PART 5

Modern mass media controls our understanding of complex historical issues by divorcing them from
history and excising any truths seen to be inconvenient to the manufactured consensus.

The Byzantine Empire, as this remnant of Rome has come to be known, soon became nothing but a
relentlessly shrinking Christian island in the middle of a religious tide rushing forth from the Arabian
Peninsula called Islam.

From its revival in the 7th century, monotheism and Islam conquered most of the Middle East and on
through to the North of Africa by the middle of the 8 th century. Islam’s swordsmen sought to gain from
the collapse of the Roman Empire and spread the religion through combatant and non combat means. It
would colonize so far as southern Spain, which became a major Islamic center.

The Ottoman’s would then spread Islam deep into Central Europe until the tide began to turn in the 15th
century after such influential Ottoman’s such as Muhammad Fateh and Suleiman contributed to the
triumphant religion of truth, up until 1566 when Suleiman’s reign ended. And so the Caliphate began to
putrefy.

A key figure in the repulsion of the advancing Turks was a sadist named Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler,
Dracula; amongst the names known in the West) a Romanian Warlord. Who impaled even his own
subjects including many whom were ethnically German Christians.

This was also around the time when the Ottomans regressed as a devout Islamic Caliphate and the
disease of plutocracy and autocracy began to weaken the final Islamic empire as its gradual decline over
the 16th century toward the end of the 19th century.

Returning to the 8th century we discover when the Normans of Normandy (northern France, although it
was separate from the French Kingdom at that time) under Charlemagne labored to unify Europe.
Germanic Central European Kingdoms became known as the ‘Holy Roman Empire’. Historians however
point to Charlemagne’s rule as neither of this prefixes. Nonetheless Europe remained reunited as the
Roman Church. His Empire annihilated many Saxons who resisted in favour of their native gods.

This is when the emergence of a group known as the Knights Templar. The Knights Templar were a
Norman enterprise, first and foremost. The more you read about the Normans the more obvious this
becomes. The Normans themselves are almost as mysterious as the Templars, and as such have fed into
conspiracy theories and alternative histories.

At this time the financial center was not yet the City of London but rather the Venetians (in Venice Italy)
whom were the financial supporters of the Byzantine Roman Empire. For many years it dominated
commerce and shipping in the Mediterranean.
Before that further still the financial centre was with the Phoenicians in the Middle East in the areas of
Damascus, Palestine, Transjordan, Babylon etcetera.

For Venetians during the Middle Ages the sea was life. The prosperity, the very existence, of the
Republic depended upon seaborne commerce. That commerce was inherently peaceful and prospered
best in times of peace and stability.

It was also competitive and aroused passions of jealousy and greed. Venetian commerce needed to be
protected from predators, and Venetians, too, were often willing to use force to extend the scope of,
and gain advantage for, their trade. War and trade were very often closely interlinked activities. Since
maritime trade was the life's blood of the Venetian Republic, the naval policy of the state was aimed at
defending or maximizing the trade.

Of course, this doesn't just describe the Venetians. It describes another ancient maritime power almost
identical it describes the aforementioned Phoenicians. Theories spur that Venice was nothing more than
the old Phoenician empire reborn in the heart of Italy itself.

Intent to raise from the dead a people that lived a millennium from the days of the Old Testament's
Canaan. They were a major civilization that produced an original synthesis, bringing many Oriental
elements into the Mediterranean. Even though they ended as the vanquished, not the victors, they
exercised an influence that was still felt.

The Norman Conquests were far-flung, logistically complex and incredibly expensive. The Norman
people were also Christians in name only, with several pagan revanchist campaigns taking place right up
to the Norman Conquest of England (and possibly after). Some have argued that the Normans were
simply mercenaries for the Venetians, whose maritime empire ruled the waves during the Middle Ages.

The Normans too were intrepid sailors and almost certainly financed their military adventures in part
through piracy. From icy Norway they settled in the rainy northwest of France, before establishing island
kingdoms in England, Sicily and Malta, in addition to their conquests of Antioch and northern Africa.
What could possibly have brought these ostensible Scandinavians to those scattered and unlikely
destinations? Under the Templar flag the Norman Empire would expand into France and Iberia as well
as establish strongholds in Jerusalem, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Cyprus. The Crusades were the
impetus behind all of this empire-building, which Venice was the main financial power behind.

In other words, the Norman/Templars had reconstructed the old Phoenician Empire, almost in its
entirety.

