h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It is only mentioned in passing in the article, but prior to akhenaten, there was no record of monotheism, so he could be credited with inventing god. It is known that at this time there was a jewish population in the area, so he is probably behind judeism, which in turn spawned christianity, which spawned islam. not bad for someone we knew nothing about not that long ago.

I knew that the deeper I went into the subject of monotheism, the more I would be getting away from the subject of my University entry.
I guess it's one of those subjects which would just go on and on, without end.
I really didn't want to write an entry on religion, it's too easy to upset people.

hey, it is not my intention to upset people, but ifthe religious cannot cope with history (and evolution and ...) then they should go back to the kiddy only sites until they grow up.

There is a theory that Akhenaten and Moses are actually one and the same. The chronology is a bit shaky, but with the usual conspiracy theory manoeuvres can be made to fit. And let's be fair, Moses is an Egyption-sounding name and Akhenaten may have needed an image change after being booted out of his kingdom.

food for thought

Deebank

Moses doesn't really sound like an Egyptian name, it sounds like a *Hellenised* Egyptian name, i.e. one that has been altered by the ancient Greeks to sound more like their own language.

Most of the names we think of as sounding 'Egyptian' are really Greek versions of ancient Egyptian names. For instance Ramses in official documents is called Usr Maat Ra (which the Greeks changed to Ozymandias) Still, at least we got a poem out of that

Sorry, but you're all wrong! I am the inventor of god. This is because I am god, so just for the hell of it, I decided to invent myself. I also created everything else, the dinosaurs, the ancient Egyptians and all the rest is history! I thought that the fossils of some ancient 'saurs would trick you all into believing that the passage of time was real, neat trick eh?

Monotheism actually began in Persia an incredibly long time ago, with the prophet Zarathustra. He founded a religion known today as Zoroastrianism, which had two gods - Ahura Mahzda, who was pure good, and Aeshma Daeva, who was pure evil. These were both equally powerful and at war for all eternity.

Since it had two gods, Zoroastrianism could be said to be duotheistic. However, since only Ahura Mahzda was worshipped, it was functionally monotheistic.

Ancient Babylonia was Zoroastrian when it conquered Israel, and the polytheistic Jews living there absorbed a lot of Zoroastrian ideas. Hence the storm god Yahweh was elevated to One True GodTM, and all the other gods became (arch)angels.

It is not known when Zarathustra lived, but there are a few hints. For one thing, the oldest Zoroastrin scriptures refer to weapons made of stone rather than metal. Also, these scriptures are written in a language similar to Vedic Sanskrit, which is very old indeed.

Interestingly, Zarathustra prophesied that one day a saviour of some sort would be born of a virgin...