Nephilim: The Global - Cultural Evidence
In this video we are going to examine some of the global evidence of giants in ancient texts, legends, structures, and religions. Much of this material is included in my textbook ‘Religion: History and Mystery’, but here, for the sake of brevity, I will only be able to share a fraction of that evidence. Firstly, a brief introduction.
I. The Bible, Sumerians and Babylonians
Genesis 6:4 identifies the Nephilim as ‘heroes of old, men of renown’. These words come directly after the statement that angels and human women produced children, and the word ‘Nephilim’ is ‘gigantos’ in the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament. The statement is plain. The children of these unions were giants who were heroes and renown, a reference to their reputation as great warriors compared to your average soldier, champions on the battle field.
A well-armored warrior of 2-3 times the height and strength of the average soldier would be almost invincible and a terrifying sight to those who fought against them. These giants became the subject of legend, and as we shall see, are mentioned in almost every ancient culture as gods who walked the earth, or were the children of the gods.
What is often overlooked, but obvious from ancient texts, is their inherent lust for evil and hatred for those made in the image of God. What kind of nature does a creature possess whose paternal father was a fallen angel, a demonic being under the authority of Satan himself? Added to this are the many stories of their ability to perform supernatural acts of sorcery, witchcraft, and possession of occult power fuelled by the blood sacrifice of the most innocent and pure of humanity; babies, children and virgins.
The next verse in Genesis 6 states that with the introduction of the Nephilim-giants the wickedness of humanity had grown so great that ‘every inclination of the thoughts of men was only evil all the time’. If you can imagine an entire culture dedicated to murdering innocent children as a form of worship, a culture led by half demon creatures who reveled in lust and death, then you can begin to have a clearer understanding of what led to the global flood.
But their existence was not limited to before the flood, for the Genesis text claims that they re-established themselves in the same way after the flood, and indeed, almost every story, myth, legend and fact about them are from the post-flood era. Consider the following examples from history.
Some of the oldest written records come from the Sumerians and Babylonians, and incidentally there are various accounts of a global flood in around 200 ancient cultures. This is important because giants are associated with flood narratives.
The oldest world cultures were fundamentally polytheistic, having many gods. The Sumerians worshipped 200 gods, incidentally the same number of angels mentioned in 1st Enoch who ascended to Mount Hermon to change their bodies, but also write of the main god El, a shortened version of Elohim, the first name of God in the Bible, as mentioned in the Enumah Elish text.
In the Sumerian text called the Epic of Gilgamesh, El is going to flood the world and Gilgamesh, who is said to be one of many giants of between 3-7 meters tall, forces humans to build a huge boat to save himself and other giants. This text is written as an explanation for why giants were living in the area after the global flood.
The Stele of Naram-Sin presents the Akkadian king, Naram-Sin, who ruled in the area of Babylon (Iran). He is twice as tall as his opponents and wears a bulls-horn helmet, a common symbol of those who worshipped Mithra and Molech. Molech is most commonly associated with sacrifice to Mithra, a god of the gods, or in Judeo/Christian tradition, Satan, who is the authority over all demonic principalities.
One of, if not the oldest piece of religious writing, is written about the last Sumerian king who lived before the Great Flood and contains laws and advice, quite like the Bible's book of Proverbs. In another Sumerian text, The Kesh Temple Hymn, there is an account of a god and goddess creating human beings, a similar text to Atra-Hasis, an Akkadian epic. The descendents of Ham were polytheistic, as we would expect from a man who rejected his father's beliefs. The Sumerian's gods numbered around 2000.
The most powerful god of these people was called Anu. Anu was the god of the cosmos, the one who controlled the demons, monsters, goddesses and people. Anu was believed to have taken a wife called Ki and produced a child who became the most important god, the one spoken of mostly in their literature. His name was Enlil. This powerful god was believed to have raped a goddess and produced a child called Ninlil. In the stories of the Sumerian gods there are many similarities to what we know of life before the Flood. Violence and war, rape and seduction are the actions of their gods.
The Sumerians, who ruled prior to the Babylonians, considered their gods to walk on the earth in human form, although much larger than normal, and to have supernatural powers, such as the sun god pictured below.
II. Ancient Egyptians
The civilization of the ancient Egyptians has been the focus of much debate, speculation and mystery. According to Genesis 10, Mizraim, one of Ham's sons, became the founder of the Egyptian civilization, moving south after the Flood.
One of the oldest pieces of Egyptian art is the stone palette from Hierkonopolis which celebrates the victory of King Narmer. We know from later Egyptian writings that a family from the South conquered all of Egypt around 3000BC and created the first dynasty in the capital of Memphis. The Egyptian name for this conqueror is Narmer, and also Menes.
There are several palettes which depict the conquest of Narmer, all of which portray him as being of giant stature.
This first palette portrays a great warrior who is twice the size of his subjects. In part of the scene, the headless bodies of what are supposedly enemies lay on the ground. The decapitation of enemies was a common form of human sacrifice among cultures who claimed to have giant rulers. The priests carry long poles with symbols of the gods, leading a procession as part of the ritual sacrifice
In the second scene (below), the giant holds the head of a victim and appears to be about to remove his head or bash his brains in with a club.
And in this last palette he seems to be holding 3 enemies who are about to meet their end.
Some scholars insist that the portrayal of Narmer as a giant merely symbolizes his authority as a King, however, the palettes portray his battles to becoming king of Egypt rather than him sitting on a throne.
