might see the sun setting or certain stars aligning with
Speaker 1: the pyramids. Some researchers have proposed that the temple of
Speaker 1: the Moon aligns with the setting sun on August twelfth,
Speaker 1: a date roughly corresponding to the maize harvest and also
Speaker 1: the base date of the Maya long Count. Speculatively, however,
Speaker 1: more securely, it's aligned with Serro Gordo. One could say
Speaker 1: the pyramid's orientation is landscape astronomy, aligning man made cosmos
Speaker 1: with natural cosmos as for lay lines or earth grids.
Speaker 1: Tiotowaccan is often mentioned in such speculative theories. It is
Speaker 1: said to be on a line with other sites like
Speaker 1: Easter Island and Giza. In some alternative mapping, though this
Speaker 1: is not scientifically recognized. What is factual is TiO Towaccan's
Speaker 1: careful internal geomancy. Its central street and pyramids form geometric
Speaker 1: and perhaps cosmological relationships. Some see the distances between certain
Speaker 1: landmarks as correlating to planetary orchlindrical numbers. Units along the
Speaker 1: avenue might encode two hundred and sixty the sacred calendar days.
Speaker 1: The pyramid of the moon's position was the terminus of
Speaker 1: that scheme, possibly representing the origin point in the world view.
Speaker 1: Maybe the seragrdo behind it was seen as the sacred
Speaker 1: hill of sustenance from which humans emerged. Meso American creation
Speaker 1: myths often involved people emerging from a cave inside a mountain,
Speaker 1: so this pyramid may mark that mythical place of emergence. Incidentally,
Speaker 1: the Aztecs indeed believe TiO Tuwakin was where the gods
Speaker 1: gathered to create the sun and moon of the current world.
Speaker 1: One Aztec myth holds that two gods sacrificed themselves at
Speaker 1: TiO Tuwakin, one becoming the sun and another the moon.
Speaker 1: This shows how later people interpreted the sight as tied
Speaker 1: to cosmic genesis, which is fitting given the likely use
Speaker 1: of the pyramids for observation and cosmology. Thus, in lore,
Speaker 1: the Pyramid of the Moon had a huge role. It
Speaker 1: was essentially the site of the creation of the moon
Speaker 1: in Aztec eyes, hence the name. One can imagine on
Speaker 1: certain nights, maybe when the full moon rose over the
Speaker 1: mountain behind, ancient ceremonies might have celebrated the moon's power.
Speaker 1: A grand at the pyramid's top, flickering against the night
Speaker 1: sky with drumming echoing down the avenue might have been
Speaker 1: a part of rituals for the lunar goddess or the
Speaker 1: great Goddess of water. Professional excavation at Tiao Towakan began
Speaker 1: in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Major tunneling
Speaker 1: into the Moon Pyramid was done in the nineteen fifties
Speaker 1: by Mexican archaeologists. In the nineteen seventies to eighties, extensive
Speaker 1: projects uncovered the buried offerings. Most recently, the discovery of
Speaker 1: the subterranean tunnel in twenty seventeen has excited scholars as
Speaker 1: technology reveals features without digging. Work is ongoing to explore
Speaker 1: that tunnel. As noted, it may contain a chamber at
Speaker 1: the end directly under the pyramid center, potentially analogous to
Speaker 1: the Mercury River and Golden orbs found under the Feathered
Speaker 1: Serpent Pyramids tunnel. If so, extraordinary treasures as symbolism might
Speaker 1: still lie hidden there. Tiotwacan is a UNESCO World Heritage
Speaker 1: Site and one of the most visited archaeoliclogical sights in
Speaker 1: the Americas, over four million tourists a year. The Pyramid
Speaker 1: of the Moon can be climbed part way. In recent years,
Speaker 1: access is sometimes limited to the first tier for preservation.