The process would be complete with the establishment of a Norman Kingdom in the south of Italy itself,
the nation that had crushed the Phoenicians and scattered them to the far corners of the world.

If in fact the Normans had been acting as agents for Venice in this campaign, it adds weight to
conspiracy theories that suggest and show that Venice itself was Phoenicia reborn in the heart of Italy.

Venizia was identical to Phoenicia in almost every way - a bustling, cosmopolitan maritime empire built
on trade and finance, given to cultural and religious heterodoxy and seen as a den of conspiracy and
intrigue.
Given that ethnic Phoenicians the Severans had come to rule Rome as the "Syrian Emperors" -
establishing Sun worship as the new state religion - it's not out of the realm of possibility at all that
Phoenicians could have come into Italy from North Africa and Asia Minor, assimilated themselves to a
certain degree and rebuilt their empire as Christian Rome collapsed into chaos and ruin in the Fifth
Century.

Venice did just happen to rise as Rome fell.

The commissars of "orthodox" history are constantly working to debunk any talk of the Templars having
a hidden agenda or an esoteric component. To them the Templars were just another powerful order of
warrior monks, no different than the Hospitalers or the Teutonic Knights. All of this falls apart when you
study the history of the order itself. Far from being fanatical holy warriors, the Templars fought against
the Saracens when it suited them, and sought separate peaces when it didn't. Their original mandate--
to protect pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem-- doesn't make much sense when you realize there were
only nine of them at the outset.

They set up camp in the ruins of Solomon's Temple-- a Phoenician artifact as much as a Jewish one-- and
set about excavating for hidden tunnels and treasure. Their seals were filled with pre-Christian
iconography. Even given the widespread use of torture, their confessions of heresy were too widespread
and consistent to totally rule them out. There was a parallel belief system at work, which is hardly
surprising given how their pagan Norman predecessors didn't take too well to the violent imposition of
what they saw as a weak and degenerate foreign religion. And the Templars' vast, elaborate and
stunningly modern banking system certainly put the lie to the "Poor Knights" part of their name.

It seems obvious that the Knights Templar were created to complete the work started by the Normans
and their Venetian partners. The Templars seemed to be created to extend the reach of the Normans
into places they could not reach without the blessing of the ecclesiastical authorities. It's obvious that
the Normans were following the path of the ancient Phoenicians. Under the Templar flag, Norman boots
are planted in the very heart of Phoenicia itself-- Tyre, Sidon, Tripoli. Sicily, Cyprus, Malta, Antioch, and
Carthage-- Phoenician colonies all-- were put under the Norman and/or Templar flag, as well as former
Phoenician spheres of influence like southern Spain and Lebanon, the western and eastern borders of
Phoenician power. And the ruthless Venetian campaign to control maritime trade in Italy seems like
nothing less than a conquest of an old enemy, a settling of a very old debt. Which makes no sense if we
believe that Venice was ruled by Italians and perfect sense if believe that Venice was ruled by Hellenized
Phoenicians who rose to power in Rome with the Syrian Emperors.

What is certain is that the Knights Templar became what the Phoenicians had been, and what the
Normans themselves could not. They became a stateless state, an international corporation with a
powerful navy and army with vast holdings and a financial system in place that bears an uncanny
similarity to our own.

Scholars have long cited the survival of ancient wisdom in Arab and Persian lands, which became
sanctuaries for scholars and religious minorities fleeing the rampaging desert monks.

But the tolerance of Hellenistic learning had waned considerably by the time the Templars came along,
and a backlash was rising in the Muslim world due to a number of thorny religious disputes:
(Abbasid caliph al-Mamun) responded to a crisis of legitimacy by attempting to undermine traditionalist
religious scholars while actively sponsoring a doctrine called Mu’tazilism that was deeply influenced by
Greek rationalism, particularly Aristotelianism. To this end, he imposed an inquisition, under which
those who refused to profess their allegiance to Mu’tazilism were punished by
flogging/imprisonment/beheading.

But the caliphs who followed al-Mamun upheld the doctrine with less fervor, and within a few decades,
adherence to it became a punishable offense. The backlash against Mu’tazilism was tremendously
successful: by 885, a half century after al-Mamun’s death, it even became a crime to copy books of
philosophy.
But there were other sects in the Levant where the Templars could rediscover the lost legacy of Western
civilization. A process would begin in which ancient wisdom and sacred science would be rediscovered; a
process that would lead to the progress and prosperity of the High Middle Ages and the Renaissance and
the gradual weakening of the Roman power. This would be the true birth of Europe, which may have
been midwifed by a mysterious sect who arose in Phoenicia at the same time the Normans in Europe.

