The Dawn of Great Civilizations by Dr. Hilarion M. Henares Jr. Era of Darkness and Coming of the Light 3 The Dawn of Great Civilizations 9 The Greatness that was Egypt 13 The Glory that was Greece 17 The Grandeur that was Rome 23 The Wonder that was China 27 The Rise of Judaism 35 The Rise of Christianity 39 The Rise of Islam 43 Armageddon and the end of the world 47 Mary, the greatest celebrity of all time 51 Of Women Leaders 55 The First Citizens of the World 61 A Woman of Islam 79 A Woman of the Jewish Race 85 The Summing Up 91 + + + + + + Era of Darkness and Coming of the Light Meet the prophet of the Era of Darkness and the Coming of the Light. In a sense he proclaims the idea of Death and Renewal, Crucifixion and Resurrection, End and Beginning that the New Year following our EDSA revolution, symbolizes to the Filipino of today. In his mind the ascendancy of President Cory Aquino represents in our country the re-affirmation of the Mother Principle, a sign that we may be emerging from darkness into the light. His name is Michael Adams, and his very name evokes the passage of eons past since the beginning of time --- when Michael the Archangel battled the forces of darkness, when Jehovah took molecules of dust on the seventh day of Creation and shook them till their name was Adam. Michael Adams is an iconoclast, which means he is a destroyer of graven images, the annihilator of cherished traditions --- much like most great men of the human race, like Jesus who broke with Judaism, like Gandhi who broke with the gods of wrath, like Martin Luther King and Rolando Olalia. So Michael expects to suffer their fate. He will die, not of old age, but of a bullet in the brain. Michael Adams is an Englishman, a self-proclaimed genius who got his master's degree in history and law from Cambridge University at the age of 20, is married to a Filipina, made the Philippines his home, invested a fortune in Wise & Co. and Benguet Exploration, writes poetry, supports a community of artists, is 38 years of age and looks 70, with the added qualification that he is a dead ringer for Sidney Greenstreet dying of cirrhosis of the liver. To Michael Adams, the Holy Trinity (God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) is something common to most great religions. In Egypt there was the trinity of Isis the mother-creator, Osiris the consort, and Horus the son. In India, there is the trinity of Vishnu the creator, Shiva the destroyer and Kali the female principle. To Michael, the Ten Commandments of Moses is practically a direct copy of the Basic Precepts of Isis as enunciated in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. To Michael, the Immaculate Conception, the unfertilized birth of Jesus, had its parallel in the birth of Horus, whose father Osiris died with a missing penis, eventually discovered in the Nile. Isis then reconstructed the badly damaged Osiris, and had the child Horus with him even if he was a corpse. To Michael, even Christmas and Easter were adaptations of ancient traditions. Many scholars studying the position of the moon and stars, specially that of the planet Venus during the ancient times, concluded that Jesus must have been born sometime in October in the year 6 BC with Venus the "Evening Star" in its brightest ascendency as the Star of Bethlehem. Why then was Christ's birthday designated December 25th? Because in the ancient calendar December 25th was the day of the Winter Solstice (in the new calendar, December 21st) which is the day when the sun is said to be born again. On that day, daylight is shortest, the night is longest; the days begin to lengthen, and the sun is said to be born again. In ancient religions, the male component of God is represented by the sun (Osiris), while the female is represented by the moon (Isis). In the eyes of the ancients, Christ the Messiah can only be born upon the rebirth of the sun. And why was Christ's death designated on Easter, a day with no (MORE INSIDE)