An Introduction
to Kurdistan
Are Kurdish people the descendants of the mythical Children of the Ark?
It's a difficult question to answer, because what happened 10 or 12,000 years ago, in the ancient middle east, is not easy to prove, by scientific standards.
Still, in these modern times, we are finding helpful clues. Many of these archaeological, historical, mythological, spiritual, and DNA clues add up to an interesting hypothesis.
Modern Kurdistanis may be descendents of the biblcal Children of the Ark.
In the bad old days, from 2,000 to 5,000 years ago, Kings and Emperors carved official histories on rock statues, but were the royal histories true? In contrast, the ancient public had their own popular versions of history, which they passed along in story and song.
Writing was invented only 2000 years before the time of Christ. That means we've had writing with us for only 4,000 years. The stories of Jesus life were not written down until a hundred years after his death.
Apparently it wasn't easy to get a book published in 0 BC. Thousands of years earlier, before writing was invented in Babylon and Sumeria, you couldn't get a book published at all.
For events that happened more than 5,000 years ago, there is no written record of anything. And sadly, people's memories can fade over thousands of years. Still, some stories seem to live on forever..
There was a Great Flood in Medea
There are numerous stories of a great flood in Medea (an ancient name for the Middle East), around 10-12,000 years ago. This flood happened thousands of years before writing existed.
We might well ask, How did the story of the flood survive for more than 5,000 years, without books or tv news?
The answer is.. People told stories. We know for certain that instead of turning on the tv every night, ancient parents talked to their children, a lot. Parents told their children stories about everything, about the world that God created, and how it came to be the world that people know now.
The ancients also made up songs, and created other ways of remembering the stories of their parents, grandparents, and godparents. Generation after generation, it was like the number one family game was to remember five or ten thousand years of world history.
It's easy to imagine what might have happened over 10,000 years of family story telling. The stories may have changed a bit over the ages. People are creative, and they like to embellish a good story, about a flood, or a god, or a royal empire. Sometimes, we forget important details, when explaining things to children.
All to say, it's difficult to find scientific evidence about ancient history. Until we find archaeological proof of what really happened, we have to make do with what we have. We tie together the threads of history that have been woven for us, over thousands of years of ancient legends and story telling.
Arcadia and the Children of the Ark
When Greeks and Romans recorded the histories they heard from their grandparents, they occasionally referred to an ancient land called Arcadia. Most people are not aware that Arkadia (or Arcadia) is one of the oldest place names in history.
Arcadia was a mythical, pastoral, agricultural community of communities, where the purpose of living was to be happy. Apparently, Arcadia was close to nature, and the whole country operated like a national health spa. It is said that ancient tourists visited Arcadia to feel closer to God, and themselves.
No one knows exactly where Arcadia was located originally, but legends say it started south of the Black Sea, in an area stretching from Armenia to Turkey, in Iraq and Iran. Legends also say, this was where Noah landed with his Ark, full of people and animals.
Arkadia was named in memory of The Ark, the boat that Noah sailed to safety with all the animals of the world, after the big flood. Some of the story's details might be questionable, but the saga of Noah saving animals from the flood is still a great story, and made a wonderful movie.
It is believed that Noah and his family sailed The Ark, from Cyprus into the Black Sea, and beyond, over flooded Medean lands, past Armenia, and around Mosel.
There is, however, continuing disagreement over whether the Ark landed in Armenia, on Mount Ararat, or near Mosel, on Mount Judi.
Kurdish people believe that the Ark landed near Mosel, on Mount Judi, which is why Mosel is a very important center for Kurdish culture. In Kurdish history, Mosel was where civilization began 10-12,000 years ago, after the Big Flood. Before the flood, much of the northern hemisphere was covered with ice.
The most recent ice age began almost a half million years ago, and lasted for four hundred thousand years. Over hundreds of thousands of years, a lot of ice accumulated on top of Europe, Russia and Canada. When the ice age ended around 10-20,000 years ago, water flooded over the lands, and much of ancient Medea was covered with water.
Ice Age Flooding probably happened repeatedly 10-20,000 years ago, but around 10,000 BC, the Big Flood dropped a load of water like the world had never seen before. Water from the Big Flood stretched from Mosel to Mecca, and into southern Persia.
There's no record of the number of people who died in these floods, but there is a story in the Bible of one survivor, Noah and his family who sailed to safety in the Ark.
We know that the Children of the Ark called their homeland Arkadia, in memory of the Ark of the Covenant with God that brought their family to safety. You might say, Arkadia was a promised land, for the Children of the Ark, and God delivered on the promise.
Noah and The Ark or Gilgamesh
In Kurdish histories, Noah (or Noel) was a man called Gilgamesh, who landed the Ark on Mount Judi, near Mosel. Other histories claim Noah landed the Ark on Mount Ararat.
The Gilgamesh story is different from Noah's, in some ways, but both Noah and Gilgamesh saved the day by building a boat, with God's Guidance. Following God's Guidance is the main point of the story, but where exactly did God guide Noah to go?
No one knows for sure exactly where the Ark landed. And only God knows whether the Noah or Gilgamesh version of this story is true. Perhaps both stories are partly true.
The most important part of the flood story is that one man followed God's Guidance, when everyone else had lost touch with God. It was a public crisis of who to believe.
