Apollonius, the Sage, Who Was Erased From History
The other guy
Do you wish to be happy when you die,
or would you prefer to learn how to live?
Traveling teacher Apollonius of Tyana was praised
by emperors and philosophers who were real people,
not mere characters in a fabricated mind control religion
Short and simple, Christianity is a religion designed by the controlling elite,
for the express purpose of total world manipulation of the masses.
And any and all religious institutions over the ages
which in any way conflicted with this idea were to be destroyed.
The law, said Apollonius, obliges us to die for liberty, and nature ordains that we should die for our parents, our friends, or our children. All men are bound by these duties. But a higher duty is laid upon the sage; he must die for his principles and the truth he holds dearer than life. It is not the law that lays this choice upon him, it is not nature; it is the strength and courage of his own soul.
By John Kaminski
It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what one does not believe. It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime. [Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, 1807]
What is real and what is fiction? Is what we believe the real truth or just a fantasy? Is there any difference between what we imagine and what we see before our eyes?
Is it better to think or to believe? Remember, religion is the enemy of knowledge because it professes to know everything and will say anything to maintain its control of people’s minds. Religious people don’t have to think because they already have their answer. What does that mean when actual thinking is required?
We base our understanding of the world on statements from thousands of years ago that have been passed down through time, through hundreds of minds, and yet have retained their relevance to the way we view our own lives.
When one of these core beliefs is challenged, we become uncomfortable. It is the primary human requirement that our belief system be certain, and not subject to second guessing, never mind convincing refutation. Otherwise we suffer severe ontological discomfort and become uncertain of ourselves.
With a belief system free of second guessing, life is comfortable and worry free. But doubt about facts of your belief creates a kind of mental heartburn, an intellectual itch you can never really scratch without an argument that never ends.
Non-believers have no peace of mind, only smug justifications and vexatious objections. So most of us choose a mythological script that keeps us safe in all eventualities, and leave it at that.
Learn to live or fear to die
What is the purpose of religion? Is it merely just a fairy tale to convince ourselves that we don’t really die?Which is actually the ultimate purpose of every religion ever invented. Or is it a way to understand our lives and make our all-too-brief moment in time as purposeful and beneficial as possible?
Much as you’d like to, you can’t dodge this question forever. The sooner you confront it, the more focused your life will become. Most people prefer not to, and instead wait until they run out of time. Better to ask the question before it becomes too late to find an answer — which it might already be.
The choice between what is and what you wish it to be determines the fate of the world. Considering the chaotic condition of everything at this tumultuous moment, we can’t help but ask ourselves if the choices we have made have been wrong.
This tale of two characters who supposedly lived at the same time, two thousand years ago, symbolizes this dichotomy.
Apollonius of Tyana is known by practically no one in the entire world despite his verifiable history as a thoroughly admirable person. The fabricated character known as Jesus left no footprint in objective history yet is known throughout the world as the one person you can turn to for reliable comfort in times of trouble.
Does the power of belief actually transcend reality? For many, it does. For some, it does not.
What has always bothered me about the principal players in the much manipulated history of Christianity is that none of them appear in real life empirical history. Get this clear: it’s another shell game by the Jews, their first and best one. They captured the whole world with the bleeding heart of Jesus.
While the Old Testament does present some verifiable events of history, the New Testament is a manufactured mythology of imaginary events fabricated by a Jewish writer attempting the overthrow of the Roman Empire, a goal he achieved many years after his death. Jesus, Peter and Paul, Mary Magdalene and all the rest are mere actors in a legendary stage drama that captured the world with its impossible, illogical and utterly insane promise.
Characters who never existed etched in the minds of millions as living forever who followed a formula that let them take over the world.
The scholarly consensus is that they are the work of unknown Christians and were composed c. 68-110 AD. The majority of New Testament scholars agree that the Gospels do not contain eyewitness accounts; but that they present the theologies of their communities rather than the testimony of eyewitnesses.
None of the gospel writers were eyewitnesses to the ministry of Jesus.
Jesus was never mentioned in any Roman sources and there is no archeological evidence that Jesus ever existed. Even Christian sources are problematic – the Gospels come long after Jesus’ death, written by people who never saw the man.
• • •
While you have to dig deep with a microscope to find any mention of Jesus in the empirical history of the first century AD, University of North Carolina professor Bart Ehrman explains how the exploits of Apollonius of Tyana come bursting out of the history books like a Hollywood blockbuster.
