From The Alpha and the Omega - Volume III
by Jim A. Cornwell, Copyright © July 20, 2002, all rights reserved
"Volume III - The Eighth Month - Constellation Names for Hercules"
In the Eighth Month of Scorpius
Hercules, the Strong Man
The constellation name for Hercules:
- Greek Heracles [Latin, from Greek Herakles: Hera, Hera + kleos, fame]. To the Roman's Herakles, was the son of Zeus and Alcmene.
- Others called Hercules, "The Mighty One," or the "one who comes to bruise," and usually shown down on one knee with a mighty club raised over his head. In his hand is Cerberus, the three-headed monster that guarded the gates into hell. Some claim that he is kneeling and one of his feet is on the head of Draco, thus the "bruising of the head."
- In Hercules we see the star a Ras Algethi, which is Arabic for "the kneeler's head."
- Another spelling is Ras-Al-Gethi the brightest star located in the forehead of Hercules and means "The Head of Him Who Bruises."
- Press.
- Hebrew gath, gath, probably from Heb. nagan, naw-gan', a primary root properly to thrum, thus (in the sense of treading out grapes), a wine-press (or vat for holding the grapes in pressing them), (wine-) press (fat).
- In the "Gospel of the Stars," by Joseph Seiss, page 49, "Ras al Gethi, the Head of him who bruises." The b star is sometimes called "The Branch Kneeling."
- Kneel, Kneeling.
- Hebrew berak (Chaldean), ber-ak', corresponds to the Hebrew barak, baw-rak', a primary root to kneel, by implication to bless God (as an act of adoration), bless, kneel.
- Hebrew kara', kaw-rah', a primary root to bend the knee, by implication to sink, to prostrate, bow (down), kneeling.
- In his work “BABYLONIAN STAR-LORE: An Illustrated Guide to the Star-lore and Constellations of Ancient Babylonia,” by Gavin White on page 31 claims, "Hercules too, has been placed upside down on the celestial sphere. His origins probably lie with the Babylonian constellation called the Standing Gods, which like the Sitting Gods, was depicted as a man with a serpent for legs. In the earliest Greek traditions this constellation was simply known as the 'Kneeler' - which is, I believe, a misunderstanding of the names of the Sitting and Standing Gods."
On his page 46, these are the images 
where he claims "The strange serpent-bodied figures called the Sitting and Standing Gods represent the ancestors of Enlil. They lived in the Sacred Mound, which was not only a grave mound covering a passageway to the underworld but was also the source of all earthly fertility. Various texts speak of them guiding discarnate souls to the land of no return, some sources even describe them performing the duties of judging the dead and determining their destinies."
As seen on White's page 50, "The strange serpent-legged figure stationed before Gula's dog is known as the Standing Gods. He represents the ancestors of Enlil, who lived in the holy locus called the Sacred Mound. The Mound was at once acosmological symbol of the earth newly born from the waters of creation and a burial mound covering an entrance to the underworld - as such the Mound simultaneously represents the realm of the dead and the source of all earthly fertility."
My comment: This sounds very much like the Annunaki to me, but see Circle of Eight Bound at the bottom of the page where I mention
The Sitting Gods - in the Sumerian DINGIR.TUCH.A.MESH or (Capricornus) ZA.BA4.BA4
and The Standing Gods -- in the Sumerian DINGIR.GUB.BA.MESH thus representing (Cancer).
Then as mentioned above Zababa, which Gavin White on page 46 claims, "Behind the serpent-bodied gods is the figure of Zababa. Very little is known about this ancient god beyond the fact he was a warrior god who was closely associated with the symbol of the eagle. The constellation image offered here is admittedly down to guesswork."
- From www.lexiline.com it claims a connection between Sagitta and Aquila, "d.ZA.BA4.BA4, the Eagle TI8.(MUSHEN) and the Corpse, Sumerian (LU).USH, means 'corpse, dead body'."
- Aquila and d.ZA.BA4.BA4, maybe associated with a note that Sargon became the cupbearer to Ur-Zababa
, king of Kish or Zababa the warrior of Kish.
This image as seen on the round Denderah zodiac is Auriga seen as a male figure with a crown of either two plumes or double crown. Some call it the shepherd, who carries in his left hand a short scepter, the top with a goat head with horns and the bottom with a cross. So this looks very much like Gavin White's Zababa image seen above.
Arabic Al giscale, "the Strong one."
- Rolleston calls it "El Giscale, the strong."
Hebrew gibbor, "Mighty."
