HIRAM AND SOLOMON
A story of mythological heroes of Mindanao, Rajah Indarapatra and Rajah Sulayman, was recounted by Najeeb M. Saleeby in his book, "Studies in Moro History, Law, and Religion" (published by Manila Bureau of Public Printing in 1905). According to him, this myth came from Datu Kali, who in turn learned it from Maharajah Layla of Maguindanao and Alad, a very old and intelligent Moro.
INDARAPATRA AND SULAYMAN
Long before Kabungsuwan came to Mindanao, the entire island was covered with water. The lowland disappeared. Nothing could be seen but mountains. The people, to escape death, went to live on the mountainsides. Here the inhabitants built their homes and cultivated the highlands.
The peace and prosperity of these highland dwellers, however, were short lived. There appeared in the land one day some horrible, man-eating monsters. One of these monsters haunted the hillsides of Kabalalan, eating men and other animals it could reach. It was called Kurita. It lived partly on land and partly on sea.
The second monster was called Pah. It was a winged creature, with razor-edge claws. Its feet were covered with steel-hard scales. Whenever this monster flew, its wings covered the sun and produced darkness akin to midnight. It haunted the regions east of Mindanao. It had its abode on top of Mount Bita.
The third was a huge man-like monster called Tarabusaw. It inhabited the mountain of Matutum and plagued the neighboring territory. The fourth was also a dreaded bird, which had seven heads. It lived in Mt. Gurayu and haunted the adjacent territory.
The people were so scared that they left their farms and homes and went into hiding. Soon famine crept into the land; this was followed by pestilence. Many people died from starvation and disease.
When the news about this awful devastation reached the nearby settlement of Mantapuli, the chief of the place, Indarapatra was very much grieved. He called his warrior brother, Sulayman, and requested the latter to proceed to Mindanao and save the people from the monsters.
Adventurous at heart, Sulayman immediately consented to go to Mindanao. While he was preparing, Indarapatra gave him a ring and a kris. Then taking a young sapling, Indarapatra planted it beneath the window of their house. He said to Sulayman, “If this tree lives, you live; if it dies, you die. Also by this tree I shall know when you are in trouble.”
Riding on the crest of the mountain wind, Sulayman reached Kabalalan. He found the land completely in ruins. Not a human being was seen anywhere. A little while, Sulayman felt the mountain shaking beneath him. Kurita appeared and attacked the young warrior. Sulayman drew his kris and fought back. The struggle was long and bloody. In the end, Sulayman was able to conquer Kurita.
From Kabalalan the Mantapuli hero proceeded to Matutum where he encountered Tarabusaw. The monster warned Sulayman not to attack or he would be devoured. However, the brave warrior answered that he came on purpose to fight the monster.
Tarabusaw broke big branches of trees and assailed Sulayman. The young warrior parried the blows and returned the attack. At last Tarabusaw became exhausted. Seeing this, Sulayman gave the monster a heavy blow with his sword. The blade found its way through Tarabusaw’s armpit. The monster gave a horrible cry and fell. As it lay dying, it looked up to Sulayman and congratulated the youthful hero. The latter, however, answered. “Your evil deeds are responsible for your death and not my skill in combat.”
Sulayman continued his journey. In Mount Bita, he saw far greater devastation than that in Kabalalan and Matutum. Not a human being remained—all of them were either devoured by the man-eating monsters or had fled for safety somewhere else. He looked around.
Suddenly the world became dark. He looked up and he saw a huge bird descending upon him. He knew he was in danger. He took his sword and struck the attacking creature. The bird fell dead, but its huge wings fell on Sulayman. This killed the Mantapuli hero.
Back in Mantapuli, Indarapatra kept watching the plant. And when he beheld the drooping leaves of the growing tree, he knew that something had happened to his brother. With heavy heart, Indarapatra prepared to go after Sulayman. He took his sword and magic belt. Riding on the back of the wind, he headed for Kabalalan. However, he saw only the bones of Kurita. He knew his brother had conquered the monster and had proceeded to other places.
Indarapatra’s next stop was in Matutum. He found in this place the bones of Tarabusaw, so he continued his way. In Bita he saw a dead bird. He was about to leave the place when he saw the severed wing of the bird at a distance. He went near and turned it upside. He saw the bones of a dead man. He recognized the remains as those of Sulayman because of the sword lying near the disintegrating limbs.
Indarapatra cried with grief. He looked for vines with which he could tie together the bones of his brother because he decided to bring these back to Mantapuli. However, he saw a jar of water not far from him. He knew that the jar came from the sky. So he reached for it and poured its content over the scattered bones of Sulayman.
Sulayman stood up, rubbed his eyes as though he had just awakened from a long sleep. They embraced each other in joy.
Sulayman went home to Mantapuli while Indarapatra proceeded to Mount Gurayu. There he met the dreadful bird that had seven heads. He conquered this monster with the use of his sword, juru pakal.
Having vanquished the monster, Indarapatra looked for the inhabitants of the place. He was about to give up, after several days of futile search, when he saw a beautiful maiden near a spring. He walked toward her. But the maiden suddenly disappeared.
Disappointed Indarapatra sat down on a big stone. Looking around, he saw at a distance a pot of uncooked rice and a big fire. Hard pressed by hunger, he went near the fire. He sat over the fire and placed the pot on his knees to cook the rice.
As he was thus cooking, he heard persons talking. One was laughing while the other was speaking in a hushed voice: “What a powerful man this stranger must be. Look at him cook on his knees.”
