Television and Ethnographic Weaponry

Conogre · 15th March 2005, 03:13 PM

With the fairly recent surge in educational TV there are now more and more channels on which you're liable to encounter a good program about a specific weapon and/or culture as well as the answer to various questions that have been posed here on the forum over the past few years.
On the History International Channel yesterday there aired a program that seems to have finally solved the old question of how so many different cultures evolved independent mythologies that ended up tied to or incorporated into weapons, such as dragons in pommels, chappes, etc.
Simply put, as far back as 7,000 years ago various peoples were realizing that fossils were skeletons and, not having had the benefit of Mr. Darwin's insights, these were thought to be the skeletons of Gods and beasts from the past.....the example the Griphon in Persian, and later, Greek mythology was used, for example and was traced back to the same Protoceratops that made Roy Chapman Andrews a famous paleontologist in the 1920's.
It seems gold was often found having collected in the fossil nest sites, leaving the conclusion that these were eagle headed lions who lined their nests with the precious metals, a la the gryphon, while more reptilian fossils were, of course, dragons!
It was even suggested that the same may have been responsible for various Egyptian gods with animal heads, feathered serpents in S. America and such, with known fossil sites corresponding quite well with correlated mythologies and when viewed in that context it makes a tremendous amount of sense.
While this is slightly off kilter from normal threads I thought I'd pass it on as the program started out showing various hilts and pommels of Greek swords found in preserved frescos.
Mike

15th March 2005, 03:13 PM	#1
Conogre Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Clearwater, Florida Posts: 371	Television and Ethnographic Weaponry With the fairly recent surge in educational TV there are now more and more channels on which you're liable to encounter a good program about a specific weapon and/or culture as well as the answer to various questions that have been posed here on the forum over the past few years. On the History International Channel yesterday there aired a program that seems to have finally solved the old question of how so many different cultures evolved independent mythologies that ended up tied to or incorporated into weapons, such as dragons in pommels, chappes, etc. Simply put, as far back as 7,000 years ago various peoples were realizing that fossils were skeletons and, not having had the benefit of Mr. Darwin's insights, these were thought to be the skeletons of Gods and beasts from the past.....the example the Griphon in Persian, and later, Greek mythology was used, for example and was traced back to the same Protoceratops that made Roy Chapman Andrews a famous paleontologist in the 1920's. It seems gold was often found having collected in the fossil nest sites, leaving the conclusion that these were eagle headed lions who lined their nests with the precious metals, a la the gryphon, while more reptilian fossils were, of course, dragons! It was even suggested that the same may have been responsible for various Egyptian gods with animal heads, feathered serpents in S. America and such, with known fossil sites corresponding quite well with correlated mythologies and when viewed in that context it makes a tremendous amount of sense. While this is slightly off kilter from normal threads I thought I'd pass it on as the program started out showing various hilts and pommels of Greek swords found in preserved frescos. Mike