Speaker 1: The panoramic view from its steps allow one to survey
Speaker 1: the entire avenue and imagine the ancient city. It remains
Speaker 1: in the public eye as a place of wonder and
Speaker 1: sometimes of New Age ritual. Every year at the spring equinox,
Speaker 1: thousands of people flock to Tya Tewakan, especially the Sun Pyramid,
Speaker 1: to soak up the energy of the new sun, many
Speaker 1: dressed in white and raising arms to the sky. Although
Speaker 1: the Sun Pyramid gets the bulk of Equinox celebrants, the
Speaker 1: Moon Pyramids plaza also fills with overflow crowds meditating or
Speaker 1: performing indigenous dance. They believe Tya Tawakan sits at a
Speaker 1: convergence of powers. New Age lore sometimes cites that a
Speaker 1: line of earth energy runs through the site. While lay
Speaker 1: lines in the strict sense, straight lines through multiple sites
Speaker 1: aren't scientifically demonstrable. Here, Tia Twakin's grid likely does align
Speaker 1: to astronomical events important to its builders. For instance, research
Speaker 1: in archaeostronomy has shown various structures aligned with the sun
Speaker 1: on certain dates or with constellation positions. The speculation that
Speaker 1: the fifteen and a half degrees orientation is related to
Speaker 1: the latitude, such that on May nineteenth and July twenty fifth,
Speaker 1: the sun is directly over the site. The zenith passages
Speaker 1: these dates may have had significance. The Aztec's mythic associations
Speaker 1: already show one layer of legacy. In as Tech times,
Speaker 1: Tia Towakin was revered and visited by pilgrims. As tech
Speaker 1: rulers would perform rituals to claim Tiatwakin's lineage. They literally
Speaker 1: sow it as built by gods. The name of the
Speaker 1: city itself means place where men became gods or a
Speaker 1: birthplace of the gods. One Aztec poem calls the pyramids
Speaker 1: that tombs of the Sun and moon. While not exactly miracles,
Speaker 1: these myths gave a supernatural aura to the pyramids. Even
Speaker 1: in colonial times, Spanish friars speculated on who built them,
Speaker 1: some thinking they were the Tower of Babel or built
Speaker 1: by biblical giants. Local Mexican folklore in later centuries imagined
Speaker 1: that pyramids were constructed by a race of giants, which
Speaker 1: aligned with the name given in NATO for modern Mexican identity,
Speaker 1: Tia Tuwacan, including the moon pyramid, is an emblem of
Speaker 1: the nation's deep indigenous roots. It appears on murals, postage stamps,
Speaker 1: and tourist logos. An impressive recent event was in twenty twenty, when,
Speaker 1: during the COVID nineteen pandemic, the site was empty of
Speaker 1: tourists on the spring equinox for the first time in decades,
Speaker 1: and the image of an empty pyramid of the moon
Speaker 1: under the sun was striking in the news, a reminder
Speaker 1: of how these ancient places endure even when human activity
Speaker 1: pauses to summarize. The temple or pyramid of the Moon
Speaker 1: at Tiatwakan was a multi functional sacred center. It anchored
Speaker 1: the city's north end, served as the stage for public rituals,
Speaker 1: housed burial offerings and sacrifices to sanctify each enlargement, and
Speaker 1: likely honoured a great mother goddess figure associated by later
Speaker 1: peoples with the Moon. Its physical and spiritual design linked
Speaker 1: the city to the natural world through the mountain and
Speaker 1: cave symbolism, and to the cosmos through citywide orientation. When
Speaker 1: TiO Tuwakan mysteriously declined, the city was sacked and burned
Speaker 1: around five point fifty CE, possibly by eternal uprising or
Speaker 1: foreign invasion. The Pyramid of the Moon likely swords temple
Speaker 1: destroyed or abandoned, but the pyramid itself, being stone, survived
Speaker 1: the centuries. Its weathered into a steep hill covered in
Speaker 1: soil and shrubs until it was cleared in the twentieth century.
Speaker 1: Now restored to its pyramidal form, it stands as a
Speaker 1: monument to a lost civilization's grandeur. From the Themochi and
Speaker 1: their mountain god in Peru, to the Sumerians venerating the
Speaker 1: Moon and Eure, to the Egyptians worshiping Kansu, and the
Speaker 1: Tiutwacans building pyramids to their cosmic gods, we see a
Speaker 1: common thread humanity seeking connection with celestial cycle and sacred
Speaker 1: landscapes through architecture and ritual. Each of these Moon temples
Speaker 1: is unique to its culture and beliefs, yet all were
Speaker 1: focal points of faith, enacting the rhythms of nature, whether
Speaker 1: the lunar month, the rainy season, or the night sky.
Speaker 1: In built form, they were places where myth and reality met,
Speaker 1: where gods were invited to dwell among mortals, sacrifices were
Speaker 1: made to sustain the world, and communities gathered to witness
Speaker 1: and partake in the mystery of the divine. Across the
Speaker 1: ancient world, cultures separated by oceans of millennia converged on
Speaker 1: a similar idea, building monumental structures to bridge earth and sky,
Speaker 1: humanity and the divine. The four sacred sites we explored
Speaker 1: Waka de la Luna, the Cigaratte of Ure, the Temple
Speaker 1: of Kansu, and the Pyramid of the Moon each arose
Speaker 1: from distinct civilizations Moki, Sumerian, Egyptian, Ti Yuwakano, with their
Speaker 1: own religious pantheos and world views. Yet in each case,
Speaker 1: the society poured immense resources and ingenuity into creating a
Speaker 1: holy sanctuary dedicated to cosmic powers. Often personified as moon
Speaker 1: deities or celestial phenomena. These structures served not only as
Speaker 1: a place of worship, but as an axis Monday, the
Speaker 1: spiritual centers of their world, where Heaven's influence touched the earth.