People laughed at Noah while he was building the Ark. When the flood waters came, it turned out that Noah was the smart one after all. Noah felt God's Guidance in his heart.
Noah was able to save his family, plus a boatload of animals, by sailing The Ark of the Covenant to safety in a new land, which came to be known as Arcadia, and was symbolized by a rainbow.
In Biblical stories, we are told Noah's name, but not the name of his wife. In some ancient mythologies, she was seen as a Mother Earth kind of woman. Mother Earth became a leading figure in the spiritual world after the flood.
Mother Earth was seen as a goddess in the middle east, and was worshipped for centuries after the Ark landed. it is said that over time, and in different religions, Mother Earth was given more than a hundred names.
The name of the region, Medea, was one of Mother Earth's many names. When they called the middle east Medea, they were calling their land, Mother Earth.
The Mithra religion is one of the oldest religions in the world. The god Mithra might be an ancient name for Mother Earth.
In the Christian tradition, Noah (Noel) and his Mother Earth wife were the last of the Krishna (Seth) family line. And they were the last people of their age to feel God in their hearts, before God re-watered God's Garden with a great flood, and repopulated the world with the Children of the Ark. .
With God's Guidance, early Arkadians thrived. No longer hunter gatherers, they began farming, around 10,000 years ago. Farming was a new thing in the world of humanity. It led us to the modern world, and it all began in Arcadia, approximately 10,000 years ago.
Because everyone else drowned in the flood, this means that Noah's family line has a special place in world history. Noah's family were the people of the heart, who followed God's Guidance into a new world and a new life.
Royal Empires and False Gods
Over time, the Children of the Ark spread out, around their Mosel home, moving in all directions.. populating other communities and cities in Babylon, Sumeria, and Syria.
Arcadians also spread around the Black Sea to Turkey, Greece and Ukraine, and into Persia, before the Persian Empire captured Arkadian land and called it royal property.
There were royal invasions, in later years, starting around 5,000 BC, which was thousands of years before the Ottoman Empire claimed Kurdish land, and imposed cultural genocide on Kurdish culture. History sometimes repeats itself, and still, it's difficult to find the true story of what really happened in all the middle eastern wars.
The Bible teaches that life is good, but sometimes it is also a struggle between good and evil. Much of middle eastern history is a story of struggle between good and evil.
Over the centuries, the small farming communities around Arcadia were invaded by nasty neighbours like the Syrian Akkad Empire, and the royal empire of Babylon.
Kings come and go in Arkadia's history. But in the end, Kurdish history still lives on, while conquering kings are only a distant memory.
Over time, the Children of the Ark have spread all over the middle east. They created new communities, and tried new ways of doing things.
Through it all, descendents of the Children of the Ark believed in the one true God, and followed God's Guidance. In those ancient times, the word God meant Guide. People learned about the Seven Spirits of God (the chakra system). A whole life was a holy life.
Legends say, in those early days, God guided people in their spiritual growth. And God communicated with people through their hearts. But over the ages, some people lost the ability to feel God in their heart.
One reason people lose the ability to feel God in their heart is when they worship false gods.
A false god is one that cannot make miracles, or answer prayers. Spiritually speaking, magic can happen, but only when God is involved. There's no room for false gods on Godsworld stage.
In the Biblical Commandment, God tells us about false gods, and says, "You shall have no other gods before me, for I am a jealous God".
As Babylon, Canaan, Syria and Sumeria developed into royal family empires and military states, they created new gods, gods of money and power, which served the needs of kings and empires but created a distance between people and the original God Guide.
In the Babylonian age, a jealous God also became a lonely God, as people abandoned the one true religion, in order to worship the royal family's Olympian Gods. People in Babylon and Rome built temples for Jupiter and Isis, but they forgot how to pray to God.
Still, as in days of old, there are always faithful descendents of the original Arkadians, who continue telling stories they were taught, from the heart, inspired by God the Guide. Arkadian history offered a spiritual lifeline to the heart of God.
From this historical perspective on how Arkadians followed God's Guidance, and how they were spiritually rewarded, many modern religions hae developed.
All modern religions have roots in ancient Arkadian spiritual traditions. One way of seeing religion today, is to imagine religions as branches on the Tree of Life. Arkadia was the roots.
For example, Judaism teaches the tradition of worshipping One God. Christians continue to search their hearts for God. Islam teaches about God's Will.
Bahai teaches about a world of diversity, where everyone is a member of God's World Family. All these ancient teachings were carried down to us, through the ages, by the Children of the Ark.
All to say that, the Children of the Ark were very spiritual people. Ancient Arkadia managed itself as if they were still living in God's Garden. Arkadians remembered the good old days. The Children of the Ark felt God in their hearts, and they still do.
After 10,000 years of constant evolution, the spiritual community of the ancient Arkadians still lives on, in modern Kurdish communities, for the Kurds are the spiritual descendents of ancient Arkadians.
In these modern times, Kurdish people have travelled around the world, and now live everywhere, but when Kurds go back to their roots, it's a 10,000 year historical journey
Some ancient history may be speculation, and is hard to prove, for there are no written references which can prove anything about life as it was lived 10,000 years ago.
Still, there are clues. When we put all the pieces of the puzzle together, it adds up to a very interesting story of a very special group of people - The Kurds, Children of the Ark