Remember that contrary to the popular myth of fanatical holy warriors, the Knights Templar often made
peace with the "Saracens", a blanket term not only for Muslims but for other non-Christian sects in Asia.
They would be criticized for their contacts with the indigenous people of the lands they were occupying,
one group of whom was almost certainly the source of the Templars exposure to the ancient Gnosis.

Unlike the Knights Templar, this sect survives to this this day:
The Druze faith began as a movement in Ismailism, that was mainly influenced by Greek philosophy and
gnosticism and opposed certain religious and philosophical ideologies that were present during that
epoch. The faith was preached by Hamza ibn 'Alī ibn Ahmad, a Persian Ismaili mystic and scholar. He
came to Egypt in 1014 and assembled a group of scholars and leaders from across the world to establish
the Unitarian movement.
As with the Sikhs of India and arguably the Templars themselves, the Druze learned that the only way
for a Gnostic sect to survive was to learn how to fight, and fight better than their oppressors:
It was during the period of Crusader rule in Syria (1099–1291) that the Druze first emerged into the full
light of history in the Gharb region of the Chouf Mountains. As powerful warriors serving the Muslim
rulers of Damascus against the Crusades, the Druze were given the task of keeping watch over the
crusaders in the seaport of Beirut, with the aim of preventing them from making any encroachments
inland.

Subsequently, the Druze chiefs of the Gharb placed their considerable military experience at the
disposal of the Mamluk rulers of Egypt (1250–1516); first, to assist them in putting an end to what
remained of Crusader rule in coastal Syria, and later to help them safeguard the Syrian coast against
Crusader retaliation by sea.
Following the Persian conquest of Syria and the Phoenician homelands, there was a lot of exchange of
people and ideas between Persia and the Levant. Ismailism seems to have Phoenician fingerprints all
over it, and the Druze religion - largely centered in historical Phoenicia - is nearly identical to the
Phoenician Mysteries and Gnostic cults in nearly every way:
The Druze religion is a secret faith. They have preserved the strictest silence upon their beliefs and truly
occult rites. Of the alleged 45 sacred books of the Druze, none were ever seen, let alone examined.

To the Druze, previous religions are mere types of the true, and their sacred books and observances are
to be interpreted allegorically. As converts are no longer admitted, the faithful must keep their doctrine
secret from the profane; and in order that their allegiance may not bring them into danger, (they are
allowed) to make outward profession to hide their inner belief.

The connections between the Phoenician Mysteries and the Druze extend to the special relationship
between the Druze and the post-Templar esoteric orders of the late Renaissance and Enlightenment
periods. Many have argued that the Templars were changed forever by contacts made in the Levant and
it would seem that those contacts were with the Druze (note etymological similarity to "Druid")
Sophisticated Druze still sometimes claim connection with Rosicrucians, and a special relation to Scottish
Freemasons. The Druze are rather like Druids, and also like Freemasons. In fact, some say that Templar
Knights were initiated into Druze orders, and thus Freemasonry was born. It must be pointed out that
the Druze were much given to making vehement warfare against the Crusaders.
Rosicrucian doctrines spread to Europe from Arabia, and it is possible that Druze doctrines were carried
to Europe during the Crusades. There are modern and traditional parallels between the Druze and the
Rosicrucians.

That organized school began to spread to other lands during the reign of Akhenaton, and spread to
Greece (where Pythagoras, Plato and Plotinus were initiates), then Canaan. Akhenaton is recognized as a
divine being by the Druze.