When Indarapatra looked back, he saw an old woman staring at him. From this woman, Indarapatra learned about Sulayman’s encounters with the monsters and how the people went into hiding. After a while, the old woman led Indarapatra to the cave where the people had gathered. There the young man saw the beautiful girl he met near the spring but who disappeared before he could talk to her. Indarapatra related his adventures and that of his brother. He told the people to go back to their homes because the monsters were all vanquished. The people rejoiced to hear the news. They all went out and returned to their farms. The chief gave his daughter to Indarapatra in marriage.
HISTORICALLY, WHO WERE THE BROTHERS?
In ancient history, Rajah Indarapatra and Rajah Sulayman were King Hiram I of Tyre and King Solomon of Israel respectively.
Who is King Hiram I of Tyre?
King Hiram I (Phoenician: 𐤇𐤓𐤌 Ḥirōm "my brother is exalted"; Hebrew: חִירָם Ḥīrām, Modern Arabic: حيرام, also called Hirom or Huram) was the Phoenician king of Tyre according to the Hebrew Bible. His regnal years have been calculated by some as 980 to 947 BC. Hiram is also mentioned in the writings of Menander of Ephesus (early 2nd century BC), as preserved in Josephus's Against Apion, which adds to the biblical account. According to Josephus, Hiram lived for 53 years and reigned 34. He was the son of Abibaal of Tyre and an unnamed woman from the tribe of Naphtali (or Dan). In Masonry, his name was Churam Abiu (Abif or Ali') or Chiram. He was the original legendary king named in ancient Kerala as Cheraman Perumal the owner of the magical sword Dū l-Fākr (Zulfiqar). Probably his mother might be the Widow Queen of ancient kingdom of Keralaputra (in India).
In the Book of Chronicles, King Hiram was described as a cunning man endued with understanding, the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre, skillful to work in gold and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson. A further description of him is given in the seventh chapter of the first book of Kings, in the thirteenth and fourteenth verses, and in these words:
"And King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass, and he came to King Solomon and wrought all his work."
The Hebrew Bible says that he allied himself with David, king of the United Kingdom of Israel and his artisans built David's palace in Jerusalem after his capture of the city. The palace was built using Lebanon Cedar.
After David's death, Hiram maintained his alliance with David's son and successor Solomon, again as an equal ("אחי", meaning "my brother"). Hence, Hiram I of Tyre and Solomon of the United Kingdom of Israel were "brothers".
On the death of King David, his son and successor, Solomon, resolved to carry into execution his father's long contemplated design of erecting a Temple on Mount Moriah for the worship of Yahweh.
But the Jews were not a nation of artisans, but rather of agriculturists, and had, even in the time of David, depended on the aid of the Phoenicians in the construction of the house built for that monarch at the beginning of his reign.
Solomon, therefore, applied to his ally, Hiram, King of Tyre, to furnish him with trees from Lebanon and with hewers to prepare them, for, as he said in his letter to the Tyrian King, "thou knowest that there is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians."
Hiram complied with his request, and exchanged the skilled workmen of sterile Phoenicia for the oil and corn and wine of more fertile Judea.
Through the alliance with Solomon, Hiram ensured himself access to the major trade routes to Egypt, Arabia and Mesopotamia. The two kings also jointly opened a trade route over the Red Sea, connecting the Israelite harbour of Ezion-Geber with a land called Ophir.
Who is King Solomon of the United Kingdom of Israel?
Solomon (/ˈsɒləmən/; Hebrew: שְׁלֹמֹה, Šlōmōh), also called Jedidiah (יְדִידְיָהּ, Yeḏīḏyāh), was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament, a fabulously wealthy and wise monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel who succeeded his father, David. The conventional dates of Solomon's reign are about 970–931 BCE, normally given in alignment with the dates of David's reign. He is described as a king of the United Monarchy, which broke apart into the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah shortly after his death. Following the split, his patrilineal descendants ruled over Judah alone.
According to the Talmud, Solomon is one of the 48 Jewish prophets. In the Quran, he is considered to be a major Islamic prophet, and Muslims generally refer to him as Sulaiman ibn Dawud (Arabic: سُلَيْمَان بْن دَاوُوْد, lit. 'Solomon, son of David').
The Hebrew Bible identifies Solomon as the builder of the First Temple in Jerusalem, beginning in the fourth year of his reign using the vast wealth he and his father had accumulated; he dedicated the temple to Yahweh, the God of Israel. Solomon is portrayed as great in wisdom, wealth and power beyond either of the previous kings of the country.
He is the subject of many other later references and legends, most notably in the 1st-century apocryphal work known as the Testament of Solomon. In the New Testament, he is portrayed as a teacher of wisdom excelled by Jesus, and as arrayed in glory, but excelled by "the lilies of the field". In later years, in mostly non-biblical circles, Solomon also came to be known as a magician and an exorcist, with numerous amulets and medallion seals dating from the Hellenistic period invoking his name.
Solomon, as instructed by David, began his reign with an extensive purge, including his father's chief general, Joab, among others, and further consolidated his position by appointing friends throughout the administration, including in religious positions as well as in civic and military posts. It is said that Solomon ascended to the throne when he was only about fifteen.
Solomon greatly expanded his military strength, especially the cavalry and chariot arms. He founded numerous colonies, some of which doubled as trading posts and military outposts.
Trade relationships were a focus of his administration. In particular he continued his father's very profitable relationship with the Phoenician king Hiram I of Tyre; they sent out joint expeditions to the lands of Tarshish and Ophir to engage in the trade of luxury products, importing gold, silver, sandalwood, pearls, ivory, apes and peacocks. Solomon is considered the most wealthy of the Israelite kings named in the Bible.