Apollonius defied Roman tyrants
Apollonius defied the bloodiest tyrants who ever sat on the Roman throne — Nero and his successor, Domitian. Apollonius fearlessly traveled from one end of the Roman Empire to the other, inciting revolutions against the despots, and establishing egalitarian communities among his followers, who bore the name of Essenes, early Christians.
And not content with such activities in the Roman provinces, he bravely entered Rome itself, after all philosophers had been expelled from the city under penalty of death by Domitian.
There he openly denounced the tyrant, for which he was arrested and thrown into a dungeon, awaiting certain death which, however, due to his brilliant speech in self-defense and his extraordinary powers of mind, he averted, securing his liberty.
All of Rome knew of Apollonius, and had another miracle worker existed at that same time period, it would have been noted and recorded. The Roman emperors sought out such people of miraculous reputation. Apollonius was consulted by not less than five emperors, namely: Nero, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian and Nerva. The prototype from which the Jesus figure was created is virtually Apollonius, and not an historical Jesus.
Kersey Graves, author of The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors, explains the big picture:
The religion of Christianity is almost a carbon copy of 16 former religions already quite ancient at that time. Primarily, it was the Celtic sun God Iesa (Latinized Jesu) that was adopted by the Roman Church at Nicaea.
After this Council, the first act of the Church Fathers was to burn all writings they could find, especially those of the first three hundred years of the common era which revered Apollonius as the spiritual leader of the first century. It was for this reason as well that ancient libraries were ordered to be burned, including the famous and irreplaceable Library at Alexandria.
The early 4th century book entitled The Life OF APOLLONIUS by historian Philostratus would not surface again until 1501 C.E. The first English translation did not become available until the year 1680. Thirteen years later, the English Charles Blaunt translation was condemned by the Church and further publication was prohibited. In 1809 Edward Berwick made a new English translation of the volume, whereupon the Church confiscated and burned the book so fast that by 1907 no copies were to be found.
Short and simple, Christianity is a religion designed by the controlling elite, for the express purpose of total world manipulation of the masses. And any and all religious institutions over the ages which in any way conflicted with this idea were to be destroyed.
• • •
A graceful woman known as Acharya S. once wrote:
It should be noted that Philostratus’s account makes no mention of any Jesus Christ, not even as a rival to Apollonius, who purportedly lived at the same time alleged of Jesus.
Like so many other biblical characters, (the apostle) Paul is also fictitious. In fact, it has been claimed that “historical” details later added to the gospel version of the mythos were taken from the life of Apollonius the Nazarene . . . like Jesus and the 12 apostles, Paul does not appear in the historical record.
All belong to the family of God
From a prehistoric fable titled “Tablet 1: The History of Thoth, the Atlantean”
<https://exemplore.com/advanced-ancients/The-Emerald-Tablets-of-Thoth-Part-A-Summary>
Scholars say that Hermes Trismegistus was the fictional hero of the Corpus Hermeticum, but in Arabic Hermetic literature, Apollonius (Balns) of Tyana is associated with Hermes. Apollonius is a historical figure, unlike the legendary Hermes Trismegistus. He was a physician, a magician and a spiritual person. Here is a fragment from The Letters of Apollonius of Tyana, translated by Robert J. Penella (Leiden 1979):
Apollonius’s credo will last ’til the end of time:
“All men, so I believe, belong to the family of God and are of one nature; everyone experiences the same emotions, regardless of the place or condition of a person’s birth, whether he is a barbarian or a Greek, so long as he is a human being.”
• • •
From G.R.S. Mead’s 1901 classic, Fragments of a Faith Forgotten:
While in the case of Apollonius himself, even if we discount nine-tenths of what is related of him, his one idea seems to have been to spread abroad among the religious brotherhoods and institutions of the Empire some portion of the wisdom which he brought back with him from India.
But rather than inveigle potential followers with his preset agenda, he opted to give his hearers the choice of deciding what was best for themselves.
It is not, however, to be thought that Apollonius set out to make a propaganda of Indian philosophy in the same way that the ordinary missionary sets forth to preach his conception of the Gospel. By no means; Apollonius seems to have endeavoured to help his hearers, whoever they might be, in the way best suited to each of them.
•••
At various times down through history, the name of Apollonius of Tyana has arisen, frequently in comparison to Jesus as among the noblest sages of their time.
In fact the tributes to Apollonius reveal a much greater man than Jesus, who is a demonstrably fictional character except in the minds of propaganda promoters. Yet Jesus is the most sought after vision in the final moments of most people’s lives, a real comfort as the quintessential unknown approaches, claiming to be the Son of God and promising them eternal life, while Apollonius was only trying to heal them of their sicknesses and teach them how to live respectful lives.
