Ancient Religion of Persia - Sumerians

[dutchie]

Some time ago I read some of the works of H.P. Lovecraft, most of it is the basis of modern horror stories.

He quite often refers to the religion of "the Ancients", about demonic beings being asleep in a distant city that travel the universe when the stars align in a certain formation and come to earth to do evil. This Cult of Cthulhu is said to have its roots in ancient Sumerian religion.

The works of Lovecraft can be found here (http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/)

Is anyone familiar with this Cthulhu cult? Or the works of Abdul Alhazred (the "crazy Arab"), in particular the "Necronomicon"?? (http://homepages.pavilion.co.uk/glyng/necronomicon.html)

[MacRasta]

Necronomicon? Book of the dead?

Like in Evil Dead?

I didn't even know it existed for real!

Difficult to believe that only by a bunch of words demons come to earth....

Interesting nevertheless

BlackMac

[LC Jeffries]

Dutchie where did you find those writings? That stuff is dangerous. I hope you are very careful. I don't know anything about this, but I have a book of Tutankamun Prophecies. Actually it's a book about the Freemasons. It is a study on the ancients religions of the maya, and the egyptians, in which they base their faith on. It is written by Maurice Cotterell. He also wrote The Mayan Prophecies and The Supergods.

Maybe you might find info on this cult on one of those two books.

Blessings, Lori

[evilwill]

All I know about Sumerian religion was that the popularity of a god depended on their status and success of the city worshipping it. That and they were pagans.

[Edge]

Well Cthulhu isn't Summerian in anyway. It actually has more of a European heritage.

Cthulhu is baisically the head evil being. Destroyer of worlds and what not. The gist of the legends surrounding him is that he is trapped within the earth under Dimmu Borgir (Black Fortress, located in Iceland, which is an area of obsidian left by several volcanic eruptions) and that one day he will be released bringing the downfall of man/the gods/the world. I don't know anything about the cult surrounding Cthulhu, but there is a site floating around which has him running for US president. http://www.cthulhu.org/

Necronomicon is a series of books that have been published by Puffin (I think its Puffin) and can be found in most bookstores. Haven't read them myself but its just harmless fiction unless you are easilly influenced by anything written in a book in which case I sugest you stop reading and lock yourself away in a bomb shelter for the rest of your life as the outside world is too dangerous for you.

As for the religion of the Persians; it consisted of multiple gods and drew on other religions that existed in that region. These would be the Sumerian, Asyrian, Babylonianand a few others. The hierachy amoungst the gods was unstable and changed throughout history and was also the basis of their Monarchy's power.

[prezhorusin04]

Metalmonk your right, as well as Dutchie from what i know..Lovecrafts work was based on Sumerian culture, Babylon as well as Egyptian, Tibetian, Persian, and a hodgepodge of other ancient societies.-But the root of it, the start, would be Sumerian..

Lovecraft seemed to be going under an assumption that the TRUE ancients, the nameless-faceless-unspeakable and horrific gods of old, actually came from tens of thousands of years ago, to a kind of "Atlantean" culture before all of these other religions..

i actually read the Necronomicon in Jr High, until i started feeling kinda weird with all the spells to summon demons, so i gave the book away..(Are you talking about the "Necroscope" books Metalmonk? Cause i'm pretty sure there is only one Necronomicon..)

You can purchase the Egyptian and Tibetian books of the Dead at any major bookstore, as i did..There is also a Sumerian book of the Dead, but i don't believe it's available in a collected format.

The books of the Dead are made up of initiations,prayers, funerary incantations and spells, rituals and sacrificial rites, as well as spells for summoning demons or angels and religious beliefs and tales of communication with the gods..

Egypt had many books that eventually made up the book of the dead..One of them was called "The Book of Walking Forth by Day", "The Book of the Secret Chamber", and "The Book of the Two Ways".

In Evil Dead I, it was the Sumerian book of the Dead that released the ancient forces and demons upon the world, but in Parts 2 +3 , it turned into the Kandarian book of the Dead..There is an Evil Dead comic book that just started publishing a couple months ago..It again uses the Sumerian Book of the Dead as the cause, and starts up immediatly after Army of Darkness ends..It looks as if now there will either be a new Evil Dead film in the next year, or a movie entitled "Freddy VS Jason VS Ash." :evbat:

[prezhorusin04]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/prezhorusin04/evildeadcomicbookbaby.jpg

[Edge]

I was refering to both as I was under the impression that they were in the same series.

[prezhorusin04]

i haven't read the Necroscope books, but i think they are based mostly on fiction.
Probably based somewhat upon Lovecraftian tales, as well as the Necronomicon..

The difference being that the Necronomicon came first, and claims to be true, while the Necroscope books are more horror-fiction based upon the different books of the Dead.