According to the Hebrew Bible, the Israelite monarchy gained its highest splendour and wealth during Solomon's reign of 40 years. In a single year, according to 1 Kings 10:14, Solomon collected tribute amounting to 666 talents (18,125 kilograms) of gold. Solomon is described as surrounding himself with all the luxuries and the grandeur of an Eastern monarch, and his government prospered. He entered into an alliance with Hiram I, king of Tyre, who in many ways greatly assisted him in his numerous undertakings.
Who was the maiden with a jar of the water of life?
In Javanese history, it was mentioned that the wife of Solomon, the Queen of Sheba (Java), who often visited Mindanao for its gold-mining and ship-building was the sister of Hiram and the pharaoh's daughter. In other Indian texts, the queen was called as a Damhara, which was equivalent to an empress.
In Javanese legends, the maiden crown princess (sangramawijaya) who was associated with a cave was Dewi Kilisuci. It was said that she renounced the throne and lived as a hermit inside the Senomangleng Cave beneath Mount Klothok, which was five kilometers to the west of the city of Kediri. Due to her renouncement to the throne, two of her younger half brothers were next in line of succession and both were contesting as rightful heirs to the throne. It had a parallel story with King Airlangga abandoning the throne to become a hermit, named Resi Gentayo, leaving the kingdom to his two sons. To avoid chaos and civil war, a sage named Mpu Bharada with his extra-ordinary skills flew and poured water from a jar by which the water traces magically transformed into a river marking the boundary of the two new kingdoms -- Janggala (Kahuripan) and Kediri (Daha).
Moreover, the story of Dewi Kilisuci also retold about her suitor Lembu Suro who was a minotaur possessed supernatural powers and had an army of jinns like King Solomon. She did not want to marry him so one day while she was standing beside a well, she dropped her ring. Lembu Suro who did not want the princess to be sad jumped into the well to get the ring. But the princess covered the well with big rocks killing the king.
In other Javanese legends, the crown princess was named as Ratu Kidul or Nyai Roro Kidul (Queen of the South Sea) as the Queen Goddess of the Indian Ocean. Sometimes she was known as Dewi Kadita whose name was phonetically similar to Kurita, one of the four gigantic monsters that were killed and conquered by Rajah Sulayman (King Solomon).
In Biblical account, she was called as the Queen of Sheba who visited King Solomon to hear his wisdom and as the Queen of the South who would rise in the Final Judgment to condemn the wickedness of her generation .
Rabbinical accounts say that Solomon had been given control over all living things by Yahweh. In one account, Solomon was accustomed to ordering the living creatures of the world to dance before him, but one day upon discovering that the mountain-cock or hoopoe (Aramaic name: nagar tura; in Mindanao legends, it is called sarimanuk; and in Bornean legends it is pinggai) was absent, he summoned it to him, and the bird told him that it had been searching for somewhere new. The bird had discovered a land in the east, exceedingly rich in gold, silver, and plants, whose capital was called Kitor (Kediri) and whose ruler was the Queen of Sheba (Java), and the bird, on its own advice, was sent by Solomon to request the queen's immediate attendance at Solomon's court.
Written tradition has largely credited one individual with the strong growth of Tyre's prosperity from the 10th century BCE onwards: Hiram I, who succeeded his father Abibaal in 969 BCE. More than a millennium later, Flavius Josephus recorded the legend that Hiram expanded the urban territory by projects connecting two islands or Reefs to form a single island on which he had temples erected for Melqart, Astarte, and Ba'al Shamem.
Beyond the borders of his kingdom, Hiram evidently forged close relations with the Hebrew kings David and Solomon. Reportedly, he sent cedar wood and skilled workers for the construction of the great Temple in Jerusalem. Imports from Cyprus played an important part in this period.
Furthermore, Hiram's regional cooperation as well as his fight against Philistine pirates helped to develop trade with Arabia, and North and East Africa. Commerce from throughout the ancient world was gathered into the warehouses of Tyre, as its fortifications offered protection for valuable goods in storage or transit. And Tyrians not only settled in Memphis, south of the temple of Hephaestus in a district called the Tyrian Camp. They also founded colonies on the coasts and neighbouring islands of the Aegean Sea, in Greece, on the northern coast of Africa, at Carthage and other places, in Sicily and Corsica, in Spain at Tartessus and even beyond the pillars of Hercules at Gadeira (Cádiz).
The Greek historian Eusebius recorded the common myth that the deity Melqart built the city as a favour to the mermaid Tyros and named it after her. Melqart – who was worshipped as a divine patron of Tyre for millennia – was called Melqart Heracles in Greek, but is not to be confused with the demigod Heracles (Hercules), hero of the 12 labors. However, there are two other main founding legends:
According to the first one, there were two brothers in primeval times – Usoos and Shamenrum – living on the seashore who separated after a fight. Usoos took a tree trunk and was the first to sail in it on the sea. He landed on an island and consecrated two columns there, one to fire and the other to the wind, thus founding Tyre which was called Ushu in Egypt and Mesopotomia.
The second legend explains why Astarte as the goddess of fertility was worshipped in Tyre as well:
Originally the island was not attached to the sea floor, but rose and fell with the waves. An Olive tree of the goddess Ashtart rose there, protected by a curtain of Flames. A snake was wrapped around its trunk and an eagle was perched in it. It was predicted that the island would cease floating when the bird was sacrificed to the gods. The god Melqart taught people how to build boats, then sailed to the island. The eagle offered itself, and Sur (Tyre) became attached to the sea floor. Since then, the gods have never stopped living there.