Speaker 1: From the vantage of Wakadla Luna's blood stained plazas, we
Speaker 1: saw a people attempting to secure life's continuity through sacrifice,
Speaker 1: painting their myths on adobe walls and venerating a mountain
Speaker 1: as a savior in ure climbing the Zigaratte steep stairs.
Speaker 1: In our mind's eye, we imagine Sumerian priests greeting the
Speaker 1: rising moon atop a man made mountain, confident that their
Speaker 1: city's prosperity flowed from the bond between king, temple and God.
Speaker 1: At Karnak, we walked through the shadows of Kansu's temple,
Speaker 1: feeling the quiet devotion of Egyptian ritual, the air thick
Speaker 1: with incense as the moon child or traveler is invoked
Speaker 1: for healing and protection. And in Tyo Tuwakan's Plaza of
Speaker 1: the Moon, we stood amid echoes of distant ceremonies, perhaps
Speaker 1: the pounding of drums and possessions of priests carrying offerings
Speaker 1: of jade and quetzal feathers to honour the great Goddess
Speaker 1: and the newly born Moon, all under the watchful silhouette
Speaker 1: of a sacred mountain. Each site is layered with history
Speaker 1: and legend. Over centuries, they secured new meanings as tech priests,
Speaker 1: weaving TiO Tawakan into their origin myths as a place
Speaker 1: of sun and moon creation, Islamic and Christian thinkers linking
Speaker 1: Yore to Abraham's story as a crucible of monotheism. Local
Speaker 1: Peruvian folklore keeping alive mo dey tales of God and
Speaker 1: monsters at Sarablanco and Greco Roman travelers and Luxar marveling
Speaker 1: at Consu's shrine even as they identified him with their
Speaker 1: own moon gods. These confluences of myth underscore a human
Speaker 1: tendency to see sacred places as enduring nodes of power,
Speaker 1: regardless of who is telling the story. The structures themselves
Speaker 1: became storytellers, ruins that spoke of golden ages and divine acts.
Speaker 1: Modern science and archaeology have peeled back the mysteries to
Speaker 1: a great extent. Isotope analysis tells us who has sacrificed
Speaker 1: at Waca de la Luna. Uniform texts and bricks let
Speaker 1: us reconstruct the ziggurats, builders and dimensions. Hieroglyphs and stellae
Speaker 1: enable us to read of Consu's miraculous healing of a
Speaker 1: faraway princess and light our scans reveal hidden tunnels beneath
Speaker 1: Tiotowokin's pyramids, confirming old myths about sacred caves. Academic papers
Speaker 1: and excavations have transformed these once enigmatic mounds and ruins
Speaker 1: into well contextualized historical monuments, and yet something occult, hidden,
Speaker 1: or numinous remains about them. They continue to intrigue not
Speaker 1: just historians, but also spiritual seekers and imaginative thinkers. The
Speaker 1: idea of lay lines connecting them, while not scientifically proven,
Speaker 1: symbolizes our intuition that these hollowed sites might be connected
Speaker 1: in some grand tapestry of earth energies or ancient knowledge.
Speaker 1: Its testament to their enduring aura that people today meditate
Speaker 1: on the Moon Pyramid to feel vibrations or speculate that
Speaker 1: a global grid links ure Giza, Mohijadero and Stonehenge and
Speaker 1: some forgotten geomancy. At the very least, we can say
Speaker 1: each site was deliberately aligned with its local landscape to
Speaker 1: points of significance, be it a mountain, the cardinal directions,
Speaker 1: or the path of the Sun and the moon. So
Speaker 1: the idea of alignments isn't modern fancy, but original intent,
Speaker 1: even if not global and skins in a poetic sense.
Speaker 1: These ancient architects were the first astronomers in geomancers, laying
Speaker 1: down lay lines of their own by aligning temples to solstices,
Speaker 1: lunar stancils, or sacred mountains. For example, the Karnak complexes
Speaker 1: solstice axis and Tiotawakan's mountain horizon alignment show a keen
Speaker 1: desire to integrate to heavens with human construction. Through such alignments,
Speaker 1: the sites themselves become cosmic instruments mapping the sky on Earth,
Speaker 1: an idea that resonates with modern observers who stand at
Speaker 1: these spots and feel connected to something bigger, whether the
Speaker 1: cultural heritage or the universe itself. In modern usage, these
Speaker 1: sites have transitioned to roles as museums, tourist attractions, and
Speaker 1: symbols of national and regional identity. They no longer witness
Speaker 1: sacrifices or imperial rituals, but they do host crowds seeking meaning, education,
Speaker 1: or inspiration. The Pope's prayer at your In twenty twenty
Speaker 1: one or the annual spring Equinox gathering at Tiu Tuwakin
Speaker 1: shows that they still function as interfaith or intercultural sacred
Speaker 1: spaces capable of bringing people together in awe and hope.