- Hebrew gibbowr, ghib-bore', or (short.) gibbor, ghib-bore', intens. from the same as Heb. geber, gheh'-ber, from Heb. gabar, gaw-bar', a primary root to be strong, thus properly a valiant man or warrior, thus powerful, by implication warrior, tyrant, champion, chief, giant man, mighty (man, one), strong (man), valiant man.
- Biblically some promote him as a hero "who cometh to labour, to suffer" as seen in Isaiah 53:3,4 "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
From the 30 stars Tablet from Birs Nimroud (Borsippa).
- Hercules:
- As Lugal the "King" possibly Gilgamesh.
- An Assyrian creation-legend tablet 650 B.C. claims: Akkadian Mul-Lugal, Babylonian-Assyrian Kakkab Sarru, "The Constellation of the King" associated with Gilgames sarru gitmalu dainu Annunaki "Gilgamesh, giant king, Judge of the Masters-of-the-Underworld."
- Babylonians see the half-mortal Gilgamesh, as a king of Erech, which had connections to Ishtar, the Assyrian/Babylonian goddess of love, fertility, and war (also Greek Aphrodite, Roman Venus).
- He was adopted by the Phoenicians as a sea-god they called Melquarth, "King-of-the-City."
- The Phoenician great sea-god Melkarth, with variations Malica, Melica, Melicartus, and Melicerta, from Phoenician Milk-Qart, 'the King of the City' [Allen, Star Names ], from Aramaic malka, king, from the Semitic root *mlk-.
- Greeks called this Mekquarth which related to Herakles, derived from Phoenician Harekhal, "The Traveler."
- Traveller, Travellers.
- Hebrew 'orach, o'-rakh, [Heb. 'orechah, o-rekh-aw, fem. act part. of] from Heb. 'arach, aw-rakh', a primary root to travel, go, wayfaring (man), thus a well trodden road (lit. or fig.) also a caravan [(travelling) company], manner, path, race, rank, traveller, troop.
- Phoenicians worshipped the concept of Hercules as a savior who would come to deliver them.
- In my own work "The Alpha and the Omega," Volume II, page 43-44, I mentioned Melkarth as connected to (Ezek. 28:13) regarding the King of Tyre.
- King of Tyrus.
- Hebrew Tsor, tsore, or Tsowr, tsore, the same as Heb. tsor, tsor, from Heb. tsuwr, tsoor, or tsur, to cramp or compress, thus a stone (as if pressed hard or to point), (by implication of use) a knife, flint, sharp stone, thus a rock, Tsor, a place in Palestine, Tyre, Tyrus.
- Richard H. Allen states: This constellation is said to have been an object of worship in Phoenicia's most ancient days as the sky representative of the great sea-god Melkarth. Indeed, it has everywhere been considered of importance, judging from its abundant nomenclature and illustration, for no other sky group seems to have borne so many titles.
- To the early Greek astronomers he was Engonasi (or Engonasin), The Kneeler, or Eidolon, the Phantom.
- Rolleston claims also:
- "Ras al Awa, head of the desired."
- "Al Rai, who bruises, breaks, Greek Engonasin, who kneels, Septuagint, Judges 7:5."
- "... likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink."
- Knees.
- Hebrew berek, beh'-rek, from Heb. barak, baw-rak', a primary root to kneel, by implication to bless God (as an act of adoration), bless, kneel (down), praise, salute. thus a knee, knee.
- Greek gonu, gon-oo', of uncertain affinity, the "knee," kneel.
- Richard H. Allen comments: Hercules ... is one of the oldest sky figures, although not known to the first Greek astronomers under that name, — for Eudoxos had Engounasi; Hipparchos, Engonasi, i.e. o en gonasi kathemenos, Bending on his Knees; and Ptolemy, en gonasin, Aratos added to these designations Oklazon, the Kneeling One, and Eidolon, the Phantom, while his description in the Phainomena well showed the ideas of that early time as to its character:
Eratosthenes, attempted to explain its origin, which in early classical days remained involved in mystery. He wrote of it, outos, phasin, Erakles estin, standing upon the Ophis, our Draco (upside down); and some modern students of Euphratean mythology, associating the stars of Hercules and Draco with the sun-god Izhdubar [Izdubar, Gisdubar] and the dragon Tiamat, slain by him, think this Chaldaean myth the foundation of that of the classical Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra. Izhdubar is shown on a cylinder seal of 3,000 to 3,500 B.C., and described in that country's records as resting upon one knee, with his foot upon the Dragon's head, just as Aratos says of his Engonasi, and as we have it now. His well-known adventures are supposed to refer to the sun's passage through the twelve zodiacal signs, appearing thus on tablets of the 7th century before Christ. This myth of several thousand years' antiquity may have been adopted by Greece, and the solar hero changed into Hercules with his twelve familiar labors.