If we synthesize this, it will appear that the gods Melqart (Heracles) and Ba'al Shamem (Shamenrum) were epithets of the Phoenician Hiram I of Tyre and Astarte was an epithet of the Javanese Damhara of Majapahit (a sun or star worshipper). Thus the brothers Usoos and Shamenrum were Solomon and Hiram respectively.
There is actually a parallel story with Rajah Indarapatra and Rajah Sulayman in Greek mythology considering Hiram as Melqart Heracles. It is the story about Heracles (Hiram) losing his dearest companion Hylas (Solomon).
In classical mythology, Hylas (Ancient Greek: Ὕλας, romanized: Hýlas) was a youth who served as Heracles's (Roman Hercules) companion and servant. In Greek mythology, Hylas was the son of King Theiodamas of the Dryopians and the nymph Menodice, daughter of Orion.
After Heracles killed Theiodamas in battle, he took on Hylas as arms bearer and taught him to be a warrior. The poet Theocritus (about 300 BC) wrote about the love between Heracles and Hylas: "We are not the first mortals to see beauty in what is beautiful. No, even Amphitryon's bronze-hearted son, who defeated the savage Nemean lion, loved a boy—charming Hylas, whose hair hung down in curls. And like a father with a dear son he taught him all the things which had made him a mighty man, and famous."
Heracles took Hylas with him on the Argo, making him one of the Argonauts. Hylas was kidnapped by Naiads of the spring of Pegae, Mysia when they fell in love with him, and he vanished into the water with a cry. His disappearance greatly upset Heracles, so he, along with Polyphemus, searched for a great length of time. The ship soon set sail without them. According to the Latin Argonautica of Valerius Flaccus, they never found Hylas because the latter had fallen in love with the nymphs and remained "to share their power and their love." In the version told by Apollonios Rhodios, the sea god Glaucus informs the Argonauts that "a nymph has lost her heart to him and made him her husband." Theocritus, on the other hand, has the nymphs shutting his mouth underwater to stifle his screams for Heracles.
In Mindanao oral history, Solomon was resurrected through the aid of the water of life coming from a jar which was also the object of mythical story about the jar containing the fountain of youth from the ancient Martapura kingdom of western Borneo. Then Solomon returned home and Hiram was married to the water nymph. While in Javanese oral history, the Queen of the South Sea was the sister of Hiram and wife of Solomon. Or probably the queen married Solomon after Hiram died which might took place during the time summoned the queen to Jerusalem and ordered her to stop her cult of sun or star (Orion) worship. There was even a legend in Bali that the queen was riding on her flying throne which entered into a portal and teleported towards the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem.
There was also a version of the story that the queen was actually the Amazon Queen Semiramis (Shamiram).
According to Diodorus, a first century BC Greek historian, Semiramis was of noble parents, the daughter of the fish-goddess Derketo of Ascalon in Assyria and of a mortal. He related that Derketo abandoned her at birth and drowned herself and that doves fed the child until Simmas, the royal shepherd, found her. Semiramis married Onnes (Unus) or Menones, a general under King Ninus, and she became an advisor to king. Her advice led him to great successes and, at the Siege of Bactra, she personally led a party of soldiers to seize a defense key point, leading to the capture of the city. Ninus was so struck that he fell in love with her and tried to compel Onnes to give her to him as a wife, first offering his own daughter Sonanê in return and eventually threatening to put out his eyes as punishment. Out of fear of the king, and out of doomed passion for his wife, Onnes "fell into a kind of frenzy and madness" and hanged himself. Ninus then married Semiramis. Diodorus related that after their marriage, Semiramis and Ninus had a son named Ninyas (Nebuchadnezzar II). After King Ninus conquered Asia, including the Bactrians, he was fatally wounded by an arrow and Semiramis disguised herself as her son so the army would follow her instructions, thinking they came from their new ruler. He wrote that her reign lasted for 42 years and that she conquered much of Asia and achieved many feats: she restored ancient Babylon and protected it with a high brick wall that completely surrounded the city; she built several palaces in Persia, including Ecbatana; she not only ruled Asia effectively but also added Libya and Aethiopia to the empire; and she then went to war with King Stabrobates (Satyavrata) of India, having her artisans build an army of false elephants by putting manipulated skins of dark-skinned buffaloes over her camels to deceive the Indians into thinking she had acquired real elephants. This ploy succeeded initially, but then she was wounded in the counterattack and her army mainly annihilated, forcing the surviving remnants to re-ford the Indus and retreat to the west.
Legends describing Semiramis have been recorded by approximately 80 ancient writers including Plutarch, Eusebius, Polyaenus, Valerius Maximus, Orosius, and Justinus. She was associated with Ishtar and Astarte since the time before Diodorus. The association of the fish and dove is found at Hierapolis Bambyce (Mabbog, now Manbij), the great temple that according to one legend, was founded by Semiramis, where her statue was shown with a golden dove on her head.
One of the most popular legends in Armenian tradition involves Semiramis and an Armenian king, Ara the Handsome. According to that legend, Semiramis had fallen in love with the handsome Armenian King Ara and asked him to marry her. When he refused, in her passion she gathered the armies of Assyria and marched against Armenia. During the battle Semiramis was victorious, but Ara was slain despite her orders to capture him alive. This legend continues that to avoid continuous warfare with the Armenians, Semiramis, whom they alleged was a sorceress, took his body and prayed to deities to raise Ara from the dead. When the Armenians advanced to avenge their leader, she disguised one of her lovers as Ara and spread the rumor that the deities had brought Ara back to life, reportedly, convincing the Armenians not to continue the war.
