Jerusalem was a besieged city. Jewish factions engaged in civil war, and the unrest had affected all aspects of life. Flavius Josephus chronicled the conditions inside the walled city. Famine and crime were common place, and unspeakable acts such as the cannibalism of an infant sickened even the most hardened. To save the city and preserve human life, the Romans under the leadership of Titus encircled Jerusalem. Roman law required preserving local customs as in the case of religious freedom. Roman law would not, however, permit civil uprising and Titus made attempts to negotiate a settlement between the warring factions with no success. This necessitated military intervention. The city was destroyed; the stone Temple burned and flowed like molten rock through the streets of the Holy City. And what happened next is documented by two credible historians.
A battle occurred in the skies above Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Josephus and Tacitus recorded the events that took place. Flavius Josephus writes:
I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the temple,] as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, “Let us remove hence.”
Tacitus was an equally prestigious Roman historian writes:
Prodigies had occurred, which this nation, prone to superstition, but hating all religious rites, did not deem it lawful to expiate by offering and sacrifice. There had been seen hosts joining battle in the skies, the fiery gleam of arms, the temple illuminated by a sudden radiance from the clouds. The doors of the inner shrine were suddenly thrown open, and a voice of more than mortal tone was heard to cry that the gods were departing. At the same instant there was a mighty stir as of departure.
The battle of the gods in the skies, and their subsequent departure marked the beginning of the decline of the Classical world. The departure of those that were the descendents of the Nephilim and the Sons of God was the beginning of the end of extreme mentoring that had created the gifted leaders of Egypt, Greece and Rome; and Asia and the Americas. Their absence, and the subsequent dying-off of the super-humans that were groomed as managers of the rank and file, slowly eroded the knowledge and skills base that affected all aspects of life for centuries to come.
The art, science and economy that had served Europe and the surrounding regions so well withered as an autumn leaf. The economy floundered as a result of the pandemic. Science knowledge was lost due to the newly acquired political control of the Church and its paranoia of pagan influences. The arts suffered as a result of both economic pressures and political posturing. All in all, without the leadership, oppressive, or not, of these departed demigods, life was without a path to follow, and the life of the Classical world lost its way. Compromise and surrender to abject mysticism was the rule of the day.
Lacking the understanding of physical and medical science, those living in the dark ages were fearful of what tomorrow held in store for them. Without access to historical records to piece together humanity’s collective experience, every happening was new and wrought with anxiety. Superstition fueled by the most basic of human fears – darkness, whether real or symbolic, created prejudice against minorities and cast blame on the innocent factions of society. And still, to this day, are re-discovering that which was once known.
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