III. Ancient Chinese Dynasty
Facts concerning the practice of ancient Chinese religions are difficult to substantiate and differ considerably. The oldest known dynasty in China is the time of the 'Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors', from around 3000-2000BC. The Three Sovereigns were considered god-kings or demigods, physical beings of great stature and size who possessed powerful supernatural abilities. These three taught the people magic, how to cut stone and make fire, and instituted the shamans to serve them. They were said to be sons of a great god, but born to human women. They divided China's rule between five emperors who served and worshipped them. They are pictured here in a cave painting.
IV. The Aryans and Vedas
Ancient Babylon is modern-day Iran, a name meaning the ‘land of the Aryans’. A large group of them migrated through Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northern India, a time known as the Indo-Aryan Invasion around 2000 BC.
The god of war, Indra, is often depicted in the hymns of the Vedas as the giant who led their worshippers in battle, standing in a great chariot which needed several horses to pull it, a being with superhuman strength who destroyed all who oppose him. Here are some of the lines of hymns 6,7 and 8 to Indra.
Those who stand near him as he moves feel his power...On his chariot is yoked the two great steeds (horses) he loves, the bearers of the chief...Your followers throw off the state of unborn children and assume sacrificial names...Indra has near to him his two great steeds and chariot...he can see afar, he slays a thousand enemies with mighty and awful weapons...he is the irresistible ruler who drives the people with his might...he is our god and no others...with his mighty missiles he defeats his enemies.
The Aryans brought with them the worship of Molech and Mithra which evolved into early Hinduism. Molech was the central focus of child sacrifice and closely associated with astrology right back to the Tower of Babel and Taurus the Bull, a theme developed much further in the later Roman religion of Mithraism where Roman soldiers were baptized in bull’s blood and said to be reborn. Molech was seated or cross-legged and had the head of a bull. A fire was built under his outstretched arms and hands which received the firstborn children of every citizen, thrown alive to perish in his hands. This form of human sacrifice is well-documented in the Old Testament of the Bible.
The Pasupati Seal, which is connected to the Indu-Aryan invasion, depicts Molech sitting cross-legged, his head as a bull, and legs a huge bowl. He is surrounded by symbols of the zodiac.
V. Greeks, Romans, and Winged Gods
The Greeks had their hero Heracles, the son of the god Zeus and a human woman. He is called Hercules by the Romans, who also have multiple stories of the giant titans who ruled the world from Atlantis prior to the flood. The famous philosopher Plato has much to say about them.
All of these are but a few of the stories handed down about giants as heroes of war. What stands out in all of these ancient cultures from the Sumerians to Romans, are the incredible amount of citations about winged gods who both directed the Nephilim or were said to appear for worship prepared by the priests of Molech and Mithra.
The god Mithra occurs in many ancient texts and consistently through to the Romans. Mithra is depicted in many ways, but most commonly as an angel surrounded by the signs of the zodiac. Christian scholars consider Mithra to be another name for Satan, and interestingly, he is portrayed as being embraced by serpents, one which crowns him, and another with the head of a goat.
The Sumerian tablets often portrayed their gods with wings as in this tablet.
In this tablet one can also identify the bull-horn helmets associated with Molech.
The Babylonians had Ishtar, among others.
In the Zoroastrian tradition, the primary god, Ahura Mazda is always depicted with wings.
In the Avestas, the texts of Zoroastrianism which were written around the same time as the earliest Vedas, we also find a hymn dedicated to Mithra with reads as follows.
We worship Mithra ... who, overtaking his opponents, overcome by passion together with manly valor, strikes down his opponents with a toss of his head ... who cuts everything up; all at once he mixes together on the ground the bones, hair, brains, and blood of the men who are false to the covenant.
The obvious connections to giants, winged gods, sacrifice to Molech and worship of Mithra is consistent in all ancient writings. Here I have presented just a few of these connections.
VI. Ziggurats, Stone Structures and Footprints
I would also point to the mysteries surrounding structures which we are unable to explain sufficiently. Consider the ziggurats of central America, constructed for human sacrifice, and how these ziggurats are almost identical in form and purpose to those on the opposite side of the world in the Middle East. The one on the left is Sumerian, and on the right, Aztec. It is speculated that at the time of the flood the earth tilted on its axis creating the north and south poles we have now. This would confirm the hypothesis of an ice-age around 5-6000 years ago. Did people cross the frozen Bearing Strait and move south to Central America?
There are many ancient structures which defy scientific enquiry. How were the stones erected at stone-henge? Some of them are up to 30 tons.
How were these walls in Peru constructed with such precision, or moved into position, as some are up to 100 tons?
And what of the discoveries of ancient footprints embedded in bed-rock or unearthed during earth-quakes?
To get the general height of a person you take the length of their foot and multiply by 6. If the foot is one foot long or 30 cm, the person will be 6 feet tall or 180 cm. The footprints discovered range from 60 cm to almost 1.2 meters, which would mean the owners were from 3-8 meters tall.
In this article I have endeavored to give a small taste of the vast amount of evidence for giants in ancient world cultures and their connections to forms of demonic worship and sacrifice. I have not mentioned the many stories of native Americans who were hunted by red-haired giants, or the Olmec and Mayans of central America, or the roots of new age religions. If these topics interest you, I cover them in much greater detail in Religion: History and Mystery.
Steve Copland