In one persistent tradition in this vein, the prayers of Semiramis are successful and Ara returns to life. During the nineteenth century, it was reported that a village called Lezk, near Van in Turkey, traditionally held that it was the location of the resurrection of Ara.
The Faraway Lands Visited By The Brothers Solomon and Hiram
Biblical accounts, recounted their visit to Tarshish and the "archipelago". It was mentioned that the prophet Jonah (Yunus) wanted to escape from Yahweh by sailing to a faraway large island named as Tarshish which was rich in gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks.
The Malay Annals gave a clue on the location of Tarshish. It mentioned about the Yunus-like character Mani Farendan who wanted to sail to Malacca but was shipwrecked, jumped into the sea, saved by a giant fish, and brought to Samudra-Pasai. So Tarshish was Malay Peninsula since Sumatra was only allured as Nineveh.
Malay Peninsula was Tarshish thus the "archipelago" or faraway islands being referred to was Nusantara or the islands in Southeast Asia where Sheba (Java), Seba (Borneo), Ophir (Sumatra), Eden (Mindanao) and the islands of spices, gold, silver, pearls, diamonds, and trees were located.
The Ring of Solomon
One of history’s most mysterious artifacts is King Solomon’s Lapis Lazuli Ring. This lapis ring has been mentioned for thousands of years in many Christian, Jewish and also Islamic legends. It is known by many names, including The Ring of the Fisherman, the Seal of Solomon and also the Ring of Aandaleeb.
King Solomon, the mightiest and wisest ruler of the earth that ever was or shall be. Wealthy beyond measure. King Solomon was powerful and full of wisdom. He commanded the wind, birds, animals, flowers and also both men and jinn. All were servants to him.
His true name was Jedidiah. The “friend of God” but later named Shelomo, Solomon, the “King of Peace”, because of the peace that prevailed during the greater part of his reign.
It is said that during the building of the Temple, he noticed that someone was stealing precious gems from his rooms. He recognized that no ordinary thief could have done these deeds. “Some evil spirit causes this mischief”, he thought.
Solomon prayed fervently to God to deliver the wicked spirit into his hands for punishment. At once his prayer was answered. The Archangel Gabriel appeared before the King. He gave the King a Lapis Lazuli ring that enabled him to control legions of demons. It gave him the power to summon genies, to speak with animals and also flowers. It gave him incredible powers over almost anything. The ring was made of gold inset with a seal of engraved Lapis Lazuli.
Gabriel said, “Take this ring, O Solomon King, son of David, the gift which the Lord God hath sent unto thee. Wear this ring, and all the demons of the earth, both male and female, thou wilt command.”
Medieval Arabic writers related that the ring was engraved by God and was given directly from heaven. Many claim that the pentalpha, or pentacle, the ancient sign of sorcery, was engraved on the ring.
Some say the Lapis Lazuli stone was cut and set in the form of an eight-rayed star. On it was engraved the hexagon seal, and within that the four letters of the ineffable name of God.
Armed with the ring, King Solomon commanded the thief spirit to appear. He wore the ring an the mid-finger of the right hand. He pointed it at the foot of his high throne and said, “By the power of the seal of the one God, I command thee, troublesome spirit, to come forth”. The demon appeared instantly with his hands full of jewels stolen from the royal vaults.
The demon fell to his knee ad prostrated himself before the king. Solomon burned the seal into the neck of the demon Ornias as a brand of his sovereignty and the Jinni from that moment did his bidding. He was giving the task of cutting stones for the building of the temple.
Other Jinns causing trouble in the realm also came forward. They were, Onoskelis, Asmodeus, Tephros, Seven female spirits, Rabdos and also Envy. They were also branded with the seal of the Lapis Lazuli ring.
The Bible never speaks of Solomon uses spirits to build his Temple but a question was raised on what technology was being used to build the foundation of the Temple, which was 5 times the size of the Acropolis; its stones were joined without cement and in some cases were 100-150 tons, being the biggest 570 tons.
One of the various designs of the seal as a Hexagram seems to arise from a medieval Arab tradition. The name “Solomon’s seal” was given to the hexagram engraved on the bottom of drinking cups in Arab Tradition.
Other stories of this ring said that it was made of brass and iron and Lapis Lazuli.
Hexagrams appear mostly in Jewish esoteric literature. Some authors have written that the tradition of Solomon’s Seal may possibly predate Islam and date to early Rabbinical esoteric tradition.
The Hexagram or “Star of David” (Magen David), which became a symbol of Judaism in the modern period and was placed on the flag of Israel in 1948.
Accordingly there is a Vatican secret concerning the ring. One theory is that the ring worn by the pope is actually a replica of King Solomon’s ring but with a different seal. Every Pope swears on oath on the ring. Upon the death or resignation of the Pope, the ring shall be destroyed.
According to a Christian legend, Solomon’s Lapis Lazuli ring is also believed to be our only weapon of salvation against the apocalypse. It is believed it was hidden long ago with its mighty powers that cast away demons and evil spirits. The legend continues captivating us with this incredible conclusion; King Solomon’s Lapis Lazuli Ring is being protected deep inside the realms of the Vatican. It is at the reach of the hands of the Pope, the only person believed to be worthy enough to use the ring for its intended power.
There is a text that explores the magical side of Solomon entitled, Testament of Solomon. It is a 40-page Greek narrative of Solomon’s construction of the temple. Although there is no certainty on the author or authors of the Testament of Solomon, it is believed to have been written between the first and third centuries A.D. because of the style of Greek it was written in—a style that is much in tune with the way much of the New Testament was written. The text includes Judeo-Christian themes but also themes related with Greek mythology. In the text, Solomon receives a supernatural ring from the archangel Gabriel. Using the power of the ring, Solomon summons a full register of demons and takes authority over them by discerning their association — famine, disease — and trammeling them through the invocation of angels and magical powers.
