Chapter 1 - Why Christianity is Responsible for the Dark Ages

In the coming weeks we will be posting excerpts from our book, "Consequences of Christianity." This is an excerpt from Chapter 1.  In this chapter, after explaining the relationships between the various gods of the Middle East and Asia, we go on to explain how the library in Alexandria Egypt influenced Christianity. Enjoy!

 Reasons for the similarities between the various gods could be found at one time in the immense library located in Alexandria, Egypt. This is due to the fact that in ancient times before Christ, there was a great deal written and recorded on the various religions of the known world, and much of this knowledge was, at one time, stored in this library. It was a library built of marble, and it was said to be incredibly beautiful, with statues, and pictures everywhere; and was also said to contain an incredible 400,000 volumes of written work. In fact, it eventually grew so large, that an additional library was created in the temple of Serapia, which was said to contain an additional 300,000 volumes. The one time Hellenistic ruler of Egypt, Ptolemy Sotor (367-283 BC), and his son Philadelphius, founded this library with the purpose of the continued perpetuation, increase, and diffusion of knowledge. To do this, the chief librarian, at the king's expense, was ordered to buy as many books as possible. Any books brought into Egypt were then taken to the museum where they were meticulously copied by transcribers before being given back to the owners. After paying a fee to the book owner, these copies were then placed in the library.

The library not only contained thousands of volumes divided into the four faculties of literature, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine, there were also botanical and zoological gardens used to facilitate the study of plants and animals, as well as an astronomical observatory containing globes, astrolabes, and other instruments that were then in use. The library also served as a place of instruction where lectures were held. Intellectuals and students from all over the known world would congregate there, and it is said that at one time there was no fewer than 14,000 people in attendance. Some of the most eminent fathers of the Christian church such as Origen and Athanasius were also familiar with the great library.¹

Many of these intellectuals who frequented the library became familiar with Buddha, Mithra, Krishna, Horus, and a host of other gods and goddesses who were worshiped by other known nations. Tragically, this magnificent library was burned during the siege of Alexandria (48 BCE) by Julius Caesar. To make amends for this action, Marc Antony, during his reign of the empire (40-30 BCE), presented Cleopatra with the second largest collection of works in the known world; the plundered library collection of Eumenes, King of Pergamus. It was not to last however, as in the year 391, Roman Emperor Theodosius I ordered the destruction of all non-christian temples, and the Christian patriarch Theophilus, gladly complied by destroying all pagan temples and the library at Serapia.² The destruction of this vast library by Christians was a death blow to free thought for more than a thousand years. To add insult to injury, a church was then built on the foundation of Serapia in honor of the “noble martyrs” (i.e. Christians) who never existed.³

The Christian “saint” (and I use the term loosely) Cyril who succeeded Theophilus, struck the final death blow to free thought when he had his monks and his assistant Peter the Reader, brutally murder the brilliant female philosopher/scientist Hypatia (350?-415 CE), who was the daughter of the mathematician and last curator of the Alexandrian library, Theon of Alexandria (335-405 CE). On her way to one of her lectures, Hypatia's chariot was mobbed by monks, and she was dragged into a church where she was killed by the club of Peter the Reader. Her corpse was then cut into pieces, the flesh scraped from her bones with shells, and the remnants thrown into the fire. Cyril was never called to account for this barbarism, as according to them the “ends justified the means,” and the “means” was to eradicate free thought in favor of religious indoctrination. By 414 CE, the intellectual “Dark Ages” was in full swing, culminating in the prohibition of teaching, and the closing of all schools in Athens by the emperor Justinian (529 CE).⁴

1. Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions, TW Doane., p. 440;

2.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria#Decree_of_Theodosius.2C_destruction_by_Theophilus_in_391

3. Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions, TW Doane, p. 440

4. Ibid., 441