I´ve always been interested in ancient history and I mean ancient!
Historical evidence standing right before us, silently speaking out that there where other far more advanced civilizations than the sheepfarm we live in now.

Being advanced doesn´t have anything to do with our technology of today in my view.

Today we have antennas all over the place for communication and they symbolize technology of our civilization.

But what is the true origin of the obelisks, the most ancient symbol to find?

Still today obelisks has a representation in every single bigger city of the western world, in many cases raised by freemasons. Even the Vatican has got a giant obelisk.

But if we try to go as far back in time as possible we find obelisks in the most ancient cultures known today like:

Egyptian
Assyrian
Axumite/Ethiopian
Ancient Roman
Byzantine
Keralian
Pre-Columbian

And in most cases it´s not remotely possible to build or much less move an obelisk of the unbeliveble proportions some of them are in with modern technique.
Looking at the obelisks in Baalbek, Lebanon one can´t simply understand how they raised this giant monuments weighing between 300-750 tons each.
"The stone of the south" (Hajar el Gouble) or "the stone of the pregnant woman" (Hajar el Hibla) lies unused in a nearby quarry 3 miles away - its weight, often exaggerated, is estimated at 970 tonnes!

A building is a building, but what purpose serves the obelisk?

I´m one of those who strongly believe that there was a far more advanced civilization before ours and that remainings all over the world are silent proof of that very civilization who saw it´s last days in a catastrofic event like the great deluge of many religious texture from every part of the world.

Still today obelisks are built all over like great statues with no purpose, or is there?
I don´t know actually but that doesn´t mean that I don´t want to find out!

If obelisks symbolize something for the free masons today then it´s just a symbol, but what about ancient time obelisks, did they serve as more than symbols?
Did they serve a purpose, religious or even as some sort of communications device in the meaning that the old world where more spiritual advanced than us? (Even a bumble bee is more spiritual advanced than us )

Some symbolic things I think is related to obelisks is f ex that Buddha most have a high position in a home. The eagle is always on top of standards just like the cross on top of a church.

But always on top of an obelisk pointing to the sky!

I´m not very religious but I´m very much interested in religion because I think the religious tales are a more key to our ancient history than some nutty archeologist whos determined to set dates on everything. And if he cant explain something he makes up stories of his own like pulling a 500 ton obelisk some 700 kilometers on wooden rollers and such wich I believe more to be free fantasies because he´s simply facing a fact. That fact being that he cannot explain it!

Still they´re standing there as a silent proof of a civilization far more advanced than us. Was levitation a reality?

There are a lot more to it than meets the eye thats for sure...

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I guess it depends on how one defines "symbol". My mind took a different path when I read the title, and I wasn't thinking of a physical totem as much as I was a written symbol. As such, I figure a line or a circle scrawled in the dirt was probably the first one in that regard.

Good question, it'll be interesting to see the replies.

Actually, I would be willing to bet that in fact the oldest symbol would probably be a circle, drawn in the dirt. It would symbolize a lot of things, including the sun and moon, but it would generally symbolize a totality. A complete thing that has been encompassed.

Originally posted by tjack
I guess it depends on how one defines "symbol". My mind took a different path when I read the title, and I wasn't thinking of a physical totem as much as I was a written symbol. As such, I figure a line or a circle scrawled in the dirt was probably the first one in that regard.

Good question, it'll be interesting to see the replies.

The definition of a symbol can of course be many things but when I reffered to an obelisk as the oldest I reffered to it as something that doesn´t seem to have any real purpose. As I compared it with a building f ex.
But still I want to call it a symbol because to me thats all there is to it in the modern day but it raises the question if it always has been that way?

And fallistic? That´s one point of view, but of what purpose?

Originally posted by Nohup
Actually, I would be willing to bet that in fact the oldest symbol would probably be a circle, drawn in the dirt. It would symbolize a lot of things, including the sun and moon, but it would generally symbolize a totality. A complete thing that has been encompassed.

I would have thought an "X" or cross would have been a likely, simple, proto-symbol. But a circle is as likely I guess. Perhaps even a series of parallel lines or dots.

Hello,

Very interested to read were you have obtained your information from.

Egyptian
Assyrian
Axumite/Ethiopian
Ancient Roman
Byzantine
Keralian
Pre-Columbian

Since you have opted to open a can of worms i guess you more or less should supply some form of evidence, as this topic holds far more weight than some conspiracy theory.

[edit on 5-5-2009 by tristar]

As for the question of what the oldest symbol is in general I would have to agree with Nohup . In all likelihood the circle with the dot at its center is most likely the oldest symbol , often used to represent the sun or moon , respectively .

We still use this symbol today , its picture is placed on just about every electrical gadget out there .

Hello,

I fail to understand how one would think that a circle and dot would be the oldest form of drawing.

By nature we are driven to eat as hunger is an instinct which needs to be met at all costs. If we time warp back in time we would see either groups of people or individuals hunting. In order for one to hunt, he must have an understanding of his surroundings. Given that either spears or rocks were used to injure or kill the intended prey.

So that immediately tells us that they had an understanding of three dimensions, depth, width and height, for without those basic dimension's one cannot judge the distance, speed or mass of the intended prey. To make a long story short, our earliest cave drawings are estimated at around 35,000 bc. (+-)

So my question would be is, why on earth would someone draw a circle with a dot when food was the difference between life and death.

Well that depends on what you mean?

The only thing I was refering to was that these cultures all have obelisks as apart of their civilization/culture.

I´ve looked it up and been to various sites to check out how many civilizations there are that actually have obelisks embedded in their culture, and that was the origin of my thougt when I discovered that all of them seems to have one.