The text starts with a demon sucking the life-force, and half the salary, out of the right thumb of one of the children building Solomon's temple. It continues with Solomon receiving a magic ring from the archangel Gabriel, holding court with demonic entities like Asmodeus, prophetically learning of a vast celestial conspiracy, and eventually betraying God to have sex with a pretty lady. Then there are appearances of jinns, demons and angels like the dog-like demon "Scepter" sealed using an "emerald stone" and Solomon's ring; a three-headed dragon-spirit that ascended at the "Place of the Skull"; "Enepsigos", the female demon with two heads who has a "thwarting angel" Raphael, and whom Solomon seals with a "triple-link chain"; "Kunopegos", the cruel sea-horse demon who gets sealed in a bowl; "thirty-six heavenly bodies", their heads like formless dogs with names like Kairoxanondalon, Saphthorael and Rhyx Axesbut; the beautiful "Onoskelis" who has mule legs and seduces honey-colored men because they are of the same constellation; "Lix Tetrax" who crawls like a snail and sets fields on fire; "Adarkes, king of Arabia," who recruits Solomon to fight the wind-spirit Ephippas, and pages upon pages more.
At the heart of the Testament of Solomon, written in first person, is Solomon's magic ring. Solomon goes to the "Temple of God" and begs for a way to capture and control the demon who is stealing the vitality and salary of his child laborer. The archangel Gabriel shows up, forks over the ring, and voilà – Solomon's got that Captain Planet-type power. Solomon gives the ring to the child laborer, who throws it at the chest of his thumb-sucking tormentor, Ornias, who then, on Solomon's command, throws it at the chest of the "Prince of Demons" Beelzebul, and on and on it goes. Demon after demon comes to Solomon's court. Each demon reveals to Solomon the secrets of humanity-destroying prophecies while quivering before his might, and as punishment, each demon is forced to help build Solomon's temple through quarrying stone, cutting marble, spinning rope, that sort of thing. Solomon places the "seal" of his ring on each demon and more or less compels them to obey him.
It is implied in the Qur'an, 27:17 that Solomon had direct control over anything created by Allah, including animals and jinn, which before him were "perfectly organized in rows."
The Sword of Solomon
The sword and the ring in the epic of Rajah Indarapatra and Rajah Sulayman, were gifts from Indarapatra to Sulayman.
The sword was named as Dū-l-Faqār (Zulfiqar).The word ḏhu means "possessor or master of" while faqār means "vertebrae of the back, the bones of the spine, which are set in regular order, one upon another" and it was also a name of the stars of the belt of Orion.
In ancient Aram, the constellation was known as Nephîlā′, the Nephilim were said to be Orion's descendants. In medieval Muslim astronomy, Orion was known as al-jabbar, "the giant". Orion's sixth brightest star, Saiph, is named from the Arabic, saif al-jabbar, meaning "sword of the giant". The Finns call Orion's belt and the stars below it Väinämöisen viikate (Väinämöinen's scythe). Another name for the asterism of Alnilam, Alnitak and Mintaka was Väinämöisen vyö (Väinämöinen's Belt) and the stars "hanging" from the belt as Kalevanmiekka (Kalevan sword).
King Hiram I of Tyre was described as a smith. Therefore, it was very probable that he forged the sword from a meteorite coming from the constellation Orion. It was also possible that the said meteor was the Black Stone enclosed in the Kaaba being revered by the Arabs in Mecca and believed to have fallen during the time of Adam and Eve. Though there was a passage in the Book of Ezekiel that the King of Tyre (most probably Hiram I) who proudly built the city above the sea and above the wind and deified himself (Melqart) was a cherub. In the Book of Genesis, the cherub was mentioned as guarding the gate of heaven or paradise after the fall of Adam and Eve armed with a flaming double-edged sword.
Dhu al-Qarnayn or Iskandar Zul-Qarnayn must be actually referred to Hiram I of Tyre as a Phoenician ancestor of the rulers in the Far End and not Alexander the Great of Macedonia or Cyrus the Great of Persia.
Where is Mantapoli or Ophir? Martapura? Lanka? Atlantis? Lemuria?
King Hiram I of Tyre had many variants of his name such as Ahiram, Acheram, Chiram, Ahuram, Huram, Churam, Cheraman.
His name Cheraman would suggest that he was also the king of the Keralaputra Kingdom in India. And he was the famous Cheraman Perumal, the original owner of the Zulfiqar. He was also called as Churam Aviv. Aviv had a lot of variants too like Abiu and Abif. The Phoenicians were known to have introduced the first alphabet so Abif must be a corruption of the name of the first letter which was alep.
One of the oldest inscriptions using the Phoenician alphabet was the Ahiram Sarcophagus in Byblos dated around 850 BC.
The sarcophagus of Ahiram was discovered by the French archaeologist Pierre Montet in 1923 in Byblos. Its low relief carved panels make it "the major artistic document for the Early Iron Age" in Phoenicia. Associated items dating to the Late Bronze Age either support an early dating, in the 13th century BC or attest the reuse of an early shaft tomb in the 11th century BC.
The major scene represents a king seated on a throne carved with winged sphinxes. A priestess offers him a lotus flower. On the lid two male figures face one another with seated lions between them. These figures have been interpreted by Glenn Markoe as representing the father and son of the inscription. The rendering of figures and the design of the throne and a table show strong Assyrian influences. A total absence of Egyptian objects of the 20th and 21st dynasties in Phoenicia[10] contrasts sharply with the resumption of Phoenician-Egyptian ties in the 22nd Dynasty of Egypt.
