The Child’s Story of the Bible MARY A. LATHBURY Includes the following: CHAPTER I. The Beginning of Things II. The Great Flood III. Abraham—the Father of the Faithful IV. Isaac, the Shepherd Prince V. Jacob, a Prince of God VI. Joseph, the Castaway VII. Joseph, a Servant, a Prisoner and a Saint VIII. Joseph, the…
The Story of Three Wise Kings by Tomie de Paola
Image Credit: Tommie dePaola on Amazon A Word about the Kings “The first written word about the kings appears in the Gopel of St. Matthew. His brief account tells of wise men who went to Bethlehem to honor the child who would become king of the Jews. Matthew does not give them names nor does…
What are Equinoxes and Solstices? Ways We Mark the Seasons
The changing of the seasons has fascinated mankind–almost forever. We can gauge the questions on people’s minds by the stories they tell, and people have been telling stories about the seasons for at east thousands of years. The Horae [Detail] – Painted by Edward John Poynter Image Credit: Wikimedia The ancient Greeks were so very…
Ancient Astrologers, Zodiacs & Calendars
The Akkadian Calendar from Ancient Babylon “The Akkadian calendar was organized to follow the order of the zodiacal signs, with the first month, Nisan, corresponding to the first sign. The second month of the Accadian year, Taurus, introduced spring, and would have done so from 4698 B.C. to 2540 B.C. “The Akkadian calendar influenced many other calendars,…
What Is Stonehenge? When, Where, & Why Was It Built?
Although the oldest recorded civilizations date back to only about 4,000 B.C. [about 6,000 years ago], Stonehenge is evidence that thinking, functional men exitsted long before that. “For centuries, historians and archaeologists have puzzled over the many mysteries of Stonehenge, the prehistoric monument that took Neolithic builders an estimated 1,500 years to erect. Located in…
Ancient Civilizations – A List & A Few Facts
The Native Americans “Native Americans are considered an ancient civilization, as archaeological and genetic evidence shows that people have inhabited the Americas for at least 20,000 years, with their ancestors migrating across the Bering Strait land bridge from Asia, establishing diverse cultures across North and South America before European contact. Early arrival: The first Native…
The Primordial Deities of Ancient Greek Mythology
Ancient Greek scholars disagree about when and how some some of the Ancient Greek deities came into being, but most agree that Chaos was there before anything else existed. To the Ancient Greeks, the word “chaos” was more significant than it is for most people today. For the Ancient Greeks Chaos was a God. In…
Ancient Pagan Holidays Celebrated Today–Some of Them Are Celebrated as Christian
When I was a child, kids would come to school with sprigs of mistletoe that they had harvested from trees. Even when I was very young, I would allow the mistletoe-holder to kiss me on the cheek–if he held his woodsy treasure over my head. Since mistletoe could be spotted on the bare limbs of…
Sun, Moon, and Star Worship: Influence on Christianity
“He who judges the first century by the nineteenth will fall into countless errors. He who thinks that the Christianity of the fourth century was identical with that of the New-Testament period, will go widely astray. He who does not look carefully into the history of religions before the time of Christ, and into the pagan…
Paganism: Its Influence on Christianity
“He who judges the first century by the nineteenth will fall into countless errors. He who thinks that the Christianity of the fourth century was identical with that of the New-Testament period, will go widely astray. He who does not look carefully into the history of religions before the time of Christ, and into the…