As a redactor of ancient myths in an era of scholarship much more stringent than today’s pop art puff pieces, in 1901 G.R.S. Mead analyzed the only real biography of this ancient Greek legend — Life of Apollonius, by Flavius Philostratus — and couched it in a thorough survey of history’s academic mentions of this forgotten heroic role model of what a spiritual human at the top of his game should be, to create an inspiring picture of what a holy man should be without the supernatural stresses of forcing delusional dogma on the unenlightened.
Mead, author of historical analyses of the great figures of Greek and Vedic history, sets his sights on the greatest gift a teacher can offer. “Were it but possible to enter into the living memory of Apollonius, and see with his eyes the things he saw when he lived nineteen hundred years ago, what an enormously interesting page of the world’s history could be recovered!” And the late Professor Mead wrote this a hundred years ago about a moment in time two thousand years ago.
Apuleius, author of the Golden Ass, classified Apollonius with Moses and Zoroaster, and other famous Magi of antiquity.
Dion Cassius in his history, which he wrote AD 211-222, states that Caracalla (Roman emperor AD 211- 216) honored the memory of Apollonius with a chapel or monument. It was just at this time (216) that Philostratus composed his Life of Apollonius,at the request of Domna Julia, Caracalla’s mother.
Lampridius, who flourished about the middle of the third century, further informs us that Alexander Severus (Emp. 222-235) placed the statue of Apollonius in his gallery together with those of Christ, Abraham, and Orpheus.
Professor Mead further writes:
To Apollonius the mere fashion of a man’s faith was unessential; he was at home in all lands, among all cults. He had a helpful word for all, an intimate knowledge of the particular way of each of them, which enabled him to restore them to health. Such men are rare; the records of such men are precious, and require the embellishments of no rhetorician.
Apollonius was born at Tyana, a city in the south of Cappadocia (today it’s southern Turkey), somewhen in the early years of the Christian era. His parents were of ancient family and considerable fortune (i. 4). At an early age he gave signs of a very powerful memory and studious disposition, and was remarkable for his beauty. At the age of 14 he was sent to Tarsus, a famous centre of learning of the time, to complete his studies. (Tarsus was the very home of the notorious Saul/Paul, who was to become the chief biographer of Jesus and inventor of the religion of Christianity.)
Apollonius became intimate with the priests of the temple of Aesculapius, where cures were still wrought, and enjoyed the society and instruction of pupils and teachers of the Platonic, Stoic, Peripatetic, and Epicurean schools of philosophy; but though he studied all these systems of thought with attention, it was the lessons of the Pythagorean school upon which he seized with an extraordinary depth of comprehension.
His dealings with Roman emperors are well documented, unlike Jesus, whose conversations were confabulated by proselytizers decades if not centuries later.
Vespasian, Titus, and Nerva were all, prior to their elevation to the purple, friends and admirers of Apollonius, while Nero and Domitian regarded the philosopher with dismay
Continuing his journeys, the Adept took a firm stand against the cruelty of the emperor Domitian. His words were reported to that tyrant by his mortal enemy, Euphrates. Apollonius was accused of having participated in an insurrection against Domitian, but he appeared before the tribunal and was acquitted.
So that though Apollonius supported Vespasian as long as he worthily tried to follow out this ideal, he immediately rebuked him to his face when he deprived the Greek cities of their privileges. “You have enslaved Greece,” he wrote. “ You have reduced a free people to slavery ” (v. 41). Nevertheless, in spite of this rebuke, Vespasian in his last letter to his son Titus, confesses that they are what they are solely owing to the good advice of Apollonius
Religion for Apollonius was not a faith only, it was a science. For him, the shows of things were but ever- changing appearances; cults and rites, religions and faiths, were all one to him, provided the right spirits were behind them.
Most of the recorded wonder-doings of Apollonius are cases of prophecy or foreseeing, of seeing at a distance and seeing the past, of seeing or hearing in vision, of healing the sick or curing cases of obsession or possession.
In my opinion virtue and wealth are entirely opposed to one another. For when one decreases it causes the other to increase, and when one increases it causes the other to decrease. So how could it be possible for a person to have both wealth and virtue, except in the opinion of the ignorant, who equate wealth with virtue?
Apollonius had some wise words for priests.