Speaker 1: Archaeological projects ensure they are preserved for future generations, bridging
Speaker 1: the gap between scientific understanding and public engagement. Every year,
Speaker 1: new findings like the discovery of that tunnel under the
Speaker 1: Moon Pyramid or genetic analysis of Mochi Remains add chapters
Speaker 1: to their story. Meanwhile, local communities around these sites often
Speaker 1: take pride in them and sometimes viuse ancient low with
Speaker 1: contemporary culture, such as Peruvian shamans performing ceremonies at Waka
Speaker 1: Stei Mochi, or Iraqi guides passionately recounting the epic of
Speaker 1: Gilgamesh to visitors at Europe and reflecting on Moon temples collectively,
Speaker 1: one is struck by how the Moon, our planet's luminous companion,
Speaker 1: has inspired humanity globally. The Moon's gentle light and every
Speaker 1: change phases made it a natural symbol of cycles, birth, growth, decay, rebirth.
Speaker 1: These temples are physical manifestations of cyclical time and eternal return.
Speaker 1: The Mochi responded to the moon with offerings of blood
Speaker 1: to renew fertility. The Egyptians mythologized the moon as a
Speaker 1: child kansu who marked the passage of months and could
Speaker 1: drive out darkness or illness. The Tiotwakans possibly saw the
Speaker 1: moon as part of duality with the Sun, needing to
Speaker 1: be balanced through great ceremonies in their City of the Gods.
Speaker 1: In all, the Moon served as a celestial intermediary, and
Speaker 1: these structures, in turn served as terrestrial intermediaries between people
Speaker 1: and the mysterious forces governing their existence. Finally, academically, there
Speaker 1: is a wealth of scholarship on each of these sites.
Speaker 1: We cited only as slice. Archaeologists like Varano and toined Fromochi,
Speaker 1: Woolley and others for your the epigraphic survey for Consul's
Speaker 1: release in Sugiyama or Kaberra for Tiotwakan. They have published
Speaker 1: extensive studies analyzing architecture, artifacts, and human remains, which ground
Speaker 1: our understanding and evidence. These studies sometimes relike detective stories,
Speaker 1: reconstructing ritual scenes from bones and pottery, and in a sense,
Speaker 1: the ongoing research at these temples is our modern ritual
Speaker 1: of inquiry, an offering of human intellect to the temple
Speaker 1: of Knowledge, seeking blessings in the form of insight. As
Speaker 1: we continue to uncover their secrets, we also continue to
Speaker 1: be humbled by the sophistication and devotion of those who
Speaker 1: built them long ago. Each site stands as a monument
Speaker 1: to the human spirit, our capacity to create, to believe,
Speaker 1: to organize ourselves around higher ideals, and to leave behind
Speaker 1: great testaments in stone, brick and earth that far outlast
Speaker 1: our individual lives. In an hour where electric lights dim
Speaker 1: our view of the moon and modern life can make
Speaker 1: us feel disconnected from nature, these ancient moon temples invite
Speaker 1: us to look up again at the night sky, to
Speaker 1: imagine the drum beats and chance under pale moonlight, and
Speaker 1: to ponder our place in the grand cycle of time.
Speaker 1: In an era where electric lights dim our view of
Speaker 1: the moon and modern life can make us feel disconnected
Speaker 1: from nature, these ancient moon temples invite us to look
Speaker 1: up again at the night sky, to imagine the drum
Speaker 1: beats and chants under the pale moonlight, and to ponder
Speaker 1: our place in the grand cycle of time. They remind
Speaker 1: us that the pursuit of the divine, whether through blood, sacrifice, prayer,
Speaker 1: art or science, is a defining and unifying trait of humanity.
Speaker 1: And as long as the moon continues to wax and
Speaker 1: wane above, casting its silvery glow on the Wakadala Luna
Speaker 1: Adobe ramps on yours rugged cigarette walls, through the column
Speaker 1: of Consu's court, and over the pyramid of the Moon's
Speaker 1: stone steps, we remain connected to the ancients. Their temples, legends,
Speaker 1: and discoveries continue to enlighten and inspire like moonlight itself, gentle,
Speaker 1: persistent and magically touching all corners of the world. And
Speaker 1: that is the end of sacred Moon temples across time
Speaker 1: and culture. Hope you will enjoy this one and look
Speaker 1: forward to covering more in the future. Everybody be well
Speaker 1: and until the next one.