I am afraid that I haven't come across it, but I am interested to know if you think it has particular significance, and even that is why it may have become 'lost'.

I am interested to know if you think it has particular significance, and even that is why it may have become 'lost'. — Jack Cummins

My interest arises from the anthropological connection of the Hebrew - and consequently, Christian - myths with the Sumerian ones, which in practice, were the first human civilization - everything began in Sumer -.

Somehow, all the myths and religions of the world tell a common story - obviously it is completely buried in millennia of distortions, inventions, opinions and false ideas - that could give us some trace of vision in the pre-historic Neolithic period.

All have the narrative of the "flood myth" in one way or another - it can be found from pre-Columbian America to pre-dysnastic China - and also the "old good times myth", which, in short, is a common memory of "utopian" times tens of thousands of years ago that can also be found in all cultures - from Scandinavia to southern India -.

Perhaps this book that I am referring to in the post, which is unfortunately lost, could contain some kind of anthropological and even archaeological information about the most distant past - about 5,000 to 6,000 years BC, where our historical records end up -.

The whole idea of the flood is extremely interesting. My own reading has often been in esoteric literature, and some of the writing is of questionable authority. However, some make the link with the lost continent of Atlantis, although I realise that Atlantis is quite likely mythical. It does seem that Sumer seems to be a starting point from the various sources I have read.

I am inclined to think that books which have been lost in history, especially Biblical ones, are probably lost for a reason. In usual times, I go to a large esoteric bookshop, with all kinds of rare literature. So, I will look in that basement, which has a lot on the history of religion from a critical perspective, if the shop opens again, which could possibly be some time in April.

The whole idea of the flood is extremely interesting. My own reading has often been in esoteric literature, and some of the writing is of questionable authority. However, some make the link with the lost continent of Atlantis, although I realise that Atlantis is quite likely mythical. It does seem that Sumer seems to be a starting point from the various sources I have read. — Jack Cummins

I believe they are based on some historical fact - at the moment unknown - not recorded in the most distant past - Neolithic? Chalcolitic? -.

The Sumerians themselves also had in their mythology, the equivalents of the Christian Adam and Eve, in their own Paradise, with their own Forbidden Fruits, and with their own Snake. The best thing is that we have a contemporary representation of it - from Sumer -.

The Adam and Eve Cylinder Seal ( circa 2100 BC ):



The seal depicts two seated figures, a tree, and a serpent. And as the assyriologist George Smith said:

"The Adam and Eve seal hsd two figures, male, identified by his head-dress of horns as a god, and female, on each side of a tree, holding out their hands to the fruit, while between the backs of the figures is a serpent."

The point is that the Sumerians already knew, or at least adopted, the tradition of the myth of the primordial couple and their fall from paradise, of the prehistoric people who preceded them - the Ubaid culture -.

There is something that we still don't know of our anthropological history.

One author who I came across in anthropology is Chris Knight. I don't have any work by him but he tied together the ideas of symbolism, especially the idea of the snake, with the ideas of Levi Strauss, and came to an unusual conclusion. He linked the idea of the serpent, especially the rainbow snake of the aborigines, to menstruation patterns in women and thought that this was important in the emergence of language in human culture. He explained this with reference to women saying 'no' to sex at certain times of the month and thought that the snake was part of the communal expression of this, and the whole idea of the symbolism of menstrual blood in culture. I am not sure if I find his ideas completely convincing but I think that it is an interesting, unusual perspective, and who knows, it may capture some elements worthy of exploration.

I am sorry that my description is a bit limited, and I am not sure how much his ideas are accepted. If you look him up on the internet, the Chris Knight I am talking about is not the same one who has written a number of books on esoteric topics. The one I am referring to has written papers but I don't know if he has even published a book. I know that he was part of what was known as the Radical Anthropology group in London.