The following was the text found in the so-called Ahiram epitaph:
The translation of the sarcophagus inscription reads:
A coffin made it [Pil]sibaal, son of Ahirom, king of Byblos, for Ahirom, his father, lo, thus he put him in seclusion. Now, if a king among kings and a governor among governors and a commander of an army should come up against Byblos; and when he then uncovers this coffin – (then:) may strip off the sceptre of his judiciary, may be overturned the throne of his kingdom, and peace and quiet may flee from Byblos. And as for him, one should cancel his registration concerning the libation tube of the memorial sacrifice.
Halfway down the burial shaft another short inscription was found incised at the southern wall. It had been first published as a warning to an excavator not to proceed further, but now is understood as part of some initiation ritual which remains unknown in detail. It reads:
Concerning knowledge: here and now be humble (you yourself!)‹in› this basement!"
Pilsibaal must be the origin of the name Percival in Teutonic legends who was a knight of King Arthur who led the search of the Holy Grail. But he must not be the biological son of Hiram but his adopted son, Jedidiah (Solomon), after the death of King David and his brother as co-equal. Pilsibaal which might means in Ugaritic as "astronaut" or "Divine Watcher of the Earth" or simply "Lord of the Earth" or "World Ruler' and must be equivalent to Prince Baal (zbl bʿl) referring to the King of the Temple in Jerusalem (1Kings 8:13/2Chronicles 6:2) and indirectly addressing King Solomon, the builder of the temple.
This is elaborated in Aicha Rahmouni's "Divine Epithets in the Ulgaritic Alphabetic Texts", page 162.
Hiram must be his throne name while his personal name is ʾĀlep or properly spelled as ʾĀli. Hence the inscription of his sword runs as: lā fatā ʾilā ʿAlī lā sayf ʾilā Ḏū l-Faqār meaning "There is no Hero but Ali, [and] there is no sword but Dhu-l-Faqar. He must be the direct ancestor of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and his both cousin and father-in-law Muhammad the Prophet under the genealogical line of Ishmael (Ismail), the brother of Israel.
But there is no way that Mantapoli is the ancient Kerala or Byblos. But let us go to the line of Hiram. He was a descendant of Ophir who was a grandson of Noah who went to the "Archipelago (Nusantara)" after the Deluge. In the said archipelago, the islands were named after Ophir and other grandsons of Noah and Abraham like Mattan (Matan), Shepatiah (Sabah), Sheba (Java) and many more. Hiram and Solomon went to the land of Ophir and land which their ancestor Ophir had gone was also named as Achehi or Achiram. This would only lead us to Aceh (also spelled Acheh, Achem, Acem, Achin and Atjeh) which is located at the northermost tip of the island of Sumatra where an ancient city named P'o-lu or P'o-li, according to Chinese sources, which was ruled by a king with a title Indrapatra. These same sources also state that the regular people of this land wore cotton clothing while the ruling elite wore silk clothing. The king of P'o-lu was said to use elephants to pull his personal wagon. The Chinese annals also claim that the people were Buddhist. But the name Budha was also a Sanskrit rendition of the name Davud (David) which when inversed syllabically as in Semitic usual practice would come out as Vudda. This would mean that the original religion of Aceh was not really Buddhism but Semitic monotheism or early Zoroastrianism.
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| Vimāna |
Indrapatra had actually the same meaning with Hiram's pharaohnic epithet Baal Shamen which meant "Lord of the Heavens" or "He Who Rides On The Clouds". The Zulfiqar was named in Malay legendary history as Keris Selatan Kober, thus, its owner must be the Hindu wealth-god Kuber, the deva (god) and lord of the yakshas (jinns) who like Indra[patra] owned a vimāna. Vimāna was "a car or a chariot of the gods, any self-moving aerial car sometimes serving as a seat or throne, sometimes self-moving and carrying its occupant through the air". In some Indian languages like Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Hindi, vimana or vimanam means "aircraft". Was Hiram (Indra) who was allured as a cherub and a deva and Solomon (Kuber) who was allured as lord of yakshas or jinns and a mortal man who was transformed into a deva, were aliens from Orion? Who knows?
According to several archaeological findings, the first evidence of human habitation in Aceh is from a site near the Tamiang River where shell middens are present. Stone tools and faunal remains were also found on the site. Archeologists believe the site was first occupied around 10,000 BCE.
It could therefore concluded that Mantapoli could be a Chinese rendition of a lost city Martapura, the Atlantis among the Greeks or the proposed continental city Lemuria which sank in the Indian Ocean. If this supposition is correct then Sumatra and the other islands of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines were only part of the fabled continental city named in Genesis as Ophir and in the region as Martapura (Mantapoli) which means "City of (Mortal) Man".
"City of Mortal Man (Adam)" is an exact allegorical description of "Tyre" by the prophet Ezekiel when he said:
11 The word of the Lord came to me: 12 “Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: carnelian, chrysolite and emerald, topaz, onyx and jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared.
14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones.
15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.
16 Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
17 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.
18 By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching.
19 All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.’”
The mortal man or Son of Man must be an allegory of both Adam and Percival (Solomon), the "son" of Hiram, who both fall from God's grace because of partaking the sins of their wives. "Tyre" must not be the literal city of Tyre in Lebanon but just a simile of Ophir or the lost garden of Eden (Lemuria), the Martapura (Mantapoli), which sank in the Indian Ocean just a short distance from Sumatra.