- Richard H. Allen comments: The usual Greek name was transliterated Engonasi, Engonasis, and Engonasin down to the days of Bullialdus, with whom it appeared in the queer combination of Greek and Roman O en Gonacin; but the poets translated it as Genuflexus, Genunixus, and Geniculatus; Ingeniculatus with Vitruvius; Ingeniclus and Ingeniculus with Firmicus; while Ingenicla Imago and Ignota Facies appear in Manilius, — his familiar line.
Regarding some notes for a Taurus/Scorpius connection:
But here also are
the bull god Ningublaga, city god of Kiabrig
(nin, lord + gub, stand, set + lag, piece, clod. + a, the)
possibly meaning "The Lord Who Set Down In Writing In Clods.";
the bull god and moon god Nanna in Ur;
and, in Kullab (Caleb), Ninsuna, 'Lady of the wild cows'
(nin, lady + sún, aurochs cow + a, the),
with her husband Lugalbanda (lugal, great man, king + bànda, young, fierce)
thus seen as "The Young/Fierce King",
and the father of Gilgamesh.
- Sumerian nin: queen, mistress, proprietress, lady; lord.
- Sumerian gub: to stand; to set, erect, install (singular); to set down in writing; to stand by, to serve (with -da-); to stand aside (with -ta-).
- Sumerian gúb: to purify, cleanse.
- Sumerian gùb: left (hand).
- Sumerian súg, su8: to stand (plural marû) (cf., gub, súb).
- Sumerian lag, lag: piece; lump, gob; clod.
- Sumerian lagab: block (of stone); trunk (of tree) (lag, 'clod, piece', + gub, 'to stand').
- Sumerian sún: aurochs cow; beerwort.
- Sumerian áma, am: wild ox or cow (aurochs).
- Sumerian amar: calf; young animal (áma, 'wild cow mother', + re7, 'to accompany, plural').
- Sumerian áb: domestic cow.
- Sumerian bànda(da): young; junior; vigorous; impetuous; fierce; proud.
- Sumerian banda2,4,5: prop, support.
Egyptian/Coptic:
- On the Denderah Zodiac, Hercules is a male figure with a spear in his left hand. Some sources claim him to be known as Bau, "who cometh."
- On the Denderah Zodiac this is located above the goose (Aquila) to the left of Sagittarius and above the Denderah Decan 4, and the man with the sun disk head, which correlates with the Grand Temple Decan 17.
- In "The Witness of the Stars," by E.W. Bullinger, page 59 "In the Zodiac of Denderah we have a human figure, likewise with a club. His (Hercules) name is Bau, which means who cometh."
- Come.
- Hebrew bow', bo, a primary root to go or come (in a wide variety of applications), to come.
Other names for Hercules: Alch'le, Alche'ti, Al Jathi'yy 'ala Rukbat'aihi (Arab), Alche'ti hale, Rechaba'tih, Eiha'thi, Eizegesia'le.
- Richard H. Allen comments: The Arabians turned the classical Saltator, or Leaper, into Al Rakis, the Dancer; [The foregoing Dancer, Beigel said, was in the East merely a posture-maker, which the configuration of these stars plainly shows, and hence this title is appropriate. It seems to have wandered to the near-by Draco for the faint mu (Arrakis), although with a different signification, — the Trotting Camel.] as also Engonasi, into Al Jathiyy a’la Rukbataihi, the One who Kneels on both Knees; this subsequently degenerating into Elgeziale rulxbachei, Alcheti hale rechabatih, Elzegeziale, and Elhathi. It also has often appeared as Alchete and Alcheti; as Algethi, and, in the 1515 Almagest and Alfonsine Tables of 1521, as Algiethi incurvati super genu ipsius.
- Richard H. Allen comments: The usual Greek name was transliterated Engonasi, Engonasis, and Engonasin down to the days of Bullialdus, with whom it appeared in the queer combination of Greek and Roman O en Gonacin; but the poets translated it as Genuflexus, Genunixus, and Geniculatus; Ingeniculatus with Vitruvius; Ingeniclus and Ingeniculus with Firmicus; while Ingenicla Imago and Ignota Facies appear in Manilius, — his familiar line.
See Star names for Hercules.
Continued Taurus/Scorpius notes:
Assyro-Babylonian Mythology: notes regarding the Seven Gods of the Pleiades and the Sebitti.
