Myths of a Lost Civilization
Myths of a Lost Civilization are prevalent in virtually all of world mythology. Memories of the past — and of past heights, cultural pinnacles, wars, victories, losses, heroes, and villains — is something that is important to humans in general. Every culture does this well, in some way.
Lost Civilizations, which we might define as memories of a golden age, advanced technology and culture, a period of cultural height, remembered also in association with a destruction (flood, war, famine) and often with the appearance of deities. These are the general traits that we are first looking for. The main themes.
First, we identify the myth. Then we analyze it relative to our criteria. We are looking at how well they line up with what we know of the Descendants of the Ancestral Tradition. (The Biblical Tradition of Noah being essentially identical with the tale of Ziusudra, Utanapishtim (Sumerian) and Manu (Vedic/Hindu) is a great example of obvious connection. Biblical, Vedic, and perhaps even Akkadian have an ancestral connection — which is evidence of the Ancestral Tradition).
We also consider linguistics, history, geography, and dna. We essentially have to see if/how cultural transmission makes sense. In some cases, we consider migration of a people (which ideally we should be able to prove with history and geography, if linguistics doesn’t make sense). There are a few that are geographically hard to explain, yet the similarity between traditions is impossible to ignore, which could suggest long-distance travel (often trans-oceanic) and migration — which itself can often be hard to explain.
So the question that we must do our best to answer in every situation, is whether the myth in question truly fits the criteria of being a representative of the mythology proposed to be included in the Ancestral Tradition. Does the myth fit? Does the geography fit? Does it fit some kind of pattern?
Moreover, we must also consider variables of the Ancestral Tradition that are not related to verbal-linguistic tradition. Technologies, building-styles, tool-types, and practices are equally as important. The truly great ancient civilizations of the ancient world, almost all were in possession of access to ancient literature, deeply codified religion, robust literary tradition, and the many skills that made it function.
However, we must also remember that not all of its people in the periphery of the culture were that way. Some of them were farmers, others were the literal sailors in charge of bringing the merchants, and the merchants themselves. We must remember the long arm that all nations, especially merchant cultures, especially after the worlds first empires, all possessed.
We see ancient Egyptian-style reed canoes all the way over in central parts of the Americas. We see parallels between Mayan and Sumerian Culture (architectural, religious, mythical) that is are easy to explain as coincidence. They have undeniable architectural, religious, and technological similarities. In this case, it is the geography that is hard to explain. Did the Sumerians make it across the Atlantic?
What we do know is that the Sumerians had a vast trade network, both by land and by sea. In addition, the Minoans Even in historical times (3000 BCE onwards) it was not common for farmers, sailors, or most between, to know how to read. Therefore a great deal of similarity
Even if cultural emissaries were brought as part of certain ancient trading expeditions, especially skilled professionals, when while I expect the merchants often had some skill in reading. So our connections will
Contents
The Agrives, Dannans