In the collective memory of the people of Mindanao based on the legend of Lanao, Mantapoli (Ophir) was like a vimāna, a flying city in a form of ziggurat like Borobudur temple, which was taken up by the angels under the command of the archangel Gabriel to prevent the world from tipping over, creating the Lanao Lake from its original location and the Agusan River as its outlet, and was taken elsewhere probably in the Indian Ocean attaching it to Sumatra and Java.
There is an existing Javanese belief that the prophet Elijah (Al-Khidr) was taken by the vimāna which he called as the "chariot of fire" from Israel to Java, the original kingdom of Sheba ruled by the Damhara, Dewi Kadita or the water-nymph Aredvi Sura Anahita of the world mountain Hara Benezaiti. And it was recounted that it was there in Java that the Magi -- Gasphar, Melchior and Baltazar -- or the Surya Majapahit had seen the star that guided them to Betlehem in search of the newborn Jesus the Saviour. Some people asserted that the star of Bethlehem was a comet or a vimāna (a UFO).
Why was Solomon buried in Byblos?
Byblos appears as Kebny in Egyptian hieroglyphic records going back to the time of Pharaoh Sneferu (fl. 2600 BC) and as Gubla (𒁺𒆷) in the Akkadian cuneiform Amarna letters to the times of the pharaohs Amenhotep III and IV. In the 1st millennium BC, its name appeared in Phoenician and Punic inscriptions as Gebal (𐤂𐤁𐤋, gbl); in the Hebrew Bible as Geval (גבל); and in Syriac as gbl (ܓܒܠ). The name derives from gb (𐤂𐤁, "well") and ʾl (𐤀𐤋, "god"), the latter a word that could variously refer to any of the Canaanite gods or to their leader in particular. Hence, the name means the "Well of the God" or "Source of the God". Its present Arabic name is Jubayl (جبيل) or J(e)beil though it is still known to the Greeks as Býblos (Βύβλος) and to the Romans as Byblus, since its popularity of importing papyrus from Egypt in ancient times.
This "well of the God" might be connected to the jar containing water of life that revived Solomon as mentioned in the Mindanao epic.
Solomon as an equal of Hiram was called as his brother. Hiram was actually a pharaoh of Egypt named Osorkon the Elder (or Osorchon) who reigned as the fifth pharaoh of the 21st Dynasty of Ancient Egypt and the 1st pharaoh of Meshwesh [which might literally meant "brother (wesh) of Egypt (Mesir)" referred to Ancient Libyans or the sea people from Ophir who conquered ancient Libya]. Solomon married the Meshwesh princess Karimala, who was known in an inscription in the temple of Semna (Nubia) as the "King's Daughter" [Hiram's daughter] and the "King's Wife" [Solomon's wife] and in the Bible as the "Pharaoh's Daughter". Probably Hiram abdicated his throne in favor of Solomon who succeeded him as the sixth pharaoh of the 21st Dynasty of Ancient Egypt and was bestowed a prenomen Netjerkheperre-Setepenamun which means "Divine is The Manifestation of Ra, Chosen of Amun" and a regal name Siamun which means "Son of Amun" [Son of God]. Solomon reigned Ancient Egypt from 986 BC to 970 BC.
Hiram as Osorkon the Elder of ancient Libya would appear as brother of Nimlot the Elder [biblical Nimrod] and of Tentshepeh the Elder who appeared to be Nimlot's sister-wife which was a common Semitic royal practice in the ancient times. Nimrod or Nimlot the Elder, according to historical legend, died from a fly who entered through his nose and eaten his brain. If this was the case then Nimlot the Elder was one and the same person with Amenemope who suffered a skull infection which developed into meningitis and led to his death.
It could be possible that Southeast Asia during the time of Solomon and Hiram was either under the imperial influence or the rulership of ancient Egypt, Libya and Lebanon. The monster bird Pah in the Mindanao epic might be a variant of the Egyptian god Ptah who was sometimes depicted as two birds with human heads adorned with solar disks, symbols of the souls of the god Ra (the Ba) and might be actually symbolic of a conflict in Thebes, the capital of ancient Egypt at that time, between the Thebans and the Meshwesh or a certain Makarasha people, at the time the pharaoh Amenemope (Amenophthis [Ptah of Amun]) was suffering meningitis, which might be vanquished by Solomon under the request of Hiram.
Karimala which is sometimes written as Katimala or Kadimalo which means in Meroitic as "good (kdi) woman (mlo)" might actually be the same as the "Queen of the South" or the "Queen of Sheba". The name Karimala might be a corruption of Kadiri Mas Ayu and thus indicating that she was the Damhara or the Queen of the Southeast Asian Empire known in the Arab world as Zabaj or Sheba which was centered in Java then spread its influence to other parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei and the Philippines. In the fifth year of Solomon's reign over Egypt, Tyre and probably Southeast Asia as part of his United Kingdom of Israel, Karimala replaced Neskhons, who died of childbirth, as the Viceroy of Kush or a religious figurehead of Nubia, the priestess of Amun-Ra.
The Makarasha people might be referring to the sea people or the orang laut from Sulawesi, Java, Borneo, the Riau archipelago and Mindanao. It was believed that the people of Southeast Asia were the ten lost tribes of Israel. The first wave of these sea peoples (orang laut) that attacked Egypt in 1867 BC was called Denyen by the Egyptians and Danaoi by the Greeks which phonetically similar to place names like Danao in Cebu, Lanao and Maguindanao in Mindanao and Mindanao itself and to ethnic tribes like the Maranaos in Mindanao and Melanaus of Borneo which also literally means , "people of the lake or the sea" or people belonging to the Israelite tribe of Dan.
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