The Druze are not the only Syncretic/Gnostic sect in the former Phoenician lands, nor the only sect with
a special link to Mt. Hermon, home of the Igigi, the Watchers left behind by the Anunnaki in Sumerian
myth and later regarded as "fallen angels."
Also known as Nusayris, (the Alawites) are an Arabic speaking ethno-religious community, who also live
in the Latakiah province of Syria and in the adjacent districts of northern Lebanon and southern Turkey.
In recent years many 'Alawis have moved to the large cities of Syria. A small number still survive in Wadi
al-Taym south of Mt Hermon. World-wide they number 2.2 million people, of whom 1.6 million live in
Syria where they constitute 13% of the population and are the largest minority group.
Their religion is secret and seems to be a syncretistic mixture of extreme Shi'a (Ghulat), ancient pagan,
gnostic and Christian elements. They are sometimes classified as a branch of Twelver Shi'ism, but are
actually an independent religion. They do not keep the five pillars of Islam, and they have no mosques
but meet in private houses for their religious observances. Their festivals include Persian and Christian
holy days. They have a ceremony similar to the Christian mass and believe in a trinitarian manifestation
of God.
The Druze and the Alawi both arose from the mountains of the Levant and almost certainly stem from
earlier common antecedents, the same philosophy that also produced the so-called Assassin cult of
Hassan-i Sabbah, which has become closely entwined with the Templar mythology.
Despite mutual animosity, the Alawis are much like the Druzes. Historically both the Druze and the
Alawis are off-shoots of Ismailism, which was an earlier split from the Shi'i Imamis (Twelver Shi'ah, the
sect that predominates in Iran).
An accepted reference on Nusayri rites and doctrines was published in Aleppo in 1859 as Kitab al-
Majmu. According to its author, Sulayman al-Adhani, the Nusayris, like other sects of the Syrian
mountains on the Mediterranean, primarily believed in the transmigration of souls. - Islamic Articles
Library
The Assassins were yet another warrior Gnostic clan in the former Phoenician homelands, a fact which
beggars coincidence. It could be argued that the Phoenicians kept close to home and took on
whatever
exoteric guise their neighbors adopted and continued to pursue their own interests apart from the
demands of the religious and military forces running rampant throughout Asia Minor and North Africa
for centuries.

And contrary to the reductionist propaganda surrounding them -the hashish and the false Paradise and
the rest- the Assassins also followed Gnostic ideas of spiritual incarnation, the same ones that inspired
Bogomil high initiates to hurl themselves onto the Crusader bonfires, rather than beg for mercy:
"Isma'ili theology was thus revolutionary in character. The haqa'iq transcended human reason and
ultimately derived from Gnostic doctrines, considering the principles of spiritual and physical worlds in
Neoplatonic terms.
The Gnostics held that the physical world had been created by an inferior deity, the Yahweh of the Old
Testament, who was allowed a certain lassitude until God decided to send His son to inhabit the body of
Jesus and free the world from false teachings.
The radicalism of the Assassins showed that the dreamy, hippie Gnostics of Alexandria were a distant
memory and a new kind of Gnostic emerged in the Levant, forged in the endless human bonfires of
Rome's inquisitors and crusaders. But the indulgent Gnosis of the Alexandrian rich kids may well be an
aberration itself.

But there's an even older Gnostic sect in the Middle East than the Druze or the Alawi, one that the
Templars almost certainly came into contact with, one that would explain the reverence for John the
Baptist.

The Jews believed it was the execution of John and not Jesus that was believed to have brought the
wrath of God down upon them in the civil wars that led to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in the
First Century:
The Mandaeans (literally, "the knowers") are the only surviving Gnostics from the time of late Antiquity.
They have dwelled for the past eighteen hundred years in southern Iraq and southwest Iran, and
increasingly, as a result of recent wars, in other parts of the world. They adhere to the typical Gnostic
doctrines and mythologies regarding the soul's entrapment in earthly life and the existence of a
heavenly Lightworld, the soul's true home.
Being baptists, the Mandaeans consider John the Baptist their main prophet and renewer of the religion,
which, they say, ultimately stems from Adam himself. The Mandaeans live next to but remain apart from
their (mostly Muslim) neighbors, and throughout the centuries they have preserved their traditions to a
remarkable degree.
All evidence points to the conclusion that the Templars had become fat and happy in their new role as
Europe's bankers, a fact that cause considerable resentment among those who once saw them as self-
sacrificing Holy Warriors for Christendom.

When Rome wanted to murder an entire population and steal its treasure, it always dreamed up
imaginary conspiracies that its armies swept in to prevent:
"To acquire influence and wealth, then to intrigue, and at need to fight, to establish the Johannite or
Gnostic and Kabalistic dogma, were the object and means proposed to the initiated Brethren. The
Papacy and the rival monarchies, they said to them, are sold and bought in these days, become corrupt,
and tomorrow, perhaps, will destroy each other. All that will become the heritage of the Temple: the
World will soon come to us for its Sovereigns and Pontiffs. We shall constitute the equilibrium of the
Universe, and be rulers over the Masters of the World."
But the most popular theories have it that the Templars escaped into Scotland. Scots would rout the
English at Bannockburn and go on to establish a permanent aristocracy inside England based in banking
and shipping, just as the Templars and the Venetians and the Phoenicians before them.