Like i said, i haven't read any Necroscope, i know there are atleast 7-8 books in the series..But the Necroscope books will be found in the Horror-Fiction section of the bookstore, while the Necronomicon will be found in either Religion, New Age, or History.

Lovecraft too was fiction based upon the "truth" of the books of the Dead..

Oh Yeah! LC JEFFRIES..I've got the Tutankhamun Prophecies too..IT's a great book, especially for becomming more informed about what the Masons are actually thinking.-I don't believe the whole book, but it certainly has alot of interesting truths..

[Edge]

On the point of a possible Freddy vs Jason vs Ash movie, it looks unlikely as Bruce Campbell (who owns the character of Ash) is reportedly not in favour of the production.

[prezhorusin04]

Yeah Monk..I think he has yet to approve of a script..It would be ideal if Sam Raimi could get involved in some way for Frddy/Jason/Ash..I'd rather see Evil Dead 4, but maybe they could do something nice with Freddy and Jason..

i think i've got a hell of an out-line for a "Freddy VS Jason VS Ash movie", but it involves Pin-Head from the HellRaiser movies, and Ken Foree from Dawn of the Dead.

Tentative Title: "The Evil Nightmare of the Dead on 13th Street."

Maybe myself and some AO members can try to polish this bad-boy off, post it at some Army of Darkness sites, and try to get this in the hands of Bruce Campbell and the right people?!?!

In the meantime, Check out the movie Bubba-Hotep..It's pretty cool. Bruce Campbell as Elvis fighiting a Zombie-Pharaoh-King!

[Edge]

I will try to find that movie Prez - sounds like good fun.

And I agree that an Evil Dead 4 would be a better a release than Freddy Vs Jason Vs Ash.

As for "The Evil Nightmare of the Dead on 13th Street." I'd say it has a chance. Not sure about the Hellraiser bit though as I have yet to watch that series. Perhaps Ash could become evil or have his mind partially taken over by the conciousness of his evil twin from Amry Of Darkness with a few battles inside his mind, which opens up the possiblity of other main characters to fight against the growing horde of the living dead.

[RavenWhitefang]

Here is a load of good info (http://www.digital-brilliance.com/necron/necron.htm) on the Necronomicon. The fear of this book was basically religious propaganda in my opinion. I have the book, the actual Necronomicon, as well as the Lovecraft book of the same name, and have read through quite a few times and have had no strange feelings or wierd phenomenon occur.

[dutchie]

That's a good link, Raven. Thanks, guys for all of the info. This stuff is really interesting because it is so old. I will dig a bit deeper into it.

[prezhorusin04]

Raven, when i say weird, i mean it in the sense of being 12-13 years old, it made be feel at dis-ease reading portions of the Necronomicon outloud that are supposed to summon evil forces..I'm sure the majority of it was just my imagination, but my friend wanted the book more then i did, and i had no use in seeking to conjure demons, so i gave it to him..

I don't really care to own the book now or not, i've got atleast a dozen various spell books, Books of the Dead, Demonology Druid majik, Norse majik, and the like..I don't believe in any of it really, but i know that people do believe in these practices, and it could be used as a conduit of energy for those who put their faith in a spell, totem, or icon of power..Such as a Norse Swaztika, Star of David, Fish, Ankh or Cross.

Likewise, while i don't believe rituals or spells can really summon demons, perhaps, for some, they can help to focus and harness internal energies to a directed goal and intent.-This can be used for good or bad, and usually seems to be for the latter.

Ritual is just a highly coordinated and precise form of prayer and incantation.Ceremony and tradition to appease the gods, or bring about a needed outcome, such as fertility of the land or people..All too sadly, it seems that many times with these rituals, innocent blood was needed, and power-hungry people took advantage of thier posistion of leadership..

All too many of the seemingly innocent Pagan and Wiccan holidays and key dates, have an older and more notorious past of sacrificial fires and spilling of blood. You can even take Dec 25th as Christs birthday for a Christian example. This is the same birthdate of other sun gods such as Osiris, Tammuz, Dumuzi, Mithra, Krishna and other savior figures. And it represents the re-birth of the sun out of the winter months, and the coming of spring.

You can even relate this to the known 33 degrees of Freemasonry, after which they become eligible for Illuminati-Hood...Thirty-Three, other then the death age of Christ, is also one degree higher then the Freezing point of temperature.

As for Evil Dead MetalMonk..That would be a good idea to bring Evil Ash into it. I've got about a 10-15 page outline for a script. It would be complicated to try to explain, and you'de have to have a little bit of knowledge on the Hellraiser films..

Maybe i'll make a new thread dedicated to brainstorming for "The Evil Nightmare of the Dead on 13th Street."

Sorry to get kinda off topic here Duthcie! :yumyum:

[dutchie]

No problem, Prez... Tell me, what is demonic in the Ankh sign?! I always thought it was just a symbol of Life?!?