• To Crito: Pythagoras said that the practice of medicine is the most godly enterprise. But if it is the most godly enterprise, the soul also must be cared for along with the body; otherwise a living being, if the better part is sick, cannot be in good health.
• To the priests of Olympia: the gods do not need sacrifices. Then what can one do to please them? Acquire wisdom, it seems to me, and do good to honorable men as far as one is able. That is what is dear to the gods; sacrifice is the object of the godless.
• To the priests of Delphi. Priests pollute altars with blood. And then some people wonder why their cities, whenever they are in serious trouble, suffer misfortune. What stupidity! Heraclitus was wise, but not even he was able to persuade the Ephesian not to try to wash away mud with mud.
One of Apollonius’s favorite prayers, Damis (his companion and biographer) tells us, was “Grant me, oh Gods, to have little and need nothing.”
“ When you enter the temples, for what do you pray ? ” asked the Pontifex Maximus Telesinus of our philosopher. “I pray,” said Apollonius, “that righteousness may rule, the laws remain unbroken, the wise be poor and others rich, but honestly. ” He further said, at different times of his life . . .
You ask me what can not be taught. For kingship is the greatest thing within a mortal’s reach ; it is not taught. Yet will I tell you what if you will do, you will do well. Count not that wealth which is stored up — in what is this superior to the sand haphazard heaped ? nor that which comes from men who groan beneath taxation’s heavy weight — for gold that comes from tears is base and black. You’ll use wealth best of any king, if you supply the needs of those in want and make their wealth secure for those with many goods.
And furthermore . . .
You should not set your private woes above your public cares, but rather set your public cares before your private woes.
G.R.S. Mead, in his biography of Apollonius of Tyana titled Fragments of a Faith Forgotten, concluded:
Some of the greatest spiritual sages who have walked this earth, whether born wealthy or poor, have consciously chosen to pass through history unaffected by worldly temptations. Genuine gnostic teachers are not here to become lucrative, Hollywood-style personalities, like so many modern-day, self-centered, vanity-motivated evangelists.
What the gnostic sage pursues is a selfless, unwavering life mission to elevate the thinking of mankind by giving us a true conception of our position in life and the universe and its higher dimensions. It is the message that matters above all, and not just doing, but being, whether the adept passes through this life as a teacher of great distinction or as a seemingly aimless drifter.
If this life story is starting to sound somewhat familiar, it should, because it was from the real life personage of Apollonius that the fictional Jesus was so craftily created.
Apollonius lived to the ripe age of 98 years old and was a man of strong physique and health. The most distinguished of his followers was Musonius, who was considered the greatest philosopher of the time after the Tyanian. Unlike his fictional counterpart, Apollonius prided himself on courage, and though not a violent or hostile man, he represented Nature’s Law as God’s Law and would not be one to preach the emasculating, philosophical pablum of “turn the other cheek” and “love thine enemies.” Upon hearing the news that Titus had conquered Jerusalem in battle, he immediately sent Titus a high letter of praise, to which Titus replied to the respected sage, “I have conquered Jerusalem, but thou hast conquered me.”
“The law,” said Apollonius, “obliges us to die for liberty and Nature ordains that we should die for our patents, our friends and our children. All men are bound by these duties. But a higher duty is bound upon the sage. He must die for his principles and the truth he holds dearer than life. It is not the law that lays this choice upon him, it is not Nature; it is the strength and courage of his own soul.
Kersey Graves reported, on page p. 303, Miracles and Religion of Apollonius of Tyana.
Apollonius believed in prayer, but how differently from the vulgar. For him the idea that the Gods could be swayed from the path of rigid justice by the entreaties of men, was a blasphemy; that the Gods could be made parties to our selfish hopes and fears was to our philosopher unthinkable. One thing alone he knew, that the Gods were the ministers of right and the rigid dispensers of just dessert. The common belief, which has persisted to our own day, that God can be swayed from His purpose, that compacts could be made with Him or with His ministers, was entirely abhorrent to Apollonius. Beings with whom such pacts could be made, who could be swayed and turned, were not Gods but less than men.
And so we find Apollonius as a youth conversing with one of the priests of Aesculapius, a medical college of the time as follows:
“Since then the Gods know all things, I think that one who enters the temple with a right conscience within him should pray thus: ‘Give me, ye Gods, what is my due!”’
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By John Kaminski
John Kaminski is a writer who lives on the Gulf Coast of Florida, constantly trying to figure out why we are destroying ourselves, and pinpointing a corrupt belief system as the engine of our demise. Solely dependent on contributions from readers, please support his work by mail:
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