Anu - Sumerian for "heaven", a sky god, father and king of the gods, son of Anshar and Kishar, lived in the third heaven. The Eanna in Uruk was dedicated both to him and consort. His first consort was Antu. They produced the Anunnaki - the underworld gods, and the utukki - the seven evil demons. His second consort was Innina (Ishtar). He is a god of monarchs and is not friendly to the common people, "King of the Igigi," assigned the sky as his domain in 'Atrahasis'. His 'kishru's (shooting stars) have awesome strength. He has the ability that anything he puts into words becomes reality. He is Niudimmud's (Ea's) father. He calls Adapa to account for breaking the wing of the South Wind, and offers him the food and drink of eternal life after Dumuzi and Gizzida speak on Adapa's behalf. He agrees to send the Bull of Heaven after Gilgamesh on Ishtar's behalf, if she has made sure that the people of Uruk are properly provisioned for seven years. He decrees that either Gilgamesh or Enkidu must die for the slaying of Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven. He sends Kakka to Kurnugi to tell Ereshkigal to send a messenger to receive a gift from him.
When Anzu stole the Tablet of Destinies from Ellil, he called for one of the gods to slay Anzu and thereby greatly increase his reputation. He gave Marduk the four winds to play with. He made a whirlwind and a flood wave and stirred up Tiamat on purpose. When Tiamat's retaliation for Apsu's death was discovered, Anshar sent him on a peace mission to her, but he returned unsuccessfully. He helps form a princely shrine for Marduk prior to his battle with Tiamat, and gives him the Anu-power of decreeing fates, such that his word is law.
He and Earth father are the Sebitti. He gives them fearsome fates and powers and puts them at Erra's command, to aid in killing noisy, over populous people and animals. (See also the Hittite Anus).
His Symbol: sacred shine surmounted by the divine horned cap.
Sacred number: 60 Astrological region: heavenly equator Sacred animal: the heavenly Bull.
Notes about the Seven Heavens
"In the Book of Enoch it was the archangel Uriel ('God is my light') who showed Enoch the secrets of the Sun (solstices and equinoxes, 'six portals' in all) and the 'laws of the Moon' (including intercalation), and the twelve constellations of the stars, 'all the workings of heaven'. And in the end of the schooling, Uriel gave Enoch - as Shamash and Adad had given Enmeduranki - 'heavenly tablets', instructing him to study them carefully and note 'every individual fact' therein. Returning to Earth, Enoch passed this knowledge to his old son, Methuselah."
- Zecharia Sitchin, "When Time Began."
The knowledge granted Enoch included: "All the workings of heaven, earth and the seas, and all the elements, their passages and goings and the thunderings of the thunder, and of the Sun and the Moon; the goings and changings of the stars; the seasons, years, days, and hours."
The Book of the Secrets of Enoch.
According to the "The Book of the Secrets of Enoch," it seems that when the prophet Enoch was 'taken up', he saw the air and then the ether. Then he reached the first heaven, where 'two hundred angels rule the stars' and where he saw a sea 'greater than the earthly sea'.
"The second heaven was gloomy."
"In the third heaven, he saw the Tree of Life, with four streams, of honey, milk, oil, and wine, flowing from its roots. The Place of the Righteous is in this heaven and the Terrible Place where the wicked are tortured. There was also the 'place on which God rests when he comes into Paradise'."
"In the fourth heaven, he saw luminaries, wondrous creatures, and the Host of the Lord."
"There were many 'hosts' in the fifth, and in the sixth he saw 'bands of angels who study the revolutions of the stars'."
"Finally, in the seventh heaven he saw great angels and he got a distant glimpse of the Lord on His Throne."
- Richard L. Thompson, "Alien Identities."
"I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven ... was caught up to Paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell."
2 Corinthians 12:2-4 (the apostle Paul describing his own experience).
"Enoch's third heaven...seems very similar to the region known as Ilavrta-varsa, which is described in the Fifth Canto of the Bhagavata Purana. Thus, in Ilavrta-varsa there are four gigantic trees, and four rivers flow from their roots, including a river of honey. There is also a city called Brahmapuri, which is visited by Lord Brahma and which may correspond to the 'place on which God rests when he comes into Paradise'."
"The Venerable Bede, an eighth-century English theologian and historian, wrote 'the seven heavens are (1) the Air, (2) the Ether, (3) Olympus, (4) the Element of Fire, (5) the Firmament, (6) the Angelical Region, and (7) the Realm of the Trinity'."
"According to the Fifth Canto of the Bhagavata Purana, Brahmapuri and the residences of eight prominent Devas [administrators of the Universe] are situated on the top of a mountain in Ilavrta-varsa called Meru, and therefore Mount Meru corresponds to the Greek Olympus. Thus, if Ilavrta-varsa corresponds to Enoch's third heaven, then it is also reasonable to say that this third heaven corresponds to the Greek Olympus."
- Richard L. Thompson, "Alien Identities."
This file last updated on July 15, 2008, and March 30, 2010.
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